Huang Zu

Huang Zu
Traditional Chinese	黃祖
Simplified Chinese	黄祖
Transcriptions

Template:Chinese-name Huang Zu (died 208) was a military general serving under the warlord Liu Biao during the late Han Dynasty period of Chinese history. He was an experienced naval commander, and was most famous for having skillful warriors like Sun Jian and Ling Cao killed in battle.

Biography

Background

Huang was born in an influential family rooted in Jingzhou, and became the Prefect of Jiangxia as a Han bureaucrat when he grew up. After the Han noble Liu Biao arrived at his post of the governor of Jingzhou, Huang Zu allied himself with his supposed supervisor, and focused on guarding the West entrance of the province (a powerful warlord, Yuan Shu, had his base West to Jing Province) for Liu Biao. In return, Liu Biao supported Huang Zu's massive navy with financial aid during peace-time, and military assistance during critical moments. But Huang remained largely independent from Liu, and enjoyed autonomy over Jiangxia.

Battle of Xiangyang

Main article: Battle of Xiangyang (191)

After the alliance against Dong Zhuo disbanded, the former members of the alliance polarized greatly; Yuan Shao, the leader of the alliance, feuded against his half brother, Yuan Shu, and obtained the alliance of Liu Biao. In opposition, Yuan Shu succeed in requesting Sun Jian of Changsha to attack Liu Biao's territories.

To fight Sun Jian, Liu Biao assigned the defense to his most capable military personnel at the time, Huang Zu, who immediately led his army to counter Sun Jian's offensive around the city of Fan and the city of Dang, but Huang was defeated. Seeing that Sun Jian cannot be defeated on open fields, Huang fled to Xiangyang, Liu's capital, for a final defense. The battle went in Sun Jian's favor until one night; when Huang Zu led a contingent of soldiers to perform a sneak attack on Sun Jian's camp. Although Huang's tactic failed, Sun Jian was shot by a stray arrow when he was pursuing Huang inside a forest. In the historical novel, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, it is said that Sun Jian was slain due to a ploy by Kuai Liang and Lü Gong, two of Liu Biao's subordinates, and Huang Zu was captured by Sun Ce, but released so that Sun Ce could retrieve his father's body in exchange. Historically, Huang Zu was never captured by Sun Ce, and was credited by the Records of the Three Kingdoms to be the sole person responsible for Sun Jian's death.

Efforts against Sun Ce's expansion

With Sun Jian gone, Yuan Shu alone was unable to bypass Huang Zu to take over Jingzhou, so Liu Biao could concentrate on building up power in the province. However, as the years passed, Sun Jian's son, Sun Ce grew up, and successfully built an army in Yang Province to the east with the intent of fulfilling his father's legacy. Liu feared Sun Ce, who earned himself the nick name "Little Conqueror" after his conquest of Jiangdong, would become a threat to him. Therefore, he urged Huang to attack Sun Ce at Shaxian, while the latter was fighting the Prefect of Lujiang, Liu Xun.

Sun Ce quickly defeated Liu Xun and turned his attention to his nemesis, Huang Zu, bringing with him his cousins, Sun Ben and Sun Fu, as well as his chief lieutenant, Zhou Yu, and his trusted general, Taishi Ci. Huang Zu, on the other hand, sent his son, Huang She, and the nephew of Liu Biao, Liu Pan, to do battle. Both sides devoted much effort into this war, especially the house of Huang, yet Sun Ce's navy overcame Huang Zu's, taking the heads of tens of thousands, including almost all of Huang Zu's family. Huang fell back to Jiangxia, and Sun Ce expanded a bit of his power into the outskirts of Jing Province during the counterattack.

In the year 200 AD, the Imperial Protector, Cao Cao, sent the famed scholar, Mi Heng, to Liu Biao in order to be rid of Mi, who was intolerably rude. Liu Biao was indeed insulted by Mi Heng's lack of respect, and thus he sent Mi to the short-tempered Huang Zu. Huang at first was eager to be in the presence of Mi Heng; however, after being insulted, he beheaded Mi out of pride.

