Guan Yu Crosses Five Passes

Also called: Five Passes, Six Generals

A scene invented by a historical novel. It differs from the recorded history.

A scene from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms in which Guan Yu, leaving Cao Cao to rejoin Liu Bei, passes five gates and slays six generals. It is not in the official history.

A scene invented by the novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Hearing news of Liu Bei, Guan Yu leaves Cao Cao with his two sisters-in-law; lacking a pass from Cao Cao, he fights through five gates — Dongling, Luoyang, Yishui, Xingyang and the Yellow River ford at Huazhou — and kills the six generals who bar his way.

According to Guan Yu’s biography in the Records of the Three Kingdoms, Guan Yu, captured by Cao Cao in 200, repaid him by killing Yuan Shao’s general Yan Liang at Baima, then sealed away every gift, left a letter and returned to Liu Bei in Yuan Shao’s camp. Cao Cao forbade pursuit, saying each man serves his own lord. There are no generals at mountain passes.