Wei Dingguo

Wei Dingguo is a fictional character in the Water Margin, one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. He ranks 45th of the 108 Liangshan heroes and 9th of the 72 Earthly Fiends. He is nicknamed "General of Holy Fire".

Background

Wei Dingguo dons a red helmet with a red feather at its tip and a suit of red armour. He rides on a red steed and is armed with a saber and a bow and arrows. He is an accomplished military general and strategist and serves the imperial court as a drill instructor in his hometown of Lingzhou (凌州; present-day Ling County, Shandong) together with Shan Tinggui. He specialises in using fire-based weapons to attack his enemies and is thus nicknamed "General of Holy Fire".

Becoming an outlaw

After Guan Sheng defects to the outlaws from Liangshan Marsh, Imperial Tutor Cai Jing recommends Wei Dingguo and Shan Tinggui to the emperor to lead the imperial army to quell the outlaws. When the outlaws receive news of the attack, Guan Sheng volunteers to lead an army with his deputies Xuan Zan and Hao Siwen to engage the enemy. At Lingzhou, Hao Siwen and Xuan Zan are lured into the enemy formation by Shan Tinggui and Wei Dingguo respectively and captured. Hao Siwen and Xuan Zan are escorted as prisoners-of-war back to Daming Prefecture (in present-day Handan). Along the way, the bandits from Mount Deadwood led by Bao Xu and Li Kui attack the convoy and free the captives.

Shan Tinggui is defeated and captured by Guan Sheng in a man-on-man fight later. He is persuaded by Song Jiang to join the Liangshan cause of "delivering justice on Heaven's behalf". Wei Dingguo is furious when he learns of Shan Tinggui's defection and he challenges Guan Sheng to a duel outside Lingzhou. Wei Dingguo feigns defeat and attempts to lure Guan Sheng to pursue him so he can use his fire weapons to surprise attack Guan later. Shan Tinggui warns Guan Sheng and Guan retreats as well. The outlaws then seize the opportunity to occupy Lingzhou. With nowhere else to turn to, Wei Dingguo leads his remaining soldiers to Zhongling County. Shan Tinggui visits Wei Dingguo alone and succeeds in persuading him to join Liangshan as well.

Campaigns and death

Wei Dingguo becomes one of the leaders of the Liangshan cavalry after the Grand Assembly. He follows the heroes on their campaigns against the Liao invaders and rebel forces after they have been granted amnesty by the emperor. During the Fang La campaign, Wei Dingguo follows Lu Junyi's army to attack the enemy cities Xuanzhou and Huzhou, making great contributions to the nation. Wei Dingguo and Shan Tinggui are later assigned to lead the attack on Shezhou (present-day She County, Anhui). They see that the city gates are wide open without any enemies inside. Eager to earn the top credit for victory, they charge into the city, without suspecting that it may be a trap. They fall into a pit and are killed by enemy troops waiting in ambush.

References

• (Chinese) Li, Mengxia. 108 Heroes from the Water Margin, page 91. EPB Publishers Pte Ltd, 1992. ISBN 9971-0-0252-3.