Huang Zu (, ) (died 208) was Chinese military general and politician during the Eastern Han dynasty. . He served as the Administrator of

Jiangxia Commandery Jiangxia Commandery ( zh, 江夏郡) was a Chinese commandery that existed from Han dynasty to Tang dynasty. Its territories were located in present-day eastern Hubei province. History Jiangxia Commandery was established during the reign of Emper ...

(江夏郡; around present-day Xinzhou District, Wuhan,

Hubei Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The p ...

) under

Liu Biao Liu Biao () () (151 – September 208), courtesy name Jingsheng, was a Chinese military general, politician, and warlord who lived in the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. He is best known for serving as the Governor of Jing Province (coveri ...

, the Governor of

Jing Province Jingzhou or Jing Province was one of the Nine Provinces of ancient China referenced in Chinese historical texts such as the '' Tribute of Yu'', ''Erya'' and '' Rites of Zhou''. Jingzhou became an administrative division during the reign of Empe ...

(covering present-day Hubei and

Hunan Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangx ...

). He is best known for killing the warlord

Sun Jian Sun Jian () () (155–191?), courtesy name Wentai, was a Chinese military general, politician, and warlord who lived during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. He allied himself with Yuan Shu in 190 when warlords from eastern China formed ...

in an ambush during the

Battle of Xiangyang (191) The Battle of Xiangyang was fought between the warlords Sun Jian and Liu Biao in 191 in the late Eastern Han dynasty. Liu Biao emerged victorious against Sun Jian's forces. Shortly after their coalition had ousted Dong Zhuo from the capital ...

and resisting an invasion by the warlord

Sun Quan Sun Quan (, Chinese: 孫權) (183 – 21 May 252), courtesy name Zhongmou (), posthumously known as Emperor Da of Wu, was the founder of the Eastern Wu dynasty, one of the Three Kingdoms of China. He inherited control of the warlord regime ...

(Sun Jian's son) at the Battle of Xiakou (203). He was defeated and killed at the Battle of Jiangxia in 208 against Sun Quan's forces.

Background

There are plenty of historical records concerning Huang Zu, but they are scattered over different texts while Huang Zu never had a biography in any official record. Since

(江夏郡; around present-day Xinzhou District, Wuhan,

) is known for being the cradle of the Huang family, Huang Zu, as the commandery's Administrator, probably came from an influential family based there. After

arrived in

(covering present-day Hubei and

) to assume his governorship of the region, he sought to form alliances with the local elites, particularly the Huang family who had been defending Jiangxia Commandery in eastern Jing Province from aggression by a neighbouring warlord, Yuan Shu. In return, Liu Biao provided financial aid to Huang Zu in peacetime and military support for his naval forces during wartime. Under such arrangements, even though Huang Zu was nominally a subordinate of Liu Biao, he maintained much autonomy over Jiangxia Commandery.

Battle of Xiangyang

In 191, war broke out between the warlords

Yuan Shao Yuan Shao (, ; died 28 June 202), courtesy name Benchu (), was a Chinese military general, politician, and warlord who lived in the late Eastern Han dynasty. He occupied the northern territories of China during the civil wars that occurred t ...

and Yuan Shu, who were half-brothers. Yuan Shao formed an alliance with Liu Biao while Yuan Shu gained support from

to attack Liu Biao's territories in Jing Province. Liu Biao assigned Huang Zu to defend Fancheng (樊城; in present-day

Xiangyang Xiangyang is a prefecture-level city in northwestern Hubei province, China and the second largest city in Hubei by population. It was known as Xiangfan from 1950 to 2010. The Han River runs through Xiangyang's centre and divides the city no ...

) and Dengzhou (鄧州; in present-day

Nanyang, Henan Nanyang is a prefecture-level city in the southwest of Henan province, China. The city with the largest administrative area in Henan, Nanyang borders Xinyang to the southeast, Zhumadian to the east, Pingdingshan to the northeast, Luoyang to the ...

) from Sun Jian's attacks. However, Huang Zu lost to Sun Jian in battle and realised that he could not defeat the enemy on flat and open terrain, so he retreated to Xiangyang Commandery, the capital of Jing Province, and holed up behind the city walls. One night, Huang Zu led a group of soldiers to launch a sneak attack on Sun Jian's camp but failed to catch the enemy by surprise. Nevertheless, Sun Jian died after being hit by a stray arrow while pursuing Huang Zu into a forest. In the 14th-century historical novel ''

Romance of the Three Kingdoms ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' () is a 14th-century historical novel attributed to Luo Guanzhong. It is set in the turbulent years towards the end of the Han dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period in Chinese history, starting in 184 AD ...

