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Red Hare

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Traditional Chinese
  
赤兔馬

Hanyu Pinyin
  
chì tù mǎ

Simplified Chinese
  
赤兔马


Red hare silverfish


The Red Hare was a horse owned by the warlord Lü Bu, who lived in the late Eastern Han dynasty.

Contents

Red Hare Lu Bu The Betrayer

Dynasty warriors 8 mounts red hare shadow runner hex mark htg


In historical records

The Red hare was mentioned in Lü Bu's biographies in the historical texts Records of the Three Kingdoms and Book of the Later Han. It was described as very powerful, and capable of "galloping across cities and leaping over moats". Lü Bu rode this horse in 193 during a battle in Changshan (常山; around present-day Shijiazhuang, Hebei), in which he helped another warlord Yuan Shao defeat his rival Zhang Yan.

The Cao Man Zhuan (曹瞞傳) recorded that there was a saying at the time to describe Lü Bu and his Red Hare: "Lü Bu [who stands out] among men, the Red Hare [who stands out] among horses".

In Romance of the Three Kingdoms

The Red Hare has a more prominent role in the 14th-century historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which romanticised the historical events before and during the Three Kingdoms period. It was originally a prized steed of the warlord Dong Zhuo. After heeding a suggestion by his adviser Li Su, Dong Zhuo sent Li Su to present the Red Hare as a gift to Lü Bu and induce Lü Bu to betray his foster father, Ding Yuan, and defect to his side. Lü Bu was very pleased to receive the Red Hare. After being persuaded by Li Su, he murdered Ding Yuan and defected to Dong Zhuo, whom he acknowledged as his new foster father.

The Red Hare was described in the novel as follows:

[...] named 'Red Hare', capable of travelling 1,000 li in a day (this equates to 417 km/333 miles). [...] crosses rivers and climbs mountains as though it is moving on flat land, [...] It is of uniform ashen red, with not a hair of another colour; it measures one zhang from head to tail and eight chi from hoof to head; it neighs as if it has the ambition of soaring into the sky or diving into the sea.

After Lü Bu's downfall and death at the Battle of Xiapi, the Red Hare came into the possession of the warlord Cao Cao. Cao Cao gave it to Guan Yu later in an attempt to influence Guan to join him. After Guan Yu's death, the Red Horse was taken by Ma Zhong, who then presented it to his lord Sun Quan. Sun Quan returned the horse to Ma Zhong. The Red Hare starved itself and died several days later.

References

Red Hare Wikipedia


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