Wei Yan now recalled that Kongming had once ignored his advice, and he smiled as he said, "Had the prime minister listened to me and come straight through Zi-Wu Gorge, Luoyang would have been in our hands by now, not to mention Chang'an. What will we gain by coming out from the Qishan hills? First he tells us to advance, now to stop. His commands make no sense!" Chen Shi said in reply, "I am going to take my five thousand men straight through Winnow Basket Gorge and pitch camp in the hills. We can put the prime minister to shame." Deng Zhi tried his best to prevent Chen Shi, without success. As soon as Chen Shi set out, Deng Zhi reported the move to Kongming.
Chen Shi had advanced no more than a few li, when bombards sounded. Set upon from all sides, he tried to withdraw; but the northern troops had blocked the way back into the gorge, thus sealing him in an iron ring. Chen Shi charged left and thrust right but could not break out. Suddenly fresh shouts shook the ground as a body of troops swept in and rescued Chen Shi. When they regained the safety of the gorge, all that remained of his original force of five thousand were four or five hundred wounded men. Wei troops pursued this remnant at first, but they retreated after being checked by Du Qiong and Zhang Ni. This episode served to convince both Chen Shi and Wei Yan of Kongming's extraordinary foresight; they regretted their impetuosity.
When Deng Zhi next saw Kongming he spoke of the disrespect Chen Shi and Wei Yan had shown, but Kongming merely smiled and said, "It is Wei Yan's nature to revolt against authority. I know it comes from his constant resentments. I employ him because I treasure his courage. But the time will come when he will create trouble for us!" At that moment a courier raced up to report that Chen Shi had returned to the gorge camp with four or five hundred wounded after losing more than four thousand of his troops. Kongming sent Deng Zhi to Winnow Basket Gorge to try and hearten Chen Shi and prevent a mutiny. Kongming also instructed Ma Dai and Wang Ping: "If Wei troops are holding Ye Gorge, I want you two to cross the hills with your own units. Move only by night, and get to the eastern side of the Qishan hills as quickly as possible. Then signal with fire."
Next Kongming instructed Ma Zhong and Zhang Yi: "Take the remoter hill paths. Travel only by night until you come out on the western side of Qishan. Signal by fire and then rendezvous with Ma Dai and Wang Ping to raid Cao Zhen's positions. I will attack from a third side, coming out from the gorge. This is how to defeat the Wei army." The four commanders went to perform their assignments. Finally Kongming summoned Guan Xing and Liao Hua and gave them separate instructions; the two went secretly with their troops to carry them out. Kongming set out with his own elite corps, marching double-time. On the way he imparted further secret orders to Wu Ban and Wu Yi, who went on ahead with their troops.
Cao Zhen, confident that the Riverlands troops would not strike, allowed his soldiers to slacken their defense, believing that after ten days without incident he would have won his bet with Sima Yi. But after seven days he was informed that some western troops were coming out of the gorge. Cao Zhen had Lieutenant Commander Qin Liang take five thousand men to investigate; they were to permit no Shu troops to approach the border.
As Qin Liang brought his force to the gorge, he saw the Riverlands army withdraw. He gave chase some fifty or sixty li but could not locate any western troops. Puzzled, he allowed his men to dismount and rest. Suddenly a scout reported: "Riverlands troops are hidden up ahead." Qin Liang remounted and saw dust rising between the hills. He had hardly given the order to prepare arms, when an earthshaking clamor welled up on all sides: Wu Ban and Wu Yi attacked from the front, Guan Xing and Liao Hua from behind. The hills to Qin Liang's left and right offered no escape route. From the summits Riverlands troops shouted down: "Dismount and surrender—or die!" Most of the Wei soldiers complied. Qin Liang continued fighting until Liao Hua cut him down. With Qin Liang dead, Kongming had the surrendering troops held in the rear guard and their clothing and armor distributed to his own men for disguises. Next, he ordered Guan Xing, Liao Hua, Wu Ban, and Wu Yi to take the company—dressed as Wei troops—directly to Cao Zhen's base camp; a disguised scout was sent ahead with word that the few western troops found in the gorge had been scattered. Cao Zhen was well pleased by the news.
