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Gan Ning
Qing Dynasty illustration of Gan Ning
General of Sun Quan
Born	Unknown
Died	~220
Names
Simplified Chinese	甘宁
Traditional Chinese	甘寧
Pinyin	Gān Níng
Style name	Xingba (興霸)

Gan Ning (died around 220)^[1] was a military general serving under the warlord Sun Quan during the late Han Dynasty period of Chinese history. He was born in Linjiang, Ba Commandery (present-day Zhong County, Chongqing).

Biography[link]

Early life as a pirate[link]

As a youth, Gan served under the warlord Liu Yan but revolted when the latter died. After his rebellion failed, he led a band of bandits carrying bows and crossbows to wander the lands. They wore bells about their waists and bone ornaments in their hair as a mark, causing commoners to either run or hide when they heard the ring of bells. He kept looting, robbing and killing until he decided to pursue scholarly arts in his twenties. After reading some literary texts by different philosophers, Gan sought the warlord Liu Biao's patronage, but was rejected for his background.

Service under Huang Zu[link]

Instead, he went to join Liu Biao's general Huang Zu, who was a local gentry and warlord of Jiangxia. Huang did not trust him and gave him an unworthy position. In an attack against Huang by Sun Quan's general, Ling Cao, at the Battle of Xiakou, Huang was nearly killed, and amidst the chaos and disarray, Gan fired a stray arrow that killed Ling, resulting in the safe retreat of Huang. However, the embarrassed Huang did not reward him nor respect him.

Su Fei, Gan's friend, was a trusted servant of Huang Zu, so he recommended Gan to Huang on several occasions. However, Huang refused Su's recommendation, primarily based on Gan's past, and even enticed his men to abandon Gan. Nevertheless, Gan was aware of the situation and was apprehensive, so Su asked the chieftainship of Zhu prefecture for Gan, and Huang did appoint Gan as the chief, which enabled Gan to cross the border from Zhu prefecture to join Sun Quan with several hundreds of his men.

Battle of Jiangxia[link]

Upon arrival at Sun Quan's camp, Gan was recommended by Zhou Yu and Lü Meng to meet Sun face to face. During the ensuing meeting, Gan detailed the reasons why Sun could overcome Huang Zu, and even debated with Zhang Zhao, a senior official who held a different opinion than he did, to persuade Sun to march west to destroy Huang Zu once and for all. Sun finally heeded the advice of Gan, and brought the latter with him (Gan was a staff rather than a military personnel at the time) during the Battle of Jiangxia. Even though the battle was far harder won than estimated by Gan, Huang Zu was indeed captured, and Gan was finally given a military post after the victory.

Gan then asked amnesty for Su Fei when Sun Quan specifically ordered the heads of Huang Zu and Su. Being determined to save his friend, Gan even told Sun to exchange Su's head by his in the case that Su would attempt to flee; Sun was moved by Gan's words and granted his request.

Battles against Cao Cao's forces[link]

Historically, not many generals under Sun Quan were involved in the Battle of Red Cliffs, but Gan was definitely a participant. After a complete victory in the battle, he followed Zhou Yu to launch a campaign on Nan commandery. During the war, he told Zhou that he could lead a light force to occupy Yiling in anticipation to secure the entrance to Yi Province. He succeeded his mission, but the enemy commander, Cao Ren immediately sent five to six thousand strong cavalry to Yiling, and had him surrounded inside the city. When the Wu force got news of Gan being sieged, nearly everyone told Zhou that there were not enough men to spare as relief force. However, Lü Meng stood up and claimed Gan should be saved, and that he guaranteed Ling Tong could guard the main camp on his own for at least ten days. Thus, Gan was saved due to Lü Meng's suggestion and Ling Tong's honorable action.

Afterwards, Gan acted as the vanguard for Sun Quan to attack Wan, a city then under Cao Cao's control. Being the first one to climb the city wall, he also personally defeated the governor of Wan, Zhu Guang, with an iron chain, who was then captured. Thus, he was given the title of Rank-Breaking General, second in credit to Lü Meng for accomplishment in this battle.

