1
關羽字雲長，本字長生，河東解人也。 亡命奔涿郡。 先主於鄉里合徒眾，而羽與張飛為之禦侮。 先主為平原相，以羽、飛為別部司馬，分統部曲。 先主與二人寢則同床，恩若兄弟。 而稠人廣坐，侍立終日，隨先主周旋，不避艱險。 〈蜀記曰：曹公與劉備圍呂布於下邳，關羽啟公，布使秦宜祿行求救，乞娶其妻，公許之。 臨破，又屢啟於公。 公疑其有異色，先遣迎看，因自留之，羽心不自安。 此與魏氏春秋所說無異也。〉 先主之襲殺徐州刺史車胄，使羽守下邳城，行太守事， 〈《魏書》云：以羽領徐州。〉 而身還小沛。
Guan Yu, styled Yunzhang—his original style was Changsheng—came from Jie in Hedong. He fled the law and made his way to Zhuo commandery. While the First Lord was raising a band of men in his home country, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei stood as his shield against abuse and attack. Once the First Lord was appointed Administrator of Pingyuan, he made Guan Yu and Zhang Fei Separate Command Majors, splitting the command of their forces between them. The First Lord slept on the same couch with the two of them, and the affection among them was like that of brothers. Even in thronged halls and before large assemblies they would stand attendance the whole day through, attending the First Lord wherever he went, never shrinking from hardship or peril. 〈The Shu Ji records that when Lord Cao and Liu Bei had Lü Bu bottled up at Xiapi, Guan Yu petitioned him: Lü Bu had sent Qin Yilu out to plead for help, and Guan Yu asked leave to take Qin's wife in marriage; Lord Cao agreed. When the city was on the verge of being taken, he pressed the matter again and again with Lord Cao. Lord Cao suspected the woman was strikingly beautiful, sent someone ahead to fetch and inspect her, then kept her for himself—leaving Guan Yu uneasy in his mind. This matches the account given in the Wei shi chunqiu.〉 When the First Lord struck down Xu Province Inspector Che Zhou in a surprise attack, he left Guan Yu to hold Xiapi and conduct the duties of Administrator. 〈The Wei shu adds that Guan Yu was given authority over Xu Province.〉 The First Lord himself meanwhile withdrew to Xiao Pei.
2
建安五年，曹公東征，先主奔袁紹。 曹公禽羽以歸，拜為偏將軍，禮之甚厚。 紹遣大將軍顏良攻東郡太守劉延於白馬，曹公使張遼及羽為先鋒擊之。 羽望見良麾蓋，策馬刺良於萬眾之中，斬其首還，紹諸將莫能當者，遂解白馬圍。 曹公即表封羽為漢壽亭侯。 初，曹公壯羽為人，而察其心神無久留之意，謂張遼曰：「卿試以情問之。」 既而遼以問羽，羽歎曰：「吾極知曹公待我厚，然吾受劉將軍厚恩，誓以共死，不可背之。 吾終不留，吾要當立效以報曹公乃去。」 遼以羽言報曹公，曹公義之。 〈《傅子》曰：遼欲白太祖，恐太祖殺羽，不白，非事君之道，乃歎曰：「公，君父也； 羽，兄弟耳。」 遂白之。 太祖曰：「事君不忘其本，天下義士也。 度何時能去？」 遼曰：「羽受公恩，必立效報公而後去也。」〉 及羽殺顏良，曹公知其必去，重加賞賜。 羽盡封其所賜，拜書告辭，而奔先主於袁軍。 左右欲追之，曹公曰：「彼各為其主，勿追也。」 〈臣松之以為曹公知羽不留而心嘉其志，去不遣追以成其義，自非有王霸之度，孰能至於此乎？ 斯實曹公之休美。〉
In Jian'an 5, when Lord Cao marched east, the First Lord broke away to Yuan Shao. Lord Cao took Guan Yu captive and brought him back, named him Lieutenant General, and honored him with exceptional favor. Yuan Shao dispatched Grand General Yan Liang against Dongjun Grand Administrator Liu Yan at Baima; Lord Cao sent Zhang Liao and Guan Yu ahead as the van to engage him. Guan Yu spotted Yan Liang's command canopy, drove his horse into the mass of the enemy, ran Yan Liang through, and came back with his head; none of Yuan Shao's officers could stop him, and the investment of Baima was broken. Lord Cao at once submitted a memorial enfeoffing Guan Yu as Marquis of Hanshou precinct. From the first, Lord Cao respected Guan Yu as a man, yet he saw that Guan Yu's heart was not here to stay. He told Zhang Liao, "See if you can sound him out, personally and in earnest." Zhang Liao put the question to him. Guan Yu sighed and said, "I know full well how generously Lord Cao has treated me, but I owe General Liu Bei a profound debt and have sworn to share death with him; I cannot turn my back on that. I will not remain here forever: I mean to earn a deed of service to repay Lord Cao, and then I shall go." Zhang Liao relayed Guan Yu's words to Lord Cao, who pronounced him a man of honor. 〈The Fu zi records that Zhang Liao meant to inform the Grand Progenitor but feared he would put Guan Yu to death; to stay silent would violate the duty of a minister. He sighed, "The lord is father and sovereign to me; Guan Yu is as a brother to me." So he spoke up and told him. The Grand Progenitor said, "To serve one's lord without forgetting where one came from—that is a true man of principle under Heaven. When do you think he will actually leave?" Zhang Liao replied, "Guan Yu has received your grace; he is bound to repay you with a feat of arms before he goes."〉 After Guan Yu slew Yan Liang, Lord Cao knew he would leave and showered him with further gifts. Guan Yu locked away every gift he had received, left a letter of parting, and rode off to rejoin the First Lord in Yuan Shao's host. His attendants wanted to give chase, but Lord Cao said, "Each man serves his own master. Let him go." 〈Pei Songzhi remarks: Lord Cao knew Guan Yu would not remain, yet he honored the man's purpose, let him depart, and forbade pursuit so as to crown his integrity—only a ruler with true kingly breadth could rise to that. That was one of Lord Cao's finer moments.〉
3
從先主就劉表。 表卒，曹公定荊州，先主自樊將南渡江，別遣羽乘船數百艘會江陵。 曹公追至當陽長阪，先主斜趣漢津，適與羽船相值，共至夏口。 〈蜀記曰：初，劉備在許，與曹公共獵。 獵中，眾散，羽勸備殺公，備不從。 及在夏口，飄颻江渚，羽怒曰：「往日獵中，若從羽言，可無今日之困。」 備曰：「是時亦為國家惜之耳； 若天道輔正，安知此不為福邪！」 臣松之以為備後與董承等結謀，但事泄不克諧耳，若為國家惜曹公，其如此言何！ 羽若果有此勸而備不肯從者，將以曹公腹心親戚，實繁有徒，事不宿構，非造次所行； 曹雖可殺，身必不免，故以計而止，何惜之有乎！ 既往之事，故讬為雅言耳。〉 孫權遣兵佐先主拒曹公，曹公引軍退歸。 先主收江南諸郡，乃封拜元勳，以羽為襄陽太守、蕩寇將軍，駐江北。 先主西定益州，拜羽董督荊州事。 羽聞馬超來降，舊非故人，羽書與諸葛亮，問超人才可誰比類。 亮知羽護前，乃答之曰：「孟起兼資文武，雄烈過人，一世之傑，黥、彭之徒，當與益德並驅爭先，猶未及髯之絕倫逸群也。」 羽美鬚髯，故亮謂之髯。 羽省書大悅，以示賓客。
