| NAME | |
|---|---|
| Chinese Name | 徐母, 徐母, Xú Mǔ |
| Nickname | Xu Shu's mother; the Xuchang suicide (novel) |
| Other name | Từ Mẫu |
| INFORMATION | |
| Birth Place | Unknown |
| Death Reason | Novel: hanged herself at Xuchang after exposing Cao Cao's forged letter (Chapter 37). History: not said to have died then. |
| FAMILY | |
| Children | |
| Relatives | |
| CAREER | |
| Allegiance | Xu Shu household; held by Cao Cao (208) |
| Battles | Not a combatant. Chapters 36–37: hostage whose (forged) letter removes Xu Shu from Liu Bei and whose suicide (novel) begins Xu Shu's silence in Wei. |
Biography & Historical Record
Mother Xu (徐母, Từ Mẫu) is the unnamed mother of Xu Shu (徐庶, Từ Thứ), courtesy Yuanzhi (元直, Nguyên Trực) — the Yingchuan adviser who served Liu Bei (刘备, Lưu Bị) at Xinye under the alias Dan Fu and then, because of her, rode to Cao Cao (曹操, Tào Tháo). Vietnamese on this site is Từ Mẫu, matching Từ Thứ; the import form “Chờ Mẫu” is a bad reading of 徐 and is not used here. She is not Lady Xu (徐夫人) of Chapter 108 (a Wu consort and owner of a famous sword), and not any other Xu wife on the site.
In the novel her whole life is Chapters 36–37. Cao Cao, stung by Xu Shu’s Eight Gates victory over Cao Ren at Fancheng, takes the mother in Yingchuan. Cheng Yu (程昱, Trình Dục) studies her hand and forges a letter that calls the son to Xuchang. Xu Shu, the model of filial duty, leaves Liu Bei, turns his horse back to recommend Zhuge Liang (诸葛亮, Gia Cát Lượng), and swears he will never make a plan for Cao. At Xuchang the mother sees the letter, understands the fraud, curses her son for abandoning a righteous lord, and hangs herself. Cao Cao, who had wanted a living hostage, buries her with honour and keeps a silent adviser. Historically the capture is real and the suicide is not: the Weilüe (Pei note on Zhuge Liang) says only that the mother fell into Cao’s hands and Xu Shu left; he later held office in Wei. The novel invents the forged letter and the hanging to make the filial choice tragic rather than merely prudent.
Role in Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Chapter 36 (Xu Shu’s mother is taken; Xu Shu recommends the Sleeping Dragon): After Fancheng, Cao Cao asks who beat Cao Ren. Cheng Yu names Xu Shu and adds that the mother is in Yingchuan. Cao arrests her. She will not write. Cheng Yu imitates her hand and sends a summons. Xu Shu reads it at Xinye, weeps, tells Liu Bei he must go, and at the last moment turns back on the road to name Zhuge Liang in Longzhong and to swear silence in Cao’s camp. The mother has not yet appeared in person; her supposed letter is already enough to move the army’s best mind.
Chapter 37 (The mother dies; Liu Bei goes to the thatched hut): Xu Shu reaches Xuchang and is received. The mother asks how he could come. He shows the letter. She sees it is forged, strikes him with shame, and says a son who leaves a true lord for a thief of the realm is no son of hers. She retires and hangs herself. Cao Cao, cheated of his lever, orders a rich burial. Xu Shu keeps the vow: he will sit in Wei and not speak. The rest of Chapter 37 is Liu Bei’s first two visits to Zhuge Liang — the political replacement her death has forced.
Mother Xu (徐母) — Historical & Literary Timeline
Yingchuan household
Lives as Xu Shu’s mother in Yingchuan (Changshe in the site’s Xu Shu notice). No personal name survives in novel or history.
Arrest and forged letter
Taken by Cao Cao after Xu Shu’s Fancheng victory. Cheng Yu forges her hand. Xu Shu leaves Liu Bei and recommends Zhuge Liang. History agrees on the capture and the departure; it does not attest the forgery.
