Sui and Tang · Northern Zhou and Sui General

Helou Zigan 賀婁子幹

Born c. AD 535; died AD 591 to AD 594

Passages
10
Chapters
3
Histories
2

Overview

Helou Zigan was a Northern Zhou and Sui General.

IdentityHistorical · Male

Other names

TypeEnglishChinesePinyin
Courtesy name Wanshou 萬壽 Wanshou
Posthumous name Huai 懷 Huai

Life and dates

Birth

Death

Age

Attested activity

Family

Immediate relationships attested in the translated histories.

Key source chapters

  1. Book of Sui, Chapter 53 Volume 53 Biographies 18: Daxi Zhangru, Helou Zigan, Shi Wansui, Liu Fang 8 passages
  2. Book of Sui, Chapter 55 Volume 55 Biographies 20: Du Yan, Gao Mai, Er Zhu Chang, Zhou Yao, Du Gukai, Qi Fuhui, Zhang Wei, He Hong, Houmo Chenying 1 passage
  3. Book of Zhou, Chapter 21 Volume 21 Biographies 13: Wei Chijiong; Wang Qian; Sima Xiaonan 1 passage

Career and standing

Places and affiliations

Works and attributed material

  • Memorial · Summary Memorial on practical defense of Longxi and the lands west of the Yellow River.
    Directly stated · Book of Sui 53, passage 14

Events and relationships

  • Defeated Tuyuhun and Turkic forces, using control of water to exhaust the enemy at Mount Keluoqi.
    Frontier battle
    Directly stated · Book of Sui 53, passage 11
  • Died in office in the fourteenth year of Kaihuang at age sixty.
    Death
    Directly stated · Book of Sui 53, passage 15
  • Helped suppress Yuchi Jiong and was first over the wall in repeated battles.
    Suppression
    Directly stated · Book of Sui 53, passage 10
  • Proposed replacing vulnerable distant military farms with linked garrisons, beacon towers, and guarded routes; Emperor Wen accepted the proposal.
    Frontier administration
    Directly stated · Book of Sui 53, passage 14

Assessments and attributes

  • Known from youth for martial daring and praised as forceful and capable.
    Mode historian-narrative
    Directly stated · Book of Sui 53, passage 9
  • The historiographer praised the security he brought to the western and northern frontiers.
    Mode historiographer-judgment
    Directly stated · Book of Sui 53, passage 37

