User:Hero of Chaos/Hei Zheng

Hei Zheng (rōmaji: Koku Sō) was a general of Wei and the King of Xu. Having fought many battles under Cao Cao, he was charged with treason and fled, creating the Kingdom of Xu in the process. He later returned to Wei and became Commander-in-Chief. He is also the husband of Cao Cao's oldest daughter Cao Ji.

Dynasty Warriors
Hei Zheng is a created officer in Dynasty Warriors 5: Xtreme Legends, using the fighting style of Cao Cao. He is mostly seen fighting battles under Cao Cao.

The Empires games have Hei Zheng appear as an officer of Cao Cao in any scenario that has Cao Cao as a ruler.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms
In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms games, Hei Zheng is a highly skilled officer. With high 90's leadership and war, as well as high 80's intelligence, he does not need any supporting officers and can fight against any opponent by himself. With his politics and charisma being in the 70's as well, he can also assist in city development. Hei Zheng is best suited with any kind of infantry and cavalry units. His skill Puissance in the eleventh installment turns any unit tactics into critical hits, making them stronger and guaranteeing a 100% chance of any special accompanying effect. However, as most of Wei's officers, he is not suited for naval combat, despite his high battle stats.

Serving He Jin in the Yellow Turban Rebellion scenario, he serves Cao Cao in almost all subsequent scenarios, as well as Rise of Heroes. In the Nanman Rebellion, he rules his own force in Hanzhong.

Early Life
Hei Zheng's origin is unknown. He is believed to have come from the far western lands, probably the Roman Empire. A folk tale describes him as the son of a Roman craftsman and a Chinese slave that had an affair with the craftsman. Shortly after Hei Zheng's birth, the village his parents lived in was abandoned and attacked. The villagers fled together and, having nowhere to go, they started a journey to the east. Most of the villagers, including Hei Zheng's parents, died during the journey due to illness, enemy attacks or they were captured by bandits. Hei Zheng and only 3 other villagers reached China after having travelled for several years, barely surviving the journey. He is believed to have learned the Chinese language from his mother.

Hei Zheng starts to appear in official records in 183, where he is described as a young foreigner at the age of 16 (17 in Chinese age calculation). Seeing it as his only possibility to survive in the unknown land, he entered the service of the Han imperial army, where he was put under the command of Yuan Shao. Yuan Shao, however, mocked him because of his foreign origin and treated him badly, despite Hei Zheng showing great fighting abilities. Because of this, he decided to resign and lived in the streets of Luoyang.

One year later in 184, the religious leader Zhang Jiao initiated a rebellion throughout the land. Hei Zheng was forced to serve the Han imperial army again. After he refused to serve under Yuan Shao again, he was put under the command of Cavalry Commander Cao Cao. Cao Cao ignored Hei Zheng's foreign origin and treated him just as his other soldiers, which earned him Hei Zheng's deep respect. Shortly afterwards, Cao Cao set out with Huangfu Song to aid Zhu Jun in Yingchuan commandery, where they fought the Yellow Turban leader Bo Cai. After having forced Bo Cai back to the city of Yangdi with a fire attack, Hei Zheng rode out and challenged Bo Cai to a duel. Bo Cai accepted and after 29 bouts, Hei Zheng managed to injure Bo Cai and killed him. Thus, Yingchuan was pacified. He later participated in the campaign against the Yellow Turbans in Yan Province, in which he greatly contributed to the capture of Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang by sealing off their escape routes. The Yellow Turban Rebellion ended with the death of Zhang Bao. For his contributions in the campaign, Hei Zheng was recommended to the Han court by Cao Cao. Since Hei Zheng did not know his actual name, Cao Cao gave him the name "Hei Zheng", refering to his very dark hair. Grand General He Jin offered Hei Zheng a higher position in the imperial army, but Hei Zheng declined. When Cao Cao was reassigned to his post in the capital, Hei Zheng went to serve him instead.

