Luo Tong
| Luo Tong | |
|---|---|
| Official of Sun Quan | |
| Born | 193 |
| Died | 228 (aged 35) |
| Names | |
| Simplified Chinese | 骆统 |
| Traditional Chinese | 駱統 |
| Pinyin | Luò Tǒng |
| Wade–Giles | Luo Tung |
| Courtesy name | Gongxu (traditional Chinese: 公緒; simplified Chinese: 公绪; pinyin: Gōngxù; Wade–Giles: Kung-hsü) |
Luo Tong (193–228), courtesy name Gongxu, was an official serving under the warlord Sun Quan in the late Eastern Han Dynasty and early Three Kingdoms period.
Life
Luo Tong was a native of Wushang (烏傷), Kuaiji (會稽; present-day Yiwu, Zhejiang). His father Luo Jun (駱俊) served as the Chancellor of Chen (陳) during the Eastern Han Dynasty and was killed by the warlord Yuan Shu. Luo Tong's mother remarried the official Hua Xin so Luo Tong moved with his friends back to Kuaiji. As Luo Tong left, his mother watched him from a distance behind but Luo never turned back. When someone told him that his mother was behind, Luo Tong said, "I do not want my mother to miss me, so I will not look back." (不欲增母思，故不顧耳)
When Sun Quan became the Administrator of Kuaiji, the 20-year-old Luo Tong tried taking up the post of "Chancellor of Wucheng" (烏程相) and did well in governing the thousands of people living in the area. Sun Quan was impressed and recruited Luo Tong to be an "Officer of Merit" (功曹) under him and appointed him as an acting-"Cavalry Commandant" (騎都尉). Luo Tong married the daughter of his elder cousin Luo Fu (駱輔). Luo Tong later became "General of the Household Who Builds Loyalty" (建忠中郎將) and was put in charge of 3,000 men. When Ling Tong died, Luo Tong took over command of Ling's troops. When a plague broke out, Luo Tong wrote to Sun Quan requesting to lower taxes and reduce labour, so as to decrease the burden on the common people. Sun Quan agreed.
Luo Tong participated in the Battle of Xiaoting in 222, where he followed Lu Xun to attack Liu Bei's army at Yidu (宜都). He was promoted to Lieutenant-General (偏將軍) for his contributions. When Cao Ren invaded Ruxu (濡須), Luo Tong sent his deputy Chang Diao (常雕) to launch a surprise attack on Zhongzhou (中洲), while Luo himself and Yan Gui (嚴圭) successfully resisted the enemy's assaults. For his achievement, Luo Tong was appointed "Area Commander of Ruxu" (濡須督) and received the title of "Marquis of Xinyang Village" (新陽亭侯).
Luo Tong died in 228 at the age of 36 (by East Asian age reckoning).
See also
References
- Chen, Shou. Records of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguozhi).
- Pei, Songzhi. Annotations to Records of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguozhi zhu).
| |||||||||||||||||||||||