Map showing the major warlords of the Han dynasty in the 190s, including Gongsun Du
Gongsun Du (pronunciationⓘ) (c.150[2] – 204[3]), courtesy nameShengji, was a Chinese military general, politician, and warlord who lived during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China.[1] He was not able to participate in battle until Dong Zhuo seized power from Emperor Shao. Dong Zhuo, hoping to expand the empire, gave Gongsun Du the command to attack the Korean peninsula from across the sea. Gongsun Du was successful in his attack and also took control of the existing Daifang and Lelang commanderies established during the earlier period of the Han dynasty, among others.
Under another order from Dong Zhuo, Gongsun Du took over Liaoning. This presaged the development of Gongsun Du's power base in the northeast. Gongsun Du later sent Gongsun Muo and Zhang Pi to present-day South Korea in an attempt to gain more land. He died in 204 and was succeeded by his son, Gongsun Kang, who continued to rule northeastern China.
^Gongsun Du's age when he died was not recorded in his biography in Sanguozhi. This birth year was based on the assumption that he was 18 (by East Asian reckoning) in 167 when he met Gongsun Yu, the Administrator of Xuantu, who took an interest to Du as Yu had a deceased son who was of the same age and had the same milk name (Bao, "leopard") as Du (时玄菟太守公孙琙，子豹，年十八岁，早死。度少时名豹，又与琙子同年，琙见而亲爱之...) Sanguozhi, vol.08. It is unknown when Gongsun Du met Gongsun Yu, although this meeting likely took place latest by 167. It was recorded in vol. 85 of Book of the Later Han that Yu had driven back a raid by Buyeo in the 1st year of the Yongkang era (167 in the Julian calendar); the same volume also recorded that by 169 (2nd year of the Jianning era), the Administrator of Xuantu was one Geng Lin (耿临).
