Zhang Chun 張純

According to the Biography of Gongsun Zan, in the Guanghe era, when bandits rose in Liang Province, the court called up 3,000 shock cavalry of You Province and lent the Prefect of Zhuo, Gongsun Zan, the credentials of acting Area Commander to lead them. When the army reached Ji County, Zhang Chun of Yuyang induced Qiuliju and others of the Wuhuan of Liaoxi to rebel. Zhang Chun plundered Ji County and styled himself General, robbed officials and commoners and attacked the cities of Youbeiping and the Liaoxi Dependent State, laying waste wherever he went. Records, Wei 8 §4

The account of the Wuhuan records that at the end of the Han the following of Qiuliju, chieftain of the Wuhuan of Liaoxi, numbered more than 5,000 encampments, and that the Administrator of Zhongshan, Zhang Chun, rebelled and went over to Qiuliju's following, styled himself King Who Spans Heaven and Brings Peace and became Commander-in-Chief of the Wuhuan of the Three Commanderies. Zhang Chun raided the four provinces of Qing, Xu, You and Ji and killed or carried off officials and commoners. Records, Wei 30 §8

For his merit in pursuing and suppressing Zhang Chun and the others with the troops under his command, Gongsun Zan became Chief Commandant of Cavalry; he was then promoted to General of the Household, enfeoffed as Marquis of a Chief Village, and went forward to garrison the Dependent State, where he fought the barbarians for five or six years. Yet even though Qiuliju and the others raided Qing, Xu, You and Ji and the four provinces suffered from them, Gongsun Zan could not stop them. Records, Wei 8 §5

The court considered that when the Minister of the Imperial Clan Liu Yu had earlier been Inspector of You Province, his kindness and good faith had become widely known and the Rong and Di had submitted to him, so that if he were sent to pacify the region it could be settled without wearying the people; it therefore made him Governor of You Province. On arriving, Liu Yu sent envoys among the barbarians to explain where their interests lay and demanded that they send him Zhang Chun's head, and Qiuliju and the others, pleased, each sent interpreters and submitted of their own accord. Gongsun Zan, resenting Liu Yu's gaining the merit, secretly had men kill the barbarians' envoys, but the barbarians learned what was happening and went to Liu Yu by back roads. Records, Wei 8 §7–8

Zhang Chun abandoned his wife and children and fled to the Xianbei, where he was killed by his retainer Wang Zheng, who sent his head to Liu Yu. The court enfeoffed Wang Zheng as a full marquis, and for this achievement Liu Yu was at once appointed Grand Commandant and enfeoffed as Marquis of Xiangben. The account of the Wuhuan records that at the end of Emperor Ling's reign Liu Yu recruited barbarians to behead Zhang Chun, and only then were the northern provinces settled. Records, Wei 8 §8Records, Wei 30 §9

Chen Shou's main text does not record Zhang Chun's courtesy name or the year of his death. His name does not appear in the assessment of Records of Wei 8 or in that of Records of Wei 30 either. Records, Wei 8 §4–8 · 71Records, Wei 30 §8–9 · 190