At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Liu Biao divided Jingzhou and was a powerful prince. The reason why Liu Biao was able to compete with Cao Cao, Sun Quan and other princes was naturally inseparable from the effectiveness of many military generals. For example, The generals of the Shu Han Dynasty, such as Wei Yan, Li Yan, Huang Zhong, and Huo Jun, all came from the land of Jingzhou. As for the Huang Zu that I want to talk about today, he is also a fierce general under Liu Biao. It is worth noting that although Huang Zu often suffered defeats, he killed three famous Eastern Wu generals, including Sun Quan's father Sun Jian, which laid a good foundation for Liu Biao's long-term division of the side.
One
Specifically, Huang Zu is a member of the Lu Huang clan of Jiangxia' An. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Jiangxia Huang clan was a famous family clan, that is, the famous Huangxiang clan. Huang Xiang (c. 68 – 122), ziwen qiang (一文疆), and a native of Jiangxia Anlu (present-day Yunmeng, Hubei). During the Eastern Han Dynasty, an official and filial piety, he was the protagonist of the story of "Fan Pillow Wen Yuan" in the "Twenty-Four Filial Pieties". For Huang Xiang, his son Huang Qiong and great-grandson Huang Huan were all officials to taiwei and were famous all over the world.
In the first year of Chuping (190), Wang Rui of Jingzhou was killed by Sun Jian, and Dong Zhuo sent Liu Biao to succeed him. Since jiangnan was a great thief at that time, Yuan Shutun was in Luyang, and his men had all the Nanyang people. The Wu people Su took the place of Changsha Taishou and dominated the local area according to the militia, resulting in Liu Biao being unable to take office directly. He then went to Jingzhou anonymously and alone before he could take up his post. In the same year, after Liu Biao took charge of Jingzhou, he reused the local haoqiang and shi clans. As a result, Huang Zu began to serve as the Taishou of Jiangxia County, thus guarding the eastern gate of Jingzhou.
In 191 AD, Sun Jian led a large army to attack Jingzhou and besieged Xiangyang for a time. In this regard, Liu Biao could not hold out and let Huang Zu come to support. However, in the face of the brave Sun Jian, Huang Zu also suffered defeat. However, in the process of pursuing Huang Zu, Sun Jian encountered an ambush, so he lost his life. After getting rid of Sun Jian, Huang Zu returned to Jiangxia County.
On the other hand, after Sun Jian was killed, Sun Ce was seventeen years old at the time, and he and his brother Sun Quan followed Yuan Shu. After Sun Jian was buried in Qu'a (present-day Danyang, Jiangsu Province), Sun Ce moved to Jiangdu (present-day Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province). In the fourth year of Chuping (193), after the end of shou filial piety, Sun Ce went to Shouchun to find Yuan Shu to prepare to recover the old meritorious service of his father Sun Jian and avenge his father. Yuan Shu listened to his words, examined his demeanor, and knew that he could bend and stretch, which was a great superiority. However, he wanted to immediately return Sun Jian's old department to him to let him stand on his own, and he was unwilling to do so.
Two
Of course, from 195 AD, Sun Ce began to pacify the battle of Jiangdong. In 199 AD, Sun Ce captured the six counties of Jiangdong and became a prince whose strength could not be underestimated. In this context, Sun Ce naturally will not forget the revenge of killing his father. In the same year, Sun Ce personally led an army against Huang Zu. The latter was difficult to compete with Sun Ce and could only hold out.
In 200 AD, Sun Ce was killed by the Assassins while hunting, and died of illness in the same year. After Sun Ce's death, his younger brother Sun Quan began to take charge of Jiangdong. In 203 AD, after consolidating his position, Sun Quan also led an army to attack Huang Zu. In this battle, Sun Jian defeated Huang Zu's water division, but there was no way to break through the other side's city.
At the same time, Ling Cao under Sun Quan's command charged into the battlefield, which certainly caused setbacks to Huang Zu's army. However, Gan Ning, who was following Huang Zu at the time, successfully shot Ling Cao, which made Sun Quan lose a major general. In addition, although Gan Ning helped Huang Zu kill Ling Cao, he later chose to leave Jingzhou and defect to Sun Quan.
