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Tian Feng

The Blunt Strategist Imprisoned for Remonstrating

Masters of the Iconic Scene · Small Roles, Famous Names

BluntnessLoyal CounselTragedy

Who they are

A strategist under Yuan Shao, upright and outspoken, who before Guandu strenuously opposed Yuan Shao’s hasty march to war and was thrown in prison for his pains. When word of the defeat at Guandu came back, the jailers thought he would be freed and promoted for his "uncanny foresight," but Tian Feng foresaw that he was sure to die — Yuan Shao valued face, and seeing him after the defeat would only shame and anger him the more. And so it was: Yuan Shao, on the ground of "being ashamed to face Tian Feng," ordered him executed.

Primary sourcesChen Shou, Records of the Three Kingdoms, Book of Wei, Biography of Yuan Shao

Key stories

Killed by His Own Being Right

Before Yuan Shao resolved to march against Cao Cao, Tian Feng strenuously opposed it, holding that he should first rest and recover his strength and wait for the moment; Yuan Shao, refusing, imprisoned him instead. When word of the defeat at Guandu came, his fellow prisoners were glad for Tian Feng, thinking he would soon be freed and promoted for his accurate foresight, but Tian Feng sighed: "had my lord won and returned, I might yet have lived; now that he has lost, I am sure to die." And so Yuan Shao, feeling his face utterly lost, ordered him executed — a man killed for having spoken rightly, the most ironic footnote to Guandu.

Relationships

Serves

🏯Yuan Shao　Imprisoned for remonstrating; killed after the defeat at Guandu

Echoes today

Below are how modern works borrow or reinterpret this name or story — not the original material. The two differ, so keep them apart.

"Killed by his own being right"His tragedy of being killed precisely for accurately foreseeing the course of Guandu is often cited as a classic case of the historical motif of "the price of speaking the truth."

Appears in

Guandu and the Three VisitsThe Battle of Guandu: The Fire at Wuchao

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