Novel scene
Gan Ning Raids the Wei Camp with a Hundred Riders 甘寧百騎劫魏營
About this event
This is the scene from the chapter title of Chapter 68 of the Romance, "Gan Ning Raids the Wei Camp with a Hundred Horsemen," a passage of the Battle of Ruxu. When Cao Cao arrives at Ruxukou with a great army, Gan Ning, taking only a hundred horsemen, charges into Cao Cao's camp at night, throws it into turmoil and returns without losing a single man, and the next day he shoots Yue Jin and saves Ling Tong, with whom he had been on bad terms. Romance, Ch. 68 §1–13
Chen Shou's text records in the biography of Gan Ning in Records of Wu 10 that Gan Ning led a hundred-odd men in a night attack on Cao Cao's forward camp. Records, Wu 10 §62–63
In the Romance
In Chapter 68 of the Romance, when word comes that Cao Cao is coming from Hanzhong with 400,000 men and Sun Quan looks for someone to blunt his momentum first, Ling Tong says 3,000 men will do and Gan Ning says a hundred horsemen are enough, and they quarrel. When Ling Tong, going out first, fights Zhang Liao for fifty bouts and returns, Gan Ning says he will attack Cao Cao's camp tonight with a hundred men, and that if he loses even one man it should not count as a merit. Romance, Ch. 68 §1–3
Receiving a hundred picked horsemen chosen by Sun Quan along with wine and meat, Gan Ning drinks two silver bowls of wine and offers it to his men, and when they hesitate he draws his sword and rebukes them: if even he, the senior general, does not grudge his life, why should they hesitate? At the second watch the hundred horsemen, with white goose feathers stuck in their helmets, pull up the deer-antler barricades and charge into the camp aiming for the central command, but when they are blocked by a wall of carts they storm through the camp and break out by the south gate. To Gan Ning, who returns without losing a single man or horse, Sun Quan says, "If Mengde has Zhang Liao, I have Gan Xingba." Romance, Ch. 68 §4–10
The next day Ling Tong fights Yue Jin for fifty bouts, but his horse is hit by an arrow secretly shot by Cao Xiu, Ling Tong falls, and Yue Jin is about to spear him. At that moment an arrow shot by Gan Ning strikes Yue Jin in the face and Ling Tong's life is saved; Ling Tong kowtows and bows to Gan Ning, and from then on they become friends sworn to share life and death. Romance, Ch. 68 §11–13
Where the Romance differs
The night raid of a hundred men: In Chapter 68 of the Romance, Gan Ning with a hundred horsemen charges as far as Cao Cao's central command and throws the camp into turmoil. In the biography of Gan Ning in the Records, Gan Ning, as Area Commander of the Vanguard, was ordered to attack the enemy's forward camp; he fed the rice and wine bestowed by Sun Quan to the hundred-odd men under him, and when his area commander prostrated himself and would not take the wine, he laid a blade across his knees and rebuked him. At the second watch they went out with gags in their mouths and attacked, the enemy fell back in alarm, and Gan Ning was given 2,000 more soldiers. Romance, Ch. 68 §4–7Records, Wu 10 §62–63
Yue Jin's wound: In the Romance, Gan Ning's arrow strikes Yue Jin in the face. The biography of Yue Jin in the Records records that Yue Jin followed Taizu on the campaign against Sun Quan, received the tally of authority, stayed at Hefei with Zhang Liao and Li Dian, and died in the 23rd year of Jian'an (218). There is no mention of his being hit by an arrow. Romance, Ch. 68 §12–13Records, Wei 17 §24
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.