Zhu Huan (177–238),

courtesy name A courtesy name (), also known as a style name, is a name bestowed upon one at adulthood in addition to one's given name. This practice is a tradition in the East Asian cultural sphere, including China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.Ulrich Theobald ...

Xiumu, was a military general of the state of

Eastern Wu Wu ( Chinese: 吳; pinyin: ''Wú''; Middle Chinese *''ŋuo'' <

Eastern Han Chinese

: ''*ŋuɑ''), known in h ...

during the

Three Kingdoms The Three Kingdoms () from 220 to 280 AD was the tripartite division of China among the dynastic states of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu. The Three Kingdoms period was preceded by the Han dynasty#Eastern Han, Eastern Han dynasty and wa ...

period of China. Although he started his career early under the warlord

Sun Quan Sun Quan (, Chinese: 孫權) (183 – 21 May 252), courtesy name Zhongmou (), posthumously known as Emperor Da of Wu, was the founder of the Eastern Wu dynasty, one of the Three Kingdoms of China. He inherited control of the warlord regime es ...

, he did not receive any important responsibilities until after the Battle of Jiangling in 209. Since then, Zhu Huan had taken charge of some local defences and successfully quelled a few rebellions. Between 222 and 225, when

Cao Pi Cao Pi () ( – 29 June 226), courtesy name Zihuan, was the first emperor of the state of Cao Wei in the Three Kingdoms period of China. He was the second son of Cao Cao, a warlord who lived in the late Eastern Han dynasty, but the eldest son ...

, the emperor of Wu's rival state Wei, launched a three-pronged invasion of Wu, Sun Quan appointed Zhu Huan as a military commander to resist the Wei invaders. Zhu Huan defeated the Wei general

Cao Ren Cao Ren () (168 – 6 May 223), courtesy name Zixiao, was a military general serving during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China under the warlord Cao Cao, who was also his older second cousin. He continued serving in the state of Cao Wei – f ...

at the

Battle of Ruxu (222–223) The Battle of Ruxu, also known as the Battle of Ruxukou, took place in 222-223 between the forces of Cao Wei and Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period. The battle was the third battle taking place between the Cao and Sun clan at Ruxu, but ...

Early life

Zhu Huan was from

Wu County Wu County or Wuxian (; 221 B.C. – December 2000) is a former county and city located in modern Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province. Its name refers to its former status as the capital of the state of Wu during the Spring and Autumn period. Histo ...

Wu Commandery Wu Commandery was a commandery of imperial China. It covers parts of the contemporary Northern Zhejiang and Southern Jiangsu. The capital of Wu commandery was Wu (today's Suzhou). Major counties of Wu commandery include Wu (county), Yuhang county, ...

, which is in present-day

Suzhou Suzhou (; ; Suzhounese: ''sou¹ tseu¹'' , Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Soochow, is a major city in southern Jiangsu province, East China. Suzhou is the largest city in Jiangsu, and a major economic center and focal point of trade ...

Jiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, Postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an Eastern China, eastern coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is o ...

. The Zhu clan, which he was from, was one of the four most influential clans in Wu Commandery at the time. He started his career under the warlord

, who controlled the territories in the Jiangdong region in the late

Eastern Han dynasty The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...

, and was appointed as the Chief () of Yuyao County () during this time. When a plague broke out in Yuyao County and caused the prices of provisions to skyrocket, Zhu Huan opened the county office's granary and distributed food supplies to the people. At the same time, he also ordered his subordinates to distribute medical supplies to the people affected by the plague. As a result, Zhu Huan gained the respect and recognition from the local population. Later on, Sun Quan appointed him as a Colonel () to lead 2,000 troops to find the people who had scattered earlier to avoid the plague. Zhu Huan succeeded in his mission and managed to resettle 10,000 people in Wu and

Kuaiji Shaoxing (; ) is a prefecture-level city on the southern shore of Hangzhou Bay in northeastern Zhejiang province, China. It was formerly known as Kuaiji and Shanyin and abbreviated in Chinese as (''Yuè'') from the area's former inhabitants. ...

commanderies after some years of effort.

