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the-archlich · 1 year

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Dynasty Warriors: Who Is Xu Sheng

Although it wouldn't be correct to call Xu Sheng an obscure figure, he's certainly not one of Wu's most famous commanders. There are, however, a few interesting things to be said about him.

Xu Sheng doesn’t have an especially big footprint in 3K fiction. Like a lot of 3K figures he’s been an NPC in Dynasty Warriors for a long, long time and an officer in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms series. His stats in the latter are generally above average, so that’s nice for him.

He was never your first choice for something but it never hurt to have him along for the ride and he’s one of the better “late game” officers. He doesn’t really have a presence outside of these games, so there’s not much to talk about in this section.

All things considered, then, I was pretty surprised when they added him as a playable character in DW9. As is usually the case with Xu Sheng he wouldn’t have been my first choice but it’s not a decision I could really complain about, either. The most active part of his career overlaps nicely with the portion of Wu’s history DW cares about and he was certainly an accomplished individual, so it’s a solid choice.

I don’t really think I have anything to say about Xu Sheng in DW9, though. He gets the moments you’d expect if you have any familiarity with him, but outside of that he’s mostly a background figure. I can’t identify any particular personality traits he has or character motivations. I’d like to see him as a more dynamic figure but with what we got, I don’t have a lot to talk about.

Someone with more passion for Xu Shu wrote in anonymously and gave me their opinion. I’ll share it here because I don’t have any opinions of my own to give about his DW9 characterization.

Xu Sheng's DW9 Characterization: He doesn’t have much of a massive presence aside from the Guangling Fake Wall thing. But from some of his lines in 9 Vanilla and Empires, he feels more like a reverse Wang Yi. He developed PTSD from losing Xu Province, but instead of going all vengeance mode, he tries to be a better person and defend Wu as an atonement for losing his homeland. He does have moments of lapsed judgement like him doubting on Zhou Tai because pirate bad but made up in ZT's ending.

I think KT wants Xu Sheng to be more like Wu's version of Guan Xing and Li Dian where they wanted smarterish warriors? Though he also is heavy on Japan's love for "gap moe '' where he has lines where he likes sweets and he cries when he feels an extreme emotion worthy of it like accomplishment or gratefulness or loss. Also they fucked up the Fake Wall story in that everyone in Wu was on board with the tactic instead of being Sheng's "fuck you did it anyway" thing.

Make of that what you will. For now we’ll move on to Xu Sheng in the Yanyi. Xu Sheng is first mentioned in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms as an officer who joins Sun Quan prior to Chibi.[1]

During the campaign, Zhou Yu sends him and Ding Feng to capture and kill Zhuge Liang. Zhuge Liang anticipated this and isready with a fast boat. When Xu Sheng’s ship draws near, Zhao Yun shoots the rope holding its sail, which allows Zhuge Liang’s to get away and intimidates Sun Quan’s officers into not following. Ding Feng shrugs it off saying,“Zhuge Liang is too clever for anyone; and Zhao Zilong is the bravest of the brave.” Later, Xu Sheng and Ding Feng serve as Zhou Yu’s guards during the fire attack.[2]

Xu Sheng next appears at the siege of Jiangling, acting as an assistant to the general Jiang Qin. Although bested in battle twice by Cao Ren, he plays a key role in eventually defeating his army in the field.[3] Later, he and Ding Feng are involved in an entirely fictitious attempt to capture Liu Bei at his wedding with Lady Sun but are shamed by the lady into letting the couple pass. They subsequently join up with Zhou Yu and pursue Liu Bei but are unsuccessful.[4]

Xu Sheng returns as a commander at Hefei. There, he plays a noteworthy role in extracting Sun Quan from danger.[5] He gets to have a significant moment of glory in the subsequent battle at Ruxu, where he leads a daring strike against Li Dian. Although initially successful he is soon surrounded and in danger of being killed. Fortunately, he is rescued by Zhou Tai and both emerge heavily wounded.[6]