Guan Yu's shallow[link]

When Lü Meng and Ling Tong took three commanderies of southern Jing Province from Guan Yu, Gan stationed his troops in Yiyang in anticipation for Guan's counterattack. Moving down from Jiangling, Guan was intercepted by Gan and Lu Su who were waiting there, then Gan told Lu Su that Guan would not even dare to engage them as long as he was present, and that he could capture Guan if he had 800 soldiers in command; on the other hand, Guan was leading 30,000 soldiers at the time, so Lu Su gave Gan 1,000 men, which he led to challenge Guan to a battle right away. Indeed, Guan did not dare to accept Gan's challenge, and because of that, the location of the incident is still called "Guan Yu's Shallow" today. After some skirmishes in southern Jing, Liu Bei received intelligence that Cao Cao was considering an invasion into Hanzhong, which was the northern gateway for Yi Province, home base of Liu. Therefore, Liu requested a border treaty with Sun, who agreed and led troops to dilute Cao's forces.

Night raid with 100 riders[link]

Later, Sun Quan was held off by Cao Cao's general, Zhang Liao when attacking Hefei from Ruxu, and, hearing that Cao had personally come to the city's aid with a 400,000 strong army (Cao Cao's claim), Zhang Zhao, the chief staff of Sun, proposed raiding the camps of Cao's army in order to lower their morale. Gan then volunteered to perform a night raid with only 100 horsemen. Covered by the night, Gan sneaked into Cao's camp, set fire everywhere, and attacked randomly. In chaos, Cao's soldiers were not sure the size and location of their opponent, so the defenders were unable to perform an effective couterattack. After generating a great chaos in Cao's main camp, Gan then returned to the camp with all 100 men. Sun Quan, pleased with his exceptional success, granted him one thousand pieces of silk and a hundred sharp swords for his 100 horsemen, and exclaimed, "Mengde (Cao Cao's style name) has Zhang Liao, and I have Xingba (Gan Ning's style name)!"

Death[link]

Luo Guanzhong's historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms provided a fictional account of Gan Ning's death during the Battle of Xiaoting, where he was killed by an arrow fired by the barbarian king Shamoke, who was Liu Bei's ally. His cause and time of death are not found in historical sources.

Family[link]

• Sons:
  • Gan Huai (甘瓌), exiled to Kuaiji for committing a crime
  • Gan Shu (甘述), served as Imperial Secretary in Eastern Wu

Appointments and titles held[link]

• Administrator of Xiling (西陵太守)
• General Who Subdues (折沖將軍)
• Prefect of Dangkou (當口令)

Appraisals[link]

Gan was rough and murderous, but open-minded, valorous and skilled in tactics. His lack of respect for discipline was balanced by his value for skillful warriors. He was extravagant and often covered his traveling quarters in silk only to cut the cloth up when he left, he used to travel with his gangs by carriages and steeds on land, and by galleys or light ships on water. He also committed murders both in public and in secret.

Modern references[link]

Gan Ning is featured as a playable character in Koei's Dynasty Warriors and Warriors Orochi video game series.

Gan Xing (甘興), a character played by Nakamura Shidō in the 2008 film Red Cliff, is said to be based on Gan Ning. In the film, Gan Xing was severely wounded by enemy arrows during the allied army's attack on Cao Cao's land fortress. He packed himself with explosives and hurled them towards the gate, destroying it for friendly forces to penetrate the enemy's defenses. However he was killed in the blast.

See also[link]

• List of people of the Three Kingdoms
• List of Dynasty Warriors characters

References[link]

• Chen Shou. Records of the Three Kingdoms, Volume 55, Biography of Gan Ning.

