Wei's commander in the west from 231. Refused battle at the Wuzhang Plains, outlived Zhuge Liang, and left his house the empire.
I can judge the living. I cannot judge the dead.On the saying that the dead Zhuge Liang routed him; Han Jin Chunqiu, in Pei Songzhi's commentary
Appears in
Three Kingdoms 4 · panel 6Three Kingdoms 4 · panel 11Three Kingdoms 4 · panel 12Three Kingdoms 4 · panel 15Three Kingdoms 8 · panel 9Three Kingdoms 10 · panel 2Three Kingdoms 10 · panel 4Three Kingdoms 10 · panel 6Three Kingdoms 10 · panel 7Three Kingdoms 10 · panel 8Three Kingdoms 10 · panel 9Three Kingdoms 10 · panel 14Three Kingdoms 10 · panel 15Three Kingdoms 10 · panel 16
Relations
- Zhuge Liang opponents — Four years of refused battle on the Wei river. He outlived him, and that decided it.
- Cao Cao reluctant servant — Cao Cao distrusted him and kept him anyway; he outlived the whole house and took what it held.
Myth vs record
The story you may know
The white-faced villain of opera, outwitted at every turn and frightened off by an empty city.
What the sources say
The histories give the colder read: he refused battle because refusing was correct, asked the court for a permission he knew would be denied, and measured his enemy by his appetite. The empty city is a story Pei Songzhi quotes in order to disprove.