Kui An (died 340) was a Tianzhu military general and minister of

Later Zhao The Later Zhao (; 319–351) was a dynasty of the Sixteen Kingdoms in northern China. It was founded by the Shi family of the Jie ethnicity. The Jie were most likely a Yeniseian people and spoke next to Chinese one of the Yeniseian languages.Vov ...

during the

Sixteen Kingdoms The Sixteen Kingdoms (), less commonly the Sixteen States, was a chaotic period in Chinese history from AD 304 to 439 when northern China fragmented into a series of short-lived dynastic states. The majority of these states were founded by ...

period. He was one of Shi Le's earliest followers as a member of his Eighteen Riders (十八騎). He later became a partisan of Shi Hu's faction and grew to become a prominent minister in his regime. His most notable accomplishment was thwarting an attempted invasion by the influential

Jin dynasty (266–420) The Jin dynasty (; ) or the Jin Empire, sometimes distinguished as the (司馬晉) or the (兩晉), was an imperial dynasty of China that existed from 266 to 420. It was founded by Sima Yan (Emperor Wu), eldest son of Sima Zhao, who had pr ...

general

Yu Liang Yu Liang (庾亮; 289 – 14 February 340), courtesy name Yuangui (元規), formally Marquess Wenkang of Duting (都亭文康侯), was a Chinese military general and politician of the Jin dynasty who impressed many with his knowledge but whose inab ...

in 339.

Life

Service under Shi Le

According to the Song dynasty encyclopedia, ''"A Critical Review to Old and New Books on Family Names"'' (古今姓氏書辯證), Kui An was originally a man from Tianzhu (the historical

East Asian East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea a ...

name for India) but later moved to

Liaodong The Liaodong Peninsula (also Liaotung Peninsula, ) is a peninsula in southern Liaoning province in Northeast China, and makes up the southwestern coastal half of the Liaodong region. It is located between the mouths of the Daliao River (the h ...

. After Shi Le was freed from slavery in 304, Shi Le organized a group of bandit with the help of his friend

Ji Sang Ji Sang (died 11 January 308) was a Chinese rebel of the Western Jin dynasty. During his days as a shepherd, he befriended a Jie slave who he would name Shi Le (the future Emperor Ming of Later Zhao). The two raised a personal army and later j ...

. Kui An joined him that year and became one of Shi Le's Eighteen Riders. Following Shi Le's conquest of Julu and

Changshan (; ), also known as (), and (), is a form of , Chinese robe, which was derived from the Qing dynasty , the traditional dress of the Manchu people, which were worn by Manchu men. The was actually developed by the Han Chinese through the mod ...

in 309, Shi Le appointed Kui An as his "talon and teeth" (爪牙) along with Zhi Xiong,

Kong Chang Kong Chang (fl. 4th century) was a barbarian military general of Later Zhao during the Sixteen Kingdoms period. He was one of Shi Le's more active generals during Shi's career in Han Zhao as well as his early reign as Prince of Zhao. He partici ...

, Tao Bao and Lu Ming (逯明). Kui An followed Shi Le in his failed expedition to

Jiankang Jiankang (), or Jianye (), as it was originally called, was capital city of the Eastern Wu (229–265 and 266–280 CE), the Jin dynasty (317–420 CE) and the Southern Dynasties (420–552), including the Chen dynasty (557–589 CE). Its walls ...

in 312. Half of the army suffered from plague, starvation and flooding while the army of

Sima Rui Emperor Yuan of Jin (; 276 – 3 January 323), personal name Sima Rui (司馬睿), courtesy name Jingwen (景文), was an emperor of the Jin dynasty and the first emperor of the Eastern Jin. His reign saw the steady gradual loss of Jin territor ...

was approaching them, so Shi Le assembled his general and advisors to discuss their next move. Kui An proposed that they move to higher ground to get away from the water, which Shi Le replied, "General, why are you so cowardly?" In the end, following Zhang Bin's advice, Shi Le decided to abandon the campaign for a campaign in Yecheng instead. In 312, Kui An and the others were sent to besiege the city of Yuanxiang (苑鄕, in present-day

Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, an ...

and

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

) against You Lun (游綸) and

Zhang Chai Zhang Chai was a minister of Later Zhao during the Sixteen Kingdoms period. He was a close ally to Shi Hu's empress, Empress Liu, who helped her establish themselves as the paramount leaders of Zhao through her son Shi Shi following the deat ...

