Pang Tong

Also known as Zi Shiyuan · Feng Chu

Pang Tong, courtesy name Shiyuan, came from Xiangyang; slow and plain as a boy, he was unnoticed until, at about twenty, he called on Sima Hui, who talked with him from day into night and declared him the foremost scholar of the south. He served as a clerk in Nanjun and escorted Zhou Yu's coffin to Wu. Under Liu Bei he was dismissed as magistrate of Leiyang for neglecting his duties, but Lu Su wrote that Pang was no talent for a hundred-li county, and with Zhuge Liang's backing he rose to be a military adviser alongside Zhuge. Entering Shu with Liu Bei in 211, he offered three plans for taking Yi province; Liu chose the middle one, executed Liu Zhang's generals Yang Huai and Gao Pei and turned on Liu Zhang. In 214, leading an assault on Luo, Pang was killed by a stray arrow at thirty-five and given the posthumous name Jing. The Xiangyang ji records that Pang Degong called him the Young Phoenix.