Is “Kuai Yue advised Liu Cong to surrender to Cao Cao” true?
In Chapter 40 of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, after Liu Biao's death, with Cao Cao's army pressing on the border, Kuai Yue advised the new lord Liu Cong to surrender: "There are general principles of obedience and rebellion, and fixed circumstances of strength and weakness... If you resist him, your name will not be righteous." However, in the main text of the Records of the Three Kingdoms, Wei Shu, Biographies of Dong, Two Yuans, and Liu, it is recorded that Kuai Yue had directly advised Liu Biao to submit to Cao Cao: "Liu Biao's general Kuai Yue also advised Liu Biao, but Liu Biao hesitated, so he sent Song to visit Cao Cao to observe the situation." The novel shifts the target of persuasion from Liu Biao to Liu Cong.
The novel claims that Kuai Yue advised Liu Cong to surrender to Cao Cao after Liu Biao's death, while the official history records that Kuai Yue directly advised Liu Biao to surrender to Cao Cao.
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