Liang Xi 梁習

Liang Xi, courtesy name Ziyu, was a native of Zhe County in Chen Commandery. He became a senior officer (gangji) of the commandery. When Cao Cao became Minister of Works he summoned him and made him Chief of Zhang, and after several transfers he served as Prefect of Chengshi, Haixi and Xiapi, earning a name for good government wherever he went. Records, Wei 15 §29

When the people of the two counties of Haixi and Huaipu rose in revolt, the Commandant Wei Mi and the Prefect Liang Xi fled at night to the house of Xu Xuan, and Xu Xuan secretly sent them off so that they escaped harm. Records, Wei 22 §68

Liang Xi returned to become a Clerk of the West Bureau and was then promoted to Assistant. While he was a Clerk of the West Bureau, his colleague Wang Si of Jiyin, reporting on business on his duty day, displeased Cao Cao. Cao Cao, in a great rage, summoned the officer responsible to inflict a heavy punishment, but because Wang Si happened to have stepped out for a moment, Liang Xi went in his place to answer and was seized. When Wang Si galloped back, confessed his own fault and said that he deserved to die, Cao Cao, admiring that Liang Xi had said nothing and that Wang Si knew his duty, said, 'Who would have thought there were two men of righteousness in my army?' Later the two were promoted at the same time to be inspectors. Records, Wei 15 §29 · 35–36

When Bing Province had newly submitted, Liang Xi, as Major of a Separate Command, acted concurrently as Inspector of Bing Province. It was then the aftermath of the turmoil raised by Gao Gan: the Hu and Di peoples within its borders were overbearing and unruly, officials and commoners fled into their tribes, and the families with private troops gathered followings to plunder, egging one another on and holding out here and there. Records, Wei 15 §29

On taking office, Liang Xi persuaded and conciliated them and took them in. He courteously invited all the powerful families and local strongmen and gradually recommended them and sent them to the headquarters; when the strongmen were all gone, he called up the able-bodied men in turn as Righteous Followers, and when the main army went on campaign he sent them in groups as Brave and Strong troops. After the officials and soldiers had left, he gradually moved their families and sent them to Ye in successive batches, several tens of thousands in all. Those who would not obey orders he attacked with troops, taking heads by the thousand, and those who surrendered and submitted were counted by the ten thousand. Records, Wei 15 §30

Thereupon the Chanyu was respectful and obedient, the renowned kings bowed their heads to the ground, and their retainers submitted and performed their duties like registered commoners. The frontier was cleared and pacified, the people spread across the fields and worked hard at farming and sericulture, and orders were carried out and prohibitions observed. Liang Xi recommended the noted scholars of the province, Chang Lin, Yang Jun, Wang Ling, Wang Xiang and Xun Wei, and Cao Cao made them all county chiefs. Records, Wei 15 §31Records, Wei 23 §21

Cao Cao praised him, granted him the rank of Marquis Within the Passes and appointed him Inspector in full. The elders extolled him, saying that of all the inspectors they had heard of or known, none had matched Liang Xi. In the 18th year of Jian'an (213), when Bing Province was merged into Ji Province, he became Court Gentleman Consultant and Attendant Officer and Area Commander of the Western Division, attached to Ji Province and in overall charge of his former retainers. He was also given the task of fetching great timbers from Shangdang to supply the palaces at Ye, and he petitioned to set up two Commandants of Agricultural Garrisons and, leading six hundred tenant men, had beans and millet planted along the road to meet the costs of men and oxen. Records, Wei 15 §32

Later the Chanyu came to court to attend the emperor and the northwest was free of trouble, and Chen Shou wrote that this was Liang Xi's achievement. When Emperor Wen, Cao Pi, ascended the throne and Bing Province was re-established, Liang Xi again became its Inspector and was advanced in enfeoffment to Marquis of Shenmen Village with a fief of 100 households, and his government was always the best in the realm. In the 6th year of Huangchu (225), Liang Xi, Inspector of Bing Province, attacked Kebineng of the Xianbei and crushed him. Records, Wei 15 §33Records, Wei 2 §48

In the 2nd year of Taihe (228) Liang Xi was summoned to court as Minister of Agriculture. Although he had been in the province for more than twenty years, his household was poor and he had not a single rare product of that region, so Emperor Ming, Cao Rui, marvelled at this and bestowed gifts on him with great courtesy and generosity. He died in the 4th year of Taihe (230), and his son Liang Shi succeeded him. Records, Wei 15 §33

In his assessment, Chen Shou said that since the end of the Han, inspectors had overseen the various commanderies and administered government in the provinces, rather than merely inspecting and supervising as in former times. He wrote that the men of this volume were all praised and lived up to their names, and that because they had a thorough grasp of the workings of affairs and displayed both authority and kindness, they brought order to ten thousand li and were recorded for later ages. Records, Wei 15 §89