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}} Taishi Ci (166–206), courtesy name Ziyi, was a military general who lived in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. He served under various warlords, including Liu Yao, Sun Ce and Sun Quan. ==Early life== Taishi Ci was born in Huangxian of Donglai commandery (東萊, present day Shandong) where he studied hard, looked after his mother and was known throughout the province for his fealty, bravery, loyalty, and ingenuity. According to the ''Records of the Three Kingdoms'', he was an excellent archer with a beautiful beard and long arms, his height was 7'7" according to ancient Chinese measurement (about 183 cm). When Taishi Ci was 21 (a baby is considered as 1 year old in ancient China, so he can be considered as 20 in reality), he served as a low ranking official in Donglai. In 186, the Administrator of Donglai, Taishi Ci's superior, was at odds with his own superior, the provincial office of Qing Province (青州). Both sent letters of complaints to Luoyang, the imperial capital, to directly voice their discontent against each other. However, the Han government by that time was so corrupt and weak that it was no longer capable of conducting a thorough and unbiased investigation on its own. Instead, the imperial court often made the decision based on whoever sent the news to the imperial court first, as the incompetent court assumed that the first one was usually the good one. The Administrator of Donglai learned that the provincial office had already sent his envoy to the imperial capital and he was obviously anxious, so the others recommended Taishi Ci to deliver their own letter of complaint to Luoyang, even if their adversary's envoy reached the capital first. Just before the city gate, Taishi Ci caught up with the provincial envoy. It was impossible to beat the opposite side and the use of force was out of question. Instead of competing with the envoy to deliver the letter to the imperial court, Taishi Ci confidently walked over to the envoy and asked him if he was an envoy delivering the letter and if he was indeed an envoy, where the letter was. Mistaking Taishi Ci for an imperial court official, the envoy gave him the provincial court's letter, and Taishi Ci immediately took out a knife and cut the letter into pieces. The envoy realized that he was fooled and attempted to call out for help to arrest Taishi Ci, but Taishi Ci took him away to a remote area and calmed him down, suggesting that they both run for their lives since the envoy was also guilty for so foolishly handing over the letter to be destroyed. The envoy questioned why should he trust Taishi Ci since he had successfully destroyed the letter and would be rewarded by his superior, and there was no reason for Taishi Ci to run away. Taishi Ci answered that his superior never told him to destroy the letter, and now he committed a serious crime and must also flee. The envoy agreed, but once they were some distance away from Luoyang, Taishi Ci dumped the envoy and successfully delivered his own letter to the court. The provincial office tried to send another letter afterwards, but the imperial court refused to acknowledge it since it arrived later than the commandery's letter. The success made Taishi Ci famous, but he also became the province's enemy. Fearing retribution, Taishi Ci fled to Liaodong. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Taishi Ci」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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