Wen Chou文丑

History vs. fiction

The killing of Wen Chou by Lord Guan is fictional

• novel inventionThe novel writes that Guan Yu chased and killed Wen Chou in the Battle of Yanjin, but the official history does not record that Wen Chou died at Guan Yu's hands.

  In Chapter 26 of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Guan Yu, to repay Cao Cao's kindness, went out to fight Wen Chou: 'Guan Yu's horse was fast, caught up with Wen Chou, and with a blow from behind, cut Wen Chou off his horse.' However, comparing with the Records of the Three Kingdoms, Wei Book, Emperor Wu's Chronicle, the Battle of Yanjin did occur in official history, but Cao Cao adopted a decoy tactic: 'Then he ordered the cavalry to loosen their saddles and let the horses graze... At that time, the cavalry was less than six hundred, so he let them attack and greatly defeated the enemy, beheading Chou.' The official history does not specify which general killed Wen Chou. It can be seen that the novel, in order to highlight Guan Yu's bravery, forcibly attributed Wen Chou's death in the melee to Guan Yu.