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Cen Peng
Eastern Han founding general who pacified Jing province for Liu Xiu, broke Gongsun Shu's river defences at Jingmen, and was murdered in camp by an assassin from Shu
At dusk on a hilltop, a large tent stands open with a table holding a map marked with small stones inside, a saddled horse tethered outside, and fire stands burning; campfires dot the river plain below, and one tiny sentry stands on the slope.
Also known as Zi Junran · Wu Yinhou
Cen Peng, courtesy name Junran, came from Jiyang in Nanyang and was acting magistrate of his county under Wang Mang. After the Han rebels took Jiyang he helped hold Wan against them; when it surrendered, Liu Yan saved him from execution and the Gengshi emperor made him Marquis of Guide. He later joined Liu Xiu in Henei, became a grand general, and in the Jianwu years defeated Deng Feng, Qin Feng and Tian Rong to bring Jing province under Han rule, earning the title Marquis of Wuyin. In 35 he and Wu Han invaded Shu; his fleet burned Gongsun Shu's floating bridge at Jingmen and he pushed upriver as far as Wuyang. There an assassin sent by Gongsun Shu, posing as a runaway slave, killed him at night in a camp whose name, Pengwang, meant the death of Peng. He was posthumously named Marquis Zhuang, the people of Shu built a shrine to him at Wuyang, and he was counted among the twenty-eight generals of the Cloud Terrace.
Life and times
Dates Birth unknown–35 CE