甘寧

Profile

The "Silk-Sail Pirate" who hung bells from his boats — then became one of Wu’s fiercest generals. He led the vanguard against Huang Zu, fought at Red Cliffs and Jiangling, and crowned it at Ruxukou: a night raid on Cao Cao’s camp with a hundred picked riders, returning without a single loss. "Cao Cao has Zhang Liao," boasted Sun Quan, "but I have Gan Ning." The record keeps both his savagery and his rough code of honor — wildness unfiltered.

Key events

1. 208

   Battle of Red Cliffs

   Zhou Yu’s Sun–Liu alliance burns Cao Cao’s armada with fire ships, halting his southern conquest. The three-way division of the realm was sealed here.

   Zhou YuCao CaoSun QuanLiu BeiZhuge LiangHuang GaiLu SuCheng Pu

2. 209

   Siege of Jiangling

   Riding Red Cliffs’ momentum, Zhou Yu wrests Jiangling from Cao Ren after a year of hard fighting — taking an arrow wound himself.

   Zhou YuCao Ren

3. 213

   Battle of Ruxukou

   Sun Quan blocks Cao Cao at Ruxukou — Gan Ning’s hundred-rider night raid, Zhou Tai’s valor, and Cao Cao’s sigh: "If one must have a son, let him be like Sun Quan."

   Sun QuanCao CaoZhou Tai

4. 215

   Battle of Hefei — Zhang Liao’s 800

   Zhang Liao’s 800 volunteers shatter Sun Quan’s host of 100,000 in a dawn assault — his very name, it was said, silenced crying children in Wu.

   Zhang LiaoSun QuanTaishi Ci

History vs. the novelHistoryvsNovel

The novel has him slain by Guan Yu’s son; no such end exists in the histories, which imply he died of illness. His feud and reconciliation with Ling Tong, though, has real bones in the record.