Jiao Bo

Biography & Historical Record

Jiao Bo (焦伯, Giao Bá) is a named palace escort (護衛, hộ vệ) of the Cao Wei emperor Cao Mao (曹髦, Tào Mão), courtesy name Yanshi (彦士, Ngạn Sĩ). Older lists sometimes parked him in Chapter 4 because that chapter is the first Cao crisis readers meet; the received novel never places him there. His only scene is Chapter 114 (Cao Mao Drives Out and Dies at the Southern Gate; Jiang Wei Abandons Grain and Defeats the Wei Army), when Cao Mao leads a few hundred inner-palace servants against the regent Sima Zhao (司马昭, Tư Mã Chiêu) and dies at the South Watchtower (南阙, Nam Khuyết) in Luoyang, 260 AD.

Jiao Bo is not a field general, not a companion of Cao Cao (曹操, Tào Tháo), and not a figure of the Dong Zhuo (董卓, Đổng Trác) court. Luo Guanzhong gives him two concrete actions: he musters more than three hundred night-duty guards, grooms, and palace pages on Cao Mao’s order, then levels a spear at Cheng Ji (成济, Thành Tế) after the emperor has already been run through — and is himself speared dead. Chen Shou’s Sanguozhi and Pei Songzhi’s notes on Cao Mao’s death name Jia Chong (贾充, Giả Sung), Cheng Ji, and Wang Jing (王经, Vương Kinh); they do not give Jiao Bo an independent biography. Treat the personal name as the novel’s label for the loyal escort who dies in the same breath as his lord.

Role in Romance of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 114 (Cao Mao Drives Out and Dies at the Southern Gate; Jiang Wei Abandons Grain and Defeats the Wei Army): After years as a puppet, Cao Mao (曹髦, Tào Mão) can no longer endure Sima Zhao (司马昭, Tư Mã Chiêu). He summons inner attendants, weeps that the Sima house will soon seize the altar, and resolves to strike first. He orders his escort Jiao Bo (焦伯, Giao Bá) to gather the palace night-watch, grooms, and pages — barely three hundred men — and they drum and shout out of the inner court. Cao Mao, sword in hand, mounts the imperial carriage and drives straight for the South Watchtower.

Chapter 114 (same sortie): Wang Jing (王经, Vương Kinh) throws himself before the wheels and weeps that a few hundred men attacking Sima Zhao is “driving sheep into a tiger’s mouth.” Cao Mao refuses to turn back. At the gate they meet Jia Chong (贾充, Giả Sung) in armour, with Cheng Cui (成倅, Thành Thôi) on his left and Cheng Ji (成济, Thành Tế) on his right, leading several thousand iron-clad palace troops. Cao Mao shouts that he is the Son of Heaven; Jia Chong’s rank-and-file freeze. Jia Chong then tells Cheng Ji what Sima Zhao keeps him for — “this very day.” Cheng Ji asks whether to kill or to bind; Jia Chong answers that Sima Zhao wants him dead. Cheng Ji drives a ji through Cao Mao’s chest, knocks him from the carriage, and runs the blade out through the back. Jiao Bo (焦伯, Giao Bá) levels his spear and rushes Cheng Ji; Cheng Ji spears him dead on the spot. The remaining servants scatter. Wang Jing comes up cursing Jia Chong as a regicide and is bound. Sima Zhao later feigns grief over the carriage. In the same chapter, far to the west, Jiang Wei (姜维, Khương Duy) abandons grain and fights Wei — a separate front that frames why the court murder matters to Shu, but Jiao Bo is already dead in Luoyang.

Jiao Bo (焦伯) — Historical & Literary Timeline

For the historical killing of Cao Mao (Jia Chong, Cheng Ji, Wang Jing), see Cao Mao on Wikipedia and Sanguozhi Wei 4 with Pei’s notes.

Key Relationships

Family

• No parents, spouse, or children are named in the novel or in Chen Shou / Pei Songzhi. Jiao Bo appears only as Cao Mao’s escort.

Friends

• Cao Mao (曹髦, Tào Mão), courtesy Yanshi (彦士, Ngạn Sĩ): Wei emperor who orders Jiao Bo to muster the palace servants; Jiao Bo dies trying to avenge him at the South Watchtower (Chapter 114).
• Wang Jing (王经, Vương Kinh), courtesy Yanwei (彦纬, Ngạn Vĩ): Loyal minister who weeps before the carriage and is bound after cursing Jia Chong — the other named loyalist of the same sortie.

Enemies

• Cheng Ji (成济, Thành Tế): Jia Chong’s man who spears Cao Mao, then spears Jiao Bo when the escort charges. Not Cheng Ji (程畿, Trình Kỳ) of Shu — a different person and graphs.
• Jia Chong (贾充, Giả Sung): Orders Cheng Ji to kill rather than bind the emperor; Jiao Bo dies in that clash.
• Sima Zhao (司马昭, Tư Mã Chiêu): Regent whose usurpation Cao Mao and Jiao Bo try to stop; later feigns grief over the carriage.

Other

• Cheng Cui (成倅, Thành Thôi): Cheng Ji’s brother, posted on Jia Chong’s left when the iron-clad troops meet the carriage.
• Jiang Wei (姜维, Khương Duy): Shu commander in the same chapter’s western half; not present at the South Watchtower.
• Wang Shen (王沈, Vương Trầm) and Wang Ye (王业, Vương Nghiệp): Historical officers who, in Pei’s notes, leak Cao Mao’s plan to Sima Zhao — background to why the sortie is doomed; the novel’s named fighter on the emperor’s side remains Jiao Bo.