Gu Tan 顧譚

Gu Tan, courtesy name Zimo, was the son of Gu Shao, Administrator of Yuzhang. At about twenty he was transferred from Inner Cadet to Commandant Who Assists Rectitude. In the 2nd year of Huangchu (221), when Sun Quan's eldest son Sun Deng became crown prince, tutors and companions were chosen for him, and Gu Tan was selected along with Zhuge Ke, Zhang Xiu, Chen Biao and others; they lectured on the Odes and the Documents and accompanied him in riding and archery. Sun Deng sometimes rode in the same carriage with them and sometimes slept in the same tent. In the 1st year of Huanglong (229), when Sun Quan proclaimed himself emperor and Sun Deng became Imperial Crown Prince, Zhuge Ke became Left Assistant, Zhang Xiu Right Support, Gu Tan Assistant of Rectitude, and Chen Biao Commandant Who Supports Rectitude, and they were called the 'Four Friends'. Records, Wu 7 §37 · 39 · 41Records, Wu 14 §2–3

In the Chiwu era he replaced Zhuge Ke as Left Controller. When examining registers and documents he never once used counting rods, but reckoned in his head by counting on his fingers, and still found every doubtful point and error, so the subordinate officials submitted to him. He was given the additional post of Chief Commandant of Imperial Carriages. When Xue Zong was made Master of Writing for Selection, he firmly declined in favor of Gu Tan, saying that Gu Tan's mind was precise and his conduct meticulous, that his talent illuminated the character of men and his virtue met the expectations of all, so that he himself could not take precedence; later Gu Tan did in the end replace Xue Zong. Records, Wu 7 §41

In the 1st month, in spring of the 6th year of Jiahe (237), Sun Quan had the rules reconsidered for senior officials who, on suffering a bereavement, rushed home without waiting to hand over to a successor. Gu Tan argued that a light penalty could not restrain the feelings of a filial son, while a heavy one was for something that was not by nature a capital crime; since a senior official in a distant post could not know unless someone told him, if anyone who carried news of a death to him before his successor had been chosen and taken over were put to death, the official would bear no blame for abandoning his post and the filial son would not commit a grave crime. Records, Wu 2 §81–83

In the letter he submitted to Sun Quan when facing death, Sun Deng recommended Zhang Xiu, Gu Tan and Xie Jing as all perceptive and possessed of insight and decisiveness, fit to be trusted as confidants within and to serve as claws and fangs without. Records, Wu 14 §8 · 10

Some months after his grandfather Gu Yong died in winter of the 6th year of Chiwu (243), Gu Tan was appointed Minister of Ceremonies and took charge of the affairs of the Secretariat in Gu Yong's place. At this time Sun Ba, King of Lu, enjoyed great favor and stood on an equal footing with the crown prince Sun He, and Gu Tan submitted a memorial. It said that those who possess a state or a house must make clear the distinction between the heir and the other sons and differentiate the rites for the high and the low, so that the bonds of kinship grow and covetous ambitions are cut off. Citing Jia Yi's words that when one's power is heavy even a close relative will rebel, while when it is light even a distant one will be preserved, and the case of Yuan Ang, who removed Lady Shen's seat when Emperor Wen of Han had her sit level with the empress, he said that his words were not partial, but meant to keep the crown prince secure and to benefit the King of Lu. Records, Wu 7 §42–43 · 34Records, Wu 2 §99

Because of this, a rift opened between Sun Ba and Gu Tan. At that time Quan Ji, son of Quan Cong, General of the Guards and husband of the Senior Princess, became a retainer of Sun Ba; Quan Ji was a man of crooked conduct whom Gu Tan had refused to receive. Earlier, in the 4th year of Chiwu (241), Gu Tan's younger brother Gu Cheng had joined Zhang Xiu in following the Grand Commander Quan Cong north to attack Shouchun. When Quan Cong fought the Wei general Wang Ling at Quebei and the battle went badly, so that the force of Qin Er, commander of five battalions, collapsed, Zhang Xiu and Gu Cheng fought hard and halted the Wei army, and Quan Cong's sons Quan Xu and Quan Duan then advanced and attacked, so that Wang Ling's army withdrew. When merits were assessed, halting the enemy was judged the greater merit, so Zhang Xiu and Gu Cheng became generals with miscellaneous titles while Quan Xu and Quan Duan became only lieutenant and subordinate generals, and Quan Ji and his father, all the more resentful, together framed Gu Tan. Records, Wu 7 §44–45Records, Wu 2 §95

Gu Tan was implicated in this and exiled to Jiao Province. Zhang Xiu's biography records that Sun Ba's faction slandered Zhang Xiu and Gu Cheng, alleging that when the merits of Quebei were assessed they had colluded with Chen Xun, the Commander of the Guard, to exaggerate their achievements, and that the two were exiled to Jiao Province along with Gu Tan. Sun He's biography also says that when Lu Xun, Wu Can, Gu Tan and others repeatedly set out the principle of the heir and the other sons, Quan Ji and Yang Zhu, as members of Sun Ba's faction, slandered them, so that Wu Can was imprisoned and put to death and Gu Tan was moved to Jiao Province. Lu Xun's biography records that Gu Tan and Gu Cheng, Lu Xun's nephews, were unjustly exiled for having attached themselves to the crown prince. Records, Wu 7 §45 · 24Records, Wu 14 §28Records, Wu 13 §55

Confined in exile, Gu Tan was moved to indignation and wrote the New Words in twenty chapters, and Chen Shou wrote that its chapter 'On Knowing Difficulty' was probably a lament for himself. Two years after his exile he died in Jiaozhi at the age of forty-two. His younger brother Gu Cheng was also exiled to Jiao Province a few years after the battle of Quebei, together with his elder brother Gu Tan, Zhang Xiu and others, and died at thirty-seven. Records, Wu 7 §45–46 · 49

In his assessment, Chen Shou said that Gu Tan offered upright counsel in public affairs and had the integrity of loyalty and uprightness, and that Zhang Xiu and Gu Cheng too cultivated their resolve and hoped to do good, but that, as love and hatred attacked each other, they were exiled to the southern frontier, which was lamentable. Records, Wu 7 §101