Xing Daorong

Xing Daorong is the celebrated warrior serving the governor of Lingling, whose confidence in his own strength becomes a liability when Xuande’s army moves to capture the city. He first confronts Kong Ming’s forces with a challenge, then is defeated and captured after Zhang Fei and Zhao Zilong successively block his advance. Offered his life in return for helping secure the governor’s surrender, he agrees but immediately turns against the plan, informing Liu Xian and helping prepare an ambush. Zhao Zilong kills him when the ambush collapses; Liu Xian is captured and, unlike Xing, released. His brief arc makes him a foil to Kong Ming’s stratagems: bravery and reputation cannot compensate for poor judgment or broken trust.

Position and reputation

Xuande’s forces come to Lingling as part of a wider effort to secure a reliable base in the southern commanderies. Ma Liang has advised Xuande to take Lingling first, followed by Wuling, Guiyang, and Changsha, while consolidating Jingzhou through the status of Liu Qi. The governor of Lingling, urged by his son Liu Xian, entrusts the city’s defense to Xing Daorong, believing the warrior capable of defeating any opponent.

When Zhang Fei’s army arrives, Xing rides out to confront it and denounces the attackers as traitors. His confidence is tested when he sees Kong Ming approaching in a carriage, dressed in Daoist robes. Kong Ming tells him that a commander who has defeated an army of a million should be beyond Xing’s challenge and advises him to surrender. Xing rejects the claim that Kong Ming won at Red Cliffs and charges toward him instead. The exchange establishes Xing as a proud defender who answers a stratagem with direct force, even when the apparent target is being shielded by the enemy’s formation.

Defeat and bargain

Kong Ming’s carriage turns away into the ranks, leaving Xing to encounter Zhang Fei. Unable to hold Zhang Fei off, Xing flees and is then confronted by Zhao Zilong. Recognizing that he has been beaten, he surrenders. Bound and brought before Xuande, he faces immediate execution: Xuande is prepared to order it, but Kong Ming intervenes and proposes a bargain. Xing will be spared if he helps capture Liu Xian.

Xing eagerly accepts the offer and describes a plan that appears to give Xuande’s army access to the enemy camp. He says he will return, work from within, and help arrange an attack that night; once Liu Xian is taken, he expects the governor to surrender. The arrangement depends on Xing’s cooperation after his release, not on any demonstrated change in his loyalties. His agreement is therefore a tactical opening that he soon closes himself.

Betrayal and death

As soon as Xing returns to his camp, he tells Liu Xian the entire plan. Together, they prepare to turn Kong Ming’s intended deception against Xuande’s forces by ambushing them. At night, Liu Xian’s men approach the camp and set fire to the undergrowth. Xing and Liu Xian respond by attacking and driving the apparent enemy away. They pursue the retreating force, only to discover there is no one left to chase; alarmed, they turn back toward their own camp.

Liu Xian proposes another reversal, suggesting that they raid the opposing camp instead. But before they can carry it out, they encounter Zhao Zilong and his troops. Zhao kills Xing with a single thrust. Liu Xian attempts to flee but is captured and brought before Kong Ming. Thus Xing’s betrayal does not merely cancel his bargain: it places him back in the battle that had already demonstrated his vulnerability to Xuande’s commanders, and the second encounter ends in his death.

Contrast and narrative role

The outcome draws a distinction between Xing and Liu Xian. Both participate in the failed counter-ambush, but Xing is killed while Liu Xian is given a chance to surrender. Kong Ming orders Liu Xian released, provides him fresh clothes and wine, and sends him back to persuade his father to yield. Liu Xian carries out that task, and the governor surrenders; he is allowed to remain governor, while Liu Xian joins Xuande’s army at Gong’an. The people of the city, the account notes, rejoice that the change of control has left them unharmed.

Against this relatively peaceful conclusion, Xing’s fate marks the cost of mistaking apparent opportunity for lasting safety. Kong Ming’s offer of mercy creates a chance for Xing to serve the new plan, but Xing responds by passing the plan to the opposing camp, after which the attempted deception is reversed once more. His role is brief, yet his choices help show how the contest for Lingling turns not only on military strength but also on whether a captured opponent can be trusted—and on the contrast between Xing’s repeated tactical reversals and Kong Ming’s eventual use of clemency to secure the city.