Zuo Xian 左咸

In Chapter 77 of the Romance, Sun Quan, following Lü Meng's plan, places Zhu Ran and Pan Zhang in ambush north of Maicheng and on a remote mountain byway at Linju. Guan Yu, left with only some three hundred men, sees that there are not many enemy troops outside the north gate and, with Guan Ping and Zhao Lei, breaks out through the north gate with some two hundred men, but, pursued by the ambushing forces of Zhu Ran and Pan Zhang, his horse is tripped by hooks and snares at Jueshi and he is captured by Pan Zhang's subordinate general Ma Zhong; Guan Ping, his strength spent, is captured as well. Romance, Ch. 77 §1–4 · 6–9

At daybreak Sun Quan gathers his generals in his tent and asks Guan Yu, whom Ma Zhong has brought in, whether he will now submit. Guan Yu reviles Sun Quan as a green-eyed brat and a purple-bearded rat, and says that having fallen into a treacherous trap he has nothing left but death. When Sun Quan turns to his officials and says that Guan Yu is a hero of the age whom he deeply admires, and that he would like to treat him with courtesy and urge him to submit, the Registrar Zuo Xian steps forward and says that this must not be done. Romance, Ch. 77 §10–12

Zuo Xian says that in former days, when Cao Cao obtained this man, he enfeoffed him as a marquis and granted him rank, held a small banquet for him every three days and a great banquet every five, and gave him an ingot of gold when he mounted his horse and an ingot of silver when he dismounted. Yet for all that kindness and courtesy, Cao Cao could not keep him in the end and let him go, cutting through passes and slaying generals, so that now Cao Cao was instead hard pressed by him and nearly moved the capital to escape his blade. Since Guan Yu has already been captured, Zuo Xian says, he fears that if Guan Yu is not done away with at once, he will be the root of disaster in days to come. Romance, Ch. 77 §12–13

After long and careful thought, Sun Quan says that these words are right and orders Guan Yu taken out, and Guan Yu and his son are both put to death. The Romance dates this to the 12th month, winter, of the 24th year of Jian'an (early 220), and gives Guan Yu's age as fifty-eight. In the Romance, this passage is the only place where Zuo Xian's name appears. Romance, Ch. 77 §13 · 12