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Huang Zu (, ) (died between February and April 208) was a Chinese military general and politician during the late Eastern Han dynasty. He served as the Administrator of Jiangxia Commandery (江夏郡; around present-day Xinzhou District, Wuhan, Hubei) under Liu Biao, the Governor of Jing Province (covering present-day Hubei and Hunan). He is best known for killing the warlord Sun Jian in an ambush during the Battle of Xiangyang (191) and resisting an invasion by the warlord Sun Quan (Sun Jian's son) at the Battle of Xiakou (203). He was defeated and killed at the Battle of Jiangxia in 208 against Sun Quan's forces.
Liu Biao assigned Huang Zu to defend Fancheng (樊城; in present-day Xiangyang, Hubei) and Dengzhou (鄧州; in present-day Nanyang, Henan) from Sun Jian's attacks. However, Huang Zu lost to Sun Jian in battle and realised that he could not defeat the enemy on flat and open terrain, so he retreated to Xiangyang, the capital of Jing Province, and holed up behind the city walls. One night, Huang Zu led a group of soldiers to launch a sneak attack on Sun Jian's camp but failed to catch the enemy by surprise. Nevertheless, Sun Jian died after being hit by a stray arrow while pursuing Huang Zu into a forest.
In the 14th-century historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Liu Biao's subordinates Kuai Liang and Lü Gong (呂公) set up the ambush that killed Sun Jian. Huang Zu is captured by Sun Jian's eldest son, Sun Ce, but is later released in exchange for Sun Jian's dead body. Historically, however, Sun Ce never captured Huang Zu, who was given full credit in historical records for defeating and killing Sun Jian.
Sun Ce brought along his cousins Sun Ben and Sun Fu and other subordinates and henchmen such as Zhou Yu and Taishi Ci, and led an army to resist Huang Zu. Huang Zu, on the other hand, gathered his clansmen, his son Huang She (黃射) and Liu Biao's nephew Liu Pan (劉磐), and led his troops to engage Sun Ce's forces. Sun Ce defeated Huang Zu in the battle and killed thousands of enemies, forcing Huang Zu to retreat back to Jiangxia Commandery. During the counterattack, Sun Ce managed to expand his territorial boundaries slightly into the outskirts of Jiangxia Commandery.
In 200 CE, the warlord Cao Cao, who controlled the Han central government and the figurehead Emperor Xian, sent Mi Heng, a talented but obnoxious scholar, as a guest to Liu Biao. Although Mi Heng and Liu Biao got along well initially, Mi Heng started to insult and belittle Liu Biao after some time. Unable to put up with Mi Heng's obnoxious behaviour, Liu Biao then sent him to Huang Zu. Huang Zu could not tolerate Mi Heng and had him executed.
After the battle, Su Fei (蘇飛), one of Huang Zu's subordinates, recommended Gan Ning for promotion. However, Huang Zu not only did not feel grateful towards Gan Ning, but also attempted to entice Gan Ning's followers to abandon their leader and join him. Some of them agreed.(權討祖，祖軍敗奔走，追兵急，寧以善射，將兵在後，射殺校尉凌操。祖旣得免，軍罷還營，待寧如初。祖都督蘇飛數薦寧，祖不用，令人化誘其客，客稍亡。) Wu Shu annotation in Sanguozhi vol. 55. Gan Ning was so unhappy with Huang Zu that he eventually left him (with help from Su Fei) and defected to Sun Quan's side.(寧欲去，恐不獲免，獨憂悶不知所出。飛知其意，乃要寧，為之置酒，謂曰：「吾薦子者數矣，主不能用。日月逾邁，人生幾何，宜自遠圖，庶遇知己。」寧良乆乃曰：「雖有其志，未知所由。」飛曰：「吾欲白子為邾長，於是去就，孰與臨阪轉丸乎？」寧曰：「幸甚。」飛白祖，聽寧之縣。招懷亡客并義從者，得數百人。) Wu Shu annotation in Sanguozhi vol. 55.
In the years after the Battle of Xiakou, Sun Quan continued to engage Huang Zu in incessant battles from time to time, but none of these battles were conclusive or of a large scale, as Sun Quan was also busy putting down rebellions in the Jiangdong territories.
Before the battle started, Zhang Shuo led his men out on a large vessel to scout the riverbank. He encountered Ling Tong, who was also checking out the area with only tens of soldiers on a light vessel. They engaged in combat and Ling Tong slew Zhang Shuo and captured the rest of his men.
Upon learning of Zhang Shuo's death, Huang Zu immediately ordered Chen Jiu to block the entrance of the Mian River by scuttling two of his largest mengchongs at the chokepoint. In addition, Huang Zu deployed archers on top of the cliff overlooking the Mian River and ordered them to throw boulders and fire arrows at approaching enemy vessels. Sun Quan sent his largest vessels to destroy the mengchongs but to no avail. After some lengthy fighting, Sun Quan realised that Huang Zu's arsenal was not as rusty as he thought, and saw that he had already suffered heavy losses on his side.
Sun Quan then ordered Ling Tong and Dong Xi, along with 100 "commandos", to wear two layers of armour each and charge towards the enemy in the face of boulders and arrows raining down on them. After a tough fight, Ling Tong and Dong Xi managed to break the thick rope connecting the mengchongs and allow Sun Quan's navy to pass through. Lü Meng killed Chen Jiu on board his warship while Ling Tong breached the walls of Jiangxia Commandery. Huang Zu attempted to flee after his defeat but was killed by Feng Ze (馮則), a soldier in Sun Quan's army.
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