, who had surrendered to the

Youzhou You Prefecture or You Province, also known by its Chinese name Youzhou, was a prefecture ('' zhou'') in northern China during its imperial era. "You Province" was cited in some ancient sources as one of the nine or twelve original provinces of ...

warlord Wang Jun. This incited Wang to send his forces to Shi Le's capital in Xiangguo but Shi managed to repel them. In the end, You Lun and Zhang Chai surrendered back to Shi Le. According to the dubious biography of

Fotudeng Fotudeng (Sanskrit: ''Buddhacinga?''; ) (ca. 232–348 CEBuswell, Robert. Lopez, Donald. ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism.'' 2013. p. 304) was a Buddhist monk and missionary from Kucha. He studied in Kashmir and came to Luoyang in 310 CE ...

in the

Book of Jin The ''Book of Jin'' is an official Chinese historical text covering the history of the Jin dynasty from 266 to 420. It was compiled in 648 by a number of officials commissioned by the imperial court of the Tang dynasty, with chancellor Fang X ...

, during the defence of Xiangguo, Kui An was sent by Shi Le to speak to Fotudeng to reassure him about his prediction that the enemy general

Duan Mopei Duan may refer to: * Duan (surname), a Chinese surname ** Duan dynasty, the ruling dynasty of the Dali Kingdom * Duan tribe, pre-state tribe during the era of Sixteen Kingdoms in China * Duan language, spoken on the Laotian–Vietnamese border * ...

would be captured. After this, Kui An would be absent from the records for a long period of time. He would only be mentioned again in 330 when Shi Le claimed the imperial title after destroying

Former Zhao The Han Zhao (; 304–329 AD), or Former Zhao (), was a dynastic state of China ruled by the Xiongnu people during the Sixteen Kingdoms period of Chinese history. In Chinese historiography, it was given two conditional state titles, the Northern ...

. Shi Le handed out new government positions to his followers including Kui An, who was made one of the Masters of Writing.

Service under Shi Hu

Kui An was a partisan of Shi Le's nephew, Shi Hu, who harboured ambitions to seize power in the court away from Shi Le and his family. After Shi Le died and was succeeded by his son Shi Hong in 333, Shi Hu almost immediately launched a coup and placed the young Shi Hong under his control. Shi Hu replaced the ministers in Shi Hong's court with members of his own faction. This included Kui An, who Shi Hu made acting Deputy Director of the Left. In 334, Shi Hu had Shi Hong killed and took the throne for himself. As a result, Kui An was further made Palace Attendant, Grand Commandant, and acting Prefect of the Masters of Writing. By 337, Kui An was holding the important position of Grand Guardian. That year, he along with more than 500 officials suggested to Shi Hu to take the imperial title. Shi Hu agreed and made himself

Heavenly King Heavenly King or Tian Wang () is a Chinese title for various religious deities and divine leaders throughout history, as well as an alternate form of the term '' Son of Heaven'', referring to the emperor. The Chinese term for Heavenly King consis ...

of Zhao.

Routing Yu Liang

In 339, Jin's minister Yu Liang was planning to hold a grand invasion against Later Zhao. He camped his generals

Mao Bao Mao Zedong pronounced ; also Romanization of Chinese, romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the List of national founde ...

and Fan Jun (樊俊) at Zhucheng (邾城, in modern

Huanggang Huanggang is a prefecture-level city in easternmost Hubei Province, China. It is situated to the north of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and is bounded in the north by the Dabie Mountains and is named after Mount Huanggang. It borders ...

Hubei Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The prov ...

), but this proved to be a fatal mistake. Shi Hu was able to detect Yu Liang's movements, so he quickly ordered Kui An to lead an army to attack the Jin forces first, with the generals

Shi Jian Shi Jian (石鑒) (died 350) was briefly (for 103 days) an emperor of the Jie-led Later Zhao dynasty of China. He was the third of four short-lived Later Zhao emperors after the death of his father Shi Hu (Emperor Wu). He is sometimes referred t ...

, Shi Min,

Li Nong Li Nong (died 350) was a Chinese military general and politician of the Later Zhao and Ran Wei dynasties during the Sixteen Kingdoms period. He was a notable official under Later Zhao's emperor Shi Hu, fighting against the Jin and Former Yan dy ...

, Zhang Hao (張貉) and Li Tu (李菟) under his command. Kui An brought the generals to invade the northern borders of

Jingzhou Jingzhou () is a prefecture-level city in southern Hubei province, China, located on the banks of the Yangtze River. Its total residential population was 5,231,180 based on the 2020 census, 1,068,291 of whom resided in the built-up (''or metro' ...

and Yangzhou while sending 20,000 cavalry to attack Zhucheng. In September, Shi Min defeated the armies south of the

Mian River Mian may refer to: People and languages *Mian (surname), including a list of people with the surname * Mian (given name), including a list of people with the given name * Mian family of Baghbanpura, a noble Arain family of Lahore, Pakistan *Mian ...

and killed their general Cai Huai (蔡懷). Kui An and

then proceeded to capture Jin's territories south of the river. Elsewhere, the Zhao general Zhu Bao (朱保) won a victory at Baishi, where he killed Zheng Bao (鄭豹) as well as four other officers while Zhang Hao captured Zhucheng, killing 6,000 Jin troops in the process. Mao Bao and Fan Jun both drowned

Yangzi The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest river in Asia, the third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains (Tibetan Plateau) and flows ...

after breaking through the Zhao encirclement and attempting to flee. Kui An then captured Huting (胡亭) and invaded Jiangxia. The Jin commanders at Yiyang (義陽, in modern

Xinyang Xinyang (; postal: Sinyang) is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Henan province, People's Republic of China, the southernmost administrative division in the province. Its total population was 6,234,401 according to the 2020 census. As of t ...

