From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Zhu Ran
Zhu Ran
Zhu Ran celebration. Thus, Shi Ran became an adopted son of Zhu
Zhi and had his last name changed into Zhu. In addition,
General of Eastern Wu he studied together with Sun Ce’s younger brother, Sun
Born 182 Quan as a young boy, and the two became very intimate.
Because of this, after Sun Ce died and was succeeded by
Died 249
Sun Quan, Zhu Ran was made a Prefect of Yuyao (余姚)
Names at the mere age of 19. Zhu was later appointed as chief of
Shanyin (山陰), acting on authority of a captain, to over-
Simplified Chinese 朱然
see five local counties around the area. Pleased with his
Traditional Chinese 朱然 abilities, Sun further promoted him to be the Adminis-
Pinyin Zhū Rán trator of Linchuan (臨川), and gave him command over
2,000 soldiers.
Wade-Giles Chu Jan
Style name Yifeng (義封) Capture of Guan Yu
During his tenure as an administrator, he had the merit
Other names Original name
• Shi Ran (施然) of subjugating the Shanyue ethnic group within his juris-
diction, and was able to do so in less than a month. How-
This is a Chinese name; the family name is Zhu. ever, when the hegemonic warlord, Cao Cao led his mas-
Zhu Ran (182 – 249)[1] was a military general of Eastern sive army to invade the Wu area, Zhu stayed in the back
Wu during the Three Kingdoms era of Chinese history. just as most other officials at the time did; and was not
Despite being a childhood friend of the first emperor of assigned significant tasks for some time until the Battle
Eastern Wu, Sun Quan, he was never tasked with im- of Ruxukou, where Zhu proved his loyalty in personally
portant position nor assignment before Lü Meng’s inva- going to the frontline to help resist Cao’s 400,000 strong
sion of southern Jing Province in 219, wherein he assist- army. Although Zhu didn’t engage the enemy in this bat-
ed in capturing the enemy commander Guan Yu. Follow- tle, he was promoted by Sun to be a Major General, as a
ing the Battle of Xiaoting, the Cao Wei state launched way to reaffirm his trust in Zhu. In 219, Zhu Ran partic-
a three-pronged strike on Eastern Wu’s northwestern, ipated in Lü Meng’s Jing Province campaign as Lu’s aide.
middle, and eastern borders. Zhu was sent to the north- When the enemy commander, Guan Yu, was abandoned
western border, where he defended the city of Jiangling by his troops and trapped in Maicheng, Zhu was ordered
with only 5,000 troops against an enemy force about ten by Lu to lay the first line of blockades to Guan’s escape.
times greater. He rose to fame and became feared However, for reason unknown, Zhu let Guan slip by, and
throughout Cao Wei. He then participated in a serious Pan Zhang, who was responsible for the second layer,
of military operations against Cao Wei, during which he succeeded in capturing Guan Yu alive. Regardless, Sun
successfully defeated several enemy units, but the overall credited both Pan and Zhu for Guan’s capture. When Lü
objectives had never been met. Before his death, Zhu was Meng laid on his death bed shortly after the Jing Province
granted authority to oversee matters within the army. campaign, Sun asked his input on who could succeed him
as the new commander for the army, wherein Lü high-
ly praised the abilities of Zhu Ran and recommended the
Biography latter be the replacement. Heeding Lü’s dying words, Sun
gave the staff of authority to Zhu, and tasked him with
Early life the defense of Jiangling, capital city of Nan Commendary
Originally from Guzhang (故鄣), Danyang (present-dau and a vital strategic stronghold on the front-line.
Anji County, Huzhou), Shi Ran was a nephew of Sun Ce’s Two years later, the emperor of Shu Han, Liu Bei, led
veteran general, Zhu Zhi, who had a liking to the 13-year- a grand force of more than 100,000 troops to invade Wu,
old Shi Ran and asked Sun to grant him permission to and Zhu led his 5,000 troops to join the Wu comman-
adopt the child. Since Zhu had contributed considerably der, Lu Xun, for the tactical defense of Xiaoting. When
to Sun’s pacification of Jiangdong and had not bore a the next summer came, Zhu led a separate force against
son, Sun specifically ordered the Governor of Danyang to Shu. After breaking Liu Bei’s vanguard, Zhu Ran’s forces
bring presents to the family of Shi for the ceremony and took up a position at the rear of Shu army, blocking their
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Zhu Ran
escape as they attempted to flee from a fire attack exe- sending them downstream so that they would burn the
cuted by Lu Xun. Together, Lu Xun and Zhu Ran chased wooden bridges being used by Wei. Knowing what Pan
the Shu emperor into the deep hills, pushing him back to had done, the Wei forces returned north before the re-
Baidecheng, where he would admit defeat and die shortly treat route could be destroyed. Because of his extraordi-
afterwards. nary performance in this battle, Zhu Ran’s name became
known throughout the Kingdom of Wei as a powerful en-
Defense of Jiangling emy general.
