张郎 / Zhang Lang (late Han)

Overview

张郎 / Zhang Lang appears in this wiki as the Dunhuang administrator whose early attack on Yanqi turns a coordinated campaign into a credit and blame distortion. Hanji 807 presents him as a cooperating commander with a prior offense and therefore a personal incentive to seize visible merit quickly.

Current Profile

In Hanji 807, the court sends Zhang Lang with more than 3,000 troops from the Hexi four commanderies to coordinate with Ban Yong against Yanqi. The planned operation depends on synchronized movement: Ban Yong mobilizes Western Regions troops while Zhang Lang comes from the Han commandery side.

Zhang Lang changes the timetable. Because he has a prior offense and wants merit to erase punishment risk, he reaches Jueliguan early, sends a sima ahead, attacks before Ban Yong arrives, kills many Yanqi people, accepts King Yuanmeng’s surrender, and returns. He escapes execution and clears his offense, while Ban Yong is treated by the court as the late commander.

Key Characteristics

• Frontier administrator whose assigned role is cooperative rather than independent conquest.
• Carries personal legal exposure that makes quick visible merit valuable.
• Breaks campaign synchronization by attacking before the agreed meeting date.
• Receives the immediate benefit of Yanqi’s surrender while shifting apparent failure to Ban Yong.

Evidence

• Coordinated assignment: Hanji 807 says the court sends Zhang Lang from Dunhuang with Hexi troops to assist Ban Yong’s Yanqi campaign.
• Personal incentive: Hanji 807 says Zhang Lang has a prior offense and wants to redeem it through the campaign.
• Early action and surrender: Hanji 807 says Zhang Lang attacks ahead of schedule, receives Yanqi’s surrender, returns, and has his offense forgiven.
• Ban Yong’s displaced blame: Hanji 807 says the court treats Ban Yong as late after Zhang Lang’s early action.

Qualifications

This page is source-bounded to Hanji 807. It records the episode’s Zhang Lang as the Dunhuang frontier official in the Ban Yong-Yanqi operation and does not resolve his wider biography. The exact office translation, Jueliguan location, sima identity, and court reporting chain remain source-scoped.

What Changed

• Created a focused Zhang Lang page for the Yanqi campaign timing and credit-distortion case.

Relationships

• 班勇 - planned co-commander whose apparent lateness is created by Zhang Lang’s early action.
• 焉耆国 - campaign target whose surrender Zhang Lang receives.
• 汉顺帝 - ruler whose court dispatches Zhang Lang and later punishes Ban Yong.
• 军功归属错置 - concept modeled by Zhang Lang’s early attack and resulting blame shift.
• 河西四郡 - troop base from which Zhang Lang’s force is drawn.