Jieting

The Battle of Jieting (街亭の戦い, rōmaji: Gaitei no Tatakai) was a battle that took place during Zhuge Liang's Northern Expeditions, and was the first of his said campaigns with Jieting being a vital spot with resources for the Shu Army. It is famous for Ma Su's crushing defeat after he mistakenly camped at the top of a hill which deprived him of his water sources. Zhang He showed prowess in the battle, forcing a full retreat from Zhuge Liang's army due to the inability to secure the supply line. Zhang He was then was entrusted to defend the lands of Wei against Zhuge Liang's invading army.

The loss of this battle in the Romance of Three Kingdoms novel lead to Zhuge Liang's position at Xi Castle (西城, Saijō, lit. West Castle) within Xi Prefecture being exposed to Sima Yi's forces. Famously as Sima Yi and his army approached, Zhuge Liang with very few able men as the rest of the was Shu Army stationed and occupied at other distant important positions, pulled off the iconic Empty Fort Strategy which caused Sima Yi out of fear of an ambush to retreat before Zhuge Liang did so himself later on. However, while the historical authenticity of the event was heavily debated (Sima Yi was actually stationed at Wan Castle at the time), it was immortalized as an iconic highlight between Shu and Wei in the novel and its adaptations.

Role in Games

Dynasty Warriors

In the Dynasty Warriors series the battle usually starts when Ma Su camps on top the mountaintop and Zhang He is sent to battle.

The battle first appears in Dynasty Warriors 3, where the main aim is to take the supply depot and defeat Ma Su or defend both the supply depot and the disciple for the Wei and Shu sides respectively. Zhang He will charge down hill to defeat Ma Su, whilst Zhen Ji fends off Ma Chao and Jiang Wei. It appears in Dynasty Warriors 3: Xtreme legends as a unique stage for Yuan Shao in his story mode.

In the fourth installment using the Wei forces, Sima Yi will be the Wei commander and Ma Su as the enemy commander. According to his strategy, since Ma Su is protected in the fortress atop of Jie Ting mountain guarded by Ma Su's three sub-officers. The player must defeat each of the three quickly in order to enter the fortress and eliminate Ma Su inside without moving close to the gates themselves beforehand. However, around that moment, Zhuge Liang's main force will appear south of the mountain to rescue Ma Su. Now the objective will be to defeat Zhuge Liang. After he's defeated, the battle is won. In the next battle, if you successfully defeated Ma Su at Jie Ting in Musou Mode, Sima Yi will taunt him when approached at the battle of Wu Zhang Plains (causing Ma Su's morale to decrease and can easily be defeated with less max HP).

In Shu's scenario, you start out at the southern point of the map informed that Ma Su is in trouble in the fortress and that you need to rescue him before Zhang He, Xu Huang, Xiahou Yuan, and Sima Zhao defeat one of Ma Su's sub-officers. However, approaching the southern gate before Zhang He is defeated will cause a cutscene to occur where he will light the gate on fire and preventing Ma Su's camp from ever being entered from that area (thus the only way to open the south gate is to lure Zhang He away from it and defeat him outside of its proximity). Though upon rescuing Ma Su successfully if Jie Ting is selected first, he will appear as reinforcements at Mt. Ding Jun if the stage is selected after Jie Ting in Musou Mode in order to atone for his prior loss. In the Xtreme Legends expansion, this exact map is reused for Xu Zhu's Legend Mode.

In the fifth installment, the battle is easily won when using the Wei forces. The easiest way to win is capturing certain points of the mountain, then defeating Ma Su. While playing as Zhen Ji, Cao Pi will decide to become more of a "family man" and abandon the main camp, opting instead to follow his wife around the remainder of the stage, providing support for the player. When using the Shu Forces the battle will be a more challenge. The enemy force will try to surround Ma Su by destroying the bridge he uses to escape. The player should help Ma Su if he gets surrounded by Wei forces to ensure victory. Eventually Cao Pi will appear, defeating him will end the battle.

