Nan’an becomes the pivot of a campaign in which Kong Ming seeks more than a local victory: capturing Xiahou Mao, an imperial son-in-law, would deal a psychological blow to Wei. The city’s siege draws in the neighboring governors of Anding and Tianshui, making the surrounding network of roads, reinforcements, and misinformation as important as Nan’an’s walls. Kong Ming first turns relief efforts into a trap, then exploits the rivalries and suspicions inside the city to bring about its fall.

Setting and Strategic Importance

After Xiahou Mao escapes to Nan’an, Zhang Bao and Guan Xing pursue him and join Zhao Zilong and Deng Zhi in besieging the city. For ten days the Shu commanders cannot take it. The stalemate gives Kong Ming time to assess the broader position: Nan’an is one of three major cities in the area, alongside Tianshui and Anding, and a call for help from its governor could draw troops away from the other two. Capturing Xiahou Mao would also have value beyond the city itself, since his status as an imperial son-in-law makes his capture a conspicuous political and psychological success for Shu.

Nan’an is therefore not treated as an isolated fortress. Kong Ming’s design depends on making its neighbors respond to what they believe is happening there. A fabricated appeal for aid can empty Anding of troops; the appearance of a city under attack can direct its governor into an ambush. Later, the struggle over who controls the gates turns Nan’an itself into the decisive point where competing plots are tested.

The Feigned Relief and Fall of Anding

Kong Ming sends a purported messenger from Nan’an, Pei Xu, to Anding with a wet, soiled letter attributed to Xiahou Mao requesting assistance. The next day, another visitor claims that Tianshui has already sent forces to Nan’an. These reports are meant to set the neighboring governors in motion and deepen their belief that help is urgently required.

When Cui Liang, governor of Anding, rides toward Nan’an, Kong Ming’s men set brushwood alight around the city to make it appear that it is being sacked. Cui Liang sees the flames but is still about twenty miles away when Zhang Bao and Guan Xing ambush him. He turns back toward Anding, expecting safety, only to find that Wei Yan has seized the city. His attempted escape toward Tianshui is blocked by another force, with Kong Ming present in his carriage and customary Daoist clothes. Cui Liang is captured and brought before him.

Kong Ming treats Cui Liang well and proposes that he return to Nan’an to persuade his friend Yang Ling to seize Xiahou Mao. The apparent kindness forms part of the stratagem: Cui Liang accepts the mission but, on reaching Nan’an under a truce, agrees with Yang Ling to lure the Shu troops inside and kill them. He goes back to Kong Ming claiming that Yang Ling will surrender the city. Kong Ming does not rely on Cui Liang’s account. He plans to enter with a hundred Wei soldiers who have already surrendered, Shu officers disguised as Anding men, and Zhang Bao and Guan Xing. Cui Liang recognizes that he cannot refuse, while secretly assuming that the defenders can kill the entrants once they are inside.

The Gate, the Counterplot, and Xiahou Mao’s Capture

At night the disguised group reaches Nan’an’s gate. Yang Ling asks who they are, and Cui Liang identifies them as reinforcements from Anding. At the same time, Cui Liang shoots an arrow over the wall to warn Yang Ling that Guan Xing and Zhang Bao are among the arrivals. The defenders know that the two Shu commanders are coming and intend to kill them as soon as the gate opens.

The plan turns against its makers as soon as the troops enter. Before Yang Ling can speak, Guan Xing kills him with his sword, and Zhang Bao strikes down Cui Liang. Guan Xing then sends up a fire signal; the Shu army attacks and pours through the gate. Xiahou Mao flees toward the south gate, where Wang Ping’s troops confront and capture him. Kong Ming enters after the city has fallen, and his men behave in a way that reassures the inhabitants. The sequence reveals that Kong Ming had anticipated Cui Liang’s deception and built his own countertrap around the governor’s return, the surrendered Wei soldiers, and the false appearance of an ordinary relief force.

Nan’an in the Wider Campaign

Nan’an’s fall is not the end of the contest over the surrounding cities. Tianshui has not sent word, so Wei Yan is dispatched against it. Its governor, Ma Zun, had also received the supposed appeal from Pei Xu and a follow-up report that Anding was already moving to help Nan’an. He was preparing to respond when his officer Jiang Wei questioned the story: if Nan’an was besieged, how had two messengers escaped, and who could verify Pei Xu’s identity? Jiang Wei judged that the messages were a Shu stratagem and warned that leaving Tianshui would expose the city to capture.

Kong Ming later uses Xiahou Mao’s captivity as part of another effort to unsettle the region. He tells Xiahou Mao that Jiang Wei has offered to surrender Jicheng in return for his release, then arranges for supposed refugees to tell Xiahou Mao that Jiang Wei has already joined Shu. Xiahou Mao rides to Ma Zun with this story; during the night attack on Tianshui, Jiang Wei appears among the Shu attackers. This episode extends the uncertainty first exploited at Nan’an: messages, apparent defections, and the movement of relief forces repeatedly make it difficult to know which side controls the truth. Nan’an’s role in the campaign is thus both territorial and informational: its siege provides the circumstances for Kong Ming to draw in neighboring forces, capture Xiahou Mao, and create the conditions for further deception.