References in the histories

10 passages

Book of Sui, Chapter 53Volume 53 Biographies 18: Daxi Zhangru, Helou Zigan, Shi Wansui, Liu Fang · 8 passages
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賀婁子幹字萬壽，本代人也．隨魏氏南遷，世居關右．祖道成，魏侍中、太子太傅．父景賢，右衛大將軍．子幹少以驍武知名．周武帝時，釋褐司水上士，稱為強濟．累遷小司水，以勤勞，封思安縣子．俄授使持節、儀同大將軍．大象初，領軍器監，尋除秦州刺史，進爵為伯． Helou Zigan, styled Wanshou, was originally from Dai. When the Wei moved south his family settled for generations west of the Pass. His grandfather Daocheng had been Wei’s attendant-in-chief and grand tutor of the heir apparent; his father Jingxian was general of the right guard. From youth Zigan was known for martial daring. Under Emperor Wu of Zhou he entered service as master of waters in the waterways office and was praised as forceful and capable. He rose to junior director of waterways and, for diligent service, was enfeoffed as viscount of Si’an county. He was soon made commissioner bearing the staff and general with equal standing. At the start of the Daxiang era he headed the directorate of armaments, then became governor of Qinzhou and was advanced to earl.
及尉迥作亂，子幹與宇文司錄從韋孝寬討之．遇賊圍懷州，子幹與宇文述等擊破之．高祖大悅，手書曰：「逆賊尉迥，敢遣蟻眾，作寇懷州．公受命誅討，應機蕩滌，聞以嗟贊，不易可言．丈夫富貴之秋，正在今日，善建功名，以副朝望也．」其後每戰先登，及破鄴城，與崔弘度逐迥至樓上．進位上開府，封武川縣公，邑三千戶，以思安縣伯別封子皎． When Yuchi Jiong rebelled, Zigan and the registrar Yuwen Shu followed Wei Xiaokuan to suppress him. When the rebels besieged Huaizhou, Zigan and Yuwen Shu and others broke the siege. Gaozu was delighted and wrote in his own hand: “The traitor Yuchi Jiong dared send an ant-like swarm against Huaizhou. You took command and swept them away as the moment required—I can hardly find words for my admiration. A man’s season of wealth and honor is now; build your merit to answer the court’s hopes.” After that he was first over the wall in every fight. When Ye fell, he and Cui Hongdu chased Jiong to the top of a tower. He was promoted to superior director of the bureau, enfeoffed as duke of Wuchuan with three thousand households, and his son Jiao was separately given the earldom of Si’an.
開皇元年，進爵鉅鹿郡公．其年，吐谷渾寇涼州，子幹以行軍總管從上柱國元諧擊之，功最優，詔褒美．高祖慮邊塞未安，即令子幹鎮涼州．明年，突厥寇蘭州，子幹率眾拒之，至可洛峐山，與賊相遇．賊眾甚盛，子幹阻川為營，賊軍不得水數日，人馬甚敝，縱擊，大破之．於是冊授子幹為上大將軍曰：「於戲！ In the first year of Kaihuang he was advanced to duke of Julu commandery. That year the Tuyuhun raided Liangzhou; Zigan, as commander on campaign under the pillar of state Yuan Xie, won the highest distinction, and an edict praised him. Fearing the frontier was still unsettled, Gaozu immediately posted Zigan to garrison Liangzhou. The next year the Turks raided Lanzhou; Zigan led troops to meet them at Mount Keluoqi. The enemy force was overwhelming. Zigan dammed the stream and encamped; for days the enemy could not reach water, and men and horses wore out. He then struck and broke them utterly. An investiture document appointed him grand general of the first rank, reading: “Ah!
徵授營新都副監，尋拜工部尚書．其年，突厥復犯塞，以行軍總管從竇榮定擊之．子幹別路破賊，斬首千餘級，高祖嘉之，遣通事舍人曹威齎優詔勞勉之．子幹請入朝，詔令馳驛奉見．吐谷渾復寇邊，西方多被其害，命子幹討之．馳驛至河西，發五州兵，入掠其國，殺男女萬餘口，二旬而還．高祖以隴西頻被寇掠，甚患之．彼俗不設村塢，敕子幹勒民為堡，營田積穀，以備不虞．子幹上書曰：「比者兇寇侵擾，蕩滅之期，匪朝伊夕．伏願聖慮，勿以為懷．今臣在此，觀機而作，不得準詔行事．且隴西、河右，土曠民稀，邊境未寧，不可廣為田種．比見屯田之所，獲少費多，虛役人功，卒逢踐暴．屯田疏遠者，請皆廢省．但隴右之民以畜牧為事，若更屯聚，彌不獲安．只可嚴謹斥候，豈容集人聚畜．請要路之所，加其防守．但使鎮戍連接，烽候相望，民雖散居，必謂無慮．」高祖從之．俄而虜寇岷、洮二州，子幹勒兵赴之，賊聞而遁去． He was summoned as deputy supervisor of the new capital works, then made minister of works. That year the Turks again raided the frontier; as commander on campaign he followed Dou Rongding. Zigan took a separate route, routed the enemy, and took more than a thousand heads. Gaozu commended him and sent the attendant of affairs Cao Wei with a favoring edict of consolation. Zigan asked to attend court and was ordered to come post-haste by relay. The Tuyuhun raided again and ravaged the west; Zigan was sent against them. He galloped to Hexi, raised troops from five prefectures, invaded their lands, and killed more than ten thousand men and women, returning within twenty days. Gaozu was deeply troubled that Longxi was repeatedly plundered. The people there did not build walled villages; he