Execution of Liu Feng

The execution of Liu Feng is the consequence of a chain of military and political decisions set in motion after Guan Yu’s defeat. Xuande’s adopted son returns to Chengdu after Meng Da’s rebellion and Wei’s advances leave him with almost no men and nowhere else to turn. Xuande orders him executed for failing to aid Guan Yu, then learns that Liu Feng had refused to defect to Wei. The late discovery makes the order not simply a punishment for battlefield failure but a tragic misjudgment made amid grief and distrust.

Causes and Political Setting

After Cao Pi takes control, he increases pressure on the Han emperor, while Sun Quan accepts the new Wei ruler’s authority. Alarmed by this political shift, Xuande consults his officers. He also wants to avenge Guan Yu and Guan Yu’s son, and the failure to come to their rescue becomes the immediate basis for considering punishment of Liu Feng and Meng Da.

The proposed response is to separate the two men: Liu Feng is to be sent to govern Mianzhu so that they cannot confer, after which they can be dealt with individually. The plan itself alerts Meng Da that he is in danger. When an official notice arrives that Liu Feng is being sent away on Kong Ming’s orders, Meng Da leaves that night with fifty riders and joins the king of Wei. His letter to Xuande presents the desertion as an act of loyalty, but Xuande receives the news furiously. Kong Ming then proposes using Liu Feng against Meng Da, making the conflict serve both as a test of allegiance and as a way to resolve the problem of the two men.

Meng Da’s Defection and the Defeat

At Cao Pi’s capital, Meng Da is not immediately trusted. Cao Pi suspects that his arrival may be a plot and sends him to fight Liu Feng, requiring him to return with Liu Feng’s head as proof of his loyalty. Wei has already taken Xiangyang and is preparing to seize Shangyong; the two former allies meet at Xiangyang as the contest over Liu Feng’s allegiance becomes an actual military confrontation.

Before the battle, Meng Da writes to Liu Feng and urges him to abandon Shu and serve Cao Pi. Liu Feng refuses to betray the filial bond between uncle and nephew and between father and son, and tears up the letter. The refusal establishes that, despite his earlier failure to come to Guan Yu’s aid, Liu Feng will not join the enemy against his father.

The next day, the two meet in single combat. After a few exchanges, Meng Da retreats, drawing the angry Liu Feng into pursuit. The retreat is a trap: Wei troops attack Liu Feng from both sides. He escapes the ambush, but Wei’s advance has closed off his route. He first flees to Shangyong, only to find that the city has fallen after its governor surrendered. He then runs to Fangling and finds that Wei has taken that city as well. The successive losses strip away his possible refuges; by the time he reaches Chengdu, he has barely a hundred men.

The Execution and Its Reversal

Liu Feng returns to Chengdu and falls before Xuande, asking forgiveness. Xuande is enraged by his failure to defend Guan Yu. Although Liu Feng tries to explain why he did not come to Guan Yu’s rescue, Xuande orders his adopted son executed. The decision is made before Xuande knows the full significance of Liu Feng’s later choice: he had rejected Meng Da’s invitation to defect rather than turn against his father.

Only afterward does Xuande hear that Liu Feng refused to betray him. That fact changes the meaning of the preceding events but cannot undo the execution. The account gives the order a second consequence: combined with Xuande’s profound mourning for Guan Yu, the news leaves him sick and depressed, and he withdraws into himself. Liu Feng’s death thus becomes part of the emotional and political aftermath of Guan Yu’s loss, rather than an isolated act of military discipline.

Loyalty, Kinship, and Narrative Meaning

The episode sets different obligations against one another. Liu Feng had failed in the duty that Xuande associates with Guan Yu’s death, yet he maintains his filial allegiance when Meng Da offers him the chance to join Wei. His appeal to the bond between father and son is not merely rhetoric: the later revelation confirms that he acted in accordance with it. Xuande, meanwhile, judges him under the pressure of revenge and grief, and learns too late that the condemned man had remained loyal.

The episode also belongs to the novel’s larger use of political and military reversals to examine personal conduct. Its sequence is exacting: separation intended to control the danger prompts Meng Da’s flight; the flight produces a battle in which Liu Feng refuses defection but is defeated; his return brings punishment rather than recognition; and the truth arrives only after the order has been carried out. Loyalty is disclosed, but disclosure cannot restore what judgment has taken away.