Hu Ban 胡班

In Chapter 27 of the Romance, Guan Yu, escorting his two sisters-in-law on the road, stops for the night at a farmstead in a village as the day grows late. The master of the farmstead, Hu Hua, whose hair and beard have turned white, welcomes him, asking whether he is the Lord Guan who slew Yan Liang and Wen Chou; he says that he served as Consultant under Emperor Huan but retired from office and returned to his home district, and that his young son Hu Ban is an Attendant Officer under Wang Zhi, Administrator of Xingyang, and asks Guan Yu to deliver a letter to his son if he passes that way. Guan Yu agrees, and the next day takes the letter and sets off. Romance, Ch. 27 §14–17

As Guan Yu, slaying the generals guarding the passes along the way, reaches Xingyang, Wang Zhi, who is related by marriage to Han Fu (韓福), Administrator of Luoyang, greets him with smiles and lodges him at the post station. That night Wang Zhi secretly summons his Attendant Officer Hu Ban and, saying that Guan Yu has betrayed the Chancellor and fled and has moreover killed an Administrator and the officers guarding the passes along the way, orders him to surround the post station with 1,000 troops and at the third watch set fire to it all at once, burning everyone inside to death no matter who they are. Hu Ban accepts the order, musters the troops, and has dry firewood and kindling carried over and piled up in front of the post station gate. Romance, Ch. 27 §21 · 33–36

Hu Ban has long heard the name of Guan Yunchang but does not know what he looks like, so he goes to the post station to steal a look. Seeing Guan Yu in the main hall by lamplight, stroking his beard with his left hand and leaning on a low table as he reads, he exclaims in spite of himself, 'Truly a man come down from Heaven!', and when asked who he is, he goes in, bows, and gives his name. Guan Yu asks whether he is not the son of Hu Hua who lives outside the walls of Xudu, and takes the letter out of his baggage and hands it to him; having read it through, Hu Ban sighs that he very nearly killed a loyal and worthy man by mistake. He then secretly tells Guan Yu that Wang Zhi has had the post station surrounded and means to set it on fire at the third watch, and that he himself will go ahead and open the city gate, urging Guan Yu to hurry out of the city. Romance, Ch. 27 §37–38

When Guan Yu, with his two sisters-in-law in the carriage, reaches the edge of the city, the gate is already open, and once Guan Yu is out of the city, Hu Ban goes back and sets the fire. Wang Zhi, coming in pursuit, is cut in two at the waist by Guan Yu's blade, and as Guan Yu goes on his way he is endlessly grateful to Hu Ban. Romance, Ch. 27 §39–40

In Chapter 73, when Guan Yu sets out with Liao Hua as vanguard and Guan Ping as deputy general, the Romance records that before this, Hu Ban, the son of Hu Hua, had come to Jing Province and surrendered to Guan Yu. Mindful of how Hu Ban once saved him, Guan Yu holds him in great affection and has him go with Fei Shi to Shu to see the King of Hanzhong and receive office. Fei Shi takes leave of Guan Yu and returns to Shu taking Hu Ban with him, and after this Hu Ban no longer appears in the Romance. Romance, Ch. 73 §36