Old fox of the western frontier, thirty years in arms. His long acquaintance with Cao Cao became the wedge that split the coalition.
They spoke only of old times in the capital, clapped their hands and laughed. No word of war.On the parley between Han Sui and Cao Cao, 211; Sanguozhi, Wei shu 1, Annals of Emperor Wu
Appears in
Relations
- Cao Cao old acquaintance turned enemy — Their fathers were recommended in the same year; their youth was spent in the same streets of Luoyang. At Tong Pass the old times were the weapon.
- Ma Chao uneasy allies — Two heads of one coalition — and the suspicion between them was the war's real prize.
Myth vs record
The story you may know
He turned traitor at Tong Pass and surrendered to Cao Cao.
What the sources say
No defection is recorded at the battle: the coalition quarrelled, broke, and its two heads fled together. Han Sui fought on as a freebooter of the west for three more years and was killed by his own generals in 215; what reached Cao Cao's court was his head, not his submission.