After He Jin's death and Dong Zhuo's takeover of the capital, Cao Cao fled to Chenliu in Yan Province and sought refugee under Zhang Miao. Hei Zheng followed him and, together with Cao Cao's cousins, he helped in creating an army to fight Dong Zhuo. Cao Cao soon created the alliance against Dong Zhuo and the regional lords moved to Si Province in order to face Dong Zhuo. After a few initial skirmishes, in which Hei Zheng fought the armies led by Zhang Liao and Tianhou Pu, Dong Zhuo fled to Chang'an and razed Luoyang. Hei Zheng was ordered to return to Chenliu, while Cao Cao pursued Dong Zhuo's forces and was defeated by Xu Rong.

Cao Cao's Rise to Power
In 192, Cao Cao fought the Yellow Turban remnants in Yan Province at the behest of its Governor Liu Dai and defeated them, taking control of Yan after Liu Dai himself died in battle and creating the famous Qingzhou Army. Hei Zheng was officially promoted to the rank of "Lieutenant-General" and often commanded the van of Cao Cao's forces. One day at that time, Hei Zheng was allowed to visit Cao Cao in his own living quarters in Chenliu to discuss military affairs. During his stay, he met Cao Cao's daughter Cao Ji, with whom he immediately fell in love. However, right when Hei Zheng wanted to ask Cao Cao about her, a messenger arrived and told Cao Cao about the death of his father Cao Song, who was travelling through Xu Province in order to rendezvous with Cao Cao. While Cao Cao was leading the campaign against Tao Qian, Hei Zheng stayed behind and guarded Chenliu. During Cao Cao's absence, Zhang Miao rebelled along with Chen Gong and surrendered most of Yan to Lu Bu. Hei Zheng successfully defended Chenliu from the enemy's attack until Cao Cao returned and started a counter attack. Lu Bu was eventually driven out of Yan and Hei Zheng's fief was increased for his defense of Chenliu.

In 196, Cao Cao marched his forces to Luoyang and freed Emperor Xian from the hands of Dong Zhuo's remnant forces. Hei Zheng received a promotion, just as the other generals. In order to tie Hei Zheng even closer to him, Cao Cao offered him to marry his daughter Cao Ji, as the latter had slobbered over Hei Zheng since she had met him. Hei Zheng agreed and married Cao Ji. One year later, Hei Zheng was occupied the city of Wuyin with Yu Jin while Cao Cao marched south to conquer Zhang Xiu in Wancheng. Cao Cao was ambushed at Wan and barely escaped with his life. Hei Zheng and Yu Jin defended Cao Cao's retreat. Taking at least a glimpse of revenge for his fallen friend Cao Ang, Hei Zheng slew the enemy general Lei Xu.

Cao Cao went on a campaign against Lu Bu in 198 after Liu Bei asked him for help. After the initial attack failed due to Xiahou Dun losing his left eye, Cao Cao himself attacked Lu Bu at Xiapi. Hei Zheng carried out Guo Jia's plan to flood the castle. The plan succeeded and some of Lu Bu's generals surrendered. Lu Bu himself was captured and executed. After Cao Cao's main army retreated, Hei Zheng stayed in the area on his own accord and captured the Taishan bandit leader Zang Ba and persuaded him to join Cao Cao. After returning to Xuchang, Hei Zheng was made "General Who Defeats Bandits" and his fief was increased to 600 households.

Hei Zheng accompanied Cao Cao's army on the expedition against Yuan Shu, who had declared himself Emperor. During the siege of Shouchun, Hei Zheng killed Yuan Shu's generals Liang Gang and Han Yin. Yuan Shu managed to flee and died shortly afterwards; Shouchun fell under Cao Cao's control. In 200, Yuan Shao declared war against Cao Cao. After quelling Liu Bei's rebellion in Xu Province, Cao Cao headed for Guandu and Hei Zheng followed him. After Yan Liang was killed by Guan Yu and the siege of Baima lifted, the enemy general Wen Chou led an attack on Yanjin fort. Hei Zheng participated in Cao Cao's ambush on Yuan Shao's troops and personally killed Wen Chou after initiating a short duel. Although huge parts of Yuan Shao's army were scattered, Cao Cao was still heavily outnumbered and conducted a raid on Yuan Shao's supply depot at Wuchao. Hei Zheng, along with Zhang Liao and Yue Jin, participated in the raid and took the head of Chunyu Qiong. Yuan Shao started an all out assault on Guandu and was heavily defeated.

