While we're here, I might as well continue talking about figures in the north that will probably play a big role in our own struggles. Probably the most important one I haven't mentioned thus far is Gongsun Zan. I'm going to start this off with a sort of thesis statement, a constant refrain that will apply to everything I'm about to go into and give you context for everything that happens and what it means:
Gongsun Zan is an asshole.
Gongsun Zan was from Liaoxi commandery in You province. His style name, Bogui, implies that he was the eldest of multiple brothers, but we only ever hear about one of them. The name of his father is lost to history, even though his family had been government officials for several generations. His mother was from a peasant family.
As a young man, Gongsun Zan quickly distinguished himself as a dynamic figure. He was handsome and bold, and he had a quick wit and skill in debate. He was also noted for having a particularly commanding voice. His various attributes earned him local respect, and was given a minor office in Liaoxi's commandery administration. The Grand Administrator, a man of the Hou family, quite admired the young Gongsun Zan and arranged for Gongsun to marry his daughter.
Around 175, Gongsun Zan went to study with the famous Lu Zhi, a fellow man of You province, along with Liu Bei. In 175 and 176, Lu Zhi was sent to Jiujian and Lujiang to suppress local rebellions, which he did quite successfully. It is unclear if Gongsun Zan had any part in the fighting or if he merely observed. Regardless, this was his first taste of military life, and it was a flavor he quite enjoyed. In 177, Lu Zhi was commissioned to take part in a large scholarly work, and Gongsun Zan probably left him around this time.
Gongsun Zan returned to Liaoxi and became another minor figure in the commandery administration, this time under Liu Ji, the new Grand Administrator. Around 180, Liu Ji was convinced of some crime and was sentenced to exile in Rinan, far to the south in Jiao territory. As a show of loyalty, Gongsun Zan personally escorted Liu Ji as far as Luoyang. Gongsun's loyalty was evidently well-places, as Liu Ji was pardoned while still
en route to Rinan. This display of loyalty earned Gongsun even greater local fame.
Having gained quite a reputation in Liaoxi, Gongsun Zan was nominated as "Filial and Incorrupt." This meant that, after serving a probationary period of three years as one of the Imperial Guards, he would be eligible to hold important offices. Most served their probation in Luoyang, but there were certain positions on the northern frontier where cadets also served, and given his location, Gongsun Zan likely served his probation in one of the northern posts.
Once his probation was served, Gongsun Zan was made a magistrate in the Liaodong dependent state, which was mostly populated by the Wuhuan and Xianbei. At the time, the tribes in and around Liaodong were particularly unruly and often troubled the settled population, raiding the borders, and generally causing chaos. Gongsun Zan took it upon himself to do something about it.
During the mid 180s, Gongsun Zan led numerous small campaigns against the Wuhuan and Xianbei raiders. He assembled an elite force of mounted archers who rode on white horses, and they became extremely feared by the tribes. The tribes hated and feared him so much that they often used images of Gongsun Zan for target practice. Gongsun Zan was generally successful in his campaigns, but he tended to overestimate himself and overextend his forces. Eventually, this caught up with him and he lost a large portion of his army while attacking a much larger tribal force. For this blunder, he was dismissed. Even so, the tribes were so frightened of fighting Gongsun Zan that they stopped their raids, even after this defeat.
Gongsun Zan was soon reappointed as the magistrate of Zhuo county, in Zhuo commandery of You. In 187, a force of 3,000 Wuhuan mercenaries was gathered to fight against the rebels in Liang province. An officer named Zhang Chun wanted command over them, but Gongsun Zan was chosen instead. He led the Wuhuan as far as Ji, but the provisions that were promised to the Wuhuan were never provided, so they mutinied. Gongsun Zan led his loyal forces against them and scattered the rebels, who returned to their homes.
