Hu Lie胡烈

History vs. fiction

Detained by Zhong Hui and secretly communicated messages

• based on factWhen detained, conspired with subordinates to secretly send out messages

  The official history 'Records of the Three Kingdoms, Book of Wei, Biographies of Wang, Guanqiu, Zhuge, Deng, and Zhong' records that when Zhong Hui rebelled, Hu Lie was confined in a room, and his subordinate commander Qiu Jian obtained him the privilege of having food brought in: 'Jian pitied Lie sitting alone and petitioned Hui to allow one personal guard in to fetch food; the other commanders each brought in one man by the same precedent.' Hu Lie used this channel to pass out word that Zhong Hui had dug a great pit and meant to bury the outside troops in it. In the novel 'Romance of the Three Kingdoms', Chapter 119, Hu Lie tearfully tells Qiu Jian: 'If you remember our past friendship, pass on a message; I will die without regret.' The novel does not mention the digging of the great pit, and the plot has been rewritten.