The arrival of Field Marshal Sima's personal representative was then announced, and Cao Zhen called him in for questioning. The man conveyed a message: "Four thousand Riverlands troops were killed in the field marshal's ambush. He wishes you to forget about the wager, General, and to maintain a most vigilant guard." "Why, there is not a single western soldier here!" Cao Zhen answered, and he sent Sima Yi's man back.
Suddenly, a new report: Qin Liang was returning with his troops. Cao Zhen went forth to welcome him. But when he was greeted by torches before and behind, Cao Zhen dashed back to camp, only to find a Riverlands force directed by Guan Xing, Liao Hua, Wu Ban, and Wu Yi advancing on his base, while Ma Dai and Wang Ping—joined by Ma Zhong and Zhang Yi—attacked it from the rear. The Wei soldiers, caught utterly unprepared, escaped each man for himself. The commanders mounted a guard around Cao Zhen and fled east, Riverlands troops in hot pursuit.
Cao Zhen was in full flight when he heard terrific shouts: another band of soldiers stood up ahead, confronting him. His heart was faint until he recognized Sima Yi, who had routed the westerners after a major battle. Thus, Cao Zhen escaped; but where could he hide from his shame? Sima Yi said, "Now that Zhuge Liang has the upper hand in Qishan, we must not remain long. Let's shift our camps to the shore of the River Wei and plan our next move." "Zhongda," Cao Zhen replied, "how did you know such a defeat was in store for me?" "When I was told you had said there was not a single western soldier," Sima Yi answered him, "I knew Kongming would come undetected to raid your base, so I came to reinforce you. Now you've been caught in his trap. Let's have no more talk about our wager but serve our kingdom with united devotion." Cao Zhen despaired; a mood that soon became an illness confined him to his bed. Sima Yi, fearing any further lowering of morale among the troops at the River Wei, did not ask Cao Zhen to resume his command.
Once again Kongming guided the army forth from the Qishan hills in full strength; then he rewarded the troops for their recent efforts. The four commanders, Wei Yan, Chen Shi, Du Qiong, and Zhang Ni, entered Kongming's tent, prostrated themselves, and accepted the blame for the losses to their armies. Kongming asked, "Whose forces were lost?" Wei Yan answered, "Chen Shi ignored orders and went secretly into the gorge; his men were slaughtered." "I was only doing what Wei Yan told me to do," Chen Shi protested. "He saved your skin," Kongming retorted, "yet you would put the blame back on him? An order was disobeyed. There is no need to make arguments!" So saying, Kongming had Chen Shi removed and beheaded. Moments later the head was hung in front of the command tent as a warning to all.3 Rather than kill Wei Yan, however, Kongming spared him so he could use him later.
After the execution Kongming held a formal meeting to discuss the next phase of the campaign.4 An unexpected messenger brought word that Cao Zhen was bedridden and recuperating in his camp. Delighted, Kongming told his commanders, "If it were not serious, Cao Zhen would have pulled back to Chang'an. Since he remains, the illness is grave. He will stay among the troops only to maintain morale. Let me write him a letter, which some of Qin Liang's surrendered soldiers can deliver. If Cao Zhen sees it, it should kill him." Kongming summoned some captured soldiers to his tent and said, "You are all men of Wei. Your parents, wives, and families are all in the north; remaining here in Shu does you little good. What if I were to let you go home?" The soldiers wept freely and prostrated themselves. Kongming went on, "Cao Zhen and I once made an agreement. If you take this letter back to him, he should reward you most generously." The Wei soldiers accepted the letter, hastened back to their camp, and presented it to Cao Zhen.
The Wei general propped himself up, slit the envelope, and read the text:
Zhuge Liang, lord of Wuxiang, prime minister of the Han, transmits this letter to Chief Commanding Officer Cao Zhen: I presume to think that whoever ho
lds command over men must be able to engage and disengage, to show flexibility as well as firmness, to advance and to retreat, to be gentle as well as tough. He must be harder to shake than the very hills, deeper to fathom than the yin and yang that govern nature, enduring as Heaven and earth, inexhaustible as the capital granary, limitless and vast as the four seas, and brilliant as the seven celestial bodies. He must know the weather augured by the stars; he must recognize when terrain is safe; he must understand the timing of military engagements; he must sense the strengths and weaknesses of the enemy.
