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Chen Qingzhi
Liang general who escorted the Wei prince Yuan Hao to Luoyang in 529 with seven thousand white-robed troops, then lost his army and slipped home disguised as a monk
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 Ziyun
- Roles
- Commanders
Chen Qingzhi, courtesy name Ziyun, came from Guoshan in Yixing; as a boy he attended the future Emperor Wu of Liang, keeping him company at weiqi through the night. Unable to ride or shoot well, he led troops by planning, and in 527 he helped besiege Guoyang and broke the Wei relief force. When the Wei prince Yuan Hao fled south, the emperor gave Chen seven thousand men to take him home; setting out from Zhi in 529, they took thirty-two cities in forty-seven battles within a hundred and forty days and entered Luoyang. His men all wore white, and a Luoyang ditty warned that a thousand soldiers and ten thousand horses should give way to the white robes. When Erzhu Rong counterattacked, Yuan Hao was killed and Chen's army scattered; shaving his head, he made his way home disguised as a monk and was made Marquis of Yongxing. He later governed frontier provinces and died in 539 at fifty-five, with the posthumous name Wu.
Life and times
Dates 484 CE–539 CE