He accompanied the First Lord in attaching himself to Liu Biao. When Liu Biao died and Lord Cao took Jing Province, the First Lord set out from Fan to cross the Yangzi to the south, while detaching Guan Yu with several hundred boats to meet him at Jiangling. Lord Cao's pursuit caught up at Changban Slope in Dangyang; the First Lord angled for Han Ford and there ran into Guan Yu's flotilla; together they made for Xiakou. 〈The Shu Ji says that early on, while Liu Bei was at Xu, he joined Lord Cao on a hunt. In the course of the hunt the party scattered, and Guan Yu urged Liu Bei to strike Lord Cao down; Liu Bei refused. Later, adrift among the sandbars at Xiakou, Guan Yu said in anger, "Had you listened to me that day in the hunt, we would not be in this plight today." Liu Bei answered, "Even then I was thinking of the altars of the land— if Heaven favors the just, who is to say this misfortune will not turn to our good?" Pei Songzhi observes that Liu Bei later conspired with Dong Cheng and the rest; the plot simply leaked before it could succeed. If he had truly "spared Lord Cao for the sake of the state," how could he have spoken as he did here? If Guan Yu did urge assassination and Liu Bei held back, it was because Lord Cao's household and inner circle were numerous and close at hand; nothing had been laid in advance, and a rash stroke could not have been brought off; even had Lord Cao died, Liu Bei himself would not have walked away alive—so he checked himself by design. Where is the "sparing" in that? It was water under the bridge, and he dressed it up in high-minded language. Sun Quan dispatched troops to reinforce the First Lord against Lord Cao, and Lord Cao withdrew his army. After the First Lord took the southern shore commanderies, he rewarded his principal founders, naming Guan Yu Grand Administrator of Xiangyang and General Who Sweeps the Bandits, with his camp on the north bank. When the First Lord secured Yi Province to the west, he put Guan Yu in charge of Jing Province. Hearing that Ma Chao had surrendered—no old friend of his—Guan Yu wrote to Zhuge Liang asking what class of man Ma Chao's abilities belonged to. Zhuge Liang knew Guan Yu was touchy about rank, so he replied, "Mengqi unites the pen and the sword; his martial dash is extraordinary—a champion of the age, in the mold of Qing Bu or Peng Yue. He might vie with Yide for the lead, but he is still not the equal of your Lordship's magnificent beard, set apart from every other man." Guan Yu was famed for his fine beard, which is why Zhuge Liang called him "the Beard." Guan Yu read the letter with immense satisfaction and passed it around to his guests.
4
羽嘗為流矢所中，貫其左臂，後創雖愈，每至陰雨，骨常疼痛，醫曰：「矢鏃有毒，毒入於骨，當破臂作創，刮骨去毒，然後此患乃除耳。」 羽便伸臂令醫劈之。 時羽適請諸將飲食相對，臂血流離，盈於盤器，而羽割炙引酒，言笑自若。
Guan Yu had once been hit by a stray shaft that transfixed his left arm. The wound closed, but whenever the sky turned gray and wet the bone throbbed. The surgeon told him, "The point carried venom; the venom has entered the bone. We must lay open the arm, cut to the bone, and scrape the poison away—only then will the pain end." Guan Yu simply stretched out his arm and told the surgeon to cut. He happened to be feasting his officers face to face: blood streamed from the arm and ran over the platters, yet he carved the roast, lifted his cup, and chatted and laughed as if nothing were wrong.
5
二十四年，先主為漢中王，拜羽為前將軍，假節鉞。 是歲，羽率眾攻曹仁於樊。 曹公遣于禁助仁。 秋，大霖雨，漢水汎溢，禁所督七軍皆沒。 禁降羽，羽又斬將軍龐德。 梁、郟、陸渾群盜或遙受羽印號，為之支黨，羽威震華夏。 曹公議徙許都以避其銳，司馬宣王、蔣濟以為關羽得志，孫權必不原也。 可遣人勸權躡其後，許割江南以封權，則樊圍自解。 曹公從之。 先是，權遣使為子索羽女，羽罵辱其使，不許婚，權大怒。 〈《典略》曰：羽圍樊，權遣使求助之，敕使莫速進，又遣主簿先致命於羽。 羽忿其淹遲，又自已得於禁等，乃罵曰：「鰂子敢爾，如使樊城拔，吾不能滅汝邪！」 權聞之，知其輕己，偽手書以謝羽，許以自往。 臣松之以為荊、吳雖外睦，而內相猜防，故權之襲羽，潛師密發。 按呂蒙傳雲：「伏精兵於□冓□鹿之中，使白衣搖櫓，作商賈服。」 以此言之，羽不求助於權，權必不語羽當往也。 若許相援助，何故匿其形跡乎？〉 又南郡太守麋芳在江陵，將軍士仁屯公安，素皆嫌羽輕己。 羽之出軍，芳、仁供給軍資，不悉相救。 羽言「還當治之」，芳、仁咸懷懼不安。 於是權陰誘芳、仁，芳、仁使人迎權。 而曹公遣徐晃救曹仁， 〈蜀記曰：羽與晃宿相愛，遙共語，但說平生，不及軍事。 須臾，晃下馬宣令：「得關雲長頭，賞金千斤。」 羽驚怖，謂晃曰：「大兄，是何言邪！」 晃曰：「此國之事耳。」〉 羽不能克，引軍退還。 權已據江陵，盡虜羽士眾妻子，羽軍遂散。 權遣將逆擊羽，斬羽及子平於臨沮。 〈蜀記曰：權遣將軍擊羽，獲羽及子平。 權欲活羽以敵劉、曹，左右曰：「狼子不可養，後必為害。 曹公不即除之，自取大患，乃議徙都。 今豈可生！」 乃斬之。 臣松之按吳書：孫權遣將潘璋逆斷羽走路，羽至即斬，且臨沮去江陵二三百里，豈容不時殺羽，方議其生死乎？ 又云「權欲活羽以敵劉、曹」，此之不然，可以絕智者之口。 吳曆曰：權送羽首於曹公，以諸侯禮葬其屍骸。〉
In the twenty-fourth year the First Lord was made King of Hanzhong and named Guan Yu Forward General, investing him with the imperial baton and axe. That same year Guan Yu led his army against Cao Ren at Fan. Lord Cao dispatched Yu Jin to reinforce Cao Ren. In autumn the rains would not stop; the Han River burst its banks and drowned the seven corps Yu Jin commanded. Yu Jin capitulated to Guan Yu, who also executed General Pang De. Outlaws in Liang, Jia, and Luhun accepted his commissions from a distance and rallied to his banner; Guan Yu's name struck terror through the Central Plain. Lord Cao considered shifting the court from Xu to escape his momentum; Sima Yi (later King Xuan) and Jiang Ji argued that once Guan Yu had his way, Sun Quan would never stomach it. They proposed sending someone to prompt Sun Quan to stab him in the back, with a pledge to cede the south of the Long River as Sun Quan's fief—then the ring around Fan would break of its own accord. Lord Cao took their advice. Earlier Sun Quan had sent an envoy to ask for Guan Yu's daughter for his son; Guan Yu abused the messenger and rejected the match, enraging Sun Quan. 〈The Dian lue says that while Guan Yu besieged Fan, Sun Quan sent an envoy offering help but ordered him not to hurry forward, and first sent a chief clerk ahead to announce himself to Guan Yu. Guan Yu resented the deliberate slowness and, flush with his capture of Yu Jin and the rest, cursed him: "You wretched cur—dare you treat me so? Once Fan falls, do you think I cannot wipe you out?" Sun Quan heard this and knew Guan Yu despised him; he forged a personal letter of apology and promised to come himself. Pei Songzhi notes that Jingzhou and Wu were allies in name but eyed each other warily within—hence Sun Quan's blow at Guan Yu was a strike launched in stealth. According to Lü Meng's biography it states, "He concealed crack troops in the narrows (text damaged) among the reeds, had men in white shake the oars, and dress as merchants." From this it follows: Guan Yu never begged aid from Sun Quan, nor would Sun Quan have announced his own approach to Guan Yu. If he had truly meant to help, why conceal his movements? Meanwhile Nan commandery Grand Administrator Mi Fang held Jiangling and General Shi Ren garrisoned Gong'an; both had long nursed a grudge because Guan Yu looked down on them. When Guan Yu took the field, Mi Fang and Shi Ren provisioned the army but fell short of what was needed. Guan Yu said, "When I come back I shall settle accounts with them"—words that left Mi Fang and Shi Ren terrified. Sun Quan then secretly won them over, and they sent agents to receive him. At the same time Lord Cao sent Xu Huang to relieve Cao Ren, 〈The Shu Ji records that Guan Yu and Xu Huang had long been close; they hailed each other from a distance and spoke only of old times, never of the campaign. Presently Xu Huang dismounted and read out the order: "The man who brings me Guan Yu's head gets a thousand jin of gold." Guan Yu started and said to him, "Elder brother—what kind of talk is that?" Xu Huang replied, "This is state business, not private friendship."〉 