Xin Pi 辛毗

Xin Pi, courtesy name Zuozhi, was a man of Yangdi County in Yingchuan Commandery. His forebears had moved east from Longxi during the Jianwu era. Xin Pi served Yuan Shao alongside his elder brother Xin Ping, and when Cao Cao became Minister of Works and summoned him, he was unable to answer the summons. The Biography of Yuan Shao records that Xin Ping, together with Guo Tu, sided with Yuan Tan and contended for power with Shen Pei and Feng Ji, who sided with Yuan Shang. Zhao Yan of the same commandery was well known together with Xin Pi, Chen Qun and Du Xi, and they were called 'Xin, Chen, Du and Zhao'. Records, Wei 25 §2Records, Wei 6 §60Records, Wei 23 §64

In the 8th month of the 8th year of Jian'an (203), while Cao Cao was halted at Xiping on his way to attack Liu Biao, Yuan Shang pressed his attack on Yuan Tan at Pingyuan, and Yuan Tan sent Xin Pi to surrender and ask for help. Cao Cao was delighted, but a few days later he changed his mind, wishing first to pacify Jing Province and let Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang exhaust each other. At a banquet Xin Pi noticed the change in Cao Cao's expression and told Guo Jia, and Cao Cao asked Xin Pi whether Yuan Tan could be trusted and whether Yuan Shang could surely be defeated. Records, Wei 1 §77 · 80Records, Wei 25 §2–3

Xin Pi answered that he should not ask about good faith or deceit but consider only the situation. The Yuan, he said, had seen their armies defeated abroad and their strategists executed at home; the brothers were quarreling and the state had split in two, and on top of this drought, locusts and famine had come together, so that this was the time when Heaven was destroying Yuan Shang. If Cao Cao attacked Ye, Yuan Shang could not hold it unless he returned to its rescue, and if he returned, Yuan Tan would follow on his heels; and of all the bandits of the four quarters none was greater than Hebei, so once Hebei was pacified the whole realm would tremble. Cao Cao said, 'Good,' and agreed to make peace with Yuan Tan, and the following year, after attacking and taking Ye, he memorialized to make Xin Pi a Consultant. Records, Wei 25 §3–7

Much later, Cao Cao sent the Protector Cao Hong to pacify Xiabian, attaching Xin Pi and Cao Xiu to him, with the order: 'Of old, Gaozu was greedy for wealth and fond of women, but Zhang Liang and Chen Ping corrected his faults. Now the charge on Zuozhi and Wenlie is no light one.' When the army returned, Xin Pi became Chief Clerk to the Chancellor. Records, Wei 25 §8

When Emperor Wen took the throne, Xin Pi was transferred to Palace Attendant and granted the rank of Marquis Within the Passes. When there was debate about changing the calendar, Xin Pi said that the Wei had inherited the line of Shun and Yu, and that Tang and King Wu changed the calendar because they had settled the realm by war; citing Confucius and the Zuo Commentary, he said there was no need to do the opposite. The emperor followed this. Records, Wei 25 §9

The emperor wished to move 100,000 soldier households from Ji Province to fill Henan, and would not bend even though locusts had left the people starving. When the emperor received his officials with a stern face, none dared speak, but Xin Pi said that he truly believed it was wrong. When the emperor rose and went inside, Xin Pi followed and caught hold of his robe; when the emperor came out after a long while and said, 'Zuozhi, why do you press me so hard?' Xin Pi replied that the move would lose the people's hearts and there would be nothing to feed them. The emperor in the end moved half of them. Once, hunting pheasants, the emperor said it was enjoyable, and Xin Pi said it was very hard on those below; after that the emperor seldom went out hunting. Records, Wei 25 §10–12

According to the Biography of the Lord of Wu, Wei sent the Palace Attendant Xin Pi and the Master of Writing Huan Jie to conclude a covenant with Sun Quan and demand a son as hostage, but Sun Quan declined, and in the autumn, the 9th month, of the 1st year of Huangwu (222) Wei had Cao Zhen and others besiege Nan Commandery. Xin Pi served as Military Adviser when Cao Zhen, General-in-Chief of the Upper Army, attacked Zhu Ran at Jiangling, and on his return he was enfeoffed as Marquis of Guangping Village. Records, Wu 2 §42Records, Wei 25 §13

When the emperor wished to raise a great army to attack Wu, Xin Pi remonstrated that the realm had only just been settled, the land was wide and the people few, and even the late emperor had several times reached the river and turned back. If the people were nurtured and military farms cultivated, and the army used after ten years, there would be no need to take the field twice. When the emperor asked whether he meant to leave the barbarians to his descendants, Xin Pi answered that King Wen of Zhou had left Zhou Xin to King Wu because he understood timing. The emperor attacked Wu anyway, but turned back on reaching the river. Later, when Bao Xun was handed over to the Minister of Justice and the emperor was furious, the Palace Attendant Xin Pi, together with Zhong Yao, Hua Xin, Chen Qun and others, asked for his pardon on the grounds that Bao Xun's father Bao Xin had rendered service to Cao Cao, but the emperor did not allow it. Records, Wei 25 §13–15Records, Wei 12 §75–76

When Emperor Ming took the throne, Xin Pi was promoted to Marquis of Ying District with a fief of 300 households. The Director of the Palace Secretariat Liu Fang and the Prefect of the Palace Secretariat Sun Zi decided affairs of state, and all the high ministers courted them, but Xin Pi alone had nothing to do with them. When his son Xin Chang urged him to bend a little, Xin Pi said that the worst would be that he never became one of the Three Excellencies: 'How could a true man destroy his lofty integrity out of a wish to become an Excellency?' Bi Gui memorialized that Xin Pi should replace Wang Si as Deputy Director of the Imperial Secretariat, but Liu Fang and Sun Zi replied that Xin Pi was clear-sighted and upright but unbending and headstrong by nature, so he was not appointed, and Xin Pi went out to become Minister of the Guards. Records, Wei 25 §16–18

When the emperor built palaces and the people suffered under corvée, Xin Pi submitted a memorial saying that Zhuge Liang was training his troops and Sun Quan was buying horses in Liaodong, as if they meant to act in concert, and urged the emperor to take thought for the state. When the emperor wished to level Mount Beimang to build a terrace, Xin Pi remonstrated that bringing down what is high is against the natural order and asked what would hold back the floods if they came; the emperor gave it up. Records, Wei 25 §19–21

In the 2nd year of Qinglong (234) Zhuge Liang led his host out south of the Wei River. Earlier, the General-in-Chief Sima Yi had repeatedly asked to give battle, but Emperor Ming would not allow it; that year, fearing he could not restrain him, the emperor made Xin Pi Military Adviser to the General-in-Chief and Envoy Holding the Staff of Authority. The Six Armies all became orderly, followed Xin Pi's direction and dared not disobey. When Zhuge Liang died, Xin Pi returned to become Minister of the Guards again, and after his death he received the posthumous title Marquis Su. His son Xin Chang succeeded him and became Administrator of Henei in the Xianxi era. The Records do not give the year of his death. Records, Wei 25 §22

In his assessment, Chen Shou wrote that Xin Pi and Yang Fu were resolute and clear-sighted, fair and upright, remonstrating correctly without regard for themselves, and came close to the lofty bearing of Ji An. Records, Wei 25 §120