Wáng Sī [王思]

[last updated 2026 jan 11]

Liáng Xí appellation Zǐyú was a Chén prefecture Zhè man, and served in the prefecture government. Tàizǔ [Cáo Cāo] became Excellency of Works, recruited and summoned him as Zhāng chief, over time transferred to Chéngshì, Hǎixī, Xiàpī Magistrate, wherever he was he had fame for governance. He returned as West Department Director Scribe, promoted to Associate. Bìng territory was newly attached, [Liáng] Xí as a Separate Division Major was designated Bìng Province Inspector. At the time he was continuing on from the remnants of Gāo Gàn’s desolation and chaos, the Hú and Dí ʼwere at the borders, the powerful spreading and domineering, the officials and people deserted and rebelled, entering into their tribes. Military families gathered multitudes, becoming bandits and doing harm, and further inciting one another, everywhere like board game pieces [in strong fixed positions]. [Liáng] Xí arrived at office, enticed and recruited to receive them, all with courtesy summoned the most powerful, gradually recommended and nominated them, sending them to visit [Cáo Cāo’s] administrative offices. When the strongest were all used up, then the next had their able-bodied be volunteer followers. Also taking advantage of the main army going out on campaign, he separately requested them to be courageous strength. After the officials and soldiers had already left, he gradually relocated their families, beginning to end sending them to Yè, altogether several tens of thousands of people. For those that did not follow the commands, he raised troops to deliver punishment, cutting off heads in the thousands, those that surrendered and attached were in the tens of thousands. The Chányú was deferential and obedient, the [Xiōngnú] famed kings knocked heads [to the ground], their division retainers submitted to serve and hold office, together with household registration. The borders were purified, the Hundred Surnames spread in the wilds, diligent in farming and silk production, orders enacted and prohibitions observed. The tributed eminent famed servicemen were all famed in the world, the story is in Cháng Lín’s biography. Tàizǔ commended him, bestowing noble rank as Marquis Within the Passes, further appointing him as true [Inspector]. The elders praised and sang, believing from what they had heard and remembered, of Inspectors there were none that reached [Liáng] Xí. Jiàn’ān Eighteenth Year [213], the province was merged to subordinate to Jì Province, he was instead appointed Consultant Cadet, West Department Regional Commander Attending Official, subordinate to Jì Province, commanding his former division retainers. Also he was sent to Shàngdǎng to obtain large timber to provide for Yè’s Palaces and Residences. [Liáng] Xí memorialized to install Garrison Farm Commandants of two men, managing retainers of six hundred laborers, on the road stops tilling and planting legumes and grain, to provide for the expenses of the men and oxen. Later the Chányú entered as an attendant, the northwest being without anxieties, was [Liáng] Xí’s accomplishment. (1) When Emperor Wén [Cáo Pī] ascended the throne, again installed a Bìng Province, restored as Inspector, advanced in fief to Marquis of Shēnmén precinct, fief of a hundred households. His governance always was the best Under Heaven. Tàihé Second Year [228], summoned and appointed Minister of Agirculture. [Liáng] Xí was in the province for over twenty years, but his residence was impoverished, without any regional treasures or things. Emperor Míng [Cáo Ruì] was impressed with him, the gifts and bestowments were extremely generous. Fourth Year [230] he died, his son [Liáng] Xhī succeeded.

梁習字子虞，陳郡柘人也，為郡綱紀。太祖為司空，辟召為漳長，累轉乘氏、海西、下邳令，所在有治名。還為西曹令史，遷為屬。并土新附，習以別部司馬領并州刺史。時承高幹荒亂之餘，胡狄在界，張雄跋扈，吏民亡叛，入其部落；兵家擁眾，作為寇害，更相扇動，往往棋跱。習到官，誘諭招納，皆禮召其豪右，稍稍薦舉，使詣幕府；豪右已盡，乃次發諸丁彊以為義從；又因大軍出征，分請以為勇力。吏兵已去之後，稍移其家，前後送鄴，凡數萬口；其不從命者，興兵致討，斬首千數，降附者萬計。單于恭順，名王稽顙，部曲服事供職，同於編戶。邊境肅清，百姓布野，勤勸農桑，令行禁止。貢達名士，咸顯於世，語在常林傳。太祖嘉之，賜爵關內侯，更拜為真。長老稱詠，以為自所聞識，刺史未有及習者。建安十八年，州并屬冀州，更拜議郎、西部都督從事，統屬冀州，總故部曲。又使於上黨取大材供鄴宮室。習表置屯田都尉二人，領客六百夫，於道次耕種菽粟，以給人牛之費。後單于入侍，西北無虞，習之績也。〔一〕文帝踐阼，復置并州，復為刺史，進封申門亭侯，邑百戶；政治常為天下最。太和二年，徵拜大司農。習在州二十餘年，而居處貧窮，無方面珍物，明帝異之，禮賜甚厚。四年，薨，子施嗣。