Guan Yu could not break him and drew his troops off. Sun Quan had already seized Jiangling and taken every wife and child of Guan Yu's men; the army melted away. Sun Quan sent a general to intercept Guan Yu and cut him down, together with his son Guan Ping, at Linju. 〈The Shu Ji says Sun Quan sent a general against Guan Yu and took Guan Yu and Guan Ping alive. Sun Quan thought of sparing Guan Yu to use him against Liu Bei and Lord Cao, but his attendants said, "You cannot raise a wolf's whelp—it will only harm you later. Lord Cao failed to kill him at once and reaped disaster for it—even talked of moving the capital. How can we let this man live?" So they put him to death. Pei Songzhi checked the Wu shu: Sun Quan sent General Pan Zhang to block Guan Yu's retreat and beheaded him as soon as he arrived. Linju lies two or three hundred li from Jiangling—there was no interval for arguing his fate before the blade fell. The claim that "Sun Quan wished to spare Guan Yu to play him against Liu and Cao" does not hold up; it should silence those who fancy themselves clever. The Wu li records that Sun Quan sent Guan Yu's head to Lord Cao and interred his body with the ceremony owed a feudal lord.
6
追諡羽曰壯繆侯。 〈蜀記曰：羽初出軍圍樊，夢豬齧其足，語子平曰：「吾今年衰矣，然不得還！」 江表傳曰：羽好左氏傳，諷誦略皆上口。〉 子興嗣。 興字安國，少有令問，丞相諸葛亮深器異之。 弱冠為侍中、中監軍，數歲卒。 子統嗣，尚公主，官至虎賁中郎將。 卒，無子，以興庶子彝續封。 〈蜀記曰：龐德子會，隨鍾、鄧伐蜀，蜀破，盡滅關氏家。〉
He was posthumously canonized as Marquis Zhuangmou. 〈The Shu Ji says that when Guan Yu first marched to invest Fan, he dreamed a pig was chewing his foot. He told his son Ping, "I am waning this year, yet I may not come home again!" The Jiang biao zhuan adds that Guan Yu loved the Zuo zhuan and had most of it at the tip of his tongue. His son Guan Xing inherited the title. Guan Xing, styled Anguo, was noted for promise in his youth, and Chancellor Zhuge Liang thought him remarkable. At twenty he became Palace Attendant and Central Army Supervisor; within a few years he died. His son Guan Tong succeeded, married an imperial princess, and rose to Colonel of the Rapid as Tigers. He died sonless, and the fief passed to Guan Xing's bastard son Guan Yi. 〈The Shu Ji records that Pang De's son Pang Hui marched with Zhong Hui and Deng Ai against Shu; after the conquest he wiped out every member of the Guan family.〉
7
張飛字益德，涿郡人也，少與關羽俱事先主。 羽年長數歲，飛兄事之。 先主從曹公破呂布，隨還計，曹公拜飛為中郎將。 先主背曹公依袁紹、劉表。 表卒，曹公入荊州，先主奔江南。 曹公追之，一日一夜，及於當陽之長阪。 先主聞曹公卒至，棄妻子走，使飛將二十騎拒後。 飛據水斷橋，瞋目橫矛曰：「身是張益德也，可來共決死！」 敵皆無敢近者，故遂得免。 先主既定江南，以飛為宜都太守、徵虜將軍，封新亭侯，後轉在南郡。 先主入益州，還攻劉璋，飛與諸葛亮等溯流而上，分定郡縣。 至江州，破璋將巴郡太守嚴顏，生獲顏。 飛呵顏曰：「大軍至，何以不降而敢拒戰？」 顏答曰：「卿等無狀，侵奪我州，我州但有斷頭將軍，無有降將軍也。」 飛怒，令左右牽去斫頭，顏色不變，曰：「斫頭便斫頭，何為怒邪！」 飛壯而釋之，引為賓客。 〈《華陽國志》曰：初，先主入蜀，至巴郡，顏拊心歎曰：「此所謂獨坐窮山，放虎自衛也！」〉 飛所過戰克，與先主會於成都。 益州既平，賜諸葛亮、法正、飛及關羽金各五百斤，銀千斤，錢五千萬，錦千匹，其餘頒賜各有差，以飛領巴西太守。
Zhang Fei, styled Yide, came from Zhuo commandery and from his youth served the First Lord alongside Guan Yu. Guan Yu was the elder by a few years, and Zhang Fei honored him as an older brother. After the First Lord joined Lord Cao in crushing Lü Bu and accompanied him back to the capital district, Lord Cao named Zhang Fei a General of the Gentlemen of the Household. The First Lord broke with Lord Cao and took refuge first with Yuan Shao, then with Liu Biao. When Liu Biao died and Lord Cao took Jing Province, the First Lord bolted for the country south of the Yangzi. Lord Cao pressed the pursuit for a day and a night and overtook him at Changban in Dangyang. Learning that Lord Cao was almost upon him, the First Lord cast aside his family and ran, leaving Zhang Fei with twenty riders to cover the retreat. Zhang Fei took his stand on the bridge, eyes blazing, spear leveled, and shouted, "I am Zhang Yide of Zhuo—who will meet me and fight to the death?" None of the pursuers dared close with him, and the First Lord slipped away. Once the First Lord secured the southern shore, he made Zhang Fei Grand Administrator of Yidu and General Who Subdues Captives, enfeoffed him as Marquis of Xinting, and later moved his post to Nan commandery. The First Lord marched into Yi Province, then doubled back against Liu Zhang; Zhang Fei joined Zhuge Liang and the rest in an upstream drive, each column reducing counties along the way. At Jiangzhou they broke Liu Zhang's officer Yan Yan, Grand Administrator of Ba, and took Yan Yan prisoner. Zhang Fei roared at him, "The host is here—how dare you refuse surrender and offer battle?" Yan Yan shot back, "You have no right to trample my province. We breed generals who die—not generals who yield." Zhang Fei in fury ordered his men to drag Yan Yan off for execution; Yan never flinched. "Strike off my head if you will—what is there to rage about?" Zhang Fei admired the nerve, cut him loose, and kept him as an honored guest. 〈The Huayang guo zhi records that when the First Lord first entered Shu and reached Ba commandery, Yan Yan struck his chest and cried, "They call this sitting on a bare peak and hiring a tiger for a bodyguard!"〉 Zhang Fei carried every field he entered and met the First Lord at Chengdu. After Yi Province submitted, the First Lord rewarded Zhuge Liang, Fa Zheng, Zhang Fei, and Guan Yu with five hundred jin of gold apiece, a thousand jin of silver, fifty million copper cash, and a thousand rolls of brocade; others were paid on a sliding scale, and Zhang Fei was put in charge of Brazil as Grand Administrator.
