Three Kingdoms and Six Dynasties · Northern Zhou and Sui General

Daxi Changru 達奚長儒

First attested AD 582; died c. AD 588

Passages
7
Chapters
1
Histories
1

Overview

Daxi Changru was a Northern Zhou and Sui General.

IdentityHistorical · Male
Found inBook of Sui

Other names

TypeEnglishChinesePinyin
Courtesy name Furen 富仁 Furen
Posthumous name Wei 威 Wei

Life and dates

Death

Age

Attested activity

Family

Immediate relationships attested in the translated histories.

Career and standing

  • Offices Commandant of the Imperial Carriages, Sub-commandant, General Who Supports the State, Commissioner Bearing the Staff, General Who Pacifies the Army, Regular Attendant-in-Ordinary of the Scattered Cavalry, General of Chariots and Cavalry, Director of the Three Departments with Equal Standing, Administrator of Weinan, Superior Director of the Bureau, Valiant Grand Master of the Left Forward Army, Grand General, Commander on Campaign
    Directly stated · Book of Sui 53, passage 2
  • Offices Governor of Ningzhou, Governor of Fuzhou, Commander of Xiazhou, Commander of Xiangzhou, Commander of Lanzhou, Commander of Jingzhou
    Directly stated · Book of Sui 53, passage 7
  • Titles Duke of Lean, Duke of Chengan Commandery, Duke of Qichun Commandery
    Directly stated · Book of Sui 53, passages 2-3

Places and affiliations

Events and relationships

  • Commanded two thousand troops against a Turkic force of more than one hundred thousand at Zhoupan.
    Frontier battle
    Directly stated · Book of Sui 53, passage 4
  • Defeated Wang Qian’s allied uprising and captured Wang Qian’s two sons.
    Suppression
    Directly stated · Book of Sui 53, passage 3
  • Held a succession of northern and western commands and led an expedition beyond the Qilian Mountains.
    Frontier command
    Directly stated · Book of Sui 53, passage 7
  • Served repeatedly in the vanguard, helped conquer Shu and Northern Qi, defeated Chen relief forces at Luliang, and captured Wu Mingche.
    Military career
    Directly stated · Book of Sui 53, passage 2

Assessments and attributes

  • Known from youth for integrity and exceptional courage.
    Mode historian-narrative
    Directly stated · Book of Sui 53, passage 2
  • Observed mourning so severely after his mother’s death that it nearly killed him.
    Mode historian-narrative
    Directly stated · Book of Sui 53, passage 7
  • The historiographer praised his courage in resisting a force fifty times the size of his own.
    Mode historiographer-judgment
    Directly stated · Book of Sui 53, passage 36

