Cheng Pu () (170-210),

courtesy name A courtesy name ( zh, s=字, p=zì, l=character), also known as a style name, is an additional name bestowed upon individuals at adulthood, complementing their given name. This tradition is prevalent in the East Asian cultural sphere, particula ...

Demou, was a Chinese military general and politician serving under the warlord

Sun Quan Sun Quan (; 182 – 21 May 252), courtesy name Zhongmou (), posthumous name, posthumously known as Emperor Da of Wu, was the founder of Eastern Wu, one of the Three Kingdoms of China. He inherited control of the warlord regime established by hi ...

during the late

Eastern Han dynasty The Han dynasty was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC ...

of China. He previously served under Sun Quan's predecessors:

Sun Jian Sun Jian () () (155–191?), courtesy name Wentai, was a Chinese military general, politician, and warlord who lived during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. He allied himself with Yuan Shu in 190 when warlords from eastern China formed a ...

(Sun Quan's father) and

Sun Ce Sun Ce () () (175 – 5 May 200), courtesy name Bofu, was a Chinese military general, politician, and warlord who lived during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. He was the eldest child of Sun Jian, who was killed during the Battle of Xian ...

(Sun Quan's elder brother).

Early career under Sun Jian

Cheng Pu was from Tuyin County (), Youbeiping Commandery (), which is located east of present-day Fengrun District,

Tangshan Tangshan ( zh, c=唐山 , p=Tángshān) is a coastal, industrial prefecture-level city in the northeast of Hebei province. It is located in the eastern part of Hebei Province and the northeastern part of the North China Plain. It is located in t ...

Hebei Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It bor ...

. He initially served as a minor official in the local commandery office. He was good-looking, resourceful, and well versed in military strategy. Cheng Pu later came to serve

and joined him in suppressing the

Yellow Turban Rebellion The Yellow Turban Rebellion, alternatively translated as the Yellow Scarves Rebellion, was a peasant revolt during the late Eastern Han dynasty of ancient China. The uprising broke out in 184 CE, during the reign of Emperor Ling. Although t ...

in the 180s, defeating the rebels at Wan (宛; present-day Wancheng District,

Nanyang, Henan Nanyang is a prefecture-level city in the southwest of Henan province, China. The city with the largest administrative area in Henan, Nanyang borders Xinyang to the southeast, Zhumadian to the east, Pingdingshan to the northeast, Luoyang to the n ...

) and Deng (鄧; present-day

Dengzhou Dengzhou (), formerly Deng County (), is a city in Nanyang, Henan, China. It has an area of and a population of 1,500,000. The urban area is 35 km2, and the urban population is 300,000. The city is located in the southwest of Henan provinc ...

, Henan). In 190, he participated in the

campaign against Dong Zhuo The Campaign against Dong Zhuo was a punitive expedition initiated by a coalition of regional officials and warlords against the warlord Dong Zhuo in 190 in the late Eastern Han dynasty. The members of the coalition claimed that Dong had the i ...

on Sun Jian's side, and defeated Dong Zhuo's forces at Yangren (陽人; believed to be near present-day Wenquan,

Henan Henan; alternatively Honan is a province in Central China. Henan is home to many heritage sites, including Yinxu, the ruins of the final capital of the Shang dynasty () and the Shaolin Temple. Four of the historical capitals of China, Lu ...

). Cheng Pu fought in several battles and had been wounded many times.

Service under Sun Ce

Sun Jian died in 191 and was succeeded by his eldest son

. Cheng Pu continued serving under Sun Ce and accompanied him on his conquests in the Jiangdong region. He aided Sun Ce in conquering Lujiang Commandery () before they crossed the

Yangtze River The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ) is the longest river in Eurasia and the third-longest in the world. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains of the Tibetan Plateau and flows including Dam Qu River the longest source of the Yangtze, i ...