8
初，飛雄壯威猛，亞於關羽，魏謀臣程昱等咸稱羽、飛萬人之敵也。 羽善待卒伍而驕於士大夫，飛愛敬君子而不恤小人。 先主常戒之曰：「卿刑殺既過差，又日鞭撾健兒，而令在左右，此取禍之道也。」 飛猶不悛。 先主伐吳，飛當率兵萬人，自閬中會江州。 臨發，其帳下將張達、范強殺飛，持其首，順流而奔孫權。 飛營都督表報先主，先主聞飛都督之有表也，曰：「噫！ 飛死矣。」 追諡飛曰桓侯。 長子苞，早夭。 次子紹嗣，官至侍中尚書僕射。 苞子遵為尚書，隨諸葛瞻於綿竹，與鄧艾戰，死。
Zhang Fei was a tower of martial terror, second only to Guan Yu; Cheng Yu and other Wei counselors spoke of the pair as each worth an army of ten thousand. Guan Yu was good to the ranks but haughty with scholars; Zhang Fei revered the cultivated elite yet spared little thought for the men beneath him. The First Lord often admonished him: "You kill and maul beyond measure, you daily whip your hardened troopers, then keep them at your elbow—that is how you court ruin." Zhang Fei would not mend his ways. When the First Lord marched east against Wu, Zhang Fei was to bring ten thousand men from Langzhong to Jiangzhou. On the very eve of marching, his subordinate commanders Zhang Da and Fan Qiang murdered him, carried off his head, and raced downcurrent to Sun Quan. The commandant of Zhang Fei's camp sent up a memorial; when the First Lord heard that a report had come from Zhang Fei's headquarters, he cried, "Ah— Zhang Fei is gone." He was posthumously canonized as Marquis Huan. His firstborn, Zhang Bao, died in childhood. The younger son Zhang Shao inherited the title and rose to Palace Attendant and Deputy Director of the Secretariat. Zhang Bao's son Zhang Zun served as Master of Writing; he followed Zhuge Zhan to Mianzhu, met Deng Ai in battle, and fell there.
9
馬超字孟起，右扶風茂陵人也。 父騰，靈帝末與邊章、韓遂等俱起事於西州。 初平三年，遂、騰率眾詣長安。 漢朝以遂為鎮西將軍，遣還金城，騰為征西將軍，遣屯郿。 後騰襲長安，敗走，退還涼州。 司隸校尉鍾繇鎮關中，移書遂、騰，為陳禍福。 騰遣超隨繇討郭援、高幹於平陽，超將龐德親斬援首。 後騰與韓遂不和，求還京畿。 於是徵為衛尉，以超為偏將軍，封都亭侯，領騰部曲。 〈《典略》曰：騰字壽成，馬援後也。 桓帝時，其父字子碩，嘗為天水蘭幹尉。 後失官，因留隴西，與羌錯居。 家貧無妻，遂娶羌女，生騰。 騰少貧無產業，常從彰山中斫材木，負販詣城市，以自供給。 騰為人長八尺餘，身體洪大，面鼻雄異，而性賢厚，人多敬之。 靈帝末，涼州刺史耿鄙任信奸吏，民王國等及氐、羌反叛。 州郡募發民中有勇力者，欲討之，騰在募中。 州郡異之，署為軍從事，典領部眾。 討賊有功，拜軍司馬，後以功遷偏將軍，又遷徵西將軍，常屯汧、隴之間。 初平中，拜徵東將軍。 是時，西州少穀，騰自表軍人多乏，求就谷於池陽，遂移屯長平岸頭。 而將王承等恐騰為己害，乃攻騰營。 時騰近出無備，遂破走，西上。 會三輔亂，不復來東，而與鎮西將軍韓遂結為異姓兄弟，始甚相親，後轉以部曲相侵入，更為讎敵。 騰攻遂，遂走，合眾還攻騰，殺騰妻子，連兵不解。 建安之初，國家綱紀殆弛，乃使司隸校尉鍾繇、涼州牧韋端和解之。 徵騰還屯槐裏，轉拜為前將軍，假節，封槐裏侯。 北備胡寇，東備白騎，待士進賢，矜救民命，三輔甚安愛之。 十 （五） 年，徵為衛尉，騰自見年老，遂入宿衛。 初，曹公為丞相，辟騰長子超，不就。 超後為司隸校尉督軍從事，討郭援，為飛矢所中，乃以囊囊其足而戰，破斬援首。 詔拜徐州刺史，後拜諫議大夫。 及騰之入，因詔拜為偏將軍，使領騰營。 又拜超弟休奉車都尉，休弟鐵騎都尉，徙其家屬皆詣鄴，惟超獨留。〉
Ma Chao, styled Mengqi, was a man of Maoling in right Fufeng. His father Ma Teng, late in Emperor Ling's reign, rose with Bian Zhang, Han Sui, and others in the western region. In Chuping 3, Han Sui and Ma Teng brought their armies to Chang'an. The Han court named Han Sui General Who Guards the West and sent him home to Jincheng, while Ma Teng became General Who Campaigns West and was posted at Mei. Later Ma Teng struck at Chang'an, was beaten, and fell back to Liangzhou. Metropolitan Commandant Zhong Yao guarded Guanzhong and wrote to Han Sui and Ma Teng, spelling out the stakes. Ma Teng dispatched Ma Chao with Zhong Yao against Guo Yuan and Gao Gan at Pingyang; Ma Chao's officer Pang De himself severed Guo Yuan's head. When Ma Teng later quarreled with Han Sui, he asked leave to come back to the capital districts. He was then called to court as Minister of the Guards; Ma Chao was made Lieutenant General, enfeoffed as Marquis of Duting, and given his father's command. 〈The Dian lue says Ma Teng, styled Shoucheng, traced his line to Ma Yuan. Under Emperor Huan his father, styled Zishuo, had once been captain of Langan in Tianshui. Stripped of his post, he stayed on in Longxi and lived among the Qiang. Too poor to marry in the usual way, he took a Qiang wife and fathered Ma Teng. Ma Teng grew up destitute, felled lumber in the Zhang hills, hauled it to market on his back, and lived by that labor. Ma Teng stood over eight chi, broad and imposing of face and nose, yet honest and warm-hearted, and widely respected. Late in Emperor Ling's reign, Liangzhou Inspector Geng Bi favored corrupt underlings, and Wang Guo together with Di and Qiang bands rose in revolt. The authorities drafted every stout commoner they could find to put down the rising; Ma Teng was among those levied. They marked him as exceptional, gave him the post of Army Clerk, and put him at the head of a column. He earned promotion fighting rebels—Army Major first, then Lieutenant General, then General Who Campaigns West—usually camped between the Qian and Long rivers. During the Chuping years he became General Who Campaigns East. Grain ran short in the west; Ma Teng petitioned that his troops were starving and asked to forage at Chiyang, then