Middle career

From the late 200s to around 222, Zhu Huan did not receive any important responsibilities while most of Sun Quan's other military officers actively participated in battles against rival warlords, particularly

Cao Cao Cao Cao () (; 155 – 15 March 220), courtesy name Mengde (), was a Chinese statesman, warlord and poet. He was the penultimate Grand chancellor (China), grand chancellor of the Eastern Han dynasty, and he amassed immense power in the End of ...

, the warlord who controlled the Han central government and the lands north of the

Yangtze River The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest list of rivers of Asia, river in Asia, the list of rivers by length, third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in th ...

. During this time, he quelled rebellions in Danyang () and Poyang () commanderies while his colleagues were fighting at the frontlines. In recognition of Zhu Huan's success in suppressing the revolts, Sun Quan enfeoffed Zhu Huan as the Marquis of Xincheng Village () and promoted him to the rank of Major-General ().

Battle of Ruxu

In 222, Zhu Huan succeeded

Zhou Tai Zhou Tai () (died 223), courtesy name Youping, was a military general serving under the warlord Sun Quan during the late Eastern Han dynasty and early Three Kingdoms period of China. He previously served under Sun Ce, Sun Quan's elder brother a ...

as the area commander of the fortress at Ruxu (), a strategic location at the border along the

between

Eastern Wu Wu ( Chinese: 吳; pinyin: ''Wú''; Middle Chinese *''ŋuo'' <

Eastern Han Chinese

: ''*ŋuɑ''), known in h ...

and its rival state

Cao Wei Wei ( Hanzi: 魏; pinyin: ''Wèi'' <

Middle Chinese

: *''ŋjwei^C'' <

. Around the time, the Wei emperor

had launched a three-pronged invasion of Wu and ordered his general

to lead the attack on Ruxu. Cao Ren purposefully leaked the news that he would attack Xianxi () with the intention of diverting the defenders' attention away from Ruxu fortress. Zhu Huan fell for Cao Ren's ruse and sent the bulk of his troops eastward to reinforce Xianxi. At the same time, Cao Ren led his several tens of thousands troops to attack Ruxu, where Zhu Huan had only 5,000 troops to guard the fortress. The defenders were afraid because they were outnumbered, so Zhu Huan told them, "Whenever two armies fight, the outcome is determined by the commanders' will and not the size of the army. You have heard of Cao Ren's military reputation, so what do you think of his ability compared to mine? Military doctrine says that an invading force should be double the size of a defending force when they fight on flat ground. The condition is that the defenders are not in a fortress and the morale on both sides are equal. Now, Cao Ren is neither wise nor brave, his soldiers are fainthearted, and they are exhausted after travelling a thousand '' li''. On the other hand, we occupy a high-walled fortress, which sits to the north of a river and south to a mountain. The situation is advantageous to us; we shall prevail over the tired invaders. We will win a hundred battles if a situation like this recurs a hundred times. We should have no fear even if Cao Pi comes here personally, so why should we worry about the likes of Cao Ren?" Zhu Huan then ordered his subordinates to hide the flags and drums to generate an illusion they were weak, so as to lure Cao Ren to attack. Cao Ren sent his son, Cao Tai, to lead the main forces to approach the fortress and ordered Chang Diao and Wang Shuang to launch a sneak attack on Zhongzhou (an island in the middle of the river), where the defenders' families resided. Zhu Huan sent Yan Gui () to Zhongzhou to lay traps there, while he led the remaining troops out to battle Cao Tai. Chang Diao and Wang Shuang fell into an ambush and attempted to retreat, but their ships had been captured by the Wu forces so they could not head back. Chang Diao was killed in action while Wang Shang was captured. 1,000 Wei soldiers drowned when they attempted to flee, while the rest of the detachment were trapped. Outside Ruxu fortress, Zhu Huan repelled Cao Tai's attack and managed to infiltrate the enemy and burn down their camps. In recognition of Zhu Huan's achievements in the battle, Sun Quan promoted him to General of Uplifting Martial Might (), granted him the title "Marquis of Jiaxing" (), and appointed him as the nominal Chancellor of

Pengcheng Commandery Pengcheng Commandery was a historical commandery of China from Han dynasty to Tang dynasty, centered in Pengcheng (present-day Xuzhou). Han dynasty In the early Han dynasty, Pengcheng was a commandery in the Chu Kingdom, a semi-independent kingd ...

