Teng Yin 滕胤

Teng Yin, courtesy name Chengsi, was a man of Ju County in Beihai State. His uncle Teng Dan and his father Teng Zhou came from the same home region as Liu Yao and their families had close ties, and when the world fell into disorder they crossed the Yangtze and took refuge with Liu Yao. When Sun Quan became General of Chariots and Cavalry he made Teng Dan Major of the Right, and he had Teng Zhou, who wrote well, polish the documents of the army and state, but both died young. After Sun Quan became King of Wu, he remembered their old kindness and enfeoffed Teng Yin as Marquis of the Chief Precinct. Records, Wu 19 §66

From his youth Teng Yin had integrity and a fine appearance and bearing, and at about twenty he married a princess. At thirty he first took office as Administrator of Danyang and was transferred to Wu Commandery and Kuaiji, winning praise wherever he went. In winter of the 1st year of Taiyuan (251), when Sun Quan took to his sickbed, Teng Yin was summoned to the capital as Administrator of Kuaiji and made Minister of Ceremonies, and when Sun Quan's illness became grave, Teng Yin, together with Zhuge Ke, Sun Hong, Lü Ju and Sun Jun, was entrusted with the affairs that would follow. When Sun Liang took the throne, he became General of the Guards and took charge of the affairs of the Imperial Secretariat. Records, Wu 19 §67 · 22Records, Wu 3 §3–4

When Zhuge Ke meant to mobilise the whole host to attack Wei, Teng Yin remonstrated that after heavy labour service the people were exhausted and the enemy was prepared, so if he attacked a city and could not win he would lose his earlier merit and invite later blame; he urged him to put away the armour and rest the troops, and move when an opening appeared. Zhuge Ke would not listen, saying that those who said it could not be done were all men content with their places who wanted ease, and asking whether Teng Yin too was of that mind. Zhuge Ke made Teng Yin Commander of the Capital and entrusted him with affairs at home; Teng Yin received guests by day and examined documents by night, sometimes not sleeping until dawn. Records, Wu 19 §68–70

Nie You, knowing that Zhuge Ke, returning after withdrawing his army, would come to ruin, sent Teng Yin a letter saying that when a man is strong he can uproot rivers and mountains, but once he weakens, people's feelings change in a thousand ways. When Zhuge Ke was summoned to the palace through Sun Jun's scheme and, suddenly complaining of a stomach ache, was about to go back, Teng Yin met him at the gate. Not knowing of Sun Jun's secret scheme, Teng Yin urged him to make the effort to go in, since he had not yet had an audience since returning from the campaign and the sovereign had laid on a banquet. Records, Wu 19 §64 · 51

After Zhuge Ke's death, Teng Yin tried to resign his post because he was the father-in-law of Zhuge Ke's son Zhuge Song, but Sun Jun stopped him, saying that even the guilt of Gun had not extended to Yu. Though the two were not close at heart, outwardly they accommodated each other, and Teng Yin was raised to Marquis of Gaomi and worked with Sun Jun as before. When Sun Jun meant to build a city at Guangling, the court officials were afraid and dared not speak, and only Teng Yin remonstrated against it; Sun Jun did not listen, but the work was never completed. Records, Wu 19 §73 · 76

In the 1st year of Taiping (256), when Sun Jun, on Wen Qin's plan, sent Lü Ju and others to attack Wei, Teng Yin went with Sun Jun to Shitou to see them off. In the 9th month of that year Sun Jun died and Sun Chen took charge of the government, and Lü Ju, greatly alarmed, jointly recommended Teng Yin as Chancellor together with the commanders. Sun Chen instead made Teng Yin Grand Marshal and had him garrison Wuchang in place of Lü Dai, and Lü Ju, turning his army back, sent men to Teng Yin, meaning to depose Sun Chen together with him. Records, Wu 19 §76 · 79Records, Wu 3 §12–13

Sun Chen sent Hua Rong and Ding Yan to tell Teng Yin to seize Lü Ju and to leave quickly. Teng Yin, believing that disaster had come upon him, detained the two men, put his troops in order to defend himself, and announced that Sun Chen had raised a rebellion. When Sun Chen memorialised that Teng Yin had rebelled and sent the general Liu Cheng to surround him, Teng Yin killed Hua Rong and the others, who had refused his demand to write a false edict. His countenance did not change, and he talked and laughed as usual. Someone urged him to lead his troops to the Canglong Gate, but trusting in his agreement with Lü Ju, he was reluctant to turn troops against the palace, and he told his retainers that Marquis Lü was close at hand. Records, Wu 19 §80–81

That night a great wind blew, and by dawn Lü Ju had not come. Sun Chen's troops gathered in force and killed Teng Yin and several dozen of his officers and men, and exterminated Teng Yin's three sets of kin. The Biographies of the Three Successor Rulers place this in the 10th month of the 1st year of Taiping. His daughter, who had married Wu Zuan, grandson of Wu Jing, was also put to death, and Sun Yi fled to Wei taking Teng Yin's wife with him. Empress Teng, consort of Sun Hao, was a daughter of Teng Yin's clan. Records, Wu 19 §82Records, Wu 3 §13–14Records, Wu 5 §7 · 39Records, Wu 6 §22

When Sun Xiu captured Sun Chen, he had him beheaded, saying, 'Why did you not banish Teng Yin and Lü Ju?' He then said that it pained him that Zhuge Ke, Teng Yin and Lü Ju had been harmed though guiltless by the brothers Sun Jun and Sun Chen, and had them all reburied and sacrifices offered to them. Records, Wu 19 §100 · 102

In his assessment, Chen Shou said that Teng Yin cultivated the integrity of a scholar and followed the proper rules, but since he still kept his high position even in the time of Sun Jun, it was in the nature of things that he would come to danger. Records, Wu 19 §108