shifted his encampment to the Changping heights. Generals like Wang Cheng feared he would turn on them and stormed his camp. Ma Teng was away on a brief trip, caught unprepared, routed, and driven west. The capital districts erupted in chaos, so he never returned east; instead he swore oath-brotherhood with General Who Guards the West Han Sui—first inseparable, then raiding each other's camps until they were bitter enemies. Ma Teng struck Han Sui, who withdrew, rallied, and struck back, slaughtering Ma Teng's family; the fighting would not stop. Early in Jian'an the court's grip was failing, so Metropolitan Commandant Zhong Yao and Liangzhou Governor Wei Duan were dispatched to broker peace. Ma Teng was recalled to garrison Huaili, promoted to Forward General, given the baton of authority, and enfeoffed as Marquis of Huaili. He watched the northern steppe, watched the White Rider bandits in the east, welcomed talent, and sheltered common lives—so the Three Adjuncts knew peace and loved him. The tens digit from a broken "fifteen". The ones digit, parenthesized in the source, completes "fifteen" with the preceding entry. In that fifteenth year of Jian'an he was summoned as Minister of the Guards; feeling his years, Ma Teng went to the capital to take up palace watch duty. When Lord Cao first became Chancellor he called Ma Chao, Ma Teng's eldest son, to office; Ma Chao refused. Later, as Supervising Army Clerk to the Metropolitan Commandant, he fought Guo Yuan, took a stray shaft in the foot, bound the wound in leather, and still broke the enemy and took Guo Yuan's head. An edict named him Inspector of Xu Province, then Grandee Remonstrant. When Ma Teng came to court, an edict made Ma Chao Lieutenant General and put him at the head of his father's troops. Ma Xiu was named Bearer of the Gilded Chariot, another brother Ma Tie became Colonel of Agile Cavalry, and the whole household was removed to Ye—only Ma Chao stayed behind.〉
10
超既統眾，遂與韓遂合從，及楊秋、李堪、成宜等相結，進軍至潼關。 曹公與遂、超單馬會語，超負其多力，陰欲突前捉曹公，曹公左右將許褚瞋目盻之，超乃不敢動。 曹公用賈詡謀，離間超、遂，更相猜疑，軍以大敗。 〈山陽公載記曰：初，曹公軍在蒲阪，欲西渡，超謂韓遂曰：「宜於渭北拒之，不過二十日，河東穀盡，彼必走矣。」 遂曰：「可聽令渡，蹙於河中，顧不快耶！」 超計不得施。 曹公聞之曰：「馬兒不死，吾無葬地也。」〉 超走保諸戎，曹公追至安定，會北方有事，引軍東還。 楊阜說曹公曰：「超有信、布之勇，甚得羌、胡心。 若大軍還，不嚴為其備，隴上諸郡非國家之有也。」 超果率諸戎以擊隴上郡縣，隴上郡縣皆應之，殺涼州刺史韋康，據冀城，有其眾。 超自稱徵西將軍，領並州牧，督涼州軍事。 康故吏民楊阜、姜敘、梁寬、趙衢等，合謀擊超。 阜、敘起於鹵城，超出攻之，不能下； 寬、衢閉冀城門，超不得入。 進退狼狽，乃奔漢中依張魯。 魯不足與計事，內懷於邑，聞先主圍劉璋於成都，密書請降。 〈《典略》曰：建安十六年，超與關中諸將侯選、程銀、李堪、張橫、梁興、成宜、馬玩、楊秋、韓遂等，凡十部，俱反，其眾十萬，同據河、潼，建列營陳。 是歲，曹公西徵，與超等戰於河、渭之交，超等敗走。 超至安定，遂奔涼州。 詔收滅超家屬。 超複敗於隴上。 後奔漢中，張魯以為都講祭酒，欲妻之以女，或諫魯曰：「有人若此不愛其親，焉能愛人？」 魯乃止。 初，超未反時，其小婦弟種留三輔，及超敗，種先入漢中。 正旦，種上壽於超，超搥胸吐血曰：「闔門百口，一旦同命，今二人相賀邪？」 後數從魯求兵，欲北取涼州，魯遣往，無利。 又魯將楊白等欲害其能，超遂從武都逃入氐中，轉奔往蜀。 是歲建安十九年也。〉
At the head of his father's army Ma Chao allied with Han Sui and with Yang Qiu, Li Kan, Cheng Yi, and the rest, and marched to Tong Pass. Lord Cao met Han Sui and Ma Chao for a parley, each man alone in the saddle; Ma Chao, trusting his strength, meant to rush forward and seize him, but Xu Chu glared from Lord Cao's escort and Ma Chao dared not stir. Lord Cao used Jia Xu's ruse to set Ma Chao and Han Sui at odds; mutual suspicion broke them, and their host was shattered. 〈The Shanyang gong zaiji records that with Lord Cao stalled at Puban, ready to cross west, Ma Chao urged Han Sui, "Block him north of the Wei: within twenty days his grain from Hedong will give out and he will withdraw." Han Sui replied, "Better let him ford and crush him midstream—would that not be sweeter?" Ma Chao's plan never got a hearing. Lord Cao said when he heard them, "While that colt of Ma's lives, I shall have nowhere to be buried."〉 Ma Chao fled among the western tribes; Lord Cao chased him to Anding, then turned back east when the northern frontier flared up. Yang Fu warned Lord Cao: "Ma Chao fights like Xin or Peng Yue, and the Qiang and Hu love him. If the main force withdraws without leaving iron behind, the Long plateau will not stay yours." Ma Chao did exactly that: he swept the Long counties, every district rose for him, he slew Liangzhou Inspector Wei Kang, seized Ji, and took command of the army. He declared himself General Who Campaigns West, provisional Governor of Bing Province, and director of Liangzhou military affairs. Wei Kang's old officers—Yang Fu, Jiang Xu, Liang Kuan, Zhao Qu—conspired against him. Yang Fu and Jiang Xu rose at Lucheng; Ma Chao besieged them in vain. Liang Kuan and Zhao Qu barred the gates of Ji; Ma Chao could not get in. Caught between hammer and anvil, he bolted to Hanzhong and threw in with Zhang Lu. Zhang Lu was no partner for great designs; Ma Chao brooded in discontent. When he learned the First Lord had Liu Zhang under siege at Chengdu, he sent a secret letter offering defection. 