Conquest of the Four Southern Commanderies

The Conquest of the Four Southern Commanderies turns Xuande’s position in Jingzhou from a precarious foothold into a broader territorial base. Ma Liang advises securing Liu Qi’s standing in Jingzhou while taking Lingling, Wuling, Guiyang, and Changsha to the south. The campaign’s victories are not presented as a matter of force alone: local resistance, commanders’ rivalries, and the treatment of surrendered opponents repeatedly determine how each city changes hands.

Strategic Background and Plan

Xuande seeks advice from Ma Liang, one of five brothers renowned for their learning and judgment. Ma Liang’s proposal links political consolidation to military expansion. Liu Qi should be elevated as imperial governor of Jingzhou and supported by former provincial leaders; his family reputation, Ma Liang argues, will help reassure local people while Xuande turns south. The four commanderies would provide a more secure base, with plentiful food and resources.

The order Ma Liang recommends is specific: take Lingling first, then Wuling, cross to Guiyang, and finally capture Changsha. Xuande accepts the plan. Its purpose is not simply to add territory, but to make his position less dependent on the uncertain politics of Jingzhou and give his forces a more durable supply base.

Lingling: Deception and Surrender

Xuande sends Zhang Fei against Lingling. The commandery’s governor trusts his powerful officer Xing Daorong to stop the invasion. When Xing encounters the approaching force, he sees Kong Ming in a carriage among the troops and challenges the army. Kong Ming withdraws into its ranks; Xing presses forward and meets Zhang Fei, then flees and is captured by Zhao Zilong.

Xuande initially wants Xing executed. Kong Ming instead offers him his life in exchange for help securing the city. Xing agrees to return to the enemy camp and assist with a night attack, but promptly tells Liu Xian, the governor’s son, about the arrangement. Xing and Liu Xian attempt to turn the trap against Kong Ming’s force. After an initial clash, they find themselves confronted by Zhang Fei and then Zhao Zilong. Zhao kills Xing, while Liu Xian is captured.

Rather than punish Liu Xian, Kong Ming releases him with fresh clothes and wine, instructing him to return to his father and describe his treatment. Liu Xian does so, and the governor surrenders Lingling. He remains in office, while Liu Xian joins Xuande’s army at Gong’an. The account stresses the civilian consequence: the people rejoice that the commandery has changed hands without being harmed.

Guiyang: A Small Force and a Larger Stratagem

After Lingling’s surrender, Xuande calls for a volunteer to take Guiyang. Zhao Zilong offers first, but Zhang Fei insists that he should lead the operation instead. Kong Ming settles their dispute by choosing Zhao, whose prior offer gives him precedence; when Zhang Fei objects, they draw lots, and the result again favors Zhao. Zhang Fei then claims he could capture the city with only three thousand men, and Zhao answers that he could do the same. Kong Ming is pleased when Zhao departs with precisely that small force, while Xuande orders Zhang Fei to accept the decision with composure.

Guiyang’s governor, Zhao Fan, knows Zhao Zilong’s reputation and is already prepared to surrender. His officer Chen Ying persuades him to allow a defense first, arguing that surrender will remain possible if the attempt fails. Chen Ying rides out with three thousand men, but Zhao Zilong quickly defeats them. When Chen Ying flees, Zhao pursues and captures him. He spares Chen Ying and sends him back to Zhao Fan to urge surrender; Zhao Fan then rides to Zhao Zilong’s camp and yields the city in person.

The encounter briefly turns from military submission to personal affinity. Over wine, Zhao Fan says that he and Zhao Zilong share a family name and hometown, Zhending, and that their families were one five hundred years earlier. The two become sworn brothers. When Zhao Zilong enters Guiyang, relieved residents line the road with incense, and he assures them they will be safe. Yet Zhao Fan’s hospitality conceals a scheme: he arranges for a woman in mourning dress to bring Zhao Zilong wine, intending to offer her in marriage and thereby bind the new commander to him. Zhao Zilong refuses the proposal, regarding her as effectively his sister-in-law, and says he seeks fame rather than a wife.

