Cui Liang 崔諒

In Chapter 92 of the Romance, Xiahou Mao, badly defeated by the combined attack of Zhao Yun, Guan Xing and Zhang Bao, flees to Nan'an Commandery and shuts the city gates fast, and Guan Xing, Zhang Bao, Zhao Yun and Deng Zhi besiege it for ten days without taking it. Zhuge Liang, arriving in person, says that his real business is not with this city and asks who the administrators of Tianshui Commandery to the west and Anding Commandery to the north are; told that the Administrator of Tianshui is Ma Zun and the Administrator of Anding is Cui Liang, he is overjoyed and sends off Wei Yan, Guan Xing, Zhang Bao and two of his trusted soldiers, each with a plan of his own. Romance, Ch. 92 §22–27

On hearing that the Shu army has surrounded Nan'an, Cui Liang is thrown into alarm and fear and holds his city with some 4,000 troops and horses. Then a man calling himself Pei Xu, a trusted general under Area Commander Xiahou, arrives and asks him to raise troops through the night and support the city from outside; asked whether he has a letter from the Area Commander, he produces one kept against his skin and soaked with sweat, lets him glance at it, and leaves for Tianshui. Before two days have passed a messenger arrives to report that the Administrator of Tianshui has already set out to the rescue, and when his officials say that if Nan'an is lost the blame will fall on the two commanderies, Cui Liang leaves only the civil officials to hold the city and sets out with his troops. Romance, Ch. 92 §28–30

With more than 50 li still to go before Nan'an, Guan Xing falls on him from the front and Zhang Bao from the rear, and the troops of Anding scatter; Cui Liang fights his way out by a side road with some hundred of his men and returns to Anding. But Wei Yan, who has tricked the gate open in the dead of night disguised as Anding troops, shouts from the wall that he has already taken the city. Heading for Tianshui Commandery, Cui Liang sees Zhuge Liang sitting upright in a carriage and turns to flee, but seeing Shu troops on every side, he has no choice but to surrender. Romance, Ch. 92 §31–33

Zhuge Liang treats him as an honored guest and asks whether he is on close terms with the Administrator of Nan'an, and Cui Liang answers that the man is Yang Ling, a younger clansman of Yang Fu, and that as their commanderies are neighbors the two are very close friends. Told to persuade Yang Ling to seize Xiahou Mao, Cui Liang asks that the troops be pulled back for a while, enters the city alone on horseback and tells Yang Ling the matter. Yang Ling says that having received great favor from the ruler of Wei he cannot turn against him, takes Cui Liang to Xiahou Mao, and proposes that they lure the Shu troops in on the pretext of surrendering the city gate and kill them inside the city. Romance, Ch. 92 §34–35

When Cui Liang comes out of the city and reports that Yang Ling will open the city gate, Zhuge Liang tells him to take Shu generals in with him, hidden among the hundred or so troops who surrendered with him. Cui Liang reckons to himself that he can take the Shu generals in, kill them first inside, then raise a fire as a signal to lure Zhuge Liang in and kill him, and agrees. At dusk Guan Xing and Zhang Bao, mingled among the Anding troops, follow Cui Liang to the foot of the wall of Nan'an, and Cui Liang shoots a signal arrow carrying a secret letter up onto the wall, telling them to deal with the two generals once they are inside the headquarters. Romance, Ch. 92 §36–39

But Yang Ling, who has come to the gate to receive them, is cut down by Guan Xing's blade, and Cui Liang, greatly alarmed, flees toward the drawbridge, where he is run through by Zhang Bao's spear and falls from his horse. Afterward, when Deng Zhi asks how he knew Cui Liang was false, Zhuge Liang answers that he knew the man had no intention of surrendering and deliberately sent him into the city, and that Cui Liang's readiness to go with the two generals came from fear of arousing suspicion; he also reveals that the Pei Xu who deceived Cui Liang was one of his own trusted men. Romance, Ch. 92 §40–43