Fei Yao 費耀

In Chapter 97 of the Romance, Cao Zhen, hearing that Chencang is in danger, sends Wang Shuang to relieve it, and on hearing that Wang Shuang has cut down an enemy general and won merit, he places Fei Yao, Central Protector of the Army and senior general, temporarily in command of the vanguard. At this point a man captured in a mountain valley, claiming to be a trusted follower of Jiang Wei, presents a secret letter. It says that Jiang Wei, having fallen into Zhuge Liang's stratagem, ended up in Shu but has never for a day forgotten his old state, and that if the Commander-in-Chief comes in person with a great army and feigns defeat, Jiang Wei will raise a fire from the rear as a signal and burn the Shu army's grain and fodder. Romance, Ch. 97 §35–37

When Cao Zhen, overjoyed, consults him, Fei Yao worries that it may be a trick, saying that Zhuge Liang is full of schemes and Jiang Wei broad in wisdom, and that Zhuge Liang may have put him up to it. When Cao Zhen does not doubt it, saying that Jiang Wei was originally a man of Wei, Fei Yao tells him that the Commander-in-Chief should not go lightly but only hold the main camp firmly, and that he himself will lead a detachment to meet Jiang Wei: if it succeeds, all the credit will go to the Commander-in-Chief, and if there is treachery, he will bear it himself. Cao Zhen, overjoyed, has Fei Yao lead 50,000 troops and advance toward the Xie Valley. Romance, Ch. 97 §38–39

When Fei Yao urges his troops forward, the Shu army withdraws three times before engaging, dragging things out until about the shen hour of the next day. Just as the Wei troops, who have had no rest for a whole day and night, are about to cook a meal, the Shu army surges in from all sides, and Zhuge Liang, seated in a four-wheeled carriage, asks for the commander of the Wei army. Seeing Zhuge Liang, Fei Yao is secretly pleased and tells his men to fall back if the Shu army bears down on them, and to turn and attack when fire rises behind the hill. When Zhuge Liang tells him to summon Cao Zhen, Fei Yao reviles him, saying that Commander-in-Chief Cao is a branch of gold and leaf of jade and would never meet with a rebel. Romance, Ch. 97 §40–42

When Zhuge Liang waves his feather fan, Ma Dai and Zhang Ni charge out along two routes. Fei Yao, who has been falling back, takes the fire rising behind the Shu army to be the signal fire and turns to attack, but Guan Xing and Zhang Bao charge out, arrows and stones rain down from the hills, and the Wei army is heavily defeated. Fleeing into a mountain valley, Fei Yao runs into Jiang Wei and reviles him as a faithless rebel, and Jiang Wei laughs, saying that he had meant to capture Cao Zhen but had lured him out by mistake. As Fei Yao fights his way out and flees, flames shoot up at the mouth of the valley and pursuers arrive from behind, and he cuts his own throat and dies; the rest of his troops all surrender. Hearing that he has lost Fei Yao, Cao Zhen regrets it, but it is already too late. Romance, Ch. 97 §42–44 · 46