〈The Dian lue records that in Jian'an 16 Ma Chao joined Hou Xuan, Cheng Yin, Li Kan, Zhang Heng, Liang Xing, Cheng Yi, Ma Wan, Yang Qiu, Han Sui, and the rest—ten columns in all—in revolt. A hundred thousand men held the Yellow River line and Tong Pass and threw up entrenchments. That year Lord Cao marched west and met Ma Chao's coalition where the river meets the Wei; they broke and ran. Ma Chao reached Anding, then doubled back into Liangzhou. An edict called for the arrest and execution of his entire household. He was beaten again on the Long plateau. He fled once more to Hanzhong. Zhang Lu named him chief lecturer and wanted to marry him to a daughter; an adviser said, "A man who casts off his own blood—how will he cherish yours?" Zhang Lu dropped the idea. Earlier, before the revolt, Ma Chao's younger brother-in-law Zhong (born to a concubine) had stayed in the capital districts; when Ma Chao lost, Zhong reached Hanzhung first. On New Year's Day Zhong came to toast him; Ma Chao hammered his chest until he coughed blood. "A whole clan cut down in a day—and you would raise cups between us two?" Again and again he begged Zhang Lu for soldiers to reconquer Liangzhou; Zhang Lu lent them, to no gain. Zhang Lu's officers, Yang Bai among them, plotted against his talent; Ma Chao fled Wudu into Di territory, then doubled toward Shu. This was Jian'an 19.
11
先主遣人迎超，超將兵徑到城下。 城中震怖，璋即稽首， 〈典略曰：備聞超至，喜曰：「我得益州矣。」 乃使人止超，而潛以兵資之。 超到，令引軍屯城北，超至未一旬而成都潰。〉 以超為平西將軍，督臨沮，因為前都亭侯。 〈山陽公載記曰：超因見備待之厚，與備言，常呼備字，關羽怒，請殺之。 備曰：「人窮來歸我，卿等怒，以呼我字故而殺之，何以示於天下也！」 張飛曰：「如是，當示之以禮。」 明日大會，請超入，羽、飛並杖刀立直，超顧坐席，不見羽、飛，見其直也，乃大驚，遂一不復呼備字。 明日歎曰：「我今乃知其所以敗。 為呼人主字，幾為關羽、張飛所殺。」 自後乃尊事備。 臣松之按以為超以窮歸備，受其爵位，何容傲慢而呼備字？ 且備之入蜀，留關羽鎮荊州，羽未嘗在益土也。 故羽聞馬超歸降，以書問諸葛亮「超人才可誰比類」，不得如書所雲。 羽焉得與張飛立直乎？ 凡人行事，皆謂其可也，知其不可，則不行之矣。 超若果呼備字，亦謂於理宜爾也。 就令羽請殺超，超不應聞，但見二子立直，何由便知以呼字之故，雲幾為關、張所殺乎？ 言不經理，深可忿疾也。 袁暐、樂資等諸所記載，穢雜虛謬，若此之類，殆不可勝言也。〉
The First Lord sent escorts; Ma Chao brought his army right under the walls. Panic seized the city; Liu Zhang kowtowed at once, 〈The Dian lue states: When Bei heard Chao had arrived, he rejoiced and said, "I have gained Yi Province." He sent orders to hold Ma Chao back, then slipped him reinforcements in secret. Ma Chao came up, camped his host north of the walls, and within ten days Chengdu had fallen. The First Lord named Ma Chao General Who Pacifies the West with authority over Linju, confirming his old Marquis of Duting title. 〈The Shanyang gong zaiji says Ma Chao, warmed by Liu Bei's kindness, addressed him by his style in conversation; Guan Yu took offense and demanded his life. Liu Bei said, "The man is destitute and has come to me. Would you execute him for using my familiar name—what sort of signal would that send the world?" Zhang Fei answered, "Then let us teach him courtesy instead." At the next grand levee they ushered Ma Chao in; Guan Yu and Zhang Fei flanked the hall upright, blades in hand. Ma Chao scanned the banquet and saw only those two rigid figures—no seats for them—and his blood ran cold; from that day he never again used Liu Bei's style to his face. The morning after he sighed, "Now I see why I was ruined. I dared address my sovereign by his familiar name and nearly died for it at Guan Yu's and Zhang Fei's hands." After that he served Liu Bei with true deference. Pei Songzhi finds this implausible: Ma Chao came in ruin, accepted rank and stipend from Liu Bei—why would he swagger and call his patron by his style? Besides, when Liu Bei marched into Shu he left Guan Yu on the Jingzhou front; Guan Yu never set foot in Yi. That is why Guan Yu, hearing of Ma Chao's defection, wrote Zhuge Liang asking "what manner of man" Ma Chao was—the episode cannot have unfolded as the text claims. How could Guan Yu have stood on ceremony with Zhang Fei in that way? Men act when they think a thing right; if they know it wrong, they desist. Had Ma Chao truly used Liu Bei's style, he would have believed it justified. Even supposing Guan Yu demanded his death, Ma Chao would not have heard the debate; seeing two generals rigid with swords tells him nothing about a quarrel over names—how does that add up to "nearly slain by Guan and Zhang"? The tale is nonsense, and infuriating nonsense at that. Yuan Wei, Yue Zi, and their ilk left a tangle of trash and fabrication; one could not exhaust the list of such errors.
