Dong Yun, styled Xiu Zhao, was the son of the Director General Dong He. When the First Emperor appointed crown prince, he was selected as She Ren, and later become Xi Ma (1). When the Later Emperor succeeded the throne, he got promoted to Huang Men Shi Lang (2). When Prime Minister Liang was about to advance north and camped at Hanzhong, he was afraid the Later Emperor is unable to recognize good from evil, therefore he appoint Yun, whom he believed was just and unselfish, to be in charge of the palace affairs. Liang memorialized, “Shi Zhong (3) Fei Yi, Guo Youzhi, and Dong Yun are honest men, devotedly anxious to be loyal to the last degree; wherefore His Late Majesty chose them in his testament. My advice is to consult them in all Palace matters, great or small, before taking action. Your Majesty will reap the enormous advantage of having any failings corrected.” (4) When Zhuge Liang asked Fei Yi, his military advisor (Can Jun), Dong Yun got promoted to Shi Zhong. He also took the position of Hu Guan Zhong Lang Jiang (Director General of the Palace Guards) and was in charge of the palace guards. Guo Youzhi was gentle and agreeable, therefore he was only a back-up. Chu Guo Xian Xian Zhuan: Guo Youzhi was from Nanyang, he was well known at the time for his tolerance. Therefore Yun himself was in charge of all the responsibilities for advising. Yun, having knowledge on saving and correcting, modeled his behavior on prevention. The Later Emperor always wanted to pick girls to fill up his inner court, Yun argued the traditional manner of the emperor cannot have more than twelve concubines, and now the inner palace is full thus it is inappropriate to add more. The Later Emperor was fearful of him. When Imperial Secretary Jiang Wan took office of Governor of Yizhou, he petitioned to give his position to Fei Yi and Dong Yun, he said, “Yun has served as inner advisor for years and is a wing to the imperial family. It is proper to award him title and land in return to his hard work.” Yun refused and wouldn’t take the title. When the Later Emperor matured, he liked the eunuch Huang Hao. Therefore Hao acted on his wish. Yun advised against this preference to the Later Emperor and he scolded Hao repeatedly. Hao was afraid of Yun, and dared not to act harmfully. Throughout Yun’s life, Hao only has office up to Huang Men Cheng. (5)
Yun once set an appointment with Imperial Secretary Fei Yi, Zhong Dian Yun (6) Hu Ji and had a feast. When he was about to leave, Dong Hui of Xiang Yan came to see him. Hui was young and was a low official. He saw Yun was about to leave for somewhere so he bid farewell. Yun would not let him go, and said, “It is only a social gathering that caused me to go out. Now you already lowered yourself to come here, it is illogical to abandon your discussion and went to their feast.” He then ordered the horses to be put back and Wei, hearing this, cancelled the feast. This was an example of his humble treatment toward others. Xiang Yang Ji: Dong Hui, styled Xiu Xue, originated from Xiang Yang. When he came to Shu, he served as an assistant to Fei Yi as the ambassador to Wu. Sun Quan got drunk often, and he asked Wei, “Yang Yi and Wei Yan are deceitful people. Although they contributed some useful crowing to the times, they cannot let go of their powers easily. Once the court does not have Zhuge Liang, they will become great harms. Yet you gentlemen never thought of prevention, how can you claim yourself to be not lacking in schemes?” Wei looked around and could not answer. Hui looked at Wei and said, “You can say Yi and Yan’s conflict came from their personal animosity. They do not have uncontrollable hearts such as Jing and Xin (7). Now it is time to destroy the rebels and unite the country, the achievements come from talents, and talents need to be recognized. If we do not use them because we are afraid of the future, then it is like we will not use boat because we are afraid of storms. Such is not a long-term strategy.” Quan laughed. Zhuge Liang recognized this speech. He promoted Hui to Assistant to Prime Minister and Governor of BaJun within three days. Pei Songzhi: Han Jin Chun Qiu also recorded this incident, but it did not say Dong Hui told Fei Yi this speech with some variation in it. Those two books from the same author differ. The biography said, “Hui is young and holds a low office.” If he is already employee to Prime Minister Office and governor of BaJun, then he does not hold a low office. Such it is suspected that Xi does not look over his words. Sixth year of Yan Xie, he was named General of Assisting the Country (Fu Guo). Seventh year, he took the position of Imperial Secretary as Shi Zhong and acted as deputy to Chief General Fei Yi. Ninth year, he died. Hua Yang Guo Zhi: At that time the people of Shu gave the title of Four Ministers to Zhuge Liang, Jiang Wan, Fei Yi, and Dong Yun, or they called them Four Heroes.
