Ahui Nan

Biography & Historical Record

Ahui Nan (阿会喃, A Hội Nam) is a fictional Nanman chieftain in Luo Guanzhong’s Romance of the Three Kingdoms—commander of the Third Ravine under King Meng Huo (孟获, Mạnh Hoạch) during Chancellor Zhuge Liang (诸葛亮, Gia Cát Lượng)’s southern campaign (novel setting commonly placed in 225 AD). He forms the “Three Ravines” triad with Jinhuan Sanjie (金环三结, Kim Hoàn Tam Kết) (First Ravine) and Dong Tuna (董荼那, Đổng Trà Na) (Second Ravine). He has no secure biography in Chen Shou’s Records of the Three Kingdoms; treat offices, captures, and death as literary.

In the novel, Meng Huo promises that whichever of the three defeats Shu will become chief of chiefs. Ahui Nan takes the right column with fifty thousand tribesmen while Jinhuan Sanjie (金环三结, Kim Hoàn Tam Kết) holds the center and Dong Tuna (董荼那, Đổng Trà Na) the left. Zhuge Liang studies the map of the Five Valleys camps, goads Zhao Yun (赵云, Triệu Vân) and Wei Yan (魏延, Ngụy Diên) into a night strike that kills Jinhuan Sanjie, then uses supporting columns under Wang Ping (王平, Vương Bình) and Ma Zhong (马忠, Mã Trung) to drive the other two chiefs into prepared roadblocks. Zhang Ni (张嶷, Trương Nghi) brings in Dong Tuna; Zhang Yi (张翼, Trương Dực) brings in Ahui Nan. Zhuge Liang unties them, feeds them, and releases them—opening the cycle of “capture and release” that unsettles Meng Huo’s camp.

Later, after Ma Dai’s pressure on the Lu River line, Ahui Nan is ordered to guard Shakou while Dong Tuna is beaten for failing against Shu. Humiliated chiefs urge betrayal; Dong Tuna and Ahui Nan seize the drunken Meng Huo and deliver him to Zhuge Liang. When Meng Huo is released again and returns, he lures both men into a trap, executes them for treason, and has their corpses thrown into a gully—removing the officers most likely to defect under Zhuge Liang’s leniency.

Role in Romance of the Three Kingdoms

Chapters 87–88 cast Ahui Nan as one pillar of Meng Huo’s first massed defense and then as a victim of the same psychological war that breaks Nanman unity. His right-wing assignment, escape over the hills, capture on the mountain road, merciful release, Shakou posting, joint kidnapping of Meng Huo, and final execution form a complete foil to Zhuge Liang’s “attack the heart” strategy: kindness toward tribal officers becomes a death sentence once Meng Huo reasserts control.

Ahui Nan (阿会喃) — Literary Timeline

Ahui Nan is a novel-only Nanman officer; the historical Nanzhong campaign of 225 AD involves Meng Huo in tradition but not this named triad of ravine chiefs.

Key Relationships

Family

• No information

Friends

• Dong Tuna (董荼那, Đổng Trà Na) — Second Ravine ally; captured and released with him; co-conspirator who helps seize Meng Huo; executed together.
• Jinhuan Sanjie (金环三结, Kim Hoàn Tam Kết) — First Ravine chief of the same three-column sortie; slain by Zhao Yun the night Ahui Nan’s camp collapses.

Enemies

• Zhuge Liang (诸葛亮, Gia Cát Lượng) — Architect of the encirclement, release, and the distrust that later costs Ahui Nan his life.
• Zhao Yun (赵云, Triệu Vân) / Wei Yan (魏延, Ngụy Diên) — Lead the night assault that breaks the Three Ravines camps.
• Zhang Yi (张翼, Trương Dực) — Captures Ahui Nan on the mountain road after the camp rout.
• Meng Huo (孟获, Mạnh Hoạch) — Overlord who first commissions him, then executes him for delivering the king to Shu.

Other

• Wang Ping (王平, Vương Bình) / Ma Zhong (马忠, Mã Trung) — Supporting columns that force Ahui Nan off his stockade toward Zhang Yi’s trap.
• Guan Suo (关索, Quan Sách) — Appears with Wang Ping in the same southern campaign chapters opposing Meng Huo after the Three Ravines fall.