Benevolent Rule and Care for the People

Benevolent Rule and Care for the People is an ideal of government tested not in tranquil rule but amid flight, siege, and military danger. The narrative makes its cost concrete through Xuande’s repeated refusal to abandon ordinary people: their protection becomes both a source of his political legitimacy and a burden that imperils his own survival. It also connects care for the public to the Peach Orchard Brotherhood’s founding pledge and to the story’s broader judgment of virtuous leadership.

Meaning and Founding Ideal

At the novel’s opening, Xuande, Zhang Fei, and Guan Yu vow to support one another, defend the people, and seek to die together. The pledge places public protection alongside sworn brotherhood from the beginning: loyalty among the three is not presented as a purely private bond, but as a commitment that includes responsibility beyond themselves. Xuande’s leadership is therefore tested by whether he can uphold both personal obligations and the safety of those who look to him for protection.

That ethical framework also appears when Guan Yu considers what to do after Xuande has been defeated. Zhang Liao argues that dying rather than submitting would leave Xuande’s household unprotected and would betray the brothers’ vow; he further reminds Guan Yu that their shared commitment to defend the Han dynasty would be ill served by a death that helps no one. The episode gives care a practical, relational meaning: fidelity is not simply a willingness to die, but a duty to preserve the people and obligations entrusted to one’s protection.

The Exodus from Xinye and Fan

The clearest extended test comes when Cao Cao’s force threatens the region and Xuande and Kong Ming conclude that Fan cannot be defended. They consider what should happen to the ordinary people of both Xinye and Fan and agree that they must not simply leave them behind. When asked, the people cry out that they want to accompany Xuande. The resulting retreat is not a swift military withdrawal: the young help the elderly, parents carry children, and men care for women as the crowd moves onward in distress.

The scale and human cost of the decision become more severe as the party reaches Xiangyang. The city refuses them entry, and the group instead turns toward Jiangling. By then, more than one hundred thousand people are travelling with Xuande. His officers urge him to proceed quickly, even if that means leaving the crowd behind, because Cao Cao is preparing to cross the river and Xuande’s life is in danger. Xuande refuses. The choice makes the retreat slow and perilous, but the narrative treats the people’s presence not as incidental baggage to an army, but as a responsibility that the leader cannot discard for convenience.

The crowd’s suffering also turns Xuande’s care inward, into self-reproach. Seeing the distress caused by the retreat, he blames himself and tries to throw himself into the river; his commanders intervene. The episode presents compassion as more than a claim to virtue: Xuande feels answerable for the consequences endured by those following him, even when the immediate danger comes from Cao Cao’s advance and the refusal of Xiangyang’s rulers to offer safety.

Political Legitimacy and Contrast

The narrative explicitly uses Xuande’s refusal to abandon ordinary people as evidence of his virtue. When his conduct is defended against criticism, his followers’ presence is not dismissed as a tactical mistake: he is praised for accepting the difficulties it creates rather than taking advantage of Liu Zong’s surrender or abandoning the people in his care. Benevolent leadership thus becomes visible through costly conduct, especially when military expediency would favor separation.

This standard gives the story a way to distinguish rival claims to rule. Kong Ming describes Cao Cao as powerful through his enormous army and control of the emperor, while advising Xuande to regard Sun Quan as a potential ally because he has the people’s support. The contrast places force, court authority, popular backing, and personal conduct in tension. Within that political landscape, Xuande’s care for people supplies a moral basis for his claim that the land should be ruled justly, even while his lack of power leaves him unable to protect them from every danger.

Significance and Limits

Care for the people is not portrayed as a guarantee of immediate safety or military success. Xuande’s insistence on bringing the crowd slows his movement and increases his exposure to danger; the people still face distress, and Xiangyang’s gate remains closed. The ideal matters precisely because it demands something when protection is difficult, costly, and incomplete. It does not erase the pressures of war, but it determines what Xuande believes a leader must not sacrifice merely to move faster or preserve himself.

Across these episodes, the principle links personal character, sworn obligation, and political legitimacy. The Peach Orchard pledge establishes a duty to defend the people; Zhang Liao’s reasoning makes protection of Xuande’s family part of loyalty; and the mass retreat shows Xuande accepting danger rather than abandoning civilians. The story’s measure of benevolent rule is therefore enacted in decisions, not merely announced as a doctrine: people follow Xuande, he assumes responsibility for their suffering, and that responsibility shapes both the route of the plot and the moral meaning of his leadership.