and attacked Hengjiang () and Dangli (), where they defeated Zhang Ying () and Yu Mi (), the subordinates of a rival warlord Liu Yao. Cheng Pu also participated in the conquests of Moling (), Hushu (), Jurong () and Qu'e (). In recognition of his contributions, he was given an additional 2,000 troops under his command and awarded 50 horses. He made many achievements in battle in the subsequent conquests of Wucheng (), Shimu (), Bomen (), Lingchuan () and Yuhang (). After Sun Ce conquered Kuaiji Commandery (around present-day

Shaoxing Shaoxing is a prefecture-level city on the southern shore of Hangzhou Bay in northeastern Zhejiang province, China. Located on the south bank of the Qiantang River estuary, it borders Ningbo to the east, Taizhou, Zhejiang, Taizhou to the south ...

Zhejiang ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = ( Hangzhounese) ( Ningbonese) (Wenzhounese) , image_skyline = 玉甑峰全貌 - panoramio.jpg , image_caption = View of the Yandang Mountains , image_map = Zhejiang i ...

) from its administrator

Wang Lang Wang Lang may refer to: * Wang Lang (Xin dynasty) (died 24), warlord during the Xin-Eastern Han transition * Wang Lang (Cao Wei) (died 228), minor warlord during the late Han period who became an official of Cao Wei * Wang Lang Market, in Bangkok N ...

, he appointed Cheng Pu as the Commandant () of Wu Commandery, with his administrative headquarters at Qiantang County (錢唐縣; present-day

Hangzhou Hangzhou, , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ; formerly romanized as Hangchow is a sub-provincial city in East China and the capital of Zhejiang province. With a population of 13 million, the municipality comprises ten districts, two counti ...

). Cheng Pu was later reassigned as the Commandant of Danyang Commandery () and he moved to Shicheng County (). He participated in the campaigns at Xuancheng () and Jing (), and helped to pacify rebellions in Wu (), Lingyang () and Chungu () counties. When Sun Ce was attacking the bandits led by Zu Lang (), he was surrounded by the enemy, but Cheng Pu, accompanied by only one horseman, charged into the encirclement to rescue his lord. Cheng Pu fought fiercely and the bandits withdrew in fear, allowing Sun Ce to escape. Cheng Pu was later appointed as General of the Household Who Defeats Bandits () and the Administrator () of Lingling Commandery (). He followed Sun Ce in the campaigns against Liu Xun and

Huang Zu Huang Zu (, ) (died between February and April 208) was a Chinese military general and politician during the late Eastern Han dynasty. He served as the Administrator of Jiangxia Commandery (江夏郡; around present-day Xinzhou District, Wuhan, ...

at Xunyang () and Shaxian () respectively, before returning to his garrison at Shicheng.

Service under Sun Quan

When Sun Ce died in 200, Cheng Pu, along with Zhang Zhao and others, pledged allegiance to

(Sun Ce's younger brother) and travelled around Sun Quan's territories to attack those who refused to submit to the new lord. Under Sun Quan, Cheng Pu fought at the Battle of Jiangxia in 208 and aided in the conquest of Le'an () when he passed by Yuzhang (). He later replaced

Taishi Ci Taishi Ci () (166–206), courtesy name Ziyi, was a Chinese military general who lived during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. He had served as a minor Han official, before eventually coming to serve warlords Liu Yao, Sun Ce, and Sun Ce' ...

as the commander of a garrison at Haihun (). During the

Battle of Red Cliffs The Battle of Red Cliffs, also known as the Battle of Chibi, was a decisive naval battle in China that took place during the winter of AD 208–209. It was fought on the Yangtze River between the forces of warlords controlling different parts ...

of 208–209, Cheng Pu and

Zhou Yu Zhou Yu (, ) (175–210), courtesy name Gongjin (), was a Chinese military general and strategist serving under the warlord Sun Ce in the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. After Sun Ce died in the year 200, he continued serving under Sun Qua ...

served as the Left and Right Commanders of Sun Quan's army respectively, and scored a major victory in the battle against

Cao Cao Cao Cao (; ; ; 15 March 220), courtesy name Mengde, was a Chinese statesman, warlord, and poet who rose to power during the end of the Han dynasty (), ultimately taking effective control of the Han central government. He laid the foundation f ...