References in the histories

Book of Sui, Chapter 53Volume 53 Biographies 18: Daxi Zhangru, Helou Zigan, Shi Wansui, Liu Fang · 7 passages
Open chapter
達奚長儒字富仁，代人也．祖俟，魏定州刺史．父慶，驃騎大將軍、儀同三司．長儒少懷節操，膽烈過人．十五，襲爵樂安公．魏大統中，起家奉車都尉．周太祖引為親信，以質直恭勤，授子都督．數有戰功，假輔國將軍，累遷使持節、撫軍將軍、通直散騎常侍．平蜀之役，恒為先鋒，攻城野戰，所當必破之．除車騎大將軍、儀同三司，增邑三百戶．天和中，除渭南郡守，遷驃騎大將軍、開府儀同三司．從武帝平齊，遷上開府，進爵成安郡公，邑千二百戶，別封一子縣公．宣政元年，除左前軍勇猛中大夫．後與烏丸軌圍陳將吳明徹於呂梁，陳遣驍將劉景率勁勇七千來為聲援，軌令長儒逆拒之．長儒於是取車輪數百，繫以大石，沉之清水，連轂相次，以待景軍．景至，船艦礙輪不得進．長儒乃縱奇兵，水陸俱發，大破之，俘數千人．及獲吳明徹，以功進位大將軍．尋授行軍總管，北巡沙塞，卒與虜遇，接戰，大破之． Daxi Changru, styled Furen, came from Dai. His grandfather Si had been Wei’s inspector of Dingzhou; his father Qing held the ranks of general of agile cavalry and director of the three departments with equal standing. Even as a young man Changru was known for moral resolve and a daring that outstripped ordinary men. At fifteen he succeeded to the dukedom of Le’an. Under the Great Unity reign of Wei he entered service as commandant of the imperial carriages. Emperor Taizu of Zhou took him into his personal trust, and for his plainspoken loyalty and tireless diligence he received a sub-commandant’s commission. Battle honors followed in number; he was acting general who supports the state, then rose through commissioner bearing the staff, general who pacifies the army, and regular attendant-in-ordinary of the scattered cavalry. In the conquest of Shu he was always in the van—whether in siege or in the field, whatever he struck gave way. He was made general of chariots and cavalry and director of the three departments with equal standing, with three hundred added households in his fief. In the Tianhe period he became administrator of Weinan commandery, then general of agile cavalry and director of a bureau with equal standing. He followed Emperor Wu in the pacification of Qi, was promoted to superior director of the bureau, advanced to duke of Cheng’an with twelve hundred households, and had one son enfeoffed separately as a county duke. In the first year of Xuanzheng he was appointed valiant grand master of the left forward army. Later, with Wuwan Gui, he besieged the Chen commander Wu Mingche at Lüliang. Chen dispatched the fierce general Liu Jing with seven thousand elite troops in relief; Gui ordered Changru to intercept them. Changru took hundreds of cartwheels, lashed heavy stones to them, and sank them in the clear current so that hub followed hub in a barrier across the river. When Jing arrived, his fleet fouled on the wheels and could not pass. Changru then loosed his strike force by land and water together and broke the enemy, taking several thousand prisoners. After Wu Mingche fell into their hands, Changru was promoted to grand general for his achievement. He was soon made commander on campaign and patrolled the northern sands; he suddenly met the barbarians in battle and crushed them.
高祖作相，王謙舉兵於蜀，沙氐上柱國楊永安扇動利、興、武、文、沙、龍等六州以應謙，詔長儒擊破之．謙二子自京師亡歸其父，長儒並捕斬之．高祖受禪，進位上大將軍，封蘄春郡公，邑二千五百戶． While Emperor Gaozu was still regent, Wang Qian rebelled in Shu. Yang Yong'an of the Shadi Di, a pillar of state of the first rank, roused the six prefectures of Li, Xing, Wu, Wen, Sha, and Long in support of Qian, and an edict sent Changru to break them. Qian’s two sons escaped the capital to join their father; Changru seized and executed them both. When Gaozu took the throne, Changru was promoted to grand general of the first rank and enfeoffed as duke of Qichun commandery with twenty-five hundred households.
