Xiahou Ba

First major appearance. Named by Sima Yi as one of the four sons of Xiahou Yuan, a trained archer and cavalier, and made joint Leader of the Van with his brother Xiahou Wei - all four brothers asking for the campaign because they want to avenge their father. Crosses River Wei to camp on the far bank, and is posted with Xiahou Wei to ambush the Shu troops on the southern hills at the sound of fighting from Beiyuan.

Sent out at the very end with a thousand men to scout the Wuzhang Hills after Sima Yi reads a leadership star out of position - 'Surely Zhuge Liang is ill and will soon die... If you see signs of confusion, it means that Zhuge Liang is ill. I shall take the occasion to smite hard.' He never reaches the camp, but the alarm his approach causes is what sends Wei Yan through the tent flap and over the Lamp of Fate.

Sent with a few dozen scouts to reconnoitre the Shu camps when Sima Yi's nerve fails at his own gate, and reports them empty. Urges caution a second time - 'Be cautious. Send a subordinate leader first' - and is overruled. Then one of the two generals who catch Sima Yi's bridle after fifteen miles of flight and have to convince him his head is still on.

Sima Yi's strike force: posted with Xiahou Wei on the River Ji to take Bei Yan and Yang Zuo in the flank as they leave their walled camp, accepts Bei Yan's open challenge, kills him in a few bouts, and drives Gongsun Yuan back inside Xiangping. Present again in the encirclement on the night of the break-out.

Defects in this chapter, and the defection is forced on him. Commanding at Yongzhou, he is summoned to Luoyang 'to discuss affairs' and reads it correctly: 'who is this Sima Yi that he has put to death my kinspeople and would now destroy me? What is his aim, if it be not to usurp the Throne?' Declares himself with three thousand men, is caught between Guo Huai and Chen Tai, and flees to Hanzhong. Jiang Wei doubts him, investigates, and then welcomes him with the comparison to Wei Zi leaving the court of King Zhou. His value is his briefing: the Simas are too busy at home to move on Shu yet, but two young men are coming up - Zhong Hui and Deng Ai - and 'you may well be on your guard against him and the other, for they are to be feared'. Jiang Wei answers 'I do not think them worth even talking about.' Then guides the expedition and proposes the Ox Head Hills manoeuvre.

Army Strategist of the expedition and the author of its plan: Nanan is 'the only well-provided place in all Longshang' and worth having as a base, the Qiangs should be brought to Longyou first, and the march should go by Shiying and Dongting. Also proposes the feigned-defeat ambush that Jiang Wei rejects as too obvious for Sima Yi's son. His best stroke is the disguise: he takes the Wei escort of the recaptured convoy prisoner, strips them of weapons and clothing, dresses his own men in them, marches on the Wei camp under Wei banners and is let in through the open gates. Fights his way out again when the Qiangs turn and rejoins Jiang Wei for the retreat.

Proposes the route - 'Let us send first some light horse out by Baohan to capture Nanan and thereby settle that county' - takes the Wei rear with Zhang Yi at River Yao, and then gives the warning that turns out to matter most: 'I have spoken to you of Deng Ai many times. He is perspicacious, valiant, resourceful, and has always delighted in the study of military topography. As he is coming, we shall have to put forth all our energies.' Sent against Chen Tai while Jiang Wei goes for Deng Ai, and withdrawn when the trap closes.

The man who gets Jiang Wei out of the ambush: caught on three sides in the valley by Shi Zuan, Deng Zhong and Deng Ai, 'They were in grave danger, but Xiahou Ba came to their rescue, and so Jiang Wei escaped.' He also opens the chapter by warning against the campaign — 'Deng Ai is young, but he is deep and crafty… Victory will not be so easy as it was before' — and is snapped at for it, and he is the one who reports that Bao Su's force is destroyed and Bao Su dead. The valley is called Block Valley, which Jiang Wei hears as 'Cut-off Valley'.

Alive, in the field, and choosing the campaign's objective. 'Jiang Wei and Xiahou Ba led the main column', and when Jiang Wei asks what the first objective should be it is Xiahou Ba who answers: 'There is no better fighting ground than Qishan, as the tactics of the late Prime Minister made evident, and it is the only good exit.'

Brings the warning about the deserter: 'O Commander, why have you believed the tale of this Wang Guan? In Wei I never heard that Wang Guan was related to Wang Jing, though it is true I never made particular inquiries. You should look to it, for there is much pretense in his story.' Jiang Wei answers that he knew already and has been meeting trick with trick. Rides with him into the Yunshan Valley ambush.

Where he dies. Leads the van to Taoyang, finds no flagstaffs and the gates standing open, and is wary enough to ask 'Is there any ruse in there?' — then is talked round by his own scouts, who have seen people fleeing on the southern road, and rides out himself to the northwest to confirm it. 'The city is really empty,' said Xiahou Ba. He leads the way in; the bomb goes off at the curtain wall, the drums and trumpets start, the flags come up and the drawbridge rises. 'Caught!' said Xiahou Ba — and 'as he turned to retire, the arrows and stones flew down in clouds, and under these Xiahou Ba and many of his soldiers lost their lives.' The chapter gives him a quatrain: 'Most able strategist and brave, / Xiahou Ba, outwitted here / By Deng Ai, more prudent still, and slain, / Deserves a pitying tear.' Jiang Wei 'was very grieved at the loss'.