Kui An (died October 340) was a Tianzhu military general and minister of Later Zhao during the Sixteen Kingdoms period. He was one of Shi Le's earliest followers as a member of his Eighteen Riders (十八騎). He later became a partisan of Shi Hu's faction and grew to become a prominent minister in his regime. His most notable accomplishment was thwarting an attempted invasion by the influential Eastern Jin general Yu Liang in 339.
Kui An followed Shi Le in his failed expedition to Jiankang in 312. Half of the army suffered from plague, starvation and flooding while the army of Sima Rui was approaching them, so Shi Le assembled his general and advisors to discuss their next move. Kui An proposed that they move to higher ground to get away from the water, which Shi Le replied, "General, why are you so cowardly?" In the end, following Zhang Bin's advice, Shi Le decided to abandon the campaign for a campaign in Yecheng instead.(勒於葛陂繕室宇,課農造舟,將寇建鄴。會霖雨歷三月不止,元帝使諸將率江南之衆大集壽春,勒軍中飢疫死者太半。檄書朝夕繼至,勒會諸將計之。右長史刁膺諫勒先送款於帝,求掃平河朔,待軍退之後徐更計之。勒愀然長嘯。中堅夔安勸勒就高避水,勒曰:「將軍何其怯乎!」) Book of Jin, Volume 104
In 312, Kui An and the others were sent to besiege the city of Yuanxiang (苑鄕, in present-day Hebei and Beijing) against You Lun (游綸) and Zhang Chai, who had surrendered to the You Prefecture warlord Wang Jun. This incited Wang to send his forces to Shi Le's capital in Xingtai but Shi managed to repel them. In the end, You Lun and Zhang Chai surrendered back to Shi Le.(廣平游綸、張豺擁衆數萬,受王浚假署,保據苑鄉。勒使夔安、支雄等七將攻之,破其外壘。) Book of Jin 104 According to the dubious biography of Fotudeng in the Book of Jin, during the defence of Xiangguo, Kui An was sent by Shi Le to speak to Fotudeng to reassure him about his prediction that the enemy general Duan Mopei would be captured.(鮮卑段末波攻勒,眾甚盛。勒懼,問澄。澄曰:「昨日寺鈴鳴雲,明旦食時,當擒段末波。」勒登城望末波軍,不見前後,失色曰:「末波如此,豈可獲乎!」更遣夔安問澄。澄曰:「已獲末波矣。」時城北伏兵出,遇末波,執之。澄勸勒宥末波,遣還本國,勒從之,卒獲其用。) Book of Jin, Volume 95
After this, Kui An would be absent from the records for a long period of time. He would only be mentioned again in 330 when Shi Le claimed the imperial title after destroying Former Zhao. Shi Le handed out new government positions to his followers including Kui An, who was made one of the Masters of Writing.(以左長史郭敖爲尚書左僕射,右長史程遐爲右僕射、領吏部尚書,左司馬夔安、右司馬郭殷、從事中郎李鳳、前郎中令裴憲,皆爲尚書,參軍事徐光爲中書令、領祕書監。) Zizhi Tongjian, Volume 94
In 334, Shi Hu had Shi Hong killed and took the throne for himself. As a result, Kui An was further made Palace Attendant, Grand Commandant, and acting Prefect of the Masters of Writing. By 337, Kui An was holding the important position of Grand Guardian. That year, he along with more than 500 officials suggested to Shi Hu to take the imperial title. Shi Hu agreed and made himself Heavenly King of Zhao.(三年,太保夔安等文武五百九人,上皇帝尊號,安等方入,而庭燎油灌下盤,死者七人。虎大怒,腰斬成公段於閶闔門。即天王位南郊,大赦。親王貶為郡公,藩王為縣侯。) Annals of the Sixteen Kingdoms, Volume 2
In September, Shi Min defeated the armies south of the Mian County and killed their general Cai Huai (蔡懷). Kui An and Li Nong then proceeded to capture Jin's territories south of the river. Elsewhere, the Zhao general Zhu Bao (朱保) won a victory at Baishi, where he killed Zheng Bao (鄭豹) as well as four other officers while Zhang Hao captured Zhucheng, killing 6,000 Jin troops in the process. Mao Bao and Fan Jun both drowned Yangtze after breaking through the Zhao encirclement and attempting to flee.
Kui An then captured Huting (胡亭; northwest of present-day Anlu, Hubei) and invaded Jiangxia. The Jin commanders at Yiyang (義陽, in modern Xinyang, Henan), Huang Chong (黃沖) and Zheng Jin (鄭進), both surrendered to Kui An. Kui set his eyes on Shicheng (石城; in present-day Zhongxiang, Hubei) but the Administrator of Tianmen, Li Yang (李陽) mounted an impregnable defence and finally managed to put a stop to his advances. Kui An lost 5,000 men against Li Yang, so he decided to retreat east of the Han River, sacking and pillaging the area while relocating 7,000 households to Youzhou and Ji Province.(九月,石季龍將夔安、李農陷沔南,張貉陷邾城,因寇江夏、義陽,征虜將軍毛寶、西陽太守樊俊、義陽太守鄭進並死之。夔安等進圍石城,竟陵太守李陽距戰,破之,斬首五千餘級。安乃退,遂略漢東,擁七千餘家遷于幽冀。) Book of Jin, Volume 7
Kui An's attack proved devastating for Jin as their initial campaign to reclaim territory up north only resulted in losing land as well as people to Zhao. After the fall of Zhucheng, Yu Liang cancelled his plans and voluntarily demoted himself before dying the following year. Kui An died a year later in October 340, holding the office of Prefect of the Masters of Writing.(咸康六年九月趙尚書令夔安卒。) Zizhi Tongjian, Volume 96. The month corresponds to 8 Oct to 5 Nov 340 in the Julian calendar,
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