田戎 / Tian Rong (Yiling, Eastern Han)

Overview

Tian Rong / 田戎 is an Eastern Han-era regional actor around Yiling and Liqiu whose current wiki role is a failed-surrender case. He is distinct from 田荣, the Chu-Han Qi figure. In Hanji 690, Tian Rong moves toward submission after Qin Feng’s defeat, but 辛臣’s theft and defection make the surrender channel look compromised. Tian Rong then lets divination override his prior judgment, rebels with Qin Feng, loses to 岑彭, and retreats to Yiling.

Current Profile

The source presents Tian Rong as neither simply defiant nor already committed to rebellion. His first calculation is pragmatic: Qin Feng’s strength has failed under Han pressure, so submission to 光武帝刘秀’s side looks safer than continued isolation. Xin Chen initially tries to slow that decision by mapping other surviving powers such as 彭宠, 张步, 董宪, and 公孙述, but Tian Rong still chooses to move.

The failure comes from trust collapse. Tian Rong leaves Xin Chen to guard Yiling while he moves toward Liqiu, but Xin Chen steals hidden valuables, defects to Cen Peng, and sends a letter urging immediate submission. Tian Rong reads that letter as possible betrayal rather than reassurance. The source’s key judgment is that the surrender option did not disappear militarily first; it became psychologically and politically contaminated.

Tian Rong then turns to burned-shell divination, receives an ominous crack, and reverses course. The episode uses this as a decision-failure case: under uncertainty, he trades a concrete assessment of Qin Feng’s defeat for a sign-reading procedure, joins Qin Feng, and is promptly defeated by Cen Peng.

Key Characteristics

• Eastern Han Yiling/Liqiu regional actor distinct from the Chu-Han Qi figure 田荣.
• Initially pragmatic surrender candidate after Qin Feng’s defeat.
• Leader whose decision environment is disrupted by an insider’s theft, defection, and suspicious letter.
• Actor whose final choice is redirected by divination after ordinary trust has collapsed.
• Rebel ally of Qin Feng who is defeated by Cen Peng and driven back to Yiling.

Evidence

• Surrender intention: Hanji 690 says Tian Rong hears Qin Feng has been defeated, becomes afraid, and plans to submit.
• Xin Chen’s counterargument: Hanji 690 says Xin Chen maps other surviving powers and urges Tian Rong to wait.
• Trust collapse: Hanji 690 says Xin Chen steals Tian Rong’s hidden jewels, defects to Cen Peng, and writes a surrender letter that Tian Rong reads suspiciously.
• Divination and reversal: Hanji 690 says Tian Rong burns a turtle shell, takes the cracked result as inauspicious, rebels, joins Qin Feng, loses to Cen Peng, and returns to Yiling.

Qualifications

This is a one-source bounded profile. Qin Feng, the exact local geography of Yiling/Liqiu, Tian Rong’s prior offices, and the full military strength behind his position remain source-scoped. The page treats Xin Chen’s action as a trigger for trust collapse, not as proof that Tian Rong’s later defeat had only one cause.

What Changed

• Created a disambiguated Eastern Han page for 田戎 / Tian Rong to avoid collision with 田荣.
• Defined his current role as a failed-surrender and divination-driven reversal case.

Relationships

• 辛臣 - wife’s brother whose theft, defection, and letter destabilize Tian Rong’s surrender plan.
• 岑彭 - Han commander who receives Xin Chen and later defeats Tian Rong.
• 光武帝刘秀 - imperial center toward which Tian Rong initially considers submission.
• 彭宠, 张步, 董宪, and 公孙述 - surrounding surviving powers used in Xin Chen’s wait-and-see argument.
• 归降信任崩塌 - concept directly grounded by the contaminated surrender channel.
• 术数俘获式决策失控 - concept illustrated by Tian Rong letting a divination result reverse the prior strategic judgment.