Throughout the whole course of the Wu-Shu conflict,
the Wei military had assembled troops but never mobi- Late life
lized. However, immediately following the success of Lu In 241 he led an assault on Fancheng and surrounded it.
Xun’s battles against Shu, the Wei Emperor, Cao Pi sud- However, the army of Wei under the command of Sima Yi
denly launched a three-pronged campaign against Wu. defeated him, and he retreated. In 246 he again invaded
Even though Cao Pi’s plan was detected by Lu Xun, who Wei and attacked Zhazhong (柤中), and when his escape
ordered Xu Sheng to perform a double-back to return route was cut off by Li Xing (李興) of Wei, he defeated Li
to Jianye and informed Sun to prepare for war, the Wu Xing’s forces and withdrew.
forces still faced a dire situation. Their troops were In 245, Lu Xun died and Zhu Ran was given command
stretched thinly across at least four fronts; on the west- over the armies of Wu by Sun Quan. He died four years
ern front facing Baidecheng, where Liu Bei’s declaration later in 249, and received the third largest funeral after
of war was still in effect; the Nan Commandery, which Lu Meng and Ling Tong. At his funeral service, Sun Quan
was pressed by the Wei generals Zhang He, Xu Huang, is said to have wept greatly for him. His son, Zhu Ji, suc-
Cao Zheng, and Xiahou Shang; at Ruxukou, where Wei ceeded him and continued to serve Eastern Wu.
Grand General Cao Ren was leading his team to land on
the Middle Island; and at the eastern battlefield on the
Yangtze River, Dongkou, where Zhang Liao and Cao Xiu
Tomb of Zhu Ran
defeated Lü Fan’s navy. At the time, there was an extreme In June 1984, during the construction of a factory, Zhu
shortage of military personnel. Furthermore, an out- Ran’s burial site was discovered in Ma’anshan, Anhui.
break of disease greatly reduced the morale and number Many historically important decorative items of clothing
of soldiers in Zhu Ran’s army, leaving him with a mere were discovered within. The road on which the site was
5,000 men, who were intimidated by the news that the discovered was renamed to "Zhuran Road" in his honour.
Wu reinforcements led by Sun Sheng were eliminated
by Zhang He. At Jiangling, Xiahou Shang built wooden
bridges for the soldiers to cross the shallow waters and
Family
attack the castle. With each passing day, the number of • Zhu Zhi, uncle
Wei troops besieging the castle increased by the thou- • Zhu Ji (朱績), son
sands. Not knowing how and where the Wei forces were
crossing the shallows of the river, the Wu reinforcements In fiction
under Pan Zhang and Zhuge Jin had no effective way to
lift the siege. Surrounded in his castle, Zhu was heavily In Luo Guanzhong’s historical novel Romance of the Three
outnumbered by Cao Zheng, who encircled the fortress Kingdoms, Zhu Ran was killed by Zhao Yun while pursuing
with several layers and deployed a variety of siege Liu Bei’s defeated force in Battle of Xiaoting in 222.
weapons. Yet Zhu showed no signs of fear, and encour-
aged his comrades and subordinates to counter the ene- Modern references
my. When Cao relaxed his guard, Zhu’s forces were able
to destroy two of the Wei encampments. Six months had In Koei’s Dynasty Warriors video game series, he is instru-
passed, but the Wei army still continued the siege, and mental in the fire attack on Liu Bei’s army in the Battle
Cao Pi had arrived at Wan city to bolster their morale. of Yiling, which is the turning point of the battle, caus-
One of Zhu’s officers, seeing that the Wei troops were nu- ing Liu Bei to lose most of his army and morale and being
merous and that the food supply within Jiangling castle forced to retreat.
was running out, planned to defect to Wei. He secretly
contacted the Wei troops outside of the castle walls and See also
promised to open the gate to permit their forces entry.
• List of people of the Three Kingdoms
When the betrayer was about to open the castle gate,
he was noticed by Zhu and executed. At the time, Pan
Zhang had gone upstream and collected one million bun-
dles of reeds. He fitted these to rafts and set them on fire,
2
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Zhu Ran
References Alternative names
Short description Chinese general
[1] de Crespigny, Rafe (2007). A biographical dictionary of
Later Han to the Three Kingdoms (23–220 AD). Brill. Date of birth 182
p. 1165. ISBN 978-90-04-15605-0. Place of birth
• Chen Shou. Records of Three Kingdoms, Chapter 56, Date of death 249
Biography of Zhu Ran.
Place of death
Persondata
Name Zhu, Ran
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Zhu_Ran&oldid=466272631"
Categories:
• 182 births
• 249 deaths
• Sun Ce and associates
• Eastern Wu generals
• Generals under Sun Quan
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