Wu Sangui (吳三桂) | 24 Histories

Overview

The translated histories identify Wu Sangui as an aristocrat, general, military officer, and rebel. This record brings together 77 passages from 10 chapters across 1 history, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal	Wu Sangui	吳三桂	Wu Sangui
Title	Prince Who Pacifies the West	平西王	Pingxi Wang
Personal	Sangui	三桂
Personal name	Wu Sangui	吳三桂	Wú Sānguì
Personal name	Wu Sangui	吳三桂
Personal	Wu Sangui	吳三桂
Personal name	Wu Sangui	吳三桂	Wu Sangui

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Male

Sex: male
Explicit · qingshigao:247:s0008, qingshigao:259:s0010, qingshigao:269:s0079, qingshigao:275:s0007, qingshigao:287:s0006
Sex: male
Strongly inferred · qingshigao:252:s0185, qingshigao:270:s0009, qingshigao:337:s0071

Roles

Aristocrat
General
Military Officer
Rebel
Ruler
Warlord

Life and dates

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: 乾隆二十二年 · Western Year: AD 1757
Explicit event contextual date · qingshigao:337:s0071
Source Date: Text: 吳三桂反 · Western Interval: Start: AD 1673 · End: AD 1681
Explicit · qingshigao:287:s0006
Source Date: Text: 康熙七年前後 · Western Year: AD 1668
Explicit event contextual date · qingshigao:252:s0017
Source Date: Text: 康熙初 · Western Year: AD 1662
Explicit event contextual date · qingshigao:269:s0079
Source Date: Text: 康熙十三年 · Western Year: AD 1674
Explicit · qingshigao:275:s0007
Source Date: Text: 康熙十三年至十七年 · Western Interval: Start: AD 1674 · End: AD 1678
Explicit event contextual date · qingshigao:259:s0010, qingshigao:259:s0020
Source Date: Text: 康熙十二年 · Western Year: AD 1673
Explicit event contextual date · qingshigao:269:s0088, qingshigao:285:s0008
Source Date: Text: 康熙十二年 · Western Year: AD 1673
Explicit · qingshigao:270:s0042
Source Date: Text: 康熙十五年 · Western Year: AD 1676
Explicit event contextual date · qingshigao:278:s0015, qingshigao:278:s0018, qingshigao:285:s0014
Source Date: Text: 方諸籓盛強 · Western Interval: Start: AD 1673 · End: AD 1681
Explicit event contextual date · qingshigao:252:s0184, qingshigao:252:s0185
Source Date: Text: 順治 · Western Interval: Start: AD 1644 · End: AD 1661
Explicit event contextual date · qingshigao:247:s0008
Source Date: Text: 順治九年 · Western Year: AD 1652
Explicit · qingshigao:270:s0009

Family

Immediate source-linked family. Drag to pan, scroll or pinch to zoom, and select a person to open their record.

Ancestor of Wu Shifan (吳世璠)
Kinship Term: grandfather / 祖 · Generation Distance: 2
Kin of Wu Shizong (吳世琮)
Kinship Role: grandnephew
Kin of Wu Shifan (吳世璠)
Kinship Role: grandson
Parent of Parent of Wu Shifan (吳世璠之父)
Kinship Term: father / 父 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: father · Object Role: parent-of-grandson
Parent of Wu Yingxiong (吳應熊)
Kinship Term: son / 子 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: father · Object Role: son
Kinship Term: son / 子 · Parentage: biological

Career and standing

Title: Prince Who Pacifies the West / 平西王 · Action: held
Explicit · qingshigao:270:s0009
Status: feudatory-prince-in-rebellion · Action: held
Explicit · qingshigao:252:s0184, qingshigao:252:s0185

Places and affiliations

Label: Qing / 清 · Relation: served
Explicit · qingshigao:259:s0010
Polity: Qing · Relation: served
Explicit · qingshigao:270:s0009
Polity: Qing / 清 · Relation: opposed
Explicit · qingshigao:337:s0071
Polity: Qing / 清 · Relation: rebelled-against
Strongly inferred · qingshigao:252:s0184, qingshigao:252:s0185
Place: Songzi / 松滋 · Relation: encamped-at · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 康熙十三年 · Western Year: AD 1674
Explicit event contextual date · qingshigao:259:s0014, qingshigao:259:s0162
Place: Yunnan / 雲南 · Relation: posted-to
Explicit · qingshigao:269:s0079

Works and attributed material

Work: proclamation / 檄 · Relation: attributed-author · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 乾隆二十二年 · Western Year: AD 1757
Explicit · qingshigao:337:s0071

