Three Kingdoms and Six Dynasties · Prince and General

Pi 丕

Attested AD 422

Passages: 16
Chapters: 1
Histories: 1

Overview

Pi was a prince and General.

Other names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Posthumous name	Prince Li	戾王	Li Wang

Life and dates

Death

Cause anxiety 憂
Dated from the passage context · Book of Wei 19, passage 21

Attested activity

AD 422 泰常七年封
Dated from the passage context · Book of Wei 19, passage 10

Family

Immediate relationships attested in the translated histories.

Child of Lady Da Murong (大慕容夫人)
bore 生
Directly stated · Book of Wei 19, passage 3
Sibling of Fan (範)
brother 兄弟 · Paternal half siblings · paternal line
Strongly inferred · Book of Wei 19, passage 1
Sibling of Mi (彌)
brother 兄弟 · Paternal half siblings · paternal line
Strongly inferred · Book of Wei 19, passage 1
Sibling of Emperor Taiwu of Northern Wei (太武帝)
brother 兄弟 · Paternal half siblings · paternal line
eldest 長 · Paternal half siblings · paternal line
Sources vary in certainty · Book of Wei 19, passages 1, 9
Sibling of Chong (崇)
brother 兄弟 · Paternal half siblings · paternal line
Strongly inferred · Book of Wei 19, passage 1
Sibling of Jun (俊)
brother 兄弟 · Paternal half siblings · paternal line
Strongly inferred · Book of Wei 19, passage 1
Sibling of Jian (健)
brother 兄弟 · Paternal half siblings · paternal line
Strongly inferred · Book of Wei 19, passage 1
Child of Emperor Mingyuan (明元皇帝)
father 父
Directly stated · Book of Wei 19, passages 1, 3
Parent of Ba (拔)
son 子
Directly stated · Book of Wei 19, passage 25

Career and standing

Grand General of Chariots and Cavalry 車騎大將軍
AD 422 泰常七年 · Appointed
Directly stated · Book of Wei 19, passage 10
Prince of Leping 樂平王
AD 422 泰常七年 · Enfeoffed
Directly stated · Book of Wei 19, passage 10
Prince Li 戾王
Granted posthumously
Directly stated · Book of Wei 19, passage 24
Entered
Implicated in affair · Related Person Id Liu Jie (劉潔)
Directly stated · Book of Wei 19, passage 21

Places and affiliations

Polity Northern Wei 北魏 · Relation Served
Directly stated · Book of Wei 19, passage 10

Works and attributed material

Memorial · Author · With Emperor Taiwu of Northern Wei (太武帝)
Directly stated · Book of Wei 19, passages 19-20

Events and relationships

Campaigned against
Military · Commander · With Yang Nandang (楊難當) · At Lueyang 略陽
Dated from the passage context · Book of Wei 19, passages 10-12
Dreamed climbing White Terrace
Dream · Subject
Dated from the passage context · Book of Wei 19, passage 27

Assessments and attributes

Assessment had talent from youth and was praised · Mode historian-judgment
Directly stated · Book of Wei 19, passage 8
Assessment proved himself as a commander but died under anxiety · Mode historian-judgment
Directly stated · Book of Wei 19, passage 79

References in the histories

Search passages

History

16 passages

Book of Wei, Chapter 19Volume 17: Emperor Mingyuan's Six Princes · 16 passages

大慕容夫人生樂平戾王丕。 Lady Da Murong bore Prince Pi of Leping, who received the posthumous title Ill-Fated King.

樂平王丕，少有才幹，為世所稱。 Pi, Prince of Leping, had talent and ability from youth and was praised by his generation.

太宗以丕長，愛其器度，特優異之。 Because Pi was the eldest, Taizong admired his bearing and treated him with special favor.

將從之。 Pi was about to follow this advice.

時中書侍郎高允參丕軍事，諫曰：「今若誅之，是傷其向化之心，恐大軍一還，為亂必速。」 At the time Secretariat Attendant Gao Yun was participating in Pi's military affairs. He remonstrated, "If we execute them now, this will wound their will to submit to transformation. I fear that once the great army returns, rebellion will come quickly."

丕以為然，於是綏懷初附，秋毫無犯。 Pi considered this right, and so he soothed and embraced those newly attached, without violating so much as an autumn hair.

丕上疏，以為和龍新定，宜優復之，使廣修農殖，以饒軍實，然後進圖，可一舉而滅。 Pi submitted a memorial arguing that Helong had only recently been pacified and should be generously relieved so that farming and planting could be widely restored and military supplies made abundant; only afterward should plans advance, when Goguryeo could be destroyed in one stroke.

後坐劉潔事，以憂薨。 Later, implicated in Liu Jie's affair, Pi died of anxiety.

諡曰戾王。 His posthumous title was Prince Li.

丕之薨及日者董道秀之死也，高允遂著筮論曰：「昔明元末起白臺，其高二十餘丈，樂平王嘗夢登其上，四望無所見。 When Prince Pi died and the diviner Dong Daoxiu was put to death, Gao Yun wrote a treatise on divination, saying: "Near the end of Emperor Mingyuan's reign a White Terrace was built, more than twenty zhang tall. The Prince of Leping once dreamed that he climbed it and gazed in every direction, yet saw nothing at all.

王以問日者董道秀，筮之曰：『大吉。』 The prince consulted the diviner Dong Daoxiu, who cast the hexagram and declared, 'Great good fortune.'

王默而有喜色。 The prince said nothing, yet his face showed delight.

後事發，王遂憂死，而道秀棄市。 When the matter later came to light, the prince died of anxiety, and Daoxiu was executed in the public marketplace.

道秀若推六爻以對王曰：『易稱「亢龍有悔」，窮高曰亢，高而無民，不為善也。』 Had Daoxiu worked through the six lines and answered the prince, saying, 'The Changes says, "The arrogant dragon will have cause for regret." To press height to the limit is arrogance; to stand aloft without the people beneath one is no blessing,'

夫如是，則上寧於王，下保於己，福祿方至，豈有禍哉？ then above he would have reassured the prince, and below he would have kept himself safe; fortune and rank would have followed — how could calamity have come of it?

論曰：樂平、樂安俱以將領自效，竟以憂迫而逝，驗克終之為鮮。 The appraisal says: Leping and Le'an both proved themselves as commanders, yet in the end died under anxiety and pressure, showing how rare it is to come to a good end.