After the victory at Guandu, Hei Zheng was appointed "Inspector of Xu Province", earning him military authority over Xu. Still, he participated in the campaign against the Yuan family and contributed to its demise. He was made "General Who Suppresses Rebels" and his fief was increased to 1,000 households. Hei Zheng returned to Xu Province in 208 and objected Cao Cao's campaign in Jing Province. Cao Cao still ordered him to guard Xiangyang while Cao Cao fought the allied forces at Chibi. Cao Cao's navy suffered a great defeat and Hei Zheng led a small contingent to rescue Cao Cao. During their retreat, Cao Cao said, "I should have listened to you and abandoned the campaign", to which Hei Zheng replied "It was the only logical conclusion that the Prime Minister had to campaign against the south lands and subdue them after his victory against the rebels in Hebei. Despite the defeat, if he had not gone south, he would have seemed weak and indecisive to reunite the empire. It is I who was wrong for not taking this into account. The Prime Minister will surely emerge victorious in the next encounter." Cao Cao was moved by the words and granted Hei Zheng another increase of his fief, which Hei Zheng declined. Cao Cao's forces subsequently lost southern Jing to Liu Bei and Sun Quan.

Later Years under Cao Cao
Having rebuilt his strength, Cao Cao wished to conquer Hanzhong from the minor warlord Zhang Lu. However, he feared an attack on his rear. Although Cao Cao had conquered northern China by defeating the Yuan family, small parts of western Bing Province were under the control of Fu Di, the King of Xing. Fu Di had family connections with the Xiongnu tribes in Bing and always allied himself with the rulers of Bing and You Provinces, including Yuan Shao. However, after Yuan Shao's defeat, he refused to ally himself with Cao Cao, thus remaining a potential threat in the north. So in 210, Cao Cao sent Hei Zheng and his Xuzhou Army to destroy Fu Di and his kingdom. Hei Zheng's forces reached the area in winter 210, after Fu Di had already fortified the position at Shiden Gate. Hei Zheng was forced to attempt a direct assault, but his forces prevailed. Thanks to Hao Zhao's siege weaponry, as well as the valiant efforts of Tianhou Pu, Xin Cong and Hei Zheng's personal strategist Xin Lu, Shiden Gate was breached in spring 211. During that time, Cao Cao had already started his invasion of Nanzheng region. However, while marching on Zhang Lu's territory, Cao Cao's forces were attacked by the Qiang forces led by Han Sui and Ma Chao and were forced to return to Si. Thus, Cao Cao sent orders to Hei Zheng to abandon the campaign against Xing and move his armies south to aid him. Hei Zheng requested a portion of the army to stay in Bing in order to keep Fu Di's forces in check for a later attack, but Cao Cao refused, stating that the fall of Shiden Gate was enough to pacify Bing. Hei Zheng obeyed and rendezvoused with Cao Cao's forces. Together, they repelled Ma Chao's forces at Tong Gate. Hei Zheng returned to Xu and his fief was increased to 1,200 households, while Cao Cao ordered Xiahou Yuan to conquer Liang Province and executed Ma Teng and his family in Xuchang.

By 214, Cao Cao defeated Ma Chao and conquered Liang Province. Hei Zheng was summoned to serve in the campaign against Zhang Lu, so he left Xu in charge of Zang Ba. In 215, Cao Cao's forces defeated Zhang Lu and conquered Hanzhong. Hei Zheng's deed of capturing the general Pang De earned him another increase of his fief to 1,500 households. Shortly after his return to Xu, he was informed of an attack on Hefei by a massive army of Sun Quan. Hei Zheng gathered his men and together with Zang Ba, he set out to aid Zhang Liao. When they arrived, Zhang Liao had repelled Sun Quan's forces with a surprise attack. Hei Zheng's cavalry was fast enough to catch up with the fleeing Wu army and dealt even more casualties. Hei Zheng himself led a few men to Ruxu and ambushed Sun Quan when he tried to man his ship to return to Jianye. Although Sun Quan escaped, Hei Zheng killed the enemy generals Taishi Ci and Chen Wu, who defended Sun Quan and allowed him to safely get on his ship.

