Pang De

Pang De’s career is repeatedly tested by divided loyalties: first when suspicion drives him from Zhang Lu’s service into Cao Cao’s, and later when Cao Cao’s commanders question whether he can be trusted against his former allies. At Fancheng, he fights on after the flood has destroyed the army around him, refuses to yield to Guan Yu, and is executed. Guan Yu’s decision to bury him honourably gives the story’s final measure of Pang De not to his changing allegiance, but to the constancy of his defiance.

Identity and Changing Allegiances

Pang De first appears in these episodes as one of Ma Chao’s commanders. During Ma Chao’s campaign against Chang’an, he proposes lifting the siege so that the city’s inhabitants will come out to replenish their supplies. The withdrawal is a ruse: when people move freely through the gates for several days, Pang De’s forces use the opportunity to infiltrate the city. A night attack opens the western gate, and Chang’an falls to the Xiliang troops.

His next major reversal comes in Zhang Lu’s service. When Cao Cao’s side plants a spy in the city, the soldier gains access to Yang Song and uses a golden breastplate and a letter to secure his cooperation. Yang Song then spreads the accusation that Pang De has been bribed and has lost control of the enemy camp. Zhang Lu summons Pang De, angrily rebukes him, and nearly has him executed before others intervene. The false charge nevertheless leaves Pang De deeply offended and angry, and his withdrawal to his quarters marks a rupture in his position at court.

Capture and Service Under Cao Cao

The breach with Zhang Lu is followed by Pang De’s capture. In battle, Xu Chu challenges him and then turns away, drawing him into pursuit. Pang De’s horse falls into a pit, and horse and rider are taken. Brought before Cao Cao, he is treated with respect and offered the chance to surrender. Pang De recalls Zhang Lu’s anger, the false accusations, and how close he had come to execution; he accepts Cao Cao’s offer.

Cao Cao makes the change of allegiance visible. He rides with Pang De in front of the city walls, demonstrating to Zhang Lu that Pang De is now in his service and that Zhang Lu’s position is precarious. The city soon falls. Zhang Lu orders the grain stores and treasury sealed and protected, regarding them as belonging to the Han dynasty and its people rather than to himself. Cao Cao praises this conduct and invites Zhang Lu to surrender, but Yang Song’s further betrayal leaves Zhang Lu outside the city and with no choice but to yield. Pang De’s transfer thus occurs within a sequence of suspicion and treachery, even as the narrative distinguishes his conduct from Yang Song’s.

Fancheng and the Test of Loyalty

Pang De later volunteers to join Yu Jin’s campaign against Guan Yu. Cao Cao raises seven armies for the operation, but other commanders object to Pang De’s appointment: he once served Ma Chao, who is now with the opposing Shu forces, and Pang De’s own brother is also in that army. Cao Cao asks Pang De to hand back his commission because others doubt his loyalty. Pang De protests that he can demonstrate his fidelity in battle; Cao Cao’s answer is that the suspicion belongs to the other commanders, not to himself.

The campaign turns on flooding. In late autumn, heavy rain swells the river. Guan Yu has boats prepared and the water held back at several points, intending to release it against the enemy camp on the flood plain. Yu Jin dismisses a warning about the danger. Pang De, by contrast, agrees with Cheng He that the position is at risk, and the two discuss what to do.

That night the floodwater is released. The rising water sweeps through the valley, and the commanders, including Yu Jin, escape to higher ground, leaving behind their armour and weapons. At dawn Guan Yu’s fleet appears, and Yu Jin surrenders. Pang De chooses a different course. Though without armour and accompanied by only about five hundred men, he goes out to fight. Guan Yu’s archers attack the group, and most of its men are lost. When Dong Heng and Dong Chao urge him to surrender, Pang De kills them and continues to resist.

His final stand is both a response to immediate defeat and the answer to the doubts raised before the campaign. He tells Cheng He that he expects to die and calls for them to make their resistance count. Cheng He is killed by an arrow; Pang De is knocked from a raft into the river and captured by Zhou Cang. The seven armies are wiped out, but even the destruction of his force does not persuade Pang De to submit.

Refusal, Death, and Aftermath

After his capture, Pang De remains defiant. He is told that his brother is in Hanzhong and that Ma Chao has been rewarded, as if family connection and his former allegiance should give him reason to surrender. Pang De refuses and tells Guan Yu that he would have to be killed first. He continues to curse and defy his captor, maintaining the same refusal he had shown on the battlefield.

Pang De is executed. Guan Yu then gives him an honourable burial, moved by the strength of his integrity. The burial is a pointed recognition: earlier, the possibility of divided allegiance had caused Cao Cao’s commanders to doubt him, while Zhang Lu’s false accusations had helped drive him away. At the end, it is not the identity of the ruler he served, but his refusal to abandon his chosen stand under pressure, that earns the respect of the man who defeats him.

Narrative Role

Pang De’s episodes connect the shifting military alliances of the campaign to a more personal test of trust. His service changes from Ma Chao to Zhang Lu and then to Cao Cao, but the plot does not present every change of allegiance as equivalent: his move to Cao Cao follows public accusation and threatened execution, while Yang Song’s conduct is marked by deliberate bribery and betrayal. At Fancheng, the earlier suspicion returns in a new form, and Pang De answers it through action rather than argument.

The story also sets his fate against the contrasting outcomes of the flood. Yu Jin yields after the army is overwhelmed; Pang De fights on with a small remnant, is captured, and still refuses surrender. His defeat is complete, but Guan Yu’s burial makes the ending an acknowledgment of character rather than a simple accounting of victory. Pang De’s arc is therefore shaped by reversals of political service and a final constancy of resolve.