Ling Tong
An impression of Ling Tong by an unknown artist.
General of Eastern Wu
Born	189
Died	237 or 217 (aged 48 or 28)
Names
Simplified Chinese	凌统
Traditional Chinese	凌統
Pinyin	Líng Tǒng
Wade-Giles	Ling T'ung
Style name	Gongji (公績)
Posthumous name	Marquis of Vehemence (烈亭侯)

Ling Tong (189 – 237 or 217^[1][2]) was a military general of the state of Eastern Wu during the late Han Dynasty and Three Kingdoms era of Chinese history. He started his service to the Sun family since his childhood, and throughout his entire life, he had been contributing to the foundation and solidification of Eastern Wu. He had participated in many campaigns, including those against Huang Zu, Liu Bei, and the Shanyue barbarians. But his most noted performance would lie with those against the rival state of Cao Wei, in which he displayed great skills under extremely adverse situation.

Besides being a military general, Ling Tong was highly praised by the scholars for his gracious demeanour, bonhomie and generosity. Even though he had achieved fame and glory when he visited his hometown later in his life, he still treated commoners with utmost respect and humanity (which was a rare case in the chaotic world he lived).^[3] He acted as a strategist after he returned from the frontline, and drastically changed the way Eastern Wu used to deal with the Shanyue tribes and successfully recruited over 10,000 strong army from the Shanyue through impressing them with a show of might and potential rewards (Ling Tong's strategy would be adopted and modified by Zhuge Ke later). He was also well known for his integrity and loyalty; he, along with Lü Meng, were the most valued generals of Sun Quan.^[4]

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Ling Tong was born in Yuhang, Wu Commandery (present-day Yuhang District, Hangzhou, Zhejiang). His father Ling Cao was one of the warlord Sun Ce's generals. Ling Cao held the rank of Colonel Who Routs the Caitiffs (破賊校尉), and continued serving the new lord Sun Quan after the death of Sun Ce. In 204, Sun Quan attacked Liu Biao's general Huang Zu, who controlled Jiangxia, which served as the eastern gate to Jing Province. During the battle at Xiakou, Ling Cao sailed alone a distance ahead on a small boat to infiltrate the enemy formation.^[3] Huang Zu abandoned the army and fled, but Ling Cao was killed by a stray arrow fired by Huang's subordinate Gan Ning.

Ling Tong was 15 when his father died. Sun Quan appointed Ling Tong as a Senior Major (別部司馬) on account of the fact that Ling's father died for the Sun family. Since many spoke well of Ling Tong's ability, he was allowed to inherit his father's post as well, as acting Colonel Who Routs the Caitiffs, to lead his father's former subordinates under his command.^[3]

Subsequently, Ling Tong participated in the campaign against the bandits in the hilly regions. Sun Quan's main force captured the enemy garrison at Bao and left after leaving behind 10,000 men under the command of Ling Tong and Zhang Yi (張異) to lay siege to the garrison at Ma. The day before the battle, Ling Tong and Chen Qin (陳勤) attended a banquet together. Chen Qin was in charge of ceremonial duties during the banquet, but he abused his powers and went against the rules.^[3] Ling Tong was upset by Chen Qin's insolence and confronted the latter. However, the acerbic Chen Qin affronted Ling Tong back in anger and even insulted Ling's late father. Ling Tong was in tears but refrained himself and did not respond to the acrimony.

After the banquet, the drunk Chen Qin insulted Ling Tong again on the road. Unable to tolerate further swearword, Ling Tong injured Chen Qin with his saber, and caused Chen to die a few days later. The next day, prior to the battle, Ling Tong exclaimed, "Only through death can my transgression be cleansed!"^[5] He then charged ahead of his troops during the battle in the face of enemy arrows and boulders. The side of the garrison which Ling Tong's army attacked fell immediately.^[3] The other generals were roused by his victory and together they inflicted a crushing defeat on the enemy. After returning from the battle, Ling Tong bound himself and surrendered to the discipline officer. Sun Quan was impressed with Ling's strong determination and pardoned him for insubordination in consideration of his contributions.