Following this, Xu Sheng has a consistent presence in Sun Quan’s campaigns against Liu Bei. He plays a small role in Lü Meng’s operations against Guan Yu, where he is once again working with Ding Feng.[7] They serve as Lu Xun’s guards during the operations in Yidu. In one incident they are taunted by Wu Ban and want to fight him, but Lu Xun correctly predicts it is a trap and restrains them so they do not fall into an ambush.[8]

Xu Sheng’s biggest moment of glory comes in chapter 86, which is inspired by Cao Pi’s Guangling Expeditions. When word reaches Sun Quan that Cao Pi is invading in the east with a large army, Xu Sheng volunteers to meet them.[9] In an earlier chapter, he objects to Sun Quan accepting a title from Cao Pi, considering it a shameful humiliation.[10]

Xu Sheng immediately begins preparing to meet Cao Pi’s army but has some trouble with his subordinate Sun Shao. The latter objects to Xu Sheng’s decision to take a defensive position, to the point where Xu Sheng orders his execution. Sun Quan soon arrives and rescinds the order. Instead of apologizing for his disobedience, though, Sun Shao crosses the river to fight Cao Pi, completely disobeying all instructions. Xu Sheng is aware that Sun Quan has a fondness for Sun Shao, so he sends Ding Feng to rescue him.[11]

Once Cao Pi’s army arrives, Xu Sheng erects false walls in the night, manned by scarecrows. In the morning, Cao Pi thinks that Xu Sheng raised an entire fortress in one night and decides to retreat. During the retreat, he is ambushed first by Sun Shao and then by Ding Feng, as Xu Sheng planned. Cao Pi narrowly escapes but Zhang Liao is wounded by Ding Feng and dies shortly after.[12]

Xu Sheng gets one last bit of glory during the battle at Shi’ting, where Lu Xun has him lead the vanguard. He defeats Cao Xiu’s general Zhang Pu and almost captures Cao Xiu before being fended off by Jia Kui’s army.[13] His death is not mentioned in the novel, but that goes for most people.

On the whole, Xu Sheng is depicted as a relatively powerful warrior, though not quite on the same level as men like Zhao Yun or Cao Ren. His bravery is beyond criticism, though, and he’s also rather clever. Zhou Yu, Lü Meng, and Lu Xun all entrust him with vital tasks and he usually pulls them off. He is nearly always found with Ding Feng.

It’s that last part that strikes me as the strangest thing about the fictionalized Xu Sheng. I can find nothing to suggest that they shared any particular closeness. The two were not related, by blood or marriage, nor were they from the same homeland. While there are points where their careers overlapped, the same can be said for dozens of Sun Quan’s prominent officers. Linking the two of them together is kind of a random choice. It seems to come out of nowhere.

Honestly, though, I think that might be a good angle to lean into. Ding Feng doesn’t have too many other people in the Wu cast to really interact with so playing up a friendship between him and Xu Sheng might give them both a more emotional connection to the narrative.

The fictionalization of Xu Sheng’s life does hit most of the key points, though there are a few interesting bits that I think get lost in the background.

Originally from Langye in Xu province, he fled to Wu when everything fell apart in the north. There, he became known for his personal valor. Sometime after 200, Sun Quan gave Xu Sheng independent command over a small force and tasked him with protecting Chaisang from Huang Zu. During this time, he distinguished himself by defeating Huang Zu’s son Huang She in a battle at Chaisang despite being badly outnumbered. He was promoted to a colonel and rounded out his early career by suppressing some mountain bandits in Lincheng. After this he became one of Sun Quan’s personal generals, with some supervisory duties.[14]

For the next several years, Xu Sheng was highly active in the campaigns conducted between the Huai and Jiang rivers. In 213 he helped defend Ruxu from Cao Cao and remained with the garrison there. Xu Sheng was badly wounded in the fighting at Hefei and even lost his favorite spear (though it was later returned to him by He Qi). In 217 he was at Ruxu again. A storm found him stranded on the enemy side of the river, and Xu Sheng boldly led a sortie from the ships to protect them until the wind died down and allowed him to return to friendly shores.[15] This last incident appears to be the source of his heroics against Li Dian during the same battle in the Yanyi.[16]

