Qin and Han · Official and Strategist

Xu Shu 徐庶

Attested AD 200 - AD 208

Passages: 4
Chapters: 2
Histories: 1

Overview

Xu Shu was an official and Strategist.

Other names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Courtesy name	Yuanzhi	元直	Yuanzhi

Life and dates

Attested activity

AD 200 to AD 208 Mentioned in Degong household anecdote
Dated from the passage context · Records of the Three Kingdoms 37, passage 8
AD 200 to AD 208 後交元直
Directly stated · Records of the Three Kingdoms 39, passages 15, 17

Key source chapters

Records of the Three Kingdoms, Chapter 39 Volume 39: Book of Shu 9: Biographies of Dong, Liu, Ma, Chen, Dong, and Lü 3 passages
Records of the Three Kingdoms, Chapter 37 Volume 37: Book of Shu 7: Biographies of Pang Tong and Fa Zheng 1 passage

Events and relationships

Enlightened and instructed Zhuge Liang
AD 200 to AD 208 後交元直 · Advisory · Adviser · With Zhuge Kongming (諸葛孔明)
Directly stated · Records of the Three Kingdoms 39, passage 17

Assessments and attributes

Assessment unconfused in frank joint review · Mode named-source-report Speaker Zhuge Kongming (諸葛孔明)
Directly stated · Records of the Three Kingdoms 39, passage 15

Source notes

Historicity historical
Directly stated · Records of the Three Kingdoms 39, passage 15

References in the histories

Records of the Three Kingdoms, Chapter 37Volume 37: Book of Shu 7: Biographies of Pang Tong and Fa Zheng · 1 passage

德操嘗造德公，值其渡沔，上祀先人墓，德操徑入其室，呼德公妻子，使速作黍，「徐元直向雲有客當來就我與龐公譚。」 Once Sima Hui called on Degong while Degong was away—he had crossed the Han to tend his ancestors’ graves uphill. Hui walked straight in, told Degong’s wife and children to cook millet quickly, and said, “Xu Shu mentioned that a guest would come visit me and Master Pang.”

Records of the Three Kingdoms, Chapter 39Volume 39: Book of Shu 9: Biographies of Dong, Liu, Ma, Chen, Dong, and Lü · 3 passages

然人心苦不能盡，惟徐元直處茲不惑，又董幼宰參署七年，事有不至，至於十反，來相啟告。 Few can truly live up to that ideal; Xu Shu never wavered on it, and Dong Youzai, through seven years of co-review, would circle back as many as ten times on a single point until I understood.

苟能慕元直之十一，幼宰之殷勤，有忠於國，則亮可少過矣。」 If others could match even a fraction of Xu Shu’s steadiness or Dong He’s persistence in serving the state, I would make far fewer mistakes myself."

又曰：「昔初交州平，屢聞得失，後交元直，勤見啟誨，前參事於幼宰，每言則盡，後從事於偉度，數有諫止； He went on: "When I first knew Cui Zhouping, I learned constantly from his critiques; Xu Shu kept schooling me; Dong He, when we served together, left nothing unsaid; Hu Ji, afterward, often pulled me up short.