Zhang Chun was furious that Gongsun Zan had been chosen to lead the Wuhuan instead of him, and he decided to do something about it. He joined with a countryman named Zhang Ju and allied with the Wuhuan chieftain Qiuliju. Together, they raided Ji province, killing many. Among the casualties were Gongqi Chou (Protector of the Wuhuan), Liu Zheng (Grand Administrator of Beiping), and Yang Zhong (Grand Administrator of Liaodong). After such success, more Wuhuan and bandits joined their rebellion, and they gained a huge army.
Qiuliju, incidentally, was the brother of Tadun, the Wuhuan leader who would be captured and executed by Cao Cao's forces at the Battle of White Wolf Mountain for supporting the Yuans.
Zhang Chun's forces made their base at Feiru. Zhang Ju declared himself an emperor, Zhang Chun called himself General Who Governs the Universe as well as King of Peace and Settlement. They also circulated letters among the provinces saying that Zhang Ju was destined to succeed the Han dynasty and that Emperor Ling should abdicate in his favor; and that that Emperor Ling should send the Excellences and Ministers to receive Zhang Ju.
Naturally, Emperor Ling wasn't going to ignore this. He sent Liu Yu to attack Zhang Chun and ordered that the Shanyu of the Xiongnu (Qianggu) aid him. Qiangqu sent a large force to aid Liu Yu in suppressing Zhang Chun. However, many Xiongnu were against this campaign, and a large rebellion broke out among Qiangqu's followers. The large rebel force attacked and killed Qiangqu, and his son Yufuluo was chosen to replace him, though the rebels prevented him from claiming his full authority, and due to the chaos of the times, subsequent appeals to the Han for aid would fall on deaf ears. But I've already talked about Yufuluo and his line at length.
Zhang Chun's rebellion spread across the north, and his forces plundered You, Ji, Qing, and Xu provinces. With the collapse of the Xiongnu, Liu Yu lacked the power to suppress the revolt, so the Han turned to Gongsun Zan. He was made Chief Commandant of the Cavalry and ordered to deal with Zhang Chun. Gongsun Zan assembled his army, and he enlisted the aid of his old friend Liu Bei, who appears to have been leading something of a mercenary group at the time.
Gongsun Zan's campaign aginast Zhang Chun was successful at first. He met the bulk of Zhang Chun and Qiuliju's army at Shimen, in the Liaodong dependent state. There, he completely crushed the rebel army, and Zhang Chun fled across the border into Wuhuan territory, along with his family. Zhang Chun's forces had kidnapped a great many people, and Gongsun Zan was able to rescue them. After this great victory, though, Gongsun Zan made the same mistake he had before and overextended himself.
Gongsun Zan pursued Zhang Chun without waiting for reinforcements, leading his army deep into Wuhuan territory. Isolated, he was soon outnumbered by his enemies and forced to retreat. He was pursued by the large army and forced to take shelter at Guanzi fortress in Liaoxi, which Zhang Chun's army had built for their own use. He was besieged at Guanzi for about 6 months. Soon, his soldiers were scatted and his supplies were depleted. By a desperate effort, Gongsun Zan managed to break the encirclement and escape, but the campaign cost him 50-60% of his army.
In 189, Liu Yu tried to suppress the revolt through diplomacy. He sent messengers to the Xianbei and offered large rewards for the heads of Zhang Chun and Zhang Ju. After losing so many soldiers to Gongsun Zan, Qiuliju was no longer very supportive of Zhang Chun and Zhang Ju and was happy to make peace with Liu Yu, with whom the various tribes had always been friendly, Zhang Chun and Zhang Ju heard of this and against fled across the border and their soldiers scattered. Soon, one of Zhang Chun's subordinates betrayed and murdered him, then surrendered to Liu Yu, and it appears that Zhang Ju was also killed. This pacified the revolt.
Gongsun Zan, however, was not pleased. He had killed several of Qiliju's envoys when the latter wanted to surrender, and now that the Wuhuan had laid down their arms, he wanted to lead a campaign of genocide to exterminate them. Liu Yu strictly forbade this, and so Gongsun Zan always resented him.
