Person
Tinh Thieu
A man skilled in letters whom, according to the Tongjian, the Liang Minister of Personnel would only make a gate warden because of his surname; he went home and plotted with Ly Bi to raise troops. When Ly Bi proclaimed himself emperor, the Complete Annals record that he and Pham Tu were both given posts as military and civil officials.
At a glance
- Role
- Made only a gate warden at the Guangyang Gate by the Minister of Personnel, he took it as a humiliation, went home and plotted with Ly Bi to raise troops (Tongjian, the seventh year of Datong); when Ly Bi proclaimed himself emperor in 544, he and Pham Tu were both given posts as military and civil officials (Complete Annals)12
Life
The old chronicles say
Among the Chinese histories, Tinh Thieu appears only in the Tongjian — the Liang shu, the Chen shu and the basic annals of the Nan shi do not mention him. According to the Tongjian, he was a man skilled in letters who went to the place of selection to seek an official post; the Minister of Personnel held that the Tinh clan had had no worthy men in earlier generations, and would only make him a gate warden at the Guangyang Gate. Thieu took it as a humiliation, went home, and plotted with Ly Bi to raise troops. The Complete Annals retell this story following the Tongjian.13
When Ly Bi proclaimed himself emperor early in 544, the Complete Annals record that he and Pham Tu were both given posts as military and civil officials, while Trieu Tuc was made grand tutor. These appointments are among the details that none of the Chinese histories compared here contain.2
Mentioned in
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