Xu Huang (169 – 227) was a prominent military general under the powerful warlord
Cao Cao and his successor
Cao Pi during the late
Eastern Han Dynasty and
Three Kingdoms era of
China. He was most noted for breaking the siege at the
Battle of Fancheng in 219.
Chen Shou, author of the
Records of Three Kingdoms, considered Xu Huang among the
five top generals of the Kingdom of Wei, together with
Zhang Liao,
Yue Jin,
Zhang He and
Yu Jin.
Life
Born in the county of Yang (楊, present day
Hongdong,
Shanxi) in the late years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Xu Huang worked as a local administrative officer in his younger days. Later, he followed the general
Yang Feng on a campaign against the
Yellow Turban Rebellion and was appointed a commander of the cavalry (騎都尉).
In 196, after the death of the tyrannical warlord
Dong Zhuo, Xu Huang and Yang Feng escorted
Emperor Xian from
Chang'an back to
Luoyang, which by then was much dilapidated. In the same year, Cao Cao came personally to Luoyang to move the emperor to
Xuchang.
Xu Huang then prompted Yang Feng to join Cao Cao's camp, but Yang Feng did not heed the advice. Instead he sent out a force in a futile bid to snatch back Emperor Xian. Cao Cao soon retaliated and defeated Yang Feng, whereupon Xu Huang surrendered himself to Cao Cao.
Hereafter Xu Huang participated in every major campaign Cao Cao undertook, including offensives against
Lü Bu,
Yuan Shao,
Ma Chao, and
Tadun. Xu Huang performed well in all of them, being noted especially for his resourcefulness.
During the campaign against Yuan Shao's heirs in 203, the defender of the city of Yiyang (易陽) initially surrendered but soon changed his mind. Seeing such behavior, Xu Huang knew there were doubts in his enemy's heart. He then wrote a letter of persuasion and had it fired into the city on an arrow. The defender was hence won over and Xu Huang conquered the city without bloodshed.
In 215, Xu Huang was stationed at the Yangping Pass (陽平關) to defend
Hanzhong against the advances of
Liu Bei's army, who attempted to sever the supply routes to the city. Xu Huang saw through the ploy and struck the enemy head-on. Many enemy soldiers jumped off the cliffs in the face of Xu Huang's ferocious attack. The city was then kept secure for the time being.
Xu Huang's most glorious moment in his military career came in the Battle of Fancheng in 219. When the city of
Fancheng (a district of present day
Xiangfan,
Hubei) was besieged by enemy general
Guan Yu and the first relief force led by Yu Jin was vanquished, Xu Huang was sent with a second relief force to help protect the city.
Knowing that most of his soldiers were poorly trained, Xu Huang did not go into battle straight away but camped behind the enemy to impose a deterrence effect. Meanwhile, he instructed his men to dig trenches around the nearby enemy city of Yancheng (偃城) in a pretense to cut off supplies into the city. The enemies were deceived and abandoned their position. Xu Huang then established a foothold in Yan.
By this time more support troops had arrived, and with the strengthened army Xu Huang finally unleashed an attack on Guan Yu's camp. Guan Yu personally led 5,000 horsemen to meet the attackers, but was eventually outmatched. Many of his soldiers were forced into the nearby
Han River and drowned. The siege on Fancheng was then broken. When Cao Cao heard of the victory, he praised Xu Huang and compared the general to
Sun Tzu and
Tian Rangju¹.
Upon Xu Huang's return, Cao Cao went seven
li out of the city to greet him, giving him full credits for securing Fan. Throughout the field reception, the soldiers of other commanders shifted about in order to get a better view of Cao Cao, but Xu Huang's men stood stationary in neat files. Seeing this, Cao Cao lauded, "General Xu has truly inherited the style of
Zhou Yafu."
