Qin and Han · Courtier and Assassin

Gongsun Gui 公孫詭

Died BC 150

Passages: 12
Chapters: 2
Histories: 2

Overview

The translated histories identify Gongsun Gui as an assassin, courtier, and military officer. This record brings together 12 passages from 2 chapters across 2 histories, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal	Gongsun Gui	公孫詭	Gongsun Gui
Title	General Gongsun	公孫將軍	Gongsun jiangjun
Surname	Gongsun	公孫	Gongsun
Personal	Gongsun Gui	公孫詭	Gōngsūn Guǐ
Personal	Gui	詭	Gui
Given	Gui	詭	Guǐ

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Male

Sex: male
Strongly inferred · hanshu:056:s0025, shiji:108:s0034

Roles

Assassin
Courtier
Military Officer

Life and dates

Death

Manner: suicide / 自殺 · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 令勝、詭皆自殺 · Western Year: BC 150
Explicit · hanshu:056:s0042
Manner: suicide / 自殺
Explicit · shiji:108:s0057

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: 其春後 · Western Year: BC 154
Explicit event contextual date · hanshu:056:s0026
Source Date: Text: 吳楚反時 · Western Year: BC 154
Explicit event contextual date · shiji:108:s0034, shiji:108:s0037

Career and standing

Label: commandant of the capital / 中尉 · Action: appointed
Explicit · hanshu:056:s0026

Places and affiliations

Place: Qi / 齊
Explicit · shiji:108:s0034

Events and relationships

Kind: assassination · Role: instigator · Action: ordered-assassination · Other Person Id: Yuan Ang (袁盎)
Explicit · shiji:108:s0036, shiji:108:s0037

Assessments and attributes

Assessment: trafficked in devious stratagems · Provenance: Mode: historian-judgment
Explicit · hanshu:056:s0026

References in the histories

Open any source group to read the Chinese and English passage in context.

Book of Han, Chapter 56Volume 47: The Three Sons of Emperor Wen · 5 passages

招延四方豪桀，自山東游士莫不至：齊人羊勝、公孫詭、鄒陽之屬。 He drew in adventurers from every quarter; no notable wandering scholar east of the mountains failed to answer his call—among them Yang Sheng, Gongsun Gui, and Zou Yang of Qi.

公孫詭多奇邪計，初見日，王賜千金，官至中尉，號曰公孫將軍。 Gongsun Gui trafficked in devious stratagems. The king gave him a thousand pieces of gold the day they met, raised him to commandant of the capital, and called him “General Gongsun.”

梁王怨爰盎及議臣，乃與羊勝、公孫詭之屬謀，陰使人刺殺爰盎及他議臣十餘人。 The king of Liang blamed Yuan Ang and the ministers who had opposed him. With Yang Sheng, Gongsun Gui, and their confederates he arranged the secret murder of Yuan Ang and more than a dozen others who had spoken against him.

捕公孫詭、羊勝，皆匿王后宮。 Gongsun Gui and Yang Sheng were ordered seized, but both had taken refuge in the queen of Liang’s apartments.

使者責二千石急，梁相軒丘豹及內史安國皆泣諫王，王乃令勝、詭皆自殺，出之。 Under relentless pressure from the envoys, Chancellor Xuanqiu Bao and Inner Scribe Anguo wept as they urged the king to yield; at last he had Yang Sheng and Gongsun Gui kill themselves and handed over their bodies.

Records of the Grand Historian, Chapter 108Biography of Han Changru · 7 passages

梁內史之缺也，孝王新得齊人公孫詭，說之，欲請以為內史。 When the position of Prefect fell vacant, King Xiao had recently taken a liking to Gongsun Gui, a man from Qi who had won the king's favor through persuasive counsel, and wished to request his appointment as Prefect.

公孫詭、羊勝說孝王求為帝太子及益地事，恐漢大臣不聽，乃陰使人刺漢用事謀臣。 Gongsun Gui and Yang Sheng persuaded King Xiao to seek designation as the Emperor's heir apparent and to petition for additional territory. Fearing that the great ministers of Han would not comply, they secretly sent assassins to murder the influential advisors at the Han court.

及殺故吳相袁盎，景帝遂聞詭、勝等計畫，乃遣使捕詭、勝，必得。 When they murdered Yuan Ang, the former Chancellor of Wu, Emperor Jing at last learned of the plots of Gongsun Gui and Yang Sheng. He dispatched envoys to arrest them, with orders that they must be captured.

內史安國聞詭、勝匿孝王所，安國入見王而泣曰：「主辱臣死。 Prefect Anguo learned that Gongsun Gui and Yang Sheng were hidden at King Xiao's residence. Anguo entered to see the king and wept, saying, "When the lord is disgraced, his minister must die.

今詭、勝不得，請辭賜死。」 Since Gui and Sheng cannot be captured, I ask to withdraw and receive death."

語未卒，孝王泣數行下，謝安國曰：「吾今出詭、勝。」 Before Anguo had finished speaking, King Xiao wept, tears streaming down several lines, and apologized to Anguo, saying, "I will now hand over Gui and Sheng."

詭、勝自殺。 Gongsun Gui and Yang Sheng took their own lives.