Gan Ning

Also known as Zi Xingba · Jin Fanzei

Gan Ning, courtesy name Xingba, came from Linjiang in Ba; as a youth he led a band of swaggering young men who carried bows and wore feathers and bells, so that people knew he was coming by the sound. He later turned to reading the philosophers, served Liu Biao and then Huang Zu without advancement, and around 208 came over to Sun Quan on the recommendation of Zhou Yu and Lu Meng, urging him to destroy Huang Zu first and then look toward Ba and Shu. He fought Cao Cao at Wulin and seized Yiling against Cao Ren. When Sun Quan attacked Wan in 214, Gan led the assault, climbing the wall with a rope in hand, and the Cao governor Zhu Guang was captured. Facing Cao Cao at Ruxu, he took about a hundred picked men into the enemy camp by night and came back with dozens of heads; Sun Quan said, "Mengde has Zhang Liao, and I have Xingba." His death year is unrecorded.