Lü Bu’s capture of Xuzhou is a sudden reversal brought about not by a prolonged siege but by Zhang Fei’s failure to control his drinking and temper. While Xuande is away on campaign, Zhang Fei’s violence against Cao Bao gives the resentful commander a reason to summon Lü Bu; five hundred horsemen then take the city in a night attack. Zhang Fei escapes, but leaves Xuande’s family behind, and the loss exposes the danger of entrusting a strategic city to a commander who has already been warned about his own conduct.

Causes and Background

Before leaving Xuzhou to attack Yuan Shu, Xuande has to decide who will hold the city. Guan Yu is needed for the campaign, and Zhang Fei volunteers for the post. Xuande refuses to trust him: Zhang Fei is often drunk, attacks people when intoxicated, and ignores advice even when it comes from Xuande. Chen Deng is appointed commander in his place and instructed to keep watch over Zhang Fei’s drinking.

Zhang Fei promises that he will no longer drink or beat anyone, but Xuande does not regard the promise as sufficient. The arrangement therefore leaves a clear gap between formal authority and practical risk: Chen Deng is charged with oversight, yet Zhang Fei remains able to host a feast and use his influence to compel others. The warning is not a vague concern. The very behavior Xuande predicts becomes the opening through which Xuzhou is lost.

While Xuande is away, his smaller army meets Yuan Shu’s force of one hundred thousand. The clash is brief and Yuan Shu retreats. That success does not secure the home front. The contrast sharpens the reversal: Xuande’s campaign goes well, but the city he has left behind is undone by an avoidable breakdown of discipline.

Zhang Fei’s Feast and Cao Bao’s Grievance

Zhang Fei hosts a feast, presenting it as his last day of drinking, and insists that everyone accept a toast. When he comes to Cao Bao, Cao Bao explains that he has never drunk alcohol. Zhang Fei mocks him for not being a proper soldier and forces him to drink. Later, drunk, Zhang Fei demands another toast. Cao Bao refuses this time, and Zhang Fei treats the refusal as disobedience to an order, calling for the guards to seize him and administer a hundred lashes.

Chen Deng intervenes, pointing out that this is exactly the conduct Xuande had warned against. Zhang Fei tells him to mind his bureaucratic business. Cao Bao appeals for mercy by invoking his connection to Lü Bu, his son-in-law; the name of his enemy only inflames Zhang Fei further. Zhang Fei beats Cao Bao fifty times before the other guests manage to calm him. The punishment stops short of the hundred lashes he initially ordered, but not before personal resentment has become a political danger.

Cao Bao consequently hates Zhang Fei and sends word to Lü Bu that Xuzhou can be taken while Zhang Fei is drunk. The city’s vulnerability is thus conveyed through an insider’s message: Lü Bu does not have to discover the weakness by prolonged reconnaissance or defeat a prepared defense. Zhang Fei’s conduct has both alienated a commander inside the city and supplied the attacker with timely information.

The Night Attack and Fall of Xuzhou

Lü Bu acts on Cao Bao’s message, riding through the night with five hundred horsemen. He takes Xuzhou easily while Zhang Fei is drunk. The speed and small size of the attacking force underline how little resistance the city can offer once its leadership has been compromised from within. The narrative’s decisive cause is not simply Lü Bu’s military strength, but the conjunction of an informed attacker, an open opportunity, and Zhang Fei’s incapacity.

Zhang Fei is forced to flee for his life. In escaping, he leaves Xuande’s family behind, and Lü Bu’s men round them up and lock them away. The loss therefore carries consequences beyond the transfer of the city: Xuande’s household becomes vulnerable, while Zhang Fei’s retreat turns a failure of command into a personal betrayal of those he was supposed to protect.

Aftermath and Significance

When Zhang Fei reaches Xuande and Guan Yu, he has to confess that Xuande’s family is still in Xuzhou. Guan Yu’s first question is where their sisters-in-law are; on hearing the answer, he rebukes Zhang Fei for ignoring the warnings given before their departure and asks what can now be done while they are trapped. The exchange makes the human cost of the capture immediate. The city’s loss is measured not only in territory but in the endangered family members whose safety had depended on Zhang Fei’s watch.

Overcome with remorse, Zhang Fei draws his sword and is about to cut his own throat. The moment leaves the episode at the edge of a second catastrophe: the commander whose drunkenness has cost Xuzhou and endangered Xuande’s family now turns his violence against himself. The capture thus marks a sharp collapse from Xuande’s battlefield success to household danger and fraternal accusation, while making Xuande’s original distrust of Zhang Fei tragically prescient.