San Pass is a route that enters the narrative through military planning and feigned alarm. In the episode, Xu Shu offers to defend it after rumors spread that Han Sui and Ma Teng are advancing from the north; the assignment gives him permission to move away from Cao Cao’s battlefront.

Strategic Setting

The account presents the pass as a position on the rear route that could be defended against a northern threat. The threat is a rumor, not a confirmed advance: Xu Shu himself spreads it among the troops, and it reaches Cao Cao, prompting him to call a meeting of his advisers. The location matters because it makes the danger—and a proposed response to it—plausible within the campaign’s geography.

The Pass in Xu Shu’s Plan

Xu Shu volunteers to take a force to defend the rear at San Pass and promises to report any crisis promptly. Cao Cao accepts the offer, pleased to have the position covered. Xu Shu thereby secures permission to leave the main force and put considerable distance between himself and the approaching battle. His departure is the intended result of a scheme devised by Pang Tong, who had advised Xu Shu how to escape without exposing the plot.

Narrative and Military Function

San Pass is not described as the site of a battle in this episode. Instead, it functions as a credible destination that turns misinformation into movement: the rumor creates urgency, the pass supplies a practical assignment, and Cao Cao’s approval allows Xu Shu to withdraw. The episode thus makes military space part of the stratagem. A rear position can draw a commander away from the front as effectively as a direct attack, even when the danger that supposedly requires its defense has been invented.