Xiahou Ba

Chinese
t=夏侯霸
s=夏侯霸

Xiahou Ba (??? – 256~259) was a military general under the Kingdom of Wei who later defected to the Kingdom of Shu during the Three Kingdoms era of China. He was from one of the leading military families at the time, but fled to the Kingdom of Shu due to political instability at the capital Luoyang.

Xiahou Ba's father was the famed Wei general Xiahou Yuan and his mother was a sister-in-law of the dynastic founder Cao Cao. Xiahou Yuan had fought alongside Cao Cao since the start of the civil wars and was one of the most trusted of Cao's lieutenants. There is some suggestion that he may have been a blood relative of Cao Cao. After Xiahou Yuan was killed at Battle of Mount Dingjun in 219 AD, most of his troops were placed under the command of his five sons.

In 220, Xiahou Yuan's eldest son Xiahou Heng was given his own fiefdom, so Xiahou Ba - being the second son - succeeded to his father's hereditary title with a stipend of tax revenues from eight hundred households. In the 240s he became General of the Right and Marquis of Bochangting and was a known associate of Cao Shuang. After a coup d'etat by Sima Yi against Cao Shuang, Xiahou Ba fled to the rival Kingdom of Shu, and became a Shu general because one of his sisters had been married to the famed Shu general, Zhang Fei. In addition, Liu Shan, the second and the final emperor of Shu, married with Zhang Fei's daughter and called his son "Nephew of Xiahou Family". Xiahou Ba was promoted to General of Chariots and Cavalry under the Shu Kingdom. The imperial court of Wei pardoned Xiahou Ba's sons on account of Xiahou Yuan's role in the founding of the empire. Instead they were exiled to Lelang, in present day North Korea.

According to the "Records of Three Kingdoms", Xiahou Ba succeeded Deng Zhi as the General of Chariots and Cavalry after his death in 251, and Zizhi Tongjian noted he was alive in 255. Records of Three Kingdoms noted Xiahou Ba was not alive in 259, when Liao Hua and Zhang Yi were described as Xiahou Ba's successors.

ee also

*History of China
*Han dynasty
*"Records of Three Kingdoms"
*"Romance of the Three Kingdoms"