Wang Guan 王瓘

In Chapter 114 of the Romance, when Sima Zhao murders Cao Mao and sets up Cao Huan as emperor, Jiang Wei rejoices that he now has yet another justification for attacking Wei. Jiang Wei raises 150,000 troops and arranges for Liao Hua to advance by the Ziwu Valley, Zhang Yi by the Luo Valley and himself by the Xie Valley, all to assemble before Mount Qi. When Deng Ai, hearing the report, confers with his generals, the Army Adviser Wang Guan writes down a secret plan and presents it, and to Deng Ai, who worries that it may not deceive Jiang Wei, he says that he will go and stake his life on it. Romance, Ch. 114 §23–25

Given 5,000 troops, Wang Guan marches through the night toward the Xie Valley, and when he runs into Shu scouting cavalry he calls out that they are Wei troops come to surrender. Prostrating himself before Jiang Wei, Wang Guan says that he is Wang Jing's nephew, and that, aggrieved that Sima Zhao murdered his sovereign and put his uncle's entire household to death, he has brought the 5,000 troops of his own command to surrender. When Jiang Wei, greatly pleased, tells him to bring the several thousand grain carts at Chuankou to Mount Qi, Wang Guan, thinking that Jiang Wei has fallen for the stratagem, secretly rejoices and accepts the order. When Jiang Wei further says that he should take only 3,000 men and leave 2,000 behind to serve as guides, Wang Guan, afraid of arousing suspicion, sets off with the 3,000 troops. Romance, Ch. 114 §26–29

Xiahou Ba is suspicious, saying that while he was in Wei he never heard that Wang Guan was Wang Jing's nephew, and Jiang Wei replies that since Sima Zhao had exterminated Wang Jing's three sets of kin, he would hardly have spared Wang Jing's own nephew and let him command troops, so he knew it was a ruse and divided Wang Guan's forces. Within ten days Jiang Wei's ambushing troops capture a man carrying a letter from Wang Guan to Deng Ai. The letter said that on the 20th day of the 8th month Wang Guan would transport the grain by a byway, and that Deng Ai should meet him in the Tanshan Valley. Jiang Wei kills the messenger and changes the date to the 15th day of the 8th month so that Deng Ai will come in person at the head of a large army; then he has several hundred grain carts loaded with dry firewood and thatch instead of rice and covered with blue cloth, and has Fu Qian lead the 2,000 Wei troops who had surrendered and carry banners for transporting grain. Romance, Ch. 114 §29–31

On the 15th day of the 8th month Deng Ai comes to the Tanshan Valley with 50,000 picked troops, and when he hears the report that General Wang, crossing the border with the grain, is being pursued, he urges his troops on. But Fu Qian's troops burst out from behind the woods and Shu troops pour out on all sides, and Deng Ai abandons his armor and helmet and even the horse he was riding, and flees on foot. Meanwhile Wang Guan, having made the grain and carts ready and waiting only for the moment, receives reports that the plan has leaked and General Deng has been badly defeated, and that there is no way out on any side. Romance, Ch. 114 §32–36

Wang Guan has the grain, fodder and carts all burned, and shouting to his men to fight to the death, breaks out to the west. Jiang Wei assumes he is trying to return to Wei, but Wang Guan instead breaks into Hanzhong, and fearing that the pursuing troops will catch up with him, burns all the plank roads, passes and strongholds. Afraid of losing Hanzhong, Jiang Wei does not pursue Deng Ai but chases Wang Guan through the night by byways, and Wang Guan, attacked by Shu troops on all sides, throws himself into the Heilong River and dies. Jiang Wei buries all the remaining troops alive in pits, and although he has defeated Deng Ai, having lost the grain carts and with the plank roads destroyed as well, he returns to Hanzhong. Romance, Ch. 114 §37–38