Qin and Han · General

Xun Zhi 荀彘

Xún Zhì

Died BC 108

Passages: 21
Chapters: 2
Histories: 2

Overview

The translated histories identify Xun Zhi as a courtier, general, and military officer. This record brings together 21 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	Xun Zhi	荀彘	Xún Zhì
Title	Left General	左將軍
Title	Left General Xun Zhi	左將軍荀彘	Zuǒ jiāngjūn Xún Zhì
Personal name	Xun Zhi	荀彘	Xun Zhi
Given	Zhi	彘	Zhì

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Male

Sex: male
Explicit · hanshu:102:s0210
Value: male
Strongly inferred · shiji:115:s0017

Roles

Courtier
General
Military Officer

Life and dates

Death

Cause: execution · Action: executed-in-marketplace · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 元封三年 · Regnal Year: 3 · Western Year: BC 108
Explicit · shiji:115:s0057

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: 元封二年 · Regnal Year: 2 · Western Year: BC 109
Explicit event contextual date · shiji:115:s0011, shiji:115:s0017, shiji:115:s0019, shiji:115:s0023
Source Date: Text: 元封三年 · Regnal Year: 3 · Western Year: BC 108
Explicit event contextual date · shiji:115:s0052, shiji:115:s0054, shiji:115:s0057

Career and standing

Label: palace attendant / 侍中 · Action: formerly-held
Explicit · shiji:115:s0034
Label: Left General / 左將軍 · Action: held
Explicit · shiji:115:s0017
Office: Left General / 左將軍
Explicit · hanshu:102:s0210
Label: public execution / 棄市 · Action: executed · Reason: disputing credit, jealousy, conflicting plans
Explicit · shiji:115:s0057

Places and affiliations

Label: Han / 漢 · Relation: served
Explicit · shiji:115:s0017

Works and attributed material

Kind: speech · Role: speaker · Quoted: true
Explicit · shiji:115:s0044, shiji:115:s0045

Events and relationships

Kind: military · Role: commander · Action: attacked-west-of-pae
Explicit · shiji:115:s0023
Kind: military · Role: commander · Action: broke-upper-pae-forces-and-besieged-northwest
Explicit · shiji:115:s0031
Kind: military · Role: commander · Action: combined-armies-and-assaulted
Explicit · shiji:115:s0048
Kind: military · Role: commander · Action: marched-from-liaodong · Place: Liaodong / 遼東
Explicit · shiji:115:s0017
Kind: military · Role: commander · Action: pacified-joseon · Place: Joseon / 朝鮮
Explicit · shiji:115:s0054
Relation: rival-of · Person Id: Yang Pu (楊僕)
Explicit · shiji:115:s0039, shiji:115:s0040

Assessments and attributes

Assessment: quarreled over credit and was executed with Gongsun Sui · Provenance: Mode: historian-judgment · Speaker Person Id: Sima Qian (太史公)
Explicit · shiji:115:s0063

References in the histories

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

Book of Han, Chapter 102Volume 90: Cruel Officials · 1 passage

後復與左將軍荀彘俱擊朝鮮，為彘所縛，語在《朝鮮傳》。 Later he campaigned in Korea beside General Xun Zhi and ended shackled—see the biography of Korea.

Records of the Grand Historian, Chapter 115Treatise on Korea · 20 passages

兵五萬人，左將軍荀彘出遼東：討右渠。 With a combined force of fifty thousand men, and the Left General, Xun Zhi, marching overland from Liaodong, they set out to punish Ugeo.

左將軍卒正多率遼東兵先縱，敗散，多還走，坐法斬。 The Left General's battalion commander, Duo, led the Liaodong troops in an early charge, but they were routed and scattered. Many of the men fled in retreat, and Duo was executed under military law.

左將軍擊朝鮮浿水西軍，未能破自前。 The Left General attacked the Joseon forces west of the Pae River but could not defeat them and advance.

人眾萬餘，持兵，方渡浿水，使者及左將軍疑其為變，謂太子已服降，宜命人毋持兵。 The prince arrived with a retinue of more than ten thousand men, all bearing arms, and was about to cross the Pae River. The envoy and the Left General, suspecting a ruse, told the prince that since he had already agreed to surrender, his people should lay down their weapons.

太子亦疑使者左將軍詐殺之，遂不渡浿水，復引歸。 The crown prince, in turn, suspected that the envoy and the Left General were plotting to kill him, and so refused to cross the Pae River. He led his men back the way they had come.

