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Mi Zhu

Mi Zhu (died 221) was an advisor to the warlord Liu Bei during the late han dynasty period of Chinese history. He was also Liu's brother-in-law, as his sister, Lady Mi, married Liu. He was the older brother of Mi Fang, who served Liu Bei as well until his defection to Sun Quan's side in 219. Mi Zhu died of illness not long after Lü Meng's invasion of Jing Province.

A local of the county of Qu (present day Lianyungang, Jiangsu ), Mi was born in an extremely rich merchant family. According to In Search of the Supernatural (搜神記) by Gan Bao (干竇), a work largely consisting of legends and hearsays, Mi was once returning home from the capital Luoyang when he met a lady by the road. He gave her a lift out of kindness. When she alighted, she revealed that she was an emissary from Heaven on a mission to burn down Mi's house. However, to repay his kindness, she agreed to walk slowly so as to allow Mi the time to evacuate the house. A huge fire indeed broke out at noon as the lady promised.

Legends aside, Mi initially served under Tao Qian, governor of Xu Province (present day northern Jiangsu ). Upon his death, Tao passed on the governorship to Liu Bei, to whom Mi thereafter rendered his service. In 196, Lü Bu seized control of Xiapi, capital of Xu Province, and proclaimed himself the governor. Henceforth, Liu Bei was forced into exile, forming a series of temporary alliances with different warlords, including Cao Cao, Yuan Shao and Liu Biao. Throughout this trough in Liu Bei's career, however, Mi stayed loyal. When Liu was defeated by Lü Bu, Mi sponsored Liu with his all of his family wealth and also married his younger sister to the latter. Cao Cao had once attempted to entice Mi Zhu and Mi Fang to serve him by offering them governorships of Ying Commandery (northwest of present day Laiwu, Shandong ) and Pengcheng respectively but was turned down, and the brothers fled with Liu Bei.

After Liu Bei conquered Yi Province (present day central Sichuan and Guiyang) in 215, Mi Zhu was promoted to General Who Maintains Peace of Han (安漢將軍). Although he was not given any troops to command, as military manoeuvrer were not his expertise, he was nonetheless the most highly esteemed among Liu's subjects.

In 219, Mi Fang defected to Sun Quan's side when Sun's general Lü Meng launched a surprise attack on Jing Province (present-day Hubei and Hunan ), which resulted in the death of Guan Yu. Mi Zhu bound himself and came to Liu Bei, pleading guilty for his brother's crime. Although Liu did not fault him, Mi was so ashamed that he soon fell sick and died slightly more than a year later.

Last update 03-06-2012

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