Yellow Cover of the Twelve Tiger Lords of the Three Kingdoms of Jiangdong

Huang Gai (born and died unknown), courtesy name Gongfu, was a native of Lingling Quanling (陳陵陵, in present-day Lingling District, Yongzhou, Hunan).

Originally a descendant of Nanyang Taishou Huang Zilian, but the family was separated, and Huang Gai's grandfather moved to Lingling to live. Later, the villagers all died, Huang Gai's life was difficult, but he still had great ambitions, although he was poor, he often guarded himself with a negative salary, and he studied and studied the art of war by himself. After that, he served as a county official, and was then examined as a filial piety and promoted to the gongfu. [1]

In the first year of Chuping (190), Sun Jian raised a volunteer army, and Huang Gai followed him. Sun Jian defeated Caokou in the south and Dong Zhuo in the north, so he appointed Huang Gai as sima of the other departments.

In the second year of Chuping (191), Sun Jian was killed in battle, and Huang Gai successively followed Sun Ce and Sun Quan, wearing armor and turning to the north and south, risking death to attack the city.

The Shanyue tribes were reluctant to submit to Sun Wu, or to counties where thieves were rebelling, and always used Huang Gai as the local administrator there.

The officials of Shicheng County were particularly difficult to restrain their management, so Huang Gai appointed two historians to be in charge of various departments. He instructed the two men: "I, the county commander, have no talent, but only rely on martial arts to obtain officials, not be famous as civilian officials." Now that the thieves have not been pacified, I often have the task of military service, entrusting you two with the handling of official documents, and you should supervise and inspect the various departments and correct and expose their mistakes. If you are deceived or deceived, I will not punish them with whipping and whipping in any way, but you will do your best, and do not give them a bad head. ”

At first, the two historians feared Huang Gai's majesty and performed their duties day by day, but over time, these officials thought that Huang Gai did not read documents, and gradually neglected official duties. Huang Gai was also dissatisfied with their laxity and laziness, and from time to time he made some introspections and grasped a few examples of their own lawlessness, so he invited all the officials in the county to come, set up a banquet, wine and meat, and took out cases of violations of law and discipline to be questioned. The two historians had nothing to say, and both prostrated their heads and pleaded guilty. Huang Gai said, "I have warned you before that in the end I will not punish you with a whip or a staff, and I will never deceive you." So he killed the two men. Officials throughout the county were shocked and mourned. [2]

Later, he became the county magistrate of Chungu County and the county magistrate of Xunyang County. The nine counties he served in before and after were all safe and stable. He was also promoted to the rank of Lieutenant of Danyang, suppressing the strong and helping the poor and the weak, so that Shanyue sincerely surrendered.

In the thirteenth year of Jian'an (208), Cao Cao in the north went south, Huang Gai followed Zhou Yu and Cao Jun to fight in Chibi, the two armies confronted, Huang Gai proposed a fire attack tactic, and personally surrendered, Zhou Yu thought it was feasible. [3]

On the day of the engagement, Huang Gai prepared dozens of Mengchong and Dou warships, full of salary and grass anointing oil, camouflaged with red mantles, planted tooth flags, and tied up behind the ships. Huang Gai first sent a letter to Cao Cao to inform him of surrender, so that Cao's army saw Huang Gai's ships coming without warning. Huang Gai then ordered the firewood and grass to be lit, and at the same time, the fire spread to the military camp on the shore of the Cao Army. Huang Gai was unfortunately hit by a stray arrow and fell into the water during the war, and when he was rescued, Wu Jun actually did not recognize it as Huang Gai and placed him in the toilet bed. Huang Gai only shouted at Han Dang himself, and when Han Dang found him, he tearfully undressed him and was able to save his life. Despite this, he still defeated Cao Cao and was appointed as the general of Wufeng Zhonglang.

After the Battle of Chibi, a barbarian rebellion occurred in Wuling, attacking the city, Huang Gai was transferred to Taishou, at that time there were only five hundred people in the county, Huang Gai used tactics, opened the city gate to attract barbarian troops into the city, halfway into the city, immediately launched an attack, killed hundreds of people, and recovered the lost city, beheaded its leader, released the surrenderers. In one season, all the chaos was calmed down, and the leaders of the local tribes treated him with courtesy.

Soon, Yiyang County in Changsha County was also invaded by mountain thieves, and Huang Gai was pacified again, and Sun Quan promoted him to a partial general. In the end, he died of illness during his term of office, and the people of the country missed him, and Sun Quan ascended to the throne of God, posthumously commented on his life's achievements, and gave his son huang the title of Marquis of Guannei.