Zhang Fei's assassination

Zhang Fei’s assassination is a sudden reversal on the eve of Xuande’s campaign against Wu: the army’s intended war of revenge is overtaken by a killing within its own ranks. Fan Jiang and Zhang Da, two officers facing a deadline they cannot meet and the threat of execution, murder their commander, take his head, and flee. The news brings grief, an ominous celestial sign, and the arrival of the next generation of avengers.

Causes and Background

After Xuande decides to march against Wu, Zhang Fei is at Langzhong preparing his troops for the expedition. He orders that they be ready within three days and that their banners and surcoats be white, the color of mourning. The preparations connect the army’s appearance to the bereavement driving the campaign, but the compressed timetable creates an immediate conflict with the officers charged with carrying out his command.

Fan Jiang and Zhang Da tell Zhang Fei that they cannot finish the work in so short a time and need more days. Zhang Fei responds by having them bound and flogged. He then orders that everything be ready by the following day or they will be executed, and has them beaten again. The episode establishes the direct cause of the murder: the officers fear that they cannot satisfy the demand and will die for failing to do so.

The Assassination

Back in their tents, the two men discuss their fear of the threatened punishment and decide to kill Zhang Fei before he can carry it out. Zhang Da proposes acting while Zhang Fei is drunk; the plan depends on the chance that he will be asleep rather than alert. That night, unable to sleep because of his anger, Zhang Fei drinks heavily and falls asleep. Fan Jiang and Zhang Da enter his tent and, after confirming he is asleep, kill him with daggers. He is fifty-five years old.

The sequence turns Zhang Fei’s command against him. His insistence on immediate preparation is meant to ready the army for the campaign, yet the threat leaves the two officers seeing murder as their only escape. His death is not a battlefield loss to Wu but an internal rupture, produced by the military discipline and punishment he imposes on his own subordinates.

Flight, Omen, and News

After killing Zhang Fei, Fan Jiang and Zhang Da cut off his head and flee south toward Wu. The discovery comes too late for pursuit, leaving the killers beyond immediate reach and turning the murder into both a loss and an unresolved act of vengeance. Their escape connects a private crime in the army camp to the larger conflict Xuande is preparing to wage against Wu.

The narrative then links Zhang Fei’s death to a sign in the sky. On the way to meet his brother, Xuande cannot sleep and sees a meteor falling. He asks Kong Ming what it means; Kong Ming answers that a great commander has died and that the news will arrive in three days. The prediction does not identify Zhang Fei by name, but it gives the impending report an ominous frame, and Xuande halts the army while awaiting confirmation.

Aftermath and Significance

The report reaches Xuande after the meteor and Kong Ming’s prediction have already unsettled him. When he learns that Zhang Fei has been murdered, he collapses with grief. The sequence makes the sign’s meaning legible only in retrospect: the falling star announces a commander’s death, while the three-day interval between prediction and report leaves Xuande waiting in dread. His halted advance is thus interrupted before the news confirms what the omen seemed to foretell.

The following day, Zhang Bao, Zhang Fei’s son, and Guan Xing, Guan Yu’s son, arrive at the army camp with separate bodies of troops. Both have come to avenge their fathers and stand beside their uncle, Xuande. Their arrival binds Zhang Fei’s killing to the memory of the sworn brotherhood: the young men’s relationship to Xuande is not merely political, and the old oath shared by Xuande and their fathers intensifies his grief. Seeing them brings him to tears again.

The episode closes on revenge becoming an unsettled question of command. Xuande gives Zhang Bao the seal of authority to lead the army, but Guan Xing protests and demands it for himself; Zhang Bao replies that the responsibility has already been given to him. The narrative therefore shifts from Zhang Fei’s death to the living consequences of his absence: his son and Guan Yu’s son are united in vengeance, yet immediately contest who should lead it. The campaign against Wu now carries the private burden of bereavement as well as its public purpose, while the murderers’ flight south leaves the killing unanswered.

Aftermath and Significance

The report reaches Xuande after the meteor and Kong Ming’s prediction have already unsettled him. When he learns that Zhang Fei has been murdered, he collapses with grief. The sequence makes the sign’s meaning legible only in retrospect: the falling star announces a commander’s death, while the three-day interval between prediction and report leaves Xuande waiting in dread. His halted advance is interrupted before the news confirms what the omen seemed to foretell.

The following day, Zhang Bao, Zhang Fei’s son, and Guan Xing, Guan Yu’s son, arrive at the army camp with separate bodies of troops. Both have come to avenge their fathers and stand beside their uncle, Xuande. Their arrival binds Zhang Fei’s killing to the memory of the sworn brotherhood: the young men’s relationship to Xuande is not merely political, and the old oath shared by Xuande and their fathers intensifies his grief. Seeing them brings him to tears again.

The episode closes on revenge becoming an unsettled question of command. Xuande gives Zhang Bao the seal of authority to lead the army, but Guan Xing protests and demands it for himself; Zhang Bao replies that the responsibility has already been given to him. The narrative therefore shifts from Zhang Fei’s death to the living consequences of his absence: his son and Guan Yu’s son are united in vengeance, yet immediately contest who should lead it. The campaign against Wu now carries the private burden of bereavement as well as its public purpose, while the murderers’ flight south leaves the killing unanswered.