Fei Yi
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Fei Yi (費禕) (* after 200; † 253), courtesy name Wenwei (文偉), was an official of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period who served as regent after Jiang Wan.
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[edit] Early career
Fei Yi was from Jiangxia Commandery (江夏, in modern eastern Hubei) who lost his father early and was raised by his distant relative Fei Boren (費伯仁), who was cousin to the warlord Liu Zhang, who controlled Yi Province (益州, modern Sichuan and Chongqing). Sometime around 211, Liu Zhang sent messengers to welcome Fei Boren to his domain, and while Fei Boren himself appeared to have turned down the invitation, he sent Fei Yi to Yi Province. Fei Yi remained in Yi Province after Liu Bei conquered it in 214 and became known as a young scholar. He and Dong Yun (董允) were long-time friends, and both served together as Liu Shan's assistants after Liu Bei declared himself emperor in 221 and created Liu Shan crown prince. After Liu Shan succeeded to the throne in 223, Fei (still described as young at this point) continued to serve him.
[edit] During Zhuge Liang's regency
It is not clear how Zhuge Liang, Liu Shan's regent, got to know Fei's abilities, but by the time that Zhuge returned from his southern expedition against the tribes of modern Guizhou and Yunnan, he had seen that Fei was the most capable of the young officials. He frequently commissioned Fei to serve as an ambassador to Eastern Wu, and during those missions, Eastern Wu's emperor Sun Quan became impressed with Fei as well. Zhuge continued to promote Fei through a progression of offices during his regency. When not on missions to Eastern Wu, Fei served as one of Zhuge's military strategists.
As an official serving under Zhuge, Fei was known for his easy-going nature and desire to keep his colleagues away from conflicts. When Wei Yan and Yang Yi (楊儀) had their frequent struggles against each other, Fei stayed neutral and tried to reconcile them, and while Fei was ultimately unsuccessful in trying to prevent them from boiling into an open armed conflict after Zhuge's death in 234 (which resulted in Wei's death), during Zhuge's life time he was able to keep them working together.
When Zhuge grew ill on his final campaign against Cao Wei in 234, Liu Shan sent messengers to inquire him as to who should succeed him. Zhuge recommended Jiang Wan and also Fei Yi, as Jiang's eventual successor. After Zhuge's death later that year, Jiang became regent, and Fei became his chief assistant.
[edit] During Jiang Wan's regency
As the chief assistant to the regent Jiang, Fei handled mostlly domestic matters. He was described as so quick in his comprehension and decisions that he only needed mornings to carry out his duties, and he spent the afternoons entertaining guests. He was particularly artful at a board game which might be Go or a predecessor to Go. (When Dong Yun succeeded him in 243 in that role, he tried to follow Fei's schedule, but after several days, the paperwork quickly backlogged, forcing him to work all day. He thus became amazed at Fei's abilities.)
Jiang was often in ill-health, and in 243 he transferred most of his authorities to Fei and Dong while remaining regent. In 244, when Cao Wei's regent Cao Shuang attacked the important border city Hanzhong (漢中, in modern Hanzhong, Shaanxi), it was Fei who led the troops against Cao Shuang and dealt Cao Wei a major defeat. After Jiang's death in 245, Fei became regent.
[edit] Regency
One near-immediate task that Fei faced was finding a chief assistant for himself, as Dong, who had been serving in that role since 243, died soon after Jiang Wan's death. He decided on the general Jiang Wei. However, as both he and Jiang were largely involved with military matters, the domestic matters soon apparently fell into the hands of Huang Hao, a eunuch trusted by Liu Shan who was described as treacherous and corrupt. The effective administration that Zhuge had created and Jiang Wan had continued began to deteriorate, although the key effects would not be visible during Fei's regency.
As regent, Fei was not as non-aggressive militarily as Jiang Wan, but he did not resume the full-scale military confrontations that Zhuge advocated and carried out. He had Jiang Wei harass Cao Wei's borders with periodic attacks, but never authorized Jiang Wei to launch a major assault.
One major characteristic that Fei was known and admired for was his easy-going nature. However, that might have caused his death. As he was hosting a feast at his mansion for key officials, one of the guests was Guo Xun (郭循), a Cao Wei general whom he had captured in 250, who was still secretly loyal to Cao Wei. Guo, after most people became drunk, took the opportunity to assassinate Fei. The historian Yu Xi (虞喜) commented, "Fei Yi was so open and honest and so unworried about others, and he was eventually assassinated by Guo Xun, a surrendered man. Is it not that his fault came from his virtues?" Fei was given the posthumous name "Jing" (敬侯, literally, "alert"), which, however, appeared to be inappropriate.
[edit] References
- Chen Shou, Sanguo Zhi, ch. 44, http://ef.cdpa.nsysu.edu.tw/ccw/02/3k4.htm.
- Sima Guang, Zizhi Tongjian, http://www.chinakyl.com/rbbook/big5/sjcy/ztj.htm.
