Encyclopedia: Zhuge Ke

Historic (Confirmed)

Zhuge Ke was the son of Zhuge Jin of Wu. He was a nephew to Zhuge Liang. He initially served as a tutor to Sun Deng. In AD 234, Ke sought to be appointed as the official in charge of Danyang. Though Zhuge Ke insisted that he could raise a large army drafted from the people of the region, numerous scholars (including his father Zhuge Jin apparently) doubted his ability. Zhuge Ke was nevertheless appointed to be Prefect of Danyang. In this capacity, Zhuge Ke launched a campaign against the hills people of the area. He forced dissidents into submission and recruited more soldiers into the army as promised. He also collected grain.*

Zhuge Ke was greatly admired by Sun Quan. Sun Quan entrusted him, among others, to affairs of state while he was on his deathbed. Following Sun Quan’s demise, Zhuge Ke learned of Sun Hong’s intent to assassinate him. Zhuge Ke summoned Sun Hong to a meeting and killed him instead. Zhuge Ke thereafter held high rank under the next Wu Emperor, Sun Liang. In this position, Zhuge Ke canceled all overdue debts and abolished custom duties. He also insisted that Imperial princes of Wu move their residences away from the Jiang river, which was a strategic location for Wu’s navy. He rebuilt a dam at Dongxing and further constructed two fortresses atop the nearby hills. These actions were generally popular and well-received.

In AD 253, Wei assaulted Dongxing. Zhuge Ke led an army to relieve it. Wei built pontoon bridges and took up positions nearby the dam. However, the Wei forces were unable to directly approach the fortifications that Zhuge Ke had previously built. Although it was still winter, the Wu general Ding Feng ordered his troops to take off most of their armor and attack enemy positions. The Wei soldiers merely scoffed at the ridiculous invading force. This, however, led to their demise. Ding Feng’s soldiers charged and fully routed them. Zhuge Ke’s forces pursued Wei, putting several officers to death, capturing supplies, weapons, animals, etc. During Wei’s escape, several of the boats making up the pontoon bridges broke. As a result, many Wei soldiers drowned in the icy river during their hasty retreat.

Following this victory, Zhuge Ke was promoted to Commander-in-Chief of Wu’s army. However, he began to grow arrogant and started underestimating his enemy. He wished to continue his campaign against Wei, but met with much opposition from the various officials of Wu. Zhuge Ke accused these officials of being unable to understand the long-term benefits of a sustained expedition against a weakened Wei.

Zhuge Ke then continued to levy more troops, took numerous prisoners in Huainan, and then moved on to Hefei. The attack on Hefei ended in disaster. Wu’s attacks on Hefei had failed in the past; Zhuge Ke’s loss wasn’t unusual. Nevertheless, he had failed to listen to the advice of a good number of advisors that had urged restraint.

Following his campaign failure, Zhuge Ke lost a bit of support in Wu. He had always had a few powerful enemies at court. One of them, Sun Jun, arranged his assassination.

Sources: Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms by Achilles Fang, Generals of the South by Dr. Rafe de Crespigny

*-All of the information concerning Zhuge Ke’s actions in Danyang is derived from Dr. Rafe de Crespigny’s Generals of the South specifically.