Because Gongsun Zan is an asshole.
Though Gongsun Zan's campaign was ultimately unsuccessful, he did contribute to the ultimate suppression of the rebellion. For his work, he was promoted to a colonel and allowed to garrison 10,000 soldiers in Beiping in order to deal with any subsequent flare-ups of the rebellion, and he was also enfeoffed as a marquess.
As the Han government fell into chaos later in 189, Gongsun Zan remained at his post in Beiping and was not, at first, involved in any of the regional politics. Shorty after Dong Zhuo took power, he made Gongsun Zan a general and made him Marquis of Ji. Ji County, as it happened, was also the capital county of You Province, where Liu Yu's government was. So this county became an area of contention between the two of them and deepend the rift in their already strained relationship.
In 191, though, Yuan Shao decided to try and seize Ji Province (not to be confused with the aforementioned county/marquisate) from Han Fu, and as part of his plan to do this, he convinced Gongsun Zan to attack Han Fu and claim Ji. Gongsun advanced south, officially claiming that he was going to attack Dong Zhuo. However, he turned on Han Fu once in Ji. Gongsun met Han Fu's army in battle at Anyi and crushed them, which terrified Han Fu. Yuan Shao then offered to take Ji province off of his hands, and rather than fight Gongsun Zan, Han Fu accepted. Yuan Shao became Governor of Ji and Gongsun Zan returned to his territory.
Later that year, Gongsun Zan dealt with a large group of remnant Turbans. Originally from Qing province, they spread into Ji and You, and they intended to join with the powerful Heishan (Black Mountain) Bandits in Bing. Gongsun Zan intercepted the main Turban force south of Dongguang and defeated them, capturing and killing many. The Turbans fled to the Yellow River, where Gongsun dealt them another crushing blow. This victory made Gongsun Zan even more famous than before. The remaining Qing Turbans would go on to be defeated and absorbed by Cao Cao in 193 and form the backbone of his "Qing Elite." The exact numbers in this campaign are difficult to determine. The Turban remnants are described as numbering 300,000, but this is an obvious exaggeration. Gongsun Zan had 20,000, which seems reasonable; one notes that this was double the soldiers Liu Yu had allotted to him.
Also in that year, Gongsun Zan became embroiled in warlord politics. Yuan Shu held Liu Yu's son, Liu He, as a hostage and demanded that Liu Yu ally with him. Gongsun Zan argued against this, but Liu Yu ignored him and agreed in order to spare his son. Gongsun Zan then feared that Yuan Shu would hold a grudge against him, so he sent his cousin Gongsun Yue to aid Yuan Shu with a cavalry force. Later that year, Gongsun Yue was killed in battle against Yuan Shao's forces. This gave Gongsun Zan a pretext upon which to attack Ji (the province).
Gongsun Zan's exact motivations in attacking Ji are subject to debate. Officially, he cited numerous crimes and misdeeds on Yuan Shao's part, as well as his cousin's death. He claimed that he was just invading in order to bring justice to a criminal. However, one observes that Gongsun Zan later proved to have provincial ambitions, and that he had been promised Ji earlier. More likely, he was simply acting out of ambition, with his cousin's death as a pretext.
By this point, Gongsun Zan's army had swelled to considerable size, and he commanded more soldiers than Yuan Shao did. As part of his campaign, he sent his subordinate Tian Kai to attack Qing province, along with Liu Bei, since Yuan Shao had claimed some dominion there. Gongsun also appointed Shan Jing as Inspector of Yan province, which was nominally under Yuan Shao's control as well. Further, he appointed Yan Gang as his own Inspector of Ji. As he marched, many of the local leaders of Ji turned against Yuan Shao and swore themselves to Gongsun Zan. Gongsun Zan was able to claim most of the province without difficulty.