• (1) Wèi lüè states: Xiānbēi Chieftain Yù Yán always was feared by the province, and in one morning led his tribe of over five thousand cavalry to visit [Liáng] Xí, requesting mutual trade. [Liáng] Xí considered that to not listen then would be to fear his resentment, if he listened and arrived below the province he also feared he would be captured, thereupon he then agreed to go meet with him in an empty city to trade. Therefore he ordered the prefectures and counties, personally leading the Manager Central on down army to go meet them. The trade was exchanged and not yet completed, a trade official arrested and bound one Hú. [Yù] Yán’s cavalry was all startled, mounting horse and bending bow to encircle [Liáng] Xí in multiple layers, the officials and people were anxious and terrified and did not know what to do. [Liáng] Xí then slowly called to the trade official, asked the reason for binding the Hú, and the Hú in fact had assaulted someone. [Liáng] Xí then sent a translator to call [Yù] Yán, [Yù] Yán arrived, [Liáng] Xí reproached [Yù] Yán saying: “Your Hú himself violated the law, the official did not infringe on you, why do you send your cavalry to alarm and frighten?” Therefore beheaded him. The remaining Hú’s guts were broken and did not dare move. From this afterward there was no banditry. Reaching the Twenty-Second Year [217], Tàizǔ captured Hànzhōng, the various armies returned and arrived at Cháng’ān, and took advantage to detain cavalry commander Tàiyuán Wūhuán King Lǔ Xī, sent to garrison Chíyáng, to equip Lúshuǐ. [Lǔ] Xī had a beloved wife, residing at Jìnyáng. [Lǔ] Xī both missed her, and also feared he would then be unable to return, and thus with his tribe of five hundred cavalry rebelled to return to Bìng Province, left his remaining cavalry to station the mountain valley, and as a single rider alone entered Jìnyáng, capturing his wife. He had already exited the city, the provinces and prefectures then became aware. The officials and people also feared [Lǔ] Xī’s skill in shooting and did not dare pursue. [Liáng] Xí then ordered attending official Zhāng Jǐng to recruit Xiānbēi to send to pursue [Lŭ] Xī. [Lǔ] Xī’s horse carried his wife, with doubled riders it walked slowly, had not yet reached to rejoin his multitudes, when they were by the Xiānbēi shot and killed. When Tàizǔ had first heard that [Lǔ] Xī had rebelled, he feared he would creat chaos in the northern border, on hearing that he was already killed, he was greatly pleased, and as [Liáng] Xí’s beginning to end had strategies, enfeoffed him as Marquis Within the Passes.

〔一〕　魏略曰：鮮卑大人育延，常為州所畏，而一旦將其部落五千餘騎詣習，求互市。習念不聽則恐其怨，若聽到州下，又恐為所略，於是乃許之往與會空城中交市。遂敕郡縣，自將治中以下軍往就之。市易未畢，市吏收縛一胡。延騎皆驚，上馬彎弓圍習數重，吏民惶怖不知所施。習乃徐呼市吏，問縛胡意，而胡實侵犯人。習乃使譯呼延，延到，習責延曰：「汝胡自犯法，吏不侵汝，汝何為使諸騎驚駭邪？」遂斬之，餘胡破膽不敢動。是後無寇虜。至二十二年，太祖拔漢中，諸軍還到長安，因留騎督太原烏丸王魯昔，使屯池陽，以備盧水。昔有愛妻，住在晉陽。昔既思之，又恐遂不得歸，乃以其部五百騎叛還并州，留其餘騎置山谷間，而單騎獨入晉陽，盜取其妻。已出城，州郡乃覺；吏民又畏昔善射，不敢追。習乃令從事張景，募鮮卑使逐昔。昔馬負其妻，重騎行遲，未及與其眾合，而為鮮卑所射死。始太祖聞昔叛，恐其為亂於北邊；會聞已殺之，大喜，以習前後有策略，封為關內侯。