In 207 AD, Sun Quan once again rebelled against Huang Zu and relocated some of the people from Jiangxia County. However, Huang Zu, who had suffered defeat, successfully killed Xu Kun. According to historical records such as the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Xu Kun was Sun Jian's nephew, that is, he was a cousin of Sun Ce and Sun Quan. As early as the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Xu Kun began to follow Sun Jian, and because of his military achievements, he was crowned as a partial general. After Sun Jian was killed, Xu Kun assisted Sun Ce in pacifying Jiangdong. On this basis, Xu Kun was crowned as a general of Pingyu. From this, it was very obvious that if he had not been killed by Huang Zu, Xu Kun would obviously have achieved greater achievements.
Three
It is true that Huang Zu eliminated the three generals of Jiangdong and made great military achievements. However, this also deepened the enmity between him and Sun Quan. Therefore, in 208 AD, Sun Quan mobilized a large army and attacked Huang Zu again. In this battle, Sun Quan sent Zhou Yu, Lü Meng, Ling Tong, Dong Xun and other generals. In the face of Sun Quan's attack, Huang Zuren made Zhang Shuo the vanguard and Chen the leader of the water division, and he himself remained in Jiangxia.
Before this battle, Zhang Shuo led his troops to reconnoiter the riverbank in a large boat, but was discovered by Ling Tong, who was also reconnaissance. At that time, Ling Tong, who was riding a small boat, had only dozens of warriors around him, but he still boarded Zhang Shuo's ship, probably disguised as Zhang Shuo's pawn under the cover of night, and surprised Zhang Shuojun. Zhang Shuo was killed by Ling Tong, and all the sailors he led were captured.
Upon learning that Zhang Shuo had been killed, Huang Zu immediately ordered Chen to lead two Mengchong ships to guard the pass and let Hercules and archers ambush them on the cliff top of the river, throwing stones and torches at the enemy's large ships. In order to defeat Huang Zu's Meng Chong, Zhou Yu sent a ship, but was destroyed by a stone thrown from the top of the cliff. After a few hours of fighting, Zhou Yu realized that Huang Zu's ordnance was not so scarce, and Sun Quan could only face the reality of heavy casualties caused by the fatigue of the soldiers. From this, it is very obvious that the soldiers under Huang Zu's command are also relatively tenacious.
In order to turn the tide of the battle, Zhou Yu ordered Ling Tong and Dong Xun to lead the brave men to charge, and they all put on two pieces of armor and charged on a large ship with stones and torches. After a fierce battle, Lü Meng killed Chen Yu in a melee battle. Huang Zu's army, which had lost its leader, was annihilated by Sun Quan's army, which was in the minority. Before Lü Meng completely annihilated Huang Zu's army, Ling Tong divided his forces and captured Jiangxia. Upon hearing this news, Huang Zu prepared to flee Jiangxia County, but was chased by soldiers and horses sent by Sun Quan. In this regard, Sun Quan ordered Huang Zu to be beheaded in order to sacrifice his father Sun Jian.
Finally, after Huang Zu was killed, Liu Biao also died of illness in 208 AD, which meant that Liu Biao's family could no longer control Jingzhou. In response, Cao Cao led a large army south, and under the huge gap in strength, Liu Biao's son Liu Chun gave up resistance, which prompted most of the counties in Jingzhou to fall into Cao Cao's hands. Of course, after the Battle of Chibi, Cao Cao returned to the Central Plains, and Liu Bei took the opportunity to capture four counties in the south of Jingzhou, while Sun Quan was able to occupy the southern part of Jiangxia County.
As for the northern part of Jiangxia County, it was still occupied by Cao Cao's side. This is because as early as 206 AD, Cao Cao sent Zhang Liao to attack Jiangxia County, capturing two counties in northern Jiangxia. From this point of view, Under the pressure of sun quan and Cao Cao, Huang Zu could defend Jiangxia for more than ten years, which can be said to be a famous defensive general.