Zhao Fan

Zhao Fan is the governor of Guiyang whose planned surrender to Zhao Zilong is complicated by a proposed marriage and a failed attempt to seize Zhao Zilong. His brief alliance with the commander he is meant to oppose turns on the meaning of sworn kinship: Zhao Fan treats a shared surname as grounds for a family alliance, while Zhao Zilong insists that their new sworn-brother bond makes Zhao Fan’s sister-in-law his own sister. The resulting rupture leads to Zhao Fan’s capture and Zhao Zilong’s second entry into the city.

Governorship and Intended Surrender

As Zhao Zilong advances on Guiyang with three thousand men, Zhao Fan recognizes his reputation and decides to surrender. Chen Ying, a young commander, argues for a chance to defend the city, reasoning that surrender remains possible if resistance fails. Zhao Zilong quickly defeats Chen Ying’s force and captures him, then spares his life so he can carry a request for surrender back to Zhao Fan.

Surrender had already been Zhao Fan’s intention. He therefore comes in person to Zhao Zilong’s camp, where the welcome is framed as a meeting between men who regard themselves as family. Zhao Fan says that they share the surname Zhao, come from Zhending, and descend from one family five hundred years earlier. On this basis, the two swear brotherhood. Zhao Fan’s acceptance of Zhao Zilong’s victory appears to promise a peaceful transfer of Guiyang.

The Marriage Proposal and Rupture

After Zhao Zilong enters the city, its people show relief at the limited fighting and line the road with incense; Zhao Zilong assures them that they will be safe. Zhao Fan hosts a banquet, then introduces his sister-in-law, whose husband died three years earlier. He explains that she has refused to remarry unless a prospective husband is accomplished in both letters and arms, handsome and respected, and of the same surname as her late husband.

Zhao Fan presents Zhao Zilong as meeting those conditions and proposes that he marry her, adding that he will provide a dowry and thereby link the families for generations. Zhao Zilong rejects the offer in terms of the bond they have just made: as sworn brothers, he says, they should regard one another’s sisters-in-law as sisters. His refusal is not merely a rejection of marriage; it asserts that the new kinship carries obligations and boundaries that Zhao Fan’s proposed family alliance violates.

Counterplot and Capture

Zhao Fan reacts to the rebuke by signaling his guards, apparently intending to have Zhao Zilong killed. Zhao Zilong notices the signal, knocks Zhao Fan down, and leaves the city. Zhao Fan then calls in Chen Ying and Bao Ling, who propose a deception: they will pretend to defect with five hundred men, enter Zhao Zilong’s camp, and help seize him when Zhao Fan attacks.

The supposed deserters claim that Zhao Fan planned to get Zhao Zilong drunk, kill him, and send his head to Cao Cao. Zhao Zilong is not taken in. He has Chen Ying and Bao Ling made drunk, uncovers the plan through a servant, and distinguishes the two officers’ responsibility from that of the five hundred soldiers. Rather than punish the soldiers, he feeds them and offers rewards if they help him capture Zhao Fan; they agree.

That night the five hundred return to Guiyang and tell the guards that Chen Ying and Bao Ling have captured and killed Zhao Zilong. Zhao Fan hurries to meet them at the gate, where they seize him and open the city to Zhao Zilong’s forces. Zhao Zilong enters Guiyang for a second time and again reassures its people. When Xuande and Kong Ming arrive, Kong Ming questions Zhao Fan and learns of the marriage proposal, turning the episode into a further test of Zhao Zilong’s refusal. Zhao Zilong remains appalled by the proposal and says he seeks fame rather than a wife.

Character and Narrative Function

Zhao Fan’s conduct shifts from an intended surrender and sworn alliance to a threatened killing and a covert counterplot. The account supplies no further resolution for him beyond his capture when his own men’s deception is reversed against him. His role is concentrated in the Guiyang episode, where a political transition gives way to conflict over the responsibilities created by sworn brotherhood.

The reversal also distinguishes the two men’s approaches to alliance. Zhao Fan tries to make kinship serve a lasting connection between families, but when Zhao Zilong rejects the match, he responds with violence and deception. Zhao Zilong, by contrast, treats the sworn relationship as a binding ethical limit and protects the people of Guiyang even as he takes the city. Zhao Fan’s failed maneuver thus helps reveal that, in this episode, military success and the conduct accompanying it are judged together.