Huang Zu
| Huang Zu | |||
| Traditional Chinese | 黃祖 | ||
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| Simplified Chinese | 黄祖 | ||
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Huang Zu (died 208) was an administrator of late Han Dynasty period of Chinese history, and the administrator later served under the Jing Province warlord, Liu Biao, as an experienced naval commander. During his tenure, general Huang was most famous for his involvement with the death of other two skillful commanders, Sun Jian and Ling Cao.
There are plenty of historical records concerning Huang Zu, but they are scattered over different texts while Huang Zu never have a personal biography in any official record. Since Jiangxia Commandery (江夏, a Commandery of Jing Province, headquartered in modern Wuhan, Hubei) is renowned as the cradle of the Huang clan, Huang Zu, being the Administrator of Jiangxia, probably came from an influential family rooted there. After the Han nobleman, Liu Biao, had arrived at his post of Governor of Jing Province, the new governor allied himself with local clans, and the Huang clan had since been guarding the West entrance of the province against another powerful warlord, Yuan Shu, who had his base East to Jing Province. In return, governor Liu supported Huang Zu's massive navy with financial aid during peace-time, and military assistance during critical moments. Under such arrangement, Huang Zu remained largely independent from Liu Biao, and the administrator enjoyed autonomy over Jiangxia.
After the alliance against Dong Zhuo disbanded, the former members of the alliance polarized greatly; Yuan Shao, the leader of the alliance, feuded against his half brother, Yuan Shu, and obtained the alliance of Liu Biao. In opposition, Yuan Shu succeed in requesting Sun Jian of Changsha to attack Liu Biao's territories.
To fight Sun Jian, Liu Biao assigned the defense to his most capable general, Huang Zu, who immediately led his army to counter Sun Jian's offensive around the city of Fan and the city of Dang, but general Huang was defeated. Observing that Sun Jian cannot be overcome on open-field, Huang Zu fled to Xiangyang, Liu's capital and fortress city, for a final defense. The battle went in Sun Jian's favor until one night, when Huang Zu led a contingent of soldiers to perform a sneak attack on Sun Jian's camp. Although the tactic was foiled, Sun Jian was shot by a stray arrow when he was pursuing Huang Zu into a forest. In the historical novel, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the author attributes Sun Jian's death to a ploy by Kuai Liang and Lü Gong, two of Liu Biao's subordinates. Huang Zu was, however, captured by Sun Jian's eldest son, Sun Ce, but the captive was soon released to exchange for the father's body. Historically, Huang Zu was never captured by Sun Ce, and the former was credited by the Records of the Three Kingdoms to be the sole person responsible for outwitting Sun Jian.
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