In the sixth installment, the battle was removed only to be re-added in the PlayStation 2 version of the installment as one of Ma Chao's and Zhang He's stories for their Musou Mode. In this version, Liu Bei will arrive as reinforcements if Ma Su survives the initial assault. For Wei's scenario, Sima Yi will lead the battle. The player is ordered to first capture the lower bases of the mountain. Afterwards, Wang Ping will begin to slowly move to Ma Su's aid. Eventually, Sima Yi's will send an archer unit to burn Ma Su's camp after which Liu Bei appears to support Ma Su. In Shu's version of the battle, Cao Cao will be the commander for Wei. Players need only to defend Ma Su until Liu Bei's arrival or morale will deflate rapidly. After his arrival, Liu Bei will order everyone to attack to Wei's main camp.

Jieting makes its return in Dynasty Warriors 7 in Conquest Mode for several warriors' special stages. Depending on the character, the battles may go in different ways. In all of the versions, Sima Yi will be Wei's Commander and Ma Su and Zhuge Liang will command Shu. In this installment, the battle uses the map of Shiting from Dynasty Warriors 6. Jieting uses the same layout as the sixth installment again in its expansion.

Outside Conquest Mode, Jieting serves as a Hero Scenario for Yue Ying in the Xtreme Legends expansion.

Dynasty Warriors 8 makes Jieting a Shu-exclusive stage using the Hanzhong map. Ma Su is already close to being surrounded. The player has to rescue him and his officers along the way. If the officers are rescued, Ma Su will be spared, allowing Chencang to be unlocked. If not, he will be executed. In Wei's Free Mode version, Zhang He and Sima Yi will first take the foothill garrisons to surround Ma Su. Once Ma Su is isolated, a charge is ordered, but if the player takes too long, Zhuge Liang will be able to appear in the far south to assist Ma Su. Defeating Ma Su and Zhuge Liang will end the stage.

Warriors Orochi

As a Shu side story stage, Magoichi will send Xing Cai and Zhu Rong to trap the Orochi army commander, Masamune in the middle. The paths to the main camp are blocked, but Magoichi and another member of the party can go into the center and draw a lot of attention. As soon as Masamune is surrounded, he can be recruited.

In Warriors Orochi 3, Jieting has two stages. In one stage, Nō leads the Oda army to try and fight the Serpent forces with cannons. However, the gunpowder meant for the cannons never made it, thus resulting in Mitsuhide's fiery death at Honnōji. Having heard of this, Sun Ce, Goemon, and Achilles set out to make sure the gunpowder does indeed make it and use it all up. The second battle comes for Xing Cai, with Keiji and Katsuie fight against Guan Ping and the Oda forces to recruit the former.

Historical Information

Jieting was a crucial region for the securing of supplies, and Zhuge Liang sent generals Ma Su and Wang Ping to guard the region. Ma Su went accompanied by Wang Ping but did not listen to his sound military advice. Relying purely on books of military tactics, he chose to 'take the high ground' and set his base on the mountains instead of in a city with ample walls as instructed by Zhuge Liang, ignoring Wang Ping and his advice to set up base in a valley well-supplied with water. Wang Ping, however, managed to persuade Ma Su to give him command of a portion of the troops, and later Wang set up his base camp near Ma Su's camp in order to offer assistance when the latter was in danger.

Due to this tactical mistake, the Wei troops led by Zhang He upon Sima Yi's orders encircled the hill and cut off the water supply to the Shu troops and attacked; later, Sima Yi's forces set fire to the hill. Wang Ping led his troops in an attempt to help Ma Su but the Shu army even with Zhuge Liang's eventual reinforcements suffered a great defeat in which both the army and the fort were lost. Zhuge Liang then had no choice but to order a full retreat due to a lack of advance routes and procurement of supplies.

Though he survived the battle, Ma Su feared punishment and attempted to flee (even with Xiang Liang, being a old close friend of his, deciding to not report him). However, he was soon captured by the Shu Forces for the loss of the campaign and was executed. It was said in some records that Ma Su even wrote to Zhuge Liang that he harbored no ill will towards the Prime Minister for his execution (possibly to either get on his good favor to be pardoned or otherwise). Many others wept for Ma Su due to the loss of talent and thus Zhuge Liang afterwards took over in looking after Ma Su's remaining family.

