Ministers › Statesman / Official
Zhang Rang
Eastern Han palace eunuch whom Emperor Ling called his father, who killed He Jin in 189 and drowned himself when pursuers caught up with the boy emperor he had abducted
In the courtyard of a district government hall, a line of petitioners waits before a raised bench with a long table and document boxes; a blue umbrella stands beside it, a large drum stands at the gate where a few people wait, and a lake with sailboats lies beyond.
- Roles
- Statesman / Official
Zhang Rang, a eunuch from Yingchuan, served in the palace under Emperor Huan and was promoted with Zhao Zhong to regular palace attendant, with a marquisate, under Emperor Ling; he and eleven colleagues are remembered as the Ten Regular Attendants. The History of the Later Han (Hou Hanshu) says Emperor Ling liked to call Zhang his father and Zhao his mother. Their relatives filled provincial posts and preyed on the people, and Zhang urged the emperor to tax farmland to build palaces and cast bronze figures. When Ling died in 189, the general-in-chief He Jin plotted with Yuan Shao to destroy the eunuchs, but Zhang and his colleagues struck first and killed He Jin in the palace. Yuan Shao's troops then stormed in and slaughtered over two thousand eunuchs. Zhang fled with the boy emperor and the Prince of Chenliu, and when pursuers caught up at the Yellow River crossing of Xiaopingjin, he bowed farewell to the emperor and drowned himself.
Life and times
Dates Birth unknown–189 CE