Battle of Xiakou

As a result of an assassination, Sun Ce died, and his younger brother, Sun Quan, succeeded him. In 203 AD, Sun Quan launched an attack on Xiakou, just outside of Jiangxia, in an attempt to avenge his father. Ling Cao, a veteran warrior who gained much fame during the service to Sun Ce, was appointed by Sun Quan as the vanguard; however, with a light but elite force. Ling's small detachment arrived the battlefield before Sun Quan and the main army could arrive, yet he charged ahead of all men, and dashed uninterruptedly to the commanding heart of Huang Zu's army, and all of a sudden Huang's massive army was impaired to function. Totally caught unprepared, Huang Zu ran for his life in a hurry, then the whole army was chasing its commander in retreat. As Huang's army was collapsing, one of Huang Zu's subordinates, Gan Ning, aimed the ferocious Ling Cao from a corner, and fired an arrow that claimed Ling's life. Thus, the breathless Huang Zu was able to return to the walled city of Jiangxia. Ironically, Gan Ning did not receive any reward from Huang for saving him at such a critical moment; in contrast, the embarrassed Huang Zu even blamed Gan for the loss (Huang blamed the loss as a result of Gan Ning's past as a pirate). The unhappy Gan then heeded the advice of his comrade, Su Fei, to defect to the Sun's camp.

Sun Quan withdrew his force after losing Ling Cao, and over the years, he had been having battles with Huang Zu from time to time, but none of the battles fought were conclusive or of a large scale, because Sun Quan had been focusing on pacifying rebellions within his domain.

Downfall

Main article: Battle of Jiangxia

In the spring of 208 AD, the defected Gan Ning suggested his new lord, Sun Quan to prepare a full assault on Jiangxia with the reasons that Huang was old now and that he had not replenish his arsenal for some time. Sun Quan would take Gan Ning's advice, and this time, he ordered Ling Cao's son, Ling Tong, as the vanguard, and Lu Meng as the naval commandant. In response, Huang Zu assigned his general Zhang Shuo as the vanguard, and Chen Jiu as the admiral; unlike last time, Huang Zu had learned to avoid personal involvement in the front line, and stayed behind the high walls of Jiangxia city.

Before the battle started, Zhang Shuo led his troop on a large vessel to check out the riverbank, but was located by Ling Tong, who was also checking out the area. At the time, Ling Tong only had tens of his closest warriors on a light vessel, yet he was able to climb Zhang Shuo's vessel probably under the cover of nightfall or the disguise as Zhang's own men, and surprise attacked his enemy. Zhang Shuo was slain by Ling Tong in a duel, and his mariners were captured. Upon hearing the news that Zhang Shuo was killed, Huang Zu immediately ordered Chen Jiu to block the entrance of MianKou River with two of his largest vessels (Mengchongs) at the choke point. In addition, Huang had strong men and archers ambushed on top of the cliff next to the river to throw down rocks and fire on large enemy vessels. To bring down Huang Zu's Mengchongs, Sun Quan sent out his large vessels, but only to be destroyed by the rocks thrown down from the cliff. After several hours of fighting, Sun Quan realized Huang Zu's arsenals were not that unchecked, and that Sun's own men were exhausted and dealt with casualties by the heavy fire from the elite archers on the Mengchongs. To change the tide of battle, Sun Quan had Ling Tong and Dong Xi, along with 100 commandos don two suits of armour each and charged towards the enemy despite the rain of rocks from the cliff and heavy fire from the vessels. Through bloody fightings, Ling and Dong finally succeeded in breaking the connections between the two vessels, and the downfall of the Mengchong aspired Eastern Wu forces' fighting spirit. Then, Lu Meng personally led the full assault and scored a complete victory over the massive navy of Chen Jiu. While Lu Meng killed Chen Jiu on a boat, Ling Tong had already breached the city walls of Jiangxia. At the end, Huang Zu was captured when he was trying to flee the city, and was subsequently killed by Sun Quan.

See also

• List of people of the Three Kingdoms

References

• de Crespigny, Rafe. Generals of the South.
• Wei, Zhao. Chronicles of Wu.
• Fan, Ye. "Book of Later Han"
• Chen, Shou. Sanguo Zhi [1]
• Sima, Guang. Zizhi Tongjian [2]