Three Kingdoms games · Master Archer
Zhao Yun Cuts the Halyard
Winter 208, the eve of Red Cliffs, and the southeast wind has risen. Zhou Yu fears Zhuge Liang will one day be Wu's undoing, and sends Ding Feng and Xu Sheng to seize him at the Seven Stars Altar on Mount Nanping. Kongming is already aboard and away, and Xu Sheng crowds on full sail after him. Zhao Yun stands at the stern, sent to bring the strategist back. He will not kill a man; he means only to cut the halyard on Xu Sheng's boat. You loose the arrow.
50 paces across the water (about 69 m)
Zhao Yun Cuts the Halyard
Fifty paces over the river, a rolling deck and a full sail: cut the halyard, spare Xu Sheng
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.
- Zhou Yu's orders
Records of the Three Kingdoms
Not recorded
Romance of the Three Kingdoms
「徐盛從江內去，丁奉從旱路去，都到南屏山七星壇前。休問長短，拏住諸葛亮便行斬首」
Xu Sheng by the river, Ding Feng by land, both to the Seven Stars Altar on Mount Nanping. Ask no questions: seize Zhuge Liang and behead him
Romance, ch. 49
- The southeast wind
Records of the Three Kingdoms
「時東南風急」
At that time the southeast wind was blowing hard
Records, vol. 54
Romance of the Three Kingdoms
「霎時間東南風大起」
In a moment the southeast wind rose strong
Romance, ch. 49
- Why Zhao Yun was there
Records of the Three Kingdoms
Not recorded
Romance of the Three Kingdoms
「預先教趙子龍來相接」
I had Zhao Zilong come to meet me beforehand
Romance, ch. 49
- The shot
Records of the Three Kingdoms
Not recorded
Romance of the Three Kingdoms
「箭到處，射斷徐盛船上篷索。」
Where the arrow struck, it cut the halyard on Xu Sheng's boat.
Romance, ch. 49
- Why not the man
Records of the Three Kingdoms
Not recorded
Romance of the Three Kingdoms
「本待一箭射死你來，顯得失了兩家和氣。」
I meant to shoot you dead with one arrow, but that would spoil the peace between our two houses.
Romance, ch. 49
- Did it happen?Scholarship
- The prayer for wind at the Seven Stars Altar, the pursuit by Xu Sheng and Ding Feng, and Zhao Yun's arrow through the halyard are the novel's; the Records do not tell of them. The history says that on the day of battle at Red Cliffs "the southeast wind was blowing hard" (Records, Biography of Zhou Yu, citing the Jiangbiao zhuan in the commentary), and Huang Gai sent his fire ships before it. Xu Sheng and Ding Feng were real Wu officers, and Zhao Yun was then with Liu Bei's army.