Henan Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...

), Huang Chong (黃沖) and Zheng Jin (鄭進), both surrendered to Kui An. Kui set his eyes on Shicheng but the Administrator of

Jingling Tianmen () is a sub-prefecture-level city (sometimes considered a county-level city) in central Hubei Province, China. It is on the Jianghan Plain, on the west side of Wuhan (the biggest city of Central China, as well as the capital of Hubei) a ...

, Li Yang (李陽) mounted an impregnable defence and finally managed to put a stop to his advances. Kui An lost 5,000 men against Li Yang, so he decided to retreat east of the Han River, sacking and pillaging the area while relocating 7,000 households to Youzhou and Jizhou. Kui An's attack proved devastating for Jin as their initial campaign to reclaim territory up north only resulted in losing land as well as people to Zhao. After the fall of Zhucheng, Yu Liang cancelled his plans and voluntarily demoted himself before dying the following year. Kui An died a year later in 340, holding the office of Prefect of the Masters of Writing.

Descendant

Kui Teng (夔騰), who was from Liaodong, was said to be a descendant of Kui An. He served in

Former Qin The Former Qin, also called Fu Qin (苻秦), (351–394) was a dynastic state of the Sixteen Kingdoms in Chinese history ruled by the Di ethnicity. Founded by Fu Jian (posthumously Emperor Jingming) who originally served under the Later ...

, and following its decline in 383, he along with a few others including

Cui Hong Cui or CUI may refer to: People * Cui (surname), a Chinese surname * Cui Shian (born 1957), governor of Macau * César Cui (1835–1918), Russian composer Education * Catholic University of Ireland * COMSATS University Islamabad * Concordia Uni ...

fled to Jin, where they were given administrative posts of commanderies in Jizhou and led forces from south of the

Yellow River The Yellow River or Huang He (Chinese: , Standard Beijing Mandarin, Mandarin: ''Huáng hé'' ) is the second-longest river in China, after the Yangtze River, and the List of rivers by length, sixth-longest river system in the world at th ...

. However, they were all bought over with ranks and titles by the

Dingling The Dingling ( (174 BCE); (200 BCE); Eastern Han Chinese: *''teŋ-leŋ'' <

Old Chinese

: *''têŋ-rêŋ'') were ancient people ...

- Zhai clan of Wei. The Zhais were defeated in 392 by

Later Yan Yan, known in historiography as the Later Yan (; 384 – 407 or 409) was a dynastic state of China ruled by the Xianbei people, located in modern-day northeast China, during the era of Sixteen Kingdoms. All rulers of the Later Yan declared them ...

, so Kui Teng and the others surrender to Yan. Yan's ruler,

Murong Chui Murong Chui (; 326–396), courtesy name Daoming (道明), Xianbei name Altun (阿六敦), formally Emperor Chengwu of (Later) Yan ((後)燕成武帝) was a great general of the Xianbei-led Chinese Former Yan dynasty who later became the foundi ...

, accepted them and allowed them to hold offices in his government.(初，郝晷、崔逞及清河崔宏、新興張卓、遼東夔騰、陽平路纂皆仕於秦，避秦亂來奔，詔以爲冀州諸郡，各將部曲營於河南；旣而受翟氏官爵，翟氏敗，皆降於燕，燕主垂各隨其材而用之。釗所統七郡三萬餘戶，皆按堵如故。以章武王宙爲兗、豫二州刺史，鎭滑臺；徙徐州民七千餘戶于黎陽，以彭城王脫爲徐州刺史，鎭黎陽。脫，垂之弟子也。垂以崔蔭爲宙司馬。) Zizhi Tongjian, 109

References

* Fang, Xuanling (ed.) (648). ''

'' (''Jin Shu''). * Sima, Guang (1084).

Zizhi Tongjian ''Zizhi Tongjian'' () is a pioneering reference work in Chinese historiography, published in 1084 AD during the Northern Song dynasty in the form of a chronicle recording Chinese history from 403 BC to 959 AD, covering 16 dynast ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kui, An Former Zhao generals Later Zhao generals 340 deaths