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Meng Huo, whose birth and death years are unknown, was a native of Jianning County (now in Qujing City, Yunnan Province) of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period. He was a leader of a minority ethnic group and Chief Censor of Shu Han.

Meng Huo was born into a family called Meng, one of the powerful families in the Nanzhong region. In the late Eastern Han Dynasty, the Nanzhong region was ruled by local powerful families, and the Meng family had great influence in the local area.
Meng Huo himself was elected as the clan leader and was respected by both ethnic minorities and Han people.

After Liu Bei pacified Shu, Meng Huo followed the ethnic minorities in the south to submit to Shu Han. However, in the third year of Zhangwu (223 AD),

After Liu Bei's death, local ethnic minorities rebelled one after another. Meng Huo followed the Yizhou big family Yong Kai to kill Shu Han officials and called on local ethnic minorities to rebel.

In the spring of the third year of Jianxing in the Shu Han Dynasty (225 AD), Zhuge Liang led a large army in three routes to march south to quell the rebellion of ethnic minorities in the Nanzhong region.

Yong Kai was killed, and Meng Huo was elected as the leader to gather the remaining troops of Yong Kai to resist Zhuge Liang's expedition.

Zhuge Liang planned to capture him alive. Meng Huo refused to obey Zhuge Liang, so he was released. Meng Huo organized his troops to fight again. He was captured seven times.
After being released seven times, he finally surrendered to Shu Han. Zhuge Liang appointed Meng Huo as an official, and he later became the Chief Censor of Shu Han.

In the southwest region, stories and legends related to Meng Huo are widely circulated. In some popular works on the Three Kingdoms, Meng Huo is usually portrayed as the "King of the Southern Barbarians".

In Luo Guanzhong's novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Meng Huo appears as a supporting character in Zhuge Liang's story of "Seven Captures and Seven Releases". In the legends of the Yi, Bai, Buyi and other ethnic groups in the southwest,
Meng Huo's image is more multifaceted. He is a hero with divine power, a patron saint who bravely fights against giant pythons, and a cultural hero who invented clothes.

Meng Huo was a native of Jianning County of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period (the capital of which was in present-day Qujing City, Yunnan Province). The Meng surname was one of the most powerful surnames in the Nanzhong region at that time.

At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the various ethnic minorities living in the southern part of the country formed tribes in the form of clans. They organized armies and controlled the power of counties.

The Jianning County Meng clan, to which Meng Huo belonged, had great influence, and Meng Huo himself was elected as the clan leader, enjoying high prestige among the local ethnic minority heroes.

In the 214th year of Jian'an ( AD) during the reign of Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty, Liu Bei pacified Shu and sent General Anyuan Deng Fang to serve as the governor of Zhuti County and the governor of Beijiang.
After Deng Fang's death, Liu Bei appointed Li Hui, a native of Jianning County, to succeed Deng Fang as the governor of Beijiang and govern the Nanzhong region.

In April of the third year of the Zhangwu reign of the Shu Han Dynasty (223 AD), after Liu Bei's death, Gao Dingyuan, the leader of the ethnic minority in Yuexi County (now in southwestern Sichuan), killed Jiao Huang, a Shu Han general stationed in the county.

He led the whole county in rebellion, and Gao Dingyuan proclaimed himself king. At this time, Yong Kai, a prominent family in Yizhou, also killed the governor of Yizhou, Zheng Ang, and raised an army in rebellion;
Zhu Bao, a native of Zhuti County, also raised troops in rebellion in Zangke County (now the central and western parts of Guizhou). At that time, Zhuge Liang, the prime minister of Shu Han, believed that the country had just suffered a great loss after the death of Liu Bei.

It was inconvenient to send troops immediately, so Gong Lu, the governor of Yuexi County, was arranged to be stationed in Anshang County (now Xinshi Town, southwest of Pingshan, Sichuan) to monitor the situation in Yuexi County.

