Guo Si

Guo Si (onyomi: Kaku Shi) was Dong Zhuo's colonel. After his lord's death, he worked together with Li Jue, and other generals to recapture the capital Chang'an. He and Li Jue then tried to become Emperor Xian's guardians, but infighting between the two led to their downfall.

Role in Games
Guo Si typically serves as a frontline general for Dong Zhuo. In Dynasty Warriors 4 in the battle of Si Shui Gate, his forces lead the resistance against Cao Cao to the south-west. During the Battle of Hu Lao Gate under Dong Zhuo's forces, he serves the front lines along with Lu Bu leading resistance against the Han forces. Dynasty Warriors Next has Guo Si guard the territory of Pingyuan during Dong Zhuo's era. In the fourth chapter, players can slay him and Li Jue to claim Chang'an for additional income.

He plays a major role in Dynasty Warriors 8: Xtreme Legends where he and Li Jue drive out Lu Bu from Chang'an. In the hypothetical route, Guo Si will guard the last drawbridge leading to the palace and must be slain in order to lower it.

In Dynasty Warriors: Unleashed, Guo Si is one of the enemy officers deployed by Dong Zhuo to retrieve the lost Imperial Seal.

Quotes

 * "Any who stand in Lord Dong Zhuo's way will be shown no mercy!"
 * "Lu Bu is human. If you cut him, he will bleed. And if he bleeds, he can be killed. Charge!"

Historical Information
Guo Si was born in Ganzhou (modern day Zhangye). According to Xiandi Qijuzhu, Guo Si was a fearsome warrior who could cleave apart an army of thousands with a mere hundred. He was childhood friends with Li Jue, and both men shared good ties with one another as they entered Dong Zhuo's services. By 190 they became retainers under Niu Fu's command in the east. Guo Si and company defended the boarders from Zhu Jun's army from Zhongmu County.

When Dong Zhuo and Niu Fu were killed in 192, Guo Si and others thought to abandon their military career and return to their homelands. However Jia Xu stopped them and reasoned, "If each and every one of us were to part ways now, it will only be a matter of time before we are all captured and sentenced by the district leaders. I say to you, we should gather our forces and attack Chang'an. It would be wise for us to strike down Master Dong's (Dong Zhuo's) enemies." Thusly convinced Guo Si and company banded together and headed west to Chang'an. Their army swelled in numbers and supporters the closer they marched to the capital; over 100,000 joined their cause.

As Guo Si gathered troops to attack Chang'an Castle from its northern side, his army was intercepted by Lu Bu. Lu Bu rushed out with his troops but issued a direct yet peculiar challenge to Guo Si by stating, "Withdraw your troops. We'll settle this with a duel." Guo Si boldly accepted and charged at Lu Bu. He was quickly defeated and was wounded by a stab from Lu Bu's halberd. Before Lu Bu could deal the finishing blow, Guo Si was protected by his subordinates and retreated to safety.

Ten days of fighting later, Chang'an was captured by Dong Zhuo's loyalists in June. Guo Si joined Li Jue in murdering countless ministers who remained in the castle. They quickly captured the fleeing Wang Yun and let him say his last words before they killed him and his family. When they were finished with the massacre, he and the other rebels were granted amnesty by Emperor Xian and rewarded new titles. In September the same year Li Jue, Fan Chou, Zhang Ji, and Guo Si were granted additional seals. Guo Si was first given the title General Who Manifests Courage; in September he was given the additional titles General of the Rear and Marquis of Meiyang. He and his comrades continued to protect Chang'an from external forces during 194, primarily from Liu Fan and Zhong Shao and the Qiang people.

Every now and then, Li Jue would invite Guo Si to his room to share a drink with him. He would keep Guo Si beside him for so long, he wouldn't even let Guo Si sleep at his bed in camp. The friends were so close that Guo Si's wife became envious of their fraternal relationship and sought to separate them. One day, when Li Jue sent a box of food for Guo Si, Guo Si's wife had secretly kneaded bean paste and planted it near his food. When she saw her husband reach his hand out to eat it, she immediately warned, "Two-feathered roosters never stand beside one another in one nest. My General, it seems Master Li (Li Jue) has lost faith in you." Her words of caution meant that the bean paste she had made was poison sent by Li Jue. Guo Si believed the deception and couldn't help wonder if Li Jue was going to poison him in their drinking sessions. The friends soon drifted apart from one another.