The political arrangement then collapses. Zhao Zilong discovers Zhao Fan’s plan and overpowers him and his associates. He wins over five hundred soldiers by telling them they will be rewarded if they help him, rather than punished for their part in the affair. Chen Ying and Bao Ling are executed; the five hundred return to Guiyang pretending to report that they have captured and killed Zhao Zilong. Zhao Fan goes to the gate to meet them, where they seize him and open the city to Zhao Zilong’s force. Zhao Zilong enters Guiyang a second time and again reassures its people. When Xuande and Kong Ming arrive, Kong Ming questions Zhao Fan about the attempted marriage, while Xuande frees him and restores him to his post. Zhao Zilong receives substantial rewards. The episode makes the city’s capture a contest not only of arms but of judgment: Zhao Zilong rejects a marriage alliance, detects the deception, and turns the governor’s own soldiers into the means of securing the city.

Wuling: Command Under Military Law

Zhao Zilong’s success sharpens Zhang Fei’s frustration. He again asks for three thousand soldiers, this time promising to take Wuling and bring its governor, Jin Xuan, before Xuande. Kong Ming agrees on the condition that Zhang Fei sign the same military-law pledge Zhao Zilong had accepted: failure would carry personal responsibility. Zhang Fei signs and marches with his small force. At Wuling, Gong Zhi advises the governor to submit rather than fight, but Jin Xuan rejects the counsel and prepares to lead the defense himself.

The attack fails. Jin Xuan retreats to the city gate, only to find Gong Zhi has taken control and declares that the people have chosen to join Xuande. The governor’s own troops turn against him; he is killed during the retreat, and his head is brought to Zhang Fei as a plea for the soldiers’ pardon. Gong Zhi then surrenders Wuling. Xuande appoints him governor, and, as at Lingling, assures the inhabitants that they will not be harmed. The transition is framed as both a military defeat and a local political realignment: Gong Zhi’s choice to oppose Jin Xuan becomes the basis of his new authority.

Changsha: Honor, Defiance, and Transfer of Power

With Lingling, Guiyang, and Wuling secured, Guan Yu asks to lead the advance on Changsha. Kong Ming warns that its governor, Han Xuan, is less formidable than his general Huang Zhong, an experienced fighter approaching sixty, and says Guan Yu will need more than the three thousand soldiers assigned to the earlier operations. Guan Yu rejects the warning, setting out with only five hundred men and promising to defeat both opponents. Concerned that Guan Yu may be in danger, Kong Ming and Xuande follow with support.

Han Xuan is widely hated for his unpredictable violence, but Huang Zhong initially appears confident that he can defend the city. His meetings with Guan Yu produce no clear victor: they fight through one hundred exchanges before Han Xuan recalls his general, and Guan Yu openly acknowledges Huang Zhong’s ability. On their next encounter, Guan Yu feigns retreat and prepares a counterattack, but Huang Zhong falls from his horse. Guan Yu declines to strike him while he is down, tells him to find another horse, and promises to meet again. This decision establishes a reciprocal standard of honor between the two commanders before either has joined the other’s side.

Han Xuan urges Huang Zhong to use his bow against Guan Yu. Troubled by the conflict between obedience to his superior and gratitude to the man who spared him, Huang Zhong cannot bring himself to shoot Guan Yu outright. In their next encounter, after thirty inconclusive exchanges, he turns as if to flee. He first releases two shots without arrows, making Guan Yu duck, then sends an arrow into the top of Guan Yu’s helmet. Guan Yu retreats; recognizing that Huang Zhong could have killed him but chose not to, he orders his troops to lift the siege. The exchange makes restraint—not simply martial skill—the basis of their mutual recognition.

Huang Zhong’s conduct instead brings him into danger at home. Han Xuan interprets the sparing of Guan Yu, the fall from the horse, and the arrow’s placement as evidence of collusion, arrests Huang Zhong, and orders his execution outside the city gate. Wei Yan intervenes, kills the executioner, and calls on the people to oppose Han Xuan. He has come seeking service with Xuande but, unable to find him, had entered Han Xuan’s service and become resentful after the governor disregarded him. The following day Wei Yan leads a crowd into the city. Despite Huang Zhong’s efforts, they seize Han Xuan, whom Wei Yan kills, and Wei Yan carries the governor’s head to Guan Yu as a sign of surrender.

When Xuande and Kong Ming arrive, they welcome Huang Zhong, but Kong Ming orders Wei Yan’s death, arguing that a man who betrays his ruler cannot be trusted. Xuande refuses: killing a defector would discourage future surrenders. The disagreement exposes a tension running through the campaign. Kong Ming treats past allegiance as a warning about future loyalty; Xuande weighs that risk against the political cost of denying protection to those who change sides. Changsha falls through an uprising against its governor as well as the army’s advance, and Wei Yan’s disputed admission makes the terms of the new regime’s authority part of the victory itself.