[Yang Zongbao]

I have read a little bit Zhang Xun's exploits while fighting against An Lushan's rebel troops while he was under siege.
However, my father has a not too high opinion of him, stating he did some pretty nasty things for victory and survival of his troops.

Could anyone here tell me more about Zhang Xun? Exactly what he did while under siege, what sort of atrocities he committed?

[General_Zhaoyun]

Ah.. Zhang Xun (张巡), a famous general during Tang dynasty

Here are some info from:
http://www.no1190.co...asp?NewsID=1728

Quote

张巡 


 
   (709～757) 中国唐朝名将。邓州南阳（今属河南）人，开元末进士。博览群书，尚气节；通晓战法，善领兵。安史之乱初，为真源令。天宝十五年(756)二月,为拒安军，率众进守雍丘（今河南杞县），以3000人苦战近年，用坚守与出击相结合的战法，击退了叛将令狐潮等军数万人的多次进攻。

Translation: (709-757 AD), Tang's general. Origin: Dengzhou Nanyang (Today's Henan), Kai Yuan reign "Jin Shi". Well-versed in all chinese classics, chinese military art of war, excel in command of army. During the rebellion of Anshi (against Anlushan), he was entitled "Zheng Yuan Lin". In Feb 756, in order to repel Anlushan's army, he defended Yong Qiu (today's Nan Qi County). He used only 3000 men to resist and used the combined tactic of "persistent defence" and "surprised attack", defeated the rebel general Linghu Chao and his army.

Quote

随后，移守宁陵（今属河南），授主客郎中、河南节度副使。至德二年(757)正月,引兵与太守许远共守睢阳（今河南商丘），以6800人挫败安将尹子奇所部13万人的进攻，因功授御史中丞。五月，安军再围睢阳，张巡先以佯动疲惫之,然后与部将十余人率500余骑，击溃安军。七月，尹子奇复领兵数万，用云梯、钩车、木驴等器械，并修蹬道，连续攻城。张巡临机应变，巧用战法，破坏其攻城器材，并使部属兵将相习，人自为战,又挫败安军。安军慑服其智,遂掘壕立栅困城。城中粮绝，守军以罗雀掘鼠等充食，至十月初九,城陷,张巡等壮烈殉难。

Translation: After that, he defended Ning Ling (today's Henan). In 757 AD, he led the army and defended Sui Yang (today's Shang Qiu in Henan province) with the chief governor Xu Yuan. Together, they used only 6800 soldiers to defeat Anlushan's general Yin Ziqi's 130,000 troops. After that he was promoted to "Yu Shi Zhong Cheng".

In May, Anlushan's troop laid siege to Suiyang. Zhang Xun used the tactic of "faking to be tired", and then and used 500 cavalry to defeat An's troop. In July, Yin Ziqi re-used tens of thousands of troops and many siege weapons such as "Cloud Ladder", "Hook Wagon", "Wooden Donkey" etc. to lay siege on Huaiyang. Zhang Xun deployed the tactic of "destroying the siege weaponry" to defeat An's troop. Later Suiyang was trapped for many months without any food and Zhang Xun surrendered in October 9 and he died.

Quote

张巡以不及万人之众,顽强坚守孤城,先后歼敌达10余万，阻止了安军南进江淮，保障了唐朝的钱粮来源，在唐平安史之乱中起了重要作用。　

Translation: Zhang Xun was able to use minimum troop against a big mass, was able to held off the siege of 100,000 and prevented An's troop from entering Jianghuai. This ensured that Tang's food and wealth resources are protected. During the rebellion of Anshi, this had a great impact.

This post has been edited by Yun: 29 June 2005 - 07:47 AM

[Yun]

What isn't mentioned in that source is that Zhang Xun resorted to cannibalism in order to keep his troops alive. The best English-language analysis of this is "Meritorious Cannibal: Chang Hsun's Defense of Sui-yang and the Exaltation of Loyalty in an Age of Rebellion" by David A. Graff, an article in the journal Asia Major (Volume 8 Part 1, 1995). See if you can find it in the library!

Here's an abstract of Graff's article, from http://www.aasianst....ina/csess36.htm

Meritorious Cannibal: Chang Hsün's Defense of Sui yang (757) and the Exaltation of Loyalty in an Age of Rebellion
David A. Graff, Southern Methodist University

For ten months in the year 757, a T'ang local official named Chang Hsün defended the city of Sui yang, strategically situated on the Pien Canal in Ho nan, against the An Lu shan rebels; his efforts are traditionally supposed to have saved the dynasty by preventing the rebels from breaking through to the Huai River and the Yangtze. Chang perished when the city fell only three days before the arrival of a relieving army. The question of whether or not to bestow posthumous honors on the defender of Sui yang sparked a heated debate at court, since Chang and his followers had resorted to cannibalism-systematically and on a very large scale-in order to prolong their heroic resistance. Chang's supporters won their argument, and he came to be regarded by later generations as an exemplary figure representing uncompromising loyalty. Since most of the surviving information about the siege of Sui yang is based upon the hagiographic literature produced by the pro Chang party, and especially Li Han's Chang chung ch'eng chuan, it is not possible to produce a narrative reconstruction of the event from the standpoint of military history, nor would it be wise to make any claims with regard to Chang's attitudes, motivation, and choices. Regardless of what actually happened at Sui yang, a good case can be made that the military importance of Chang's epic defense has been greatly exaggerated in the traditional accounts of the An Lu shan rebellion.

The real significance of the episode lies elsewhere, in Chang Hsün's posthumous career as a paragon of loyalty and in the willingness of court officials and scholars to come to his defense. Personal connections and old friendships played a part in rallying support for Chang initially, but the driving force behind his apotheosis was the "loyalty crisis" created by the An Lu shan rebellion, when loyalty to the T'ang dynastic state could no longer be taken for granted and many officials and commoners found that they could ensure their safety only by collaboration with the rebels. Faced with this situation, the court and its supporters felt a need to emphasize loyalty as the highest virtue and the highest good. And the meritorious cannibal Chang Hsün served this agenda especially well in that his transgressions in the name of loyalty provided a particularly clear cut object lesson in the proper prioritization of values.

[Yun]

Perhaps I should give some details on Zhang Xun's cannibalistic actions, which I just read about again today. During the siege of Suiyang, nearby Tang commanders refused to send troops to help Zhang Xun, and his supplies ran out. He realised that to motivate his troops to fight on and forestall a mutiny, he would have to make a show of his own resolve. He therefore killed his own favourite concubine and let his starving soldiers eat her. Following this, he ordered all the women in the city to be killed and eaten, and finally all the children and old or sick men. Because of this, none of the garrison had any thought of surrender - they knew they had passed the point of no return. In the end, Suiyang still fell and Zhang Xun was killed - as Graff said in the previous quote, it was only 3 days before a relieving army arrived.