Novel scene
Zhuge Liang's Spirit Appears at Mount Dingjun 武侯顯聖定軍山
About this event
This scene is the episode named in the chapter title of Chapter 116 of the Romance, "The Marquis Wu shows his divine power at Mount Dingjun," the passage in the Conquest of Shu by Wei in which Zhong Hui, having taken Yangan Pass, is chased at Mount Dingjun by spectral troops in a whirlwind, then sacrifices at Zhuge Liang's tomb and, following the charge Zhuge Liang gives him in a dream, issues an order forbidding the wanton killing of the people. Romance, Ch. 116 §27–31
Chen Shou's text has no such tale of divine power. The Biography of Zhuge Liang, Records of Shu 5, says that Zhuge Liang left instructions to be buried at Mount Dingjun in Hanzhong, and the Biography of Zhong Hui, Records of Wei 28, records that as Zhong Hui went out of Yang'ankou he sent men to sacrifice at Zhuge Liang's tomb. Records, Shu 5 §39Records, Wei 28 §105
In the Romance
In Chapter 116 of the Romance, Zhong Hui, having taken Yangan Pass, hears war cries from the southwest two nights running and goes out in person with several hundred riders to look. Told that the mountain shrouded in murderous air and sorrowful clouds is Mount Dingjun, where Xiahou Yuan died, he turns back, but with a violent gale several thousand horsemen come charging on the wind, and his generals fall from their horses as they flee. Yet on reaching Yangan Pass they find not a single man lost, and all say that when the horsemen drew near it was only a whirlwind that harmed no one. Romance, Ch. 116 §26–28
Learning from the surrendered Jiang Shu that there is no shrine on Mount Dingjun, only the tomb of Zhuge, the Marquis Wu, Zhong Hui says that the Marquis Wu has shown his divine power; the next day he slaughters the full set of sacrificial animals and bows twice in sacrifice before the tomb in person, whereupon the gale stops and the sky clears. That night a man in a silk kerchief holding a feather fan appears to him in a dream and charges him that, though the fortunes of Han are spent, the people of the two Chuan are to be pitied, so he must not kill them wantonly. Zhong Hui raises a white banner inscribed "Protect the State and Pacify the People" and decrees that anyone who wantonly kills even one person will pay with his life, and the people of Hanzhong come out of the cities to bow and welcome him. Romance, Ch. 116 §29–32
Where the Romance differs
The sacrifice at the tomb: In Chapter 116 of the Romance, Zhong Hui, startled by the divine power at Mount Dingjun, goes in person the next day to the tomb of the Marquis Wu and sacrifices with the full set of sacrificial animals. The Biography of Zhong Hui in the Records records only that as Zhong Hui went out of Yang'ankou he sent men to sacrifice at Zhuge Liang's tomb; the spectral troops and the dream are not in Chen Shou's text. Romance, Ch. 116 §29Records, Wei 28 §105
Written by 3KDEX (not yet reviewed) — The tags at the end of each paragraph link to the exact passage in the Records volume or Romance chapter it is based on.