Suicide at Xuchang (novel)
She exposes the fraud, rebukes the son, and hangs herself. Cao Cao buries her well. History: no suicide; Xu Shu serves Wei as a mid-level official and is later said (by Zhuge Liang) never to have been fully used.
The son’s historical notice is in the Zhuge Liang file; see Xu Shu.
Key Relationships
Family
- Son Xu Shu (徐庶, Từ Thứ), courtesy Yuanzhi, alias Dan Fu: The only child the sources name. Novel: she dies to punish his coming; he answers with lifelong silence in Cao’s camp. History: she is the reason he leaves Liu Bei; she is not said to die of it.
- No husband, daughters, or other Xu kin named. Do not merge with
/lady-xu/(徐夫人, Chapter 108, Wu) or with Xu Shu’s own later household in Wei.
Friends
- None outside the son. She is not part of the Xinye or Longzhong scholarly circle; Sima Hui and Zhuge Liang know Xu Shu, not her.
Enemies
- Cao Cao (曹操, Tào Tháo): The captor. Novel: she would rather die than be his instrument. History: a hostage, not a suicide.
- Cheng Yu (程昱, Trình Dục): The man who studies her calligraphy and writes the false summons — the novel’s immediate author of the tragedy.
Other
- Liu Bei (刘备, Lưu Bị): The lord she wished her son had stayed with. She never meets him.
- Zhuge Liang (诸葛亮, Gia Cát Lượng): The replacement her (novel) death forces Liu Bei to seek in Chapter 37.
- Wrong Xu:
/lady-xu/is 徐夫人 of Chapter 108, a Wu figure. This post is 徐母, Xu Shu’s mother only.
In Novel
Chapter 36
- Mother Xu (徐母, Từ Mẫu): After Xu Shu (徐庶, Từ Thứ) defeats Cao Ren at Fancheng, Cao Cao (曹操, Tào Tháo) seizes her in Yingchuan. She will not write. Cheng Yu (程昱, Trình Dục) forges a letter in her hand. Xu Shu reads it at Xinye, takes leave of Liu Bei (刘备, Lưu Bị), turns back on the road to recommend Zhuge Liang (诸葛亮, Gia Cát Lượng), and swears he will never make a plan for Cao. The mother is still off-stage; the forged letter is already her first “speech.”
Chapter 37
- Mother Xu (徐母, Từ Mẫu): At Xuchang she sees the letter, knows it is false, and rebukes her son for leaving a righteous lord. She hangs herself. Cao Cao, who wanted a living hostage, buries her with ceremony. Xu Shu’s silence in Wei begins at her grave. Liu Bei’s first visits to the thatched hut occupy the rest of the chapter — the political sequel of her suicide.
In History
Summary
- Mother Xu (徐母, Từ Mẫu) is historical as Xu Shu’s mother, not as a named biography. The Weilüe (Pei note on Zhuge Liang, Sanguozhi 35) says Cao Cao’s people obtained the mother and Xu Shu therefore left Liu Bei for the north. It does not record a forged letter or a hanging. Xu Shu later held office in Wei (Central Secretariat gentleman in some notices). Zhuge Liang’s later remark that Xu Shu was never fully used is about the son, not a eulogy for the mother.
Year: 208 AD
- Capture in the Jing / Yingchuan zone as Cao Cao’s power closed on Liu Bei; Xu Shu’s departure. Novel Chapters 36–37 dramatize the same year with Cheng Yu’s forgery and the suicide.
Historical Record
- Pei Songzhi on Sanguozhi 35 (蜀书 — Zhuge Liang), citing the Weilüe. The Dan Fu alias, Eight Gates battle, forged letter, and hanging are novel. Do not identify her with Wu’s 徐夫人 (
/lady-xu/).
COMMENTS (0)