Zhuge Ke 諸葛恪

Around the age of twenty Zhuge Ke became Commandant of Cavalry (qi duwei) and, together with Gu Tan, Zhang Xiu and others, attended the Crown Prince Sun Deng, discussing learning and the arts and becoming the prince's companion; he moved from Palace Cadet to Commandant Assistant of the Left. His father Zhuge Jin had a long face that resembled a donkey's, and at a gathering of his ministers Sun Quan had a donkey led in with a label reading "Zhuge Ziyu" attached to its face. Zhuge Ke asked for a brush and added beneath it the two characters meaning "'s donkey," and Sun Quan gave him the donkey. Records, Wu 19 §2–3

When Sun Quan had Zhuge Ke pour the wine and Zhang Zhao refused to drink, saying this was not the proper courtesy for caring for the aged, Zhuge Ke retorted that the Preceptor Shangfu had not retired on account of age even at ninety, and that since in military affairs the general stayed at the rear while in matters of food and drink he was at the front, how could he say the aged were not being cared for? He made Zhang Zhao drain his cup. When, in front of an envoy from Shu, Sun Quan asked that fine horses be sent to him, he gave thanks in advance, saying that since Shu was His Majesty's outer stable, the horses were sure to come. Sun Quan thought him remarkable and had him act as Controller (jiedu) in charge of army grain, but the paperwork was tedious and not work he enjoyed. Records, Wu 19 §3–5

Zhuge Ke said that because the mountains of Danyang were rugged and the people hardy, those living deep in the hills had never all been captured, and he repeatedly asked to take office himself and bring them out, claiming that in three years he could obtain 40,000 armored soldiers. Many said it would be difficult, and his father Zhuge Jin also sighed, "If Ke does not greatly raise up our house, he will bring our clan to utter destruction." In the 3rd year of Jiahe (234) Sun Quan made him General Who Pacifies Yue (fuyue jiangjun), concurrently Administrator of Danyang; he was then thirty-two. Records, Wu 19 §6 · 8Records, Wu 2 §77–78

Zhuge Ke ordered the cities under him to guard their borders and to have the commoners who accepted government settle together in garrison camps, and then had his generals surround the rugged places without giving battle and cut down all the grain as it ripened. As the starving mountain people gradually came out and surrendered, he beheaded Hu Kang, Chief of Jiuyang, for disobeying orders by seizing and sending in a man who had surrendered, whereupon even the old and the young came out leading one another. Within a year the numbers were filled as first planned, and Zhuge Ke personally commanded 10,000 men. Sun Quan sent the Deputy Director of the Secretariat (shangshu puye) Xue Zong to reward the troops and made Zhuge Ke General Who Awes the North (weibei jiangjun) and Marquis of a Chief District (duxiang hou). Records, Wu 19 §9–11 · 14

In the 6th year of Chiwu (243) Zhuge Ke attacked Lu'an and destroyed the camp of the Wei general Xie Shun, and that year, when Sima Yi entered Shu County, he moved his garrison from Wan to Chaisang. Around this time he wrote to the Chancellor Lu Xun that a gentleman does not demand that one man possess every quality, and that if people reproach one another over small faults, the whole state will be left without a single man of complete conduct. He did so because he knew that Lu Xun disliked him on this account. When Lu Xun died, Zhuge Ke, as General-in-Chief with the Staff of Authority (jiajie), was stationed at Wuchang and took charge of the affairs of Jing Province. Records, Wu 2 §99Records, Wu 19 §15–17 · 20–21

In the winter of the 1st year of Taiyuan (251), when Sun Quan fell ill, Zhuge Ke was summoned in the 12th month and, as General-in-Chief, concurrently made Grand Tutor to the Crown Prince. As his illness became critical, Sun Quan summoned Zhuge Ke, Sun Hong, Teng Yin, Lü Ju and Sun Jun and entrusted them with the affairs after his death. When Sun Quan died in the 4th month of the 1st year of Shenfeng (252), the Prefect of the Palace Secretariat (zhongshu ling) Sun Hong, who had long been on bad terms with Zhuge Ke, concealed the death and tried to forge an edict to remove him, but Sun Jun informed Zhuge Ke, who killed Sun Hong where he sat and then announced the mourning. In the intercalary month, when he became Grand Tutor to the emperor Sun Liang, he ended the surveillance of officials, remitted overdue debts and taxes, and abolished customs duties, so that whenever he went in or out, the common people craned their necks to catch sight of him. Records, Wu 2 §112–113Records, Wu 3 §3–4Records, Wu 19 §22–23 · 27

