Novel scene
Ma Su Ignores Advice and Loses Jieting 馬謖拒諫失街亭
About this event
"Ma Su Ignores Advice and Loses Jieting" is the former scene of the chapter title of Chapter 95 of the Romance, "Ma Su Ignores Advice and Loses Jieting; Zhuge Liang Plays the Zither to Repel Sima Yi." It covers the story up to the point where Ma Su, who has signed a written military pledge to hold Jieting, rejects Wang Ping's advice and camps on top of a hill, is cut off from his water supply and surrounded by Sima Yi, and loses both Jieting and Lieliucheng. It is the Battle of Jieting as the Romance depicts it. Romance, Ch. 95 §7–9 · 14–18 · 23–26 · 37
Chen Shou's text records the same affair. The record of Ma Su at the end of the Biography of Ma Liang in Records of Shu 9, the Biography of Wang Ping in Records of Shu 13, and the biographies of Zhang He and Guo Huai in Records of Wei 17 and 26 record that in the 6th year of Jianxing (228) Ma Su was defeated at Jieting by the Wei general Zhang He. Records, Shu 9 §17Records, Shu 13 §35Records, Wei 17 §51Records, Wei 26 §68
Course of events in the Records
When Zhuge Liang marched out toward Mount Qi in the 6th year of Jianxing (228), commentators said that veteran generals such as Wei Yan and Wu Yi should be made the vanguard, but Zhuge Liang went against the general opinion and picked Ma Su to lead the main force at the front. Earlier, on his deathbed, the First Ruler had said that Ma Su's words exceeded his substance and that he should not be given great responsibility, but Zhuge Liang did not think so. Records, Shu 9 §17
Wei gave Zhang He the rank of Specially Advanced, put him in command of the various armies and had him check Ma Su at Jieting. Ma Su left the water and climbed the hill, relying on the southern hill, and did not come down to hold the town, and his measures were confused. Wang Ping remonstrated repeatedly, but Ma Su did not heed him, and Zhang He cut off his water supply, attacked and crushed him. The biography of Guo Huai records that Gao Xiang (高詳) was stationed at Lieliucheng, and that Zhang He attacked Ma Su and Guo Huai attacked Gao Xiang's camp, defeating them both. Records, Wei 17 §51Records, Shu 13 §35Records, Wei 26 §68
The troops all scattered, but the thousand men under Wang Ping alone held firm, beating their drums, and Zhang He, suspecting an ambush, did not close in. Wang Ping slowly gathered the scattered troops and returned. Left with no footing for an advance, Zhuge Liang took over a thousand households of Xi County with him and went back to Hanzhong. Records, Shu 13 §36Records, Shu 9 §18Records, Shu 5 §33
In the Romance
In Chapter 95 of the Romance, Sima Yi comes out through the pass with 200,000 men and reckons that the cautious Zhuge Liang will attack Meicheng by way of the Xie Valley and divide his forces through the Ji Valley. He then says he will strike Jieting and Lieliucheng, the throat of Hanzhong, to cut the Shu supply line, and tells his vanguard Zhang He to advance with care. Romance, Ch. 95 §1–5
When Zhuge Liang asks who will hold Jieting, the Army Adviser Ma Su steps forward, and even when told that the place has neither walls nor defensible terrain and will be hard to hold, he signs a written military pledge, asking that his whole family be beheaded if he fails. Zhuge Liang gives Ma Su 25,000 men and the cautious Wang Ping, tells them to build their camp on the main road and send him a map of the terrain, places Gao Xiang at Lieliucheng and Wei Yan behind Jieting, and sends Zhao Yun and Deng Zhi to the Ji Valley as a decoy force. Romance, Ch. 95 §6–13
On reaching Jieting, Ma Su rejects Wang Ping's proposal to camp at the junction where five roads meet and, citing the military maxims that looking down from a height gives a force like splitting bamboo and that troops live only after being placed on deadly ground, camps on top of a hill. Wang Ping receives a share of 5,000 men, builds a camp ten li west of the hill, and sends the map of the terrain to Zhuge Liang. When Sima Zhao tells him the Shu troops are on the hill, Sima Yi says that Heaven is granting him success and inspects the hill in person. Romance, Ch. 95 §14–21
Sima Yi checks Wang Ping with Zhang He, has Shen Dan and Shen Yi cut off the water supply, and surrounds the hill. Without water the Shu troops fall into disorder, and when the troops on the south side of the hill surrender in the night, Ma Su flees west. Wei Yan, Wang Ping and Gao Xiang, trying to retake Jieting, are defeated by Sima Yi and his sons, and Guo Huai, arriving at Lieliucheng, is astonished to find Sima Yi already holding the town. As Zhuge Liang, looking at the map, exclaims in alarm that Ma Su has led our army into a pit, word comes that Jieting and Lieliucheng have been lost. Romance, Ch. 95 §22–33 · 36–37
Where the Romance differs
Who struck Jieting: In Chapter 95 of the Romance, Sima Yi inspects the hill in person, surrounds it and cuts off the water supply. In the biography of Zhang He in the Records, it was Zhang He who checked Ma Su at Jieting, and Zhang He who cut off the water supply, attacked and crushed him. Ma Su's rejecting Wang Ping's advice and climbing the hill also appears in the Biography of Wang Ping. Romance, Ch. 95 §19–23Records, Wei 17 §51Records, Shu 13 §35
Lieliucheng: In Chapter 95 of the Romance, when Guo Huai reaches Lieliucheng, Sima Yi has already taken the town. In the Biography of Guo Huai in the Records, Guo Huai attacked and broke the camp of Gao Xiang, who was stationed at Lieliucheng. Romance, Ch. 95 §30–33Records, Wei 26 §68
Wang Ping: In Chapter 95 of the Romance, Wang Ping rescues Wei Yan and falls back with him to Lieliucheng and Yangping Pass. In the Biography of Wang Ping in the Records, when the troops scattered, only Wang Ping's thousand men held firm, beating their drums, so that Zhang He, suspecting an ambush, did not close in, and Wang Ping gathered the scattered troops and returned. Romance, Ch. 95 §27–31Records, Shu 13 §36
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.