Fan Castle

The Battle of Fan Castle (樊城の戦い, rōmaji: Hanjō no Tatakai) is a battle in which Guan Yu sieged the location, which was being dutifully defended by Cao Ren. A flood aids Guan Yu's attempts to capture the castle, as it devastates the defenders and Wei reinforcements, leading to the death of Pang De and Yu Jin's capture. To defeat Guan Yu and lift the siege, Cao Cao forms an alliance with Sun Quan. The future Wu Emperor attacks Jing province while Guan Yu is preoccupied with the siege, forcing him to flee in defeat.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms dramatizes the earlier aspects of the siege such as the Shu forces flooding the Wei army and how the famed Hua Tuo scraped poison from Guan Yu's arm.

Dynasty Warriors
In Dynasty Warriors 3 the battle is confined to the inside of the castle walls. The Shu forces control the north and eastern walls, while Wei maintains control of the rest of castle. The Allied perspective starts out with Sima Yi ordering the army to move out and after a few the flood attack will come wipe out the majority of the Wei army including Pang De and Cao Ren. Guan Yu and Guan Ping use the opportunity to attack the main camp by using the roofs of sunken houses. Lu Meng, Lu Xun, and Gan Ning (as well as Sun Ce if player completed his story) appear as reinforcements and work with Xu Huang to push back the Shu army. If play takes too long to finish the battle, Zhou Cang will arrive leading to assault Sima Yi directly. Shu's uses the same events except the Wu forces appear from behind the Shu army.

The historical battle is exclusive to the Shu forces in Dynasty Warriors 4 as Guan Yu leads his son and Zhou Cang to assault the castle. After an enemy officer is defeated Jiang Qin of Wu will appear to the west and heads this way towards Mi Fang and Fu Shi Ren to convince them to defect. Regardless if the player stops Jiang Qin or not, the two former officers will betray Guan Yu and try to convince all of the troops to do the same. Once the traitors have been dealt with, More Wu reinforcements arrive led by Lu Meng, Lu Xun, and Zhou Tai. Xu Huang will also appear with more reinforcements. The battle will end when all Wei officers have been defeated.

Dynasty Warriors 4 also gives an alternative scenario that pits the Wei forces against Wu in a siege battle. Wei's of the battle has Cao Ren, Sima Yi, and Xu Zhu remain inside the castle while, Xu Huang and Zhen Ji engage the enemy outside to take down their siege weapons and the officers who protect them. Zhou Tai and Sun Shang Xiang protect the catapults to the north and south as, Taishi Ci and Lu Xun protect the ramps to the east and west. The player has to destroy all the ramps and catapults attacking Fan Castle in order to raise morale and can additionally cut off supply lines and use a fire attack to cripple the enemy ranks. Once all siege weapons are destroyed, Lu Meng will charge out personally and Cao Ren will give the order to counterattack. The battle will end once Sun Quan is defeated. If player has already cleared the battle of Shi Ting, Cao Xiu will arrive with reinforcements. Alternatively clearing this stage allows a catapult to appear at Shi Ting and reinforcements to come to the defense of He Fei. Wu's side of the battle has Lu Meng be the commander unless the player is using Sun Jian or one of his children. In addition to Xu Huang and Zhen Ji's units, raiding parties will continuously attack the siege weapons which the player has to protect in order to get into the castle. As ramps are attached to the castle walls and the northern and southern gates collapse, a supply unit will appear for Wei. If the player takes it out before it enters Fan Castle Cao Ren's morale will drop considerably and give the player the chance to defeat him easily. Clearing this stage for Wu causes Zhen Ji to appear at Shi Ting, Sun Jian to be rescued by an allied unit at He Fei, and Sun Shang Xiang will arrive with a catapult in the same battle.

In Wei's scenario this battle marks the final stage for the historical path in Dynasty Warriors 8. Pang De immediately leaves the castle with a coffin, despite Cao Ren's objections and makes out to fight Guan Yu. Meanwhile reinforcements led by Cao Pi, Xiahou Dun and Xu Huang (and possibly Xiahou Yuan, if he survives the battle at Mt. Dingjun) appear to assist Cao Ren. Together they first stop the Shu forces in the center, prevent a mutiny by Yu Jin, Hu Xiu and Fu Fang, and rush to the floodgates to stop Guan Ping from initiating the flood. Wu reinforcements arrive, the chase for Guan Yu begins and he is eventually slain. Depending on events, Pang De may either be killed by Guan Yu or live to participate in the chase. There is a glitch in the game if Pang De is among those chasing Guan Yu; the final quote from the cutscene will always be in Japanese even if the voices are set to English.

Wu's scenario has Lu Meng, Lu Xun, and Lianshi attack Shu's rear flank while fighting they're fighting Wei. Though they make short work of Guan Yinping and force Mi Fang and Fu Shiren defect, Pang De is killed and Guan Ping attempts to attack the floodgates. After Guan Yu is defeated, he escapes the first onslaught. Arbalasts are set up near Guan Yu's camp as a defense. If any of the arbalests gets a shot into Lu Meng, he will be injured and die at the battle's end. Wu forces will continue the chase until he is finally slain after the defeat of his sons and the reinforcements from Hanzhong. If Lu Meng doesn't get injured by the arbalests, he will survive his illness and participate at the battle of Yiling.

