杨仆 / Yang Pu (Western Han)

Overview

杨仆 / Yang Pu is the Western Han tower-ship general whose premature advance, battlefield defeat, weakened force, and separate surrender channel collide with 荀彘’s more aggressive command during the campaign against 卫氏朝鲜.

Current Profile

Hanji 366-1 says Yang Pu reaches Joseon first with seven thousand Qi troops, is defeated by Ugeo’s force, hides in the mountains for more than ten days, and gradually regathers the survivors. That defeat helps explain why he later prefers negotiation over another assault. At Wangxian City, Joseon officials use his channel to discuss surrender, but talks do not conclude and Yang Pu repeatedly misses attack dates agreed with Xun Zhi.

Hanji 366-2 shows the conflict becoming coercive. 公孙遂 summons Yang Pu under imperial authority, has him arrested in Xun Zhi’s camp, and transfers his troops to the left general. After the conquest, Yang Pu is held responsible for advancing without coordination and losing many soldiers; he avoids execution by redemption and becomes a commoner.

Key Characteristics

• Tower-ship general leading one branch of the Han attack on Wiman Joseon.
• Commander whose early advance with a small force ends in defeat, concealment, and slow regrouping.
• Holder of a separate surrender channel that conflicts with Xun Zhi’s timetable and suspicions.
• General arrested through an imperial-tally summons and stripped of command.
• Postwar defendant who redeems a death sentence and loses official status.

Evidence

• Initial defeat and regrouping: Hanji 366-1 says Yang Pu advances with seven thousand troops, is routed, hides, and reassembles survivors.
• Negotiation channel: Hanji 366-1 links his caution and missed joint attacks to ongoing but inconclusive surrender talks.
• Divergent operational posture: Hanji 366-2 says Yang Pu does not meet repeated joint-attack dates and maintains a surrender channel with Joseon.
• Arrest and dispossession: Hanji 366-2 says he is summoned into Xun Zhi’s camp, arrested, and deprived of his army.
• Punishment: Hanji 366-2 says his unauthorized advance and heavy losses merit death, but redemption reduces him to commoner status.

Qualifications

The episodes do not make caution equivalent to treason. Yang Pu’s premature advance, separate diplomacy, missed coordination, and prior losses create operational risk, but Hanji 366-1 explicitly says Xun Zhi lacks evidence for a larger plot. The source does not establish that negotiation was inherently inferior to assault, only that parallel uncoordinated channels damaged the campaign. Yang Pu’s broader career remains outside this bounded evidence.

What Changed

• Added the early defeat, mountain concealment, regrouping, and fear-conditioned preference for surrender that precede Yang Pu’s arrest.

Relationships

• 荀彘 - rival field commander who receives Yang Pu’s troops.
• 公孙遂 - imperial troubleshooter who orders Yang Pu’s arrest.
• 卫氏朝鲜 - opposing polity with which Yang Pu maintains a surrender channel.
• 军令同步失灵 - failure mode created by divergent timing, trust, and negotiation channels.
• 汉武帝 - ruler whose postwar judgment allows redemption to commoner status.