Events and relationships

Kind: military · Role: commander · Action: campaigned-against · Other Person Id: An Kun (安坤)
Explicit · qingshigao:247:s0008
Kind: rebellion · Role: rebel-leader · Action: campaigned-against
Explicit · qingshigao:278:s0018
Kind: military · Role: commander · Action: executed · Other Person Id: An Kun (安坤)
Explicit · qingshigao:247:s0012
Kind: biographical-event · Action: fabricated a Kangdong raid and incited the Kaili Miao
Explicit · qingshigao:252:s0017
Kind: biographical-event · Action: rebelled and killed Zhu Guozhi · Western Year: 1673
Explicit · qingshigao:252:s0027
Kind: military · Role: rebel-leader · Action: rebelled · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 吳三桂反 · Western Interval: Start: AD 1673 · End: AD 1681
Explicit event contextual date · qingshigao:287:s0006
Kind: military · Role: rebel-leader · Action: rebelled · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 康熙十三年 · Western Year: AD 1674
Explicit event contextual date · qingshigao:259:s0010
Kind: rebellion · Role: rebel-leader · Action: rebelled · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 康熙十二年 · Western Year: AD 1673
Explicit · qingshigao:270:s0042
Kind: military · Role: rebel · Action: rebelled
Explicit · qingshigao:275:s0007
Kind: political · Role: rebel-leader · Action: received-defection-of-Wenkun-troops · Other Person Id: Gan Wenkun (甘文焜)
Explicit · qingshigao:252:s0185
Kind: military · Role: commander · Action: retake-cities · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 順治九年 · Western Year: AD 1652
Explicit · qingshigao:270:s0009
Relation: patron-of · Person Id: Peng Ershu (彭而述)
Explicit · qingshigao:247:s0014

Assessments and attributes

Assessment: reputed skilled in war but failed to force Jingzhou or open Jiangxi-Guangdong route · Provenance: Mode: historian-judgment
Explicit · qingshigao:259:s0161, qingshigao:259:s0162, qingshigao:259:s0163

Source notes

Historicity: historical
Explicit · qingshigao:269:s0079

References in the histories

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

Draft History of Qing, Chapter 247Volume 247 Biographies 34: Peng Ershu, Lu Zhenfen, Yao Yanzhu, Bi Zhenji, Fang Guodong, Yu Pengju, Wang Tianjian, Yue Tingbiao · 3 passages

Open chapter

吳三桂徵水西土司安坤，而述謀曰：「烏蒙、烏撒、鎮雄、東川四府與水西為脣齒，土司隴安籓又與安氏婚媾。 When Wu Sangui marched against An Kun, the Shuixi chieftain, Ershu counseled him: "Wumeng, Wusa, Zhenxiong, and Dongchuan stand with Shuixi like lip and teeth, and the chieftain Long Anfan is tied to the An family by marriage as well.

三桂用其策，誅安坤。 Sangui took his advice and put An Kun to death.

三桂薦為雲南左布政使，而述乞歸，三桂留之，會有詔召，遂行，出會城三十里，一夕無疾卒。 Sangui recommended him for Left Administrative Commissioner of Yunnan. Ershu asked to retire, but Sangui kept him until an imperial summons came; he then departed, and thirty li outside the capital he died suddenly in the night without any known illness.

Draft History of Qing, Chapter 252Volume 252 Biographies 39: Gan Wenkun, Fan Chengmo, Ma Xiongzhen, Fu Honglie · 18 passages

Open chapter

時吳三桂鎮雲南，欲藉邊釁固兵權，詭報土番康東入寇，紿文焜移師，又陰嗾凱里諸苗乘其後。 Wu Sangui then held Yunnan and sought border troubles to tighten his grip on the army. He fabricated a report that the Kangdong tribes had raided, lured Wenkun into moving his forces, and secretly stirred the Kaili Miao to attack from behind.

三桂慮詐洩，謂康東已遠遁，繇是益憚之。 Sangui, fearing exposure of his ruse, claimed Kangdong had already fled into the distance—and from that point feared Wenkun all the more.

三桂請以雲南巡撫兼督篆，令督標兵悉詣雲南受節度，而以利啗之，冀為己用。 Sangui asked that the Yunnan governor also hold the governor-general's seal, ordered all troops of the governor-general's command to Yunnan under his direction, and tried to buy them off with profit, hoping to turn them to his cause.

三桂反，殺巡撫硃國治，遣其黨偪貴陽。 Sangui rose in rebellion, killed the Yunnan governor Zhu Guozhi, and sent his followers to threaten Guiyang.

本標兵已受三桂餌，紛潰弗聽調。 Benshen's troops had already accepted Sangui's bribes and broke ranks, refusing to obey.

吳三桂反，承謨察精忠有異志，時方議裁兵，承謨疏請緩行。 When Wu Sangui rebelled, Chengmo saw that Geng Jingzhong harbored rebellious intent. As the court debated troop reductions, Chengmo memorialized asking that the cuts be postponed.