Shortly after the incident, Guo Si plotted with his ministers to steal the emperor away from Li Jue's protection. His plan was leaked from his supporters to Li Jue who responded by confining the emperor in the northern pavilion with his older brother's assistance. Meanwhile, the emperor wanted the two generals to make peace with one another and sent messengers to mediate in his stead. His messengers first went to Guo Si, but the general responded by restraining them as he schemed his attack on Li Jue. One of the messengers, Yang Biao, was puzzled by the situation and simply asked, "First you seek to kidnap the Emperor, and now you hold High Ministers prisoner. Why would you do such a thing?" Guo Si flew into a blind rage and tried to kill him. His hand was stopped by the other ministers who were present.

What followed was a bloody conflict between Guo Si and Li Jue for dominance. The two parties fought for many months; over 10,000 corpses were piled from their civil war. Aggressions diminished by June and, when Zhang Ji returned to the capital, he was able to convince the two generals to reconcile. Guo Si later escorted the Emperor to Luoyang in July. When they were at the closed Xuanping Gate. the Emperor asked Guo Si his reasoning for rebelling against him. The general remained silent and merely gestured his men to open the path for them. Around this time, Guo Si was promoted to General of Chariots and Cavalry.

In August Guo Si thought to once more take the Emperor for himself, but Yang Feng and other retainers loyal to Li Jue were there to oppose him. Guo Si planned to thwart them by setting fire to the resting area for Li Jue's supporters and attacking the Emperor directly. Yang Feng had saw through his plot by hiding the Emperor in a safe place and ambushing Guo Si. Defeated by the ploy, Guo Si fled for the southern mountains.

By this time, Li Jue had regretted letting the Emperor leave him and joyfully reunited with Guo Si. They worked together with Jiang Ji, who felt indifferent for Yang Feng, to pursue the Emperor. A civil war between the factions took place in east Hongnong. This time Yang Feng and his men were defeated after a month of fighting. Guo Si and Li Jue then killed hundreds of ministers and kidnapped the women who accompanied them. Yang Feng and company lied that they wanted peace with their oppressors to once again gain the Emperor in their possession. As they fled from their grasp, Guo Si and Li Jue's titles and authority went with them.

He, Li Jue, and Zhang Ji resorted to living lives as a bandits to survive. In 197, Guo Si was killed by his own subordinates at Feicheng. His head was said to have been presented to Cao Cao.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Guo Si is first mentioned in Romance of the Three Kingdoms as one of the retainers who accompanied Dong Zhuo to Luoyang. He and Li Jue were then ordered to kill everyone near Yuan Wei before reinforcing Sishui Pass. Both generals plundered Luoyang for Dong Zhuo and protected their lord from Cao Cao's regiment.

He was later ordered to guard Meiwo and later took part in the siege of Chang'an to avenge his their lord's death. Guo Si acted on Li Jue's plot to taunt Lu Bu's army and gradually weakened his troops with a series of rear assaults. Once they claimed Chang'an, he led troops to slaughter Wang Yun and any ministers within the castle walls. Acting on Jia Xu's advice, he was one of the generals who repelled Ma Teng and Han Sui's march towards their keep by waiting for their supplies to run out. They then invaded their camps and slaughtered any within their reach. He and Li Jue later used their authority in the capital to order an execution warrant for Lu Bu, causing the general to flee from Yuan Shao's domain.

Li Jue and Guo Si abused their power in the capital and awarded themselves high ranks and titles with their new authority. Emperor Xian bemoaned their dictatorship and plotted with Yang Biao and Zhu Jun to somehow remove their power. They answered with a scheme to use Guo Si's jealous wife, Lady Qiong, to tear the two rebels apart. Lady Qiong acted immediately by poisoning her husband's food, which was given to him by Li Jue. She warned that Li Jue didn't trust him and fed the food to a nearby canine. When the dog died from the food, Guo Si doubted Li Jue's sincerity and the two began to quarrel. Yang Biao and Zhu Jun's scheme to draw them apart exceeded their expectations when the two rebels began to draw arms against one another. The civil war between them ends in a manner similar to history with Zhang Ji finally urging them to peace.

Guo Si's defeats to Yang Feng and the chase for the emperor remains the same until the two rebels are intercepted by Xiahou Dun and his forces. Li Jue and Guo Si tried to attack Cao Cao's army to claim the emperor for themselves, but they were swiftly defeated by Cao Cao's superior fighters and cowardly fled west. During Cao Cao's march to Xuchang, Guo Si was killed by Wu Xi and his head was presented to Cao Cao.