Shen Dan
Shen Dan | |
|---|---|
申耽 | |
| Born | Unknown Shangyong Commandery, Eastern Han (modern Zhushan County, Hubei) |
| Died | after 220 CE (exact year unknown) Nanyang Commandery, Cao Wei (probable) |
| Other names | Courtesy name: 義舉 (Yiju) |
| Occupation(s) | Warlord, military general |
| Known for | Ruling Shangyong during late Han / early Three Kingdoms |
| Relatives | Shen Yi (younger brother) |
Shen Dan (Chinese: 申耽; pinyin: Shēn Dān; courtesy name Yiju (Chinese: 義舉; pinyin: Yìjǔ)) was a regional strongman of the Shen (申) clan who dominated the mountainous Shangyong corridor in eastern Hanzhong during the final years of the Eastern Han dynasty and the early Three Kingdoms period. Over roughly two decades he shifted allegiance from the Han court to Cao Cao, surrendered to Liu Bei in 219 CE, and finally defected to Cao Wei after 220.
Background
[edit]Before the central government collapsed, Shangyong lay inside Jing Province, and governor Liu Biao formally acknowledged the Shen clan’s de-facto control, leaving Shen Dan in charge so long as he kept the mountain passes quiet.[1] According to fragments of the lost Weilüe, Shen Dan and his younger brother Shen Yi “gathered several thousand households” in the upper Han River valley during the 190s.[2] He later cooperated with the theocratic war-lord Zhang Lu and finally dispatched envoys to Cao Cao, who recognized him as *Colonel of Shangyong* and soon after promoted him to *Administrator*, enfeoffing him as **Marquis of Yuanxiang**.[3]
Surrender to Liu Bei (219)
[edit]After Liu Bei captured Hanzhong in early 219 CE, he ordered Meng Da to advance north from Zigui while Liu Feng pushed south-east from Hanzhong, converging on Shangyong. Unable to withstand the double thrust, Shen Dan capitulated and sent his family to Chengdu as hostages. Liu Bei confirmed him as *General Who Pacifies the North* while allowing him to retain both his commandery and his marquisate.[3]
Defection to Wei (220)
[edit]Guan Yu’s defeat at Fan in the winter of 219 prompted Meng Da to seek refuge under the newly founded state of Cao Wei. Shen Yi followed, defeated Liu Feng, and persuaded Shen Dan to surrender as well. Emperor Cao Pi distrusted Shen Dan’s loyalty, stripped him of troop command, appointed him *General of Consolation and Recruitment* (a nominal post), transferred his peerage to Shen Yi, and relocated him to Nanyang Commandery as an idle noble.[3]
Later life
[edit]No further activities are recorded; Shen Dan is presumed to have died of natural causes in Nanyang at an unknown date.[citation needed]
In Romance of the Three Kingdoms
[edit]The 14th-century novel portrays Shen Dan and Shen Yi as accomplices of Sima Yi in suppressing Meng Da’s 227 revolt and has Sima execute them afterwards. Modern historians regard this episode as fictional, since contemporary sources do not mention Shen Dan after 220.[4]
Legacy
[edit]Historians view the Shen clan as one of several aristocratic houses that maintained semi-autonomous enclaves along the Qin-Ba mountain corridor. Shen Dan’s successive shifts of allegiance exemplify the pragmatic survival strategies employed by frontier elites caught between the rival war-lords Cao Cao and Liu Bei.[1]
Notes
[edit]- ^ a b Rafe de Crespigny (2007). A Biographical Dictionary of Later Han to the Three Kingdoms (23–220 AD). Leiden: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-16206-4.
- ^ Pei Songzhi (5th century), annotation quoting the lost Weilüe in Sanguozhi vol. 40.
- ^ a b c Chen Shou (3rd century). Records of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguozhi), vol. 40.
- ^ Rafe de Crespigny (2017). Honour and Shame in the History of the Three Kingdoms. Canberra: ANU Press. ISBN 978-1-76046-128-0.