開皇二年，突厥沙鉢略可汗並弟葉護及潘那可汗眾十餘萬，寇掠而南，詔以長儒為行軍總管，率眾二千擊之．遇於周槃，眾寡不敵，軍中大懼，長儒慷慨，神色愈烈．為虜所衝突，散而復聚，且戰且行，轉鬥三日，五兵咸盡，士卒以拳毆之，手皆見骨，殺傷萬計，虜氣稍奪，於是解去．長儒身被五創，通中者二； In the second year of Kaihuang, Shabolue Khan of the Turks, together with his younger brother, the yabghu, and Panna Khan, led a horde of more than a hundred thousand south in plunder. Changru was made commander on campaign and sent against them with two thousand men. They met at Zhoupan. Outnumbered, the army was seized with dread—but Changru only grew more fervent, his face fiercer than before. The barbarians broke his line again and again; his men scattered, re-formed, and fought on as they marched, wheeling through the hills for three days until every weapon was spent. Then they struck the enemy with bare fists until bone showed through their hands. Tens of thousands fell on both sides; the Turks’ spirit finally broke, and they drew off. Changru himself took five wounds, two of them grave.
其戰士死傷者十八九．突厥本欲大掠秦、隴，既逢長儒，兵皆力戰，虜意大沮，明日，於戰處焚屍慟哭而去．高祖下詔曰：「突厥猖狂，輒犯邊塞，犬羊之眾，彌亙山原．而長儒受任北鄙，式遏寇賊，所部之內，少將百倍．以晝通宵，四面抗敵，凡十有四戰，所向必摧．兇徒就戮，過半不反，鋒刃之餘，亡魂竄跡．自非英威奮發，奉國情深，撫御有方，士卒用命，豈能以少破眾，若斯之偉？ Eight or nine tenths of his fighting men were killed or wounded. The Turks had meant to ravage Qin and Long on a grand scale; meeting Changru, they found every man resisting to the limit, and their spirit collapsed. The next day they burned their dead on the field, wailed over them, and withdrew. Gaozu issued an edict: “The Turks are reckless, ever raiding the frontier; their dog-and-goat hordes blanket hill and plain. Yet Changru, posted to the northern marches, held the raiders at bay though his command held scarcely one man for every hundred of theirs. From dawn through the night he fought on every side in fourteen engagements and broke whatever he met. The enemy were cut down; more than half never returned; the survivors fled the blades in terror to the wilds. Without heroic fire, deep loyalty to the state, skilled command, and soldiers who gave their all, who could have shattered such a host with so few—a feat as great as this?
其年，授寧州刺史，尋轉鄜州刺史，母憂去職．長儒性至孝，水漿不入口五日，毀悴過禮，殆將滅性，天子嘉歎．起為夏州總管三州六鎮都將事，匈奴憚之，不敢窺塞．以病免．又除襄州總管，在職二年，轉蘭州總管．高祖遣涼州總管獨孤羅、原州總管元褒、靈州總管賀若誼等發卒備胡，皆受長儒節度．長儒率眾出祁連山北，西至蒲類海，無虜而還．復轉荊州總管三十六州諸軍事，高祖謂之曰：「江陵要害，國之南門，今以委公，朕無慮也．」歲餘，卒官．諡曰威．子暠大業時，官至太僕少卿． That year he became governor of Ningzhou, then of Binzhou, and left office when his mother died. Deeply filial by nature, he took neither food nor drink for five days; his mourning exceeded the rites and nearly cost him his life, and the emperor marveled at it. Recalled as commander of Xiazhou with authority over three prefectures and six garrisons, he so awed the Xiongnu that they dared not test the border. Illness forced his retirement. He was made commander of Xiangzhou, served two years, then transferred to Lanzhou. Gaozu sent the commanders of Liangzhou, Yuanzhou, and Lingzhou—Dugu Luo, Yuan Bao, and Heruo Yi—to raise troops against the barbarians, all under Changru’s orders. Changru led his men north of the Qilian range as far west as Lake Pulei and returned without meeting the enemy. He was then made commander of Jingzhou with military authority over thirty-six prefectures. Gaozu told him, “Jiangling is the realm’s southern gate; with you there, I need not worry.” A little over a year later he died in office. His posthumous name was Wei. His son Gao, in the Daye reign, rose to vice director of the imperial stud.
史臣曰：長儒等結髮從戎，俱有驍雄之略，總統師旅，各擅禦侮之功．長儒以步卒二千，抗十萬之虜，師殲矢盡，勇氣彌厲，壯哉！ The historiographer says: Changru and the others took up arms from youth; all had fierce, heroic minds and commanded armies, each excelling at defending the realm. Changru with two thousand foot soldiers faced a hundred thousand barbarians; his army was shattered and his arrows gone, yet his courage only burned brighter—how magnificent!