Zhuge Jin (174 – July or August 241),[a] courtesy name Ziyu, was a Chinese military general and politician of the state of Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period of China.

From 222 until his death in 241, despite being rather incompetent in military affairs, Zhuge Jin served as one of Eastern Wu's top generals and participated in some battles against Cao Wei forces.

Zhuge Jin was also known for helping to mediate conflicts between Sun Quan and his subjects, including Zhu Zhi and Yu Fan.

[Sanguozhi zhu 1] The Fengsu Tong recorded that his ancestor was Ge Ying (葛嬰), a general who served under Chen Sheng, the rebel king who led the Dazexiang uprising against the Qin dynasty.

[Sanguozhi zhu 4] When chaos broke out throughout China towards the end of the Eastern Han dynasty, Zhuge Jin fled from home and headed south to the Jiangdong region for shelter.

[Sanguozhi 4] Sometime between June and August 215,[c] Sun Quan sent Zhuge Jin as his representative to visit his ally, Liu Bei, who had recently seized control of Yi Province (covering present-day Sichuan and Chongqing).

Zhuge Jin's task was to ask Liu Bei to "return" the territories in southern Jing Province (covering present-day Hubei and Hunan) to Sun Quan, according to an earlier agreement that Liu Bei would only use Jing Province as a temporary base and would return them to Sun Quan once he found another base.

[6] Sun Quan ignored Liu Bei and sent his officials to assume office in the three commanderies of Changsha (長沙), Lingling (零陵) and Guiyang (桂陽) in southern Jing Province.

[7] In recognition of Zhuge Jin's contributions during the campaign, Sun Quan enfeoffed him as the Marquis of Xuancheng (宣城侯) and appointed him as General Who Pacifies the South (綏南將軍) to replace Lü Meng as the Administrator (太守) of Nan Commandery (南郡; around present-day Jingzhou, Hubei), the former headquarters of Liu Bei's territories in Jing Province.

[Sanguozhi 7] Zhuge Jin told Liu Bei: "I heard that your army has come from Baidicheng, and that your subjects have advised you to reject peace talks due to the hostilities between us which arose from the King of Wu's occupation of Jing Province and Guan Yu's death.

Liu Bei retreated to Baidicheng (in present-day Fengjie County, Chongqing) after his disastrous defeat and died of illness in early 223.

He promoted Zhuge Jin to General of the Left (左將軍), granted him acting imperial authority, and ordered him to station at Gong'an County to oversee the Wu defences in southern Jing Province.

However, he turned out to be an incompetent military commander as he showed weak leadership, adopted a slow and reactive approach, and spent too much time on discussion and planning as opposed to actively seizing opportunities to attack the enemy.

The siege on Jiangling County was eventually lifted after the Wu general Pan Zhang came up with a plan to burn down the Wei forces' pontoon bridges and drive them back.

Although Zhuge Jin did not make any significant achievements in the battle, he received credit for contributing to the Wu forces' overall success in defending Jiangling County.

At the same time, he ordered Zhuge Jin and Zhang Ba (張霸) to lead a separate Wu army to attack the Wei-controlled city of Xiangyang.

In the meantime, Sun Quan mistakenly believed that Wei reinforcements had arrived at Jiangxia Commandery, so he pulled back his troops and returned to Wu.

[10][11] Between mid June and early September 234,[f] Sun Quan personally led a 100,000 strong Wu army to attack the Wei fortress of Xincheng at Hefei.

Sun Quan eventually ordered a retreat when a plague broke out in his army and after he heard that the Wei emperor Cao Rui was personally leading reinforcements to Hefei.

[12] In the meantime, Lu Xun ordered a close aide, Han Bian (韓扁), to deliver a report to Sun Quan.

When Zhuge Jin learnt of Han Bian's capture, he became fearful so he wrote to Lu Xun and urged him to make a hasty retreat from Xiangyang.

Lu Xun did not respond, and he instructed his men to plant turnips and peas while he played weiqi and other games with his officers as though nothing had happened.

"[Sanguozhi 10] Lu Xun then secretly conveyed his plan to Zhuge Jin and ordered him to supervise the fleet of vessels on which they would sail back to Wu, while he gathered his troops and headed towards Xiangyang.

[Sanguozhi 11] In 229,[13] after Sun Quan declared himself emperor of Eastern Wu, he appointed Zhuge Jin as General-in-Chief (大將軍), Left Protector-General (左都護), and as the nominal[g] Governor (牧) of Yu Province.

[15] After receiving the letter, Zhuge Jin was so moved that he wrote a clear, detailed and well-reasoned response to the Lü Yi scandal and Sun Quan's queries.

He spoke in a toned-down and indirect manner, gave only a brief outline of what he wanted to say, and stopped immediately once he sensed that Sun Quan got his point.

[Sanguozhi 16] After the Battle of Xiaoting of 221–222, someone secretly reported to Sun Quan that Zhuge Jin had sent a close aide to speak with Liu Bei.

"[Sanguozhi 21] Zhuge Jin then left his seat, stood up and said: "Yin Mo and I had no choice but to leave our native lands due to chaos and war.

In 239, Zhuge Jin and Bu Zhi wrote a memorial to Sun Quan, requesting for Zhou Yin to be pardoned and restored of his titles on account of his father's contributions.

[Sanguozhi 31] Jin-era calligrapher Wang Xizhi wrote that he once met Zhuge Xian at Jiankang, and asked him about the situation in Shu.