Zhuge Liang asked Li Yan, the Protector General, to write a letter to Yong Kai to explain the interests involved. Unexpectedly, Yong Kai was arrogant and refused to listen to his advice. When the ethnic minorities in Yizhou County learned that Zhuge Liang had sent people to persuade them to surrender,

In order to recruit and appease the local ethnic minorities, Yong Kai sent Meng Huo to persuade them. Meng Huo deceived them.
It means that the government ordered them to hand over 300 black dogs, requiring the hair on the dogs' chests to be all black, and also demanded three buckets of mite brain juice.
As well as 3,000 oak trees, each 30 feet long. Oak trees are very hard, but they are naturally curved and no taller than 20 feet. Therefore, Meng Huo deliberately deceived them, and the local ethnic minorities believed it and followed Yong Kai's orders and participated in the rebellion.

In the spring of the third year of Jianxing in the Shu Han Dynasty (225 AD), Zhuge Liang led his army to march south in three directions. He himself entered Yuexi County (now in southwestern Sichuan) via water.
He also sent General Ma Zhong to attack Zangke County (now the central and western parts of Guizhou), and General Li Hui to attack Yizhou County.

Gao Dingyuan built fortifications in Maoniu, Dingzao and Beishui. Zhuge Liang planned to wait for Gao Dingyuan's troops to gather together.

The army camped on the west bank of Beishui (now the Meigu River northeast of Zhaojue, Sichuan). Gao Dingyuan's subordinates killed Yong Kai and his followers.

Meng Huo was elected to replace Yong Kai as the commander. Zhuge Liang killed Gao Dingyuan, Ma Zhong also conquered Zangke County, and Li Hui defeated the Yi people in Nanzhong.

In May of the same year, Zhuge Liang led his army across the Lu River and marched to Yizhou. Meng Huo gathered the remaining troops of Yong Kai to resist Zhuge Liang.

Meng Huo was highly respected by the local Han people and ethnic minorities, so Zhuge Liang planned to capture him alive.
Meng Huo asked him about his own army. Meng Huo replied that he had not known the strength of the Shu Han army before, which led to his defeat. Now that he knew the deployment of the Shu Han army,

If he was released, he would surely win. Zhuge Liang laughed and agreed to release Meng Huo and reorganize his troops to fight again.

Meng Huo was captured alive seven times and released seven times. Finally, Meng Huo was convinced and willing to surrender, and promised not to lead the southern ethnic minorities in rebellion again.

In July of the same year, Zhuge Liang pacified the Nanzhong region. Before the army set out to return, Zhuge Liang ordered the migration of more than 10,000 families of the big families in the Nanzhong region to Shu.
Some poor people were also assigned to big families such as Jiao, Yong, Lou, Cuan, Meng, Liang, Mao, and Li as their followers.

In addition, Zhuge Liang also selected outstanding people from local ethnic minorities to serve as officials. Meng Huo, Cuan Xi from Jianning County, and Meng Yan from Zhuti County were all given important positions.

Cuan Xi later became the commander of an army, Meng Yan later became the general assisting Han, and Meng Huo later became the chief censor.

The story of Zhuge Liang's seven captures of Meng Huo became widely known because of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, but there is no record of Meng Huo in the official history of the Records of the Three Kingdoms.

Therefore, there are doubts in later generations about whether Meng Huo really existed in history. However, historians generally believe that Meng Huo is a real historical figure.

Although there is no record of this in the "Records of the Three Kingdoms", there is a record of Zhuge Liang's seven captures of Meng Huo in the contemporary historical work "Han Jin Chunqiu".

The later Huayang Guozhi and Shuijing Zhu also have similar records.

The "Meng Xiaoju Stele" from the Han Dynasty unearthed in Zhaotong County, Yunnan Province, records that the Meng surname was one of the two major surnames in Nanzhong in history.

The "Toazheh Merit Stele" collected by the Dafang Shexiang Museum also proves this point. According to the Yi translation, Mengsa on the "Merit Stele" also refers to the Meng family, a famous family in South China.

