The Battle of Jiameng Gate (葭萌関の戦い, rōmaji: Kabōkan no Tatakai), literally "Battle of Reed Malt Gate" is a battle in which Liu Zhang had asked his neighbor, Zhang Lu, to attack Liu Bei's invasion force. During the battle, Zhang Fei duels Ma Chao to a draw, after fighting all day. Thanks to a clever ruse of Zhuge Liang and Li Hui, Ma Chao's credibility is questioned by his new master, Zhang Lu. As a result, Ma Chao chose to defect to Liu Bei's side, helping him easily conquer the rest of Yi Province. This battle only took place in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms and is entirely fictional.
Role in Games
Dynasty Warriors
The battle first debut in Dynasty Warriors 4: Xtreme Legends, as Ma Chao's Legend battle. In this fight, he seeks to prove his loyalty to Liu Bei by competing for KOs with the other tiger generals. A couple of Zhang Lu's offers also patrol the area, trying to resist the Shu officers. In this stage, the player is unable to equip items or have bodyguardsm, and the stage can only be won if Ma Chao manages to be in first place during the final score counting (disregarding the amounts of KOs from the other Shu generals).
In Dynasty Warriors 5: Xtreme Legends, the stage returns as the legends stage for Zhang Fei, Zhuge Liang, and Wei Yan. After seeing Ma Chao's valor in the center of the battle, the Shu forces make a plan to isolate Ma Chao first by cutting off reinforcements to make Zhang Lu distrust Ma Chao, and by defeating Ma Dai to further spread rumors against the commander. If this works, Ma Chao will finally be convinced to turn to the Shu forces. Also during the battle, several of Liu Zhang's officers arrive to aid Zhang Lu.
In succeeding games, the events of Jia Meng Gate are merged with the main invasion of Chengdu. In Dynasty Warriors 9, the gate is situated near Hanzhong and Yi Province.
Warriors Orochi
The battle first appears in Warriors Orochi 2, as the fifth stage of Shu story. As he was not present in the previous battle at Nagashino against Lu Bu, Guan Yu is given command of the battle against Kiyomori at the pass and is attacked on three sides by Dong Zhuo.
The first mission is to wipe out the enemies before enter the Shu main camp. When its done, Dong Zhuo attempt to burn their main camp. Defeating Dong Zhuo is the key for the players. Many phantom soldiers appear and confuse Wei Yan. Fortunately, Wei's Zhang Liao arrives to assist Guan Yu. Zhang Liao says that the phantom soldiers will disappear if they can find sorcerers. After they defeat sorcerers, Sun Wukong's doubles appears, but are easily dispatched by Guan Yu. Keeping their allies safe is also the key while Guan Yu defeat the real Sun Wukong. As allied troops begin pouring into Kiyomori's camp, Kiyomori has poison gas seep into the air. In response, the Shu forces defeat the second wave of Kiyomori's sorcerers to dispel the poison and defeat Kiyomori.
After Kiyomori's defeat, Zhang Liao will continue to accompany the Shu forces.
Historical Information
The battle is entirely fictional. The Records of the Three Kingdoms only briefly mentions how Ma Chao joined Liu Bei.
- "Ma Chao could not get along well with Zhang Lu and they were suspicious of each other. When Ma Chao heard that Liu Bei was besieging Liu Zhang in Chengdu (Yi Province's capital), he secretly wrote a letter to Liu Bei, expressing his willingness to surrender. Liu Bei sent his men to receive Ma Chao, and Ma led his troops to outside Chengdu. This caused panic in the city and Liu Zhang surrendered. Liu Bei appointed Ma Chao as General Who Pacifies the West and placed him in charge of Linju (臨沮)"
Romance of the Three Kingdom
Seeing a mutual threat in Liu Bei, Zhang Lu responded to Liu Zhang's call for aid and led reinforcements to stop Liu Bei at Yi Province. Upon learning this, Liu Bei's forces besieged themselves at Jiameng Pass, where they were subsequently attacked by Ma Chao's forces, accompanied by Ma Dai and Yang Bo. When Liu Bei learns that the fierce Ma Chao is coming to meet his forces, he worries if any of his offers are up for the fight. Zhuge Liang believes it would take both Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun to subdue him. However, only Zhang Fei is available. Zhang is excited at the prospect of such a fight, and after Zhuge provokes him further, Zhang Fei rushes out to meet this new warrior in combat.
Initially, Zhang Fei demands to know if Ma Dai is his famous cousin. Upon being given the negative response, Zhang Fei proceeds to defeat Ma Dai and demands to fight Ma Chao. The opposing general inevitably asks for his foe's identity; scoffing at Zhang Fei's lowly heritage.
Zhang Fei and Ma Chao exchange over 100 blows without either gaining the advantage. They take a break to acquire fresh horses and continue their match, fighting another 100 rounds in a draw. It is during this second bout of fighting that Zhang Fei dawns his iconic turban to allow for better vision during their duel. With the sun setting, Liu Bei signals for the end of the fight, but both Zhang and Ma want to continue, calling for hundreds of torches to allow them to finish. Both eventually attempt a ruse upon the other, but they both thwart them skillfully. Liu Bei signals once more for the fight to end, as he fears mishap in the dark.
Wishing to avoid harm to either Zhang Fei or Ma Chao, Liu Bei asks Zhuge Liang for a strategy. Zhuge proposes spreading rumors about Ma Chao's loyalty and bribing Yang Song to besmirch Ma Chao's name. Between the rumors and falsehoods from Yang Song, Ma Chao is given little choice, for he cannot win the battle in the newly allotted time nor return without risking execution. Stuck and paranoid, Zhuge Liang sends Li Hui to convince Ma Chao to defect, as Li Hui knew Ma Chao from former years. Ma Chao is convinced and he takes Yang Bo's head as proof of his new allegiance. Ma Chao and Ma Dai proceed to Chengdu to convince Liu Zhang to surrender.
Upon arrival, the pair are asked if they were reinforcements sent by Zhang Lu, but Ma Chao replies that they were unjustly accused of treason and have surrendered to Liu Bei instead before demanding the city to surrender or be subject to siege. Liu Zhang finally relented upon meeting Ma Chao and Ma Dai and later surrendered Chengdu and the rest of Yi Province to Liu Bei afterwards.
The battle of Jiameng Pass was also where Liu Bei first coined the term of "Tiger Generals" when seeing Zhang Fei and Ma Chao's duel.
Trivia
- In spite of Jiameng's actual location being within the Hanshou County within Zitong Commandery, both Xtreme Legends expansions of Dynasty Warriors 4 and 5 erroneously subtitles it under the Guanghan Commandery instead.
Gallery
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Dynasty Warriors 5: Xtreme Legends stage image
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