Huang Quan 黃權

Huang Quan, courtesy name Gongheng, was a man of Langzhong in Baxi. In his youth he became a clerk of the commandery, and the Governor Liu Zhang summoned him and made him Registrar. When the Attendant Officer Zhang Song proposed inviting Liu Bei to attack Zhang Lu, Huang Quan remonstrated: 'The General of the Left has a name for valor. If you treat him as a subordinate commander, you will not satisfy his ambitions; if you treat him with the courtesy due a guest, a single state cannot hold two lords.' If the guest enjoyed the security of Mount Tai, he warned, the host would be in as much danger as a stack of eggs. He then said it would be best to close the borders and wait for the Yellow River to run clear. Records, Shu 13 §2–3

Liu Zhang did not listen, sent envoys to invite Liu Bei after all, and sent Huang Quan out as Chief of Guanghan County. The Biographies of the Two Governors Liu record that at this time the Registrar Huang Quan set out the advantages and dangers, and the Attendant Officer Wang Lei hung himself upside down from the gate of the provincial seat to remonstrate, but Liu Zhang accepted none of it. When Liu Bei seized Yi Province by surprise, the commanderies and counties went over to him at the first rumor, but Huang Quan shut his city gates and held firm, and only after Liu Zhang had bowed his head in submission did he go to Liu Bei and surrender. Liu Bei made him acting Lieutenant General. Records, Shu 13 §3Records, Shu 1 §16

When Cao Cao defeated Zhang Lu and Zhang Lu fled into Bazhong, Huang Quan said, 'If we lose Hanzhong, the Three Ba will not flourish; this would be cutting off the thighs and arms of Shu.' Liu Bei made Huang Quan Protector of the Army and had him lead the generals to receive Zhang Lu, but Zhang Lu had already returned to Nanzheng and surrendered to Cao Cao in the north. Chen Shou wrote that the later defeat of Du Hu and Pu Hu, the killing of Xiahou Yuan and the seizure of Hanzhong were all Huang Quan's original plan. Records, Shu 13 §3–4Records, Shu 2 §36

Even after becoming King of Hanzhong, Liu Bei kept the post of Governor of Yi Province and made Huang Quan Headquarters Officer. When, after taking the imperial title, he was about to attack Wu in the east, Huang Quan remonstrated: 'The men of Wu fight fiercely, and our navy sails downstream, so advancing is easy but retreating is hard.' He asked to go ahead himself as the vanguard to test the enemy, while His Majesty set up his position in the rear. Liu Bei did not agree; he made Huang Quan General Who Guards the North to command the armies north of the Yangtze and guard against the Wei forces, while he himself stayed south of the river. The Biography of the First Sovereign records that in the 2nd month of the 2nd year of Zhangwu (222) Huang Quan, General Who Guards the North, commanded the armies north of the river and faced the Wu army on the Yiling road. Records, Shu 13 §5Records, Shu 2 §70

When the Wu general Lu Yi (Lu Xun) came down on the current and cut through the camps, the southern army was badly defeated and Liu Bei withdrew. With the road blocked and no way home, Huang Quan led the troops under his command and surrendered to Wei. The Annals of Emperor Wen record that in the 8th month of the 3rd year of Huangchu (222) the Shu senior general Huang Quan surrendered with his host. Pang Tong's younger brother Pang Lin also went into Wei with Huang Quan. When the officials responsible proposed seizing Huang Quan's wife and children according to the law, Liu Bei said, 'I failed Huang Quan; Huang Quan did not fail me,' and treated them as before. Records, Shu 13 §6Records, Wei 2 §28 · 33Records, Shu 7 §12

When Emperor Wen of Wei, Cao Pi, asked, 'In forsaking rebellion for obedience, do you mean to follow in the footsteps of Chen Ping and Han Xin?', Huang Quan answered that he had received extraordinary favor from Lord Liu, so he could not surrender to Wu, and that with no road back to Shu he had come to submit his life; a general of a defeated army was fortunate merely to escape death, so how could he aspire to the men of old? Emperor Wen thought well of this, appointed him General Who Guards the South and enfeoffed him as Marquis of Yuyang, added the post of Palace Attendant, and had him ride in his own carriage. Records, Shu 13 §6–7

One of those who had come over from Shu said that Huang Quan's wife and children had been executed, but Huang Quan knew it was a false report and did not hold mourning; when reliable news came later, it was just as he had said. When news of Liu Bei's death arrived, the officials of Wei all offered congratulations, but Huang Quan alone did not. Emperor Wen, perceiving that Huang Quan had composure, wished to test him with a fright and sent messenger after messenger to hurry him; his staff and attendants were all frightened out of their wits, but Huang Quan's bearing and expression remained unmoved. Records, Shu 13 §7–8

Later he concurrently held the post of Inspector of Yi Province and moved to live in Henan. The General-in-Chief Sima Yi thought highly of him and asked how many men like him there were in Shu; Huang Quan laughed and answered that he had never imagined being held in such regard. In a letter to Zhuge Liang, Sima Yi wrote, 'Huang Gongheng is a forthright gentleman; sitting or standing, he always praises you.' In the 10th month, in winter, of the 3rd year of Jingchu (239) he was transferred to General of Chariots and Cavalry with honors equal to the Three Excellencies; he died the following year and received the posthumous name Marquis Jing. The Annals of the Three Young Emperors record that General of Chariots and Cavalry Huang Quan died in the 4th month, in summer, of the 1st year of Zhengshi (240). Records, Shu 13 §9–10Records, Wei 4 §6 · 8–9

His son Huang Yong succeeded him, but had no son, and the line ended. Huang Chong, the son Huang Quan had left behind in Shu, became a Gentleman of the Secretariat and followed the General of the Guards Zhuge Zhan to resist Deng Ai. At Fu County, when Zhuge Zhan hesitated and did not advance, Huang Chong urged him again and again to move quickly and hold the passes so that the enemy could not enter the plain, even shedding tears. When Zhuge Zhan fell back to fight at Mianzhu, Huang Chong spurred on the soldiers, resolved to die, and was killed on the field. Records, Shu 13 §10

In his assessment Chen Shou called Huang Quan 'broad-minded and refined, and deep in his thinking,' and wrote that he, together with Li Hui, Lü Kai, Ma Zhong, Wang Ping and Zhang Ni, each made his name and achieved merit through his own strengths because they met their time. Records, Shu 13 §65