Meng Huo was a local leader in the

Nanzhong Nanzhong () is the ancient name for a region in southwest China that covers parts of present-day Yunnan, Guizhou and southern Sichuan provinces. During the Three Kingdoms period (220–280) of China, the Nanzhong region was part of the territory ...

region in the state of

Shu Han Han (; 221–263), known in historiography as Shu Han ( ) or Ji Han ( "Junior Han"), or often shortened to Shu (; pinyin: ''shŭ'' <

Three Kingdoms The Three Kingdoms () from 220 to 280 AD was the tripartite division of China among the dynastic states of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu. The Three Kingdoms period was preceded by the Han dynasty#Eastern Han, Eastern Han dynasty and wa ...

period of China. He was popularly depicted as a local leader representing the gentries of the Nanzhong region, but some historians doubt his historical existence. Meng Huo's popular image comes from the 14th-century historical novel ''

Romance of the Three Kingdoms ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' () is a 14th-century historical novel attributed to Luo Guanzhong. It is set in the turbulent years towards the end of the Han dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period in Chinese history, starting in 184 AD and ...

'', which romanticises the events before and during the Three Kingdoms period. The novel portrays Meng Huo as a southern barbarian tribal leader. He also marries the fictional

Lady Zhurong Lady Zhurong, sometimes referred to as Madam Zhurong, is a fictional character in the 14th-century Chinese historical novel ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms''. She is the wife of the Nanman chieftain Meng Huo, who rules the lands in the Nanzhong r ...

, who claims descent from the fire deity

Zhurong Zhurong (), also known as Chongli (), is an important personage in Chinese mythology and Chinese folk religion. According to the '' Huainanzi'' and the philosophical texts of Mozi and his followers, Zhurong is a god of fire and of the south. Th ...

Historicity

The absurdity of Meng Huo being captured and released seven times led many to doubt the story, and even of Meng Huo's existence. The Republican-era historian Zhang Hualan (張華爛) wrote in his article "Discussion on Meng Huo" (孟獲辯) that Meng was a fictional character invented by later historians, noting that the name "Huo" (獲), which means "captured" in Chinese, is too coincidental considering Meng's fate on being captured – a view shared by many academics. Meng Huo and the record of his captures first appeared in the ''Spring and Autumn Annals of the Han and Jin Dynasties'', written by

Xi Zuochi Xi Zuochi (after 316 – 384), courtesy name Yanwei, was a Jin dynasty historian native to Xiangyang, Hubei. He is principally remembered for being the first historian to regard the Wei dynasty as an illegitimate successor to the Han dynasty. ...

in the

Eastern Jin dynasty Eastern may refer to: Transportation *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai * Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways * Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991 *Eastern Air ...

and were also detailed in the near-contemporary ''

Chronicles of Huayang The ''Chronicles of Huayang'' or ''Huayang Guo Zhi'' () is the oldest extant gazetteer of a region of China. It was compiled by Chang Qu during the Jin Dynasty. It contains roughly 110,000 characters. Its contents comprise history, geography and ...

''. The

Liu Song dynasty Song, known as Liu Song (), Former Song (前宋) or Song of (the) Southern Dynasty (南朝宋) in historiography, was an imperial dynasty of China and the first of the four Southern dynasties during the Northern and Southern dynasties period. ...

historian

Pei Songzhi Pei Songzhi (372–451), courtesy name Shiqi, was a Chinese historian and politician who lived in the late Eastern Jin dynasty and Liu Song dynasty. His ancestral home was in Wenxi County, Shanxi, but he moved to the Jiangnan region later. He i ...

, when compiling his annotated version of the ''

Records of the Three Kingdoms The ''Records or History of the Three Kingdoms'', also known by its Chinese name as the Sanguo Zhi, is a Chinese historical text which covers the history of the late Eastern Han dynasty (c. 184–220 AD) and the Three Kingdoms period (220– ...

'', found Xi's work unreliable at times. Pei did not specifically comment on Meng Huo's historicity, but pointed out elsewhere that Xi wrote history not found in earlier records, hence the historian Fang Guoyu (方國瑜) used Pei's doubts on Xi's unreliability to challenge the story of Meng Huo's seven captures. However, Fang did not go as far as to doubt Meng Huo's existence. Huang Chengzhong (黃承宗) of the Liangshan Yi Slave Society Museum believes Meng to be a real historical figure, though he is certain that the "seven times freed" story is fiction.

