Kongming took personal command of a force to enter the Riverlands. He placed ten thousand picked troops under Zhang Fei, ordering him to cut through west of Bazhou and Luoxian, and offering top prizes for those who arrived first. Then he dispatched another body of men, with Zhao Zilong in the van, to follow up the Great River and meet the first group at Luoxian. Kongming himself was to follow with Jian Yong and, in the capacity of secretary, Jiang Wan (Gongyan), a noted scholar of the Jingzhou capital, originally from Xiangxiang in Lingling.
Kongming himself had fifteen thousand men. He set out the same day as Zhang Fei. Before departure Kongming said to Fei, "The Riverlands has many mighty warriors to be reckoned with. Along the way your men must observe strict discipline; looting will alienate the common people. We must show compassion everywhere; and toward our own men we must not indulge in brutality—no whipping or flogging them. I trust you will reach Luoxian quickly, General. Do not fail us."
Zhang Fei eagerly accepted his command and set out. He met no opposition; no one surrendering to him was harmed. But when he reached Bazhou by the Hanzhong-Riverlands route, a spy reported that the governor of Bajun, Yan Yan, was refusing to surrender. Yan Yan, one of the Riverlands' most famous generals, had all his powers despite his advanced years. He could draw a heavy bow, wield a big sword; and he had the courage to confront ten thousand. Zhang Fei ordered camp pitched ten li from the city. He then sent a man into Bazhou to "tell the old fool to hurry up and surrender and spare his people, or I'll flatten the city and kill all within."
It happended that Yan Yan had been strongly opposed to inviting Xuande into the Riverlands. When told that Liu Zhang had authorized Fa Zheng to extend the invitation, he beat his breast and sighed, "A case of calling a tiger to guard someone alone in the hills." Later, told that Xuande had seized Fu Pass, he restrained his wish to attack the pass only for fear of a counterattack on his city. Now he was determined to stand against Zhang Fei with five or six thousand warriors.
Someone offered Yan a piece of advice: "At Steepslope Bridge in Dangyang, Zhang Fei drove back Cao Cao's mighty host of one million with a single shout. Cao Cao himself sensed Fei's strength and backed off. Do not rush to engage him. For now, it is best to dig in and defend tenaciously. They have no grain and will have to retreat within a month. Then, too, Zhang Fei has an explosive temper and makes a point of flogging his men. If we refuse battle, he will be piqued and will be sure to maltreat his soldiers in some fit of temper. When his soldiers revolt, we can strike and capture Zhang Fei." Yan Yan accepted this advice and ordered his entire force to defend the walls. At this point Zhang Fei's emissary arrived and was admitted. The soldier identified himself and delivered his message bluntly. Enraged, Yan Yan swore at him: "Lout! Barbarian! Will General Yan ever submit to traitors? Tell him that!" He had the man's ears and nose cut off and sent him back.
Zhang Fei listened to his envoy's bitter recitation of Yan Yan's insults. Gnashing his teeth and opening his eyes wide, Zhang Fei donned full armor and led several hundred riders to the walls of Bazhou to provoke the defenders to battle. But they threw every manner of epithet back down at him. Temper flaring, Zhang Fei fought to the drawbridge several times and would have crossed the moat, but volleys of arrows drove him back. By nightfall, however, not a man had emerged, and Zhang Fei returned to camp swallowing his rage.
At dawn Zhang Fei returned. From the observation tower Yan Yan shot a bolt through Fei's helmet. Fei pointed up and cried wrathfully, "If I catch you, old fool, I'll feed on your flesh!" Evening fell, and Zhang Fei went back to camp again without having fought. The third day, followed by his company, Zhang Fei circled the wall, reviling Yan Yan. It so happened that Bazhou, a hill town, was itself surrounded by groups of hills. Zhang Fei looked down from one of them into the city and saw the soldiers all readied in their armor and arrayed in ranks but keeping hidden behind the walls, determined to stay in their hold. He also watched the common folk moving back and forth transporting bricks and stones for the city's defense. Fei ordered his horse soldiers to dismount and his foot soldiers to sit down, hoping to draw the defenders out—but to no avail. After a futile day of full-throated curses, Zhang Fei went back to camp as he had before.
Zhang Fei mused: "I bellow at their wall all day long, but no one comes out. What can I do?" A solution struck him: keep the main body of troops standing by fully armed in camp and send only a few dozen warriors to the wall to draw out Yan Yan's men. But three days of such sallies by these common soldiers failed to draw forth a single fighter, and so Zhang Fei revised his strategy: he had his men fan out to chop firewood and explore the roads around the city without challenging the enemy to battle.
