Xiahou Mao

Xiahou Mao (onyomi: Kakō Bō) is Xiahou Dun's second son. He is historically married to Princess Qinghe, Cao Cao's eldest daughter. A playboy in his years of service, he had an infamous squabble with his wife.

Role in Games
Xiahou Mao appears as an officer of Wei in their later battles in the Dynasty Warriors series. While he may appear as a sub-officer in some battles, he mainly appears in the Battle of Tianshui. When playing for the Shu forces, Xiahou Mao is part of Zhuge Liang's plan to take over the area. He is captured upon his defeat and released in order to trick the Wei forces in Dynasty Warriors 5.

In Dynasty Warriors 7, he defends Nan'an fort. When he opens the gates for Cui Liang, he ambushes Zhuge Liang and Cui Liang defects to the Wei forces again, but they are still defeated by the Shu forces.

In Dynasty Warriors 8, he reprises his role at Tianshui, but will surprisingly appear in following battles, and at Wuzhang Plains in Shu's historical route. In the hypothetical route, Xiahou Mao will be Chang'an's commander and must be tailed throughout the map. Eventually, Guo Jia will arrive, and Xiahou Mao will pass on the commander's role to the strategist. If he is defeated at Chang'an, the "Pacification of Nanzhong" will be unlocked.

He also appears in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms games during the later years. He is always among the worst officers in the game, with most of his stats being at the bottom, save for his Leadership and Politics, which are usually in the low 20's. Offering no positive domestic traits and plenty of negative ones both on and off the battle, Xiahou Mao is a character poorly suited to any tasks and is ultimately useless. He is humorously found as a free officer alongside Ma Zun in Wuwei in scenarios set after Zhuge Liang's first northern campaign in reference to the both of them fleeing after losing Tianshui.

The power-up kit to the fourteenth instalment takes Xiahou Mao's notoriety a step further by positioning him as leader of a faction based in Shangyong for the fictional scenario, "A Dance of Heroes". While his faction features his contemporaries in Ma Zun, Cheng Wu and Han De, the faction is otherwise composed of other officers with terrible stats including Huang Hao and Han Xuan, rendering this faction incredibly difficult to succeed with.

Voice Actors

 * Keisuke Fujii - Sangokushi Hadou (Japanese)
 * Kanji Suzumori - Sangokushi Three Kingdoms TV series

Quotes

 * "The time has come! All forces, forward! Claim Zhuge Liang's head!"
 * "Unless I capture this Zhuge Liang, I pledge myself never again to see the Emperor's face."

Historical Information
Xiahou Mao was the second son of Xiahou Dun. Cao Cao had married him to his oldest daughter Princess Cao Qinghe. Since his youth he had been good friends with Cao Pi. When Cao Pi ascended the Wei throne, he made Xiahou Mao "General who Pacifies the West", gave him the tiger tally and sent him to the west to serve as a Chief Army Supervisor. Although he was not suited to take military command and was not good with strategy either, he was good in conducting business. In 228, someone spread rumors about Xiahou Mao. Cao Rui led an army to the west to counter Shu's offensive and recalled Xiahou Mao to the capital where he should serve as Imperial Secretariat.

During his stay in the west, Xiahou Mao gathered many concubines and singing girls around him, which greatly angered his wife. Additionally, he often admonished his younger brothers because of their bad behaviour. They feared that Xiahou Mao would take action against them, so they accused him of libel and asked Princess Qinghe to take the case up to Cao Rui. Cao Rui had Xiahou Mao arrested and planned to execute him, but before that he asked the Colonel of Changshui, Duan Mo, about his opinion. Duan Mo told Cao Rui that Cao Qinghe bared a grudge against Xiahou Mao and wished to put him in trouble. He also said that his father Xiahou Dun had made many contributions to the formation of the empire, so Cao Rui should reconsider. Cao Rui agreed and ordered and investigation of Cao Qinghe's memorial and it was discovered that the authors were Xiahou Mao's younger brothers. Xiahou Mao was therefore pardoned and released.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms
In the novel, he was Xiahou Yuan's son and Xiahou Dun's adopted son. When the Shu forces attack Wei, Xiahou Mao volunteered to take command of the western armies. Despite Wang Lang's objection, Xiahou Mao was given command of the western armies and he marched to the west after promising that he would not return to Cao Rui if he didn't capture Zhuge Liang. After his first encounter with Zhao Yun, in which general Han De and his sons were killed, Xiahou Mao retreated and consulted Cheng Wu. They successfully ambushed Zhao Yun, but Zhao Yun was able to escape. The two armies clashed again, with Xiahou Mao suffering heavy losses. He then retreated to Nan'an and was besieged by the Shu forces.

Although he planned a ruse with Cui Liang and Yang Ling, the city was eventually captured by the Shu forces and Xiahou Mao was captured as well. He was brought to Zhuge Liang and begged for his life. After telling Xiahou Mao that Jiang Wei was willing to surrender to Shu, Zhuge Liang promised to let him go if he induced Jiang Wei to surrender. Xiahou Mao agreed and after hearing rumors about Jiang Wei's surrender at Jicheng, he went to Tianshui and met with Ma Zun, whom he told about Jiang Wei's surrender. Soon, Zhuge Liang sent a double of Jiang Wei to the walls who said that he surrendered to Shu. After causing much confusion, Xiahou Mao ordered the execution of Yin Shang and Liang Xu, who in turn surrendered Tianshui to the Shu forces. Xiahou Mao fled with Ma Zun to the Qiang tribes in the west and kept the promise he made to Cao Rui.

Gallery
Romance of the Three Kingdoms=