Ding Feng (Brother)

Biography & Historical Record

Ding Feng (丁封, Đinh Phong) — titled Ding Feng (Brother) on this site, live slug /ding-feng-brother/ — was a late Eastern Wu general and the younger brother of Grand Marshal Ding Feng (丁奉, Đinh Phụng), courtesy name Chengyuan (承渊, Thừa Uyên), the snow-storming hero of Dongxing. The two men share an English romanization but not the same Chinese character, tone, or Vietnamese form: this post is 丁封 / Đinh Phong; the famous elder is 丁奉 / Đinh Phụng at /ding-feng/. Chen Shou’s Sanguozhi (吴书·丁奉传) closes the elder’s life with one spare sentence on the younger: 「弟封，官至后将军，先奉死」 — Rear General (后将军, Hậu tướng quân), and he died before the elder (who died in 271). No courtesy name, wife, or children are recorded.

His only dated campaign is the Wu relief of Shu in the winter of Yong’an 6 (263). When Shu reported that Wei had invaded, Emperor Sun Xiu (孙休, Tôn Hưu) ordered a three-pronged demonstration: Grand General Ding Feng (丁奉, Đinh Phụng) toward Shouchun (寿春, Thọ Xuân); General Liu Ping (留平, Lưu Bình) to Nanjun to confer with Shi Ji (施绩, Thi Tích) on where to strike; and generals Ding Feng (丁封, Đinh Phong) and Sun Yi (孙异, Tôn Dị) to Mianzhong (沔中, Miện Trung) — the Han-river corridor toward Shu. All three columns were “to rescue Shu.” When word arrived that Liu Shan (刘禅, Lưu Thiện) had surrendered to Wei, the operations were cancelled. The younger brother is not named at Dongxing (252): that short-weapon charge in the snow belongs only to the elder 丁奉 under Zhuge Ke (诸葛恪, Gia Cát Khác).

Role in Romance of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 117 (Deng Ai Gets Through the Yinping Mountains; Zhuge Zhan Falls at Mianzhu / 邓士载偷度阴平　诸葛瞻战死绵竹) is his only novel appearance — a named appointment, not a duel. At Mianzhu, Zhuge Zhan (诸葛瞻, Gia Cát Chiêm), courtesy Siyuan (思远, Tư Viễn), is surrounded by Deng Ai (邓艾, Đặng Ngải) after Deng’s felt-wrapped descent of Yinping. Zhuge Zhan sends Peng He (彭和, Bành Hòa) bursting out with a letter to Eastern Wu. Peng He reaches the Wu court; Sun Xiu (孙休, Tôn Hưu) tells his ministers he cannot sit idle while Shu is in peril, and names the veteran Ding Feng (丁奉, Đinh Phụng) commander-in-chief, with Ding Feng (丁封, Đinh Phong) and Sun Yi (孙异, Tôn Dị) as deputy generals, fifty thousand strong. The elder then splits the host: the younger Ding Feng and Sun Yi take twenty thousand toward Mianzhong; the elder takes thirty thousand toward Shouchun — three routes of relief.

The novel never shows 丁封 in combat. The next beat stays at Mianzhu: help does not come; Zhuge Zhan tells his officers that a long defence is no plan, leaves Zhuge Shang (诸葛尚, Gia Cát Thượng) and Zhang Zun (张遵, Trương Tuân) on the wall, sorties, is boxed in, and dies by his own sword; Zhuge Shang rides out and falls. Deng Ai takes Mianzhu and marches on Chengdu. Chapter 118 (same Shu-fall arc) has Liu Shan (刘禅, Lưu Thiện) surrender; Wu’s columns are not shown arriving. Luo Guanzhong thus uses 丁封 as the Rear-General name that pairs the Ding brothers on the Han-river prong — coordination with the elder, not the elder’s Dongxing glory. Chapter 108 (Ding Feng Wields Short Weapons in the Snow / 丁奉雪中奋短兵) belongs to 丁奉 alone; 丁封 is absent there in both novel and history.

Ding Feng (丁封, Đinh Phong) — Historical & Literary Timeline

For catalogs and the official notice, see 丁封 on Chinese Wikipedia and the Three Kingdoms name lists.

Key Relationships

Family

• Elder brother Ding Feng (丁奉, Đinh Phụng), courtesy Chengyuan (承渊, Thừa Uyên), Grand Marshal / snow hero of Dongxing — the only attested kin. History: SGZ 丁奉传 names 丁封 as younger brother, Rear General, dead first. Novel Ch. 117: the elder is commander-in-chief; 丁封 is deputy and takes the Mianzhong 20,000 while the elder feints at Shouchun. Father, mother, spouse, and children are not recorded in novel or history. Do not merge this post with /ding-feng/.

Friends

• Sun Xiu (孙休, Tôn Hưu), courtesy Zilie (子烈, Tử Liệt): Jing Emperor of Wu who, in novel and SGZ, orders the 263 three-column relief and places 丁封 on the Mianzhong prong.
• Sun Yi (孙异, Tôn Dị) — Title Sun Yi (Wu), live /sun-yi-wu/, not Sun Yi (孙翊, Tôn Dực): fellow deputy (novel) and fellow general sent to Mianzhong (SGZ). Co-commander of 丁封’s only named column.
• Ding Feng (丁奉, Đinh Phụng) as field senior: same-clan commander who assigns him the Han-river route. Comradeship is military and fraternal; the Dongxing fame remains the elder’s.

Enemies

• Deng Ai (邓艾, Đặng Ngải), courtesy Shizai (士载, Sĩ Tái): Wei general who crossed Yinping and killed Zhuge Zhan at Mianzhu — the crisis that called Wu out. 丁封 never meets him on the page.
• Zhong Hui (钟会, Chung Hội), courtesy Shiji (士季, Sĩ Quý): Wei commander at Jian’ge opposite Jiang Wei; the other half of the 263 invasion Wu tried to distract.
• Sima Zhao (司马昭, Tư Mã Chiêu), courtesy Zishang (子上, Tử Thượng): Wei regent who authorised the conquest of Shu; Wu’s Shouchun and Mianzhong moves were aimed at his war.

Other

• Zhuge Zhan (诸葛瞻, Gia Cát Chiêm) and Zhuge Shang (诸葛尚, Gia Cát Thượng): Shu father and son whose Mianzhu stand and deaths occupy the rest of Ch. 117 after Peng He’s letter; they die before 丁封’s column can matter.
• Peng He (彭和, Bành Hòa): Shu courier who brings Zhuge Zhan’s plea to Sun Xiu — no dedicated post; do not invent a link. Liu Shan (刘禅, Lưu Thiện): Shu emperor whose surrender ends the relief (history and Ch. 118 arc). Jiang Wei (姜维, Khương Duy): still holding Jian’ge against Zhong Hui while Deng Ai slips behind — same 263 theatre, not a 丁封 scene.
• Liu Ping (留平, Lưu Bình): historical third prong (to Nanjun). No post. Shi Ji (施绩, Thi Tích) (Zhu Ran’s son; live /shi-ji-2/, not /shi-ji/ = 士玑): the Nanjun commander Liu Ping was sent to consult. Neither shares 丁封’s Mianzhong road.
• Zhuge Ke (诸葛恪, Gia Cát Khác): patron of the 252 Dongxing victory won by the elder Ding Feng. Listed so readers do not attach that battle to 丁封. Sun Quan (孙权, Tôn Quyền) and Sun Hao (孙皓, Tôn Hạo): the Wu house the Ding brothers served across generations; 丁封’s own dated orders are Sun Xiu’s 263 edict, and he was already dead before the elder’s 271 death under Sun Hao.