Xini 奚泥

In Chapter 90 of the Romance, Meng Huo, captured by Kongming and released once more, gathered more than a thousand defeated troops, most of them wounded, but since his cave stronghold had already been occupied by the Shu army, he consulted the Dailai Cave Chief about where to take refuge. The Dailai Cave Chief named the Kingdom of Wuge, 700 li to the southeast, and said that its lord Wutugu was one zhang and two chi tall and had scales on his body that neither blade nor arrow could penetrate, and that his soldiers wore armor of rattan soaked in oil and dried more than ten times over and were called the Rattan Armor troops. Romance, Ch. 90 §30–32

When Meng Huo went to the Kingdom of Wuge, bowed again and again before Wutugu and lamented all that had happened, Wutugu promised to raise the troops of his cave and avenge him. Wutugu summoned two troop-leading chieftains: one was Tu'an and the other was Xini. The 30,000 troops, all in rattan armor, left the Kingdom of Wuge and marched northeast, and on reaching the Peach Blossom River, whose water killed people of other lands who drank it but doubled the vigor of the people of Wuge alone, they pitched camp at Peach Blossom Ford and waited for the Shu army. Romance, Ch. 90 §33–34

Hearing the news, Kongming advanced as far as Peach Blossom Ford, but on being told that it was the season when the peach leaves fell and the water could not be drunk, he withdrew 5 li and pitched camp. The next day, against the Rattan Armor troops who crossed the river, neither crossbow bolts nor blades and spears could get through, and Wei Yan's troops were all defeated and fled. Lü Kai urged turning the army back and returning early, but Kongming laughed and said he had a separate plan for pacifying the Man, and he ordered Wei Yan, when the barbarian troops crossed the water, to flee toward wherever the white banners stood, losing fifteen battles in a row and abandoning seven camps within half a month. Romance, Ch. 90 §35–38 · 41–42

Meng Huo warned that Zhuge Liang would in the end resort to ambushes and that they must not advance rashly into places thick with trees, and Wutugu said he would fight in front while Meng Huo instructed and directed from behind. When word came that the Shu army had pitched camp on the north bank of Peach Blossom Ford, Wutugu at once sent the two chieftains to lead the Rattan Armor troops across the river to fight; Wei Yan fled after only a few bouts, but the barbarian troops, fearing an ambush, did not pursue. The next day the barbarian troops crossed the river again, chased the fleeing Wei Yan more than 10 li and stayed in the Shu camp, and the day after that, when the two chieftains invited Wutugu to the camp and reported this, Wutugu at once led his army forward in force. Romance, Ch. 90 §43–45

While Wei Yan, fighting and fleeing by turns, lost fifteen battles and abandoned seven camps, Wutugu would not advance wherever flags could be seen among thick woods. When Wutugu said that things were just as the Great King had foreseen, Meng Huo laughed loudly and said that Zhuge Liang's schemes were already exhausted. On the sixteenth day Wutugu and the 30,000 Rattan Armor troops pursued Wei Yan into Panshe Valley, where there was neither grass nor tree; with the mouth of the valley blocked by logs, stones and dry firewood, the fuses buried in the ground caught fire, and they were burned to death inside the valley, clinging to one another. In this passage the Romance does not mention Xini by name. Kongming later said that wiping out the people of the Kingdom of Wuge so that not even their seed remained was his own great crime. Romance, Ch. 90 §47–51 · 59