12
先主為漢中王，拜超為左將軍，假節。 章武元年，遷驃騎將軍，領涼州牧，進封斄鄉侯，策曰：
When the First Lord took the title King of Hanzhong, he named Ma Chao General of the Left and gave him the baton of command. In Zhangwu 1 he rose to General of Agile Cavalry, provisional Governor of Liang Province, and Marquis of Tixiang; the edict of investiture ran:
13
朕以不德，獲繼至尊，奉承宗廟。 曹操父子，世載其罪，朕用慘怛，疢如疾首。 海內怨憤，歸正反本，暨於氐、羌率服，獯鬻慕義。 以君信著北土，威武並昭，是以委任授君，抗颺虓虎，兼董萬里，求民之瘼。 其明宣朝化，懷保遠邇，肅慎賞罰，以篤漢祜，以對於天下。
We lack virtue, yet Heaven has set us on the throne and entrusted us with the house of Han. Cao Cao and his heir have piled crime upon crime; Our heart is torn with anguish, Our head aches as from fever. The realm boils with rage; loyal hearts yearn for the true line; Di and Qiang already bend the knee; northern tribes incline to justice. Your name for good faith rings across the north, and your martial terror is plain to all; We therefore charge you to face the ravening enemy, to watch over distant frontiers, and to learn where the people hurt. Proclaim Our civilizing rule, shelter near and far alike, wield reward and punishment with care, deepen Heaven's favor to Han, and answer the expectations of the world.
14
二年卒，時年四十七。 臨沒上疏曰：「臣門宗二百餘口，為孟德所誅略盡，惟有從弟岱，當為微宗血食之繼，深讬陛下，餘無複言。」 追諡超曰威侯，子承嗣。 岱位至平北將軍，進爵陳倉侯。 超女配安平王理。 〈典略曰：初超之入蜀，其庶妻董及子秋，留依張魯。 魯敗，曹公得之，以董賜閻圃，以秋付魯，魯自手殺之。〉
He died in the second year of the reign, forty-seven years old. On his deathbed he memorialized: "Mengde cut down over two hundred of my kin; only my cousin Ma Dai survives to tend the family altars—I beg Your Majesty to shelter him; I have nothing more to say." He was canonized posthumously as Marquis Wei; his son Ma Cheng inherited the title. Ma Dai rose to General Who Pacifies the North and was promoted to Marquis of Cangcang. A daughter of Ma Chao was married to the Prince of Anping, Liu Li. 〈The Dian lue notes that when Ma Chao first entered Shu, his secondary wife Lady Dong and his son Ma Qiu stayed behind with Zhang Lu. When Zhang Lu fell, Lord Cao took them; he gave Lady Dong to Yan Pu and handed Ma Qiu back to Zhang Lu, who killed the boy with his own hands.
15
黃忠字漢升，南陽人也。 荊州牧劉表以為中郎將，與表從子磐共守長沙攸縣。 及曹公克荊州，假行裨將軍，仍就故任，統屬長沙守韓玄。 先主南定諸郡，忠遂委質，隨從入蜀。 自葭萌受任，還攻劉璋，忠常先登陷陣，勇毅冠三軍。 益州既定，拜為討虜將軍。 建安二十四年，於漢中定軍山擊夏侯淵。 淵眾甚精，忠推鋒必進，勸率士卒，金鼓振天，歡聲動谷，一戰斬淵，淵軍大敗。 遷征西將軍。 是歲，先主為漢中王，欲用忠為後將軍，諸葛亮說先主曰：「忠之名望，素非關、馬之倫也。 而今便令同列。 馬、張在近，親見其功，尚可喻指； 關遙聞之，恐必不悅，得無不可乎！」 先主曰：「吾自當解之。」 遂與羽等齊位，賜爵關內侯。 明年卒，追諡剛侯。 子敘，早沒，無後。
Huang Zhong, styled Hansheng, was a man of Nanyang. Liu Biao, Governor of Jing Province, made him a General of the Gentlemen of the Household and sent him with Liu Biao's nephew Liu Pan to hold You county in Changsha. After Lord Cao took Jing Province he was named acting Major General and kept his old assignment under Changsha prefect Han Xuan. When the First Lord swept the southern shore, Huang Zhong switched sides and followed him into Shu. From his commission at Jiameng through the campaign against Liu Zhang he was always first over the wall; his valor led the whole host. After Yi submitted he became General Who Punishes Captives. In Jian'an 24 he fought Xiahou Yuan at Dingjun Mountain in Hanzhong. Xiahou Yuan's troops were picked men; Huang Zhong drove the point of the attack, rallied the ranks, and set drums and cymbals thundering until the hills rang with cheer. In a single clash he cut down Xiahou Yuan and shattered his army. He was raised to General Who Campaigns West. That year, as the First Lord prepared to make Huang Zhong Rear General, Zhuge Liang objected: "His reputation has never stood beside Guan Yu's or Ma Chao's. Yet now you would seat him as their equal. Ma Chao and Zhang Fei are here; they witnessed his deeds and can be reasoned with; but Guan Yu, far away on the Jing line, is bound to resent it—is that wise?" The First Lord said, "I will speak to him myself." So Huang Zhong was ranked with Guan Yu and the rest and enfeoffed as a Marquis Within the Passes. He died the following year and was posthumously titled Marquis Gang. His son Huang Xu died in youth, leaving no heir.
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趙雲字子龍，常山真定人也。 本屬公孫瓚，瓚遣先主為田楷拒袁紹，雲遂隨從，為先主主騎。 〈雲別傳曰：雲身長八尺，姿顏雄偉，為本郡所舉，將義從吏兵詣公孫瓚。 時袁紹稱冀州牧，瓚深憂州人之從紹也，善雲來附，嘲雲曰：「聞貴州人皆原袁氏，君何獨回心，迷而能反乎？」 雲答曰：「天下訩訩，未知孰是，民有倒縣之厄，鄙州論議，從仁政所在，不為忽袁公私明將軍也。」 遂與瓚征討。 時先主亦依讬瓚，每接納雲，雲得深自結讬。 雲以兄喪，辭瓚暫歸，先主知其不反，捉手而別，雲辭曰：「終不背德也。」 先主就袁紹，雲見於鄴。 先主與雲同床眠臥，密遣雲合募得數百人，皆稱劉左將軍部曲，紹不能知。 遂隨先主至荊州。〉 及先主為曹公所追於當陽長阪，棄妻子南走，雲身抱弱子，即後主也，保護甘夫人，即後主母也，皆得免難。 遷為牙門將軍。 先主入蜀，雲留荊州。 〈雲別傳曰：初，先主之敗，有人言雲已北去者，先主以手戟擿之曰：「子龍不棄我走也。」 頃之，雲至。 從平江南，以為偏將軍，領桂陽太守，代趙範。 範寡嫂曰樊氏，有國色，範欲以配雲。 雲辭曰：「相與同姓，卿兄猶我兄。」 固辭不許。 時有人勸雲納之，雲曰：「範迫降耳，心未可測； 天下女不少。」 遂不取。 範果逃走，雲無纖介。 先是，與夏侯惇戰於博望，生獲夏侯蘭。 蘭是雲鄉里人，少小相知，雲白先主活之，薦蘭明於法律，以為軍正。 雲不用自近，其慎慮類如此。 先主入益州，雲領留營司馬。 此時先主孫夫人以權妹驕豪，多將吳吏兵，縱橫不法。 先主以雲嚴重，必能整齊，特任掌內事。 權聞備西徵，大遣舟船迎妹，而夫人內欲將後主還吳，雲與張飛勒兵截江，乃得後主還。〉
Zhao Yun, styled Zilong, came from Zhending in Changshan. He first served Gongsun Zan, who sent the First Lord with Tian Kai against Yuan Shao; Zhao Yun joined that column and became the First Lord's cavalry commander. 