Battle of Jiangxia[link]

In 208, Sun Quan attacked Jiangxia again. Ling Tong was assigned as the leader of the vanguard army. He sailed in his boat far ahead of the main forces with only tens of his closest men with him, and emerged victorious in the first battle by slaying Huang Zu's general Zhang Shuo (張碩) and capturing all of Zhang's mariners with his much smaller force.^[3] He then reported back to Sun Quan and led another attack on the enemy again, advancing on both land and water.

Knowing Zhang Shuo had been slain and the first line of defense was broken, Huang Zu used two of his largest vessels (mengchongs) to block the entrance at the choke point of Mian River, and sent his crossbowmen to station themselves there to fire at any approaching enemy forces. In addition, Huang Zu had strong men and archers ambushed on top of the cliff next to the river to thrown down rocks and flames. Thus, Sun Quan's forces suffered great casualties, and were unable to advance any further. Ling Tong and Dong Xi, along with 100 "die-hard" soldiers, donned two suits of armour each and charged towards the enemy despite the rain of rocks from the cliff and the fusillade from the vessels. They succeeded in breaking the connections between the two vessels after bloody fightings, thus allowing Sun Quan's forces to break through and enter Miankou.^[3] Furthermore, the destruction of the mengchong actuated Sun Quan forces' fighting spirit, and they emerged victorious in the next battle, in which Lü Meng defeated Huang Zu's navy while Ling Tong captured the enemy city of Jiangxia. Thus, Sun Quan appointed Ling Tong as the Commandant of Vehemence (承烈都尉).

Red Cliffs Campaign[link]

Battles along Yangtze River[link]

Not long after the defeat of Huang Zu, Liu Biao of Jing Province also died of illness, and was succeeded by his younger son, Liu Cong.^[6] The warlord Cao Cao launched his southern campaign against Liu Cong, and successfully forced the latter to succumb to his power. Fed on his success, Cao Cao assembled a force of 800,000 at Jiangling, where countless warships and weapons were stored, and sent an envoy to intimidate Sun Quan to give up resistance.^[7]

At the time, most subordinates of Sun Quan suggested him to surrender due to apparent impossibility of defeating Cao Cao's massive congregation. Ling Tong was one of the few who insisted to protect Jiangdong from the hegemonist. Without the support from the majority of his officers, Sun Quan was hesitant and could not make up his mind to fight Cao Cao's seemingly invincible force, but his late brother's trusted aide, Zhou Yu, stood up and convinced him that the amount of troops Cao Cao brought was just roughly 240,000, and he could win with a force of 50,000.^[8] After Zhou Yu persuaded Sun Quan to join forces with Liu Bei and lend him 30,000 men to fight Cao Cao, Ling Tong followed the former to the battlefield. They gained successes over some skirmishes over the ground forces of Cao Cao, but noticed that it would be far from enough to push the enemy back to the north, so they focused on the defense thereafter and awaited a change of wind direction from north to east. One night, the east wind finally blew, and the allied force launched an all-out assault following a large-scaled fire attack targeted on Cao Cao's warships. Suffered from Zhou Yu's tactic, Cao Cao's grandiose fleet were thrown into a sea of fire within a blink of eye, and Ling, along other Sun Quan's generals, fought valiantly within the smokes and flames, and finally dealt a ruinous blow to the enormous navy of Cao Cao on the Yangtze River. The allied forces trailed Cao Cao to Wulin and dealt him another defeat, but the latter was able to escape with a high price. Once, Cao Cao even used weaker soldiers to act as fulcrum to pass through some muddy terrain.^[9] Although having suffered a great casualty, Cao Cao still possessed an unscathed force above 100,000 strong, and he scattered it around the frontline against Sun Quan before his return to Xuchang.

