Deng Zhi 鄧芝

At the end of the Han, Deng Zhi went into Shu but found no one who recognized him. He sought out and followed Zhang Yu, Attendant Officer of Yi Province and a skilled reader of faces, and Zhang Yu told him that he would live past seventy, rise to the rank of General-in-Chief and be enfeoffed as a marquis. Hearing that Pang Xi, Administrator of Baxi, was fond of scholars, Deng Zhi went to him and attached himself to him. When Liu Bei pacified Yi Province, Deng Zhi became Superintendent of the Granary at Pi; Liu Bei, coming out to Pi, talked with him, thought him quite extraordinary and promoted him to Prefect of Pi, and he was transferred to Administrator of Guanghan. Wherever he went he governed with integrity and strictness and had a record of good administration, so he entered the court as a Master of Writing. Records, Shu 15 §2

Liu Bei died at Yong'an. Earlier, when Sun Quan had asked for peace, Liu Bei had repeatedly sent Song Wei, Fei Yi and others to answer him, and the Chancellor Zhuge Liang was deeply worried that Sun Quan, on hearing of Liu Bei's death, might form other plans. Deng Zhi went to see Zhuge Liang and said that since the sovereign was young and weak and had only just taken the throne, a senior envoy should be sent to renew the friendship with Wu. Zhuge Liang said he had long been thinking of this but had not found the right man, and had found him only today; that man was Deng Zhi himself. The Biography of the Later Sovereign records that in the 1st year of Jianxing (223) the Master of Writing Deng Zhi was sent to strengthen the friendship with Wu. Records, Shu 15 §3–4Records, Shu 3 §4

Sun Quan was indeed suspicious and did not receive Deng Zhi at once. Deng Zhi submitted a memorial himself asking for an audience, saying that he had come for the sake of Wu as well, not only for Shu, and Sun Quan said that he was hesitating because he feared that Shu, with its ruler young and its state small, could not preserve itself if Wei took advantage of it. Deng Zhi replied that Shu had layer upon layer of rugged terrain and Wu had the barrier of the Three Rivers, and that if the two states depended on each other like lips and teeth they could advance to unite the realm or withdraw to stand like the legs of a tripod. He added that if Wu submitted to Wei, Wei would demand that Sun Quan come to court and that his heir be sent to serve at the palace, and if he refused, Wei would invade on the pretext of punishing a rebel, while Shu too would come down the river, so that the land south of the Yangtze would no longer be Sun Quan's. Records, Shu 15 §4–5

Sun Quan was silent for a long while and then said that his words were right, and in the end he broke with Wei and allied and made peace with Shu. The Biography of the Lord of Wu records that in winter, in the 11th month of the 2nd year of Huangwu (223), Shu's General of the Household Deng Zhi came on a courtesy mission, and that in the summer of the following year Zhang Wen was sent to Shu. On this occasion, as Zhuge Liang had instructed, Deng Zhi asked Sun Quan to send back Zhang Yi, who was then in Wu, and Sun Quan granted the request. Records, Shu 15 §6Records, Wu 2 §50–51Records, Shu 11 §23

When Shu sent Deng Zhi again, Sun Quan asked whether it would not be a joy if the realm were at peace and two rulers governed it between them. Deng Zhi replied that there were not two suns in the sky nor two kings on the earth; if, after Wei had been absorbed, Sun Quan still did not deeply understand the Mandate of Heaven, each ruler would strive to cultivate his virtue and each subject to exhaust his loyalty, and the generals would take up the drums, and only then would the war truly begin. Sun Quan laughed heartily and praised his sincerity, and in a letter to Zhuge Liang he wrote, 'Ding Hong was boastful and Yin Hua did not say all he should, but the one who brought harmony between our two states is Deng Zhi alone.' Records, Shu 15 §6–7

When Zhuge Liang went north and stayed at Hanzhong, Deng Zhi became Central Army Supervisor and General Who Displays Martial Might. In spring of the 6th year of Jianxing (228), Zhuge Liang spread word that he would take Mei County by way of the Xie Valley road, and had Zhao Yun and Deng Zhi hold Ji Valley as a decoy force. When Cao Zhen, the Wei General-in-Chief, came against them with his whole host, Zhao Yun and Deng Zhi, whose troops were weak and the enemy strong, suffered a setback at Ji Valley, but they gathered their men and held firm and did not suffer a great defeat. In the memorial he submitted after returning, Zhuge Liang cited the 'failure to keep watch at Ji Valley' along with the disobedience of orders at Jieting, and took the blame upon himself. Records, Shu 15 §7Records, Shu 5 §32–33Records, Shu 6 §41

After Zhuge Liang died, Deng Zhi was transferred to Army Instructor of the Front and General of the Front, concurrently Inspector of Yan Province, and enfeoffed as Marquis of Yangwu Precinct, and soon afterwards he commanded Jiangzhou. Sun Quan exchanged news with him many times and sent him generous gifts. The Biography of Wang Ping records that when the Wei General-in-Chief Cao Shuang invaded Hanzhong in the 7th year of Yanxi (244), 'Deng Zhi in the east, Ma Zhong in the south and Wang Ping on the northern frontier all won renown for their achievements.' Records, Shu 15 §7Records, Shu 13 §39–40

In the 6th year of Yanxi (243) Deng Zhi was promoted in place to General of Chariots and Cavalry, and later he was granted the Staff of authority. In the 11th year of Yanxi (248), when the people of Fuling State killed their Commandant and rebelled, he led troops there, at once beheaded and displayed their ringleader, and the people were at peace. The Biography of the Later Sovereign records this as the commoners and Yi tribesmen of the Fuling Dependent State rebelling in the autumn of that year and the General of Chariots and Cavalry Deng Zhi going there and crushing and pacifying them all. Deng Zhi died in the 14th year of Yanxi (251). Records, Shu 15 §8Records, Shu 3 §28

In the 10th year of Yanxi (247), when Deng Zhi came from Jiangzhou to court, he asked Zong Yu, who had just become Colonel of Garrison Cavalry, why he was receiving military command only now, when the rites said that at sixty a man no longer served in the army; Zong Yu retorted, 'You are seventy and still have not handed back your command, so why should I, at sixty, not accept one?' Chen Shou wrote that Deng Zhi was arrogant by nature, so that everyone from the General-in-Chief Fei Yi down avoided him and humbled themselves before him, but Zong Yu alone did not bow to him. Records, Shu 15 §20

Deng Zhi served as a general for more than twenty years, clear and decisive in reward and punishment, and took good care of his soldiers. For food and clothing he relied on what the government provided, and while he did not make a show of frugality, he never added to his private property, so his wife and children could not escape hunger and cold, and on the day he died there was no wealth left in his house. He was firm and terse by nature and did not dress up his feelings, so he did not get along well with the scholar-officials, and few people of the time respected or valued him, but Jiang Wei alone he regarded as a vessel of unusual capacity. His son Deng Liang succeeded to his title, became a Gentleman of the Left Selection Bureau of the Masters of Writing during the Jingyao era, and served the Jin court as Administrator of Guanghan. Records, Shu 15 §9

In his assessment Chen Shou said that Deng Zhi was firm and upright, straightforward and clear-sighted, and that when in office he forgot his own household. Records, Shu 15 §85