Guan Jing 關靖

After repeated defeats Gongsun Zan fled back to Yijing and held it firmly. He dug ten rings of trenches, raised earthen mounds five or six zhang high within them and built watchtowers on top; he himself lived on the central mound, ten zhang high, where he stored three million hu of grain. Saying that with his watchtowers a thousand layers deep he would know well enough how the affairs of the realm stood by the time this grain was eaten, he meant to wear Yuan Shao out; Yuan Shao sent generals to attack him, but for years they could not take the place. Records, Wei 8 §16–17

In the 4th year of Jian'an (199) Yuan Shao mobilized his entire army and surrounded Yijing. Gongsun Zan sent his son to ask the Heishan bandits for help, and also meant to lead his shock cavalry straight out in person, skirt the mountains to the southwest, take the Heishan host with him, sweep through Ji Province and cut across Yuan Shao's rear. Records, Wei 8 §18

The Chief Clerk Guan Jing advised Gongsun Zan: his officers and men had all crumbled like falling earth and shattered tiles, and the only reason they could still hold together was that they cared for the old and young who lived here and looked on him as their lord. If he held firm and played for time, Yuan Shao would surely withdraw of his own accord, and after that the forces of the four quarters could certainly be gathered again. If he abandoned this place now, the army would have no one to steady it, and the peril of Yijing would be seen at once; having lost his base and being alone in the wilds, what could he achieve? Gongsun Zan finally gave up the plan and did not go out. Records, Wei 8 §18–19

Intending to attack Yuan Shao from inside and outside when the relief force came, Gongsun Zan sent a letter to his son, fixing the day the troops would arrive and proposing to light a fire as the signal. Yuan Shao's scouts obtained the letter and lit the fire on the appointed day; Gongsun Zan, thinking the relief force had come, went out to fight, was heavily defeated by Yuan Shao's ambush and went back to defend the place. As Yuan Shao dug tunnels, toppled the watchtowers and gradually reached the central mound, Gongsun Zan, knowing that defeat was certain, killed all his wives and children and then killed himself. Records, Wei 8 §19–20

Chen Shou's main text records neither Guan Jing's courtesy name nor his origin, nor what became of him after Yijing fell. In the assessment of Records of Wei 8 Chen Shou said that Gongsun Zan guarded Yijing and sat waiting for his destruction, but Guan Jing is not included in the assessment. Records, Wei 8 §18–20 · 71