Sichuan University Sichuan University (SCU) is a National university, national National Key Universities, key public university, public research university in Chengdu, Sichuan, China. The university is wholly funded by Ministry of Education of the People's Republic ...

professor Miao Yue (繆鉞) contended Zhuge Liang would not be able to release the leader if the latter was indeed captured. Tan Liangxiao (譚良嘯), director of the Zhuge Liang Memorial Temple in

Chengdu Chengdu (, ; Simplified Chinese characters, simplified Chinese: 成都; pinyin: ''Chéngdū''; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively Romanization of Chi ...

, also stated the "seven times freed" story to be "strange and unbelievable", but like Fang and Huang, he believes Meng Huo did exist in history.

Life

When the Shu Han

emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

Liu Bei Liu Bei (, ; ; 161 – 10 June 223), courtesy name Xuande (), was a warlord in the late Eastern Han dynasty who founded the state of Shu Han in the Three Kingdoms period and became its first ruler. Although he was a distant relative of the H ...

died in 223 CE, the local people of Nanzhong rebelled against Shu Han, stating that there were three lords claiming to be the legitimate ruler of China and they no longer knew whom they should pledge allegiance to. In retaliation, the Shu Han

chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

Zhuge Liang Zhuge Liang ( zh, t=諸葛亮 / 诸葛亮) (181 – September 234), courtesy name Kongming, was a Chinese statesman and military strategist. He was chancellor and later regent of the state of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period. He is r ...

launched an invasion on the Nanzhong region and successfully quelled the uprising. At the beginning of the rebellion, when Yong Kai (雍闓) saw that many people were still indecisive about this course of action. He had Meng Huo from Jianning Commandery (建寧) sent to persuade the Sou (叟) and other tribes. Meng Huo proclaimed to all of them that the government was making excessive demands of resources such as woods (斲) that is difficult to acquire in large numbers. The people believed him and so they rejoined Yong Kai back. After Yong Kai's death, Meng Huo replaced him as the leader of the rebellion. During the summer, Zhuge Liang led his army and crossed the Lu River and advanced toward Yizhou Commandery (益州). He captured Meng Huo then had him brought into his camp and asked him what did he think of his army. Meng Huo answered to him "I have regrets for if I knew this earlier, I would have easily defeated you." Zhuge Liang thought that if he wanted to concentrate all his efforts in the campaigns to the north, he would have to find tricks and ways to subdue the tribes of Nanzhong since they were often in rebellion and causing chaos. So he forgave Meng Huo and had him sent back to his army. After this, the two armies fought each other seven times, Meng Huo was always captured by Zhuge Liang and he was always forgiven and released. All of this caused Meng Huo along with the tribal people and Han citizens to reconsider their rebellion and to sincerely submit. When Zhuge Liang saw Meng Huo arrived, he asked him what were his intentions. Meng Huo replied that he considered Zhuge Liang as the "scourge of Heaven" and never again would the people of the south dare to revolt. After those events, many talented people of the south joined the Shu Han government. Meng Huo was one of them and became a subordinate of Zhuge Liang later served as a minister in the imperial secretary.(亮收其俊傑建寧爨習，朱提孟琰及獲為官屬，習官至領軍，琰，輔漢將軍，獲，御史中丞。) ''Huayang Guo Zhi'' vol. 4.

In ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms''

:Extracts from the 14th-century historical novel ''

'' about Meng Huo: ;Chapter 87 * "In the third year of Jianxing, a bulletin came to

Yi Province Yizhou (益州), Yi Province or Yi Prefecture, was a '' zhou'' (province) of ancient China. Its capital city was Chengdu.de Crespigny, p. 256. During the Han dynasty, it included the commanderies Hanzhong, Ba, Guanghan, Shu, Wenshan, Jianwei, ...

announcing, "Meng Huo has led 100,000

Nanman The Man, commonly known as the Nanman or Southern Man (, ''lit. Southern Barbarians''), were ancient indigenous peoples who lived in inland South and Southwest China, mainly around the Yangtze River valley. In ancient Chinese sources, the term ...

tribesmen across our borders to plunder the villages."" * "Despite protest from Court Councillor Wang Lian,

leaves to lead 500,000 soldiers against the southern forces." * "The Shu forces were led by Zhuge Liang.

