Novel scene
Pang De Brings His Coffin to Fight to the Death 龐令明抬櫬決死戰
About this event
"Pang De Brings His Coffin to Fight to the Death" is the former scene of the title of Chapter 74 of the Romance, "Pang Lingming Carries His Coffin Out to Fight to the Death; Lord Guan Unleashes the Waters to Drown the Seven Armies." Pang De, made vanguard of Yu Jin's force going to relieve Fancheng, is suspected because of his former lord Ma Chao and his elder brother, so he has a wooden coffin made and carried out with him, fights Guan Yu for more than a hundred bouts, and, feigning flight, hits Guan Yu in the left arm with an arrow. This scene is one passage of the Battle of Fancheng. Romance, Ch. 74 §1–7 · 14 · 18–19
In Chen Shou's text, Pang De's biography in Records of Wei 18 records this affair. When the generals below Fancheng suspected Pang De because his elder brother was in Hanzhong, Pang De said that if he did not kill Guan Yu that year, Guan Yu would kill him, and he engaged Guan Yu in person and shot him in the forehead. Records, Wei 18 §71
In the Romance
In Chapter 74 of the Romance, Cao Cao makes Yu Jin General Who Conquers the South and Pang De, who has volunteered to lead the vanguard, Chief Vanguard for the Western Campaign, and sends the Seven Armies to Fancheng. When Dong Heng, an officer of the Seven Armies, asks for him to be replaced, saying that Pang De was once Ma Chao's lieutenant and that his own elder brother Pang Rou holds office in Xichuan, Cao Cao takes back Pang De's vanguard seal. Pang De knocks his head on the ground until blood flows and declares that he once killed his unworthy sister-in-law while drunk, so that his ties with his brother are broken, and that his old bond with Ma Chao is broken too; Cao Cao raises him up and comforts him. Romance, Ch. 74 §1–5
Pang De has a wooden coffin made and set before his relatives and friends, and shows his resolve not to come back empty-handed, saying that if he cannot kill Guan Yu he will be killed by him, and that even if he is not killed he will take his own life. When he entrusts his affairs to his wife Lady Li and his son Pang Hui and sets out with the coffin carried before him, Cao Cao, having heard Jia Xu's concern, warns him not to take Guan Yu lightly, but Pang De says that he will break Guan Yu's thirty years of renown. Romance, Ch. 74 §5–9
Guan Yu, enraged, wants to go out in person; Guan Ping goes out first and fights Pang De for thirty bouts without either gaining the upper hand. Guan Yu then goes out in person and fights Pang De for more than a hundred bouts, and after both sides sound the gongs and withdraw, Pang De says that only today does he believe what people say of Lord Guan being a hero, and rejects Yu Jin's suggestion that he withdraw for a while. Romance, Ch. 74 §10–16
The next day, after some fifty bouts, Pang De pretends to flee trailing his blade and then shoots an arrow that hits Guan Yu in the left arm. Just as Pang De is about to give chase, Yu Jin, fearing that Pang De will win great merit, sounds the gongs to recall the troops, and afterwards, without heeding Pang De's proposal to attack the enemy camp, moves the Seven Armies into a mountain valley ten li north of Fancheng and places Pang De behind the valley. Romance, Ch. 74 §18–24
Where the Romance differs
The arrow: In Chapter 74 of the Romance, Pang De's arrow lodges in Guan Yu's left arm. Pang De's biography in the Records records that Pang De engaged Guan Yu and shot him in the forehead. Romance, Ch. 74 §19Records, Wei 18 §71
The coffin and the suspicion: In Chapter 74 of the Romance, Pang De goes out on campaign carrying a coffin after being suspected on the grounds that his own elder brother Pang Rou is in Xichuan. In Pang De's biography in the Records, Pang De was suspected by the generals below Fancheng because his elder brother was in Hanzhong, and he often said, "If I do not kill Guan Yu this year, Guan Yu will kill me"; there is no record of his carrying a coffin. Romance, Ch. 74 §2 · 5–7Records, Wei 18 §71
The site of the camp: In Chapter 74 of the Romance, Yu Jin, jealous of Pang De's merit, moves the Seven Armies to a place ten li north of Fancheng. In Pang De's biography in the Records, it was Cao Ren who had Pang De station himself ten li north of Fancheng. Romance, Ch. 74 §23–24Records, Wei 18 §72
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.