's forces. Cheng Pu and Zhou Yu also led Sun Quan's forces in the subsequent Battle of Jiangling, a follow-up to the Battle of Red Cliffs, and defeated Cao Cao's 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 � ...

. After those battles, Cheng Pu was promoted to Major-General () and he served as the Administrator () of

Jiangxia Commandery Jiangxia Commandery ( zh, 江夏郡) was a Chinese commandery that existed from Han dynasty to Tang dynasty. Its territories were located in present-day eastern Hubei province. History Jiangxia Commandery was established during the reign of Emper ...

(), with the commandery capital at Shaxian County (), and was in charge of four counties. Cheng Pu was the eldest among all the senior military officers under Sun Quan, so the others often addressed him as "Elder Cheng" () to show their respect towards him. He was also known to be a generous man who enjoyed mingling with the scholar-gentry. When Zhou Yu died, Cheng Pu was assigned to replace him as the Administrator () of Nan Commandery (). After Sun Quan agreed to allow his ally

Liu Bei Liu Bei (, ; ; 161 – 10 June 223), courtesy name Xuande (), was a China, Chinese warlord in the late Han dynasty#Eastern Han, Eastern Han dynasty who later became the founding Emperor of China, emperor of Shu Han, one of the Three Kingdoms of ...

to temporarily occupy Nan Commandery, Cheng Pu was relocated to Jiangxia Commandery. Cheng Pu was subsequently promoted to General Who Defeats Bandits (). It is not known when he died.

Death

Cheng Pu's biography did not state when he died. However, the ''Wu Shu'' (吳書; ''Book of Wu''), written by Wei Zhao, mentioned that Cheng Pu killed hundreds of traitors and had their bodies thrown into a fire. He became ill after that incident and died after more than 100 days later. In May 229, after Sun Quan declared himself emperor and established the state of

Eastern Wu Wu (Chinese language, Chinese: 吳; pinyin: ''Wú''; Middle Chinese *''ŋuo'' < Eastern Han Chinese: ''*ŋuɑ''), known in historiography as Eastern Wu or Sun Wu, was a Dynasties of China, dynastic state of China and one of the three major sta ...

, he granted Cheng Pu's son, Cheng Zi (), a marquis title in recognition of Cheng Pu's contributions.(權稱尊號，追論普功，封子咨為亭侯。) ''Sanguozhi'' vol. 55.

In popular culture

Cheng Pu became a playable character in Koei's '' Dynasty Warriors 9''. He is also a character in Total War: Three Kingdoms. In the 2010 TV show ''Three Kingdoms'', Cheng Pu dies from an arrow shot by Shamoke during a battle around 220 with Shu forces. After claiming Jing Province back and also beheading Guan Yu,

declared war on

's Wu out of retaliation and grief. To counter the move, Sun Quan sent two generals, Han Dang and Zhou Tai with around 80,000 troops to face the oncoming Shu forces. However, Shu's Huang Zhong and Shamoke routed Wu's forces without much issue which caused both Han Dang and Zhou Tai to be stuck in the melee without any way of escape. Cheng Pu then charged into the battle zone with around 500 cavalry units to try and extract both Han Dang and Zhou Tai out but in the process got shot in the chest by Shamoke and subsequently died of his wounds.

Notes

References

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

Records of the Three Kingdoms The ''Records of the Three Kingdoms'' is a Chinese official history written by Chen Shou in the late 3rd century CE, covering the end of the Han dynasty (220 CE) and the subsequent Three Kingdoms period (220–280 CE). It is regard ...

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

Annotations to Records of the Three Kingdoms ''Annotated 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 the fall of the Eastern Jin ...

'' (''Sanguozhi zhu''). {{DEFAULTSORT:Cheng, Pu 2nd-century births 3rd-century deaths Generals under Sun Quan Politicians from Tangshan Political office-holders in Hunan Political office-holders in Hubei