Cheng Yu 程昱

He stood eight chi three cun tall and had a fine beard. When the Yellow Turbans rose, Wang Du, Assistant of Dong'a County, rose in response and burned the granaries; the county Prefect fled over the city wall, and the officials and people fled east to Mount Quqiu. Seeing that Wang Du and his men had taken the empty city but could not hold it, Cheng Yu proposed going back to defend the city, but the people would not follow; so he secretly sent a few horsemen to raise banners on the eastern hill and had others cry out, "The rebels are already here!", turning the people toward the city. He found the Prefect and held the city with him, and when Wang Du and his men were about to withdraw, he opened the city gates and struck, routing them, so that Dong'a was preserved intact. Records, Wei 14 §2–4

During the Chuping era, Liu Dai, Inspector of Yan Province, summoned him, but he did not respond. When Gongsun Zan told Liu Dai to send away Yuan Shao's wife and children and break with Yuan Shao, Liu Dai called in Cheng Yu and asked for a plan. Cheng Yu said that abandoning Yuan Shao, who was near, to seek help from the distant Gongsun Zan was like borrowing a man from Yue to save a drowning child, and that Gongsun Zan would in the end be captured by Yuan Shao. Gongsun Zan was indeed heavily defeated by Yuan Shao. Liu Dai memorialized to make him Chief Commandant of Cavalry (qi duwei), but he declined, pleading illness. Records, Wei 14 §5–7

When Liu Dai was killed by the Yellow Turbans and Cao Cao took up his post in Yan Province and summoned him, Cheng Yu prepared to go. When the people of his district said he was contradicting himself, he laughed and did not answer. Cao Cao talked with him, was pleased, and had him serve as acting Prefect of Shouzhang. Records, Wei 14 §8

In the 1st year of Xingping (194), when Cao Cao attacked Xu Province, he had Cheng Yu and Xun Yu hold Juancheng; when Zhang Miao and others rebelled and welcomed in Lü Bu, the commanderies and counties all went over to them, and only Juancheng, Fan, and Dong'a stood firm. At Xun Yu's request, Cheng Yu went to Jin Yun, Prefect of Fan, and persuaded him to hold Fan firmly, saying that Lü Bu was merely a hero among common men, while Commissioner Cao was surely one sent by Heaven. Jin Yun stabbed to death Fan Yi, who had come to seize Fan, and held the county. Cheng Yu also sent a separate force of cavalry to cut off Cangting Ford so that Chen Gong could not cross, and at Dong'a he held the city together with its Prefect Zao Zhi and Xue Ti, Attendant Officer of Yan Province, keeping all three cities intact. On his return, Cao Cao took Cheng Yu by the hand and said, "But for your efforts, I would have had nowhere to return to," and memorialized to make him Chancellor of Dongping. Records, Wei 1 §28Records, Wei 14 §8–12

At a time when Cao Cao was fighting Lü Bu at Puyang and had suffered repeated setbacks, Yuan Shao proposed an alliance and wanted Cao Cao to move his family to Ye, and Cao Cao, having lost Yan Province and run out of grain, was inclined to accept. Cheng Yu, just back from a mission, asked whether Cao Cao had grown afraid in the face of events, and whether he could really place himself beneath Yuan Shao and play the part of a Han Xin or a Peng Yue. When he said that Cao Cao still had three cities and ten thousand men able to fight, and that by gathering and employing Wenruo and men like himself he could achieve the great enterprise of a hegemon-king, Cao Cao gave up the idea. Records, Wei 14 §13–14

When the Son of Heaven made Xu his capital, Cheng Yu became Master of Writing (shangshu), and then, as General of the Household of the East (dong zhonglangjiang), he concurrently served as Administrator of Jiyin and oversaw the affairs of Yan Province. He urged Cao Cao to kill Liu Bei, who had come to him after losing Xu Province, but Cao Cao refused, saying that this was a time for gathering heroes. Later, when Cao Cao sent Liu Bei to Xu Province to block Yuan Shu, Cheng Yu and Guo Jia said that if Liu Bei were lent troops he would surely turn disloyal. Cao Cao regretted it and had him pursued, but too late; Liu Bei reached Xu Province, killed Che Zhou, and rebelled. Records, Wei 14 §15–16Records, Wei 1 §41

After he was transferred to General Who Spreads Awe (zhenwei jiangjun), when Yuan Shao was about to cross south from Liyang, Cheng Yu was holding Juancheng with 700 men. When Cao Cao offered to reinforce him with 2,000 more, he declined, saying that with few troops Yuan Shao would think little of him and not attack, but that if his numbers were increased Yuan Shao could not pass by without attacking. Yuan Shao indeed did not come, and Cao Cao said to Jia Xu, "Cheng Yu's courage surpasses that of Meng Ben and Xia Yu." Cheng Yu gathered those who had fled into the mountains and marshes, obtaining several thousand elite troops, and joined Cao Cao at Liyang to attack Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang. For this merit he became General of Vehement Might (fenwu jiangjun) and was enfeoffed as Marquis of Anguo Precinct. Records, Wei 14 §16–17

When Cao Cao attacked Jing Province, Liu Bei fled to Wu. Others thought Sun Quan would kill Liu Bei, but Cheng Yu reckoned that since Sun Quan could not withstand Cao Cao alone, he would use Liu Bei, who led generals such as Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, each a match for ten thousand men, as a resource to resist him; and Sun Quan did indeed give Liu Bei many troops. As the Central Plains were gradually pacified, Cao Cao patted Cheng Yu on the back and said that had he not heeded Cheng Yu's words at the time of his defeat in Yan Province, he would not have come this far. Saying, "He who knows contentment suffers no disgrace," Cheng Yu memorialized on his own initiative to return his command of troops, and shut his gate and did not go out. Records, Wei 14 §18–19

Cheng Yu was hard and fierce by nature and often at odds with others. Someone accused him of plotting rebellion, but Cao Cao treated him all the more generously. When the state of Wei was founded he became Minister of the Guards, but he was dismissed after quarreling over ceremonial precedence with the Capital Commandant (zhongwei) Xing Zhen. When Cao Pi took the throne, he again became Minister of the Guards and was promoted to Marquis of Anxiang, his fief reaching 800 households. He died just as he was about to be raised to one of the Excellencies; the emperor shed tears for him, posthumously conferred on him the title of General of Chariots and Cavalry, and gave him the posthumous name Marquis Su. In the 1st year of Qinglong (233), Cao Rui had him honored with sacrifices in the temple courtyard of Taizu together with Xiahou Dun and Cao Ren. Records, Wei 14 §20Records, Wei 3 §28

In his assessment, Chen Shou called Cheng Yu, Guo Jia, Dong Zhao, Liu Ye, and Jiang Ji extraordinary men of their age in talent, strategy, and planning. He wrote that although they differed from Xun You in upright governance and virtuous achievement, in devising plans and foreseeing outcomes they were of the same class as he. Records, Wei 14 §158