Mi Fang

Mi Fang
Official of Liu Bei
Born	(Unknown)[1]
Died	(Unknown)[1]
Names
Simplified Chinese	麋芳[I]
Traditional Chinese	麋芳
Pinyin	Mí Fāng
Wade-Giles	Mi Fang
Style name	Zifang (子方)
I.^ 麋芳 is often (mis)printed as 糜芳 in copies of Romance of the Three Kingdoms in circulation.

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Mi.

Mi Fang was an official serving under the warlord Liu Bei during the late Han Dynasty and Three Kingdoms era of Chinese history. He was also the younger brother of Mi Zhu, who also served Liu Bei. In 219, Mi Fang surrendered to Sun Quan, directly resulting in the loss of Jing Province (present day Hubei and Hunan) and the death of Guan Yu. Historian Rafe de Crespigny notes that Mi Fang had the remarkable record of serving each of the leaders of the Three Kingdoms during his lifetime.^[1]

Biography

Early life

A local of the county of Qu (胊, present day Lianyungang, Jiangsu), Mi Fang was born in an extremely rich merchant family, which had over 10,000 slaves and guests. Mi Fang and his elder brother Mi Zhu were said to be proficient in horsemanship and archery. Along with the Chen clan (led by Chen Gui and Chen Deng), the Mi family served under Tao Qian, governor of Xuzhou (徐州, present day northern Jiangsu).

Service under Liu Bei

Upon Tao Qian's death, the influential Mi clan strongly advocated the governorship be passed on to Liu Bei, to whom Mi Fang had his sister married. Thereafter, the Mi brothers joined Liu Bei's army to Xuyi and Huaiyin (淮陰, in Guangling, south of Xu Province) to counter-attack the warlord Yuan Shu in 196 CE. Zhang Fei, who was left behind by Liu to guard Xiapi (capital of Xu Province at the time), killed Cao Bao (chancellor of Xiapi when Tao Qian was still in charge of Xu Province) after an intense quarrel over some trivial things. Cao's death caused unrest in the city, and the locals opened the city gate for Lü Bu, who then seized control of the city, capturing the families of Liu and Mi during the process. Upon hearing the news, Liu's soldiers started to desert, and Liu was defeated by the enemy commander Ji Ling. Liu then retreated to Haixi (海西), Donghai Commandery (東海). Faced with enemies on both sides and a lack of supplies, the Mi brothers encouraged Liu and used their personal wealth to support the army. Seeing no other viable option, Liu requested for a truce with Lü Bu, who accepted and returned Liu's family as an act of good faith, because he was becoming apprehensive of Yuan Shu. Lü, fearing isolation, obstructed further attempt by Yuan to eliminate Liu. Liu moved his camp to Xiaopei where he was financed by the Mi brothers to rebuild his army, gathering over ten thousand men. Lü Bu became concerned and attacked Xiaopei. Liu fled to Xuchang, where warlord Cao Cao set his base. When Liu Bei served under Cao, the latter enticed Mi Zhu and Mi Fang by offering them governorships of Ying Commandery (嬴郡, northwest of present day Laiwu, Shandong) and Pengcheng respectively, but both chose to follow Liu Bei when he left Cao Cao and did not stay to enjoy the high positions Cao Cao had rewarded them. After the allied forces of Cao Cao and Liu Bei defeated Lu Bu, Liu betrayed Cao and seized the control of Xu Province once again. However, Liu was defeated and fled to Jing Province.

After the battle of Jiangling, Liu successfully negotiated the southern warlord Sun Quan to lend him Nan Commandery (南郡, present day Jiangling, Hubei) of Jing Province, and Mi Fang was assigned the post of the Administrator of Nan Commandery. When Liu Bei went for Yi Province, Mi Fang was ordered to stay behind with Guan Yu in Jing Province.

Service under Sun Quan

In 219, Guan launched an invasion against the kingdom of Wei, and Mi Fang was left with the defense of the base city of Guan Yu in Jiangling. Together with Shi Ren, governor of Gong'an (公安, northwest of presentday Gongan, Hubei), they begrudged Guan Yu for belittling them. When asked by Guan to provide military supplies, Mi Fang and Shi Ren acted reluctantly, and Guan threatened to retaliate them on his return.

The fearful Mi Fang and Shi Ren then surrendered to the forces of Sun Quan, when the latter launched a surprise attack on Jing province. Sandwiched on both sides by enemies, Guan Yu was eventually captured by Sun and executed. Mi Fang's brother Mi Zhu was deeply ashamed of his brother's betrayal and soon died of sickness. Mi Fang was not only hated by people of Shu Han for his betrayal, but had also been discriminated against by Yu Fan of Eastern Wu for the very same reason, as shown in the following two incidents.

Once, Mi Fang's boat met with that of Yu Fan in a narrow waterway, the servants on Mi Fang's boat demanded Yu Fan to move out of the way by shouting: "Get out of the way for our general's boat." Yu Fan shouted back angrily in response: "How can one serve the lord when he had lost his loyalty? And how can one be called a general when he caused his [former] master to lose two cities?" Mi Fang was very ashamed and let Yu Fan's boat to pass instead. Another incident also involved Yu Fan when he had to pass through Mi Fang's camp. The officers at Mi Fang's camp did not open the gates, and Yu Fan angrily shouted: "How can one do this when what is supposed to be open is closed, but what is supposed to be closed is open instead?" Mi Fang was even more ashamed than the incident in the waterway. Despite the ridicule, Sun Quan still treated Mi Fang with trust and dignity.

In June, 223, a Wu commander named Jin Zong (晋宗) in charge of Qichun (蕲春) defected to Cao Wei by launching a rebellion and Sun Quan ordered He Qi to put down the rebellion. Mi Fang then served under He Qi as a commander, along with another two generals named Liu Shao (劉邵) and Xianyu Dan (鮮于丹) and succeeded in their mission and captured Jin Zong alive and retook Qichun. That was the last historical record of Mi Fang, after which he was not mentioned again.

In fiction

In Luo Guanzhong's historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, both Mi Fang and Shi Ren (wrongly written as "Fu Shiren" in the novel) served in the Eastern Wu military after they surrendered to Sun Quan. In chapter 83, Liu Bei personally led a force against Eastern Wu to avenge Guan Yu. When they discovered that their men were plotting to kill them and surrender to Liu Bei, Mi and Fu assassinated their superior Ma Zhong and surrendered to Liu Bei. However, the unimpressed Liu ordered Guan Xing, son of Guan Yu, to execute the traitors as a sacrifice to Guan Yu.

See also

• List of people of the Three Kingdoms

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b c} de Crespigny, p. 671

References

• Chen Shou (2002). Records of Three Kingdoms. Yue Lu Shu She. ISBN 7-80665-198-5. 
• Rafe de Crespigny (2007). A biographical dictionary of Later Han to the Three Kingdoms (23–220 AD). Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-15605-0. 
• Luo Guanzhong (1986). Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Yue Lu Shu She. ISBN 7-80520-013-0. 
• Lo Kuan-chung; tr. C.H. Brewitt-Taylor (2002). Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Tuttle Publishing. ISBN 0-8048-3467-9. 

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Name	Mi, Fang
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