Battle of Mai Castle

The Battle of Mai Castle (麦城の戦い) was a chase by Wu for Guan Yu's capture after his failure to take and defend Fan Castle. With negotiations for surrender being rejected, Guan Yu is eventually captured and executed by Wu's forces. Mai Castle is Guan Ping's only historical mention in the Three Kingdoms era, doubling as the spot in which he shared his father's fate. There isn't a heavy military conflict mentioned in the area historically, at least not to the extent featured within the games.

Dynasty Warriors
In Dynasty Warriors 4, this is a Wu Tales stage. After the Battle of Yi Ling, Guan Yu escaped the fighting and holed himself up in Mai Castle. He tries to send out Liao Hua to ask for reinforcements, but he can be defeated. After he finds out that he cannot beat the Wu with such a small force, he roars and attempts to escape. After the Wu have sealed his escape routes, the Wu launch an attack in the castle and eventually defeat Guan Yu once and for all.

The area appears again in Dynasty Warriors 5: Xtreme Legends as a Legendary Mode for Guan Yu, Guan Ping, and Xing Cai. The defenders of the castle repel Sun Quan, Lu Meng, and Cao Ren's surrounding forces whilst Guan Ping sends to seek Liu Bei, Zhang Fei and other ally generals for aid. If successful, the ally forces arrive in time for a turnaround victory for Shu. Otherwise, morale for the Shu forces will remain low with players needing to defeat their oppressors with grueling patience.

Mai Castle is the setting for Guan Ping's secondary Legendary Mode in Dynasty Warriors 7, which has him face similarly imposing odds as the previous title. This time around, the success of protecting Guan Yu relies solely on him.

Warriors Orochi
Warriors Orochi 2 features the area as a Dream Mode for Yuan Shao, Nene, and Zhu Rong. In the face of imminent defeat, the generous trio decide to defend the surrounded Hideyori from Sima Yi's imposing numbers. Zhu Rong rallies her Nanman troops for the defense while Yuan Shao seeks to negotiate matters with their stubborn third party ally, Dong Zhuo. Nene likewise scolds Masanori and Kiyomasa to reflect on their actions. If Dong Zhuo is moved to help, after Yuan Shao and company defeat his challenging general, ally morale soars and Sima Yi's forces are caught in a pincer. Failing to convince him will force players resort to other measures in order to defeat the entire opposition.

When Sima Yi is beaten, Cao Pi appears to oversee the end of the battle himself. His defeat means the end of the stage.

Historical Information
After Shi Ren and Mi Fang's defection, the morale at Fan Castle weakened severely with men in Guan Yu's army defecting or surrendering to Lu Meng's forces. Therefore, Guan Yu's armies attempted to relocate their defense in an attempt to make due with their remaining resources. When Xu Huang took Yan Castle, however, Guan Yu became cornered once again when Yu Jin and others became to reinforce the Wei general and grew in numbers. When Guan Yu and his forces fell into an ambush staged by Xu Huang at their main camp, morale lowered and the Guan Yu's numbers fell lower still. Escape was not possible under comfortable means, but it was decided that the siege should still be fortified and continued. However, once Guan Yu learned that Sun Quan's army took possession of their supply line, he gave up on trying to defeat Xu Huang. His forces then retreated to the west towards Yi Province.

Lu Meng, who received word from Guan Yu's messengers that their hearts were ailing, decided to hold the wives and daughters of Guan Yu's men hostage as a ticket for their surrender. If they submitted to him, he promised to accept them on good will and as citizens of Jing Province as opposed to war criminals. The beneficial offer enticed several men to desert, decreasing Guan Yu's loyal followers dramatically. Over half of his men accepted surrender to Wu.

Guan Yu then thought to turn back to Dangyang until news of Sun Quan's own march from Jiangling changed his plans again. Fearing another assault, Guan Yu and his few hundred followers took refuge at Maicheng, which was soon surrounded by at least two thousand of Wu's troops. A messenger was sent to Liu Feng to request reinforcements from Meng Da, but it would never be fulfilled. When a letter of surrender came from Sun Quan, Guan Yu refused it and fled again with his remaining handful of men. In December the same year, a Wu general named Lin Ju pursued and barred Guan Yu's path of retreat. He and Guan Ping were ultimately apprehended in Zhang Town (east of modern day Yuan'an County, Hubei) by Ma Zhong and beheaded soon after.

Sun Quan sent Guan Yu's severed head to Cao Cao, who performed proper funeral rites and buried Guan Yu's head with full honours. Guan Yu was granted the posthumous title of "Marquis Zhuangmou" (壯繆侯), which states that he does not live up to his name in terms of his ability.