47 Guan Yu

A Military Sage in History

Guan Yu, people in centuries usually revered him and called him “Lord Guan”, “Sage Guan” or “God Guan”. In ancient China, there were Guan Yu’s temples in all big and small-sized cities, and commemorating rituals were held in spring and autumn. So, Guan Yu’s reputation could match that of Confucius, with one the civil sage, and the other military sage.

Guan Yu, as mentioned in previous piece, was Liu Bei’s sworn brother, and a super military general of State Shu. Guan’s high reputation derived from not only his super martial strength, or the story of “three heroes swore in peach garden”, but mainly from that he performed as a role model of “Yi” (loyalty and righteousness), one of essential virtues of Chinese traditional culture. In the early days, Liu Bei’s small army was repeatedly beaten by enemies, and had once been totally destroyed by Cao Cao’s troops. In the mass stampeding, Liu Bei himself lost his whereabouts, and Guan Yu, due to escorting Liu’s two wives, became a prisoner of war. As Cao Cao loved Guan’s talent and sought Guan could be his ally. Cao treated Guan as a most distinguished guest, throwing small banquet every three days, big banquet every five days. For the moment, Cao Cao had proved to be the most powerful warlord, while Liu Bei’s prospect remained dim and grim. But Guan Yu strictly safeguarded Liu’s two wives every night by sitting outside the bedroom handling a candle and reading books. Months later, when Guan Yu heard Liu’s whereabouts, he went away immediately with carrying Liu’s wives and without saying a word to Cao Cao. He broke through Cao’s five stronghold cities and killed Cao’s six garrison generals, a story popularly known as “broke five passes and killed six generals”.

But Guan Yu had later returned a favor to Cao Cao, also out of “Yi”. When Cao Cao was defeated in the Chi Bi War, his fatigued remaining force escaped to a narrow mountainous path where Guan Yu waited for them. It was a sure thing Guan could easily capture Cao. (Zhuge Liang intentionally gave Guan Yu the chance to reward Cao, as Zhuge knew this was not the right time for Cao’s death.) Guan Yu recalled the friendship between Cao and himself, and finally let Cao go.