King Duosi

Here is the exhaustive biography of King Duosi (朵思大王), also called Duosi Dawang (? – 225), the fictional lord of Tulong Cave and “Sage of the Nanman,” incorporating the narrative of Romance of the Three Kingdoms. He has no historical existence.

Historical Status

King Duosi does not appear in any historical source. Like Jinhuan Sanjie, Dongtuna, Ahuinan, King Mulu and Wutugu, he is a pure invention of Luo Guanzhong’s novel, created to furnish colourful obstacles for Zhuge Liang’s southern campaign of 225.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms Portrayal

Chapter 89 – The Four Poisonous Springs: After Meng Huo’s fourth capture and release, his younger brother Meng You recommends taking refuge with King Duosi, lord of Tulong Cave and a close personal friend. Duosi welcomes the brothers and boasts that the terrain around his cave will destroy any invading army. He describes four deadly springs:

• Mute Spring – sweet water that robs the drinker of speech and kills within days;
• Extinction Spring – water that dissolves flesh on contact;
• Black Spring – water that turns the body black and causes death;
• Soft Spring – icy water that leaves the body limp and lifeless.

He also warns of poisonous snakes, scorpions and evening miasma on the northwest path. Confident that Zhuge Liang’s army will perish, Duosi and Meng Huo feast. Yet the Shu forces, guided by local knowledge (and in some accounts aided by Meng Jie), pass the springs unharmed. Duosi, watching from a height, exclaims that the troops must be supernatural. That same night the defected chieftain Yang Feng captures both Meng Huo and Duosi while they are drunk; Zhuge Liang releases them.

Chapter 90 – Defence and Death at Sanjiang: Meng Huo orders Duosi to hold the strategic fortress of Sanjiang City as a forward shield. When Wei Yan and Zhao Yun attack, Duosi’s men rain down poisoned crossbow bolts that cause flesh to rot. The Shu army is temporarily checked. Zhuge Liang then has his troops pile earth into a ramp against the walls under cover of night. At a signal the ramp is scaled; the city falls in the ensuing melee and King Duosi is killed in the confusion. His death removes one of the last major Nanman strongpoints before Meng Huo’s final submission.

Family, Friends and Enemies

Family: None recorded (fictional character). No wife, children or other relatives are named.

Friends / colleagues: Close friend of Meng You; host and ally of Meng Huo; fellow Nanman commanders of the southern campaign.

Principal adversaries: Zhuge Liang (overall strategist), Wei Yan and Zhao Yun (attackers of Sanjiang), Yang Feng (the defector who captured him while drunk).

King Duosi (朵思大王) — Literary Timeline

Historical Note

King Duosi is a pure novelistic invention. No contemporary or near-contemporary source mentions a Nanman lord of Tulong Cave or any “Sage of the Nanman.” The four poisonous springs, the poisoned crossbow defence of Sanjiang, and his death in the melee are all literary devices designed to prolong and colour Zhuge Liang’s southern campaign. In both the novel and later popular culture he is remembered chiefly as the wise but ultimately unsuccessful host who tried to stop the Shu army with nature’s own poisons.