What a pity for you unlearned epigones who defy the very heavens by helping a rebel-traitor usurp the throne! Now he proclaims himself emperor in Luoyang! We drove your ruined forces from Ye Gorge, and the rains at Chencang caused you great suffering. Frustrated on land and on the rivers, your troops lost all discipline and strewed their weapons and armor outside the city. The field marshals lost their nerve, and their commanders scuttled off in disarray. How will you hold up your heads before the elders in the land within the passes, or bring yourselves to enter the hall of your chief minister?
What historians will record with the brush, the people, multitongued, will spread afar: Sima Yi was watchful and nervous before battle; Cao Zhen fearful and hesitant at the first sign of war. Our western troops are tough, our horses hardy; and our commanders—with the fierce energy of tigers, the mobile power of dragons—will sweep you clear out of the northwest and then go on to purge the kingdom of Wei and leave it a wilderness!
When Cao Zhen finished reading, bitter anger flooded his chest. That evening, still with his troops, he died. Sima Yi had a military carriage transport Cao Zhen's body to Luoyang for a proper burial.
The Wei ruler, on learning of Cao Zhen's death, issued an edict encouraging Sima Yi to do battle with the Riverlands army. The field marshal led his troops to engage Kongming, sending the call to battle one day beforehand. "Cao Zhen must have died," Kongming said to his commanders. He sent the envoy back to Sima Yi with this answer: "Tomorrow we meet in the field." That night Kongming imparted secret plans to Jiang Wei and special instructions to Guan Xing.
The next day Kongming moved all the troops in the Qishan hills down to the banks of the River Wei. Between the hills on one side and the river on the other lay a flat stretch of barren land, a perfect battlefield. As the two forces faced each other, the archers got ready to pin down the flanks of the opposing side. After three rolls of the drums the Wei line opened at its center, and Sima Yi rode forth, his commanders in train.
Seeing Kongming seated erect in his four-wheeled carriage and moving his feather fan back and forth, Sima Yi cried out: "My emperor's legitimacy rests on the model of Shun's election by Yao. Our house, now in its second reign, rules the northern realm securely, tolerating the kingdoms of Shu and Wu because our sovereign's liberal compassion and ample benevolence make him reluctant to bring suffering to the people. You, a mere plowman from Nanyang who knows nothing of the Heavenly-appointed course of events, will meet with the fate you deserve if you insist on pursuing this aggression against our realm. But you and your commanders can still save yourselves if you will reflect and alter your course, withdraw now and let our three separate kingdoms defend their borders in a settled order, thus sparing the common souls of our lands the miseries of war."
Kongming smiled as he answered Sima Yi: "The late Emperor gravely charged me to bend every effort to suppress the traitors. Soon the house of Han will crush the Cao clan. Your grandsire and your sire were vassals of Han; for generations your people made their living from the Han. But you forget the debt you owe and aid the usurper. How ashamed you must be now!" Sima Yi, his face flushed with shame, replied, "Let the two of us decide here and now which is the rooster and which the hen! If you win, I swear to resign as general. If you lose, you must return to your village—under my guarantee of safety, of course."
Kongming said in response: "Do you want to fight with commanders? With troops? Or with orders of battle?" "First with orders of battle!" Sima Yi answered. Kongming said, "Then let me see your array." Sima Yi went into his command tent and took in hand a yellow standard that he waved in the wind. Left and right the troops moved, deploying into line. Sima Yi remounted and rode forth from the position. "Can you name this array?" he demanded. Kongming answered, "Our lowliest commander could do that one—the 'Beginning of Form." ' "Now you display your line," Sima Yi said. Kongming went back among his men, waved his fan, and reemerged in front of his order of battle. "Do you recognize it?" he asked Sima Yi. "That has to be the 'Formation of Eight Hexagrams,'" came the reply. "Entirely correct," Kongming said. "Do you want to try and attack it?" "I know what it is," Sima Yi responded, "so why not?" "Do so!" Kongming dared.
