Battle of Xiaoting - in Fiction

In Fiction

The following are some fictional events related to the battle mentioned in Luo Guanzhong's historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

• In the novel Sun Quan attempted to make peace with Liu Bei as the Shu army approached by sending the defectors from Shu (Fu Shiren, Mi Fang, Fan Qiang and Zhang Da) back to Liu Bei's side. Fu Shiren and Mi Fang - who caused Guan Yu to lose Jing Province - were killed by Guan Xing, while Fan Qiang and Zhang Da - who assassinated Zhang Fei - were executed by Zhang Bao.

• In the novel Gan Ning was ill with dysentery at the time of the battle but he still participated. He was hit in the head by an arrow fired by Shamoke and died from his wound later. The time and cause of his death are not mentioned in his official biography in Records of Three Kingdoms.

• The burning of the Shu camps was described as "burning of the linked camps for 700 li" (火燒聯營七百里) in the novel. In the battle the camps were not as closely linked as described in fiction, and 700 li is an exaggerated approximation of the distance the fires spread.

• In the novel Zhu Ran was slain by Zhao Yun while pursuing Liu Bei during the Shu retreat. Zhao Yun's official biography in Records of Three Kingdoms stated that he was stationed in Jiangzhou (江州) and did not participate in the battle.

• In the novel Pan Zhang, who captured Guan Yu, was killed by Guan Xing. Records of Three Kingdoms did not mention anything about his involvement in the battle, and stated that he served as a civil official in Shu. Pan Zhang's official biography also stated that Pan died of illness.

• In the novel Ma Zhong was killed by Mi Fang prior to the battle. In history Mi Fang remained in Wu after his defection and did not return to Shu.

• In the novel Cheng Ji (程畿) committed suicide after being cornered by Wu soldiers during the Shu army's retreat, but Records of Three Kingdoms simply described that he was killed in action.

• In the novel Huang Zhong was killed by an arrow fired by Ma Zhong but his official biography in Records of Three Kingdoms mentioned that he died in 220, about a year before the battle.

• In the novel both Zhuge Liang and Zhao Yun strongly opposed Liu Bei's decision to go to war with Sun Quan but Records of Three Kingdoms only mentioned Zhao Yun. In the novel Liu Bei sent a map of the deployment of his camps to Zhuge Liang in Chengdu, and Zhuge was furious and shocked when he saw the map. He even remarked that the person who suggested to Liu Bei to lay out the camps in that manner ought to be executed.

• In the novel Lu Xun ventured into Zhuge Liang's Stone Sentinel Maze while pursuing the retreating Shu army. He was trapped inside and eventually Huang Chengyan guided him out. After his escape, Lu Xun acknowledged that he could never better Zhuge Liang in terms of intelligence, and then ordered a withdrawal because he feared that Wei might take advantage of the situation to attack Wu.