Ding Li

Biography & Historical Record

Ding Li (丁立, Đinh Lập) was a Shu Han general of the Three Kingdoms period, known almost entirely from casualty lists attached to Zhuge Liang‘s northern campaigns. He does not speak or fight in the novel; instead he is named among the officers Shu lost within a year of garrisoning Hanzhong — a roll call of talent draining away while the state debated whether to march again on Wei. Kongming’s Archives treats him as a “quasi-fictional” figure because his sole source is the Second Memorial on the Expedition (後出師表, Hou Chu Shi Biao), a document of debated authenticity preserved in Zhang Yan’s Moji (默記) and cited by Pei Songzhi, rather than Chen Shou’s original Sanguozhi compilation. Historically he is catalogued as a Shu officer who died around 228 AD, the year after Kongming occupied Hanzhong.

Role in Romance of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 97 (Zhuge Liang Writes a Second Memorial; Zhao Yun Slays Five Generals): The chapter opens with court debate over renewing the northern war. Zhuge Liang submits his Second Memorial arguing that delay will waste Shu’s finite pool of veterans. In the memorial he lists officers already lost since arriving at Hanzhong — including Zhao Yun, Yang Qun, Ma Yu, Yan Zhi, Ding Li, Bai Shou, Liu He, Deng Tong, and more than seventy commanders, plus over a thousand tribal cavalry from the southern campaigns. Ding Li is thus tied to the same arc in which Zhao Yun dies of illness (“Heaven has cut off one of my arms,” Kongming weeps), Zhao Tong and Zhao Guang report to court, and Zhuge Liang renews the attack on Wei — besieging Chencang, where Hao Zhao holds out, and later sending Jiang Wei to forge a letter against the Wei army. Ding Li performs no battle scene; his literary role is to stand for the human cost Kongming cites before the second northern expedition.

Ding Li (丁立) — Historical & Literary Timeline

For detailed historical records, archives, and official chronicles, explore Ding Li on Wikipedia.

Key Relationships

Family

• No spouse, children, or kin recorded in histories or the novel.

Friends

• Zhuge Liang (诸葛亮, Gia Cát Lượng), styled Kongming: Chancellor who lists Ding Li among the dead in the Second Memorial to justify renewing the northern war.
• Zhao Yun (赵云, Triệu Vân), styled Zilong: Fellow casualty named in the same memorial roll; dies of illness in Chapter 97’s arc — the most prominent name beside Ding Li’s.
• Yang Qun (杨群, Dương Quần), Ma Yu (马玉, Mã Ngọc), Yan Zhi (阎芝, Diêm Chi), Bai Shou (白寿, Bạch Thọ), Liu He (刘郃, Lưu Hợp), and Deng Tong (邓铜, Đằng Đồng): Fellow officers listed alongside Ding Li in the Second Memorial’s casualty list.

Enemies

• No personal enemies recorded — casualties of the Shu–Wei northern war rather than a named duel or feud.

Other

• Liu Shan (刘禅, Lưu Thiện), the Latter Ruler: Recipient of the Second Memorial in Chapter 97.
• Jiang Wei (姜维, Khương Duy), Wei Yan (魏延, Ngụy Diên), and Ma Dai (马岱, Mã Đại): Active commanders in the renewed northern expedition arc of the same chapter.
• Hao Zhao (郝昭, Hách Chiêu): Wei defender who holds Chencang against Zhuge Liang in Chapter 97 after the memorial is accepted.
• Zhang Yan (张俨, Trương Nghiêm): Eastern Wu scholar whose Moji preserved the Second Memorial that names Ding Li (Pei Songzhi annotation tradition).