Three Kingdoms

by Luo Guanzhong (Moss Roberts trans. )

  Ding Feng, leading his boats in a string on the river, said to his lieutenant, "This is the day for men of courage to make a name, to win wealth and honor!" He ordered his men to remove their armor and helmets, leave their spears behind, and retain only their short daggers. The Wei soldiers laughed at the sight and made no move to defend themselves. Suddenly the report of three bombards rang out. Ding Feng drew his sword and raced ahead, leaping onto the shore. His men followed, daggers bared, and fell upon the Wei camp before the soldiers there could mobilize to defend it. In front of his tent Han Zong strove to meet the attack with his halberd, but Ding Feng seized him and felled him with one stroke of his sword. Huan Jia then swung in from the left and tried to spear Ding Feng, but Feng took hold of the shaft; Huan Jia left his weapon and fled. Ding Feng hurled his sword, striking Huan Jia's left shoulder. Huan Jia turned and fell, and Ding Feng overtook him and stabbed him to death. The three thousand Southland marines wreaked havoc in the Wei camp. Hu Zun fled on horseback by the nearest route. The bulk of the Wei troops scrambled onto the floating bridge, but it gave way and most of them drowned in the river. Numbers more fell in the snow and perished. The Southland reaped a harvest of wagons, horses, and weapons. When Sima Zhao, Wang Chang, and Guanqiu Jian learned of the debacle at Dongxing, they retreated.

  Zhuge Ke, arriving at Dongxing with his force, reassembled the companies and rewarded the troops. Then he addressed the commanders: "Sima Zhao has returned north in defeat. It is time for an advance on the heartland." He sent an envoy to the Riverlands to solicit Jiang Wei's cooperation in a joint attack on the north, promising to divide the conquered realm with the west. At the same time he mobilized two hundred thousand men for the invasion.

  On the eve of departure Zhuge Ke noticed a whitish trail of vapor emanating from the ground, blanking out the road his armies were to take. Jiang Yan said, "This vapor is a white rainbow, and it signifies the loss of troops. Imperial Guardian, you should return to court. You should not attack Wei." Zhuge Ke said angrily, "How dare you speak of ill omens and lower the men's fighting spirit?" and he ordered the guards to execute Jiang Yan. The many appeals in Jiang Yan's behalf, however, persuaded Zhuge Ke simply to demote the offender to commoner status. He then urged his soldiers to advance.

  Ding Feng said, "Xincheng guards the main avenue into Wei. If we take it, