Xiahou Shang

Xiahou Shang, courtesy name Boren, was a Cao Wei officer and a younger kinsman of Xiahou Yuan. In Romance of the Three Kingdoms, he withdraws toward Mount Dingjun with Zhang He after the fighting at Tiandang Mountain. Sent out against Huang Zhong, he is captured in a single exchange; the opposing armies then trade him for the captured Chen Shi. This episode sets up the novel’s larger struggle for Dingjun, but it is only one part of Xiahou Shang’s story. The Records of the Three Kingdoms describes his later service under Cao Pi and his command in the south. Its account and the novel’s capture scene should be kept distinct.