Ki Ringu

Ji Ling is a commander serving Yuan Shu whose confrontation with Xuande is interrupted by Lü Bu’s intervention. He first appears as one of two rivals maneuvered into a banquet together, then accepts a test of marksmanship whose result temporarily prevents their armies from fighting. His later proposal to bind Lü Bu to Yuan Shu through marriage also fails, illustrating how Lü Bu’s independent judgment frustrates Yuan Shu’s attempts to use him.

Position in Yuan Shu’s Conflict with Xuande

Yuan Shu’s strategy is to keep Lü Bu from aiding Xuande while Yuan Shu attacks. When Lü Bu recognizes the maneuver, he brings his troops to the field where Ji Ling is camped opposite Xuande’s forces. Lü Bu invites both commanders to a banquet without telling either that the other will attend. Ji Ling arrives expecting a private meeting and is astonished to find Xuande already seated there.

Ji Ling immediately asks whether Lü Bu intends to kill him. When Lü Bu denies it, Ji Ling assumes the threat must instead be directed at Xuande. The exchange establishes the danger of the meeting: each commander believes Lü Bu is on his side, and each expects the other to be the target. Lü Bu has them sit on opposite sides of him and, after they continue to watch one another suspiciously, demands their attention for his proposal.

The Halberd Test

Lü Bu plants his halberd 150 paces from the entrance to his tent and sets a condition: if he can strike the smaller of its two blades with a single arrow, both commanders must call off the fighting; if he misses, they may return to their camps and prepare for war. He adds that if either refuses to accept the outcome, he and his men will join the other side against him.

Ji Ling agrees, believing the small target impossible to hit and expecting that Yuan Shu’s campaign can proceed. Xuande, by contrast, hopes Lü Bu will succeed and avert bloodshed, though he doubts that the shot can be made. Lü Bu hits the smaller blade. Ji Ling therefore has to accept a result that blocks Yuan Shu’s immediate plan; Lü Bu declares that Heaven has decreed the two sides must stop. He offers to write to Yuan Shu explaining what has happened, but Ji Ling understands that his master will be furious.

Yuan Shu’s Marriage Proposal

On his return, Ji Ling reports the outcome to Yuan Shu, who is indeed enraged. Ji Ling proposes another way to bring Lü Bu into the conflict: Yuan Shu should offer his son in marriage to Lü Bu’s daughter. The marriage would turn the dispute into a family matter and, Ji Ling reasons, make it harder for Lü Bu to refuse to act against Xuande.

The proposal relies on kinship as political leverage, but it does not succeed. Lü Bu eventually sees through the ploy and cancels the marriage. The episode gives Ji Ling a second role as Yuan Shu’s strategist: after the failed attempt to secure Lü Bu’s support by controlling supplies, he tries to bind him through a prospective family alliance, only for Lü Bu to resist both forms of pressure.