In the translation of the main text of the "Memorial Tablet", it says: "We participated in the attack on Meng Huo. He wore the crown and robe given by the emperor's family, just like a king." This shows that Meng Huo was not only a real person, but also a very influential figure among the big families in Nanzhong.

There has always been disagreement in the historical community about Meng Huo's ethnicity. Wang Zhong'e said in "History of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties" that Meng Huo was an upper-class member of the southern minority.

Miao Yue's "Selected Annotations to the Records of the Three Kingdoms" states that "Meng Huo was a member of a barbarian tribe." Ma Zhijie's "History of the Three Kingdoms" and Liu Chunfan's "The True Account of Zhuge Liang" both hold this view.

However, Liu Lin's "Huayang Guozhi Annotation", Li Hu's "History of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties", and "General History of China" edited by Bai Shouyi tend to believe that Meng Huo was a Han Chinese.

In his book On the Identity and Ethnicity of Meng Huo, scholar Shao Xianshu based on the records of the Meng surname in Nanzhong in the Huayang Guozhi, as well as unearthed cultural relics of the Meng surname such as the Meng Xiaoju Stele and the Meng Qin Seal, and Zhuge Liang's different policies towards the ethnic minorities and big surnames in Nanzhong before and after the southern expedition.

According to the research, Meng was a Han Chinese surname that had been inhabited for generations in Yizhou County, and Meng Huo was a Han Chinese. In his study of Meng Huo's ethnicity, scholar Pan Minzhong based his research on the Zizhi Tongjian and the Han and Jin Chunqiu records.

Judging from Meng Huo's self-proclaimed "Southerners will never rebel again" and the customs and habits of ethnic minorities in the southwestern border at that time, ethnic minorities would not call themselves "Southerners".
The "Records of the Three Kingdoms·Shu Shu·Biography of Li Hui" confirms that "Southerners" specifically refer to the Han Chinese surnames who lived in the southern counties for a long time.
The Huayang Guozhi records that Meng Huo called himself a "border citizen", and the ancient usage of "people" and "barbarians" in books also confirms that "people" refers to the registered people living in a certain area.
"Yi" refers to ethnic minorities. Based on the above arguments, it can be judged that Meng Huo is a Han Chinese rather than a minority.

The story of Zhuge Liang's "Seven Captures of Meng Huo" was first recorded in the "Huayang Guozhi" written by Chang Qu of the Jin Dynasty. Xi Zaochi also had the same record in "Han Jin Chunqiu".
Later, Pei Songzhi followed this record in his annotations to the Records of the Three Kingdoms and Sima Guang in his Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government.
The reason why Zhuge Liang captured Meng Huo seven times was that "heard that Meng Huo was subdued by the Yi and Han people, so he recruited some people to capture him", but "Huayang Guozhi" records that there were three rebellious forces in Nanzhong at that time: Gao Ding, Yong Kai and Zhu Bao.

Meng Huo was initially only a subordinate of Yong Kai, and only became his master after Yong Kai's death. Although he had a certain influence in Yizhou County in the later period, his influence on other counties was far from enough to be worth Zhuge Liang's time and effort.
According to the "Huayang Guozhi", when Zhuge Liang fought against Gao Ding, he adopted the strategy of combining forces to annihilate the rebels.
It can be seen that Zhuge Liang's southern expedition was aimed at the Central Plains, and he would not spend too much time on the Pingnan Campaign, capturing Meng Huo seven times and releasing him seven times. According to the records in "Shuzhong Guangji" and "Sichuan Tongzhi",

The places where Zhuge Liang captured Meng Huo seven times were all located in Hanjia County of Shu Han (in Lushan County, Sichuan today), but according to the Records of the Three Kingdoms,
The road between this place and Chengdu had been cut off for more than a hundred years, so Zhuge Liang would not have passed through here during his southern expedition. Scholars Sun Jianhua, Wang Baoyu and others believe that
In history, Zhuge Liang did not "capture Meng Huo seven times". This statement was fabricated by later generations.

