Gongsun Yuan faction 公孫淵

Gongsun Gong of Liaodong had been made a eunuch by illness and was too weak to govern the state. In the 2nd year of Taihe (228), when Gongsun Kang's son Gongsun Yuan coerced Gongsun Gong and seized his position, Emperor Ming at once appointed him General Who Displays Valor and Administrator of Liaodong. At this time Liu Ye judged that the Gongsun family, having held office for generations since the Han and long wielded power in a remote land cut off by sea and mountains, could be pacified without wearying the army if, taking advantage of the new succession, troops were brought to bear on it and rewards were offered. In the 4th year of Taihe (230) Gongsun Yuan became General of Chariots and Cavalry. Records, Wei 8 §43Records, Wei 14 §108Records, Wei 3 §17–18

Gongsun Yuan sent envoys south to come to terms with Sun Quan, and they exchanged bribes and gifts. At the end of the Taihe era, when Gongsun Yuan rebelled with Liaodong as his base, Emperor Ming had Tian Yu take command of the armies of the commanderies of Qing Province to attack him, but when Wu sent envoys and allied with Gongsun Yuan, he had the troops withdrawn. Tian Yu blocked Chengshan and waited for the Wu ships on their way home, capturing all their men, and the Biography of the Lord of Wu records that in the 9th month of the 1st year of Jiahe (232) the Wei general Tian Yu beheaded the general Zhou He at Chengshan. In the 10th month Gongsun Yuan sent the Colonel Su Shu and the Chamberlain of the Palace Gentlemen Sun Zong to declare himself Sun Quan's vassal and present sable furs and horses. Records, Wei 8 §43Records, Wei 26 §35–36Records, Wu 2 §72

In the 3rd month of the 2nd year of Jiahe (233), Sun Quan sent Su Shu and Sun Zong back, and gave the Minister of Ceremonies Zhang Mi, the Bearer of the Golden Mace Xu Yan, the general He Da and others 10,000 soldiers, gold, silver and treasures, and the ceremonial gifts of the Nine Bestowals, and had them cross the sea to make Gongsun Yuan King of Yan. The Chancellor Gu Yong and all the great ministers of the court below him remonstrated that Gongsun Yuan could not yet be trusted, and Zhang Zhao said that Gongsun Yuan, having turned against Wei, was merely seeking help for fear of being punished, so that if he changed his plans the two envoys would not return; but Sun Quan would not listen. Records, Wu 2 §75Records, Wu 7 §13–14

Fearing that Sun Quan was too far away to be relied upon, and coveting the goods as well, Gongsun Yuan lured the envoys in, cut off the heads of Zhang Mi, Xu Yan and the others and sent them to Wei, and seized their soldiers and supplies. In the 12th month of that year Emperor Ming made Gongsun Yuan Grand Marshal and enfeoffed him as Duke of Lelang. Sun Quan, in a great rage, wanted to attack him in person, but gave it up when the Supervisor of the Masters of Writing Xue Zong and others earnestly remonstrated, and Lu Xun and Lu Mao also submitted memorials to dissuade him. Records, Wei 8 §44–45Records, Wu 2 §76Records, Wei 3 §28 · 34Records, Wu 8 §42Records, Wu 13 §39Records, Wu 12 §67

When envoys from Wei came, Gongsun Yuan arrayed armored troops as if in battle formation before going out to meet them, and he repeatedly spoke insolently before the guests in his state. Because Sun Quan had earlier sought to communicate with Goguryeo across the sea and raid Liaodong, in the 1st year of Jingchu (237) Wei had Guanqiu Jian, Inspector of You Province, station himself on the southern border of Liaodong with various armies and the Xianbei and Wuhuan, and summoned Gongsun Yuan with an edict under the imperial seal. Gongsun Yuan raised troops and met him in battle at Liaosui County, and Guanqiu Jian, faring badly, withdrew. The Annals of Emperor Ming record that rain fell for ten days on end, the Liao River rose greatly, and Guanqiu Jian was recalled. Records, Wei 8 §46Records, Wei 3 §49 · 53

