Taishi Ci 太史慈

Taishi Ci, courtesy name Ziyi, was a man of Huang County in Donglai Commandery. In his youth he loved learning, and he became a clerk of the memorials section (zoucao shi) of his commandery. A quarrel arose between the commandery and the province, and the side that reported first was likely to be judged in the right; since the province's memorial had already set out, the Administrator looked for someone to send. Taishi Ci, then twenty-one, was chosen, and travelling day and night he reached the Gongche Gate in Luoyang just as the provincial officer was about to submit his memorial. Records, Wu 4 §17

Saying that he wished to see whether the heading and signature were free of errors, Taishi Ci took the memorial from the officer and cut it to pieces with a knife he had hidden in his robe. Persuading the officer that, having handed over the memorial, he too could not escape punishment and that they should flee together, he left the city with him, then secretly returned and submitted the commandery's memorial. The province submitted another memorial, but the office in charge would not hear it because one had already come in, and the province received the adverse ruling. He became known for this affair, but the province hated him, and fearing he would suffer for it he took refuge in Liaodong. Records, Wu 4 §18–20

According to the biography of Bing Yuan, Bing Yuan in Liaodong hid Liu Zheng, whom Gongsun Du meant to kill, and when Taishi Ci of Donglai was about to return home he entrusted Liu Zheng to him. Kong Rong, Chancellor of Beihai, heard reports of Taishi Ci and thought him remarkable, and he sent people many times to ask after his mother and to send her gifts. When Kong Rong, stationed at Duchang, was surrounded by the Yellow Turban rebel Guan Hai, Taishi Ci's mother told him on his return from Liaodong that Kong of Beihai had cared for her more devotedly than an old friend would, and that he should go and save him. After staying three days, Taishi Ci went alone on foot to Duchang, slipped in by night while the siege was not yet tight, and met Kong Rong. Records, Wei 11 §69Records, Wu 4 §21–22

Taishi Ci asked for troops to go out and fight, but Kong Rong would not listen and waited for help from outside. No help came and the siege tightened day by day; Kong Rong wanted to report his peril to Liu Bei, Chancellor of Pingyuan, but there was no one who could get out of the city. Taishi Ci said that if he too said it could not be done when everyone else said so, it would accord neither with the care Kong Rong had shown nor with his mother's purpose in sending him, and he offered to go himself. Records, Wu 4 §22–23

At daybreak Taishi Ci took up his bow, mounted his horse, and went out of the city gate with two horsemen, each holding a target. He set up the targets inside the moat, shot at them and went back in through the gate, and after he had repeated this for three mornings, the besiegers no longer even stood up. Then he whipped his horse and galloped straight through the middle of the encirclement; by the time the rebels noticed he had already passed, and he shot several more of them dead, so that none dared pursue him. Records, Wu 4 §23–24

On reaching Pingyuan, Taishi Ci told Liu Bei that although he was neither kin nor a fellow townsman of Kong of Beihai, they were bound by mutual regard for each other's name and ideals and had an obligation to share in hardship, and that trusting in Liu Bei's benevolence and righteousness he had broken through the layered siege to come. Liu Bei composed his face and said, 'So Kong of Beihai knows that there is a Liu Bei in the world!', and he sent three thousand picked soldiers; hearing that troops were coming, the rebels lifted the siege and scattered. Kong Rong called him 'my young friend', and his mother rejoiced that he had repaid Kong of Beihai. Records, Wu 4 §25–26

Liu Yao, Inspector of Yang Province, was a man of the same commandery as Taishi Ci. When Taishi Ci went to Qu'e to see Liu Yao, Sun Ce happened to arrive. When someone urged that Taishi Ci be made a grand general, Liu Yao said, 'If I were to employ Ziyi, would Xu Zijiang not laugh at me?', and assigned him only to reconnoiter. Going out with a single horseman, Taishi Ci ran into Sun Ce, who had thirteen horsemen including Han Dang, Song Qian and Huang Gai, and fought him on the spot. Sun Ce stabbed Taishi Ci's horse and snatched the hand halberd he had stuck at the back of his neck, and Taishi Ci for his part seized Sun Ce's helmet, but when the soldiers and horsemen of both sides came rushing up they broke apart. Records, Wu 4 §27–28

Taishi Ci should have fled to Yuzhang with Liu Yao, but at Wuhu he went into the mountains and styled himself Administrator of Danyang. When Sun Ce had already pacified the land east of Xuancheng and only the six counties west of Jing County had not submitted, Taishi Ci set up a garrison headquarters in Jing County, and many of the Shanyue came over to him. Sun Ce attacked him in person and captured him, and the biography of Lü Fan records that Lü Fan attacked Taishi Ci at Yongli. Sun Ce at once untied his bonds, took him by the hand and asked, 'Do you remember the time at Shenting? If you had caught me then, what would you have done?' When Taishi Ci said, 'There is no telling,' Sun Ce laughed heartily and said that they should undertake the business of today together. He made him Commander of the Gate Guard (menxia du), and on returning to Wu gave him troops and appointed him General of the Household Who Breaks Assaults (zhechong zhonglangjiang). Records, Wu 4 §29–30Records, Wu 11 §35

When Liu Yao died at Yuzhang and his soldiers and followers, more than ten thousand, had no one to rely on, Sun Ce sent Taishi Ci to pacify and comfort them. Those around Sun Ce said he would not come back, but Sun Ce said, 'If Ziyi abandons me, with whom else would he side?', and saw him off at the Chang Gate, clasping his wrist. Taishi Ci said he would take no more than sixty days, and indeed he returned within the time he had set. Records, Wu 4 §30

When Liu Biao's nephew Liu Pan repeatedly raided Ai, Xi'an and other counties, Sun Ce divided off six counties around Haihun and Jianchang, made Taishi Ci Commandant of Jianchang (jianchang duwei) with his seat at Haihun, and had him oversee the generals to hold off Liu Pan. Liu Pan raided no more. The Biography of the Lord of Wu records that in the 8th year of Jian'an (203) Taishi Ci was in charge of Haihun. When Sun Quan took over the government, he entrusted the affairs of the south to Taishi Ci because he was able to keep Liu Pan in check. Records, Wu 4 §31 · 33Records, Wu 2 §7

Taishi Ci was seven chi seven cun tall with a fine beard, and with long, ape-like arms he was a skilled archer whose arrows never missed. When he followed Sun Ce to attack the rebels of Mabao, he shot a rebel who was hurling abuse while holding a beam on the tower of their camp; the arrow pierced the man's hand and pinned it to the beam, and the ten thousand men outside the siege all cried out in admiration. Cao Cao heard of his name and sent him a letter sealed in a box, and when it was opened there were no words in it, only some angelica (danggui). Records, Wu 4 §32

He died in the 11th year of Jian'an (206) at the age of forty-one, and his son Taishi Xiang rose to the office of Colonel of the Yue Cavalry (yueji xiaowei). In his assessment, Chen Shou wrote that Taishi Ci was steadfast in good faith and fierce, with the quality of the men of old. Records, Wu 4 §33 · 51