Zhuo County

Zhuo County is where Xuande’s public career begins: a proclamation seeking volunteers against the Yellow Headband rebels brings him into contact with Zhang Fei, and the two recruit men who soon fight under Xuande’s command. The county’s importance lies not in a lasting political role but in this decisive beginning, where a local appeal to defend the people becomes the first military action of the Peach Orchard Brotherhood.

Setting and Background

During the Han dynasty’s decline, Zhang Jue’s rebellion spreads across the empire. When his forces threaten the district governed by Liu Yan, a distant member of the imperial family, Liu Yan issues a written proclamation calling for volunteers. It is posted in Zhuo County, where Xuande encounters it at twenty-eight years old. The crisis reaches him through this public notice: the empire’s unrest becomes a call to action in the place where he lives.

Xuande comes from an impoverished branch of the imperial family. His father died when he was young, and he and his mother survived by weaving and selling mats and sandals. Although Xuande is associated with the imperial lineage, the account introduces him as a modest man whose aspirations include befriending worthy people. His decision to answer Liu Yan’s appeal connects that personal ideal to the immediate need to protect the population from the rebellion.

Recruitment and Brotherhood

As Xuande reads the proclamation, Zhang Fei challenges him for sighing instead of serving the emperor in a time of danger. Zhang Fei explains that his family has long lived on a farm in the area, trading wine and pork, and that he is looking for men of spirit. Xuande explains that he intends to help suppress the rebels and protect the people, though he doubts whether he can do enough. Zhang Fei offers to use his local contacts to recruit men, and the two agree to work together.

Their partnership develops into the Peach Orchard Brotherhood when Guan Yu joins them. The three swear allegiance, with Xuande as the eldest, Guan Yu second, and Zhang Fei third. They share food and wine with roughly three hundred local recruits in a peach orchard. The gathering gives the new military undertaking a kinship structure: the men’s pledge establishes a bond that is at once personal and political.

First Battle and Aftermath

The recruits gather weapons, horses, and special armor. Xuande has two double-edged swords made, Guan Yu receives a curved sword called Cold Wonder, and Zhang Fei orders a long spear. The force grows to about five hundred young men before it reports for duty to Liu Yan, the governor whose proclamation started the recruitment.

Only a few days later, an army of about fifty thousand Yellow Headband rebels attacks the Zhuo district. Xuande leads his men, with Guan Yu on his left and Zhang Fei on his right. In the battle, Zhang Fei kills the enemy champion and Guan Yu defeats his companion; the rebels flee, and many are captured. The episode makes Zhuo County the first proving ground for the three brothers’ alliance and for Xuande’s leadership, establishing the pattern of his cause as both resistance to rebellion and protection of ordinary people.