180s–210s), courtesy name Gongfu, was a military general who served under the warlord Sun Quan during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China.

Huang Gai was orphaned at a young age and he experienced hardships in his early days.

However, he had high ambitions and, despite being poor, he worked hard and read books and studied military arts on his own.

[4] When Sun Quan was in control of the Wu territories, the lands were not very peaceful as the Shanyue tribes in the region often raided counties and caused much trouble.

Once, Huang Gai was assigned to oversee Shicheng County and he knew that the local officials did not follow the laws and were difficult to control.

However, as time passed, they realised that Huang Gai did not inspect their work, so they became lax and reverted to their old ways.

He invited all the local officials to attend a banquet later and exposed the two officers' misdeeds in front of everyone.

Huang Gai was subsequently promoted to Commandant of Danyang Commandery (丹楊郡; around present-day Nanjing, Jiangsu).

He was a subordinate of Zhou Yu, who was the frontline commander of Sun Quan's forces in that battle.

[6] Huang Gai told Zhou Yu: "The enemy are superior in numbers in comparison with our side.

Huang Gai then prepared about ten mengchongs and doujians (鬬艦; a type of warship) and filled them with the ingredients necessary for starting a fire.

When Huang Gai was about 20 li away from the enemy base, he ordered his men to set the ships on fire and they boarded the smaller boats behind.

However, Huang Gai ordered the city gates to be opened, and when about half of the rebel army had entered, he launched an assault on them, killing hundreds of enemies while the surviving ones fled.

Huang Gai has a secret conversation with Zhou Yu one night and suggests his plan.

Cai Zhong and Cai He, two spies planted by Cao Cao in Zhou Yu's camp, confirm Huang Gai's account that he was flogged on Zhou Yu's order because of an argument.

That night, Huang Gai uses the opportunity to launch the fire attack, sparking off the Battle of Red Cliffs.