A few other generals such as Zhang Xiu and Li Sheng were also executed, while other generals such as Huang Xi were instead relieved from their army commands. The aforementioned Xiang Liang on the other hand, was directly dismissed from his post due to not reporting Ma Su. Only Wang Ping was promoted due to his efforts in minimizing casualties and trying to prevent Ma Su's decision.

Even then, some records in Xi Zuochi's writings have even claimed that Jiang Wan told to Liang that "the campaign was his fault for employing Ma Su in the first place, and executing him when Shu couldn't afford to lose such talents". But it was also stated that Zhuge Liang argued that he needed to uphold the martial law to the best of his ability, which also included giving proper punishment when due. In response to the failure of Jieting, Zhuge Liang also sent a memorial to Liu Shan asking to be demoted himself due to such events.

The prefectures of Nan'an, Tianshui, and Anding revolted in favor of Zhuge Liang, though Zhang He eventually pacified all three.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms

While most of the battle in the novel follows the historical counterpart, the major difference is Ma Su's execution. Instead of attempting to escape punishment, Ma opted to willingly give himself up, and take responsibility for the defeat with death. Zhuge Liang was heartbroken, and wept as he ordered Ma's death. After Ma Su's execution much like historically, Zhuge Liang would uphold the late man's request, and would take care the deceased's family.

The events of Ma Su's execution which has also even been portrayed in opera also gave birth to the Chinese proverb Huī Lèi Zhán Mǎ Sù (挥泪斩马谡/揮淚斬馬謖; literally meaning "Wiping tears and executing Ma Su"), with the Japanese equivalent being Naite Ba Shoku wo kiru (泣いて馬謖を斬る, "Tearfully executing Ma Su"); both specifically refer to punishing a person for their wrongdoings regardless of relations or their abilities.

Meanwhile, Zhuge Liang quickly moved to Xixian/Xi Prefecture (隰縣), stationed at Xicheng trying to move what supplies they could get back to Hanzhong via Yangping, and were mostly comprised of standard council, very few soldiers and mere workers as Zhuge Liang told the other officers to be stationed elsewhere to setup an ambush at other key positions in order to compensate for Ma Su's failure to secure Jieting up ahead (and to also ensure that a possible retreat would be covered). Zhuge Liang due to such a moment to come, also ordered Yang Yi and others to help move Jiang Wei's mother from Tianshui to Hanzhong along with all the other villagers that converted to Shu's cause.

It was not until the grains were half-way loaded that they received reports of Sima Yi's army approaching along the main route to Xicheng's east gate riding their momentum from Ma Su's defeat. While his sons Sima Shi and Zhao mentioned they had a straight shot at Yangping Gate, Sima Yi himself decided to head straight for Xicheng itself in order to prevent Zhuge Liang from launching a rear ambush on them; Xixian itself as a region was also rich in growing grains for food supplies while also being linked to Tianshui, Nan'an and Anding; seizing Xixian would be the key to claiming those three areas at once.

As the Wei Marshall's main army was approaching, Liang then ordered everyone to hide all the city's Shu Army banners and to not make any risky movements or major noises when the enemy approached (with the death penalty considered for those that defied such orders). Time was not on Liang's side given that he likely did not expect an advance from the Wei Army along this specific route to Xicheng that soon.

As Liang was frustrated with how to move all the supplies on time (especially since Sima Yi himself of all people did not travel along the ambush routes Zhuge Liang set-up), a risky idea came to him as he noticed his guqin in his quarters. Taking a gamble, he decided to have the gates to the city opened and a few of the workers merely sweep the dust on the main path in front (and/or having the townsfolk go about their daily business with livestock even) while Zhuge Liang played his guqin, stationed on top of the gates in front of the building in near-plain view of Sima Yi and his men.

