Campaigners › Strategists
Fa Zheng
Strategist who betrayed Liu Zhang to bring Liu Bei into Yi province and timed the attack at Mount Dingjun that killed Xiahou Yuan in 219
Inside a tent at dusk, a low table holds a board of faint map-like lines with scattered black and white stones beside a feather fan, a lit lantern, an iron teapot and rolled bamboo slips, while one person sits with their back turned at the open flap, facing a river valley at sunset.
Also known as Zi Xiaozhi
- Roles
- Strategists
Fa Zheng, courtesy name Xiaozhi, came from Mei in Youfufeng; his grandfather Fa Zhen was known for his integrity. Famine drove him with Meng Da into Shu, where Liu Zhang kept him in minor posts, and he and Zhang Song secretly plotted to bring in Liu Bei instead. Sent by Liu Zhang to invite Liu Bei in 211, he privately laid out a plan for seizing Yi province, and after the conquest became governor of Shu commandery, where he repaid every old slight. He pressed Liu Bei to take Hanzhong, and in 219 at Mount Dingjun he judged the moment to strike; Huang Zhong attacked from the heights and Xiahou Yuan was killed. When Liu Bei became King of Hanzhong he made Fa Zheng director of the secretariat. Fa died the next year at forty-four, with the posthumous name Yi, and after the defeat at Yiling Zhuge Liang said that Fa Zheng, had he lived, could have stopped the eastern campaign.
Life and times
Dates 176 CE–220 CE