After Cao Cao's death in 220, Xu Huang continued to be heavily trusted by the successor Cao Pi. He was made General of the Right (右將軍) and Marquis of Yangping (陽平侯). When Cao Pi's successor
Cao Rui took over in 227, he sent Xu Huang to defend
Xiangyang against the
Wu invasion. However, Xu Huang died in the same year due to sickness, leaving behind a will demanding a burial in plain clothes. He was given the posthumous title of
Marquis Zhuang (壯侯), literally meaning the robust marquis. He was succeeded in his offices by his son,
Xu Gai (徐該), who along with Xu Huang's other descendants was also given the title of marquis.
¹
Tian Ranju (田穰苴) was a general of the State of Qi during the Warring States period.Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Romance of the Three Kingdoms, a historical novel by
Luo Guanzhong, was a romanticization of the events that occurred before and during the Three Kingdoms era. Xu Huang made his first appearance in Chapter 13, where he served under
Yang Feng (楊奉), a military officer in the capital Chang'an. Together they escorted Emperor Xian back to Luoyang after the death of Dong Zhuo, who had been holding the emperor hostage.
When Cao Cao came to Luoyang to fetch the emperor to Xuchang, Yang Feng sent out Xu Huang to deter him. Seeing the formidable Xu Huang on his horse, Cao Cao knew he was an extraordinary man. The warlord then dispatched his own personal bodyguard and one of his fiercest warriors
Xu Chu to duel with the enemy.
Neither side could gain an advantage over each other after fifty bouts, by then Cao Cao was very impressed by Xu Huang's skills. Not wanting either duelist to get hurt, Cao Cao then called for Xu Chu to retreat. Knowing his lord intended to recruit Xu Huang,
Man Chong, a subject of Cao Cao and a fellow townsman of Xu Huang, volunteered to persuade Xu Huang to defect.
That very night, Man Chong disguised himself as a common soldier and sneaked into Xu Huang's tent. After some persuasion, Xu Huang was won over. Man Chong then suggested slaying Yang Feng as a gesture of defection. However, Xu Huang was a righteous man and refused to kill his former superior.
Xu Huang, along with Zhang Liao, was the closest friend to Guan Yu during the latter's service to Cao Cao. They meet again when Xu Huang leads the Wei army against Guan while Lu Meng was attacking Jingzhou. After exchanging pleasantries, Xu Huang shouts to his men offering 1000 pieces of gold for whoever that takes Guan Yu's head. To stunned Guan, Xu remarks that as he is on official business in service of his lord, he cannot allow his private friendship to intrude.
In the book, Xu Huang met his end outside
Xincheng (新城), where he was shot in his forehead by
Meng Da from the city wall. His men immediately took him back to camp, where the physician removed the arrow and tried to heal him, but the general eventually died later that night. The novel claimed that he was fifty-nine years old, but the figure is not supported by any historical record. Xu Huang is also popularly regarded as one of Cao's greatest generals, right alongside Zhang Liao, Yue Jin, and Zhang He.
Modern references
- An 84-part Mandarin TV series was made in the mid-1990s and several Japanese animation programs based upon the Romance of the Three Kingdoms also emerged at the same time, and Xu Huang is often portrayed as a brave, loyal, and reliable servant of Wei.
- He is a playable character in Dynasty Warriors. In DW5, he works on perfecting his skills in battle under the kingdom of Wei. In DW5 Xtreme Legends, he defeats the traitor Meng Da in honor of Guan Yu before passing away. He does not have a story mode in DW6.
- Xu Huang also appears as a starting character in Wei's story line in Warriors Orochi, a crossover between Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors. In Warriors Orochi, he helped the forces of Wei. In Warriors Orochi 2, he sets out on his own to test his might and joins with the samurai. He works with the Yellow Turbans and Miyamoto Musashi in chasing Da Ji and Himiko. He gets influenced by Musashi to let Sasaki Kojiro join the samurai cause. In Dream Mode, he works with Guan Yu and Uesugi Kenshin to rescue their allies from the Date, Sima Yi, and Kiyomori.
See also