In 216, Cao Cao became the King of Wei. Hei Zheng was appointed "General Who Conquers the East" and given military command over Xu, Qing and Yang Provinces. His fief was additionally increased to 2,000 households. Thus, Wei's borders were secured by Xiahou Yuan in the west, Cao Ren in the south and Hei Zheng in the east. His new rank and position did not prevent him from participating in campaigns outside of his influence. Leaving the east in the hands of Zhang Liao and Zang Ba, he personally led an army to the west in order to help Xiahou Yuan in the defense of Hanzhong. In 219, Xiahou Yuan was killed at Mt. Dingjun. Hei Zheng gathered the remaining men and retreated with Zhang He, until they met Cao Cao's reinforcements. Cao Cao attacked Liu Bei's forces, but suffered a defeat by Zhao Yun. Hei Zheng took a few men and defended Cao Cao's retreat against the Shu forces. Once Cao Cao was safe, Hei Zheng started a counter attack and defeated Zhao Yun at Han River. Liu Bei retreated to Hanzhong.

When Cao Cao returned to Luoyang, he was approached by minister Feng Hui. Feng Hui's family maintained a friendly relationship with the Han Emperors and thus were able to occupy high offices in the imperial court. However, Feng Hui had noticed that Emperor's power faded and that it was more beneficial to gain Cao Cao's favour instead. When his son Feng Bao told him that he had secretly fallen in love with Hei Zheng's wife Cao Ji and was disappointed that he would be unable to get together with her, Feng Hui made up his mind to get rid of Hei Zheng, allowing his son to marry Cao Ji and thus establishing ties with Cao Cao's family. So when he met Cao Cao upon the latter's return, he told him that there were rumours about Hei Zheng speaking ill words about Cao Cao and his daughter Cao Ji, as well as preparing a rebellion in Xu with his rebellious officers. Indeed, Hei Zheng had gathered a few people who were known for their either rebellious or scheming nature, such as Zang Ba, Hua Xin or Chen Lan. Cao Cao became suspicious, especially since he knew that his time would come soon and he wanted his son Cao Pi to swiftly take over after his death. Still, he decided to trust Hei Zheng and declined Feng Hui's advise.

Later that year, Hei Zheng approached Fan Castle together with Yu Jin and Pang De, which was attacked by Guan Yu. Although a water attack had routed Yu Jin and killed Pang De during the battle, Hei Zheng was able to hold his own until Xu Huang's reinforcements arrived. Together, they lifted the siege of Fan Castle and rescued Cao Ren and his men. When Hei Zheng and Xu Huang returned to Cao Cao, they were praised and received promotions.

In March 220, Cao Cao passed away and was succeeded by Cao Pi. Shortly afterwards, Cao Pi forced Emperor Xian to abdicate, ending the Han Dynasty and creating the Wei Dynasty. Hei Zheng became "Great General Who Conquers the East", with an increase of his fief to 2,500 households, and was later further promoted to "General of the Flying Cavalry", with his fief being increased to 3,000 households.

As King of Xu
However, in January 221, Feng Hui again tried to remove Hei Zheng from power. After rumours were spread that Cao Zhang and Cao Zhi wanted to take the Wei throne for themselves, Feng Hui approached Cao Pi and used the confusion by telling him that Hei Zheng, too, harboured great ambition and the desire to become Emperor himself. He explained that Hei Zheng had already too much military authority in the empire and was married to Cao Pi's elder half-sister. Cao Pi became paranoid, and after arresting Cao Zhi and secretly killing Cao Zhang, he stripped Hei Zheng off his military power and took his fief away from him. Hei Zheng was further demoted to the rank of commoner and in February, Cao Pi's guards arrested Hei Zheng on charges of treason. When he was led away by the guards, his wife Cao Ji exclaimed, "How can you turn your back on the ones loving you and on the Kingdom my father had built up with all he had? You are a disgrace to the whole Empire!"