Zhao Yun Zhao Yun ( ) (died 229), courtesy name Zilong (), was a military general who lived during the late Eastern Han dynasty and early Three Kingdoms period of China. Originally a subordinate of the northern warlord Gongsun Zan, Zhao Yun later came ...

and

Wei Yan Wei Yan () (died October 234), courtesy name Wenchang, was a Chinese military general and politician of the state of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period of China. Originally a subordinate of the warlord Liu Bei in the late Eastern Han dy ...

were his generals, their lieutenants being Wang Ping and

Zhang Ni Zhang Ni (died 254), courtesy name Boqi, rendered also as Zhang Yi, was a military general of the state of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period of China. Famous for his courage and generosity, Zhang Ni made his name known while rescuing a m ...

." * "Meng Huo speaks to Zhuge Liang, "The whole of the riverlands once belonged to another. Your lord seized it by force and proclaimed himself emperor. My ancestors held these lands, which you have encroached upon so barbarically."" ;Chapter 88 * "Zhuge Liang captures and frees Meng Huo: "I can catch him again with ease whenever I choose to. But pacification of the south requires that we subdue the hearts of the Nanman people."" * "During the conquest, Meng Huo was captured on seven different occasions, by Zhuge Liang. In addition, many Nanman generals and lieutenants were captured and treated with kindness. This caused many withdrawals and eventually the pacification of the south." ;Chapter 90 * Zhuge Liang: "I guessed the enemy would be looking for an ambush in the woods, so I set up decoy banners there to confuse them. There were never any troops. Next, I had Wei Yan lose a series of battles to strengthen their confidence... I ordered Ma Dai to deploy the black wagons in the valley - they had been loaded earlier with fire launchers called 'earth thunder', each containing nine missiles... We cut off the road and burned out the enemy..."" * "Finally, Meng Huo admits defeat: "Seven times captured, seven times freed! Such a thing has never happened! Though I stand beyond the range of imperial grace, I am not utterly ignorant of ritual, of what propriety and honour require. No, I am not so shameless!" He then stripped off one of his sleeves (a sign of swearing oath) and pledged: "By the Chancellor's celestial might, the Southerners will never rebel again.""

Legacy

The Yi considered Meng Huo one of their rulers and called him Mot Hop (

Yi language Nuosu or Nosu (, transcribed as ), also known as Northern Yi, Liangshan Yi, and Sichuan Yi, is the prestige language of the Yi people; it has been chosen by the Chinese government as the standard Yi language () and, as such, is the only one taug ...

: ꂽꉼ). Meng Huo is featured as a playable character in

Koei Koei Co., Ltd. was a Japanese video game publisher, developer, and distributor founded in 1978. The company is known for its ''Dynasty Warriors'' games based on the novel ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'', as well as simulation games based on p ...

's ''

Dynasty Warriors is a series of Japanese hack and slash action video games created by Omega Force and Koei (now is Koei Tecmo). The series is a spin-off of Koei's turn-based strategy '' Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' series, based upon the Chinese novel of ...

'' and ''

Warriors Orochi is a hack and slash video game for PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360, developed by Koei and Omega Force. It is a crossover of two of Koei's popular video game series, ''Dynasty Warriors'' and ''Samurai Warriors'' (specifically ''Dynasty Warriors 5'' an ...

'' video game series. He also appears as a playable general in the ''Nanman'' DLC for '' Total War: Three Kingdoms'' strategy video game.

Notes

References

* Chen, Shou (3rd century). ''

'' (''Sanguozhi''). *

Chang Qu Chang Qu () (c. 291 – c. 361 CE) was a 4th-century Chinese historian of the Cheng Han dynasty, who wrote the ''Chronicles of Huayang'' or ''Records of the States South of Mount Hua Mount Hua () is a mountain located near the city of Huayin ...

(4th century). ''

'' (''Huayang Guo Zhi''). * Pei, Songzhi (5th century). ''

Annotations to Records of the Three Kingdoms Annotations to Records of the Three Kingdoms () by Pei Songzhi (372-451) is an annotation completed in the 5th century of the 3rd century historical text ''Records of the Three Kingdoms'', compiled by Chen Shou. After leaving his native land, Pei ...