He Qi 賀齊

He Qi became a commandery official in his youth and was made acting Chief of Shan County. When a county official, Si Cong, played the knight-errant and did evil, the Registrar tried to dissuade He Qi, saying that Si Cong was the head of a great clan to whom the Shanyue adhered, so that if he were punished today, bandits would attack tomorrow. He Qi flew into a rage and beheaded Si Cong on the spot, and when his clan and followers, more than a thousand strong, attacked the county seat, He Qi led the officials and people out through the opened gates in a charge and crushed them. With this his prestige shook the Shanyue. Records, Wu 15 §2

When the people of Taimo and Fengpu rebelled, he was made acting Chief of Taimo and pacified them all within a month. In the 1st year of Jian'an (196), when Sun Ce reached Kuaiji Commandery, he nominated He Qi as Filial and Incorrupt. At this time Wang Lang fled to Dongye, and Shang Sheng, Chief of Houguan, raised troops on Wang Lang's behalf; when Han Yan, Commandant of the Southern Region, who was sent against him, was defeated, He Qi, Chief of Yongning, took over the duties of Commandant in his place. Shang Sheng, fearing He Qi's prestige, asked to surrender, but the bandit leaders Zhang Ya, Zhan Qiang and others killed Shang Sheng and styled themselves Supreme General and Administrator of Kuaiji respectively. He Qi rested his troops while sowing discord between Zhang Ya and his son-in-law He Xiong so that they fought each other, then crushed Zhang Ya in a single battle, and Zhan Qiang's followers came out and surrendered. Records, Wu 15 §3–5

In the 8th year of Jian'an (203), when disorder broke out again in Jian'an, Hanxing and Nanping, He Qi set up a commandant's headquarters at Jian'an and commanded 5,000 soldiers levied by the commandery. As they passed Yugan, He Qi, fearing that his line of retreat would be cut, told Ding Fan, Chief of Songyang, to stay behind on guard; when Ding Fan, ashamed as chief of a neighboring city to be placed under him, refused, He Qi beheaded him. The whole army trembled in fear and all obeyed orders. He Qi beheaded on the battlefield the bandit leader Hong Ming, who held Hanxing, and accepted the surrender of the rest, and also received the surrender of three leaders at Gaizhu and Datan. The heads taken numbered 6,000, and all the noted leaders were captured. He re-established the counties and towns, selected 10,000 men as soldiers, and became Colonel Who Pacifies the East. In the 10th year of Jian'an (205) he attacked Shangrao and divided its land to form Jianping County. Records, Wu 15 §6–8Records, Wu 2 §9

In the 13th year of Jian'an (208) he was transferred to General of the Household Who Displays Martial Might and attacked Yi and She counties in Danyang. Jin Qi and Mao Gan of She each led 10,000 households, and Chen Pu, Zu Shan and others of Yi led 20,000 households, holding the mountains; of these, Mount Linli was sheer as a wall on all four sides and several dozen zhang high, so that when the bandits rolled stones down it could not be attacked. After surveying the terrain in person, He Qi secretly gathered nimble soldiers, made iron spikes for them, and had them cut a path up the mountain at a precipitous spot the bandits had not guarded and climb it by night. After hauling up more than a hundred men with hanging lengths of cloth, he had drums and horns sounded on all sides, and the bandits, thinking the whole army had climbed up, fell into confusion. The main army took this chance to climb up, crushed Chen Pu and the others, and beheaded 7,000. Records, Wu 15 §9–11

He Qi memorialized proposing that She be divided to form the counties of Shixin, Xinding, Liyang and Xiuyang, and Sun Quan separated these together with Yi and She, six counties in all, to form Xindu Commandery. He Qi became its Administrator, set up his seat at Shixin, and was additionally made Lieutenant General. According to Jiang Qin's biography, Jiang Qin, leading 10,000 soldiers, joined forces with He Qi to pacify the bandits of You County. Records, Wu 15 §9 · 11Records, Wu 2 §11Records, Wu 10 §22

In the 16th year of Jian'an (211), when Lang Zhi of Yuhang County in Wu Commandery gathered his clan and became a bandit, He Qi defeated him and had Yuhang divided to form Linshui County. When he was summoned to Sun Quan and was returning to his commandery, Sun Quan held a farewell sacrifice on the road and provided music and dancing. Sun Quan granted him a curtained carriage and fine horses, and when He Qi declined, had attendants help him into the carriage. Watching him, Sun Quan said with a smile, 'One must strive. Without accumulating good deeds and repeated diligence, this cannot be obtained,' and only turned back after going more than a hundred paces. Records, Wu 15 §12–13

In the 18th year of Jian'an (213) he put down the uprising of Peng Cai, Li Yu, Wang Hai and others, more than 10,000 strong, in eastern Yuzhang, and became General Who Displays Vigor. In the 20th year of Jian'an (215), when he followed Sun Quan in the attack on Hefei, Xu Sheng was wounded and lost his spear while fighting the troops who came out of the city, and He Qi led his troops to hold off the enemy and recovered the spear. In the 21st year of Jian'an (216), when You Tu of Poyang accepted seals of office from Lord Cao and stirred up the people, he and Lu Xun defeated him, beheading several thousand, and he brought about the surrender of three counties of Danyang, gaining 8,000 picked troops. For this he became General Who Pacifies the East and was enfeoffed as Marquis of Shanyin, supervising the banks of the Yangtze from above Fuzhou to Wan County. Records, Wu 15 §14–16

In the 1st year of Huangwu (222), when Wei sent Cao Xiu to invade, He Qi, arriving late because of the long road, stopped at Xinshi to hold him off. When the armies at Dongkou were struck by a storm and lost half their strength and the officers and men turned pale, only He Qi's detached force, which had not yet crossed the river, remained intact, and the other generals relied on it. By nature He Qi loved extravagance and splendor; his weapons and armor were exquisitely made, and his mengchong assault ships and fighting ships looked like mountains from afar. Cao Xiu and the others, wary of this, led their troops back. He Qi became General of the Rear, was granted the Tally, and concurrently held the post of Governor of Xu Province. Records, Wu 15 §17–18Records, Wu 12 §78

When Jin Zong, the garrison commander of Xikou, led his followers in defecting to Wei, became Administrator of Qichun and planned to raid Anle, Sun Quan, feeling disgraced, ordered him to be attacked unexpectedly in the 6th month, at the height of summer. He Qi, leading Mi Fang, Xianyu Dan and others, raided Qichun and captured Jin Zong alive. The Biography of the Lord of Wu records this in the 6th month of the 2nd year of Huangwu (223), saying that Liu Shao (劉邵) and others captured Jin Zong, and Hu Zong's biography says that Hu Zong and He Qi marched light and took him by surprise. He Qi died four years later. His son He Da and his younger brother He Jing both had good reputations and became fine generals. Records, Wu 15 §19Records, Wu 2 §49–50Records, Wu 17 §13

In his assessment, Chen Shou said that because the Shanyue were prone to rebellion, hard to settle and easily stirred, Sun Quan had no time to ward off enemies abroad and humbled his words toward Wei, and that the ministers of this volume were all men who successfully put down disorder at home and brought peace within the state. Records, Wu 15 §86