While Hei Zheng was arrested, many generals issued memorials to Cao Pi that he should spare Hei Zheng. Cao Pi did not change his mind, even when some generals left their positions at the borders to personally plead Cao Pi to spare him. Eventually, Cao Pi ordered Hei Zheng to be executed in Luoyang. On the day of his execution, many citizens and generals gathered in Luoyang to witness the execution, and Hei Zheng himself said, "If I have to die today to serve the Empire at the best, then so be it." However, while Hei Zheng was being led to the executioner, the execution was interrupted by Hei Zheng's generals. Prior to this, Hei Zheng's strategist Xin Lu had placed archers in the city and killed the city guards, replacing them with his own men as well. He did it so adeptly that nobody in the city noticed it. Additionally, Tianhou Pu, Xin Cong, Zang Ba, Hao Zhao and Chen Lan were leading Hei Zheng's personal army from Xu's border into Yu Province. Xin Lu and Hua Xin ordered the archers to fire wooden arrows into the crowd in order to cause confusion. Then, Zhao Ang entered the place of execution with his men and rescued Hei Zheng. They all fled from the city and met up with Hei Zheng's army outside of the city. Together, they swiftly moved southwest into Jing Province and finally into Yi Province.

In Autumn of 221, Hei Zheng led his forces to attack the Shu army at Hanzhong. They took the defenders by surprise, captured the city and killed its prefect Huang Zhong. Hei Zheng declared himself King of Xu and his officers pacified Nanzheng region in the subsequent days. Hei Zheng sent an envoy to Liu Bei in Chengdu and offered an alliance. After Xin Lu and Zhuge Liang negotiated the terms, both rulers agreed to the alliance. Hei Zheng began to build up his strength in Hanzhong, while defending the area against a few raids conducted by the Wei forces. In the following few years, the Xu forces concentrated on taking control of the mountain regions around Hanzhong.

In 224, Hei Zheng decided that it was time to get his revenge on Wei. After he consulted Zhao Ang, who offered to clear a path through Liang Province, the Xu forces began their advance. Thanks to Zhao Ang's connections in Liang, they were able to safely pass through Wei's territory, with the locals blocking any path for Wei reinforcements. After passing the deserts and the Yellow River, they arrived in western Bing Province, where the Kingdom of Xing had regained its former strength. Hei Zheng eventually defeated Xing in 225 and killed Fu Di, after conquering Xing's capital Beidi. After a short rest, Hei Zheng sailed down the Yellow River and entered Si Province. The Wei forces were unprepared since they did not expect anyone to take such a difficult route to attack them, allowing Hei Zheng's forces to approach Wei's capital Luoyang. In Luoyang, a wedding ceremony was held between Cao Ji and Feng Bao, after Cao Pi had divorced the marriage between Hei Zheng and Cao Ji. After realizing this, Hei Zheng became enraged and attacked the city. Although Cao Pi and most of the other high ranking people in the city, including Cao Ji and Feng Bao, managed to safely retreat to Xuchang, Hei Zheng was able to locate Feng Hui and his wife and killed both of them. Hei Zheng finally decided to retreat to Bing Province and from there, returned to Hanzhong.

One year later, Xu general Meng Yan, a local of Jiao Province, led an army through Shu's territory to attack Wu in Jiao Province. Jiao Province was at that time contested between Wu general Lu Dai and Shi Hui, the son of the late governor Shi Xie. Meng Yan was able to use this to his advantage and conquered the area for Xu. Hei Zheng agreed to a truce proposed by Sun Quan and even entered an alliance with Wu shortly afterwards. Additionally, a small special task force was sent into Wei and captured Feng Bao.

In 228, Wei's new Emperor Cao Rui led an expedition against the south. At the Chang Jiang, the combined forces of Xu, Shu and Wu defeated Wei and burnt down their new navy. During the battle, Hei Zheng had his prisoner Feng Bao dressed up in a duplicate of his own armour, after hearing that Cao Ji was leading Wei's vanguard. He sent Feng Bao into battle and he was killed by Cao Ji, who believed that she actually faced Hei Zheng. This caused her to flee from the battlefield, dealing a heavy blow to Wei's morale.