Wondering what Zhang Fei was up to, Yan Yan had a dozen men, disguised as Zhang Fei's woodcutters, slip out of the city to mingle with the enemy troops and find out what was going on in the hills. Back at his camp Zhang Fei sat amid his men stamping his feet. "That damned old fool will drive me mad!" he cried. A few men by the entrance to his tent were then heard saying to him, "General, why distress yourself? We have discovered a path that will take us past Bazhou unobserved." Zhang Fei deliberately shouted loudly enough to be heard, "Why did you wait till now to tell me this?" "We just found out," they replied together. "We must act at once," Zhang Fei declared. "Mess today at the second watch; break camp at the third when the moon is bright. Gag the men and strip the horses of bells for the march. I will go ahead and clear the way. You all follow in order." Zhang Fei's command was circulated throughout the camp.
Once these plans were known to Yan Yan's spies, they returned to Bazhou. The news pleased Yan Yan, who said, "I figured you couldn't control yourself, you damned fool. Sneaking over that road with your grain and supplies in the rear! When I intercept you from behind, how will you feed your men? Brainless idiot! I'll have you now!" Yan Yan ordered the army to prepare for battle: "Mess for us, too, at the second watch. At the third we leave the walls and hide where the trees grow thickest. Wait for Zhang Fei to come through the neck of this little road. When their wagons pass, hit them hard at the roll of the drum."
Night fell soon after the order was issued. Yan Yan's army, fed and well appointed, left Bazhou silently and spread out into an ambush, awaiting the signal to strike. Yan Yan himself entered a nearby thicket with a dozen lieutenants. Some time after the third watch he spotted Zhang Fei marching on, spear leveled for action, his warriors behind him, silent; three or four li further behind came the wagon guard—in plain view of Yan Yan. From all sides the ambushers emerged and were about to fall upon the wagon guard, when a gong rang out and a body of warriors overwhelmed the ambushers. "Stay where you are, you old scab!" a voice boomed. "This is a timely meeting." Turning swiftly, Yan Yan saw a powerful general—a pantherine head and wide-staring eyes, swallow-like jaw and a tiger's whiskers—wielding a ten-span spear and riding a deep black horse. It was Zhang Fei!
Gongs shattered the air as Zhang Fei's men came in for the kill. Seeing Zhang Fei, Yan Yan felt his skill depart him. After a few bouts on horseback Zhang Fei feigned a fall and allowed his foe an opening. Yan Yan swung hard. Fei ducked, then charged, grabbed Yan Yan's armor straps, pulled him over, and flung him to the ground; Fei's men bound him tightly. Actually, the first man on the path had been made to look like Zhang Fei. The real Zhang Fei had gongs rung ahead of the anticipated drums. That signaled his own onslaught, which caused the bulk of the Riverlands troops to throw down their arms and surrender.
Zhang Fei reached the wall of Bazhou in heavy fighting after his support troops had already entered the city. He ordered an amnesty and guaranteed the population's safety. His warriors pushed Yan Yan forward into the main hall where Zhang Fei sat, but Yan Yan refused to kneel. Through clenched teeth Fei shouted, "Why did you refuse to surrender to this general? How dare you continue to resist?" Without a trace of fear on his face, Yan Yan shouted back, "No man of honor in this bunch! Invading our province— you can have a headless general, but never a surrendering one." Zhang Fei angrily ca
lled for his executioners. "Viliam and fool!" cried Yan Yan. "Take the head! Why waste anger?"
Yan Yan's strong, dignified voice and unflinching expression caused Zhang Fei to alter his mien. Coming down from his seat and waving off his attendants, he removed Yan Yan's bonds, gave him suitable clothes, and guided him to the central seat of honor. Then, inclining his head, he bowed, saying, " Just now I spoke harshly. Please take no offense.
I have always known you for a noble warrior. " Grateful for this demonstration of high-minded generosity, Yan Yan fell to his knees. A poet of later times wrote of the general:
This grand, grey man of Riverlands,
Whose spotless name the whole realm knows,
Proved constant as the bright and lofty moon;
Within the jiang his mighty spirit rolls.
He'd part with his head but would not give
His knee in base subjection curled.
Age-honored general of Bazhou,
Who can find his equal in this world?
Another poem, praising Zhang Fei, reads:
Bravest of all for taking Yan Yan alive,
Valiant Zhang Fei won the hearts of all.