'', Liu Biao's subordinates

Kuai Liang Kuai Liang ( 190s–200s), courtesy name Zirou, was an adviser to the warlord Liu Biao during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. He was from Zhonglu County, Nan Commandery, which is located southwest of present-day Xiangyang, Hubei. He had ...

and Lü Gong () set up the ambush that killed Sun Jian. Huang Zu is captured by Sun Jian's eldest son, Sun Ce, but is later released in exchange for Sun Jian's dead body. Historically, however, Sun Ce never captured Huang Zu, who was given full credit in historical records for defeating and killing Sun Jian.

Resisting Sun Ce's expansion

Following

's death,

no longer saw Yuan Shu as a threat in the east so he focused on consolidating control over

while leaving Huang Zu in charge of Jiangxia Commandery. In the meantime, throughout the 190s, Sun Jian's eldest son, Sun Ce, conquered the territories in the Jiangdong region adjacent to Jing Province. In 199, when Sun Ce was seizing control of Lujiang Commandery (廬江郡; around present-day Lu'an,

Anhui Anhui , (; formerly romanized as Anhwei) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the East China region. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze Riv ...

) from Liu Xun, Liu Biao instigated Huang Zu to attack Sun Ce at Shaxian (沙羨; west of present-day

Wuhan Wuhan (, ; ; ) is the capital of Hubei Province in the People's Republic of China. It is the largest city in Hubei and the most populous city in Central China, with a population of over eleven million, the ninth-most populous Chinese city a ...

). Sun Ce brought along his cousins Sun Ben and Sun Fu and other subordinates such as Zhou Yu and Taishi Ci, and led an army to resist Huang Zu. Huang Zu, on the other hand, gathered his clansmen, his son Huang She () and Liu Biao's nephew Liu Pan (), and led his troops to engage Sun Ce's forces. Sun Ce defeated Huang Zu in the battle and killed thousands of enemies, forcing Huang Zu to retreat back to Jiangxia Commandery. During the counterattack, Sun Ce managed to expand his territorial boundaries slightly into the outskirts of Jiangxia Commandery. In 200 CE, the warlord

Cao Cao Cao Cao () (; 155 – 15 March 220), courtesy name Mengde (), was a Chinese statesman, warlord and poet. He was the penultimate grand chancellor of the Eastern Han dynasty, and he amassed immense power in the dynasty's final years. As one o ...

, who controlled the Han central government and the figurehead Emperor Xian, sent

Mi Heng Mi Heng ( 173198), courtesy name Zhengping, was an ancient Chinese writer and musician who lived in the late Eastern Han dynasty. He is best known for his ''fu'' rhapsody "''Fu'' on the Parrot", which is his only work that has survived to mo ...

, a talented but obnoxious scholar, as a guest to Liu Biao. Although Mi Heng and Liu Biao got along well initially, Mi Heng started to insult and belittle Liu Biao after some time. Unable to put up with Mi Heng's obnoxious behaviour, Liu Biao then sent him to Huang Zu. Huang Zu could not tolerate Mi Heng and had him executed.

Battle of Xiakou

In the year 200, after Sun Ce was assassinated, his younger brother

succeeded him and became the warlord of the Jiangdong territories. In 203, Sun Quan launched an invasion of Xiakou (夏口; within present-day

) and appointed

Ling Cao Ling Cao (died 203) was a Chinese military general serving under the warlords Sun Ce and Sun Quan during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. He was the father of Ling Tong. He was killed by Gan Ning after his ambush at Xiakou. Service under ...

to lead the vanguard force. Upon arriving at Xiakou, Ling Cao led his men on a charge and managed to break through Huang Zu's defences and throw the enemy fleet into confusion with the sudden attack. However, he was killed in the midst of battle by a stray arrow fired by Gan Ning, one of Huang Zu's subordinates. Huang Zu was thus able to retreat safely back to Jiangxia Commandery. After the battle, Su Fei (), one of Huang Zu's subordinates, recommended Gan Ning for promotion. However, Huang Zu not only did not feel grateful towards Gan Ning, but also attempted to entice Gan Ning's followers to abandon their leader and join him. Some of them agreed. Gan Ning was so unhappy with Huang Zu that he eventually left him (with help from Su Fei) and defected to Sun Quan's side.(寧欲去，恐不獲免，獨憂悶不知所出。飛知其意，乃要寧，為之置酒，謂曰：「吾薦子者數矣，主不能用。日月逾邁，人生幾何，宜自遠圖，庶遇知己。」寧良乆乃曰：「雖有其志，未知所由。」飛曰：「吾欲白子為邾長，於是去就，孰與臨阪轉丸乎？」寧曰：「幸甚。」飛白祖，聽寧之縣。招懷亡客并義從者，得數百人。) ''Wu Shu'' annotation in ''Sanguozhi'' vol. 55. In the years after the Battle of Xiakou, Sun Quan continued to engage Huang Zu in incessant battles from time to time, but none of these battles were conclusive or of a large scale, as Sun Quan was also busy putting down rebellions in the Jiangdong territories.

