Shen Shihou (申師厚)

Overview

Shen Shihou was a Military Officer and Bandit.

Life and dates

Attested activity

AD 954 to AD 959 世宗時
Dated from the passage context · Old History of the Five Dynasties 138, passage 28
AD 952 周廣順二年
Dated from the passage context · Old History of the Five Dynasties 138, passages 23, 26

Family

Immediate relationships attested in the translated histories.

Parent of Son of Shen Shihou (申師厚之子)
son 子
Directly stated · Old History of the Five Dynasties 138, passage 28

Career and standing

bandit 盜賊
Directly stated · Old History of the Five Dynasties 138, passage 23
general of the Left Guard 左衛將軍
Appointed
Directly stated · Old History of the Five Dynasties 138, passage 26
military governor of Hexi 河西節度使
Appointed
Directly stated · Old History of the Five Dynasties 138, passage 26
adjutant of Yan Prefecture 兗州牙將
Held
Directly stated · Old History of the Five Dynasties 138, passage 23

Places and affiliations

At Liangzhou 涼州 · Relation Posted to
Directly stated · Old History of the Five Dynasties 138, passage 27

Events and relationships

Fled Liangzhou
Political · Official · At Liangzhou 涼州
Directly stated · Old History of the Five Dynasties 138, passage 28

Assessments and attributes

Assessment petty/small character · Mode historian-judgment
Directly stated · Old History of the Five Dynasties 138, passage 28

References in the histories

Old History of the Five Dynasties, Chapter 138Volume 138: Foreign States Biographies 2: Tubo, Huihu, Goryeo, Bohai Tungusic Tribes, Heishui Tungusic Tribes, Silla, Tangut, Kunming Tribes, Yutian, Champa, Zangkeman · 5 passages

Open chapter

是時樞密使王峻用事，峻故人申師厚者，少起盜賊，爲兗州牙將，與峻相友善。 At that time Privy Councilor Wang Jun dominated the court. An old friend of his, Shen Shihou, had begun life as a bandit and later became adjutant of Yan Prefecture; he and Jun were close.

後峻貴，師厚弊衣蓬首，日候峻出，馬前訴以饑寒，峻未有以發。 After Jun rose to power, Shihou would appear in ragged clothes with hair in disarray, wait each day for Jun to leave his residence, and plead before his horse of hunger and cold. Jun had no means to help him.

月餘，無應募者，乃奏起師厚爲左衛將軍，已而拜河西節度使。 After more than a month without a single volunteer, he memorialized to recall Shihou as general of the Left Guard, and soon afterward Shihou was appointed military governor of Hexi.

師厚至涼州，奏薦押牙副使崔虎心、陽妃谷首領沈念般等，及中國留人子孫王廷翰、溫崇樂、劉少英爲將吏，又自安國鎮至涼州立三州以控扼諸羌，用其酋豪爲刺史。 On reaching Liangzhou, Shihou recommended adjutant deputy commissioner Cui Huxin, the Yangfei Valley chieftain Shen Nianban, and others, together with Wang Tinghan, Wen Chongle, and Liu Shaoying—descendants of Chinese who had stayed behind—as officers. He also set up three prefectures from Anguo Town to Liangzhou to hold the Qiang in check, installing their chieftains as prefects.

然涼州夷夏雜處，師厚小人，不能撫有，至世宗時，師厚留其子而逃歸，涼州遂絕於中國。 But Liangzhou was a mixed region of barbarians and Chinese, and Shihou, a man of small character, could not hold it. By Emperor Shizong's reign he abandoned his son and fled home, and Liangzhou was lost to the central realm thereafter.