Pang Tong
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article may fail to make a clear distinction between fact and fiction. Please help rewrite this article, according to the fiction guidelines, to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. (talk, help) |
Páng Tǒng (龐統) (178-213AD), courtesy name Shìyuán (士元), was an advisor to Liu Bei during the Later Han period. His Taoist name was Young Phoenix (鳯雛; Fèngchú). The epic historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms portrays Pang Tong as a genius military tactician, and describes him and strategist Zhuge Liang in equal terms. Indeed, Sima Hui first recommends Pang Tong and Zhuge Liang to the hero Liu Bei with the following introduction:
"Sleeping Dragon and Young Phoenix: with either one you can settle all under heaven."
Pang Tong was born in Xiangyang and initially served the lord Sun Quan. In this capacity, Pang pretended to defect to Cao Cao in the build-up to the Battle of Red Cliffs, and advised Cao to chain his warships together, ostensibly to stabilise them and reduce sea-sickness among the soldiers. As a result, when Wu attacked the ships with fire, the fire spread quickly to destroy Cao Cao's entire fleet.
After the death of Wu's commander-in-chief Zhou Yu, Zhou's successor Lu Su recommended Pang Tong to Sun Quan as a chief advisor. However, Sun Quan was prejudiced against Pang due to his ugly appearance, and the young man took offense. When asked how his learning compared to the late commander Zhou Yu, Pang haughtily replied that his abilities were not to be compared to those of Zhou Yu.
Pang Tong then went to serve Liu Bei, and mapped out the occupation of Liu Zhang's territory in Yizhou (modern Sichuan), which Zhuge Liang had decided years ago to be the heartland of Liu Bei's kingdom. Pang suggested to Liu Bei to surprise Liu Zhang at their first meeting and kidnap him; Liu Bei declined, reasoning that it was too big of a risk to take at that stage, given his own unfamiliarity with the province. (The Romance of the Three Kingdoms fictionalized this event into an attempt by Pang Tong to have Liu Zhang assassinated through Wei Yan's pretence of a sword dance, but was prevented by Liu Bei who saw Liu Zhang as a kinsman, however distant, and instead tried to help fight Zhang Lu when he attacked Liu Zhang.)
However, Liu Zhang was persuaded not to send troops to reinforce Liu Bei, and Liu Bei decided no longer to help Liu Zhang and to take the strategically important Fu Pass. At the Fu Pass, Liu Zhang's generals Yang Huai and Gao Pei tried to assassinate Liu Bei, but were caught and put to death by Pang Tong. Liu Zhang then ordered his generals to attack Liu Bei, and as Liu Bei's two armies marched towards Luocheng, Pang Tong was ambushed in the Valley of the Fallen Phoenix (落鳯坡), where he was mistaken for Liu Bei because he had been given Liu Bei's white horse. He and his men were killed in the shower of arrows. He died at the age of thirty-five.
Liu Bei was left hemmed in at the Pass, and so Zhuge Liang had to leave Jingzhou to relieve him. Lord Guan then had to hold the entire region of Jingzhou alone, leading eventually to defeat when Cao Cao and Sun Quan allied to attack Jingzhou from both north and south.
[edit] Modern references
Pang Tong is also featured in the Dynasty Warriors video games by Koei. He is portrayed as a shawed figure who wields the "Tornado Staff," a weapon capable of conjuring magic. His character is cynical and carefree, but wise nonetheless, and has appeared masked in every title in the series, in reference to his supposed ugly appearance. He is referred to as the "Fledgling Phoenix," and his rivallry with Zhuge Liang has grown more distinguished with each successive title.
Not surprisingly, Pang Tong generally takes the place of advisor to Liu Bei, and some of the early strategies in various levels involve him. Although he usually participates in battle, his attacks are short-ranged, slow and not suited for general combat, due to his lack of crowd-control skill. Instead, Pang relies on his superb Musou Attack, which is arguably the strongest and most devastating in the series.
Pang Tong is eventually killed by Zhang Ren, during an ambush in which he is mistaken for Liu Bei during the invasion of Shu.