Yuan Shao assembled his own army and met Gongsun Zan in battle early in 192. Gongsun Zan had a camp at Jie Bridge (Jieqiao) and met Yuan Shao in battle some 20 leagues south of there. By that time, Gongsun Zan's army had swelled to 30,000 and he outnumbered Yuan Shao significantly. However, the battle rather famously went against Gongsun Zan. Gongsun Zan began by unleashing his elite cavalry against Yuan Shao, but the vanguard general Qu Yi was able to crush them with a force of elite spearmen and crossbows. Qu Yi then struck back and broke Gongsun Zan's lines. Yan Gang was killed and Gongsun Zan himself retreated to Jie bridge. Qu Yi pursued, and though Gongsun Zan turned to meet him in battle, he was defeated again and fled. Qu Yi captured Gongsun Zan's camp and won a complete victory.
Throughout 192, Gongsun Zan's forces in Yan and Qing lost ground. Though Tian Kai was originally able to capture Pingyuan from Yuan Tan, he was soon driven out of the city and forced to shelter in Qi. Subsequent attempts to retake Pingyuan ended in failure. In Yan, Shan Jing was unable to establish a position for himself against Cao Cao.
Still, this was not a crippling defeat for Gongsun Zan. He was able to regroup his forces and fight off a counterattack led by Yuan Shao's general Cui Juye. Around the end of 192, Gongsun advanced against Yuan Shao again, though on more even terms this time. Yuan Shao met him in battle at Longcou and defeated him. Afterwards, Gongsun Zan was no longer confident that he could defeat Yuan Shao and did not make any further campaigns for Ji.
In 193, an envoy from Li Jue's regime came to the north and brokered peace between the two of them. Yuan Shao was troubled by the Heishan Bandits in his territory, and Gongsun Zan had ambitions of his own within You, so both agreed to a truce in order to tend to their own affairs.
After Li Jue's ambassadors forged peace between Gongsun Zan and Yuan Shao, Gongsun Zan decided to focus on consolidating his power. At that point, he held the rank of a general, but he had no real authority over You province. Liu Yu, as Governor of You, was still formally in charge. Since Liu Yu disapproved of Gongsun Zan's campaigns against Yuan Shao, he stopped sending Gongsun Zan supplies. Gongsun Zan started to plunder the countryside, taking wealth and food from the populace like a common bandit and Liu Yu couldn't tolerate this. Gongsun always hated Liu Yu, and this only made his rage deeper. Once there was peace between him and Yuan Shao, he brought his army to camp in a fortress southeast of Ji City (yes, there is a Ji city, a Ji county
and a Ji province in this story), where Liu Yu's capital was. Both sent memorials to Chang'an complaining about the other. Predictably, Li Jue's regime could not have cared less.
Liu Yu tried to meet with Gongsun Zan several times to discuss their issues, but Gongsun always claimed to be ill and would not meet with him. Liu Yu soon grew convinced that Gongsun intended to rebel against him and seize the province, so he decided to strike first. But Liu Yu was far too kind to be involved in any sort of battle. He ordered his soldiers not to set anything on fire and not to kill anyone but Gongsun Zan. And these men were not soldiers, so they had no real organization. Though they surrounded the fortress, they couldn't really do anything. Gongsun responded by using a fire attack of his own, then breaking through Liu Yu's encirclement. Frightened, Liu Yu's army fled, and he himself retreated to Juyong. Gognsun Zan pursued him to Juyong and captured Liu Yu. He brought Liu Yu back to Ji city and pretended that he was still in charge, but Gongsun took command of everything himself.
Shortly after this, someone came from Chang'an to grant both men promotions. Gongsun Zan was made General of the Front and Marquis of Yi city. A few years ago, Yuan Shao had tried to make Liu Yu emperor, but Liu Yu refused. Gongsun Zan produced these letters and claimed that Liu Yu planned to usurp the Imperial title. On this pretext, he convinced the envoy to have Liu Yu and his family executed. Gongsun Zan also executed a number of officials who protested this.
Because Gongsun Zan is an asshole.
