Yueji 越吉

In Chapter 94 of the Romance, Guo Huai tells Cao Zhen that the people of the Western Qiang have paid tribute every year since the time of the Grand Progenitor, and that if they send a man by a side road to ask for help and promise a marriage alliance, the Qiang will attack the Shu army from the rear. When the Wei envoy arrives with gold, pearls and a letter, Che Liji, King of the Western Qiang, following the advice of Chancellor Yadan, has Yadan and Marshal Yueji raise 150,000 Qiang troops. War carts sheathed in iron plates and studded with nails are loaded with provisions and weapons and drawn by camels or by mules and horses, and these were called the Iron Chariot Troops. Romance, Ch. 94 §1–3

When the two lead their army against Xiping Pass, Han Zhen, the Shu general guarding the pass, informs Zhuge Liang, and Zhuge Liang sends Ma Dai, who knows the nature of the Qiang well, as guide, together with Guan Xing and Zhang Bao and 50,000 picked troops. The next day, as the Shu army advances along three routes, Marshal Yueji gallops out before them with an iron hammer in his hand and a carved precious bow at his waist. The Qiang troops part to both sides, release the iron chariots from the center and loose their bows and crossbows all at once, so that the Shu army is badly defeated, and Guan Xing's force is driven into the northwest corner and surrounded. Romance, Ch. 94 §4–7

As Guan Xing, unable to break out of the encirclement, flees into a mountain valley in search of a way out, toward dusk Yueji appears with a band under black banners, holding his iron hammer and shouting, 'I am Marshal Yueji!' Blocked by a sheer-sided stream, Guan Xing turns his horse to fight but cannot hold his own and flees toward the stream, and the iron hammer Yueji brings down strikes his horse on the haunch, throwing Guan Xing into the water. Just then there is a crash, and Yueji, horse and all, inexplicably tumbles into the water; when Guan Xing raises his blade to cut him down, Yueji leaps across the water and flees. Guan Xing, mounting Yueji's horse, recognizes the great general who is driving off the Qiang troops as his father, Lord Guan. Romance, Ch. 94 §8–10

Zhuge Liang comes in person to Ma Dai's camp to observe the iron chariots, and saying that with dark clouds gathering and a fierce north wind it will soon snow, he places Guan Xing and Zhang Bao in ambush and has Jiang Wei go out to fight and then fall back. When heavy snow falls at the end of the twelfth month, Yueji leads the Iron Chariot Troops in pursuit of Jiang Wei up to the outside of the camp, but on hearing that the sound of a zither is coming from inside and only banners are set up there, he grows suspicious and does not dare advance rashly. When Yadan says it is only Zhuge Liang's ruse of sham troops, Yueji storms into the camp, and on seeing Zhuge Liang riding his carriage into the woods and Jiang Wei's troops fleeing across the snow, he flies into a rage and urges his troops on in hot pursuit. Romance, Ch. 94 §12–17

On the mountain road, which looks flat under its covering of snow, the Qiang troops all fall into pits and trenches, and the iron chariots, sliding in fast, cannot stop and trample one another. With Guan Xing and Zhang Bao loosing ten thousand crossbows from left and right and Jiang Wei, Ma Dai and Zhang Yi charging in from behind, the Iron Chariot Troops are thrown into chaos. Marshal Yueji, fleeing into a mountain valley to the rear, runs into Guan Xing and in a single bout is cut down from his horse by his blade and killed, while Chancellor Yadan is captured alive by Ma Dai. Zhuge Liang releases Yadan and returns to him all the captured Qiang troops along with the carts, horses and weapons. Romance, Ch. 94 §17–20