Today in western shrines his image we revere,
Where services keep springtime round the year.6
Zhang Fei asked Yan Yan the best way to enter the Riverlands. "A defeated general," Yan Yan replied, "indebted for such generosity, will toil like a beast of burden to requite his benefactor. The capital at Chengdu can be reached without resort to bow and arrow." Indeed:
Because this general gave himself to Zhang Fei heart and soul,
A string of cities would pass into Xuande's hands.
What plan had Yan Yan to offer Zhang Fei?
Read on.
64
Kongming Sets a Scheme to Capture Zhang Ren;
Yang Fu Borrows Troops to Vanquish Ma Chao
In answer to Zhang Fei, Yan Yan said, "From here to Luoxian my men hold all the strongpoints, and they will do what I tell them. Allow me to lead the march to repay your kindness. The pass guards will surrender at my call." Zhang Fei thanked him from the bottom of his heart. Yan Yan went forth, followed by Zhang Fei, and the defenders indeed delivered each strongpoint to him. To win over those who hesitated, he said, "If I have surrendered, why not you?" In this way he advanced unopposed.
Kongming had already informed Xuande of his intended departure date, designating Luoxian as the meeting place. In council with his advisers, Xuande said, "Kongming and Zhang Fei are taking separate routes into the Riverlands. We are to join them at Luoxian and proceed to Chengdu together. Their chariots and boats set out on the twentieth of the seventh month and should be arriving shortly. We can begin to march."
"We have steadily refused Zhang Ren's challenges," Huang Zhong said. "Their troops are getting lax, lowering their guard. If we send a company out to sack their camp tonight, it will be even better than a daylight rout." Xuande approved the plan and sent Huang Zhong to the left, Wei Yan to the right; he himself took the center. At the second watch the three forces set out together. In fact, Zhang Ren was utterly unprepared. The Han troops surged into the main fortification, setting fires that quickly mounted high. That night the Riverlands troops fled back to Luoxian where they found refuge. Xuande withdrew and camped on the road. The following day he advanced, encircled the city, and attacked it. Zhang Ren kept to his walls. On the fourth day Xuande personally led an attack on the west gate while Huang Zhong and Wei Yan went against the east; they left the north and south gates open to traffic. Xuande did not bother to guard the south gate, which led into mountainous roads, nor the north, which gave onto the River Fu.
In the distance Zhang Ren watched Xuande at the west gate to the city, riding back and forth, directing the assault through the morning hours. Observing that Xuande's forces were tiring, Zhang Ren ordered Wu Lan and Lei Tong to lead their men out of the north gate and swing over to the east, there to confront Huang Zhong and Wei Yan. Zhang Ren himself came out of the south gate and swung west to take on Xuande alone. Within the city soldiers and dwellers mounted the walls to beat drums and shout encouragement.
As the sun reddened in the western sky, Xuande ordered his rear contingent to pull back first. His troops were trying to turn when a great shout rose from the wall: Zhang Ren had charged out of the south gate and was heading straight for Xuande. Xuande's forces were becoming disorganized, and Wu Lan and Lei Tong had checked Xuande's two generals, Huang Zhong and Wei Yan. Cut off from their help, Xuande fell back and fled along a narrow mountain trail; Zhang Ren was close behind. Alone, Xuande raced ahead, Zhang Ren and a few horsemen giving chase. Riding straight ahead, Xuande laid on the whip. Suddenly a body of soldiers burst into view. "An ambush!" Xuande cried bitterly. "I'm trapped. Heaven has doomed me." Then he realized that the leader of the force ahead was Zhang Fei.1
Zhang Fei and Yan Yan had been coming along that very road when they spotted dust in the distance, a sure sign of a battle in progress. Zhang Fei hurried forward and clashed with Zhang Ren. After ten bouts Yan Yan arrived in force, and Zhang Ren fled. Zhang Fei chased him to the city wall, but Zhang Ren passed through the gate to the city and hauled up the drawbridge.
Zhang Fei rode back to Xuande. "The director general is still making his way upriver," he reported. "It looks like I won the race." "The roads are so treacherous," Xuande responded, "and you must have met opposition. How could you come so far so fast?" "There were forty-five strongpoints, but Yan Yan, the veteran commander, gets the credit for taking us through without difficulty," Zhang Fei said and explained how he had won Yan Yan's allegiance by freeing him. He then introduced Yan Yan. "But for you, General, my brother could not have made it," Xuande said gratefully as he removed his gilded armor and gave it to Yan Yan. Yan Yan prostrated himself before Xuande. As they were arranging a banquet, a scout rode back and reported: "Huang Zhong and Wei Yan are locked in combat with two Riverlands commanders, Wu Lan and Lei Tong. When Wu Yi and Liu Gui came out to aid the enemy, our forces could not fight off the combined attack. Huang Zhong and Wei Yan have fled east in defeat."