左將軍破浿水上軍，乃前，至城下，圍其西北。 The Left General defeated the forces on the upper Pae River, then pressed forward to the city walls and laid siege to the northwest.

左將軍素侍中，幸，將燕代卒，悍，乘勝，軍多驕。 The Left General had once served as an attendant at court and enjoyed the emperor's favor. He commanded soldiers from Yan and Dai—fierce men flushed with victory—and his army had grown arrogant.

左將軍急擊之，朝鮮大臣乃陰閒使人私約降樓船，往來言，尚未肯決。 While the Left General pressed the attack, the senior ministers of Joseon secretly dispatched envoys to negotiate a private surrender to the General of the Tower Ships. Messages passed back and forth, but no final agreement was reached.

左將軍數與樓船期戰，樓船欲急就其約，不會； The Left General repeatedly scheduled joint attacks with the Tower Ships forces, but the Tower Ships general, eager to finalize his private agreement with Joseon, failed to appear.

左將軍亦使人求閒卻降下朝鮮，朝鮮不肯，心附樓船：以故兩將不相能。 The Left General also sent agents to secretly persuade the Joseon court to surrender to him, but they refused, their loyalty inclined toward the Tower Ships general. For this reason, the two commanders could no longer work together.

左將軍心意樓船前有失軍罪，今與朝鮮私善而又不降，疑其有反計，未敢發。 The Left General harbored suspicions: the Tower Ships general had previously committed the offense of losing his army and was now secretly colluding with Joseon while refusing to compel their surrender. He suspected the man of harboring treasonous designs but dared not act.

天子曰將率不能，前（及）［乃］使衛山諭降右渠，右渠遣太子，山使不能剸決，與左將軍計相誤，卒沮約。 The Son of Heaven declared that the commanders could not advance, and then sent Wei Shan to negotiate Ugeo's surrender. Ugeo dispatched his crown prince in response, but Wei Shan failed to handle the matter decisively; his actions clashed with the Left General's plans, and in the end the agreement fell through.

遂至，左將軍曰：「朝鮮當下久矣，不下者有狀。」 When Gongsun Sui arrived, the Left General told him, 'Joseon should have fallen long ago. There is a reason it has not.'

遂亦以為然，而以節召樓船將軍入左將軍營計事，即命左將軍麾下執捕樓船將軍，并其軍，以報天子。 Gongsun Sui agreed. Using the imperial tally, he summoned the General of the Tower Ships to the Left General's camp to discuss strategy. Once there, he ordered the Left General's officers to seize and arrest the Tower Ships general, absorbed his troops, and sent a report to the Son of Heaven.

左將軍已并兩軍，即急擊朝鮮。 Having now combined both armies under his command, the Left General launched an all-out assault on Joseon.

朝鮮相路人、相韓陰、尼谿相參、將軍王唊相與謀曰：「始欲降樓船，樓船今執，獨左將軍并將，戰益急，恐不能與，（戰）王又不肯降。」 The Joseon Chancellor Lu Ren, Chancellor Han Yin, the Chancellor of Nixi, Shen, and General Wang Xia plotted together. 'We had intended to surrender to the Tower Ships general,' they said, 'but now he has been arrested. The Left General alone commands both armies, the fighting grows fiercer by the day, and we fear we cannot hold out—yet the king still refuses to surrender.'

左將軍使右渠子長降、相路人之子最告諭其民，誅成巳，以故遂定朝鮮，為四郡。 The Left General had Ugeo's son, Changjiang, surrender and had Lu Ren's son, Zui, issue a proclamation to the people. He executed Cheng Ji, and with this, Joseon was at last pacified and divided into four commanderies.

左將軍徵至，坐爭功相嫉，乖計，棄市。 The Left General was recalled to the capital. He was charged with disputing credit, jealousy toward his colleague, and disobedience of orders, and was publicly executed.

樓船將軍亦坐兵至洌口，當待左將軍，擅先縱，失亡多，當誅，贖為庶人。 The General of the Tower Ships was also charged: when his troops reached Liekou, he should have waited for the Left General but instead launched an unauthorized attack and suffered heavy losses. He deserved execution but was permitted to pay a fine and was reduced to commoner status.

荀彘爭勞，與遂皆誅。 Xun Zhi quarreled over credit, and together with Gongsun Sui, both were put to death.