Return to Wei
In 230, using their positions in Bing, Xu general Tianhou Pu led an expedition against Wei and attacked Luoyang again. However, the Xu forces were forced to retreat due to a lack of supplies. Throught the next years, Shu used Hanzhong as their base for Zhuge Liang's northern campaigns. In 234, during their attack on the Wuzhang Plains, Hei Zheng gathered his complete army, as well as the citizens of Hanzhong, and moved north, burning Hanzhong after their depature. He betrayed his alliance with Shu and attacked the Shu forces from behind, forcing them to retreat. With Zhuge Liang dead and Hanzhong razed, Shu's base for further campaigns against Wei was destroyed. Leaving the citizens behind in Wei's Yong Province, Hei Zheng's army travelled along the Chang Jiang and near the end of the year, they arrived in Huainan, where the Wu forces attacked Wei's stronghold at Hefei. Xu's forces attacked Wu and with Cao Rui leading the imperial army south, Sun Quan was forced to retreat. Hei Zheng let his man camp outside of Hefei and, upon Cao Rui's arrival, sent a messenger to Hefei asking for an audience with Cao Rui. Cao Rui, after much hesitation, agreed and met Hei Zheng outside of the city. Hei Zheng then announced his surrender to Wei. Cao Rui, remembering Hei Zheng's deeds and knowing that Hei Zheng's betrayal was a mere ploy of Feng Hui, he accepted the surrender.

When Hei Zheng and his men returned to Luoyang with Cao Rui, they were reinstated as Wei officers. Cao Rui personally appologized to Hei Zheng for what his father had done to him and even offered him to remarry Cao Ji. Hei Zheng, however, said that the decision should be made by Cao Ji herself and not by anyone else. Cao Ji had locked herself up in Pengcheng after she had killed Feng Bao and did not want to leave the city. When she heared that Hei Zheng had returned, she immediately went to see him in Luoyang. After appologizing to Hei Zheng herself for not having trusted him and for marrying Feng Bao, the two reconciled with each other and renewed their marriage. Hei Zheng was also reinstated as inspector of Xu Province.

In 236, Cao Rui promoted Hei Zheng to "General of the Flying Cavalry" again and returned his fief of 3,000 households. One year later, Hei Zheng became Commander-in-Chief of the Wei army. As Grand Marshal, he was the highest military authority in Wei. In 238, Gongsun Yuan declared himself King of Yan. With Sima Yi leading a campaign to subdue him, Hei Zheng mobilized the Eastern Army and attacked Wu, who had allied with Gongsun Yuan. As a result, Gongsun Yuan was defeated and Hei Zheng conquered Wu's positions north of the Chang Jiang, destroying their fortresses at Ruxukou and Shiting. His fief was increased a final time to 4,000 households.

Cao Rui died in 239 and was succeeded by Cao Fang. Sima Yi and Cao Shuang became co-regents, with Hei Zheng remaining Grand Marshal. However, Cao Shuang soon took power from himself, appointing Sima Yi "Grand Tutor" and thus leaving him with no power, as well as transferring the military power from the rank of Grand Marshal to the rank of Regent Marshal. Although not fond of this move, Hei Zheng did not object the decision, since although he had lost his nominal power, the armies of eastern Wei would still listen to his commands. Eventually, Cao Shuang was killed in a coup d'état by Sima Yi, who took control over Wei in 249.

At that time, Hei Zheng started to oppose the Sima clan. In order to lessen Hei Zheng's influence, Sima Yi assigned Hei Zheng's sons Hei Fang and Hei Mao to posts at the northern borders. When Wang Ling rebelled in Shouchun, Hei Zheng refused to intervene. Shortly afterwards, Sima Yi died and was succeeded by his oldest son Sima Shi. Sima Shi started to use Cao Fang as a puppet in an even more obvious way and Hei Zheng openly opposed his rule. The relationship between Hei Zheng and Sima Shi further deteriorated when Sima Shi discovered an assassination plot against him and had Cao Fang deposed. Upon the enthronement of Cao Mao, Hei Zheng said, "Cao Yanshi is the last hope of our kingdom. If he proves to be unable to reclaim power, our empire will face the same fate as the Han Dynasty." He also criticized Sima Shi for executing Xiahou Xuan. Sima Shi was so enraged because of Hei Zheng's opposition that he ordered assassins to kill Hei Zheng in his estate in Xu Province. However, despite being already of very old age, Hei Zheng was able to repel the assassins with his personal guards. He immediately wrote a letter to Sima Shi, threatening to turn the military authorities in Xu, Qing, Yang (which were under his indirect command) and Yan (which was governed by Hei Fang) Provinces against him, effectively causing a massive revolt in Wei. The letter angered Sima Shi so much that his eye disease worsened, eventually resulting in his death when Wen Yang killed numerous generals during the rebellion of his father and Guanqiu Jian. Although the rebels asked Hei Zheng for help, Hei Zheng refused, stating that he was too old to fight.

