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Pang Tong
Strategist of Liu Bei
Born	179
Died	214 (aged 34–35)
Names
Simplified Chinese	庞统
Traditional Chinese	龐統
Pinyin	Páng Tǒng
Style name	Shiyuan (士元)
Posthumous name	Marquis Jing (靖侯)
Other names	Young Phoenix (鳳雛)

Pang Tong (179–214)^[1] was an advisor to Liu Bei during the late Han Dynasty period of Chinese history. He was nicknamed "Young Phoenix" (鳯雛; Fèngchú) by his uncle Pang Degong due to his ugly appearance but great capabilities and talent (just like how the baby phoenix is very ugly, but grows to be a beautiful and legendary creature). Pang Tong rose to fame after he met Sima Hui, a reclusive scholar who named him as one of the great talents in southern Jing Province after spending a whole day chatting with him.

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Pang Tong was a native of Xiangyang. He appeared plain and dumb-witted in his youth and his talent was not recognized by anyone. When Pang Tong came to of age, he visited Sima Hui, who was famous for spotting and recommending men of talent. Sima Hui and Pang Tong sat below a mulberry tree and had a long discussion until late at night. Sima Hui felt that Pang Tong was an extraordinary person and remarked that Pang was "the crown of scholars in the southern province".^[2] Since then, Pang Tong gradually gained more recognition among the scholar-gentry.

Pang Tong was later appointed as an Officer of Merit (功曹) in Nan commandery (南郡; in present-day Jingzhou, Hubei). He was an appraiser, and his reviews on people were focused more on their personal virtues rather than their abilities. He was fond of ethical lessons and consistently strived to maintain his moral standards. He usually overpraised when asked to assess a person. At times, people were puzzled and questioned him on why he did that, to which he replied, "The nation is currently in a state of disorder, good people are overwhelmed by the evil. I desire to change the social norm through encouraging good people by giving them a better (exaggerated) reputation, so they can serve as role models for others."^[3]

In 209, Zhou Yu, a general serving under the warlord Sun Quan, occupied Nan Commandery after the Battle of Jiangling. Zhou Yu was appointed as Administrator of Nan Commandery while Pang Tong continued serving as an Officer of Merit under Zhou. When Zhou Yu died in 210, Pang Tong travelled to Jiangdong to attend his funeral. There, he met Lu Ji (陸勣), Gu Shao (顧劭) and Quan Cong, who had heard of his name and wanted to see him. They were very pleased with the comments Pang Tong gave on each of them, and befriended him. They told Pang Tong, "When peaceful times come, we'll have a discussion with you on all the scholars in the world."^[4] Pang Tong joined Liu Bei's service later.

Assisting Liu Bei in the conquest of Yi Province[link]

When Liu Bei led his army to Yi Province (covering the Sichuan Basin) to help Liu Zhang defend against Zhang Lu's invasion, Pang suggested to Liu Bei to take Liu Zhang hostage when they meet and force Liu to hand over Yi Province. Liu Bei declined and allowed Liu Zhang to return to Chengdu (capital city of Yi Province), on the grounds that he did not want to take the risk and that he was still unfamiliar in the area. When relations between Liu Bei and Liu Zhang deteriorated until the point of war, Pang Tong offered three options for his lord to take, namely the upper, middle and lower plans. The upper plan involved sending an elite special task force to invade Chengdu secretly, take Liu Zhang by surprise and force him to surrender. The middle plan was to spread false information that Liu Bei was returning to Jing Province, then lure Liu Zhang's generals Yang Huai and Gao Pei away from their positions, kill them and take over their castles and armies, and finally advance towards Chengdu. The lower plan entailed retreating to Jing Province and await for another time to attack Yi Province. Liu Bei chose the middle one and requested reinforcements from Liu Zhang to deal with Zhang Lu. Liu Zhang sent him only a small number of troops with low fighting capability and a mediocre amount of supplies. Liu Bei rallied his troops to turn against Liu Zhang and killed Yang Huai and Gao Pei, on charges of showing disrespect towards him, and took over command of their armies. Liu Bei's forces then attacked Liu Zhang's city of Luo, which was defended by Liu Zhang himself, and besieged the city for over a year.

Liu Bei expressed joy during a banquet in Fucheng (涪城) to celebrate his victory over Liu Zhang so far, and Pang Tong chided him, saying that "celebrating the invasion of others' territory is not what a man of ren (仁; a Confucian value which advocates showing kindness) should do". The drunk Liu Bei retorted angrily, "King Wu of Zhou also rejoiced after his victory over King Zhou of Shang. Is he not an example of a man of ren? You're wrong, so get out now!" After Pang Tong left, Liu Bei regretted for making that response and invited Pang back. Pang returned to his seat and did not apologise to Liu. Liu asked, "When that happened, whose fault did you think it was?" Pang replied, "It was both yours and mine." Liu laughed and the banquet continued.

