Gan Ning

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Template:Three Kingdoms infobox Gan Ning (175-220) was a military general of Sun Quan during the end of the Han Dynasty of China. He was born in Linjiang in the Ba Prefecture and took the style name of Xingba.

Biography

Early life as a pirate

Gan Ning was a government official when he was rather young, but he left his post, and gathered a gang of fellow idle youths to become pirates. They carried bells as a mark, causing commoners to either run or hide whenever they heard the ring of bells. He kept looting, robbing and killing until he decided to start a scholarship. After reading some literature from different philosophers, Gan Ning sought out Liu Biao's patronage, who rejected him for his background.

Serving under Huang Zu

Instead, he went to join Liu's protector and ally (or general), Huang Zu, who was a local gentry and warlord of Jiangxia, did not trust him and gave him an unworthy position. In an attack against Huang by Sun Quan's general, Ling Cao, at the Battle of Xiakou, Huang was nearly killed, and amidst the chaos and disarray, Gan Ning fired a stray arrow that killed Ling Cao, resulting in the safe retreat of Huang. However, the embarrassed Huang Zu did not reward him nor respect him.

Su Fei, Gan Ning's friend, was a trusted servant of Huang Zu, so he recommended Gan to Huang on several occasions. However, Huang refused Su Fei's recommendation, primarily based on Gan's unholy past, and even tricked some of Gan Ning's fellow pirates to desert their master. Gan bore a silent hatred towards his employer, and planned to retaliate by asking Sun to launch an all-out offensive to wipe out the Huang clan. Nevertheless, he was aware that he would not get permission to leave Huang's camp, so Su Fei asked the chieftainship of Zhu prefecture for Gan Ning, and Huang Zu did appoint Gan as the chief, which enabled Ning to cross the border from Zhu prefecture to join Sun Quan with several hundreds of his old acquaintances.

The Battle of Jiangxia

Upon arrival at the Sun's camp, Gan Ning was recommended by both Zhou Yu and Lü Meng to meet Sun Quan face to face. During the ensuing meeting, Ning detailed the reasons why Sun could overcome Huang Zu, and even debated with Zhang Zhao, a senior officer who held a different opinion than him, to persuade Sun to march west to destroy Huang Zu once and for all. Sun finally heeded the advice of Gan Ning, and brought the latter with him (Ning was a staff rather than a military personnel at the time) during the battle of Jiangxia. Even though the battle was far harder won than estimated by Ning, Huang Zu was indeed captured, and Ning was finally given a military post after the victory.

Ning then asked amnesty for Su Fei when Sun Quan specifically ordered the heads of Huang Zu and Su Fei. Being determined to save his friend, Ning even told Sun to exchange Su's head by his; Sun Quan was moved by Gan Ning's words and granted Ning's request.

Battles with Wei

Historically, not many generals of the Sun camp were involved in the battle of Red Cliffs (in contrary to the depiction of the novel, Romance of the Three Kingdoms), but Gan Ning was definitely one of those who dared to participate in this great conflict. After a complete victory at the Red Cliffs, he followed Zhou Yu to launch a campaign on Nanjun commandery. During the war, he told Zhou Yu that he could lead a light force to occupy Yiling in anticipation to secure the entrance to Shu territories. He succeeded his mission, but the enemy commander, Cao Ren immediately sent five to six thousand strong cavalry to Yiling, and had him surrounded inside the city. When the Wu force got news of Ning being sieged, nearly everyone told Zhou Yu that there were not enough men to spare as relief force. However, Lu Meng stood up and claimed Ning should be saved, and that he guaranteed Ling Tong could guard the main camp on his own for at least ten days. Thus, Ning was saved, granted solely due to Lu Meng's suggestion and Ling Tong's honorable action (ironically, Gan Ning was the killer of Ling Tong's father, Ling Cao).

Afterwards, Gan Ning acted as the vanguard for Sun Quan to attack Wan, a city then under Cao Cao's command. Being the first one to climb the city's wall, he also personally fell the grovernor of Wan, Zhu Guang, with an iron chain, who was then captured. Thus, he was given the title of Rank-Breaking General, second in credit to Lü Meng for accomplishment in this battle.

