Novel scene
Xu Chu Strips to Fight Ma Chao 許褚裸衣鬥馬超
About this event
Xu Chu Strips to Fight Ma Chao is the scene of the Chapter 59 title of the Romance, "Xu Chu strips to fight Ma Chao," and takes place on the banks of the Wei River during the Battle of Tong Pass. The day after Ma Chao, who had meant to fall upon Cao Cao, drew back at the sight of Xu Chu, Xu Chu fought Ma Chao for more than two hundred bouts, then threw off his armor and engaged him again bare-bodied. Romance, Ch. 59 §5–7 · 9–11
Chen Shou's main text has no single combat. The Biography of Xu Chu in Records of Wei 18 and the Biography of Ma Chao in Records of Shu 6 record only that at a meeting on single horses, Ma Chao saw Xu Chu and did not dare to move. Records, Wei 18 §53Records, Shu 6 §27
In the Romance
In Chapter 59 of the Romance, the day after an earthen wall had been raised overnight with ice, Cao Cao came out of his camp with Xu Chu alone and called for Ma Chao. When Ma Chao, about to charge in and seize him, saw a man glaring behind Cao Cao and asked where the Tiger Marquis was, Xu Chu shouted, "I am Xu Chu of Qiao Commandery!" and Ma Chao turned his horse back. Cao Cao remarked that even the enemy knew Zhongkang to be the Tiger Marquis, and from then on the army called Xu Chu the Tiger Marquis. Romance, Ch. 59 §5–7
When Xu Chu sent a letter of challenge, Ma Chao replied that the next day he would kill the Tiger Fool. The next day Ma Chao placed Pang De on the left wing and Ma Dai on the right and gave Han Sui the central army, and Cao Cao said that Ma Chao's valor was no less than Lü Bu's. Xu Chu and Ma Chao fought more than two hundred bouts, changing horses, without either prevailing, and Xu Chu, roused to fury, went back into his lines, threw off his helmet and armor, and came out again bare-bodied with his blade in hand. Romance, Ch. 59 §8–10
After another thirty-odd bouts, Xu Chu clamped under his arm the spear Ma Chao had thrust at his chest, wrestled for it and snapped the shaft, and the two, each holding half, laid into each other on horseback. When Cao Cao sent out Xiahou Yuan and Cao Hong, Pang De and Ma Dai charged in with their armored cavalry, throwing Cao Cao's army into great disorder, and Xu Chu was hit in the arm by two arrows. Ma Chao, having fought his way up to the moat and returned to Weikou, told Han Sui that he had never seen anyone fight as fiercely as Xu Chu, calling him "truly a Tiger Fool." Romance, Ch. 59 §10–12
Where the Romance differs
Facing the Tiger Marquis: In Chapter 59 of the Romance, Cao Cao came out in front of his camp with only Xu Chu and called for Ma Chao; when Xu Chu shouted his own name, Ma Chao drew back, and because of this the army came to call Xu Chu the Tiger Marquis. In the Biography of Xu Chu in the Records, when Cao Cao met Han Sui and Ma Chao to talk, each on a single horse, he brought only Xu Chu; when Ma Chao, secretly intending to fall on him, asked where the Tiger Marquis was, Cao Cao pointed to Xu Chu, who glared at him. The Biography of Xu Chu records that the army called him the Tiger Fool because he was as strong as a tiger but simple-minded, and that this was why Ma Chao asked about the Tiger Marquis. Romance, Ch. 59 §5–7Records, Wei 18 §53–54Records, Shu 6 §27
The bare-bodied duel: In Chapter 59 of the Romance, Xu Chu threw off his armor to fight Ma Chao and was hit by two arrows. The Biography of Xu Chu in the Records has no duel between the two; it records that in the battle joined a few days after the meeting on single horses, Ma Chao and the others were crushed, and that Xu Chu, having taken heads with his own hand, was promoted to General of the Household of the Martial Guard. Romance, Ch. 59 §10–11Records, Wei 18 §53
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.