Fei Yao

Historical Record

The name Fei Yao is not found in the official histories such as the Records of the Three Kingdoms. In the verifiable historical documents there is no clear record of his life, offices, or deeds. Everything concerning Fei Yao, therefore, was bestowed by later literary works rather than grounded in historical fact.

In the Novel

In the great literary work the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Fei Yao appears as a member of the Cao Wei camp; his image is drawn rather vividly, but his end is quite tragic. He first appears in Chapter 97 of the novel. At that time Cao Zhen, resentful that his earlier merit had been taken from him by Sima Yi, personally deployed the defenses at Luokou and assigned Guo Huai and Sun Li to guard the key positions. When Chencang Pass was in peril, Cao Zhen dispatched Wang Shuang to its relief and was greatly pleased when Wang Shuang won merit by slaying an enemy general. Against this background, Fei Yao was appointed Grand Commander of the Central Protective Army and, acting concurrently as overall commander of the vanguard, was charged with leading the generals to guard Yikou^[1].

Fei Yao's tragic fate began with Jiang Wei's feigned surrender. Though Cao Zhen, on Fei Yao's remonstrance, harbored some doubt about Jiang Wei's coming over, he was in the end deceived by Jiang Wei's secret letter and failed to fully heed Fei Yao's cautious counsel. The cleverness of Jiang Wei's scheme lay in his exploiting Cao Zhen's eagerness to win merit: through a trusted man he sent a secret letter falsely claiming he wished to surrender to Cao Wei and would serve as an inside agent^[1]. Cao Zhen believed it to be true and ordered Fei Yao to lead troops forward to receive him. But this was in fact a trap laid by Zhuge Liang and Jiang Wei. When Fei Yao led the Wei army deep into the Shu army's heartland, at a single command from Zhuge Liang, Ma Dai and Zhang Ni charged out from left and right, and the Wei army was caught off guard. Then Guan Xing and Zhang Bao struck from behind, while arrows and rolling stones fell like rain from the hills, and the Wei army was utterly defeated^[2].

On realizing he had fallen into the trap, Fei Yao gathered his remnant troops and retreated into a valley, his men and horses spent. But Guan Xing led fresh troops in close pursuit, and the Wei soldiers trampled one another in their rout, falling into the mountain ravines and dying beyond count. Fei Yao fled desperately for his life, only to run into Jiang Wei at a hillside pass. Facing Jiang Wei, Fei Yao flew into a rage, cursing him as a "faithless rebel" and bitterly lamenting his own misfortune in having fallen into his cunning trap^[2]. Jiang Wei mocked him in reply, saying that he had meant to capture Cao Zhen but had unexpectedly snared Fei Yao instead. He urged Fei Yao to dismount and surrender, but Fei Yao would rather die than yield; he spurred his horse to force a way out and tried to break free of the encirclement. Yet fire blazed to the heavens in the valley, with pursuing troops at his back; in despair, Fei Yao cut his own throat and died, and his subordinates all surrendered^[2]. Fei Yao's image in the novel became that of a tragic figure who lost his life through trusting a feigned surrender, and his death further set off the resourcefulness of Zhuge Liang and Jiang Wei.

Key Relationships

* Cao Zhen (serves): In the novel, Fei Yao is a subordinate general of Cao Zhen, acting on his orders. He once remonstrated with Cao Zhen to stay on guard against Jiang Wei's feigned surrender, but Cao Zhen failed to heed him fully in the end, plunging Fei Yao into a desperate plight^[1].
* Jiang Wei (dies_in): Fei Yao's final end was to die in Jiang Wei's feigned-surrender stratagem. Trapped in the snare Jiang Wei had laid, he cut his own throat in despair^[2] (unique to the novel).

Signature Scenes

* Remonstrating with Cao Zhen to hold the camp: At the outset of Jiang Wei's feigned surrender, Fei Yao raised doubts with Cao Zhen, urging him to act with caution and hold the camp against treachery. This reflects his character of harboring misgivings when facing events^[1] (unique to the novel).
* Falling into Jiang Wei's feigned-surrender stratagem: Fei Yao led troops forward to receive Jiang Wei, only to fall into the layered ambush set by Zhuge Liang and Jiang Wei. Encircled by the Shu army, the Wei force was utterly defeated, and only then did Fei Yao realize he had been ensnared^[2] (unique to the novel).
* Cursing Jiang Wei at the hillside pass and cutting his own throat: In the course of his rout, Fei Yao ran into Jiang Wei; he reviled Jiang Wei as faithless, and with no way out chose to cut his own throat and die, preserving his integrity^[2] (unique to the novel).