On hearing this, Zhang Fei requested that Xuande divide his field army into two forces to relieve Huang Zhong and Wei Yan. Fei led one force and Xuande the other as they charged to the rescue. Wu Yi and Liu Gui, hearing the tumult to their rear, retreated into the city in confusion; Xuande and Zhang Fei then intercepted Wu Lan and Lei Tong, who were closing in on Huang Zhong and Wei Yan. The latter two turned on their pursuers, catching them in the middle. Wu Lan and Lei Tong offered their surrender, which Xuande accepted. He then camped near the city.
Zhang Ren was sorely distressed by the loss of the two commanders. "The military situation is extreme," said Wu Yi and Liu Gui. "Without a fight to the death, we'll never repel them. We should report the emergency to Lord Liu Zhang in Chengdu while we think of a way to hold them in check." Zhang Ren advanced a proposal: "Tomorrow I shall challenge them to battle, feign defeat, and lead them around north of the city. At the right moment, rush out with a company and intersect their army. Victory can be won!" Wu Yi responded, "Let Liu Gui support our lord's young Master Liu Xun in the defense of the city. I shall conduct the attack at the north wall." And so it was decided.
The next day Zhang Ren led several thousand out of the city. Waving their pennants and shouting raucously, they taunted the army of Xuande. Zhang Fei rode out to confront them and without sparing a word engaged Zhang Ren. After ten clashes Ren feigned defeat and fled along the city wall. As Zhang Fei came after Ren at top speed, Wu Yi struck at the appointed moment and Zhang Ren turned his company rearward, thu trapping Zhang Fei between them. In despair, Zhang Fei spotted a company fighting its way up from the edge of the River Fu, a general at its head. Spear high, horse in full career, the general crossed points with Wu Yi. Within moments he had taken Wu Yi alive, thrown back the enemy troops, and plucked Zhang Fei from their midst. The warrior was Zhao Zilong. "Where is the director general?" asked Fei. "He has already arriv
ed," Zilong answered. "He must be with Lord Liu by now." The two brought Wu Yi back to camp, and Zhang Ren retreated into the east gate.
On their return Zhang Fei and Zhao Zilong found that Kongming, Jian Yong, and Jiang Wan were already gathered in Xuande's tent. Fei dismounted and came to see the director general. "How did you get here before me?" asked Kongming in astonishment. Xuande related how Yan Yan had been released under obligation and had aided the march. "General Zhang certainly knows his strategy," commented Kongming as he congratulated Fei. "This is a boundless blessing for Your Lordship." Next, Zilong delivered Wu Yi to Xuande. "Will you submit?" Xuande asked. "How can I refuse? I've been taken alive," Wu Yi replied. Delighted, Xuande personally undid the prisoner's bonds.
Kongming asked Wu Yi, "How many men are inside guarding the city?" "There is Liu Xun, son of Inspector Liu Zhang, and two supporting commanders, Liu Gui and Zhang Ren. The former is no problem, but Zhang Ren is from Shu district and has great courage. Do not risk confrontation with him lightly." "We'll have to capture Zhang Ren before we can take Luoxian," Kongming said. "What bridge stands east of the city?" "Gold Goose Bridge," Wu Yi answered. Kongming rode directly to the spot to survey the river. On returning, he summoned Huang Zhong and Wei Yan and commanded them, "Along the river, five or six li south of Gold Goose Bridge, both banks are thick with reeds and rushes—a perfect place for an ambush. I want Wei Yan to hide a thousand spearmen on the left—they will stab at the commanders on horseback—and Huang Zhong to hide a thousand swordsmen on the right—they will cut down their mounts. Once their force is dispersed, Zhang Ren will have to come out by the small road east of the hills. That's where I want Zhang Fei with a thousand men in hiding—they will take him alive." Last, he ordered Zhao Zilong to wait at the north end of the bridge: "Destroy it as soon as I get Ren to cross. Then deploy your men north of the bridge to prevent his flight to the north. When he moves south, I'll have him!" His directions given, the director general went himself to draw the enemy out.
Three Kingdoms Page 83