Deng Mao 鄧茂

In Chapter 1 of the Romance, when an epidemic spreads in the first month of the 1st year of Zhongping (184), Zhang Jue cures the sick with water in which talismans have been burned and calls himself the Great Worthy and Good Teacher, and his followers grow day by day. When the plot is exposed, Zhang Jue raises troops overnight, and those who wrap their heads in yellow turbans and join his rebellion number four to five hundred thousand. When a band of Zhang Jue's followers invades the borders of You Province, Liu Yan, Administrator of You Province, follows the advice of Colonel Zou Jing and posts notices recruiting volunteer troops; prompted by that notice, Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei swear brotherhood in the peach garden, gather more than 500 young men of the district and go to see Zou Jing, who brings them to Liu Yan. Romance, Ch. 1 §8–9 · 11–13 · 21–22 · 24

Within a few days the Yellow Turban general Cheng Yuanzhi invades Zhuo Commandery with 50,000 troops, and Liu Yan has Zou Jing lead 500 troops together with the three men to attack the enemy. At the foot of Mount Daxing, Liu Bei and his companions meet the bandits, their hair loose and their foreheads bound with yellow turbans, and Liu Bei, with Guan Yu on his left and Zhang Fei on his right, rides out and rebukes them, telling the traitors who have rebelled against the state to surrender at once. Romance, Ch. 1 §25

Enraged, Cheng Yuanzhi sends his deputy general Deng Mao out to fight. Zhang Fei levels his eighteen-foot serpent spear and charges straight out, and with a single thrust Deng Mao is pierced through the chest and tumbles from his horse. When Cheng Yuanzhi, seeing Deng Mao fall, rushes at Zhang Fei brandishing his blade, Guan Yu swings his great blade and rides out to meet him, and before Cheng Yuanzhi can defend himself he is cut in two. The Romance celebrates the first battle of the two men, one testing his spear and the other his blade, with a poem by a later writer. Romance, Ch. 1 §26–27

Seeing Cheng Yuanzhi cut down, the bandits all reverse their spears and flee, and when Liu Bei drives his troops in pursuit, those who surrender are beyond counting. Liu Yan comes out in person to greet Liu Bei and his companions on their return from this great victory, and rewards and comforts the soldiers. In the Romance Deng Mao never appears again after this first battle. Romance, Ch. 1 §28