Novel scene
The Divine Physician Dies Treating a Wind Ailment 治風疾神醫身死
About this event
"The Divine Physician Dies Treating a Wind Ailment" is the former scene of the title of Chapter 78 of the Romance, "Treating a Wind Ailment, the Divine Physician Loses His Life; Passing On His Last Commands, the Wicked Hero Reaches His End." Cao Cao, who after burying Guan Yu sees him every night, cuts down the pear tree of the Yuelong Shrine to use as a roof beam for the Jianshi Hall and is seized by an unbearable headache; when Hua Tuo, recommended by Hua Xin, proposes to split open his skull and draw out the wind phlegm, Cao Cao, believing that Hua Tuo means to kill him, throws him into prison and lets him die there. Romance, Ch. 78 §5–10 · 14–18
In Chen Shou's text, the passage on Hua Tuo in the Biographies of Technicians, Records of Wei 29, records his death. Taizu, who suffered from head wind, kept Hua Tuo at his side, but Hua Tuo went home and did not return, pleading his wife's illness; when the lie was discovered, he was handed over to the prison at Xu and died under interrogation. Records, Wei 29 §18 · 21–22
In the Romance
In Chapter 78 of the Romance, Cao Cao at Luoyang, who after burying Guan Yu sees him whenever he closes his eyes, decides to build a new hall, the Jianshi Hall, and on the advice of the craftsman Su Yue means to use the great pear tree beside the Yuelong Shrine as its roof beam. Told that neither saw nor axe will bite into it, Cao Cao strikes it with his own sword, and blood spurts out and spatters him all over; that night the spirit of the pear tree appears to him in a dream and strikes at him with a sword, and he is seized by an unbearable headache. Romance, Ch. 78 §5–9
Hua Xin recommends Hua Tuo, who is said to have cut open patients' bellies after giving them the mafei decoction and to have made Chen Deng vomit up worms. Hua Tuo takes Cao Cao's pulse and says that the root of the illness lies inside his head, so that he must take the mafei decoction and have his skull split open with a sharp axe to draw out the wind phlegm, citing how he had scraped Guan Yu's bone to cure the poison. Cao Cao, saying that Hua Tuo was close to Guan Yu and means to take revenge, throws him into prison, and though Jia Xu tries to stop him, he declares Hua Tuo no different from Ji Ping and has him interrogated to the end. Romance, Ch. 78 §10–16
In prison Hua Tuo has Jailer Wu, the prison guard who brings him wine and food every day, fetch the Blue Bag Book (Qingnang shu) from his home and gives it to him, and ten days later he dies in prison. Jailer Wu gives up his post meaning to study the book, but his wife has already burned it and only a page or two remain; the Romance says that this is why the Blue Bag Book was not handed down to the world. Romance, Ch. 78 §16–19
Where the Romance differs
Why he was imprisoned: In Chapter 78 of the Romance, Cao Cao imprisons Hua Tuo, suspecting that in proposing to split open his skull Hua Tuo means to kill him. In the passage on Hua Tuo in the Records, he was handed over to the prison when his excuse of his wife's illness for not returning proved to be a lie, and when Xun Yu asked that his life be spared, Taizu said, "Is the realm going to be short of rats like this?" and had him interrogated to death. Romance, Ch. 78 §14–16Records, Wei 29 §21–22
The book he left: In Chapter 78 of the Romance, Hua Tuo hands the Blue Bag Book to Jailer Wu, whose wife burns it. In the Records, before his death Hua Tuo offered a scroll to the prison clerk, but when the clerk, fearing the law, would not accept it, Hua Tuo asked for fire and burned it himself. Romance, Ch. 78 §16–18Records, Wei 29 §23
When he died: The Romance places Hua Tuo's death in the 1st month of the 25th year of Jian'an (220), just before Cao Cao's death. In the Records, after Hua Tuo's death Taizu regretted having killed him when his beloved son Cangshu fell gravely ill, and Cao Chong (Cangshu) died of illness in the 13th year of Jian'an (208). Romance, Ch. 78 §18 · 31Records, Wei 29 §23Records, Wei 20 §12
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.