Tian Kai

Tian Kai ( Chinese  田 楷  /  田 楷 , Pinyin Tián Kǎi , W.-G. T'ien Kai ; † 199 ) was an officer who served under the Chinese warlord Gongsun Zan during the late Han Dynasty . When Gongsun Zan tried to expand his territory to the south in 191, he entrusted Tian Kai with the conquest of Qing Province ( Chinese 青 , now Shandong ), which at that time was under the control of Yuan Shao , the governor of Ji Province. Gongsun Zan appointed Tian Kai as inspector of Qing for this purpose. A title that Yuan Shao later also gave to his son Yuan Tan .  

Areas of influence of the warlords around 194: Gongsun Zan (turquoise blue) and Yuan Shao (orange) in the north

Tian Kai succeeded in conquering the northern part of the province around the city of Pingyuan , but his advance was stopped by Yuan Shao. In the wake of Tian Kai was also Liu Bei , who was first appointed as administrator and later as chancellor of Pingyuan due to his successes. In 192 Yuan Shao won an important victory against Gongsun Zan, which drove Tian Kai from Pingyuan to Qi in the east. The two sides waged uninterrupted war against each other for another year, but were unable to reach a decision. In 193, Gongsun Zan finally accepted a ceasefire with Yuan Shao and agreed to withdraw all troops from Qing.

Tao Qian asked Tian Kai for assistance in 194 because of Cao Cao's imminent threat to his province of Xu . This responded to the request for help. Liu Bei, who was still under his command, also followed with an army of several thousand men. However, when Tao Qian Liu Bei offered four thousand more, far better-fed soldiers from Danyang , he broke his allegiance to Tian Kai and joined Tao Qian.

In 1966 Yuan Tan conquered the areas around Pingyuan and forced Tian Kai back to the north, where he united his troops in the city of Yi (now Hejian ) with those of Gongsun Zan. From 198 on, Yuan Shao took to the field again against Gongsun Zan. Tian Kai was killed in 199 when Yi was conquered.

literature

• Rafe de Crespigny : A Biographical Dictionary of Later Han to the Three Kingdoms (23-220 AD). Brill, Leiden / Boston 2007, ISBN 90-04-15605-4 .
• Rafe de Crespigny (Ed.): To Establish Peace: Being the Chronicle of the Later Han dynasty for the years 189 to 220 AD as recorded in Chapters 59 to 69 of the Zizhi tongjian of Sima Guang (= Faculty of Asian Studies monographs New Series Volume 21). National Library of Australia, Canberra 1996, ISBN 0-7315-2526-4 (E-Text) .