Is “King Gong of Chu ordered Yang Youji to shoot Lü Qi during the Battle of Yanling” true?
The Records of the Grand Historian, Chapter on the House of Chu, records: 'Fought with Jin troops at Yanling, Jin defeated Chu, and shot the King of Chu in the eye.' In the Chronicles of the Eastern Zhou Kingdoms, Chapter 58, it is written that King Gong of Chu personally came to the Yanling battlefield, and the Jin general Wei Qi (i.e., Lü Qi) drew his bow and shot, whereupon the king 'urgently summoned the divine archer general Yang Youji to come quickly to save him,' and Yang shot Wei Qi to avenge the king. The narrative is highly consistent with the official history.
In the official history, King Gong of Chu, during the Battle of Yanling, personally ordered Yang Youji to shoot the Jin general, while the novel vividly and completely depicts the battlefield confrontation.
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