Is “How did Wang Bodang die after Li Mi's rebellion against Tang failed?” true?
According to the Old Book of Tang, Biography of Li Mi, Li Mi rebelled against Tang and was ambushed by Sheng Yanshi south of Luhun County, where 'Li Mi was beheaded, aged thirty-seven. Wang Bodang also died in this incident.' Chapter 54 of Romance of the Sui and Tang Dynasties retains the outcome of the ambush, but to highlight Wang Bodang's loyalty, it adds the tragic detail that he 'desperately embraced Li Mi's body, shielding him in every possible way, and the two died together under a hail of arrows.' The novel amplifies the historical record of loyal death, which was briefly mentioned, through the imagery of arrows and embracing his lord.
The plot of Wang Bodang dying with Li Mi in an ambush is embellished in the novel with the tragic detail of 'embracing his lord to shield him.'
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