Sima Yi returned to his line and summoned three commanders, Dai Ling, Zhang Hu, and Yue Chen, and told them, "Kongming has deployed his forces in a square with eight gates—Desist, Survive, Injure, Confound, Exhibit, Perish, Surprise, and Liberate. I want you three to attack through the eastern gate, Survive, and fight your way through the western gate, Desist, and then back to the northern gate, Liberate. His formation can be broken, but you must use all due caution." On Sima Yi's order the three commanders proceeded to attack through Survive with a force of thirty cavalry each: Zhang Hu had the lead, Dai Ling the center, Yue Chen the rear. The opposing armies cheered their forces on.
When the three Wei commanders entered the Riverlands formation, they found it a continuous wall which they could not penetrate. The three commanders hurriedly led their men around the base of the formation in an attempt to break out from the southwest, but Riverlands archers checked their advance. The formation was like a maze, with multiple and intersecting lanes, each having its own entrance and exit. Who could tell the four directions any more? The three commanders lost contact and could only hurl themselves wildly along the lanes. But all they saw were brooding clouds that struck fear in their hearts and a dense mist closing in on them. As war cries rose around them, the northern troops were seized and bound one by one and then delivered to the main Riverlands camp.
Kongming was seated in the command tent before which the three Wei commanders and their ninety followers stood captive. "Do not be surprised that I was able to capture all of you," Kongming began. "I will send you back to Sima Yi: tell him to brush up on his military manuals and pay greater heed to tactics. There's still time to decide which of us is the rooster and which the hen! But since I have spared your lives, it is only right that you leave us your weapons and horses." Kongming had the northern soldiers stripped, their faces blackened; then he let them leave the formation on foot.
Sima Yi received them in great anger. Turning to his other commanders, he cried, "With our fighting spirit broken, how can we hold up our heads before the high officials of the north?" So saying, Sima Yi ordered his entire army to fight to the death taking the enemy battle line. Sima Yi, his own sword in hand, led one hundred commanders to incite the men to fight. The moment the two armies joined, a sudden clamor of drums and horns and war cries rose up behind the Wei army as a body of troops came at them from the southwest. Guan Xing was in command.
Sima Yi detached a portion of his rear army to meet him, while urging the main force to press the assault. Suddenly the Wei army went to pieces. Earlier Jiang Wei had led a body of men silently into position: Riverlands soldiers were squeezing the northerners from three sides. Sima Yi panicked and hurriedly withdrew. The surrounding Shu troops closed in for the kill. Sima Yi shifted the entire Wei force south, fighting desperately to break out of the enemy ring; six or seven of every ten men perished. Sima Yi retreated to the southern shore of the River Wei and established his position; he did not emerge again.
At about the same time Kongming was rallying his victorious troops to return to Qishan, Li Yan of the city of Yong'an was sending District Commander Gou An off to deliver a shipment of grain to Kongming. But Gou An, addicted to wine, dallied on the journey, arriving ten days past the deadline. Kongming said angrily, "Grai
n is a vital necessity for an army. Delivery three days late is punishable by death. You are ten. Have you any excuse?" Kongming ordered Gou An removed and executed, but a senior adviser, Yang Yi said, "Gou An is in Li Yan's service. He is responsible for getting money and grain to us from the west. Who will see to delivery after you have killed him?" Kongming ordered the guard to remove Gou An's bonds and after eighty strokes of the staff freed him.
Burning with resentment, Gou An fled to the Wei camp with five or six comrades and surrendered. Called before Sima Yi, he prostrated himself and recounted the incident. "All the same," Sima Yi responded, "knowing Kongming's cunning makes your story difficult to believe. But if you could perform a great service for me, I would recommend you to the Emperor for a high command." "Whatever you require I shall perform without stint," Gou An answered. "Then go back to Chengdu and spread the rumor that Kongming envies his sovereign and seeks the opportunity to declare himself emperor. Getting your ruler to recall Kongming will be a great service."
Gou An consented and returned directly to Chengdu, where he met with a eunuch and started the rumor that Kongming's pride in his achievements would soon lead him to usurp the ruling house. The amazed eunuch went at once to inform the Emperor. The Second Emperor said in astonishment, "If it is so, what shall we do?" The eunuch said, "Have him recalled to Chengdu and reduce his military authority to forestall future revolt." The Second Emperor thereupon issued a decree summoning Kongming back to court.5
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