Battles in central Jing Province[link]

Ling Tong, along with Zhou Yu and other comrades, advanced further to attack Nan Commandery. While Zhou Yu and the other generals led the main force to rescue Gan Ning, who was besieged in Yiling, Ling Tong was left along to engage the enemy generals Cao Ren and Xu Huang in battle for about ten days under numerical disadvantage. Nevertheless, Ling Tong was able to emerge triumphant against his much larger rival. The war dragged on, the battles were so fierce that even the allied force commander, Zhou Yu, was seriously wounded by a supposedly poisoned arrow, which broke his ribs.^[10] In addition, the allied force was unable to block the numerous reinforcements sent by Cao Cao, so the siege turned out to be a prolonged one. As Sun Quan's ally, Liu Bei went down to the very south of Jing Province, the battles were left to Ling Tong and his comrades, who were forced to expediently alter their temporary objective into inflicting damage to the enemy units. After a year of intense fighting, Zhou Yu regained some health and insisted to lead the army himself, he purposefully flaunted before Cao Ren and rallied his troops in order to illustrate his determination to keep the offensive. Being deceived by Zhou Yu, who was actually in a critical condition, Cao Cao ordered Cao Ren to retreat under the rationale that his forces could no longer afford continuous loss of materiel and labour.^[11] Therefore, Sun Quan's forces finally succeeded in their objective of capturing Nan Commandery, which would never be reclaimed by the state of Cao Wei.

Ling Tong was promoted to the rank of colonel (校尉) after the campaign. He then moved east and joined Lü Meng and Gan Ning in the attack on Wan city and succeeded in capturing it. For his performance in the battle, he was promoted to General of the Household Who Rocks Bandits (盪寇中郎將) and appointed as chancellor (相) of Pei (沛). In 215, Ling Tong joined Lü Meng in capturing Liu Bei's three commanderies of Changsha, Lingling and Guiyang.^[12] Subsequently, they returned to Yiyang to counter Guan Yu's army which advanced south in an attempt to recapture the lost commanderies. As Cao Cao was intending to attack Hanzhong, which was the northern gateway of Shu region, Liu Bei decided to come to a border treaty with Sun Quan and divided Jing Province between the two regimes.

Quarrel with Gan Ning[link]

According to the Chronicles of Wu, by Wei Zhao, Ling Tong had not forgotten the vendetta that his father was killed by Gan Ning, and he attempted to provoke the latter by a dance of swordplay during the middle of a banquet held in Lü Meng's house. Gan Ning took up his halberd and engaged Ling Tong, but the two were separated by the host in the end. Upon hearing what happened, Sun Quan decided to settle the conflict through political maneuver by openly "exiled" Gan Ning to station in Half Island, and asked him to avoid Ling Tong, hence Ling perceived justice, and withdrew from the thought of vengeance. Thereafter, Ling Tong and Gan Ning worked side by side on the battlefield, and together were regarded as the most ferocious generals under Sun Quan.

Battle of Xiaoyao Ford[link]

After reaffirming their alliance with Liu Bei, Sun Quan's forces attacked Hefei to divert Cao Cao's attention from Hanzhong. Cao Cao's forces at Hefei under Zhang Liao's command attacked the approaching Sun Quan's forces before they were organised. Chen Wu was killed in battle while the troops commanded by Song Qian and Xu Sheng turned and fled. Pan Zhang turned back and killed some deserting soldiers and forced them back into battle. Ling Tong led his troops to counter-attack the enemy and managed to force them to retreat. Sun Quan appoined Pan Zhang as Lieutenant General (偏將軍) and Ling Tong as Right Commander (右部督).^[3]

Sun Quan's troops were unsuccessful in attacking Hefei and were subsequently infected with plague, thus they had no choice but to retreat. At Xiaoyao Ford (逍遙津), Sun Quan's main army retreated first while the rear army of only 1,000 men led by Sun himself and a few generals stayed behind.^[13] Zhang Liao sent some men to destroy the bridge linking the north and south sections of the ford while he personally led several thousand cavalry on a charge into the enemy forces. Sun Quan's forces were separated from each other and were totally unprepared for the sudden charge attack. Sun Quan's troops were thrown into confusion, and Sun himself was surrounded by enemy troops. However, Ling Tong successfully led 300 cavalry into the encirclement, rescued Sun Quan and managed to hold off the enemy for some time. As Zhang Liao was personally leading the pursuit, Ling Tong urged Sun Quan to go to the southern shore before he turned back and fought Zhang Liao.^[14]

