Wang Ping ( Three Kingdoms ) Wang Ping ( died 248 ) , Zijun ( 子均 ) , was an officer under Cao Cao who later defected to Liu Bei , and served as a general under Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms era of Chinese history . Service under Cao Cao . Wang Ping was born in Dangqu , Baxi ( present - day Qu County , Sichuan ) . He was surnamed He ( 何 ) because he was raised by He clan , from which his mother originated . He Ping presumably changed his surname back to Wang during his later years ( historic records show a discrepancy on how he was called , so it is also possible that he had his surname changed posthumously ) . He began his career by serving Du Huo ( 杜濩 ) , and was made an acting colonel when he followed his supervisor to visit the imperial court . When Du Huo joined Cao Cao in a campaign to wrestle control over the area of Hanzhong with Shu region warlord , Liu Bei , Wang served the expedition force . When they arrived the battlefield , Liu Bei refused to give battle , burdening Cao Cao forces with logistical difficulty . Many of Cao Cao ' s soldiers started deserting , joining the other side who could provide food and shelter . Wang Ping was one of those surrendered to Liu Bei . Service under Shu . As a reward for his defection , Wang Ping was given the rank of Major - General . Wang Ping went on to work in Liu Bei ’ s military , but his accomplishments were far and between during his first 10 years of service . In 228 , a critical event to Wang Pang ' s life happened when he fought under Ma Su , an inexperienced vanguard , during the Battle of Jieting . As an assistant to the young Ma Su , Wang Ping advised against abandoning the water sources and encamping atop a mountain . Ma Su rejected the advice , but gave a detachment to camp where Wang Ping saw fit . Indeed , the Shu - Han van was defeated by the Cao - Wei general Zhang He when the latter cut off Shu ' s water supply . Observing Ma Su ' s dire situation , Wang Ping and his unit of 1000 soldiers near the mountain foot rolled their drums loudly to alarm a defense . Zhang He probably mistook the enemy as giving out a signal for ambushing units , so he did not attack Wang Pang ' s direction . Thus , Wang Ping was able to regroup the defeated forces and regather supplies scattered everywhere . In the aftermath of the fiasco , Ma Su was executed but Wang Ping was greatly promoted . In 231 , Shu - Han ' s Chancellor and regent , Zhuge Liang , launched his fourth northern expedition , encumbering Wang Ping with greater responsibility . He was ordered by the Chancellor to guard the hill south to Lucheng ( 鹵城 , Lu Fortress ) . When the fastness was being attacked by the enemy main force , Wang Ping ' s garrison was attacked by a contingent led by Zhang He , but the defenders were able to repel the aggressors . After Zhuge Liang ' s death in 234 , Wang Pang received credit for his effort on quelling the " rebellion " of Wei Yan , and was promoted as a Governor , under supervision of Wu Yi . Wang Ping later replaced Wu Yi as the Area Commander of Hanzhong region , and received a title of Marquis Stabilizing Han . In 244 , the Wei regent Cao Shuang led sixty to seventy thousand soldiers to attack Hanzhong . Wang Ping ' s forces were intimidated by the Wei regent ' s boost of over one hundred thousand troops . Generals under Wang Ping urged him to vacate the area for a more concentrated defense in the rear . However , general Liu Min insisted on following arrangements of the dead Wei Yan to resist the invaders on the outskirt . Wang Ping agreed with Liu Min ' s view , and they moved the troops to Xingshi , where the army occupied a mountain . Wang Ping only had 30 , 000 men at the time , but his strength was not known by the enemy . Liu Min then erected a flow of flags and streamers across the hill . Therefore , both sides perceived the other party larger than their actual sizes , and hesitated to engage in combat . While Cao Shuang was vacillating between a decisive attack and a general retreat , forces led by Fei Yi finally arrived , effectively forcing the latter choice onto the Wei regent . Appraisal and death . Wang Ping came from a lower origin , and spent most of his life in the military . In terms of literature , he could not write a single word , and all he could read were no more than ten words . When he needed to make reports , he would ask his clerk to do the paperwork . In fear others might deride his education level , Wang Ping would excuse that he was there to fight , not to write . However , Wang Ping loved to listen to stories , and he was talented to give orations . Wang Ping was a straight disciplinarian , who never made a joke . Besides giving orations , Wang Ping seldom used his mouth , and he would just sit from morning till dusk , and then slept . Trifles of Wang Ping ( the northern commander ) was comparable to that of Deng Zhi of the east and Ma Zhong of the south . General Wang finally died in 248 , leaving his son Wang Xun as heir . In fiction . In Luo Guanzhong ' s historical novel " Romance of the Three Kingdoms " , Wang Ping was given a fictionalized and more prominent role in the Hanzhong Campaign , opposing Xu Huang ' s tactics and defecting . Xu Huang wanted his army to cross the Han river and battle Liu Bei ' s forces on the other side . Wang warned that it would be impossible to retreat once they cross the river , as the river would significantly slow down the retreat and will be vulnerable to enemy fire . Xu claimed that the soldiers will fight to the death and have no need to retreat if they are in a dire situation ( in conjunction with the tactic by legendary Western Han general Han Xin , where he purposely placed his army near a river in order to unleash their full potential ) . Wang then claimed that Han only used that tactic because the opposition had no strategist to see through it , but Liu ' s army had the support of Zhuge Liang , who would be able to easily see through this tactic . Xu refused to listen and , as expected , suffered great defeat . He asked why Wang didn ' t come to his rescue , and Wang replied , " if I come to rescue you with my portion of the army , then our main camp would have no protection ; I warned you multiple times against crossing the river , but you did not listen , which resulted in this defeat . " Xu was greatly angered by this and planned to kill Wang that night , however the plan was leaked out and Wang set the camp on fire and defected to Shu . Right before Zhuge Liang died , he named Wang Ping , along with Liao Hua , Ma Dai , Zhang Ni and Zhang Yi , as the loyal generals of Shu who should be retained .