Gongsun Zan 公孫瓚

Gongsun Zan, courtesy name Bogui, was a native of Lingzhi County in Liaoxi Commandery. He became an Assistant Clerk of the Gate Office (menxia shuzuo) in his commandery, and because he had a fine bearing and a resounding voice, Administrator Hou thought him a man of capacity, gave him his daughter in marriage and sent him to Lu Zhi of Zhuo Commandery to study the classics. The Biography of Liu Bei records that Liu Bei served Lu Zhi together with Gongsun Zan and treated the older Gongsun Zan as an elder brother. Records, Wei 8 §2Records, Shu 2 §4

When he was again a commandery clerk, Administrator Liu was implicated in an affair and summoned before the Commandant of Justice, and Gongsun Zan drove his carriage and personally took on the menial tasks of a servant. On the day Administrator Liu was to be exiled to Rinan, Gongsun Zan sacrificed to his ancestors on Mount Beimang and prayed that, having now become another man's subject, he must go to Rinan and, fearing he might not return, was taking his leave of them; all who saw it sobbed. Administrator Liu was pardoned on the way and returned. Records, Wei 8 §2–3

He became a Gentleman as Filial and Incorrupt (xiaolian) and was appointed Chief Clerk of the Dependent State of Liaodong. While patrolling the frontier with several tens of horsemen, he encountered several hundred Xianbei horsemen, withdrew into an empty post-station (ting), and, saying that if they did not break through they would all die, charged out with a spear bladed at both ends, killing or wounding several tens of men. He lost half of the horsemen with him but got away, and afterwards the Xianbei no longer dared to enter the frontier. He was transferred to be Magistrate of Zhuo. Records, Wei 8 §3–4

In the Guanghe era, when bandits rose in Liang Province, he was put in command of 3,000 shock cavalry (tuji) of You Province. When his army reached Ji, Zhang Chun of Yuyang induced the Wuhuan leader Qiuliju and others to rebel, and for his merit in pursuing and suppressing them he became Cavalry Commandant. When the Wuhuan king Tanzhi came to surrender, he was promoted to General of the Household (zhonglang jiang) and enfeoffed as Marquis of a Chief Village (duting hou); stationed in the Dependent State, he fought the barbarians for five or six years but could not stop the raids of Qiuliju and the others. Records, Wei 8 §4–5

When the court made Liu Yu Governor of You Province, Qiuliju and the others came over to submit, but Gongsun Zan, jealous of Liu Yu gaining the merit, secretly had the barbarians' envoys killed. Liu Yu abolished the garrisons and left only Gongsun Zan, with 10,000 infantry and cavalry, stationed at Youbeiping. When Dong Zhuo reached Luoyang, Liu Yu became Grand Marshal, and Gongsun Zan became General of Vehement Might (fenwu jiangjun) and was enfeoffed as Marquis of Ji. Records, Wei 8 §7–8

When Liu Yu, having received a letter from his son Liu He, who was being held by Yuan Shu, was about to send several thousand horsemen, Gongsun Zan tried to stop him, saying that Yuan Shu harbored other intentions, but Liu Yu did not listen. Fearing Yuan Shu's resentment, Gongsun Zan sent his cousin Gongsun Yue to Yuan Shu with 1,000 horsemen, and secretly urged Yuan Shu to seize Liu He and take his troops. Because of this the rift between Liu Yu and Gongsun Zan grew wider. Records, Wei 8 §10–11

Gongsun Yue, sent by Yuan Shu, attacked Yuan Shao's commander Zhou Ang together with Sun Jian and was killed by an arrow. Saying, 'The calamity of my brother's death began with Yuan Shao,' Gongsun Zan stationed himself at the Pan River, and Yuan Shao, afraid, gave the seal and ribbon of Administrator of Bohai to Gongsun Zan's cousin Gongsun Fan. When Gongsun Fan helped him with the troops of Bohai and they defeated the Yellow Turbans of Qing and Xu provinces, his power grew even stronger and he advanced to Jieqiao. According to the Biography of Yuan Shao, Yuan Shao had Gao Gan and Xun Chen unsettle Han Fu by saying that Gongsun Zan was coming south on the strength of his victories, so that Han Fu handed over Ji Province. Records, Wei 8 §12Records, Wei 6 §40–41

