Three Kingdoms games · Master Archer
Huang Zhong Shoots the Plume
209 AD. Guan Yu comes to take Changsha. The old general Huang Zhong rides out against him; his horse stumbles and throws him, and Guan Yu will not kill a fallen man, so he sends him off for a fresh horse. Next day Huang Zhong feigns flight and twice snaps an empty bowstring; twice Guan Yu ducks. At the drawbridge the third arrow is real. To repay the life he was given, he shoots only at the plume on Guan Yu's helmet. You loose the arrow.
60 paces from the drawbridge to Guan Yu (about 83 m)
Huang Zhong Shoots the Plume
Sixty paces from the drawbridge, Guan Yu at the gallop: hit the plume, spare the man
What the two books say
Records of the Three Kingdoms is history; Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a novel. They tell the same shot differently.
- The life spared
Records of the Three Kingdoms
Not recorded
Romance of the Three Kingdoms
「我且饒你性命！快換馬來廝殺！」
I'll spare your life for now! Go get another horse and fight!
Romance, ch. 53
- Two empty draws
Records of the Three Kingdoms
Not recorded
Romance of the Three Kingdoms
「把弓虛拽弦響」
drew the bow empty and let the string snap
Romance, ch. 53
- The third arrow
Records of the Three Kingdoms
Not recorded
Romance of the Three Kingdoms
「正射在雲長盔纓根上」
right at the root of the plume on Guan Yu's helmet
Romance, ch. 53
- Why only the plume
Records of the Three Kingdoms
Not recorded
Romance of the Three Kingdoms
「今日只射盔纓，正是報昨日不殺之恩也」
shooting only the plume today was his thanks for being spared yesterday
Romance, ch. 53
- How Changsha fell to Liu Bei
Records of the Three Kingdoms
「長沙太守韓玄、桂陽太守趙範、零陵太守劉度皆降」
Han Xuan, Governor of Changsha, Zhao Fan of Guiyang and Liu Du of Lingling all surrendered
Records, vol. 32
Romance of the Three Kingdoms
「韓玄殘暴不仁，輕賢慢士，當眾共殛之！」
Han Xuan is cruel and heartless and slights worthy men; let us all strike him down!
Romance, ch. 53
- Huang Zhong in the history
Records of the Three Kingdoms
「統屬長沙守韓玄。先主南定諸郡，忠遂委質」
He served under Han Xuan, Governor of Changsha. When Liu Bei took the southern commanderies, Huang Zhong submitted to him
Records, vol. 36
Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Not recorded
- Did it happen?Scholarship
- The fight between Guan Yu and Huang Zhong, the stumbling horse, the empty draws and the arrow in the plume are the novel's; the Records do not tell of them. The history says only that when Liu Bei took the four southern commanderies, Han Xuan of Changsha and the others surrendered, and Huang Zhong, then under Han Xuan, came over to Liu Bei.