ordered Zigan to compel them to fortify, open military farms, and store grain against emergencies. Zigan memorialized: “The raiders have been harassing us lately, but their destruction is not far off—I pray Your Majesty not to worry. Here I watch for the moment to act and cannot always follow the statutes to the letter. Longxi and the lands west of the River are wide and thinly peopled; the border is not yet secure, and broad farming is impossible. I have seen that military colonies yield little for great cost, wasting labor only to be overrun. I ask that distant colonies be abolished. The people of Longyou live by herding; if we herd them into colonies they will be still less secure. Strict scouting is enough—we cannot mass people and livestock together. Strengthen the defenses on the main routes; if garrisons link and beacons face one another, the people may live scattered and still be safe.” Gaozu agreed. Soon the barbarians raided Min and Tao; Zigan marched to meet them and they fled at the news.
高祖以子幹曉習邊事，授榆關總管十鎮諸軍事．歲餘，拜雲州刺史，甚為虜所憚．後數年，突厥雍虞閭遣使請降，並獻羊馬．詔以子幹為行軍總管，出西北道應接之．還拜雲州總管，以突厥所獻馬百匹、羊千口以賜之，乃下書曰：「自公守北門，風塵不警．突厥所獻，還以賜公．」母憂去職．朝廷以榆關重鎮，非子幹不可，尋起視事．十四年，以病卒官，時年六十．高祖傷惜者久之，賻縑千匹，米麥千斛，贈懷、魏等四州刺史，諡曰懷．子善柱嗣，官至黔安太守． Because Zigan knew the frontier well, Gaozu made him commander of Yuguan with military authority over ten garrisons. A year later he became governor of Yunzhou and was greatly feared by the barbarians. Some years later Yongyulü of the Turks sent envoys to surrender and presented sheep and horses. Zigan was made commander on campaign to go out by the northwest route to receive them. On his return he was commander of Yunzhou; the hundred horses and thousand sheep the Turks had presented were given to him, with an imperial letter: “Since you have guarded the northern gate, the frontier has been quiet. What the Turks presented We return to you.” He left office when his mother died, but the court held that Yuguan could not do without him and soon recalled him. In the fourteenth year he died in office of illness at sixty. Gaozu mourned him long, granted a thousand bolts of silk and a thousand hu of grain and millet, posthumously made him governor of Huai, Wei, and two other prefectures, and gave him the posthumous name Huai. His son Shanzhu succeeded him and rose to administrator of Qian’an.
子幹西涉青海，北臨玄塞，胡夷懾憚，烽候無警，亦有可稱．萬歲實懷智勇，善撫士卒，人皆樂死，師不疲勞．北卻匈奴，南平夷、獠，兵鋒所指，威驚絕域．論功仗氣，犯忤貴臣，偏聽生姦，死非其罪，人皆痛惜，有李廣之風焉．劉方號令無私，治軍嚴肅，克剪林邑，遂清南海，徼外百蠻，無思不服．凡此諸將，志烈過人，出當推轂之重，入受爪牙之寄，雖馬伏波之威行南裔，趙充國之聲動西羌，語事論功，各一時也． Zigan crossed the Qinghai westward and faced the dark northern passes; the tribes feared him and the beacons knew no alarm—this too deserves praise. Wansui truly had wisdom and courage, won his soldiers’ hearts, and every man gladly faced death; his armies never tired. In the north he drove back the Xiongnu; in the south he pacified the Yi and Liao; wherever his blades pointed, his might shook the farthest lands. When merit was debated he spoke with proud spirit, offended powerful ministers, partial listening bred treachery, and he died for a crime not his own—all mourned him, and he had something of Li Guang about him. Liu Fang’s orders were impartial; he governed the army with severity, cut down Linyi, and cleared the southern sea; the hundred tribes beyond the borders all wished to submit. All these generals had wills and valor beyond ordinary men: abroad they bore the weight of the realm’s defense, at home they were the emperor’s trusted claws and teeth. Though Ma Yuan, the General Who Pacifies the Waves, carried his might through the south and Zhao Chongguo’s fame shook the western Qiang, speaking of deeds and weighing merit, each was foremost in his time.
Book of Sui, Chapter 55Volume 55 Biographies 20: Du Yan, Gao Mai, Er Zhu Chang, Zhou Yao, Du Gukai, Qi Fuhui, Zhang Wei, He Hong, Houmo Chenying · 1 passage
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Book of Zhou, Chapter 21Volume 21 Biographies 13: Wei Chijiong; Wang Qian; Sima Xiaonan · 1 passage
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