Xiahou Dun
Illustration of Xiahou Dun swallowing his own eyeball from a Qing Dynasty edition of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms
General of Cao Wei
Born	(Unknown)[1]
Died	13 June 220
Names
Simplified Chinese	夏侯惇
Traditional Chinese	夏侯惇
Pinyin	Xiàhóu Dūn
Wade-Giles	Hsia-hou Tun
Style name	Yuanrang (元讓)
Posthumous name	Marquis Zhong (忠侯)
Other names	Blind Xiahou (盲夏侯)

Xiahou Dun (died 13 June 220)^[1] was a military general serving under the warlord Cao Cao during the late Han Dynasty period of Chinese history. Cao Cao's original family name was Xiahou, but his father Cao Song was the adopted son of the eunuch Cao Teng, so Xiahou Dun and Cao Cao share blood relations. As one of Cao Cao's most trusted generals, Xiahou Dun aided the warlord in his campaigns against Liu Bei, Sun Quan, and Lü Bu.

Xiahou Dun lost his left eye during the Battle of Xiapi in 198, and subsequently became known among the rank and file as "Blind Xiahou", which greatly irked him. His image as a one-eyed warrior was later popularized by Luo Guanzhong's historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, in which he was said to have yanked the arrow fired by enemy general Cao Xing out of his eye and devoured his own eyeball to instill fear in his enemies.

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Xiahou Dun was born in the county of Qiao (譙; present-day Bozhou, Anhui). At the age of 14, he killed a man who insulted his teacher. His fiery personality had been well-known ever since. In 190, Xiahou Dun joined Cao Cao as the latter was raising an army to join the coalition against Dong Zhuo.

Xiahou Dun had been a close aide to Cao Cao during the initial battles against Dong Zhuo as well as the Battle of Yan Province (兗州; covering present-day western Shandong), and was made a deputy commander. When Cao Cao was leading a campaign against Tao Qian, the governor of Xu Province (徐州; covering present-day northern Jiangsu) whom Cao accused of killing his father, Xiahou Dun was left with the responsibility of defending Yan Province.

Incident at Yan Province[link]

While Xiahou Dun was guarding the city, Zhang Miao and Chen Gong rebelled. They colluded with Lü Bu, who was leading a wandering army, and quickly occupied most of Yan Province. Xiahou Dun immediately drew on a light cavalry force and headed for Juancheng (涓城), where Cao Cao's family resided.

On the way, Xiahou Dun ran into Lü Bu's army. Lü Bu evaded the encounter and went for the city of Puyang (濮陽), which was the storage base of Xiahou Dun's supplies. With its commander out in the field, Puyang soon fell. Lü Bu then sent envoys to Xiahou Dun, pretending to surrender. Lü Bu's followers then took Xiahou Dun hostage within his own tent, and demanded a heavy ransom.

Xiahou Dun's subject Han Hao was calm and collected throughout the crisis. He quickly took over command of the troops and refused negotiations with the captors, and ordered soldiers to attack. Not expecting such hardline response, the traitors surrendered and were executed.

When Cao Cao learned of the rebellion, he hastily returned and laid siege on Lü Bu in Puyang. After more than hundred days of stalemate, a famine breakout forced Lü to give up his position and seek refuge under Liu Bei in Xiapi (下邳; present-day Pizhou, Jiangsu).

Lü Bu soon turned on his host, however, and took control of Xiapi, sending Liu Bei to nearby town of Xiaopei (小沛). In 198, Lü Bu even deployed his general Gao Shun to attack Xiaopei. Under the request from Liu Bei, Cao Cao sent Xiahou Dun to engage Gao Shun. Xiahou Dun, however, lost the battle, during which his left eye was struck by an arrow. After personally leading an army to defeat Lü Bu, Cao Cao compensated Xiahou Dun by promoting him to General of Martial Establishment (建武將軍).

Xiahou Dun then spearheaded an agricultural program in the proximity of Chenliu (陳留; southeast of present-day Kaifeng, Henan). He instructed workers to dam up the Taishou River (太壽水; a distributary of the Huai River) so as to create a large pond. He then encouraged the people to grow paddy rice in the inundated land. The program greatly aided the people during the years of severe famine.

Battles of Bowang and Hefei[link]

In 202, Xiahou Dun was sent as the vanguard to invade Jing Province (荊州; covering present-day Hubei and Hunan). In the Battle of Bowang, Xiahou Dun chased Liu Bei, who feigned retreat by suddenly setting his own camp on fire. Despite warnings by Li Dian, Xiahou Dun led the main army into Liu Bei's ambush, and was defeated.

Later, he was stationed in Juchao with 26 juns (Jun was a military unit. Every 12,500 soldiers were counted as one jun. However, in this case, the number of troops under Xiahou Dun's command might not amount to 325,000, because there were flexibility on forming a jun), along with Zhang Liao at Hefei, to resist Sun Quan. However, Xiahou Dun did not seem to achieve anything during his tenure as the chief commander in the southern front, except for staying in the same place with a huge army.

Death[link]

After Cao Cao's death in 220, his successor Cao Pi forced Emperor Xian of Han to abdicate and subsequently assumed the throne as the first emperor of the state of Cao Wei. Cao Pi then appointed Xiahou Dun as General-in-Chief (大將軍). Xiahou Dun, however, died of illness just months later.