Previously, Jǐyīn’s Wáng Sī with [Liáng] Xí both were West Department Director Scribes. [Wáng] Sī took advantage of scheduled days to report on affairs, failing Tàizǔ’s intentions. Tàizǔ was greatly furious, instructed to summon managers, about to apply the death penalty. At the time [Wáng] Sī had recently gone out, [Liáng] Xí substituted him to go answer, and had already been arrested and seized, [Wáng] Sī then hurried to return, personally explained his own crimes, the crimes should receive death. Tàizǔ sighed [in admiration] that [Liáng] Xí did not speak and [Wáng] Sī recognized his situation, and said: “How could I know that in my army there were two righteous servicemen?” (1) Later at the same time they were promoted to Inspectors, [Wáng] Sī designate Yù Province. [Wáng] Sī also was an able official, however he was exacting and fussy without consideration of the overall. His rank reached the Nine Ministers, enfeoffed a Ranked Marquis. (2)

初，濟陰王思與習俱為西曹令史。思因直日白事，失太祖指。太祖大怒，教召主者，將加重辟。時思近出，習代往對，已被收執矣，思乃馳還，自陳己罪，罪應受死。太祖歎習之不言，思之識分，曰：「何意吾軍中有二義士乎？」〔一〕後同時擢為刺史，思領豫州。思亦能吏，然苛碎無大體，官至九卿，封列侯。〔二〕

• (1) Your Servant Sōngzhī believes: [Liáng] Xí to Wáng Sī were co-workers and nothing more, their kinship not bone and flesh, their relationship not to the point of cutting throat, but used himself to substitute [Wáng] Sī, receiving an immeasurable disaster. To take this as righteous is to surely violate the noble intentions of the former sages. The Historian [Sīmǎ] Qiān said: “Deaths have those as heavy as Tài mountain, and those as light as a goose feather.” Therefore a noble man does not for no reason survive, and does not for no reason die. Supposing if [Wáng] Sī did not take the blame and the manager did not apply pardon, then it would be called to hang oneself in a ditch and have none know of it. [Liáng] Xí’s to the death righteousness, how could it be so?

〔一〕　臣松之以為習與王思，同寮而已，親非骨肉，義非刎頸，而以身代思，受不測之禍。以之為義，無乃乖先哲之雅旨乎！史遷云：「死有重於太山，有輕於鴻毛」，故君子不為苟存，不為苟亡。若使思不引分，主不加恕，則所謂自經於溝瀆而莫之知也。習之死義者，豈其然哉！

• (2) Wèilüè’s Biography of Exacting Officials states: [Wáng] Sī with Xuē Tì and Xì Jiā together rose from humble beginnings, their office ranks roughly equal. Among the three men, [Xuē] Tì was particularly adept in classicist methods, wherever he was he was famed for leisurely governance. [Xì] Jiā and [Wáng] Sī in affairs and conduct resembled one another. Emperor Wén’s [Cáo Pī’s] Imperial Order said: “Xuē Tì is an impure official, Wáng Sī and Xì Jiā are pure officials. Each are bestowed Marquis Within the Passes, to reward their diligence.” [Wáng] Sī as a man though was complex and fussy, but he was very skilled in written documents, respected worthies and courteous to servicemen, bent his thinking to circumstances, and also had prominent fame. During Zhèngshǐ, he became Minister of Agriculture, in his old age his eyesight deteriorated, he glared angrily without limit, his subordinate officials were bewildered and did not know what to do. By nature he had little faith [in others]. At the time there was an official with a critically ill father, nearby in an outer residence, and he personally requested leave. [Wáng] Sī suspected it was not true, and angrily said: “The world has those who miss their wives and have sick mothers, how can you have this request?” Therefore he did not give leave. The official’s father died the next day, [Wáng] Sī had no regret. His harshness was all of this sort. [Wáng] Sī also was impatient, once when holding a brush and writing a letter, a fly landed on the brush’s tip, shooing it to leave it again came, and was like this two to three times. [Wáng] Sī was furious, personally rose to chase the fly but could not catch it, returned and took the brush and threw it to the ground, and stomped on it to destroy it. At the time there was Dānyáng’s Shī Wèi, Lǔ prefecture’s Ní Yǐ, Nányáng’s Hú Yè also as Inspectors and prefecture Administrators, at the time people called them exacting and cruel. Also there was Gāoyáng’s Liú Lèi, successively ranked as an administrator, especially exacting and wicked, but for his skill in cultivating human affairs was not deposed in his time. During Jiāpíng, he became Hóngnóng Administrator. His officials were over two hundred people, he did not give vacation leave, concentrated their services on the not urgent. For mistakes without regard to light or heavy, at once he seized their heads, and also chaotically caned and whipped them, dragging them out and back inside, like this several to four times. Then he sent someone to dig the ground to search for money, wherever there were markets there always were holes. Also to outside claim frugality, every time he went out, he would outwardly order the supervisors to not have their office associates and retainers prepare courtesy and respect, but secretly remembered those that did not come, and at once would become angry and slander them. By nature he also had little trust [in others], every time he sent a senior official out, at once he sent a junior official to accompany and secretly investigate him, in the daytime he always personally went between the walls to spy, in the night he would send an investigator who was incorruptible to inspect the various departments, and further believing the investigator was not trustworthy, also sent subordinates and slaves to go verify. Once on an inspection tour, he lodged with a civilian family. The civilian family’s two dogs chased a pig, the pig was alarmed and fled, its head sticking into a fence, squealing for a long while. [Liú] Lèi believing that the outer officials were without authority sharing drink and food, did not investigate, and instead sent Wǔ Bǎi to drag Five Office official Sūn Bì to enter, stamping on his head to reprimand him. [Sūn] Bì replied with the truth, [Liú] Lèi was personally ashamed for not checking in detail, and took advantage to claim it was investigation for another affair. Civilian Yǐn Chāng was aged over a hundred, heard [Liú] Lèi was out traveling and about to pass by, and said to his son saying: “Support me to welcome the administrator, I wish to explain my gratitude.” The son supported [Yǐn] Chāng to the left of the road, [Liú] Lèi saw, and laughed at the son saying: “What use is having a dead man come meet me?” His view of others without respect was all of this sort. In the old customs, civilians in slandering officials had ‘the three not agreed,’ called ‘relocate,’ ‘dismiss,’ and ‘death.’ When [Liú] Lèi was at Hóngnóng, the officials and civilians feared him, and so wrote a sign on his door saying: “His administratorship Liú has three he will not agree.” Although [Liú] Lèi heard of this, yet he was unable to reform himself. Afterward Securing East General Sīmǎ [Zhāo] Wén-wáng went on western campaign, on the road passed through Hóngnóng, a Hóngnóng man reported [Liú] Lèi as a negligent old man unable to govern a prefecture, thus he was summoned and entered Court as Five Office Internal Cadet General.