In the 10th month of the 1st year of Jianxing (252), Zhuge Ke rebuilt the great dike at Dongxing and built two forts to its left and right, having Quan Duan and Liu Lüe guard them. When Wei sent Hu Zun, Zhuge Dan and others with a host of 70,000 to attack the two strongholds, Zhuge Ke hurried there day and night with 40,000 troops and sent Liu Zan, Lü Ju, Tang Zi and Ding Feng ahead as the vanguard. In the 12th month (early 253 CE), the Wei generals, drinking in the cold weather, laughed at the Wu soldiers who had taken off their armor to climb the dike, and were caught by surprise; the pontoon bridge broke, and tens of thousands died by drowning or being trampled by their own men. Zhuge Ke was promoted to Marquis of Yangdu and given the additional post of Governor of Jing and Yang provinces, supervising all military affairs at court and in the provinces. Records, Wu 19 §28–30Records, Wu 3 §4–5

Zhuge Ke came to hold the enemy in contempt and wanted to take the field again the following spring. When the high ministers remonstrated with one voice and the Grand Master of Palace Leisure (zhongsan dafu) Jiang Yan argued stubbornly, Zhuge Ke had him helped out of the room, and he wrote a treatise to persuade everyone that now, while the enemy's soldiers had not yet grown up, was the time to strike. To the remonstrance of Nie You, Administrator of Danyang, he replied that Nie You had not seen the greater reckoning, and he levied a host of 200,000 from the provinces and commanderies; the people were thrown into turmoil, and he began for the first time to lose their hearts. Records, Wu 19 §31 · 34–36 · 41–43

In the 2nd year of Jianxing (253) Zhuge Ke meant to carry off the people of Huainan, but on his generals' advice he besieged Xincheng instead. Though he attacked for months the city did not fall, and his soldiers, drinking water in the heat, fell sick until more than half were ill. When officers reported that the sick were many, he called them liars and wanted to behead them, so that no one dared speak; he took away the troops of General Zhu Yi, who had argued the rights and wrongs of the matter; and the Commandant (duwei) Cai Lin, whose plans went unused, fled to Wei. When Wei's relief force came he withdrew, but he lingered a whole month on the riverbank planning military farms at Xunyang, and only when edicts arrived one after another did he slowly return. Records, Wu 19 §44–46Records, Wu 3 §6

Returning in the 8th month, in autumn, Zhuge Ke rebuked the Prefect of the Palace Secretariat Sun Mo, asking how he dared draft edicts so often without authority; he dismissed everyone appointed to office after his departure and made new selections, replaced the palace guards with men close to him, and again meant to march on Qing and Xu provinces. Taking advantage of the widespread resentment, Sun Jun falsely accused him of plotting a revolt and, conspiring with Sun Liang, arranged a banquet. The night before, Zhuge Ke could not sleep; in the morning his water and his clothes gave off a foul smell, and a dog twice caught his clothes in its teeth and tugged at them. Records, Wu 19 §47–49

At the palace gate, when the Cavalier Attendants-in-Ordinary (sanqi changshi) Zhang Yue and Zhu En sent him a note saying the arrangements were out of the ordinary, Zhuge Ke turned to leave, but at the urging of the Minister of Ceremonies (taichang) Teng Yin, who knew nothing of Sun Jun's plot, he went back in. When Zhuge Ke, suspicious, would not drink, Sun Jun had the medicinal wine he usually took brought for him to drink. After Sun Liang withdrew to the inner quarters, Sun Jun changed into short clothes, came out, and shouted, "There is an edict to arrest Zhuge Ke!" Zhuge Ke died before he could draw his sword. This was in the 10th month of the 2nd year of Jianxing (253). His body was wrapped in a reed mat and thrown away at Shizigang. His second son Zhuge Song was cut down at Baidu by the cavalry commander sent after him, and his youngest son Zhuge Jian crossed the river but was caught. Later Sun Xiu, saying that Zhuge Ke and the others had been harmed though innocent, had them reburied. Records, Wu 19 §50–55 · 102Records, Wu 3 §6

In his assessment, Chen Shou said that Zhuge Ke's talent and spirit, his competence and strategy were praised by the people of the state, but that even the Duke of Zhou, if arrogant and mean, would not be worth looking at. He wrote that since Zhuge Ke vaunted himself and slighted others he could not avoid failure, and that had he himself practiced what he wrote in his letters to Lu Xun and to his younger brother Zhuge Rong, he would have met with neither fault nor calamity. Records, Wu 19 §108