Novel scene
Zhuge Liang Burns Xinye 諸葛亮火燒新野
About this event
This is the scene of "Zhuge Liang Burns Xinye" in the title of Chapter 40 of the Romance: after Liu Cong surrendered Jing Province to Cao Cao and the great armies of Cao Ren and Cao Hong pressed on Xinye, Zhuge Liang moved the people to Fancheng, set fire to the empty city of Xinye and then released the waters of the Bai River to rout Cao Ren's army. The Romance portrays this battle as the second fire, following the one that burned Xiahou Dun at Bowang. Romance, Ch. 40 §32–46Romance, Ch. 41 §1–2
Chen Shou's text has no such scene. The Biography of the First Sovereign in Records of Shu 2 records that when Liu Cong sent an envoy asking to surrender, Liu Bei was stationed at Fan and did not know that Lord Cao had suddenly arrived, learning of it only when Lord Cao reached Wan, whereupon he left with his followers. Records, Shu 2 §20
In the Romance
In Chapter 40 of the Romance, on hearing that Cao Cao's army had already reached Bowang, Zhuge Liang decided that Xinye could not be held and that they would move to Fancheng; he had notices posted at the four gates so that all the people who wished to follow would be taken along, and had Sun Qian and Mi Zhu ferry the people and the officials' families across. He had Guan Yu take 1,000 troops to the upper reaches of the Bai River and dam the water with cloth sacks filled with sand, had Zhang Fei lie in ambush at the Boling ford, and had Zhao Yun lie in ambush outside the four gates with 3,000 troops and hide sulfur and saltpeter on the roofs inside the city. He had Mi Fang and Liu Feng, holding red and blue flags at Quewei Slope, split to the left and right to make the enemy suspicious. Romance, Ch. 40 §32–37
Xu Chu, clearing the road with 3,000 armored troops ahead of the 100,000 men led by Cao Ren and Cao Hong, hesitated on seeing the flags at Quewei Slope, and then, enraged at the sight of Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang sitting face to face drinking wine on the hilltop, was stopped by logs and stones rolled down on him. As night fell, Cao Ren's army entered the empty city of Xinye, whose four gates stood wide open, and cooked and rested in the people's houses, but after the first watch a fierce wind rose, fires broke out at the west, south and north gates, and the whole city was engulfed in flames. Romance, Ch. 40 §37–42
Cao Ren escaped through the east gate, where there was no fire, only to be pursued by Zhao Yun and Liu Feng, and at the fourth watch the soldiers drinking from the Bai River were swept away by the water Guan Yu released, many of them drowning. At the Boling ford Zhang Fei blocked the road and clashed with Xu Chu. Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang crossed the river to Fancheng in boats prepared by Liu Feng and Mi Fang and burned the boats and rafts, and Cao Ren gathered his remaining troops and stayed at Xinye, sending Cao Hong to report the defeat to Cao Cao. Romance, Ch. 40 §43–46Romance, Ch. 41 §1–2
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.