43 Facts About Huang Gai

Huang Gai was from Quanling County, Lingling Commandery, which is present-day Lingling District, Yongzhou, Hunan.

Huang Gai was a descendant of Huang Zilian, a former Administrator of Nanyang Commandery.

Huang Gai's grandfather moved from Nanyang to Lingling and had remained there since.

Huang Gai was orphaned at a young age and he experienced hardships in his early days.

Huang Gai later became a minor official in the local commandery office before he was nominated as a xiaolian and employed as an assistant in the office of one of the Three Ducal Ministers.

Around the 180s, when the warlord Sun Jian was raising a militia to help government forces suppress the Yellow Turban Rebellion, Huang Gai responded to the call and became one of Sun Jian's subordinates.

Huang Gai accompanied Sun Jian in attacking bandits in the region and participated in the campaign against Dong Zhuo under Sun Jian's banner.

Huang Gai was later appointed as a Major of Separate Command.

Huang Gai was involved in Sun Ce's conquests in the Jiangdong region.

Once, Huang Gai was assigned to oversee Shicheng County and he knew that the local officials did not follow the laws and were difficult to control.

Huang Gai gave instructions for all the officers to abide by rules and regulations and perform their duties well.

However, as time passed, they realised that Huang Gai did not inspect their work, so they became lax and reverted to their old ways.

Huang Gai invited all the local officials to attend a banquet later and exposed the two officers' misdeeds in front of everyone.

The officers were frightened and started begging for their lives, but Huang Gai still executed them.

Huang Gai was later reassigned to be the Chief of Chungu County and the Prefect of Xunyang County.

Huang Gai was promoted to Commandant of Danyang Commandery.

Huang Gai helped the poor and earned the respect of the Shanyue.

Huang Gai was a subordinate of Zhou Yu, who was the frontline commander of Sun Quan's forces in that battle.

Huang Gai then wrote a letter to Cao Cao, pretending that he wanted to surrender and defect to Cao Cao's side.

However, if what Huang Gai said is true, I will reward him handsomely.

Huang Gai prepared some zouges, which would follow behind the mengchongs and doujians, and his small fleet sailed towards Cao Cao's base.

When Huang Gai was about 20 li away from the enemy base, he ordered his men to set the ships on fire and they boarded the smaller boats behind.

Huang Gai was hit by a stray arrow during the battle and fell into the river.

Huang Gai was saved by Zhou Yu's men, who did not recognise him and left him on a toilet seat.

When Han Dang passed by, Huang Gai managed to call out to him.

Huang Gai was promoted to General of the Household of Martial Edge.

However, Huang Gai ordered the city gates to be opened, and when about half of the rebel army had entered, he launched an assault on them, killing hundreds of enemies while the surviving ones fled.

Huang Gai later succeeded in pacifying the rebellion over the following three months by targeting the rebel chiefs and pardoning the rebels who surrendered.

Later, when Huang Gai received news that Yiyang County was under attack by bandits, he led his forces to fight the bandits and succeeded in restoring peace in the region.

Huang Gai died in office while serving as the Administrator of Wuling Commandery.

Huang Gai was described as having a stern and serious appearance, and was known to be a good disciplinarian.

Huang Gai was known to be just and decisive when he handled cases in court and he never had any lapses.

Huang Gai is a minor character in the 14th-century historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which romanticises the historical events before and during the Three Kingdoms period.

Huang Gai appears mainly in the chapters covering the events leading to the Battle of Red Cliffs.

Huang Gai's most significant moment in the novel is a fictional episode in which he proposes a "self-torture ruse" to win Cao Cao's trust so that Zhou Yu's fire attack plan can be carried out.

Huang Gai has a secret conversation with Zhou Yu one night and suggests his plan.

Zhou Yu pretends to be furious and he orders Huang Gai to be executed, but with some intervention from Gan Ning and others, he spares Huang Gai's life and has him severely flogged.

Huang Gai then writes a letter to Cao Cao, expressing his willingness to defect over to Cao Cao's side because he is unhappy with Zhou Yu.

Kan Ze later helps to convince Cao Cao that Huang Gai's defection is genuine, even though Cao initially saw through the ruse.

Huang Gai then arranges with Cao Cao that on a certain night, he would sail across the river over to Cao's camp.

That night, Huang Gai uses the opportunity to launch the fire attack, sparking off the Battle of Red Cliffs.

Huang Gai appears as a playable character in Koei's Dynasty Warriors and Warriors Orochi video game series.

Huang Gai is portrayed by Liu Kui in the 2010 Chinese television series Three Kingdoms.