Gou An
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| Gou An | |||
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| Traditional Chinese: | 苟安 | ||
| Simplified Chinese: | 苟安 | ||
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Gou An was a fictional character in Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
Gou An served the Kingdom of Shu-Han as a minor military officer.
Once, during the battle at Qishan, Gou An was put in charge of escorting the supplies and provisions to the army camp. However, Gou An delayed the delivery of the supplies and provisions delibrately. Zhuge Liang, who was the overall commander of the Shu army, wanted to have Gou An executed for delayment in the delivery of supplies and provisions. After further consideration, Zhuge Liang decided to spare Gou An's life and had Gou An punished only by 100 strokes of the military staff.
Later, Gou An was furious with Zhuge Liang for ordering him to be beaten up. Gou sneaked out of the Shu camp and joined the Wei camp. Sima Yi, the commander of the Wei army, decided to send Gou An back to Chengdu, the Shu capital city on a mission. Gou An's mission was to spread rumours in Chengdu that Zhuge Liang wielded far too much military power and had the intention of rebelling. The rumours reached the ruler of Shu-Han Liu Shan's ears and he sent an imperial decree ordering Zhuge Liang to retreat from the battlefield. Zhuge Liang's campaign against Wei had failed. Later, Zhuge Liang realised that it was Gou An who spread the rumours and pledged his loyalty to Liu Shan once more. Liu Shan trusted Zhuge Liang again and ordered to have Gou An arrested, but Gou An had already fled to Wei.
Gou An's name (苟安) bears a similarity to the Chinese idiom 'Gou Qie Tou An' (苟且偷安), which means 'to drag out a meaningless existence'.
