When people think of Gongsun Zan in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, many immediately associate him with Liu Bei, as the two were classmates under the famed scholar Lu Zhi. Though their relationship was that of schoolmates, Gongsun Zan never achieved the same legendary status as Liu Bei—largely because Luo Guanzhong, the author…
In the final years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the imperial capital Chang’an fell under the control of warlords Li Jue and Guo Si, former generals of Dong Zhuo who had seized power after his assassination. By 195 AD, however, their alliance had crumbled into bitter rivalry.