Guan Yu’s northern expedition against Fancheng is a campaign for a strategic foothold that also exposes the danger of fighting on two fronts. It grows out of a proposed alliance between Cao Cao and Sun Quan: Kong Ming advises Xuande to send Guan Yu against Fancheng, both to disrupt that pact and to place pressure on Jingzhou’s opponents. Guan Yu’s early success in taking Xiangyang, however, does not resolve the threat to his rear. The beacons he orders built, the resentments left behind in Jingzhou, and the relief army sent by Cao Cao all make the expedition a contest over communication, loyalty, and time as much as battlefield strength.

Causes and Political Stakes

After Xuande is proclaimed king of Hanzhong, Cao Cao reacts furiously and considers invading Shu. Sima Yi counsels against a long-distance campaign and proposes using Sun Quan instead: a letter should encourage Sun Quan to attack Jingzhou, forcing Xuande to hurry to its defense and giving Cao Cao an opportunity to recover Hanzhong. Cao Cao accepts the plan, and Man Chong carries the proposal to Sun Quan. The maneuver makes Guan Yu’s position the hinge of a wider political calculation: an attack on Jingzhou could draw Xuande away, while a threat to Fancheng could upset the cooperation being arranged against him.

Sun Quan also tests the political situation by sending Zhuge Jin to seek a marriage between Guan Yu’s daughter and Sun Quan’s son. Guan Yu rejects the proposal with contempt and sends Zhuge Jin away. Sun Quan’s advisers nevertheless consider Cao Cao’s offer worthwhile. Their plan is to have Cao Ren attack first, using Cao Cao’s forces to weaken the opposition before Sun Quan acts. The marriage proposal and the military pact are distinct approaches to the same strained relationship: one is refused outright, while the other begins to take shape around the contested control of Jingzhou.

Xuande learns of the agreement between Cao Cao and Sun Quan and asks Kong Ming how to respond. Kong Ming advises that Guan Yu attack and capture Fancheng, reasoning that the move should disrupt the alliance. The order sends Guan Yu north, but the plan also commits him to a campaign while the security of Jingzhou remains uncertain.

The Advance on Fancheng

Before setting out, Guan Yu appoints Fu Shiren and Mi Fang to lead the attack. During celebrations over their promotion, the two become drunk and leave a fire smouldering; it spreads and destroys weapons, food, and transport, while damaging much of what remains. Guan Yu is furious and considers executing them. He instead has them whipped and sends them to guard Nanjun and Gong’an. The punishment spares their lives but leaves both men resentful and afraid of him, a consequential fracture in the command structure just as Guan Yu begins the campaign.

At Fancheng, Cao Ren favors attacking the approaching force, while Man Chong recommends defending from inside the city. Cao Ren has greater authority and rides out, leaving Man Chong to hold the city. The first engagements appear to favor Cao Ren: the Jingzhou troops retreat, and the same pattern repeats the next day. But the withdrawal draws Cao Ren into an ambush. Seeing Guan Yu on the hillside, Cao Ren panics and retreats to Fancheng. Guan Yu then takes Xiangyang, turning the feigned retreats into territorial gain.

Guan Yu knows that his advance leaves Jingzhou vulnerable to attack from elsewhere. To guard against this, he establishes a long line of beacons so that a warning of an assault can reach him. The measure makes the campaign’s strategic tension concrete: his force can move against Fancheng only if he can learn in time whether the territory behind it is in danger.

Fancheng Holds and the Relief Army Gathers

Inside Fancheng, Cao Ren acknowledges his error to Man Chong, who again advises holding the city rather than seeking another engagement. Lü Chang rejects that caution and asks for two thousand men to attack Guan Yu’s force by the river. He argues that the Jingzhou soldiers are only halfway across and can still be driven back. But when Lü Chang’s men see Guan Yu riding confidently with his sword in his arms, they panic; Guan Yu charges, and half of them die. The sortie demonstrates the cost of underestimating the opposing commander and reinforces Man Chong’s case for defending the city.

With Fancheng under severe pressure, Cao Ren sends an urgent request for help to Chang’an. Cao Cao appoints Yu Jin to lead the relief effort. Asked to name a second in command, Pang De volunteers, declaring his determination to fight Guan Yu. His participation will turn the approaching relief force into more than a reinforcement: it becomes a test of whether Cao Cao’s commanders trust a man whose past associations raise suspicions.

Pang De’s Coffin and the Coming Contest

Some commanders object to Pang De’s appointment because he once served Ma Chao and has a brother in the Shu army. When Cao Cao raises these doubts with him, Pang De explains that he remembers Cao Cao’s generosity when he surrendered, that he and his brother fell out years earlier, and that he regards Ma Chao as brave but foolish. Cao Cao restores him to the command, explaining that the question is not his own confidence in Pang De but the need to answer others’ doubts about his loyalty.

Pang De answers that concern with a public declaration of resolve. He has a coffin made and hosts a banquet so his friends can see it. He tells them that he expects either to kill Guan Yu or be killed by him, and that the coffin expresses his determination. He then tells his wife that he may die and asks her to raise their son so the boy can avenge his father. Before leaving, Pang De assembles his five hundred men and says they will either bring him home in the coffin or use it to carry Guan Yu’s head to Cao Cao. He sets out with the coffin borne before him.

When Guan Yu hears that seven armies are approaching Fancheng and that Pang De is among them, he reacts with anger and dismisses the volunteer as an unworthy opponent. Guan Ping offers to fight Pang De himself, comparing their difference in stature to a mountain facing a small stone. On the field, Pang De displays a black standard bearing his title, with his coffins upright beside it. He tells Guan Ping that he has the commission of the king of Wei to take Guan Yu’s head and challenges him to fetch his father. The account thus closes this phase of the expedition not with a settled victory but with the two commanders’ intentions placed in direct opposition: Guan Yu has won Xiangyang and repelled attacks, while a larger force gathers to relieve Fancheng and Pang De has made his willingness to die part of the campaign’s public meaning.