Liu Bei’s Chief Strategist for the Conquest of Shu
Once Liu Zhang’s officer, who secretly conspired with Zhang Song to welcome Liu Bei into Shu — the key inside man in Liu Bei’s taking of Yi province. At Mount Dingjun he gave Huang Zhong the plan of "turning guest into master" to cut down Xiahou Yuan, and was one of the strategists Liu Bei trusted most in life — before Yiling, Zhuge Liang sighed that had Fa Zheng lived, he would surely have stopped Liu Bei’s eastern campaign, or at least kept the defeat from being so total. Vengeful by nature, he settled private scores once in power, yet Liu Bei always indulged him — a measure of how deeply he was relied upon.
Sent by Liu Zhang to welcome Liu Bei into Shu to help with defense, Fa Zheng instead conspired with his colleague Zhang Song, handing Liu Bei the weaknesses and maps of Yi province and urging him strongly to take it over. This inside work of "answering within to the force without" was a key link in Liu Bei’s bloodless, gradual swallowing of Yi province — Fa Zheng stood in Liu Zhang’s camp with his heart long since turned to Liu Bei.
At the Hanzhong campaign, Fa Zheng devised for Huang Zhong the scheme of "turning guest into master": seize the commanding height of Mount Dingjun, wait at ease on the high ground, lure the Wei general Xiahou Yuan into dividing his force to relieve it, and strike suddenly before he could steady his lines. Huang Zhong followed the plan and cut down Xiahou Yuan, turning the whole Hanzhong campaign in a stroke. On learning the planner was Fa Zheng and not Zhuge Liang, Cao Cao sighed, "I always knew Xuande could not manage this himself; someone must have taught him" — testimony to the plan’s brilliance.
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