Hao Pu 郝普

Hao Pu, courtesy name Zitai, was a native of Yiyang. When the First Sovereign Liu Bei entered Shu from Jing Province, he made Hao Pu Administrator of Lingling. Records, Shu 15 §82

When Liu Bei had pacified Shu, Sun Quan sent Zhuge Jin to ask for the return of the commanderies of Jing Province, but Liu Bei refused, saying that he would give all of Jing Province once he had pacified Liang Province (涼州). When Sun Quan installed senior officials in the three southern commanderies, Guan Yu drove them all out, and Sun Quan, enraged, put Lü Meng in command of 20,000 troops to seize the three commanderies of Changsha, Lingling and Guiyang. When Lü Meng sent proclamations to two of the commanderies, they all submitted at the sight of his momentum, but only Hao Pu, Administrator of Lingling, held his city and would not surrender. Records, Wu 2 §19–20Records, Wu 9 §69

Then Liu Bei came in person from Shu to Gong'an and sent Guan Yu to contest the three commanderies. Sun Quan, staying at Lukou, had Lu Su lead 10,000 men to station at Yiyang to resist Guan Yu, and urgently sent a letter telling Lü Meng to abandon Lingling and hurry back to help Lu Su. Records, Wu 9 §69Records, Wu 2 §20

Earlier, after pacifying Changsha and on his way to Lingling, Lü Meng had passed through Ling County and brought along in his carriage Deng Xuanzhi of Nanyang, an old friend of Hao Pu, intending to have him persuade Hao Pu. When he received the letter calling him back, Lü Meng kept it secret and at night summoned his generals and told them they would attack the city at dawn. He then told Deng Xuanzhi that Hao Zitai wished to do a loyal and righteous deed but did not understand the times: the General of the Left was surrounded by Xiahou Yuan in Hanzhong, and Guan Yu was in Nan Commandery facing His Supreme Majesty, so they had no strength to spare for this place. Records, Wu 9 §70–71

Lü Meng went on to say that if he attacked now the city would fall in less than a day, that even if Hao Pu died after the city fell it would do nothing for his cause, and that his hundred-year-old mother would be put to death with her white hair on her head. Hao Pu, he said, had heard no news from outside and was merely trusting in relief, so Deng Xuanzhi should meet him and explain what would bring disaster and what fortune. Records, Wu 9 §72–73

When Deng Xuanzhi met Hao Pu and conveyed Lü Meng's meaning in detail, Hao Pu was afraid and complied. Lü Meng had ordered four generals beforehand each to pick a hundred men and, as soon as Hao Pu came out, to go in and guard the city gate. When Hao Pu came out, Lü Meng took his hand and went down to the boat with him, and when they had finished talking he took out the letter and showed it to him, clapping his hands and laughing loudly. Seeing the letter, Hao Pu learned that Liu Bei was at Gong'an and Guan Yu at Yiyang, and was so ashamed and bitter that he wished to sink into the ground. Records, Wu 9 §74

Lü Meng left someone in charge of affairs and that same day hurried to Yiyang. Just then Cao Cao entered Hanzhong, and Liu Bei, fearing to lose Yi Province, asked for an alliance. Sun Quan thereupon sent Hao Pu and the others back and returned Lingling to Liu Bei, with the Xiang River as the border. Records, Wu 9 §75Records, Wu 2 §21

In his 'Encomia on the Supporting Ministers of Ji Han', Yang Xi of Shu grouped Mi Fang, Shi Ren, Hao Pu and Pan Jun together, saying that with no one to come to the rescue they turned their backs and fled, cutting themselves off from others and becoming the laughingstock of two states. Beneath this Chen Shou wrote that Hao Pu was deceived by the Wu general Lü Meng, opened the city gates and went over to Lü Meng, and rose to Commandant of Justice. Records, Shu 15 §81–83

In the 2nd year of Huanglong (230), Yin Fan of Qing Province came over to Wu. Because Yin Fan spoke much about penal law, Sun Quan made him Inspector under the Commandant of Justice; Zhu Ju, General of the Left, and Hao Pu, Commandant of Justice, praised Yin Fan as having the talent to assist a king, and Hao Pu was especially close to him and constantly lamented resentfully that he could not fulfill his ambitions. Later, when Yin Fan plotted rebellion and was executed after the plot was discovered, Hao Pu was reproached and killed himself. Zhu Ju was placed under restriction and released only after a long time. The Records do not give the year of Hao Pu's death. Records, Wu 17 §14 · 34 · 36

In his assessment in Lü Meng's biography, Chen Shou said that Lü Meng was brave and also resourceful, decisive and discerning in military planning, and that deceiving Hao Pu and capturing Guan Yu were the most brilliant of these. Records, Wu 9 §95