Yang Xi 楊戲

Yang Xi, courtesy name Wenran, was a man of Wuyang County in Qianwei Commandery. In his youth he was well known together with Cheng Qi of Baxi, Yang Tai of Ba Commandery and Zhang Biao of Shu Commandery, and Yang Xi always put Cheng Qi forward as the foremost among them. The Chancellor Zhuge Liang recognized Yang Xi's worth deeply. In his early twenties he went from provincial clerk to Attendant Officer Supervising the Army, in charge of criminal cases, and his discussion of the law and judgment of doubtful cases were reputed to be fair and proper. The Chancellor's office summoned him as Registrar on its staff. Records, Shu 15 §27

When Zhuge Liang died, he became Gentleman of the Right Selection Bureau of the Imperial Secretariat, and the Inspector Jiang Wan requested him as Attendant Officer for the Headquarters Office. When Jiang Wan opened his own office as General-in-Chief, he again summoned him, as Clerk of the Eastern Bureau. Records, Shu 15 §28

As Clerk of the Eastern Bureau, Yang Xi was terse by nature, and when Jiang Wan talked with him he sometimes did not reply. When someone tried to slander Yang Xi, saying that his disrespect for his superior was excessive, Jiang Wan said that people's minds differ just as their faces do. He replied that if Yang Xi agreed with him it would not be his true feeling, and if he contradicted him it would expose Jiang Wan's error, so he kept silent, and that this was Yang Xi's forthrightness. Records, Shu 14 §8

Yang Xi was transferred to Army Adviser to the General of the Household for the South, serving as deputy to the Area Commander of Laixiang and concurrently Administrator of Jianning. Recalled to Chengdu because of illness, he was appointed Protector of the Army and Army Supervisor, went out to serve concurrently as Administrator of Zitong, and returned to court as Colonel of Archers Who Shoot at a Sound. Wherever he served he was pure, frugal and not vexatious. Records, Shu 15 §28

In the 20th year of Yanxi (257) Yang Xi accompanied the General-in-Chief Jiang Wei on campaign as far as the Mang River. Yang Xi had never inwardly submitted to Jiang Wei, and when laughing and talking after drinking he always made arrogant, mocking remarks. Jiang Wei, outwardly tolerant but inwardly jealous, could not bear this. When the army returned, the officials concerned, following his wishes, impeached Yang Xi, who was dismissed and reduced to commoner status. He died afterwards, in the 4th year of Jingyao (261). Records, Shu 15 §28–29

Yang Xi was terse and casual by nature and cut out needless fuss, and when he wrote documents giving instructions he rarely filled a single sheet. Yet he never addressed others with honeyed words or treated people more warmly than he felt, and he was devoted to old friends. Han Yan and Li Tao of Baxi had been close to him since childhood, and when Han Yan was disabled by a chronic illness and Li Tao was cast off for his poor conduct, Yang Xi looked after their livelihoods, and his kindness and friendship remained as they had been at first. Records, Shu 15 §30

At the time people thought that Qiao Zhou had no talent useful to the age, and few respected him, but Yang Xi alone valued him, once praising him: 'People like us will in the end never match this tall fellow.' Men of discernment esteemed Yang Xi for this. Zhang Biao, who at first had been Yang Xi's equal in reputation and rank, rose to Master of Writing and became Area Commander of Laixiang and General of the Rear, but died before Yang Xi, and Cheng Qi and Yang Tai each died young. Records, Shu 15 §30–31

Yang Xi wrote the Encomia on the Supporting Ministers of Ji Han in the 4th year of Yanxi (241). Chen Shou stated that because many of those it praised and described were included in the Records of Shu, he was transcribing it; that it did not retrospectively praise those who died after it was written, so some who deserved praise were left out; and that for those whom Yang Xi praised but who had no biography of their own, he had noted their life stories as commentary beneath the encomia. Records, Shu 15 §32–33

In the preface to the encomia, Yang Xi wrote that at the end of the Middle Han, when the royal order collapsed, the ruler of the age rose up from Yan and Dai, displayed his might in Ba and Shu, and restored the ancestral sacrifices of the imperial Han, but suddenly fell ill and passed away. He said that the union and allegiance of the myriad states came about because the outstanding men of the time supported and upheld him, and that he wished to record their fine bearing together and pass it on to later ages. The encomia begin with Emperor Zhaolie (Liu Bei), and Chancellor Zhuge is praised for having received the late emperor's charge and put both military and civil order in good array, yet for leaving behind the regret that, though he devoted himself wholeheartedly to planning against the great state, it had not yet been subdued. Yang Xi also wrote an encomium for Cheng Qi, who died young at twenty, lamenting that he was eminently outstanding and extraordinary yet died before his talents could be shown. Records, Shu 15 §34–35 · 38–40 · 80

In his assessment Chen Shou, after praising Deng Zhi, Zhang Yi and Zong Yu, wrote that in judging and discussing people Yang Xi aimed to stand apart from the crowd, but that he was lacking in wisdom and judgment and probably met with misfortune in his time for that reason. Records, Shu 15 §85