Death[link]

Pang Tong was killed by enemy arrows during the siege of Luocheng (雒城) at the age of 36 by Chinese reckoning. Liu Bei wept whenever the incident was mentioned and Zhuge Liang attended Pang's funeral personally. Pang was conferred the posthumous titles of Marquis of Guannei (關內侯) and Marquis Jing (靖侯) after the founding of Shu Han.

Pang Tong's son Pang Hong was appointed as the governor of Fu later while his brother Pang Lin surrendered to Cao Wei sometime later.

Appointments and titles held[link]

• Assistant Officer (從事) under Liu Bei
• Prefect of Leiyang (耒陽令)
• Assistant Officer in Headquarters Office (治中從事)
• Military Adviser General of the Household (軍師中郎將)

The following two titles were granted to Pang Tong posthumously

• Marquis of Guannei (關內侯)
• Marquis Jing (靖侯)

In fiction[link]

In Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Pang Tong is portrayed as a brilliant military strategist who equalled Zhuge Liang. Sima Hui recommended Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong as talents to aid Liu Bei in his ambitious plans, by the following words: "Sleeping Dragon, Fledging Phoenix - receive one, and you can settle all things under Heaven."

Like Sima Hui, Pang Tong was first introduced as a reclusive scholar in Xiangyang. He made his first appearance in the events prior to the Battle of Red Cliffs and played a major role in Liu Bei and Sun Quan's victory over Cao Cao. When Cao Cao's guest advisor Jiang Gan paid a second visit to Zhou Yu for the purpose of leaking back military information back to Cao, Zhou accused him of stealing secret information about enemy generals Cai Mao and Zhang Yun during his earlier visit (which was a ruse staged by Zhou) and had Jiang locked up in a temple. Jiang met Pang Tong in the temple and they returned to Cao Cao's camp together. Cao Cao was overjoyed and received Pang Tong warmly. Pang suggested to Cao Cao to link his battleships together with iron chains, so as to minimise the ships from rocking when they sailed on the river. Cao Cao heeded Pang's suggestion and his decision proved to be a fatal mistake later on.

Pang Tong appeared again after the death of Zhou Yu, when Lu Su recommended Pang to Sun Quan as an advisor. Sun granted Pang an audience but Pang's ugly appearance immediately put him off. Sun then asked Pang about his abilities as compared to Zhou Yu, to which Pang haughtily replied that he was "different" from Zhou. Greatly offended by his appearance, and his attitude towards Zhou (who Sun Quan greatly respected), Sun dismissed Pang as a common fool who boasted about his knowledge.

After leaving Sun Quan, Pang went to serve Liu Bei and presented his plan for the occupation of Liu Zhang's territory in Yi Province (present-day Sichuan). Zhuge Liang had mentioned earlier in his Longzhong plan that Yi Province would be Liu Bei's home base for his future conquests. Pang followed Liu Bei to Yi Province on the invitation of Liu Zhang to deal with Zhang Lu. During the first meeting between Liu Bei and Liu Zhang, Pang ordered Wei Yan to assassinate Liu Zhang during the banquet under the guise of performing a sword dance. Liu Bei was unwilling to harm Liu Zhang, as the latter was from the imperial clan just as he was, and stopped Wei Yan.

Pang Tong continued to provide strategies for Liu Bei in his subsequent battles against Liu Zhang's forces after relations between Liu Bei and Liu Zhang deteriorated to the point of war. Before Liu Bei's forces set off to attack Luocheng, Pang suggested to Liu Bei to lead a smaller contingent and take a shortcut, while he would lead the main army to attack Luocheng head-on. Liu Bei refused and decided that Pang should take the shortcut instead. Before leaving the camp, Pang's horse reared on its hind legs and threw him off. Liu Bei noticed that it was a bad omen and wanted to call off the battle, but Pang insisted. Liu Bei then offered his own steed Dilu (said to bring ill luck to its rider, however it saved Liu's life once so he thought it was a horse of good luck) to Pang instead. Pang was ambushed at the Valley of the Fallen Phoenix (落鳯坡) by archers under the command of Liu Zhang's general Zhang Ren. He died under showers of arrows along with his men. As if his death was predestined by Heaven's will, his place of death was called "Valley of the Fallen Phoenix", in which the "Phoenix" referred to Pang, as Pang's nickname was "Young Phoenix".

Modern references[link]

Pang Tong is featured as a playable character in Koei's Dynasty Warriors, Warriors Orochi and Dynasty Tactics video game series.

In Koihime Musou, Pang appears as a shy and reserved young girl called Hinari Shigen Houtou. First appearing in episode 10 of Shin Koihime Musou, Hinari lives with Zhuge Liang / Shuri Koumei Shokatsuryou teacher.

See also[link]

• List of people of the Three Kingdoms

References[link]