Peng Yang

Biography & Historical Record

Peng Yang (彭羕, Bành Dương), courtesy name Yongnian (永年, Vĩnh Niên) (178–214), was a Guanghan man, eight chi tall, striking in appearance, and notorious for arrogance. Among his contemporaries he respected only fellow-townsman Qin Mi (秦宓, Tần Mật), courtesy Zichi (子敕, Tử Sắc), and once wrote Xu Jing (许靖, Hứa Tĩnh) a recommendation that compared Qin Mi to Fu Yue, Jiang Ziya, and Li Yiji. In Yi Province he never rose above scribe (书佐). Colleagues slandered him to the governor Liu Zhang (刘璋, Lưu Chương), who had him shaved, collared, and sent to hard labour as a convict slave (徒隶).

When Liu Bei (刘备, Lưu Bị) entered Yi in 211, Peng Yang went north to find him. He walked into Pang Tong (庞统, Bàng Thống)‘s house while guests were still there, lay down on Pang Tong’s couch, and said he would talk only after the others left; he then demanded food before conversation and stayed days. Pang Tong was impressed. Fa Zheng (法正, Pháp Chính), who already knew him, joined the recommendation. Liu Bei used Peng Yang to relay orders and instruct officers. After Chengdu fell in 214 and Liu Bei became Governor of Yi, he raised Peng Yang in one step to Headquarters Officer (治中从事). The promotion went to Peng Yang’s head. Zhuge Liang (诸葛亮, Gia Cát Lượng) received him politely but warned Liu Bei in private that the man’s ambition was unsafe. Liu Bei, trusting Zhuge Liang and watching the same behaviour, cooled and posted him out as Administrator of Jiangyang (江阳, around present-day Luzhou).

Unhappy at the exile from Chengdu, Peng Yang visited Ma Chao (马超, Mã Siêu). Ma Chao asked how a man ranked with Kongming and Xiaozhi could be sent to a small commandery. Peng Yang answered that “the old leather” — Pei Songzhi explains 老革 as “old soldier,” a slur at Liu Bei — was muddle-headed, and added: “You outside, I inside, and the empire is not hard to settle.” Ma Chao, a recent surrender still afraid of suspicion, said nothing, then reported the words. Peng Yang was jailed. From prison he wrote Zhuge Liang a long self-defence: he had judged Cao Cao cruel, Sun Quan unrighteous, and Liu Zhang weak; only Liu Bei had a hegemon’s capacity; the “outside / inside” line meant Ma Chao should fight on the frontier while he served in the capital against Cao Cao, not a coup. He blamed wine for the word “old” and called Zhuge Liang the Yi Yin and Lü Wang of the age. The letter did not save him. He was executed at thirty-seven (East Asian reckoning).

The novel keeps the Guanghan convict, the visit to Pang Tong, and the death, but rearranges the middle. In Chapter 63 Peng Yang (the text writes 永言 for the courtesy name) warns Liu Bei that the forward camp on the Fu River can be drowned, and that the stars bode ill — the same chapter in which Pang Tong later rides the white horse into Zhang Ren’s ambush at Fallen Phoenix Slope. In Chapter 79 the novel adds a letter to Meng Da (孟达, Mạnh Đạt) that Ma Chao’s patrol intercepts; Ma Chao then drinks with Peng Yang, draws out treasonous talk, and Liu Bei has him killed on Zhuge Liang’s advice. History has no Meng Da letter and no intercepted courier: the fatal words are spoken to Ma Chao in private after the Jiangyang posting.

Role in Romance of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 63 (Zhuge Liang Mourns Pang Tong; Zhang Fei Releases Yan Yan in some titles; the Peng Yang scene is the Fu-River warning): Fa Zheng (法正, Pháp Chính) greets a cropped-haired man; Pang Tong (庞统, Bàng Thống) is told this is Guanghan Peng Yang, courtesy Yongyan in the novel’s spelling, a Yi notable whom Liu Zhang (刘璋, Lưu Chương) had collared for blunt speech. Peng Yang says he has come to save tens of thousands of lives and asks how many troops sit in the forward camp. Hearing that Huang Zhong (黄忠, Hoàng Trung) and Wei Yan (魏延, Ngụy Diên) hold a stockade against the Fu, he warns that a cut bank will drown the army. Liu Bei (刘备, Lưu Bị) takes him as a guest-adviser and sends word to watch for a flood. The same chapter later kills Pang Tong on the white horse — the “inauspicious” sky Peng Yang had named.

Chapter 79 (Brother Against Brother: Cao Pi Deposes the Emperor; Nephew Against Uncle: Liu Feng Is Forced to Die): After Meng Da’s affair, the novel has Peng Yang write Meng Da; Ma Chao’s (马超, Mã Siêu) patrol takes the messenger. Ma Chao drinks with Peng Yang, who curses “the old leather” and proposes that Ma Chao rise while he raises Yi troops inside. Ma Chao reports him. Liu Bei jails him; Zhuge Liang (诸葛亮, Gia Cát Lượng) advises death. History differs: no Meng Da letter, no intercepted courier — only the Jiangyang posting, the visit to Ma Chao, and the prison letter to Zhuge Liang.

Peng Yang (彭羕, Bành Dương) — Historical & Literary Timeline

For the official biography, see Peng Yang (Han dynasty) on Wikipedia.

Key Relationships

Family

• Sanguozhi 40 and the novel name no father, mother, spouse, or child for Peng Yang (彭羕, Bành Dương). He is a Guanghan singleton in the record; do not attach him to fictional Peng He (彭和) or to Han Consultant Peng Bo (彭伯).

Friends

• Qin Mi (秦宓, Tần Mật): the only contemporary Peng Yang is said to have respected; Peng Yang recommended him to Xu Jing.
• Pang Tong (庞统, Bàng Thống), courtesy Shiyuan (士元, Sĩ Nguyên): received the convict, talked through the night, and recommended him. Peng Yang’s prison letter recalls a pledge with Pang Tong to follow Zhuge Liang.
• Fa Zheng (法正, Pháp Chính), courtesy Xiaozhi (孝直, Hiếu Trực): already knew Peng Yang and jointly recommended him; the prison letter credits him with the introduction at Jiameng.
• Liu Bei (刘备, Lưu Bị): patron who raised him from convict to Headquarters Officer, then signed his death. Peng Yang’s letter still calls him a fatherly lord.

Enemies

• Liu Zhang (刘璋, Lưu Chương): believed slander and made Peng Yang a convict slave.
• Ma Chao (马超, Mã Siêu): not a personal foe, but the man who reported the “old leather” speech and (in the novel) the Meng Da letter. A recent surrender protecting himself.

Other

• Zhuge Liang (诸葛亮, Gia Cát Lượng): outwardly polite, inwardly opposed; recipient of the prison letter; in the novel he advises the death sentence.
• Meng Da (孟达, Mạnh Đạt): novel-only correspondent in Chapter 79; the historical biography does not pair them.
• Huang Zhong (黄忠, Hoàng Trung) and Wei Yan (魏延, Ngụy Diên): hold the Fu-River camp Peng Yang warns about in Chapter 63.
• Zhang Ren (张任, Trương Nhiệm): the Luo-city general whose ambush kills Pang Tong in the same chapter as Peng Yang’s debut.