When Sun Quan headed towards the bridge, he saw that it was destroyed. On his subordinate's instructions, Sun Quan leapt across the broken bridge on his steed and escaped to safety. Ling Tong stayed behind to fight the enemy until all his fellow soldiers have been killed and he suffered grave wounds all over his body. He only retreated after killing several tens of cavalry and figuring that Sun had gone to safety.^[15] When Ling Tong reached the broken bridge, he saw that he could only head forward as the enemy was still hot on pursuit behind him. Before he could finish the divestiture of his armour, he dived into the water to escape and waded his way back.

By then, Sun Quan had boarded a boat and he was overjoyed when he caught sight of Ling Tong as he thought that Ling had been killed. Nevertheless, Ling Tong was deeply saddened by the loss of his closest comrades and he wept uncontrollably. Sun Quan wiped his tears with a corner of his sleeve and said, "Gongji (Ling Tong's style name), let go of those who have died. As long as you live, should you worry about not having men under your command?" ^[16] Sun Quan then allowed Ling Tong to stay on his boat to recuperate. Ling Tong was appointed Lieutenant General later and was remunerated for command of twice the number of troops he used to command.

As a strategist[link]

The Shanyue was a powerful tribe that was rooted in the Yue area of ancient China during the Han Dynasty. Since the southern part of China was not yet controlled by the Han Chinese (the Han court only claimed the ownership of the lands, but lacked the power to exert direct influence in reality), the Shanyue people would performe regular raids against Han citizens to gather living essentials.^[17] Since the day the Sun family set foot on Jiangdong, the Shanyue had been a nuisance for them.

Sun Quan had launched countless campaigns against them, but to no avail because the Shanyue had lived in the hills for a long time and they knew the area well, and would go into hiding once they lost in a battle.^[18] However, Ling Tong attempted a different approach to deal with the Shanyue tribe, he proposed that Sun Quan should attempt to win the hearts of the Shanyue peoples and assimilate them instead of purely using military force to hamper them. Ling Tong reasoned that if they could impress the Shanyue with Eastern Wu's dignity and potential rewards, the tribesmen would succumb to their government without bloodshed.^[3] After he was granted the staff of authority to request materiel from counties when required, he led a unit with flamboyant weapons and armors to begin his grand tactics. When the Shanyue discovered Wu troops when the latter ventured deep into their territories, they were indeed stunned by Ling Tong's unit; then Ling came out and told them if they would join the Wu forces, handsome rewards would be offered. Ling Tong's plan was a great success: Tens of thousands of the Shanyue came out from their caves and joined Ling. He then selected 10,000 strong males to form a unit, and returned.^[3] Because of Ling Tong's success, his strategy would be adopted and modified by Zhuge Ke, another Wu general, at a later time.

Death[link]

During his journey, Ling Tong passed by his hometown and paid a visit. He still treated the town residents with the utmost respect and humility even though he had achieved fame and glory. Ling Tong died of illness on the return journey at the untimely age of 48 or 28.^[1][2] When Sun Quan heard of Ling Tong's death, he was filled with grief for several days. In reminiscence of Ling Tong's contributions to his regime, Sun Quan ordered Zhang Cheng to write a eulogy for Ling Tong and arranged the second grandest funeral ever in Wu for him. Ling Tong's sons were brought into the palace and placed under Sun Quan's personal care. Sun Quan treated Ling Tong's sons as though they were his own and even once he pointed them to guests, calling the boys his "tiger cubs."^[3] He also ensured the boys were well-educated and trained in martial arts as well.