Temples dedicated to Meng Huo have become very common. For example, Shizhuzi Tuzhu Temple, Qinglong Temple and Wuxian Temple in Xichang City, Sichuan Province all have statues of Meng Huo for worship.

When people worship the Five Gods, there is an image of Meng Huo in the third layer on the left side of the painting scroll, and he is called "the Barbarian King who Sweeps the Altar".

There is an island named after Meng Huo in the center of Ma Lake in Leibo County, Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province. It was named Meng Huo Island by the local Yi people in memory of Meng Huo.

There is also a Hailong Temple on the lake, which was built in the 1589th year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty ( AD). The main hall of the temple is the Meng Huo Hall, where a statue of Meng Huo is enshrined.

Zhuge Liang personally led a large army to the south, mainly to suppress the rebels led by Meng Huo, because Meng Huo was the leader of the Nanzhong region.

However, there has been endless debate as to whether this person existed in history, and no one knows whether he was Han or Yi.

The "Records of the Three Kingdoms" written by Chen Shou mentioned the Nanzhong rebels Yong Kai and Gao Ding, but did not mention Meng Huo.

Even if there was such a person, why did Zhuge Liang want to conquer Meng Huo? In fact, what he wanted to conquer was not a person, but a region and a group of people's hearts.

Nanzhong originally belonged to the jurisdiction of Shu Kingdom. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, four counties were established in most of Yunnan, southern Sichuan and western Guizhou.

Later, they all refused to recognize the Eastern Han regime, and the area was returned to Liu Bei's Shu Han. Liu Bei should have strengthened management and expanded his influence.

However, just three months after he became emperor, he went to settle accounts with the Eastern Wu without hesitation. As a result, he was defeated in Yiling, died, and the Shu army was also severely damaged.

The four southern counties were in chaos. Gao Ding, the leader of the minority ethnic group in Yuexi County, took the opportunity to declare independence and proclaimed himself king. Yong Kai, a local tyrant in Yizhou County, also rebelled.

He killed the governor of Yizhou and attacked Yongchang County, which is now the Baoshan area of ​​Yunnan. When Zhu Bao, the governor of Zangke County, saw this, he also rebelled.

Seeing that the four counties in the south, except Yongchang County, had all broken away from the control of Shu Han, that is to say, the Shu Han regime had no say in this vast area.

Once Yongchang County is lost, it will be difficult to clean up the mess. It is not just a large piece of land, but also the materials produced on this land, which directly affects the economy of Shu Han.

How could Zhuge Liang just sit there and do nothing? While the relationship with Wu had been repaired, Zhuge Liang decided to solve the worries first. So he mobilized troops, prepared food and grass, and sent troops to the south. This year was 225 AD.

Spring is a good omen for going on an expedition. The army was divided into three routes to suppress the rebellion. The Western Route had the heaviest task, as it had to deal with Gao Ding's Yuexi Army and Yong Kai's reinforcements, so Zhuge Liang led it personally.

After leaving Chengdu, the army first took a boat along the Minjiang River to the confluence of three rivers in Yibin, and then went upstream along the Jinsha River.

They turned and entered the Beishui River Valley, which is today's Meigu River. This time they penetrated deep into the hinterland of Yuexi County and directly engaged in a battle with the rebel Gao Ding.

Zhuge Liang was confident and led his army to attack Gao Ding, who was invincible. He then attacked Yong Kai, who lost his head despite his arrogance.

It is said that Yong Kai was originally the governor of Jianning. When Meng Huo started his army in the south, Yong Kai joined forces with Meng Huo to rebel. Zhu Bao, the governor of Zangke, and Gao Ding, the governor of Yuexi, also surrendered their cities to Meng Huo.

Together with Meng Huo, he attacked Yongchang County. Zhuge Liang led his troops to the south and designed to alienate Gao Ding and Yong Kai. Eventually, Yong Kai was killed by Gao Ding's general E Huan.

Anyway, with both leaders gone, Meng Huo led the remaining rebels and fled westward. When he was captured for the first time, Zhuge Liang released him, but he refused to surrender and headed south to regroup his forces. (End of this chapter)