Zhang Guifang () is a fictional character in the Chinese Ming dynasty novel Investiture of the Gods (Fengshen Yanyi). He is a general of the Shang dynasty and the commander of Qinglong Pass.
Role in the novel
Zhang Guifang is sent by Wen Zhong to lead a Shang army against Xiqi. He commands 100,000 soldiers and is accompanied by Feng Lin (风林), his vanguard commander. Before Zhang's arrival, Huang Feihu warns Jiang Ziya that Zhang is a practitioner of heterodox arts and possesses a technique that can cause an opponent to fall from his horse. Huang explains that Zhang must first learn an opponent's name and then call it during combat. Jiang Ziya warns the Zhou commanders not to give Zhang their names.
Zhang uses the technique, called Name-Calling and Horse-Falling (呼名落马; hūmíng luòmǎ), against Huang Feihu. During their fight, Zhang calls Huang's name and Huang falls from his mount. Zhou Ji then attacks Zhang, but Zhang calls Zhou Ji's name and causes him to fall from his horse. Zhou Ji is captured. Feng Lin also captures Nangong Shi by using black smoke and a pearl. Zhang orders Zhou Ji and Nangong Shi to be placed in prison carts and taken to Chaoge after the fall of Xiqi.
When Zhang calls a person's name, their three souls and seven spirits (三魂七魄) scatter, causing them to fall from their horse. The technique has no effect on Nezha. Zhang calls Nezha's name three times, but Nezha remains on his Wind Fire Wheels. Nezha's body is an incarnation of lotus flowers and therefore does not possess the three souls and seven spirits affected by Zhang's technique.
Nezha then strikes Zhang's left arm with the Qiankun Ring, breaking the bones and forcing him to retreat. Zhang withdraws to Xiqi Mountain and asks the Shang court for reinforcements. Wen Zhong sends the Four Saints of Nine Dragons Island, Wang Mo, Yang Sen, Gao Youqian, and Li Xingba, to assist Zhang. They arrive at Zhang's camp and heal Zhang and Feng Lin.
Feng Lin is killed by Huang Tianxiang, while the Four Saints are defeated. Zhang continues fighting the Zhou forces. Zhang Guifang later fights Huang Tianxiang for thirty rounds before Zhou forces surround him. Chao Tian and Chao Lei call on him to surrender, but Zhang refuses and declares his loyalty to King Zhou.
Zhang fights from morning until midday. He then calls on King Zhou and says that although he cannot complete his service, he will die in fulfillment of his duty. He turns his spear on himself and dies. His soul goes to the Investiture platform.
At the end of the novel, Zhang Guifang is named as the Sangmen Star () in the Investiture roster. His vanguard Feng Lin is named as the Diaoke Star ().
Scholarly analysis
Jiang Yuxiang discusses Zhang Guifang's Name-Calling and Horse-Falling (呼名落; hūmíng luòmǎ) technique as a form of language magic (语言巫术). He compares it with the name-based magic used by the demons of Lotus Flower Cave in Journey to the West and traces the motif to earlier Chinese texts, including the Chu Ci and the Book of Rites.
Li Tianfei discusses Zhang Guifang's appointment as the Sangmen Star in relation to the traditional Chinese system of shen sha (神煞). He describes the stars in the novel's roster as functional stars associated with events in everyday life rather than necessarily astronomical stars. Using Zhang Guifang as an example, Li explains that the Sangmen was associated with an inauspicious event in the family during the year in which a person encountered it.
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