〈The Zhao Yun bie zhuan says he stood eight chi, cut a martial figure, was recommended by his home commandery, and led a body of volunteers to Gongsun Zan. Yuan Shao was calling himself Governor of Ji; Gongsun Zan dreaded losing his people to him, so he welcomed Zhao Yun with a jibe: "They say everyone in your country favors the Yuans—why have you alone switched sides, like a man who loses his way yet finds it again?" Zhao Yun replied, "The empire is in chaos and the true ruler unclear; the common folk hang by their heels. My neighbors mean only to follow humane government—not to snub the Yuans for private spite, but to declare for a worthy leader." He then campaigned under Gongsun Zan. The First Lord was also under Gongsun Zan's wing; whenever they met, Zhao Yun gave him his deepest pledge. When Zhao Yun went home to mourn his elder brother, the First Lord knew he would not come back to Gongsun Zan; they clasped hands in farewell, and Zhao Yun swore, "I will never break faith with worthy men." The First Lord went over to Yuan Shao, and Zhao Yun joined him at Ye. They shared a couch while the First Lord secretly sent Zhao Yun to raise several hundred men, all mustered as retainers of "General Liu the Left," under Yuan Shao's nose. From there Zhao Yun followed the First Lord to Jing Province. When Lord Cao ran the First Lord down at Changban in Dangyang, the First Lord cast aside his family and fled south; Zhao Yun carried the infant who would become the Later Lord and shielded Lady Gan, the boy's mother, and brought them through unscathed. He was promoted to General of the Ivory Gates. When the First Lord marched into Shu, Zhao Yun stayed behind in Jing Province. 〈The Zhao Yun bie zhuan records that after the rout someone claimed Zhao Yun had ridden north to the enemy; the First Lord flung a halberd and cried, "Zilong would never desert me!" Moments later Zhao Yun appeared. After the south shore was secured he became Lieutenant General and Grand Administrator of Guilin, succeeding Zhao Fan. Zhao Fan offered him his widowed sister-in-law, a Lady Fan of legendary beauty, as a wife. Zhao Yun refused: "We share a surname; your elder brother is my elder brother. He stood firm and would not take her. Others pressed him to accept; he said, "Zhao Fan surrendered under duress; his loyalties are untested; and the world holds no shortage of women." So he let the match drop. Zhao Fan bolted soon after, yet Zhao Yun bore him no ill will. Earlier, at Bowang, he had faced Xiahou Dun and taken Xiahou Lan prisoner. Xiahou Lan was a countryman he had known since boyhood; Zhao Yun begged the First Lord to spare him, then recommended him as expert in statute law and had him named Army Rectifier. He kept Xiahou Lan at arm's length rather than exploit a private tie—such was his caution. When the First Lord entered Yi, Zhao Yun served as Camp Marshal of the rear headquarters. The First Lord's wife, Lady Sun—Sun Quan's sister—was haughty and headstrong, surrounded by Wu officers who ran wild and broke every rule. The First Lord, trusting Zhao Yun's gravity, gave him charge of the inner household to keep order. When Sun Quan learned that Liu Bei had marched west, he sent a fleet to fetch his sister; she meant to carry the young heir back to Wu. Zhao Yun and Zhang Fei blocked the river with arms and forced the boy's return.
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七年卒，追諡順平侯。
He died in the seventh year of the reign and received the posthumous title Marquis Shunping.
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初，先主時，惟法正見諡； 後主時，諸葛亮功德蓋世，蔣琬、費禕荷國之重，亦見諡； 陳祗寵待，特加殊獎，夏侯霸遠來歸國，故複得諡； 於是關羽、張飛、馬超、龐統、黃忠及雲乃追諡，時論以為榮。 〈雲別傳載後主詔曰：「雲昔從先帝，功積既著。 朕以幼沖，涉塗艱難，賴恃忠順，濟於危險。 夫諡所以敘元勳也，外議雲宜諡。」 大將軍姜維等議，以為雲昔從先帝，勞績既著，經營天下，遵奉法度，功效可書。 當陽之役，義貫金石，忠以衛上，君念其賞，禮以厚下，臣忘其死。 死者有知，足以不朽； 生者感恩，足以殞身。 謹按諡法，柔賢慈惠曰順，執事有班曰平，克定禍亂曰平，應諡雲曰順平侯。〉 雲子統嗣，官至虎賁中郎，督行領軍。 次子廣，牙門將，隨姜維遝中，臨陳戰死。
Under the First Lord only Fa Zheng had been granted a posthumous name; under the Later Lord, Zhuge Liang—whose service outshone the age—along with Jiang Wan and Fei Yi, pillars of the state, were likewise canonized; Chen Zhi won singular favor; Xiahou Ba defected from afar—each earned a posthumous style; and only then were Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Ma Chao, Pang Tong, Huang Zhong, and Zhao Yun honored posthumously—an accolade the age thought fitting. 〈The Zhao Yun bie zhuan preserves an edict of the Later Lord: "Zhao Yun followed my imperial father and piled deed upon deed. We were a child on a perilous road; it was his steadfast loyalty that bore Us through. Posthumous names exist to crown the founders of the realm; the court agrees Zhao Yun should have one." General Jiang Wei and his colleagues argued that Zhao Yun had served the First Lord with conspicuous toil, helped order the realm within the law, and left a record worth carving in bronze. At Changban his fidelity rang like metal and stone—loyalty that shielded his sovereign, a sovereign mindful of reward, a minister who honored his men and faced death undaunted. If the dead know, they need no richer immortality; if the living remember, they owe him their lives. By the canons of ennoblement, gentle worth and merciful grace are "shun," ordered service is "ping," and quelling chaos is "ping"; together they yield the title Marquis Shunping for Zhao Yun. His son Zhao Tong inherited the rank, rising to Colonel of the Rapid as Tigers and acting Leader of the Army. His second son Zhao Guang, a General of the Ivory Gates, followed Jiang Wei to Tazhong and died on the field.
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【評】
Appraisal.
20
評曰：關羽、張飛皆稱萬人之敵，為世虎臣。 羽報效曹公，飛義釋嚴顏，並有國士之風。 然羽剛而自矜，飛暴而無恩，以短取敗，理數之常也。 馬超阻戎負勇，以覆其族，惜哉！ 能因窮致泰，不猶愈乎！ 黃忠、趙雲強摯壯猛，並作爪牙，其灌、滕之徒歟？
The historian's judgment: Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were each worth an army of ten thousand—tigers among men of their day. Guan Yu repaid Lord Cao with a deed of arms; Zhang Fei spared Yan Yan out of principle—both showed the temper of true champions. Yet Guan Yu's stubborn pride and Zhang Fei's savage disregard for others' lives were their undoing—a law as old as fate itself. Ma Chao staked everything on steppe allies and his own bravado until his house was swept away—what a waste. To rise from destitution to a steady place under Heaven—is that not the better path! Huang Zhong and Zhao Yun—iron-hard, lion-bold, the sovereign's talons—do they not belong in the company of Guan Ying and the Lord of Teng?