Heishan Bandits 黑山

Zhang Yan was a man of Zhending in Changshan whose original surname was Chu. When the Yellow Turbans rose, he gathered young men into a band of brigands, raiding as he moved among the mountains and marshes, and when he returned to Zhending his following numbered over ten thousand. Zhang Niujiao of Boling also raised a following, styled himself Attendant Officer Commanding Troops and joined Zhang Yan, and Zhang Yan made Zhang Niujiao leader and attacked Yingtao together with him. Struck by a stray arrow and about to die, Zhang Niujiao told the host that they must make Zhang Yan their leader, and when the host accepted Zhang Yan, he changed his surname to Zhang. Records, Wei 8 §52–53

Zhang Yan was fierce, bold and quicker than other men, so in the army he was called Flying Swallow. Afterwards his host gradually grew until the mountain valleys of Changshan, Zhao, Zhongshan, Shangdang and Henei were all linked together, and minor leaders such as Sun Qing and Wang Dang each brought their followers to join Zhang Yan, so that the host reached a million; it was called the Heishan. Emperor Ling could not subdue them, and the commanderies of Hebei suffered from them. Zhang Yan sent men to the capital to ask to surrender and was appointed General of the Household Who Pacifies Disorder. Records, Wei 8 §53–54

When Dong Zhuo moved the Emperor to Chang'an and armies rose one after another across the realm, Zhang Yan led his host to ally with the local strongmen. Yuan Shao's attendant officer Ju Shou told Yuan Shao that although the Heishan were running rampant, if he turned his army back to attack the Heishan, Zhang Yan could be destroyed. In the 2nd year of Chuping (191), when a host of more than a hundred thousand under Yu Du, Bai Rao, Sui Gu and other Heishan bandits raided Wei Commandery and Dong Commandery, Cao Cao entered Dong Commandery and defeated Bai Rao at Puyang, and on this account Yuan Shao made Cao Cao Administrator of Dong Commandery. In spring of the next year, when Yu Du and the others attacked Dongwuyang, Cao Cao went west into the mountains to attack their home base, forcing Yu Du to turn back, and intercepted and defeated Sui Gu. Records, Wei 8 §54Records, Wei 6 §45Records, Wei 1 §16 · 19–20

Yuan Shao, together with Lü Bu, attacked Zhang Yan at Changshan. Zhang Yan had more than ten thousand crack troops and several thousand cavalry, but Lü Bu, riding Red Hare, charged into the enemy lines with his close followers Cheng Lian, Wei Yue and others and broke Zhang Yan's army. In spring of the 4th year of Chuping (193), when Yuan Shu was stationed at Fengqiu, the remaining Heishan bandits aided him together with Yufuluo of the Xiongnu and others, but Cao Cao crushed Yuan Shu. Records, Wei 7 §7Records, Wei 1 §25

When Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zan were contending for Ji Province, Zhang Yan sent his general Du Chang and others to help Gongsun Zan fight Yuan Shao, but they were defeated by Yuan Shao and the host gradually scattered. In the 4th year of Jian'an (199), when Yuan Shao besieged Yijing, Gongsun Zan sent his son to ask the Heishan bandits for help, and when the relief force came, intending to attack Yuan Shao from inside and out, he sent his son a letter fixing the date the troops would arrive and agreeing to light fires as a signal. But Yuan Shao's scouts obtained the letter and lit fires on the appointed date; Gongsun Zan came out to fight, was crushed by an ambush and went back to holding his city, and when Yuan Shao closed in, toppling his towers by tunneling, he killed all his wives and children and then killed himself. Records, Wei 8 §54 · 18–20

When Cao Cao was about to pacify Ji Province, Zhang Yan sent an envoy asking to assist the royal army and was appointed General Who Pacifies the North. After Ye fell, Zhang Liao separately took Zhao Commandery and Changshan and accepted the surrender of the various bandits along the mountains and of Sun Qing and others of the Heishan. The Annals of Emperor Wu records that in summer, the fourth month, of the 10th year of Jian'an (205), Zhang Yan of the Heishan bandits surrendered with a following of more than a hundred thousand and was enfeoffed as a full marquis. Zhang Yan brought his host to Ye and was enfeoffed as Marquis of Anguo Village with a fief of 500 households; when Zhang Yan died his son Zhang Fang succeeded him, and when Zhang Fang died his son Zhang Rong succeeded. Records, Wei 8 §54Records, Wei 17 §6Records, Wei 1 §90

In his assessment in Records of Wei 8, Chen Shou said that whereas Gongsun Zan, Tao Qian and others held provinces and commanderies yet did not measure up even to common men, Zhang Yan, together with Zhang Xiu and Zhang Lu, abandoned banditry, joined the ranks of meritorious officials, escaped danger and destruction, and preserved the sacrifices of his ancestral temple, and so did better than they. The decree of the 18th year of Jian'an (213) appointing Cao Cao Duke of Wei also counted among his merits that the Heishan host had come to follow the proper course. Records, Wei 8 §71Records, Wei 1 §120–121 · 125