Downfall

In the spring of 208, Gan Ning suggested to Sun Quan to prepare for a full assault on Jiangxia Commandery and he pointed out that Huang Zu was old and feeble and had not replenished his arsenal in a while. Sun Quan heeded Gan Ning's advice and ordered

's son

Ling Tong Ling Tong () (189–217), courtesy name Gongji, was a Chinese military general serving under the warlord Sun Quan during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. He started his service under Sun Quan when he was still a teenager and, throughout his ...

to lead the vanguard and

Lü Meng Lü Meng () (178 – January or February 220), courtesy name Ziming, was a Chinese military general and politician who served under the warlord Sun Quan during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. Early in his career, he fought in several batt ...

to be the naval commandant. In response to Sun Quan's invasion, Huang Zu assigned Zhang Shuo () to lead the vanguard and Chen Jiu () to command the navy. Unlike the previous battle, Huang Zu did not put himself at the frontline and instead remained behind the walls of Jiangxia Commandery while his subordinates led his troops into battle. Before the battle started, Zhang Shuo led his men out on a large vessel to scout the riverbank. He encountered Ling Tong, who was also checking out the area with only tens of soldiers on a light vessel. They engaged in combat and Ling Tong slew Zhang Shuo and captured the rest of his men. Upon learning of Zhang Shuo's death, Huang Zu immediately ordered Chen Jiu to block the entrance of the Mian River by scuttling two of his largest ''

mengchong The Mengchong ( Chinese: 蒙衝; pinyin: ''Méngchōng''; lit. "covered assaulter") was a leather-covered assault warship used in the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE in China. One of its most famous uses was in the naval battle of Red Cliffs in late 208 ...

''s at the chokepoint. In addition, Huang Zu deployed archers on top of the cliff overlooking the Mian River and ordered them to throw boulders and fire arrows at approaching enemy vessels. Sun Quan sent his largest vessels to destroy the ''mengchong''s but to no avail. After some lengthy fighting, Sun Quan realised that Huang Zu's arsenal was not as rusty as he thought, and saw that he had already suffered heavy losses on his side. Sun Quan then ordered Ling Tong and

Dong Xi Dong Xi (died 217), courtesy name Yuanshi, was a military general serving under the warlords Sun Ce and Sun Quan during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. Service under Sun Ce Dong Xi was from Yuyao County (餘姚縣), Kuaiji Commandery, ...

, along with 100 "commandos", to wear two layers of armour each and charge towards the enemy in the face of boulders and arrows raining down on them. After a tough fight, Ling Tong and Dong Xi managed to break the thick rope connecting the ''mengchong''s and allow Sun Quan's navy to pass through. Lü Meng killed Chen Jiu on board his warship while Ling Tong breached the walls of Jiangxia Commandery. Huang Zu attempted to flee after his defeat but met his ends at the hands of Feng Ze (), a soldier in Sun Quan's army.

References

* Chen, Shou (3rd century). ''

Records of the Three Kingdoms The ''Records or History of the Three Kingdoms'', also known by its Chinese name as the Sanguo Zhi, is a Chinese historical text which covers the history of the late Eastern Han dynasty (c. 184–220 AD) and the Three Kingdoms period (220� ...

'' (''Sanguozhi''). * * * Fan, Ye (5th century). '' Book of the Later Han'' (''Houhanshu''). * Pei, Songzhi (5th century). ''

Annotations to Records of the Three Kingdoms Annotations to Records of the Three Kingdoms () by Pei Songzhi (372-451) is an annotation completed in the 5th century of the 3rd century historical text ''Records of the Three Kingdoms'', compiled by Chen Shou. After leaving his native land, Pei ...

'' (''Sanguozhi zhu''). * Sima, Guang (1084). ''

Zizhi Tongjian ''Zizhi Tongjian'' () is a pioneering reference work in Chinese historiography, published in 1084 AD during the Northern Song dynasty in the form of a chronicle recording Chinese history from 403 BC to 959 AD, covering 16 dynast ...