After Guanqiu Jian withdrew, Gongsun Yuan at last made himself King of Yan, established a full set of officials and proclaimed the 1st year of Shaohan. He sent an envoy bearing a staff to lend a seal to the Xianbei chanyu, granted fiefs and offices to the people of the frontier, and enticed the Xianbei to raid and harass the north. Meanwhile Koulou Dun, chanyu of the Wuhuan of Youbeiping, and others who lived in Liaodong led their tribespeople to follow Guanqiu Jian and submit. Records, Wei 8 §46Records, Wei 3 §54

In the spring of the 2nd year of Jingchu (238) Emperor Ming sent the Grand Commandant Sima Yi to attack Gongsun Yuan. The ministers in council said that 40,000 troops were too many and the cost would be hard to bear, but Emperor Ming, saying that a campaign of 4,000 li must rely on strength, sent 40,000 men. Weigong, king of Goguryeo, also sent his Registrar and dajia with several thousand men to help the Wei army. In the 6th month, when the Wei army reached Liaodong, Gongsun Yuan gave his generals Bei Yan, Yang Zuo and others several tens of thousands of infantry and cavalry and had them hold Liaosui County behind more than twenty li of encircling trenches. Sima Yi sent Hu Zun and others to defeat Bei Yan and, heading southeast, turned sharply northeast and made straight for Xiangping, and Bei Yan and the others, fearing that Xiangping was undefended, fled by night. Records, Wei 8 §47Records, Wei 3 §61–62Records, Wei 30 §59

When the Wei army reached Mount Shou, Gongsun Yuan again sent Bei Yan and the others to fight to the death, but they were heavily defeated, and the Wei army dug siege trenches below the walls of Xiangping. Heavy rains fell for more than thirty days and the Liao River rose, so that transport ships came straight from Liaokou to the foot of the walls. At court some proposed recalling Sima Yi, but Emperor Ming said, 'Sima Yi meets danger by adapting to change; the capture of Gongsun Yuan can be counted in days.' When the rain cleared, the Wei army raised earthen mounds and towers and shot into the city with catapults and repeating crossbows. Food ran out in the city, people ate one another and very many died, and the general Yang Zuo and others surrendered. Records, Wei 8 §48Records, Wei 3 §62

On the night of the bingyin day of the 8th month, a great meteor several tens of zhang long fell from northeast of Mount Shou to the southeast of the city of Xiangping. On the renwu day Gongsun Yuan's forces collapsed, and he and his son Gongsun Xiu, leading several hundred horsemen, broke through the siege and fled southeast, but the main army attacked swiftly and beheaded Gongsun Yuan and his son on the very spot where the meteor had fallen. When the city fell, those beheaded from the Chancellor of State downward numbered in the thousands; Gongsun Yuan's head was sent to Luoyang, and Liaodong, Daifang, Lelang and Xuantu were all pacified. In the 11th month Emperor Ming recorded the merits of the campaign against Gongsun Yuan and increased the fiefs and ranks of Sima Yi and those below him. Records, Wei 8 §49Records, Wei 3 §61

Gongsun Yuan's elder brother Gongsun Huang, who had come to court as a hostage in place of his uncle Gongsun Gong, had repeatedly reported the coming trouble before Gongsun Yuan rebelled. Gao Rou memorialized that if his words were true he should be spared death, but Emperor Ming would not listen and made Gongsun Huang and his wife and children drink powdered gold. Records, Wei 24 §49–50

Chen Shou wrote that before this, strange things had often happened in Gongsun Yuan's household. A dog wearing a cap and headcloth and a red robe climbed onto the roof, a small child was found steamed to death in a steamer, and when a lump of flesh without hands or feet appeared, wriggling, in the northern market of Xiangping, the divination said that the state would perish. After Gongsun Du seized Liaodong in the 6th year of Zhongping (189), the house perished three generations later under Gongsun Yuan, fifty years in all. Records, Wei 8 §50

In his assessment in Records of Wei 8, Chen Shou said, 'Gongsun Du was cruel and tyrannical, without restraint, and Gongsun Yuan carried on his enterprise and added to its viciousness; it served only to overturn their clan', and wrote that they held provinces and commanderies as their strongholds yet were worse than common men. Records, Wei 8 §71