Meng Huo 孟獲

In Chapter 85 of the Romance, Sima Yi proposes to Cao Pi an attack on Shu along five routes, including sending an envoy to the Southern Man to have the King of the Man, Meng Huo, raise 100,000 troops and attack the four commanderies of Yizhou, Yongchang, Zangke and Yuexi. Meng Huo invades the four commanderies but is pushed back by Wei Yan's stratagem of decoy troops and returns to his caves (Chapter 86). In Chapter 87, when urgent news arrives that in the 3rd year of Jianxing Meng Huo has invaded the border with 100,000 Man troops and that Yong Kai, Administrator of Jianning, has joined him in rebellion, Zhuge Liang sets out in person on the southern campaign. Romance, Ch. 85 §31–32 · 44Romance, Ch. 86 §4Romance, Ch. 87 §2–3

Meng Huo sends the marshals of three caves, Jinhuan Sanjie, Dongtuna and Ahuinan, along three routes, and when he has lost them all he takes the field himself, scorning the Shu formation; but while pursuing Wang Ping together with Mangyachang he has his retreat cut off by an ambush, is blocked by Zhao Yun, and is captured by Wei Yan in a mountain valley by Mount Jindai. When Zhuge Liang asks, 'The late emperor did not treat you meanly; how could you rebel?', Meng Huo retorts that the land of Liangchuan was seized by their master and that he has lived here for generations, and says that he was caught only by mistake because the mountains were remote and the paths narrow, and that he will submit if he is captured again. Zhuge Liang loosens his bonds and lets him go (Chapter 87). Romance, Ch. 87 §31–32 · 45–49 · 52–54

In Chapter 88 Meng Huo holds out behind earthen walls built on the south bank of the Lu River and drinks every day. Ma Dai crosses the river at Shakou and cuts the grain route at Jiashan Gorge, and when Dongtuna, who withdrew without fighting Ma Dai, receives a hundred blows of the cudgel from Meng Huo, Dongtuna leads the chieftains into Meng Huo's tent, and the two generals guarding the tent bind the drunken Meng Huo and take him to the north bank of the Lu River, presenting him for the second time. Zhuge Liang shows him all around his camps and grain stores and then lets him go. Meng Huo has his younger brother Meng You bring gifts and feign surrender so as to strike from inside and outside together, but Meng You's party lie collapsed from drugged wine, and Meng Huo, in flight, boards a boat manned by Ma Dai's men disguised as Man soldiers and is captured for the third time. Romance, Ch. 88 §3–4 · 10–11 · 17–20 · 24–27 · 33–36

In Chapter 89 Meng Huo borrows hundreds of thousands of Liao tribesmen and comes to the Xi'er River, but pursuing Zhuge Liang, who has emptied his camps and withdrawn, he falls into a trap and is captured by Wei Yan for the fourth time. Released again, he follows Meng You's advice and takes refuge with King Duosi of Tulong Cave, relying on four poisonous springs, but Zhuge Liang saves his troops with the medicinal spring of the Hermit of Wan'an, who reveals himself to be Meng Huo's elder brother Meng Jie, and with newly dug wells. At a banquet Meng Huo is seized by the two sons of Yang Feng (楊鋒), chief of Yinye Cave, who had come to help him fight, and is presented for the fifth time. Romance, Ch. 88 §45Romance, Ch. 89 §3 · 8–13 · 15 · 17–22 · 32 · 38 · 42–43 · 45 · 47–51

In Chapter 90 his wife Lady Zhurong goes out and captures two Shu generals but is herself captured by Ma Dai, and the captives are exchanged; King Mulu, chief of Bana Cave, commands wild beasts but is beaten by Zhuge Liang's wooden beasts, and Yinkeng Cave is lost. His wife's brother, the Dailai Cave Chief, comes in pretending to present Meng Huo's clan in bonds, with knives hidden in their clothes, and all of them are seized — the sixth time. Meng Huo borrows the 30,000-strong Rattan Armor Army of Wutugu, lord of the Kingdom of Wuge, but they are burned to death in Panshe Valley, and Meng Huo, in flight, is captured by Ma Dai for the seventh time. Romance, Ch. 90 §12–14 · 18–19 · 23–26 · 27–29 · 31–33 · 35 · 51 · 54–55

When Zhuge Liang sends a man to release him yet again, Meng Huo says, 'Never since ancient times has anyone been captured seven times and released seven times,' and, together with his brothers, wife and children and clan, bares his upper body and kneels below the tent to apologize, saying, 'The people of the south will never rebel again.' Zhuge Liang makes him cave chief in perpetuity and returns all the land he had taken (Chapter 90). In Chapter 91 Meng Huo sees off the departing Zhuge Liang, and at Yongchang, receiving Zhuge Liang's charge to govern diligently and care well for the people, he parts from him in tears. Romance, Ch. 90 §60–62Romance, Ch. 91 §1 · 10