In fact, after this Gongsun Zan turned into a complete monster. He plundered the land, taking whatever he wanted. He executed or exiled anyone who was more respected than he was, killing numerous scholars and officials. He made friends with corrupt merchants and local thugs, who abused the common people. When I say that he killed people just for looking at him funny, that's not an exaggeration. It was like he was
trying to compete with the dearly departed Dong Zhuo. He terrorized You and northern Ji throughout 194.
All of this, of course, made people despise him. In 195, several rebellions broke out against him, and they turned into large-scale ones. Many exiled officials had fled to the Wuhuan for safety. A man named Yan Rou, who had been raised among the Wuhuan, gathered a huge number of them to help him oust Gongsun Zan. He was joined by an official named Xianyu Fu, one of Liu Yu's loyalists. There were also a number of exile communities, people who refused to accept Gongsun Zan's authority. These, too, took up arms against him. Naturally, Yuan Shao took advantage of that. He sent Liu He - Liu Yu's son - to rally support against Gongsun Zan, and he sent Qu Yi with an army to support them.
The bulk of this force descended upon Gongsun Zan at Baoqiu. Surrounded on all sides, Gongsun Zan could not resist them and suffered a crushing defeat. Throughout You, people rebelled against Gongsun Zan, killing his officials and taking up arms against his soldiers. his army was defeated time and time again, and Gongsun Zan himself retreated to his fief of Yi (in Hejian, Ji), where he built a massive fortress. He gathered supplies there and intended to just wait until everything was settled elsewhere to emerge. He brought his family and his concubines and some soldiers, but that was pretty much it. He dismissed all of his attendants and wouldn't let any men more than 7 years old enter. Gongsun Zan became extremely paranoid and trusted absolutely no one.
Most of Gongsun Zan's commanders drifted away from him at this point. He abandoned his armies in the field, thinking that being isolated would make them fight harder (again:
asshole). Instead, they just surrendered to Yuan Shao in huge numbers.
Around 197, Yuan Shao sent Qu Yi to attack Yi, but for once he had no success. The fortress was too strong to be taken by ordinary means. However, Yuan Shao brought the bulk of his army forward against the city in 198 and prepared a determined siege against Gongsun Zan. At the end of 198, in hopes of getting reinforcements, Gongsun Zan sent his son Gongsun Xu out of the city to seek aid from the Heishan bandits. Early in 199, Xu was able to make contact with their leader, Zhang Yan, and they marched towards Yi to bring reinforcements.
Gongsun Zan had tried to send a message to Gongsun Xu telling him to lead a force into the marshes north of Yi and light a signal fire, at which point Gongsun Zan would sortie from the city. However, this message was intercepted, so Yuan Shao set the signal fire himself. Gongsun Zan rode out of the city and straight into an ambush. This cost Gongsun Zan most of his remaining army. Yuan Shao then tunneled under the walls and collapsed a tower, giving his men the opportunity to storm the city. Gongsun Zan realized that he would be killed, so he killed the women of his household and then took his own life. Some of Yuan Shao's soldiers cut off his head and brought it to Yuan Shao. Liu Bei's old commander, Tian Kai, had remained loyal to Gongsun Zan throughout all of this and was also in Yi city. He was killed by the soldiers along with the rest of the Gongsun loyalists. Gongsun Xu fled to the Xiongnu, where he was also killed, ending Gongsun Zan's line.
Learned something new today.
Also, the campaigns of Huo Qubing (140-117 BC) which successfully opened up the northern Silk Road was instrumental in this, as it gave Han ready access to the famed Ferghana horses of Central Asia to purchase as breeding stock; these horses were the ancestors of the modern Akhal-Teke of Turkmenistan, which are also called "Golden Horses" and prized for their speed, endurance, intelligence and beauty.
Speaking of which, Huo Qubing was
also an asshole with genocidal ambitions against the Xiongnu and was a dick to his own men, but that's neither here nor there.
