| NAME | |
|---|---|
| Chinese Name | 苗泽, 苗澤, Miáo Zé |
| Nickname | Brother-in-law who sold the Ma Teng plot |
| Other name | Miêu Trạch |
| INFORMATION | |
| Birth Place | Unknown |
| Death Reason | Beheaded in the market by Cao Cao with Li Chunxiang after betraying Huang Kui and Ma Teng (Chapter 58) |
| FAMILY | |
| Relatives | |
| CAREER | |
| Allegiance | Huang Kui household; defects to Cao Cao (novel) |
| Battles | Not a combatant. Informant in the Ma Teng assassination plot (Chapters 57–58); executed after the ambush. |
Biography & Historical Record
Miao Ze (苗泽, Miêu Trạch) is a fictional hanger-on of the Xuchang court in Romance Chapters 57–58: younger brother of the unnamed wife of Huang Kui (黄奎, Hoàng Khuê), and lover of Huang Kui’s concubine Li Chunxiang (李春香, Lý Xuân Hương). When Cao Cao (曹操, Tào Tháo) sends Huang Kui to “comfort” Ma Teng (马腾, Mã Đằng)’s camp, Huang Kui and Ma Teng agree to kill Cao at a troop review. Li Chunxiang draws the secret out; Miao Ze carries it to Cao Cao, hoping for rank and for the woman. Cao springs the ambush, binds Ma Teng, Ma Xiu, and Huang Kui, and kills them. He then has Miao Ze, Li Chunxiang, and Huang Kui’s entire household beheaded in the market — the novel’s judgement that a man who sells his sister’s husband for a concubine is not a servant worth keeping.
Vietnamese on this site is Miêu Trạch (苗泽), not the garbled form “Meo Rạch.” Chen Shou does not know Miao Ze or Li Chunxiang. Ma Teng’s historical summons to the capital and death under Cao Cao are real; the bedroom leak is Luo Guanzhong’s machinery for that death. Do not promote Miao Ze into a Wei general or give him a courtesy name.
Role in Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Chapter 57 (Ma Teng Raises Troops; the Xuchang plot is laid): Ma Teng is in the capital region. Cao Cao assigns Huang Kui, son of the late Grand Commandant Huang Wan (黄琬, Hoàng Uyển), as staff officer to the camp. Huang Kui hates Cao as a new tyrant and finds Ma Teng of the same mind. They fix the review outside the city as the moment. Huang Kui’s household is already rotten: Li Chunxiang is his concubine; Miao Ze, his wife’s brother, is her lover. The secret does not stay in the men’s tent.
Chapter 58 (The plot breaks; Ma Chao’s revenge begins): Li Chunxiang tells Miao Ze. Miao Ze goes to Cao Cao and asks for two things — advancement, and Li Chunxiang. Cao Cao lets him think both are possible, then uses the timetable to ambush Ma Teng. Ma Teng, Ma Xiu, and Huang Kui are taken and killed; Ma Tie dies in the fighting in some tellings; Ma Chao is not in the net. Cao Cao then orders Miao Ze and Li Chunxiang executed with Huang Kui’s family in the marketplace, so that neither the conspirators nor the sellers of the conspiracy remain. The chapter turns to Ma Chao’s rage at Tong Pass — the political fruit of Miao Ze’s leak.
Miao Ze (苗泽) — Historical & Literary Timeline
Inside Huang Kui’s house
Brother-in-law and secret lover while Huang Kui and Ma Teng set the review assassination. He is not yet on Cao Cao’s books.
The report
Carries Li Chunxiang’s pillow-talk to Cao Cao and asks for the woman as his reward. Cao Cao takes the information and not the bargainer’s terms.
Market execution
After Ma Teng and Huang Kui die, Miao Ze and Li Chunxiang are beheaded with the Huang household. Ma Chao’s later rebellion is the sequel he does not live to see.
Ma Teng’s historical death is outlined under Ma Teng; Miao Ze is novel-only.
Key Relationships
Family
- Sister: the unnamed principal wife of Huang Kui (黄奎, Hoàng Khuê). That marriage is the only kinship the novel gives him. (A second Huang Kui stub exists at
/huang-kui/; both are 黄奎 of this plot — do not invent a second man.) - No father, wife, or children of his own are named. Li Chunxiang is his lover, not his spouse.
Friends
- Li Chunxiang (李春香, Lý Xuân Hương): Huang Kui’s concubine and Miao Ze’s partner in the leak. They die in the same market row. The novel does not treat this as a loyal friendship — it is the channel of the betrayal.
Enemies
- Huang Kui (黄奎, Hoàng Khuê): Sister’s husband; the man whose plot he sells.
- Ma Teng (马腾, Mã Đằng), Ma Xiu (马休, Mã Hưu), Ma Tie (马铁, Mã Thiết): The Xiliang party destroyed by his report.
- Cao Cao (曹操, Tào Tháo): The patron he tried to join, and the man who kills him for the manner of the joining.
Other
- Ma Chao (马超, Mã Siêu): Absent from Xuchang; his Tong Pass war is the consequence of the leak.
- Huang Wan (黄琬, Hoàng Uyển): Huang Kui’s father, historical Grand Commandant — background to Huang Kui’s hatred, not Miao Ze’s kin.
In Novel
Chapter 57
- Miao Ze (苗泽, Miêu Trạch): Brother of Huang Kui’s (黄奎, Hoàng Khuê) wife; already the lover of the concubine Li Chunxiang (李春香, Lý Xuân Hương) while Huang Kui and Ma Teng (马腾, Mã Đằng) agree to kill Cao Cao (曹操, Tào Tháo) at the troop review outside Xuchang.
Chapter 58
- Miao Ze (苗泽, Miêu Trạch): Receives the plot from Li Chunxiang and reports it to Cao Cao, asking for rank and for the woman. Cao Cao uses the timetable, ambushes Ma Teng, and kills Ma Teng, Ma Xiu (马休, Mã Hưu), and Huang Kui. He then has Miao Ze, Li Chunxiang, and Huang Kui’s household beheaded in the market — punishing the seller with the sold. Ma Chao’s (马超, Mã Siêu) later rising at Tong Pass is the war this bedroom leak starts.
In History
Summary
- Miao Ze (苗泽, Miêu Trạch) is a novel character. No Sanguozhi notice. Ma Teng’s recall and death under Cao Cao are historical; the Huang Kui–Li Chunxiang–Miao Ze triangle is literary machinery.
Year: 211–212 AD (historical Ma Teng)
- Cao Cao’s destruction of Ma Teng’s capital party. The novel dates the bedroom plot to Chapters 57–58 and uses it to start Ma Chao’s revenge.
Historical Record
- Silence for Miao Ze and Li Chunxiang. Ma Teng: Sanguozhi Shu 6 / Wei notices. Do not read Miao Ze into Chen Shou.
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