Shu's path has Guan Yu already take the castle, but besieged by the Wei defenders and their new reinforcements. As Guan Yu first moves out, Pang De immediately launches a flood attack, which not only wipes out many defenders but also keeps Ma Chao's reinforcements at bay allowing a prolonged chase for Guan Yu. Shortly after the flood, Guan Ping volunteers to stay behind and stall for time but dies defending Fan Castle. Wu forces led by both Lu Meng and Lu Xun appear to block Guan Yu's retreat and redirect his path. Mi Fang and Fu Shiren betray Guan Yu and his reinforcements are unable to move thanks to the flood. Guan Yu manages to defeat Xiahou Dun, Sima Yi and Cao Ren but is finally cornered after Lu Meng and Lu Xun catch up to them.

In the hypothetical path, Xu Shu's intervention and insight sees through many of the enemy's plans. He takes over the flood gates before Pang De can arrive and stops the initial flood, causing the latter's defeat in the battle. After subduing the main frontlines of Wei, Ma Chao, Huang Zhong, and Pang Tong all arrive. Xu Shu then installs ballistae, effectively stopping any enemy that arrives. Lu Meng defies Lu Su's orders and leads an attack on Shu, only to be blunted by Yellow Turban reinforcements allied with Shu led by Zhang Jiao. Wei reinforcements led by Xiahou Dun and Sima Yi attempt to restart the flood attack but are defeated. Eventually Cao Ren attempts to make one final push towards Fan Castle but is defeated and forced to flee.

In the Xtreme Legends expansion, a new scenario is given, this time for the Wei forces holed up in the castle. Yu Jin and Pang De first rally up the defenses of Fan Castle in order to defend against both Wu and Shu armies. Reinforcement led by Ma Dai, coming from Hanzhong arrive to also assist the assault unit. Yu Jin then decides to lure only the Wu assault force into the castle in order to aggravate suspicions between Guan Yu and Wu, and furthers this by severing Guan Yu's messengers. The Wei forces then flood the castle containing the Wu soldiers, causing a retreat from both Lu Xun and Lu Meng. Together with the reinforcements led by Xu Huang, Guan Yu is soon defeated afterwards. If no significant casualties occur to the Wei forces, "Pacification of Jing Province" will be unlocked, otherwise Guan Yu will be slain in this battle. In the coalition's side of the battle, the Wu forces have already been lured into the castle, and must be rescued in order to pursue the flood attack. When the Wu forces successfully evacuate, Guan Ping moves out to take the floodgates back from Pang De. After the Shu forces flood the castle, Yu Jin and Cao Ren order a charge. Defeating Pang De, Yu Jin and Cao Ren will end the stage in victory.

Warriors Orochi
In Warriors Orochi, Hideyoshi and Nobunaga attack an exhausted Orochi army after their victory in Nagashino.

In the sequel, Hideyoshi, Nobunaga and Ieyasu share a dream stage where they combine their might to face Sun Quan, Cao Cao and Liu Bei in a friendly competition. There is a glitch in this version which allows players to surpass the boundaries of an exit, and secretly attack the Main Camp by going behind the castle and back through an netrance again.

In the third game, the Wei army blocks the coalition's path to Chengdu, intending on eliminating all those who serve Da Ji. Aya, Guan Yu, and Tadakatsu aid Ma Chao in fending off against the Wei forces. After the coalition explains why they need Da Ji, Cao Cao, Xiahou Dun, and Nuwa join them. After pacifying Luo Castle in the past, Sima Yi returns to Fan Castle with Aya, Zhao Yun, and Toshiie to ensure that Guo Jia joins them.

This serves as the second part of the midquel DLC stage, "The Rise of Kiyomori".

Historical Information
In an follow up to Liu Bei's seizing of Mt. Dingjun, Guan Yu, who was stationed in Jing province at the time, decided to drive Wei out of Jing by laying siege to the Wei stronghold at Fan Castle. Cao Ren lead the defense admirably, but Guan Yu initially was very successful by flooding the castle and defeating Pang De and capturing Yu Jin. However, Lu Meng was making plans to seize Jing, and so while Guan Yu was in the north, he took his chance and swept across Jing. When Guan Yu learned that he had been cut off, he retreated to Mai Castle where he made his last stand, but was captured along with his son Guan Ping by Wu. When taken before Sun Quan, he was asked to serve but he refused and was executed along with Guan Ping.

The defeat at Fan castle was due to mass betrayal both by Shu's long term ally Wu, and other Shu officers, such as Mi Fang and Fu Shiren who were to guard Guan Yu's rear immediately surrendered to the advancing Wu forces, and Liu Feng who refused to send reinforcements.

The incident infuriated Liu Bei, as well as his sworn brother Zhang Fei who took out his anger on his subordinates and was murdered. Despite the advice of his advisor and strategist Zhuge Liang and other generals, Liu Bei mobilized for war against Wu and despite having an incredible force that news of which caused Wu officials to turn pale, and several generous peace offerings by Sun Quan, he continued his advance but was forced to flee after the disastrous battle of Yiling and died soon afterwards.