Chen Shi (Three Kingdoms)

Life

Not much was known about Chen Shi, but he at least participated in two major wars his lord, Liu Bei, waged — the Hanzhong Campaign, and the Battle of Xiaoting. Despite being treated as inconsiderable by many modern researchers, Chen Shi was highly valued by Liu Bei, who assigned him important role in the wars they took part in.

Service under Liu Bei

During the Hanzhong Campaign against Cao Cao, Chen Shi was given command of ten camps to cut the connection between Nanzheng County and Chang'an. On the other hand, the defender of Nanzheng County, Xiahou Yuan, had placed his subordinate, Xu Huang, in Mamingge, protecting his supply line. When Chen Shi was marching through mountainous terrain, he encountered Xu Huang, and the two forces clashed wherein many soldiers under Chen Shi fell from the cliff and died. Although being soundly defeated, there is no record that the loser received any punishment from his supervisor, and the forces under Liu Bei finally conquered the Hanzhong region after Cao Cao had decided to withdraw from battle.

In 219, Guan Yu lost Jing Province, as well as his life, to the southern warlord, Sun Quan; this unexpected incident had infuriated the Shu emperor, Liu Bei, who launched an all-out assault on Sun Quan in the summer of 221. Chen Shi was encumbered as a deputy naval commander along Wu Ban to lead the navy downstream the Yangtze River toward Yiling. Chen Shi and Wu Ban achieved their mission as the enemy commander, Lu Xun, had performed a strategic retreat. The Shu army then detached some forces to control the high rounds along their advance, and set up countless camps with wooden barricades protecting each. The navy under Chen Shi guarded the water passages, and general Huang Quan stationed on the northern bank to prevent any interruption from Shu's rival state Wei. At the time, Shu forces thought they would score a complete victory, challenging Lu Xun on numerous occasions. Lu Xun never make any move.

Lu Xun was actually waiting for Liu Bei to relocate his parched troops into the forests when the campers could no longer bear the heat. Earlier, Lu Xun had noticed a fatal mistake committed by Liu Bei - Shu forces were garrisoned in over 50 camps along the 350 km line from Wuxia to Yiling on the banks of Yangtze River, and the emperor had his camps linked with mainly wooden fortifications, something inflammable. When autumn arrived, Lu Xun suddenly ordered a massive fire attack which burned most of Shu camps. Meantime, Chen Shi had been losing control of upstream Yangtze to Sun Quan's officers Song Qian and Zhu Ran. He fled into Ma'an Hills to rendezvous with the remnants of Liu Bei's once-refulgent army. The refugees were caught up and besieged on the top of a mountain, but they were able to sneak out under the cover of night, finally arriving Baidicheng with few survivors including Chen Shi.

Service under Zhuge Liang

When the Shu regent, Zhuge Liang, launched his first Northern Expedition, a tragic event befell upon Chen Shi, as he was placed under Ma Su to guard the strategic Jieting, where Ma Su's force was annihilated by the enemy. Even being the most favoured assistant of the regent, Ma Su was blamed for the campaign's failure; thus, he was executed by Zhuge Liang, and four of his subordinates including Chen Shi were also held responsible and punished severely. Chen Shi's penalty was comparably puny to his executed comrades' as he only got his head shaved.

Nevertheless, being bald looked funny and shameful in the world Chen Shi lived; yet, he seemed able to overcome this inglorious page of life, contributing much to Zhuge Liang's second Northern Expedition in 229. Upon the painful lesson from Jieting, Zhuge Liang finally resorted to use veterans like Chen Shi. Leading a separate command, Chen Shi ventured into Wudu and Yinping commanderies, while Zhuge Liang led the main force toward Jianwei County. A Wei general, Guo Huai, had planned to attack Chen Shi, but changed mind when he received intelligence that Zhuge Liang had led a sizable army to the northwest of Chen's position. An evacuation, rather than a defence, was carried out to deal with Shu's aggression, leaving the two commanderies to be conquered by Chen Shui. Even the exodus left the commanderies with nearly nothing of value, the gain of the lands translated into Zhuge Liang's political gain, reinstating him as the chancellor, a title that Zhuge deprecated and divested after the loss at Jieting.

Relationship with Chen Shou

Historically, besides a trusted officer under Liu Bei, Chen Shi was also one of the few Shu officers who achieved some merits during Zhuge Liang's ill-fated northern expeditions. However, he was not given a separate biography by the Jin dynasty historian Chen Shou in his Records of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguozhi), making him a rather obscure figure. The Book of Jin recorded that Chen Shou's father was punished by Zhuge Liang. From this, scholars in later dynasties speculated that Chen Shi could be Chen Shou's father, but there is no evidence to support this.

In Romance of the Three Kingdoms

In Luo Guanzhong's historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Chen Shi was captured at the Battle of Mount Dingjun by Xiahou Yuan's forces, but was released in exchange for Xiahou Shang, who was captured by Liu Bei's forces. In the novel, during Zhuge Liang's third Northern Expedition, after committing a strategic blunder, he tried to push the blame to Wei Yan but Zhuge Liang held him responsible and executed him.