Zuo Ci and Yu Ji

[WarriorWorthAThousand]

Forgive me if this has been done before.

In RoTK, there is a wizard named Zuo Ci. He was said to be able to summon cranes from nowhere, find things that could not be found where he was told to seek, and went for a week without food or drink.

Now, Luo Guanzhong made up a few people in his book (Zhou Cang, I believe, is one example), but most of them were minor characters who did minor jobs. Zuo Ci was obviously made up, but he wasn't minor in my opinion. He angered Cao Cao to the point where he was put to death (though on second thought, Cao Cao threw around executions a lot). He was thought, in the book, to be a cause of Cao Cao's death, having foretold it.

Another magician was named, if I remember correctly, Yi Ji. He was around Wu in the time of Sun Ce. He was the only person Sun Ce put to death I believe. I don't recall exactly what he did to Sun Ce, but he did threaten Sun, I think. He then was put to death, but his ghost kept appearing around Sun, until Sun Ce finally got so angry that his wound burst open and he died.

RoTK is in no way nonfiction (Guan Yu's ghost possessed Lu Meng, for another thing), but why would Guanzhong make up even one magician, let alone two, with that kind of power, unless there was someone real who did something like this? Any thoughts?

[Sun Gongli]

My thoughts, so I can't guarantee accuracy, but:

Zuo Ci - I believe he was a historical character. Of course, I don't believe in mysticism, but apparently, he was widely believed to be one.

Yu Ji - Yu Ji himself was a historical figure; however, he could NOT have been killed by Sun Ce. The reason for this is that, just for him to have lived to see Sun Ce conquer Wu, he would had to have been over two hundred years old. I don't believe the story about Sun Ce and Yu Ji one bit. However, there is a reference to a charlatan claiming to be Yu Ji who may or may not have been killed by Sun Ce, and people being so fooled by the false Yu Ji that they actually believed him, thus causing the fictional encounter to be made into "fact."

[Dong Zhou]

I think someone mentioned Zuo Ci was mentioned in another dynasty but only very short mention

[JamesD]

Yi Ji was said to be the author of the book Zhang Jiao uses during his rebelloin.

[Lexus Fiend]

Yi Ji was said to be the author of the book Zhang Jiao uses during his rebelloin.

The Way of Peace?

[James]

Yi Ji was said to be the author of the book Zhang Jiao uses during his rebelloin.

The Way of Peace?

Zhang Jue received the ‘Way of Peace’ [太平要術] from Chang Tzu (aka. Zhuang Zi, Nan Hua [incorrect], “The Nanhua Immortal”), the famous Taoist sage from the Warring States period of Chinese history. (This all according to the novel.)

[Sun Gongli]

Please, please, it's Yu Ji, not Yi Ji. Yi Ji was an officer of Liu Biao.

[WarriorWorthAThousand]

I realize it was Yu Ji, I realized the mistake when I saw your first post, so sorry.

[Sun Gongli]

I realize it was Yu Ji, I realized the mistake when I saw your first post, so sorry.

Not you. There's other people who still called him Yi Ji.

[JamesD]

I realize it was Yu Ji, I realized the mistake when I saw your first post, so sorry.

Not you. There's other people who still called him Yi Ji.

My fault I saw the title with Yi Ji and just wrote it without thinking.