Xiahou Dun

Xiahou Dun (夏侯惇), majority name Yuanrang (元 讓) (* 155 ; † June 13, 220 ) was a general under the powerful warlord Cao Cao at the time of the three kingdoms in ancient China. As one of his most trusted men, he helped the warlord on his campaigns against Lü Bu and Sun Quan .

Life

Xiahou Dun was born in the country of Qiao (today's Bozhou , Anhui ). At the age of fourteen, Xiahou Dun killed a man who had insulted his teacher. His heated nature was already well known then. In 190, Xiahou Dun joined the warlord Cao Cao and took part with him in the fighting of the coalition against Dong Zhuo , who held the young Emperor Xian hostage.

Due to his services in the first battles against Dong Zhuo and in the Battle of Yanzhou, Cao Cao made him commander. However, in 194 he was forced to stay behind as commander in Puyang City while Cao Cao defeated Governor Tao Qian , who killed his father Cao Song . At least Xiahou Dun managed to beat Tao Qian's general Cao Bao .

When Generals Zhang Miao and Chen Gong rose against Cao Cao and joined Lü Bus's wandering army, Cao Cao soon lost control of Yan Province (now Shandong ). Xiahou Dun took a small cavalry unit and brought Cao Cao and his family to Juancheng . On the way there they came across Lü Bus's forces. Lu Bu avoided a confrontation and headed for Puyang. Without his commander, the city fell rapidly, and Lü Bu sent messengers to Xiahou Dun to feign submission. The embassy then took him hostage in his own tent and demanded a horrific ransom.

Cao Cao's General Han Hao remained composed during this crisis. He took command of the troops and refused to negotiate with the hostage takers. Then he ordered the soldiers to storm the tent. Lu Bus envoy, who did not expect such a brutal attack, surrendered and were executed.

When Cao Cao heard of the riot, he hurried back and besieged Lu Bu in Puyang. After a hundred days, a famine forced Lu Bu to give up his position and take refuge with Liu Bei in Xiapi . But he soon betrayed him and took over Xiapi, while Liu Bei moved to the nearby city of Xiaopei . In 198, Lu Bu ordered his general Gao Shun to take this city as well. At Liu Bei's call for help, Cao Cao sent his general Xiahou Dun, who was unable to do anything against Gao Shun and lost the battle after losing his left eye to an arrow shot. After Cao Cao himself led a campaign against Lu Bu, he appointed Xiahou Dun as a Jinawu general .

Xiahou Dun then ran an agricultural program near Chenliu (southeast of present-day Kaifeng , Henan ). He instructed the workers to dammed the Taishou River (a tributary of the Huai River ) with dams so that a large pool was created. In the flooded country, he had the farmers plant rice that kept them alive during the famine years.

After Cao Cao's death in 220, his son and heir Cao Pi forced the last Han emperor to abdicate and established the Wei dynasty . He made Xiahou Dun a senior general . However, a few months later, Xiahou Dun fell ill and died.

In the history of the three kingdoms

Portrait of Xiahou Dun swallowing his own eye

In the story of the three realms , a classic novel by Luo Guanzhong , the figure of Xiahou Dun is particularly stylized as the loss of his eye.

In 198 , Xiahou Dun was sent against Lu Bus generals Gao Shun and Cao Xing . When his troops come over the enemy, Xiahou Dun rides ahead and, swinging his spear, calls for a duel. Gao Shun takes on him and fights for forty or fifty rounds before retreating from Xiahou Dun in a sense of defeat. Xiahou Dun pursues him well beyond enemy lines.

Cao Xing then takes aim and shoots an arrow at Xiahou Dun, which hits him right in the left eye. With a scream, Xiahou Dun tears out the arrow on which his eyeball is stuck. "Essence of my father, blood of my mother, I cannot throw this away," he exclaims and swallows the eye.

With his spear raised, Xiahou Dun rides directly towards Cao Xing, who has no time to react. The blade hits him in the face and he dies next to his enemy horse.

Another story deals with the relationship between Cao Cao and Xiahou Dun. Thereafter, they are said to have been distantly related because Cao Teng , the adoptive father of Cao Cao's father, was a cousin of Xiahou Dun's grandfather.

Adaptation

Unlike his master Cao Cao, Xiahou Dun is seen more as a personable figure (possibly because of his loyalty). When he shows up in the anime or manga , he is often shown as one of Cao Cao's top generals and most trusted advisers. He is portrayed as courageous and measured, in contrast to Cao Cao's vile deceit and ruthlessness.

In the console game series Dynasty Warriors by KOEI , Xiahou Dun wears a huge curved sword and either an eye patch or a strip of cloth over his lost eye. He is quite popular as his fighting style is both fast and powerful. He also casts a spell over many players through the cold-blooded way of dealing with the loss of his eye, which is depicted in Dynasty Warriors 3, 4 and 5 . However, his speech about loyalty to his family is replaced by a phrase that he would like to sacrifice an eye for Cao Cao's dream.

In KOEI's strategy game Romance of the Three Kingdoms , Xiahou Dun can be used both as a general and as a city commander.

Web links

• Family Trees Cao and Xiahou (English)