The Book of later Han records that "Gongsun Zhan (公孙瓒字伯珪), also known as the Lingzhi of Liaoxi( 辽西令支人也). Family lineage of 2,000 stones. He was made a lowly county official. Beautiful posture, loud voice, eloquent speech. Too defensive of his talents, to the wife of a woman. Later, he learned from Lu Zhi in Zhuo County in the Mountains of the Jiaoshi Clan and saw a little book transmission. ”
Although Gongsun Zhan was born into an aristocratic family, because his mother was from a humble background, he could only serve as a shuzuo, but because of his handsome appearance, loud voice, and outstanding intelligence, he won the appreciation of Zhuo County's Taishou, and became Taishou's son-in-law, and later received the help of his father-in-law to learn from Lu Zhi, who was able to write and be good at martial arts, and also worshiped Liu Kuanmen, a famous minister of the Eastern Han Dynasty, as a protégé, and was the same as Liu Bei, Wang Yi, Fu Xie and others.
Gongsun Zhan had a period of peaceful life in the Eastern Han Dynasty court, and he had a tough attitude towards the invading northern nomads, was very brave on the battlefield, and was also a powerful frontier. However, Gongsun Zhan was belligerent, and although he was invincible on the battlefield, he indulged his troops and plundered the people living near the frontier.
Liu Yu, the chancellor of the Eastern Han Dynasty, was Gongsun Zhan's superior, and he had always been a generous politician and advocated a gentle policy towards the local nomads, so the relationship between Gongsun Zhan and Liu Yu gradually deteriorated, and finally Liu Yu decided to lead an army of 100,000 to attack Gongsun Zhan in order to prevent Gongsun Zhan from becoming more aggressive and plundering the people.
However, Liu Yu's soldiers were not accustomed to fighting, and there were military orders not to harass the people and not to damage the people's houses, so they could not attack for a long time, so the soldiers were defeated, and Gongsun Zhan was authorized by the governor of the four northern states and became one of the most powerful princes in the north, known as the "White Horse General".
Gongsun Zhan had three famous generals, namely Zhao Yun, Tian Yu, and Yan Gang. About 7 years after leaving Gongsun Zhan, Li Yun met Liu Bei again in Yicheng, and since then Zhao Yun has followed Liu Bei for nearly thirty years, successively participating in the Battle of Bowangpo, the Battle of Changsakapo, the Battle of Jiangnan Pingding, etc.
In the fourth year of Jian'an (199), after Gongsun Zhan failed to fight the warlord Yuan Shao, he set himself on fire, and his head was sent by Yuan Shao to Xudu, where Cao Cao was located, and Tian Yu defected to Cao Cao after Gongsun Zhan's defeat and persuasion to surrender to Cao Cao.
Tian Yu perennially guarded the northern frontier of Cao Wei, from Wuhuan of Zhengdai County, slashing bones into the army, and breaking Kebineng, etc., and repeatedly made military achievements, and the official was appointed marquis of Changle Ting.
When Liu Bei defected to Gongsun Zhan, he met Tian Yu and saw Tian Yu's talents, and later when Tian Yu asked to return to his hometown on the grounds that his mother was old, Liu Bei once said to Tian Yu: "Hate not to achieve great things with Jun." ”
But the remaining Yan Gang is actually the most powerful of the three famous generals, although Yan Gang is not very famous in history, but he is also the only one among the three major generals who has always followed Gongsun Zhan, and Yan Gang has a strong leadership ability, and the "White Horse Yicong" he commanded has left a strong mark in history.
According to historical records, the Hu people were very afraid of seeing this elite cavalry unit, saying: "Whenever Yan Gang fought with the enemy, he often rode on a white horse, chased after the false hair, and won several victories. ”
In addition, there is a record: "Good white horse, repeatedly multiplied by the cracker, the call is 'white horse general'." Therefore, the elite three thousand were selected, and the white horse was ridden, and the number 'white horse righteous obedience' was also used to be the janissary. "Baima Yicong also has the reputation of "the first light horse in the late Eastern Han Dynasty", it is worth mentioning that relevant information also mentions that Zhao Yun was originally a member of the White Horse Yicong.
In 191 AD, Gongsun Zhan fought with Yuan Shao for Jizhou, when Gongsun Zhan appointed Yan Gang as the pastor of Jizhou Prefecture because of his strong military strength, and then Yuan Shao personally led the army to meet Gongsun Zhan, and ordered his famous general Koji Yi to lead 800 elite soldiers as the vanguard, while covering the Koji soldiers with a thousand crossbows.
Gongsun Zhan and Yan Gang initially saw that the troops led by Koji Yi were small, so they were somewhat light enemies, and ordered Bai Ma Yi to charge, and as a result, Bai Ma Yi was attacked by a thousand strong crossbows from the moment he rushed to a place dozens of steps away from Koji Yi's soldiers, and Gongsun Zhan's troops were tragically attacked, and for a while they also fell into chaos, and the cavalry and infantry all rushed to escape.
Koji Yi led 800 elite soldiers to fight more and more courageously, and eventually Yan Gang was killed here, and Koji Yi pursued him all the way to Gongsun Zhan's camp, and later Gongsun Yi fought several battles with Koji Yi, all of which ended in defeat.
In the second year of Xingping (195), Kojii besieged Gongsun Zhan in Yijing, and the two armies held each other for more than a year, but Gongsun Zhan opened a tun tian in Yijing, and Koji gradually ran out of food, so the soldiers were often starved, and Koji had to lead the army to retreat, but Gongsun Zhan took advantage of the situation to pursue and defeated Koji.
Since then, there has been no record of Koji, although Baima Yi has not stayed in history for a long time, but it has left many legends, and the reason why Gongsun Zan was able to shock the frontier was also because of this elite cavalry unit.