Zhang Ni

Early life and career

Zhang Ni was from Nanchong County (南充縣), Ba Commandery (巴郡), which is present-day Nanchong, Sichuan. He started his career around the age of 19 as an Officer of Merit (功曹) in the local county office. In 214, when the warlord Liu Bei seized control of Yi Province (covering present-day Sichuan and Chongqing) from its provincial governor Liu Zhang, some bandits used the opportunity to raid the county office. During the ensuing chaos, Zhang Ni engaged the bandits in close combat and protected the county magistrate's wife. He became famous for his courageous actions and was later summoned to the commandery office to serve as an Assistant Officer (從事).

Sometime in the 220s or 230s, the Sou (叟) tribes in Yuexi Commandery (越巂郡; around present-day Liangshan Prefecture, Sichuan) started a rebellion as a form of reprisal against forceful subjugation in 225 by the Shu Han state, and killed two administrators appointed by the Shu government to govern Yuexi Commandery. Due to such hostilities from the locals, the subsequent administrator did not dare to enter Yuexi Commandery to assume office. As a result, the Shu government could only claim its rule over Yuexi Commandery in name.

At this juncture, the Shu government appointed Zhang Ni as the Administrator of Yuexi Commandery. During his tenure, Zhang Ni managed to persuade the local tribes to submit to Shu rule. The Shu government rewarded him by granting him the title of a Secondary Marquis. Zhang Ni stayed in Yuexi Commandery for three years until he was repatriated to his native Ba Commandery.

Subjugation of the indigenous tribes

When Zhang Ni learnt that local tribes in Dingji (定莋), Taideng (台登) and Beishui (卑水) counties discovered iron and lacquer, he led his troops to pillage the counties and assigned officials to watch over the tribes. He then moved to Dingji County, where he expected tribal chiefs to come to meet him.

Lang Cen (狼岑), an uncle of a tribal chief who had much prestige among his tribesmen, sent a representative to meet Zhang Ni instead of meeting him in person because he felt indignant over Zhang Ni's earlier plunders of the counties. In response, Zhang Ni led his troops to arrest Lang Cen and had him flogged to death. He then brought Lang Cen's dead body to the tribe as a public demonstration of his authority. He said that Lang Cen was evil and warned the tribesmen, "Don't move (i.e. try to take revenge) or you'll end up like him." He then offered gifts to the tribesmen to bribe them and managed to make them willingly surrender to him.

Around 227, when the Shu chancellor Zhuge Liang was assembling forces in Hanzhong Commandery in preparation for the first of a series of campaigns against Shu's rival state Wei, local bandits pillaged the villages in Hanzhong, Guanghan and Mianzhu commanderies. Zhang Ni, then holding the rank of an acting Commandant, led troops to deal with the bandits, who scattered and hid in different locations when they heard of Zhang Ni's approach. Zhang Ni could not force them to come out to fight him, so he pretended to offer to extend a heqin policy to the bandit chiefs, and then managed to coax them into attending a banquet to celebrate the peace. After the unsuspecting bandit chiefs got drunk, Zhang Ni ordered his men to kill all of them and then sent his troops to hunt down and eliminate the rest. The massacre lasted for about 10 days, after which the area was clear of bandits. For his efforts, Zhang Ni was promoted to Officer of the Standard (牙門將), and served under Ma Zhong's command. They subsequently quelled many uprisings and instilled much fear in the restless local tribes throughout Shu territories.

Battle of Xiangwu and death

The Shu government highly appreciated Zhang Ni's finesse in dealing with the local tribes, but Zhang Ni himself was not particularly enthusiastic about his job because he had been doing it for over 15 years. He solicited the Shu emperor Liu Shan to let him serve in the central government in Chengdu on numerous occasions, and finally got his wish granted in 254. However, he had been suffering from a form of inveterate rheumatism for some years already.

In 254, Li Jian (李簡), a county magistrate from Shu's rival state Wei, secretly contacted the Shu government and expressed his desire to defect to Shu. Liu Shan convened a meeting to discuss whether to accept Li Jian's defection. Many officials expressed worries that it might be a ruse, but Zhang Ni believed that Li Jian was sincere and managed to convince Liu Shan to agree. Liu Shan then allowed the general Jiang Wei to launch a campaign against Wei, with Li Jian acting as a spy for them in Wei territory.

As Zhang Ni had been suffering from rheumatism, Jiang Wei and the Shu officers felt that he might not be able to participate in the campaign. However, Zhang Ni wrote a memorial to Liu Shan, stating his wish to die on the battlefield to repay the emperor's kindness. Liu Shan was so touched after reading Zhang Ni's memorial that he shed tears and permitted Zhang Ni to go on the campaign.

When the Shu army led by Jiang Wei arrived at Didao, as Zhang Ni accurately predicted, Li Jian led his followers to join the Shu army and help them gain control of Didao. However, the campaign went awry as the Shu army started attacking Xiangwu County (襄武縣; southeast of present-day Longxi County, Gansu), where the Wei defenders led by Xu Zhi put up fierce resistance. Zhang Ni led a unit to attack Xu Zhi and managed to force him to retreat, but lost his life in the process.

In recognition of Zhang Ni's valiant actions on the battlefield, Liu Shan enfeoffed Zhang Ni's eldest son, Zhang Ying (張瑛), as the Marquis of Xi Village. Zhang Ni's original marquis title was then inherited by his second son, Zhang Huxiong (張護雄).

In Romance of the Three Kingdoms

In the 14th-century historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Zhang Ni was one of the more notable generals in Shu's later years. He participated in many of Zhuge Liang's campaigns and displayed a fiery passion for Zhuge Liang's endeavours. Due to this, he sometimes found himself over his head and in dangerous situations, nearly being killed by Wang Shuang at Chencang before being rescued by Liao Hua and Wang Ping and being led into a trap and captured by Lady Zhurong during the Southern Campaign. While on his deathbed, Zhuge Liang named Zhang Ni, along with Liao Hua, Ma Dai, Wang Ping and Zhang Yi, as the loyal generals of Shu who should be given greater responsibilities.

During Jiang Wei's Northern Expeditions, Zhang Ni often urged Jiang Wei to concentrate on internal affairs rather than attacking Wei. He forfeited his life in Chapter 111, while saving Jiang Wei from Chen Tai.