As an active manipulative behavior, the intentional mistranslation seems a purposeful violation upon the SL by a translator in the light of his/ her goals and various subjective or objective qualifications. With its focus on Moss Roberts translation strategies in the English rendition of Three Kingdoms： A Historical Novel, this paper attempts firstly to explore different forms of intentional mistranslation with a view to probing how Moss Roberts accomplishes the comprehensive and strategic work of adjusting and balancing in his translation according to the specific historical background, religion, readers’ reception, poetic aesthetics and translation targets. By digging into the deviations going unnoticed in Roberts’ translation long credited as the epitome of faithfulness and academic rigor, the paper also tries to reveal the cultural-blockage and gap in the exchanges between Chinese and English. With all these being closely examined, the paper is expected to be a source of inspiration for the translation of Chinese literature as a whole.