Chen Zhi become Shi Zhong after Yun’s death; he conspired alliance with Huang Hao, making Hao possible to join the affairs. After Zhi’s death, Hao was promoted from Huang Men Ling (8) to Zhong Chang Shi (9), Feng Che Duwei (10); he grasped the power and later finally led to the fall of the kingdom. People of Shu all thought back to Yun. When Deng Ai reached Shu, he heard Hao’s wrongs and wanted to kill him; but Hao bribed people around Ai and he got spared.
Chen Zhi, styled Feng Zhong, was from Runan; he was the grandson of the brother of Xu Jing. He became an orphan at a young age so he grow up at the family of Jing. His fame was known when he is twenty. He had many talents and knew few ways. Fei Yi looked upon him highly and picked him as the successor to Dong Yun. When Lu Yi died, Zhi also got to be Imperial Secretary and General of Zhen Jun. Chief General Jiang Wei, had a rank higher than Zhi, yet his absence from the court due to his campaigns made him rarely interfere with the court affairs. Zhi was liked by the emperor and allied with the eunuch, making his power greater than Wei’s. He died the first year of Jing Yao (A.D. 258). The Late Emperor was very sad, issued an edict, “Zhi is in the leadership position of 12th year. He executes the laws orderly and has clear accomplishments. I am very sad his life did not last long. I hereby give him the posthumous title of Lord of Loyal”. His son was given the title of duke and his second son was promoted to Huang Men Shi Lang. Ever since Zhi was liked by the emperor, the Late Emperor had hated Yun. His grandson Hong was later named as Protector of BaXi. Pei Song Zhi: Your servant Song observed that Chen Tai, son of Chen Qun, Lu Xun’s son Kang all have their biographies as an extension of their father’s. Wang Su, Du Shu, Zhang Cheng, Lu Zhao, etc. all show the same trend except for Dong Yun, without any whole reason. Is it because Yun’s fame and positive exceeds his father’s? However, both Xiahou Xuan and Liu Biao’s positions exceeds their fathers, yet their situation is like Chen Tai’s. Wei Shu has a volume called “All Caos and Xiahous”.
(1) She Ren is usually picked from the children among good families. They are in charge of the guards to the crown prince. There are usually thirteen of them. Xi Ma accompanying the crown prince and adds to his status when the crown prince went out. There are usually sixteen of them.
(2) Huang Men Shi Lang is in charge of the attendants to the emperor. He provides a connection between the inner court and the outer court. Whenever there is a prince come to court, they direct them to their sitting spot. During Xian Di’s reign, he abolished the office of Huang Men Shi Lang and used Shi Lang instead. They act as the emperor’s advisors and imperial secretaries.
(3) Shi Zhong are advisors to the emperor. Xian Di, when abolishing the office of Huang Men Shi Lang, used Shi Zhong as that position as well.
(4) This is part of Zhuge Liang’s memorial.
(5) Huang Men Cheng is assistants to Huang Men Ling, who is in charge of all the eunuchs. Huang Men Cheng is mostly in charge of the entering and exiting of the inner palace.
(6) I could not find its job description in HHS, but I think Zhong Dian Yun should be in charge of the banner of the emperor when he went out of the palace.
(7) Han Xin and Jing Pu were generals under Han Gao Zu, Liu Bang. Although they helped him establish the dynasty, later they proved to be disloyal and are executed for treason.
(8) Huang Men Ling is an office in charge of the entering and exiting of the inner palace. In ancient china, everyone, even the emperor, went in and out the inner palace must be recorded.
(9) Zhong Chang Shi is in charge of the attendants to the emperor and is an advisor to the emperor.
(10) Feng Che Duwei is in charge of the emperor’s carriages.