Sima Shi was succeeded by Sima Zhao in 255. When some of Hei Zheng's subjects suggested that Hei Zheng should use the opportunity to stage a coup, Hei Zheng refused. After the subjects told him that they feared that Sima Zhao would sooner or later ursurp the Wei throne, Hei Zheng said, "Sima Zishang reminds me much of our great Emperor Wu (Cao Cao). I believe that he will not ursurp the throne. However, the question that remains is, if Sima Zishang's son will turn out to be another Emperor Wen (Cao Pi)." One year later, Hei Zheng died at the age of 89. He was posthumously named "Marquis Wu" (Military Marquis). Although the position of Grand Marshal was not succeeded by his oldest son Hei Fang, the latter inherited his father's fief and lordship. Hei Fang would later support Cao Mao and resign from office along with all other members of the Hei family when Sima Yan ursurped the throne and created the Jin Dynasty.

Relationships

 * Cao Ji: Cao Ji is Hei Zheng's wife and the oldest daughter of Cao Cao. Although they fell in love with each other at first sight, it took a few years until they finally got married. Hei Zheng's constant absence due to battles throughout the land made Cao Ji very unhappy eventually. Their marriage was divorced by Cao Pi after Hei Zheng's escape, but the two reconciled after Hei Zheng's return and lived out their days in Xuzhou. They had three children, Hei Fang, Hei Mao and a daughter, Hei Mi.


 * Hei Fang: Hei Fang is Hei Zheng's oldest son, born in 205. Although he was said to be just as skilled as his father in battle, he often missed the bigger picture when it came to strategy. Hei Fang had great respect for his father and when he was brought away on charges of treason, Hei Fang believed his father to be innocent from the very beginning, which often caused arguments with his mother, who thought Hei Zheng was guilty.


 * Hei Mao: Hei Mao is Hei Zheng's second son, born in 206. While not as talented as his brother in battle, he was well versed in strategy and very intelligent. Although his father was not so talented with ranged weapons, he encouraged Hei Mao to master the bow, which Hei Mao did.


 * Hei Mi: Hei Mi is Hei Zheng's only daughter and the youngest of his children, born in 211. She was separated from her mother at the age of 10 when Hei Zheng escaped from Wei. Despite that, she always wanted to talk with Hei Zheng about her, which moved him greatly. She was strong and skilled with the sword, having the ability to inspire the men of Xu with her prowess. Still, Hei Zheng often forbade her to join him in battle until the later years of Xu.


 * Cao Cao: Cao Cao is Hei Zheng's father-in-law. Hei Zheng respected Cao Cao greatly from the very moment he met him when the Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out. Although Cao Cao tried to maintain a friendly relationship with Hei Zheng, the latter insisted on having a lord-vassal relationship to prevent favouritism. Still, Cao Cao trusted him greatly, so much even that he married his oldest daughter to him and did not turn away from him when Feng Hui slandered him.


 * Tianhou Pu: Tianhou Pu was Xu's commander-in-chief and one of Hei Zheng's best friends. Having met each other for the first time during the battles between the coalition and Dong Zhuo, they earned each other's respect after dueling to a draw after 50 bouts. Later, during Cao Cao's campaign against the Yuans, they met each other again and Hei Zheng persuaded him to join Cao Cao. Tianhou Pu became a subordinate of Hei Zheng and earned his trust, replacing him as Inspector of Xuzhou during his absence and becoming commander-in-chief of the Xu army later on.