Gongsun Zan installed Yan Gang, Tian Kai and Shan Jing as Inspectors of Ji, Qing and Yan provinces and set up commanderies and counties. When Liu Bei, defeated by bandits, came to him for refuge, he memorialized making him Major of a Separate Command (biebu sima) and had him resist Yuan Shao together with Tian Kai; Zhao Yun also followed Liu Bei at this time and took charge of his cavalry. Yuan Shao encamped at Guangchuan and sent Qu Yi forward as his vanguard, capturing Yan Gang alive, and Gongsun Zan's troops fled to Bohai. When he returned to Ji and built a small walled town southeast of the main city, he was close to Liu Yu, and they came to resent each other. Records, Wei 8 §13Records, Shu 2 §7Records, Shu 6 §39

Liu Yu raised troops and attacked him, but was defeated by Gongsun Zan and fled to Juyong; Gongsun Zan took Juyong and captured Liu Yu alive. When Dong Zhuo died, the Son of Heaven sent the envoy Duan Xun to have Liu Yu supervise six provinces and made Gongsun Zan General of the Front and Marquis of Yi. Gongsun Zan falsely accused Liu Yu of intending to claim the imperial title and coerced Duan Xun into beheading him; thereafter he grew arrogant, remembering others' faults and forgetting their good deeds, and harmed many people. According to the Biography of Tian Chou, he seized Tian Chou, who had wept at Liu Yu's grave, but, admiring his reply, released him. Records, Wei 8 §14Records, Wei 11 §38–39

Liu Yu's Attendant Officer Xianyu Fu and others put forward Yan Rou as Wuhuan Major and gathered several tens of thousands of barbarians and Han Chinese, and north of Lu they beheaded Zou Dan, the Administrator of Yuyang whom Gongsun Zan had installed. Yuan Shao also sent Qu Yi and Liu He to attack him together with them, and the Biography of the Wuhuan records that Tadun helped Yuan Shao defeat Gongsun Zan. After repeated defeats, Gongsun Zan withdrew to Yijing, surrounded it with ten rings of trenches and built towers on earthen mounds five or six zhang high; he himself lived on a central mound ten zhang high and stored three million hu of grain. Records, Wei 8 §15–16Records, Wei 30 §9

Gongsun Zan said that he had once thought the affairs of the realm could be settled with a mere wave of the finger, but now saw that they were not his to decide, and that he would hold out behind his thousand layers of towers until he had eaten all his grain. He meant by this to wear Yuan Shao down, and Yuan Shao could not take Yijing for several years. Records, Wei 8 §16–17

In the 4th year of Jian'an (199), when Yuan Shao surrounded Yijing with his whole army, Gongsun Zan sent his son to ask the Black Mountain bandits for help and intended to lead his shock cavalry out in person to cut Yuan Shao off from the rear. His Chief Clerk Guan Jing dissuaded him, saying that if he left his base Yijing would soon be in danger, and he gave up the plan. When the relief force came, he sent his son a letter arranging to signal by raising a fire, but Yuan Shao's scouts obtained the letter and raised the fire on the appointed day. Gongsun Zan went out to fight, was badly defeated by an ambush and returned to hold the fortress; when Yuan Shao dug tunnels, brought down the towers and reached the central mound, he knew he was sure to be defeated, killed his wife and children and then killed himself. Records, Wei 8 §18–20

In his assessment, Chen Shou said that Gongsun Zan guarded Yijing and sat waiting for his destruction. He then wrote that he, together with Gongsun Du, Tao Qian, Zhang Yang and others, had all held provinces and commanderies as their strongholds yet did not even measure up to common men, so that there was truly nothing about them worth discussing. Records, Wei 8 §71