Novel scene
Huang Zhong Seizes Mount Tiandang 老黃忠計奪天蕩山
About this event
"Huang Zhong Seizes Mount Tiandang" is the latter scene of Chapter 70 of the Romance, whose chapter title reads "Fierce Zhang Fei Takes Wakou Pass by Wit; Old Huang Zhong Seizes Mount Tiandang by a Ruse," and a passage of the Hanzhong Campaign. When Zhang He attacks Jiameng Pass, Zhuge Liang sends Huang Zhong and Yan Yan, who are doubted on account of their age; Huang Zhong loses again and again to make the enemy arrogant, then retakes his camps at night, and together with Yan Yan seizes Mount Tiandang, where Cao Cao's provisions are stored. Romance, Ch. 70 §23–27 · 35–38 · 44–47
Chen Shou's text has no such scene. The biography of Huang Zhong in the Biographies of Guan, Zhang, Ma, Huang and Zhao in Records of Shu 6 merely records that in the 24th year of Jian'an (219) he attacked Xiahou Yuan at Mount Dingjun in Hanzhong and cut him down in a single battle; the fighting at Mount Tiandang and Jiameng Pass does not appear. Records, Shu 6 §35–36
In the Romance
In Chapter 70 of the Romance, when Zhang He attacks Jiameng Pass, held by Meng Da and Huo Jun, Meng Da goes out to fight and is badly defeated, and Huo Jun sends an urgent report to Chengdu. When Zhuge Liang says that only by calling Zhang Fei from Langzhong can Zhang He be driven back, the veteran general Huang Zhong steps forward and says he will bring back Zhang He's head. Told that he is nearly seventy, Huang Zhong whirls his great blade and draws two strong bows until they snap, and asks for the veteran general Yan Yan as his lieutenant. When Zhao Yun remonstrates against entrusting a great enemy to two old generals, Zhuge Liang says that Hanzhong will surely be won at the hands of these two men. Romance, Ch. 70 §23–27
When Meng Da and Huo Jun at the pass also scoff that only two old men have been sent, Huang Zhong, resolving to silence everyone by winning merit, fights Zhang He, and Yan Yan attacks his rear by a byway, driving Zhang He back eighty or ninety li. Cao Hong, following Guo Huai's advice, gives 5,000 men to Xiahou Shang and to Han Hao, younger brother of Han Xuan, to help, and Han Hao vows revenge, saying that Huang Zhong and Wei Yan surrendered the city of Changsha and brought about his elder brother's death. Yan Yan proposes seizing Mount Tiandang, where Cao Cao has stored his provisions and fodder, and, receiving Huang Zhong's plan, sets out first. Romance, Ch. 70 §27–32
Huang Zhong loses again and again to Xiahou Shang and Han Hao, gives up his camps and falls back to the top of the pass. Zhang He warns that there is a trick, but Xiahou Shang rebukes him and sends him away. When Liu Bei is worried, Zhuge Liang says it is the veteran general's plan to make the enemy arrogant, and Huang Zhong laughs to Liu Feng, who has come to help, that he has merely lent the camps to the enemy to store his baggage. That night at the second watch Huang Zhong comes down from the pass with 5,000 men, falls on the enemy and by daybreak has taken three camps. Romance, Ch. 70 §33–38
Zhang He goes with Xiahou Shang and Han Hao to Mount Tiandang, held by Xiahou De. Xiahou De, scorning Huang Zhong as relying only on courage, divides his troops and sends Han Hao out, and Huang Zhong, rejecting Liu Feng's suggestion to rest because the sun has set, advances and cuts down Han Hao in a single bout. Then Yan Yan, lying in ambush behind the mountain, sets fire to the stored firewood and grass and cuts down Xiahou De when he comes to put out the fire, so Zhang He and Xiahou Shang abandon Mount Tiandang and flee to Xiahou Yuan at Mount Dingjun. At news of the victory Fa Zheng urges seizing the moment to attack Hanzhong, and the Romance gives the time when Liu Bei resolves to take Hanzhong as the 7th month, autumn, of the 23rd year of Jian'an (218). Romance, Ch. 70 §40–48
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.