Three Kingdoms and Six Dynasties · Official and General

Zhang Sheng 張嵊

c. AD 488 - AD 549

Passages: 19
Chapters: 3
Histories: 2

Overview

Zhang Sheng was an official and General.

Other names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal name	Song	嵊
Courtesy name	Sishan	四山	Sishan
Posthumous name	Loyal and Upright	忠貞子	Zhongzhen zi

Life and dates

Death

AD 549 太清三年
Executed · At market 都市 · Authority Hou Jing (侯景)
Directly stated · Book of Liang 43, passages 105, 121

Age

62
Reckoning East Asian
Directly stated · Book of Liang 43, passage 121

Attested activity

AD 546 中大同元年
Dated from the passage context · Book of Liang 43, passage 103
AD 549 太清三年
Dated from the passage context · Book of Liang 43, passage 105
AD 548 太清二年
Dated from the passage context · Book of Liang 43, passage 104
AD 502 to AD 520 梁初年
Dated from the passage context · Book of Northern Qi 33, passage 73
AD 502 to AD 519 梁時
Directly stated · Book of Liang 16, passage 139

Family

Immediate relationships attested in the translated histories.

Child of Zhang Ji (張稷)
father 父
son 子
Directly stated · Book of Liang 43, passage 96; Book of Liang 16, passage 139
Sibling of Zhang Yi (伊)
younger brother 弟 · Full siblings
Directly stated · Book of Liang 43, passage 104

Kinship Role sons and younger brothers · Count 10 · Quantity Note 子弟同遇害者十餘人 more than ten
Directly stated · Book of Liang 43, passage 121

Key source chapters

Career and standing

magistrate of Wuxing 吳興太守
AD 546 中大同元年 · Appointed
Directly stated · Book of Liang 43, passage 103
General Who Pacifies the East 征東將軍
AD 549 太清三年 · Offered
Directly stated · Book of Liang 43, passage 112

Places and affiliations

Polity Liang 梁 · Relation Served
Directly stated · Book of Liang 43, passage 96
At Wu commandery 吳郡
Directly stated · Book of Northern Qi 33, passage 73
At Wuxing 吳興 · Relation Posted to
Directly stated · Book of Liang 43, passage 103

Learning and skills

Nominated
Credential Presented Scholar 秀才
Directly stated · Book of Liang 43, passage 99

Works and attributed material

Speech · Speaker · With Shen Jun (沈浚)
Directly stated · Book of Liang 43, passages 106-108
Speech · Speaker
Directly stated · Book of Liang 43, passage 113

Events and relationships

Held Wuxing against Hou Jing forces
Military · Defender · With Hou Jing (侯景)
Directly stated · Book of Liang 43, passages 111, 116

Assessments and attributes

Assessment gave body and died for integrity · Mode historian-judgment
Directly stated · Book of Liang 43, passage 157

References in the histories

Search passages

History

19 passages

Book of Northern Qi, Chapter 33Volume 33 Biographies 25: Xiao Yuanming; Xiao Zhi (Liang); Xiao Tui; Xiao Fang (Liang); Xu Zhicai · 1 passage

彭城劉孝綽、河東裴子野、吳郡張嵊等每共論《周易》及《喪服》儀，酬應如響。 Pengcheng Liu Xiaochuo, Hedong Pei Ziye, Wu commandery Zhang Sheng, and others often debated the Book of Changes and mourning-garment ritual with him; his replies came like an echo.

Book of Liang, Chapter 16Volume 16: Wang Liang; Zhang Ji; Wang Ying · 1 passage

稷子嵊，別有傳。 Ji's son Song has a separate biography.

Book of Liang, Chapter 43Volume 43: Wei Can; Jiang Ziyi; Jiang Zisi; Jiang Ziwu; Zhang Sheng; Shen Jun; Liu Jingli · 17 passages

韋粲江子一弟子四子五張嵊沈浚柳敬禮 Wei Can; Jiang Ziyi; his younger brothers Zisi and Ziwu; Zhang Sheng; Shen Jun; Liu Jingli

張嵊字四山，鎮北將軍稷之子也。 Zhang Sheng, styled Sishan, was son of Pacifying North General Ji.

父臨青州，爲土民所害，嵊感家禍，終身蔬食布衣，手不執刀刃。 His father while inspecting Qing province was killed by locals; Sheng, moved by the family calamity, ate vegetables and wore cloth all his life and never held a blade.

太清二年，侯景圍京城，嵊遣弟伊率郡兵數千人赴援。 In the second year of Supreme Purity Hou Jing besieged the capital; Sheng sent his younger brother Yi to lead several thousand commandery troops to the rescue.

嵊往見而謂曰：「賊臣憑陵，社稷危恥，正是人臣效命之秋。 Sheng went to see him and said, "The traitor towers over us; the altars are in peril—this is the season for ministers to devote their lives.

固勸嵊舉義。 He firmly urged Sheng to raise righteousness.

時邵陵王東奔至錢唐，聞之，遣板授嵊征東將軍，加秩中二千石。 The Prince of Shaoling had fled east to Qiantang; hearing of it he sent a commission appointing Sheng General Who Pacifies the East with rank equal to two thousand shi.

嵊曰：「朝廷危迫，天子蒙塵，今日何情，復受榮號。」 Sheng said, "The court is in peril and the Son of Heaven suffers dust—what heart today for glory and title."

賊行台劉神茂攻破義興，遣使說嵊曰：「若早降附，當還以郡相處，復加爵賞。」 The bandit field headquarters Liu Shenmao took Yixing and sent a messenger persuading Sheng, "If you surrender early, you will be returned the commandery to govern and receive enfeoffment and reward."

嵊命斬其使，仍遣軍主王雄等帥兵於鱧瀆逆擊之，破神茂，神茂退走。 Sheng ordered the messenger beheaded and sent commander Wang Xiong and others to meet the attack at Lüdu, defeated Shenmao, and Shenmao retreated.

侯景聞神茂敗，乃遣其中軍侯子鑒帥精兵二萬人，助神茂以擊嵊。 Hou Jing heard Shenmao was defeated and sent his central army Hou Zijian with twenty thousand crack troops to help Shenmao attack Sheng.

嵊遣軍主范智朗出郡西拒戰，爲神茂所敗，退歸。 Sheng sent commander Fan Zhilang west of the commandery to meet battle, was defeated by Shenmao, and withdrew.

嵊乃釋戎服，坐於聽事，賊臨之以刃，終不爲屈。 Sheng put off military dress and sat in the audience hall; the bandit held blades to him and he was never bent.

乃執嵊以送景，景刑之於都市，子弟同遇害者十餘人，時年六十二。 They seized Sheng and sent him to Jing; Jing executed him in the market, and sons and brothers who suffered with him numbered more than ten—he was sixty-two.

諡曰忠貞子。 His posthumous title was Loyal and Upright.

及破張嵊，乃求浚以害之。 When Zhang Sheng was defeated he asked for Jun to kill him.

至如張嵊二三子之徒，捐軀殉節，赴死如歸，英風勁氣，籠罩今古，君子知梁代之有忠臣焉。 Men such as Zhang Sheng and the two or three like him gave their bodies and died for integrity, going to death like returning home—their heroic wind and firm spirit cover past and present; the gentleman knows the Liang had loyal ministers.