Guan Yu's Shallow

When Lu Meng and Ling Tong took three commanderies of southern Jing Province from Guan Yu, Gan Ning stationed his troops in Yiyang in anticipation for Guan's couterattack. Moving down from Jiangling, Guan was intercepted by Ning and Lu Su who were waiting there, then Ning told Lu Su that Guan would not even dare to engage them as long as he was present, and that he could capture Guan if he had 800 soldiers in command; on the other hand, Guan was leading 30,000 soldiers at the time, so Lu Su gave Ning 1,000 men, which he led to challenge Guan to a battle right away. Indeed, Guan Yu did not dare to accept Ning's challenge, and because of that, the location of the incident is still called "Guan Yu's Shallows" today. After some skirmishes in southern Jing, Liu received intelligence that Cao Cao was considering an invasion into Hanzhong, which was the Northern gateway for Yi Province, homebase of Liu's power. Therefore, Liu requested a border treaty with Sun, who agreed and led troops to dilute Cao's forces.

Night raid with 100 riders

Later, Sun Quan was held off by Cao Cao's general, Zhang Liao when attacking Hefei from Ruxu, and, hearing that Cao had personally come to the city's aid with a 400,000 strong army (Cao Cao's claim), Zhang Zhao, the chief staff of Sun, proposed raiding the camps of Cao's army in order to lower their morale. Ning then volunteered to perform a night raid with only 100 horsemen. Covered by the night, Ning sneaked into Cao Cao's camp, set fire everywhere, and attacked randomly. In chaos, Cao Cao's soldiers were not sure the size and location of their opponent, so the defenders were unable to perform an effective couterattack. After generating a great chaos in Cao's main camp, Ning then returned to the camp with all 100 men. Sun, pleased with his exceptionally success, granted him one thousand pieces of silk and a hundred sharp swords for his 100 horsemen, and exclaimed, 'Mengde(Cao Cao's styled name) has Zhang Liao, and I have Gan Xingba (Gan Ning's styled name).'

Death

The popularized novel, Romance of the Three Kingdoms depicts a scene that Gan Ning was killed by an arrow shot by the barbarian king Sha-Mo-Ke during the battle of Yiling , but in reality, he was dead of illness before the battle took place.

Appraisal

Gan Ning was rough and murderous, but open-minded, valorous and skilled in tactics. His lack of respect for discipline was balanced by his value for skillful warriors. He was extravagant and often covered his traveling quarters in silk only to cut the cloth up when he left, he used to travel with his gangs by carriages and steeds on land, and by galleys or light ships on water. He also committed murders both in public and in secret.

Modern references

File:DWGanNing.jpg

Gan Ning as he appears in Koei's Dynasty Warriors 6.

Gan Ning is a playable character in Koei's Dynasty Warriors video game series. He has been featured as a unique character from the second installment (Dynasty Warriors 2) onwards.

Gan Ning is portrayed in similar fashion to a Bōsōzoku; vulgar, brash and extremely confident in his own skills. His clothing is always accompanied by his trademark bells, and his torso is heavily tattooed. He wields a large dao called the "Sea Master". In Dynasty Warriors 5, Gan Ning's "Musou Mode" (story mode) revolves around his bitter conflict and subsequent friendship with Ling Tong. He initially kills Ling Tong's father, Ling Cao, in battle. This leads to strong hostility and rivalry from Ling Tong early in the game. Towards the end, Gan Ning rescues Ling Tong from a potentially fatal situation at Hefei, which then leads to a firm friendship between the pair.

Gan Ning's appearance changes greatly in Dynasty Warriors 6. Instead of a dao he now wields two elaborately decorated knives and for the first time wears armor, which is garishly adorned with bells and a feather cape. He also has white hair now instead of black/brown hair.

In DW3-5, Gan Ning helps Wu unite the land. In his DW5 ending, you see him battle pirates. In DW6, you seem him leave Wu with his crew after the land is united. In DW4 Xtreme Legends, Gan Ning ambushes a Wei camp. In DW5 Xtreme Legends, Gan Ning, Taishi Ci, Ling Tong, and Lu Meng team together to fight Wei.

Gan Ning also appears in Warriors Orochi, a crossover between Samurai Warriors and Dynasty Warriors. In this game, he appears aiding Azai Nagamasa and Oichi but, all three join Wei after being defeated by them in battle. In the sequel, he joined his fellow Wu comrade Lu Meng and the two were attacked by Lu Bu and Kiyomori. Sima Yi along with Yoshihiro Shimazu and Huang Zhong went to their aid. Gan Ning and Lu Meng joined them after the battle. In Dream Mode, Gan Ning, Zhang Liao, and Fuma Kotaro take Ueda Castle and ambush Zhuge Liang and the Nanman.

Gan Xing, a character based on Gan Ning, referring to his style name Xingba, appears in the modern epic Red Cliff (film).