凌统 / Ling Tong

Overview

凌统 / Ling Tong is an Eastern Wu officer whose profile joins frontline courage at Jiangxia, a private blood feud against 甘宁, and later rear-guard trust inside the command structure that relieves Gan Ning at Yiling.

Current Profile

Hanji 1085 places Ling Tong beside 董袭 in the small armored assault against 黄祖’s anchored warships at 沔口. The operation breaks the river barrier and permits the wider attack on Xiakou.

Hanji 1086 then reveals the unresolved personal cost inside Wu. Gan Ning had killed Ling Tong’s father 凌操 while defending Huang Zu, so 孙权 forbids revenge and separates the officers rather than claiming reconciliation. Hanji 1109 later gives Ling Tong a rear-guard role: 吕蒙 estimates that he can hold the existing position for ten days, enabling a temporary force concentration to relieve Gan Ning.

Key Characteristics

• Leads a small armored assault party in the Mian Kou barrier breach.
• Carries a filial revenge claim against the officer who killed his father.
• Accepts ruler-imposed limits and separation instead of prosecuting the feud.
• Later holds a defensive assignment while senior commanders shift force to relieve Gan Ning.
• Remains trusted operational capacity despite unresolved private history.

Evidence

• Jiangxia assault: Hanji 1085 pairs Ling Tong with Dong Xi in the heavily armored attack on Huang Zu’s ship barrier.
• Feud origin and containment: Hanji 1086 says Gan Ning killed Ling Cao and Sun Quan later forbids retaliation and reduces contact.
• Rear-guard assignment: Hanji 1109 says Lyu Meng proposes leaving Ling Tong behind for ten days.
• Operational dependency: Hanji 1109 makes his holding role the condition for Zhou Yu and Lyu Meng’s relief movement.

Qualifications

The sources give no full biography or independent account of Ling Tong’s exact conduct during either the Mian Kou assault or the ten-day rear-guard assignment. Assault-party size and armor, repeated revenge attempts, and the precise separation arrangement remain source-scoped. Later operational coordination does not prove personal reconciliation with Gan Ning.

What Changed

• Added Ling Tong’s frontline role in breaking the Mian Kou barrier.
• Integrated battlefield courage, private feud, and later rear-guard trust into one current profile.
• Preserved the distinction between command cooperation and personal reconciliation.

Relationships

• 董袭 - fellow assault leader at Mian Kou.
• 沔口 - river barrier whose breach supplies Ling Tong’s earliest direct combat evidence here.
• 甘宁 - father’s killer and later allied officer whose relief depends on Ling Tong holding the rear.
• 凌操 - father whose death creates the feud.
• 孙权 - ruler who deploys Ling Tong and contains the private revenge claim.
• 吕蒙 - planner who assigns Ling Tong the later holding role.
• 周瑜 - commander freed to join the relief operation.