〔二〕　魏略苛吏傳曰：思與薛悌、郤嘉俱從微起，官位略等。三人中，悌差挾儒術，所在名為閒省。嘉與思事行相似。文帝詔曰：「薛悌駁吏，王思、郤嘉純吏也，各賜關內侯，以報其勤。」思為人雖煩碎，而曉練文書，敬賢禮士，傾意形勢，亦以是顯名。正始中，為大司農，年老目瞑，瞋怒無度，下吏嗷然不知何據。性少信，時有吏父病篤，近在外舍，自白求假。思疑其不實，發怒曰：「世有思婦病母者，豈此謂乎！」遂不與假。吏父明日死，思無恨意。其為刻薄類如此。思又性急，嘗執筆作書，蠅集筆端，驅去復來，如是再三。思恚怒，自起逐蠅不能得，還取筆擲地，蹋壞之。時有丹陽施畏、魯郡倪顗、南陽胡業亦為刺史、郡守，時人謂之苛暴。又有高陽劉類，歷位宰守，苛慝尤其，以善修人事，不廢於世。嘉平中，為弘農太守。吏二百餘人，不與休假，專使為不急。過無輕重，輒捽其頭，又亂杖撾之，牽出復入，如是數四。乃使人掘地求錢，所在市里，皆有孔穴。又外託簡省，每出行，陽敕督郵不得使官屬曲修禮敬，而陰識不來者，輒發怒中傷之。性又少信，每遣大吏出，輒使小吏隨覆察之，白日常自於牆壁間闚閃，夜使幹廉察諸曹，復以幹不足信，又遣鈴下及奴婢使轉相檢驗。嘗案行，宿止民家。民家二狗逐豬，豬驚走，頭插柵間，號呼良久。類以為外之吏擅共飲食，不復徵察，便使伍百曳五官掾孫弼入，頓頭責之。弼以實對，類自愧不詳，因託問以他事。民尹昌，年垂百歲，聞類出行，當經過，謂其兒曰：「扶我迎府君，我欲陳恩。」兒扶昌在道左，類望見，呵其兒曰：「用是死人，使來見我。」其視人無禮，皆此類也。舊俗，民謗官長者有三不肯，謂遷、免與死也。類在弘農，吏民患之，乃題其門曰：「劉府君有三不肯。」類雖聞之，猶不能自改。其後安東將軍司馬文王西征，路經弘農，弘農人告類荒耄不任宰郡，乃召入為五官中郎將。