Hsieh Yu-Teng

Abstract

The Battle of Jieting was the key battle for Zhuge Liang’s first failure in the Northern Expedition, and Masu is the key man who led an army to guard the Jieting. Masu's story of the Three Kingdoms usually is adapted in later generations with diverse shapes of characters; however, his impression is nothing left but only the lost street pavilion.

From the records of Three Kingdoms, Masu had against Zhuge Liang's commands during the war, which led to the defeat of the Shu army. Despite the cause-and-effect of the defeat and story plots are generally developed according to the historical contexts, it is not difficult to find that many story details are different from the historical facts with carefully investigating Masu.

Such differences in details are especially mainly on the personnel arrangements, the retreat situation, and the character image of Masu. From the comparisons of the differences with historical records, the creators not only follow the plots of the Three Kingdoms but also deal with this issue consciously.

This article explored the changes in Masu’s character images and the meanings behind them by comparing the historical facts and the adaptation of the storyline of the Battle of Jieting.

Keyword： Jieting、Masu、Zhuge Liang、The History of The Three Kingdoms、The Three Kingdoms