Family[link]

• Ancestor: Xiahou Ying, served Emperor Gaozu of Han

• Siblings:
  • Xiahou Lian (夏侯廉), younger brother, granted the title of a marquis

• Cousin: Xiahou Yuan, served as a general under Cao Cao, killed by Huang Zhong at the Battle of Mount Dingjun

• Children:
  • Xiahou Chong (夏侯充)
  • Xiahou Mao, married Cao Cao's daughter Princess Qinghe, appointed as General Who Pacifies the West
  • Xiahou Zizang (夏侯子臧)
  • Xiahou Zijiang (夏侯子江)
  • Five other sons who were granted titles of marquises after Xiahou Dun's death

• Grandchildren:
  • Xiahou Yi (夏侯廙), son of Xiahou Chong
  • Two other grandsons who were granted titles of marquises after Xiahou Dun's death

• Great-grandchildren
  • Xiahou Shao (夏侯劭), son of Xiahou Yi
  • Xiahou Zuo (夏侯佐)

Appraisals[link]

Xiahou Dun was a violent man in nature,^[2] as early as a youth, he already had a man murdered just because he insulted his martial arts master (at the same time, he was indeed very respectful to his teachers and masters).

Xiahou Dun was likely not very welcomed by his fellow soldiers and comrades during his early years too. Once, he was held captive by newly surrendered soldiers, despite being Cao Cao's right-hand man, his direct subordinate, Han Hao refused to any kind of negotiation, and ordered an attack. Xiahou Dun was only lucky that his hijackers surrendered to Han Hao at the last minute before the attack.

But he was surely the most trusted general of Cao Cao, as he was said to often ride in the same carriage as his master, a privilege not even extended to Cao's personal bodyguards Dian Wei and Xu Chu. Yu Huan's Weilüe mentioned that when Cao Cao became King of Wei, he gave titles to his generals but gave Xiahou Dun a title from the Han Dynasty, rather than the land of Wei. Xiahou Dun questioned Cao Cao about it, and Cao stated that great generals should belong to great lands, and that the land of Wei was not grand enough for a general of Xiahou's caliber. While touched, Xiahou Dun refused the Han title and requested a Wei title instead, demonstrating his loyalty to his master over his loyalty to the Han emperor.

While his physical prowess was unquestioned, his military successes were few and far between. It was under his leadership that Cao Cao's forces fell to an ambush at the Battle of Bowang, costing thousands of men their lives when he pursued Liu Bei's forces into a nearby gulley.

However, when he was made a governor, Xiahou Dun quickly found his calling. Besides damming up the Taishou River and encouraging people to plant paddy in the resulting inundated land, he was also said to have personally joined in the planting. He gained a reputation for generosity because of his habit of distributing wealth among his people and keeping very little for himself. Because of this, he was well loved by his people.

In fiction[link]

Romance of the Three Kingdoms, a historical novel by Luo Guanzhong, was a romanticization of the events that occurred before and during the Three Kingdoms era. In the novel, Xiahou Dun was said to be a cousin of Cao Cao, while his loss of an eye was also made much more dramatic than it probably was.

In 198, Xiahou Dun was sent to engage Gao Shun and Cao Xing, two generals under Lü Bu, outside Xiaopei (小沛). As his force came upon the enemies, Xiahou Dun rode forward with spear set to offer a challenge. Gao Shun took him on and the two dueled for 40 or 50 bouts before Gao, feeling outmatched, retreated. Xiahou Dun pursued him deep into the enemy lines. While Xiahou Dun was giving chase, Cao Xing secretly took aim and fired an arrow at him. The arrow hit the target right in the left eye. With a cry, Xiahou pulled out the arrow along with his eyeball. "Essence of my father, blood of my mother, I cannot throw this away," he exclaimed and swallowed the eye.

His spear firmly held up, Xiahou Dun then came straight for Cao Xing. With no time to react, Cao Xing was impaled right in the face and died beneath his nemesis' horse.

When Guan Yu surrendered to Cao Cao after Liu Bei was defeated at Xu Province, Xiahou Dun was one of those skeptical of Guan. After Guan Yu slew six commanders of the five passes after leaving Cao Cao in search of Liu Bei, Xiahou Dun chased Guan and was about to fight the latter when Zhang Liao arrived with orders from Cao Cao to let Guan leave.

Another portrait of Xiahou Dun. This one, much like the others of him, depicts him eating his left eye after being shot by Cao Xing during Cao Cao's assault onto Lü Bu early in Xiahou Dun's career

Xiahou's death in the novel was attributed to the shock he received from an encounter with the ghost of Guan Yu rather than illness.

Modern references[link]

• Xiahou Dun is featured as a playable character in Koei's Dynasty Warriors video game series, as well as Warriors Orochi, a crossover between Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors.

• Xiahou Dun appears in all 11 installments of Koei's Romance of the Three Kingdoms strategy game series.

• There is a card based on Xiahou Dun, named "Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed"^[3] in the Portal Three Kingdoms set of the Magic: The Gathering collectible card game.

• Kakōton (Xiahou Dun's name in Japanese) is portrayed in the manga and anime Battle Vixens. He is nicknamed Ton-chan and is portrayed as an honorable fighter for Kyoshou (Wei). He is shown to be best friends with Sou-Sou (Cao Cao) and later on loses his left eye and wears an eyepatch similar to Xiahou Dun.

• Kakōton (Xiahou Dun's name in Japanese) is portrayed in the visual novel and anime series Koihime Musō. She is much like her counterpart in the classic novel and in the visual novel, she has an eyepatch (she does not wear one in the anime), like how Xiahou Dun lost his left eye.

See also[link]

• List of people of the Three Kingdoms
• List of Dynasty Warriors characters

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Chen Shou (2002). Records of Three Kingdoms, Volume 9, Biography of Xiahou Dun. Yue Lu Shu She. ISBN 978-7-80665-198-8. 
• Luo Guanzhong (1986). Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Yue Lu Shu She. ISBN 978-7-80520-013-2. 
• Lo Kuan-chung; tr. C.H. Brewitt-Taylor (2002). Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Tuttle Publishing. ISBN 978-0-8048-3467-4.