Sima Yi could not help but see Zhuge Liang being calm at initial glance despite the latter's nervousness and anxiety, fearing that he could catch on to his ruse of having very few army men even capable of holding off the Wei army for long. Even then, the chancellor kept on playing to keep up the said ruse as he was sweating to make sure none of the notes that were heard seemed off.

However, Sima Yi instead had his own fears/suspicious seeing Zhuge Liang so calmly playing the instrument; both of his sons Sima Zhao and Sima Shi urged him to assault the city. But Sima Yi expressed his concerns in that with Zhuge Liang all by himself calmly playing music and having the city gates wide open meant he was being invited towards a disaster, concluding that Zhuge Liang has setup an ambush inside of the city.

Yet despite his sons arguing that the soldiers in the city might be few, Sima Yi also pointed out to the environment around the city (such as the hills surrounding the path in some adaptations). Part of Yi's exchange with his sons' disagreements also involved these quotes:

"The clanging of his strings are akin to raging waves beating against cliffs, winds that coil the remnant clouds; it's as though there is an army worth one million in his fingers."

"It's as at a small stream, you can clearly see the bottom; he would not play like that if he was not happy or relaxed. Zhuge Liang must've thought out a plan!"

"The heart is disordered if the sounds are chaotic, but the heart is pure if the sounds are orderly. Wrong sounds come out if one is anxious, but sounds are clear if one is of a peaceful mind. When I see Zhuge Liang playing such music, I can see the bottom of his heart! I feel honored by much that I am keenly appreciative of his talents."

Because of the other several factors and further adding that Zhuge Liang would never dare to take such a risk due to being careful by nature (and given that as stated before with the gates being freely opened and no soldiers being around), Sima Yi assured to everyone that there was an ambush, given in his plain view that Liang's spirit did not show signs of wanting to give up. Yi then also added "if we enter the city rashly now, it'll be too late for us to react on time to the trap". As Zhuge Liang accidentally snapped one of the strings on his guqin which gave a sudden shock to both sides, Sima Yi then ordered his sons and his army to turn their vanguard around and retreat.

As Sima Yi's army retreated and as the fellow officials reported as such, Zhuge Liang let out a huge sigh of relief from his prior moments of fear as he admitted the plan was such a risk that needed to be taken out of pure luck, as Sima Yi knew Zhuge Liang far too well. And that with only around 2000 troops, Sima Yi's 1 million would've caught up in due time if they had just simply retreated earlier due to the lack of a main army. The supplies were already fully loaded and Zhuge Liang then ordered the entire council and the townspeople to retreat back to Hanzhong through Yangping, for Sima Yi was to surely return to check if there truly was an ambush. Out of regret, Zhuge Liang and the entire Shu Army lost hold of 3 prefectures while also forcing such people to evacuate their hometowns and feeling that a few more months and/or years will be spent trying to plan another northern campaign.

Sure enough, Sima Yi did indeed return and was either upset and/or impressed upon checking the truly-empty city with his own eyes. Even then, he too pulled back once more to replenish his forces for the coming conflicts.

In other adaptations of this event, another point stressed was both Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi having the weight of their respective nations on their backs, as well as Sima Yi knowing Zhuge Liang for sure had no troops inside the city, but likely chose to retreat anyway to remain of use to the state of Wei (thus he let Zhuge Liang live to have the conflict continue) due to other personal internal affairs with the Cao and Xiahou families.

Trivia

So far, only 2 instances of the Musou Warriors versions of Jieting reference the historical anecdote of Ma Su's forces being deprived of water; the cutscene in which Zhang He has successfully surrounded Ma Su in Dynasty Warriors 4, and the BGM for the stage in Dynasty Warriors 6 dubbed as THE CREST OF THIRST.
- Likewise, Dynasty Warriors 4 and 6's version of the battle on the Shu Forces scenario happens to be one of the only few instances that references the historical fire attack on the hill.
- Likewise, the BGM CRY & SLASH for the ninth installment's take on Jieting is also named after the proverb based on said execution of Ma Su.
- Likewise, the BG