Pang Tong - in Fiction

In Fiction

In Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Pang Tong is portrayed as a brilliant military strategist who equalled Zhuge Liang. Sima Hui recommended Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong as talents to aid Liu Bei in his ambitious plans, by the following words: "Sleeping Dragon, Fledging Phoenix - receive one, and you can settle all things under Heaven."

Like Sima Hui, Pang Tong was first introduced as a reclusive scholar in Xiangyang. He made his first appearance in the events prior to the Battle of Red Cliffs and played a major role in Liu Bei and Sun Quan's victory over Cao Cao. When Cao Cao's guest advisor Jiang Gan paid a second visit to Zhou Yu for the purpose of leaking back military information back to Cao, Zhou accused him of stealing secret information about enemy generals Cai Mao and Zhang Yun during his earlier visit (which was a ruse staged by Zhou) and had Jiang locked up in a temple. Jiang met Pang Tong in the temple and they returned to Cao Cao's camp together. Cao Cao was overjoyed and received Pang Tong warmly. Pang suggested to Cao Cao to link his battleships together with iron chains, so as to minimise the ships from rocking when they sailed on the river. Cao Cao heeded Pang's suggestion and his decision proved to be a fatal mistake later on.

Pang Tong appeared again after the death of Zhou Yu, when Lu Su recommended Pang to Sun Quan as an advisor. Sun granted Pang an audience but Pang's ugly appearance immediately put him off. Sun then asked Pang about his abilities as compared to Zhou Yu, to which Pang haughtily replied that he was "different" from Zhou. Greatly offended by his appearance, and his attitude towards Zhou (who Sun Quan greatly respected), Sun dismissed Pang as a common fool who boasted about his knowledge.

After leaving Sun Quan, Pang went to serve Liu Bei and presented his plan for the occupation of Liu Zhang's territory in Yi Province (present-day Sichuan). Zhuge Liang had mentioned earlier in his Longzhong plan that Yi Province would be Liu Bei's home base for his future conquests. Pang followed Liu Bei to Yi Province on the invitation of Liu Zhang to deal with Zhang Lu. During the first meeting between Liu Bei and Liu Zhang, Pang ordered Wei Yan to assassinate Liu Zhang during the banquet under the guise of performing a sword dance. Liu Bei was unwilling to harm Liu Zhang, as the latter was from the imperial clan just as he was, and stopped Wei Yan.

Pang Tong continued to provide strategies for Liu Bei in his subsequent battles against Liu Zhang's forces after relations between Liu Bei and Liu Zhang deteriorated to the point of war. Before Liu Bei's forces set off to attack Luocheng, Pang suggested to Liu Bei to lead a smaller contingent and take a shortcut, while he would lead the main army to attack Luocheng head-on. Liu Bei refused and decided that Pang should take the shortcut instead. Before leaving the camp, Pang's horse reared on its hind legs and threw him off. Liu Bei noticed that it was a bad omen and wanted to call off the battle, but Pang insisted. Liu Bei then offered his own steed Dilu (said to bring ill luck to its rider, however it saved Liu's life once so he thought it was a horse of good luck) to Pang instead. Pang was ambushed at the Valley of the Fallen Phoenix (落鳯坡) by archers under the command of Liu Zhang's general Zhang Ren. He died under showers of arrows along with his men. As if his death was predestined by Heaven's will, his place of death was called "Valley of the Fallen Phoenix", in which the "Phoenix" referred to Pang, as Pang's nickname was "Young Phoenix".