Appointments and titles held[link]

• Senior Major (別部司馬)
• Commandant Who Defeats Bandits (破賊都尉)
• Commandant of Vehemence (承烈都尉)
• Colonel (校尉)
• General of the Household Who Rocks Bandits (盪寇中郎將)
• Chancellor of Pei (沛相)
• Right Commander (右部督)
• Lieutenant General (偏將軍)
• Marquis of Vehemence (烈亭侯) - granted to Ling Tong posthumously

Appraisals[link]

According to the Records of Three Kingdoms, Ling Tong respected and befriended scholars and was admired by them even though he was a military general. Being receptive, he had a reputation for being accommodating towards men of talent. Even when he was busy with military affairs, he always took time to receive visitors. He viewed righteousness and loyalty as important values and saw wealth as inferior.^[3] He has thus been praised by the Jin Dynasty historian Chen Shou to be a guoshi (國士), a term used to describe the most talented and virtuous individual in the kingdom.^[19] Once, Sun Quan's subjects recommended a famous talent Sheng Xian to him. Ling Tong was asleep when he heard that Sheng Xian had arrived to meet his lord. He immediately got out of bed to receive Sheng Xian and held Sheng's hand while leading him to meet Sun Quan.

Ling Tong was reputed to have a strong sense of righteousness. During the battle at Nan Commandery, Zhou Yu ordered Gan Ning to attack Yiling. Cao Ren sent an army to attack Gan Ning and had him surrounded. Gan Ning hurriedly requested for reinforcements, but the generals did not have enough men to spare to save him and believed it was not sagacious to send reinforcements because that would dilute the main army.^[20] Lü Meng spoke up, saying that they should help Gan Ning. He proposed to Zhou Yu that Ling Tong stay behind to keep Cao Ren in check while the rest of the generals go to reinforce Gan Ning. Lü Meng boldly asserted that he had confidence that Ling Tong could hold on for ten days. Ling Tong then took up his duties with responsibility. He countered Cao Ren's attacks alone, and bought time for the other generals to rescue Gan Ning.^[20]

He was also brave in admitting his mistakes and displayed fervent determination in his actions. In his earlier years, Ling Tong struck down a superior officer called Chen Qin, who had earlier insulted him and his late father.^[3] The incident caused Chen Qin to die of severe wounds several days later. Ling Tong then fought recklessly in the battle against the bandits after exclaiming that only through death could he cleanse his deep guilt. Thus, his attack turned out to be a huge success, yet he bound himself and surrendered to the discipline officer after the victorious battle to await his punishment.^[3] However, Sun Quan pardoned him on account of his achievements and promoted him to a higher military rank.

In fiction[link]

In Luo Guanzhong's historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Ling Tong bore a grudge against Gan Ning for the death of his father. Ling Tong followed his father's footsteps by serving Sun Quan. He took up the post of Auxiliary Corps Commanding Officer and then Deputy Commander to command his father's former subordinates.

During the third attack on Jiangxia, Ling Tong was in the vanguard army and scored a complete victory. He was promoted to the rank of Commander Who Upholds Justice. During the Battle of Red Cliffs, Ling Tong held the rank of Commandant. During the Battle of Xiaoyao Ford, Ling Tong was appointed Chancellor of Pei Country, Commander of the Right and Imperial Corps Commander Who Destroys the Rebels.

Ling Tong wanted to avenge his father's death but since Gan Ning had joined Sun Quan's side he was unable to do so. He could only vent his anger on Gan Ning by attacking him verbally and quarreling with him often. Ling Tong's grudge against Gan Ning was finally dispelled after Gan saved his life in a battle. Ling Tong was fighting with Yue Jin when he was knocked off his horse and almost speared to death. Gan Ning fired an arrow which hit the enemy general and wounded him. Ling Tong was thus able to escape back to camp. When Ling Tong heard that it was Gan Ning who saved his life, he was astonished and touched. He apologised to Gan Ning for his earlier behavior and they became friends from then on.

Modern references[link]

Ling Tong is featured as a playable character in Koei's Dynasty Warriors and Warriors Orochi video game series. He also appears in all 11 installments of Koei's Romance of the Three Kingdoms series.

See also[link]

• List of people of the Three Kingdoms
• List of Dynasty Warriors characters

Notes[link]