As in the novel he did fight in the defense against Liu Bei in Yidu. In that chapter, as noted earlier, he is taunted by Wu Ban and almost falls into an ambush, though Lu Xun restrains him.[17] This is actually very close to the truth. Wu Ban did attempt to draw Wu officers into an ambush during the fighting at Yiling but Lu Xun restrained his men. Xu Sheng is not specifically mentioned but the dissatisfaction was widespread and it’s a fair bet that he was one of those who wanted to be more aggressive. Time, of course, proved Lu Xun’s caution wise.[18] Xu Sheng did, however, earn appreciable merit in the decisive battle that forced Liu Bei’s retreat.[19]

After Cao Pi took the throne, he sent an envoy to make Sun Quan King of Wu. Xu Sheng was outraged at seeing Sun Quan be given this title as though he were a mere underling and made a great show of his displeasure. The Wei envoy noted that with men like Xu Sheng, Wu would not remain subservient for long.[20] This is a scene that is repeated almost exactly in the Romance.[21] True to this prediction, Sun Quan soon revolted against Cao Pi and the two went to war. During the subsequent Great River Campaign (222–223), Xu Sheng gave distinguished service defending Dongpu from Cao Xiu. During this campaign he was shipwrecked by a storm for the second time, making him a man with remarkably bad luck.[22]

Xu Sheng is most famous for his exploits during Cao Pi’s Guangling Expeditions (224–225), and for good reason. The Yanyigives an exaggerated account of this (as it is wont to do) but it’s easy to recognize the truthful foundation upon which the fictionalization is based.

Cao Pi’s attack from Guangling in 224 was unexpected, since it was very difficult to cross the river there, as subsequent events proved. Sun Quan’s defenses were thus weak in the area. Although he was able to quickly assemble a fleet to intercept Cao Pi, the land-based defenses were still soft. Xu Sheng came up with the plan to erect false walls to make the defenses look stronger and deter an assault. His plan did fool Cao Pi’s scouts. Finding the defenses stronger than anticipated, Cao Pi withdrew.[23]

The Yanyi also adds in the story of the disobedient Sun Shao and his ambushing Cao Pi in retreat. The novel depicts Sun Shao as valiant but impetuous and young. In reality, Sun Shao was almost 40 years old at the time of the Guangling expeditions and had been defending the region south of Guangling for almost 20 years.[24]

During Cao Pi’s return in 225, Sun Shao dispatched a raiding party against Cao Pi’s headquarters under one Gao Shou. They were able to capture some of Cao Pi’s imperial regalia, which was a great humiliation to the Wei army.[25] There is, however, no indication that he was acting against orders, had conflict with Xu Sheng, or that the raid resulted in the heavy casualties mentioned in the novel. There is also no mention of Ding Feng.

Xu Sheng passed away sometime between 224 and 228, slightly before his disappearance form the novel.[26]

On the whole it’s a solid career. He gave distinguished service in most of the key battles during his lifetime. He was a skilled fighter with impressive bravery, and he has no record of any untoward personal conduct. While perhaps not Wu’s most dynamic commander, there’s nothing in his history anyone could fault him for.

It is hard to get a sense of who Xu Sheng was from his biography, though. Aside from listing his battles and achievements there isn’t much known. There aren’t any little anecdotes from his personal life or comments on his personality. I guess I can’t fault DW9 too badly, then. Even if they were looking at the same things I am, there isn’t much to be found.

Still, there are a couple threads I’d be interested to see future incarnations of Xu Sheng pull on. The fact that he was so unlucky as to be shipwrecked twice seems like something a writer could lean into. And while his friendship with Ding Feng and function as a guard for important commanders are both fictional aspects of Xu Sheng’s life, that’s no problem for Dynasty Warriors and they would serve well to give him a firmer place in the overall Wu army. It’s some food for thought anyway.

In a lot of ways, you could say Xu Sheng is the perfect example of the typical military officer. He fought frequently and fought well, displaying both courage and cunning. While not dazzling like some of his contemporaries, it’s hard to find someone more reliable. Men such as him are the foundation of any successful state.

Endnotes

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