Battle of Shiting

Six years later, Zhu Huan participated in the

Battle of Shiting The Battle of Shi'ting (literal meaning "stone pavilion") was fought between the states of Cao Wei and Eastern Wu in 228 during the Three Kingdoms period of China. The battle concluded with a Wu victory. Battle The Wu king Sun Quan ordered Zho ...

as a subordinate under the command of

Lu Xun Zhou Shuren (25 September 1881 – 19 October 1936), better known by his pen name Lu Xun (or Lu Sun; ; Wade–Giles: Lu Hsün), was a Chinese writer, essayist, poet, and literary critic. He was a leading figure of modern Chinese literature. W ...

. Zhu Huan once proposed to Lu Xun that they could easily capture the enemy general

Cao Xiu Cao Xiu (died 29 September 228?), courtesy name Wenlie, was a Chinese military general of the state of Cao Wei in the Three Kingdoms period of China. A distant younger relative of the warlord Cao Cao, Cao Xiu started his career in the late Easte ...

by blocking the latter's retreat route with only 10,000 troops under his command. Lu Xun rejected Zhu Huan's plan and assigned him with 30,000 men to attack the enemy's flank. When Cao Xiu showed up at Shiting with 100,000 troops, Zhu Huan and

Quan Cong Quan Cong (196–247 or 198–249), courtesy name Zihuang, was a Chinese military general of the state of Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period of China. Born in present-day Hangzhou towards the end of the Eastern Han dynasty, Quan Cong ...

led their men to attack Cao Xiu's left and right flanks while Lu Xun attacked when the enemy was thrown into disarray. Cao Xiu's troops scattered and their casualty count hit tens of thousands.

Appraisal and Death

Zhu Huan as a man always wanted to be the leader and was ashamed when he was put under the order of others. When he was in battle and couldn't act as he wanted; he would be enraged and indignant. However he valued righteousness and when he died in 238 at the age of 62 (by

East Asian age reckoning Countries in the East Asian cultural sphere (China, Korea, Japan, Vietnam, and their diasporas) have traditionally used specific methods of reckoning a person's numerical age based not on their birthday but the calendar year, and what age one is ...

), his family was so poor that Sun Quan had to provide financial aid to them to hold a decent funeral for Zhu Huan. This was because when Zhu Huan was still alive, he often used his personal wealth to help his subordinates and their (extended) families, which was why his family did not own much property and wealth by the time of his death. When his army learned that his illness was serious, all of them were worried and distraught. When he died, his soldiers along with their families greatly mourned him. Zhu Huan's son, Zhu Yi, inherited his father's marquis title and served as a military officer in the Wu army.(桓性護前，恥為人下，每臨敵交戰，節度不得自由，輒嗔恚憤激。然輕財貴義，兼以彊識，與人一面，數十年不忘，部曲萬口，妻子盡識之。愛養吏士，贍護六親，俸祿產業，皆與共分。及桓疾困，舉營憂戚。年六十二，赤烏元年卒。吏士男女，無不號慕。又家無餘財，權賜鹽五千斛以周喪事。子異嗣。) ''Sanguozhi'' vol. 56.

Notes

References

* Chen, Shou (3rd century). ''

Records of the Three Kingdoms The ''Records or History of the Three Kingdoms'', also known by its Chinese name as the Sanguo Zhi, is a Chinese historical text which covers the history of the late Eastern Han dynasty (c. 184–220 AD) and the Three Kingdoms period (220– ...

'' (''Sanguozhi''). * Pei, Songzhi (5th century). ''

Annotations to Records of the Three Kingdoms Annotations to Records of the Three Kingdoms () by Pei Songzhi (372-451) is an annotation completed in the 5th century of the 3rd century historical text ''Records of the Three Kingdoms'', compiled by Chen Shou. After leaving his native land, Pei ...

'' (''Sanguozhi zhu''). {{DEFAULTSORT:Zhu, Huan 177 births 238 deaths Eastern Wu generals Generals under Sun Quan People from Suzhou Han dynasty generals from Jiangsu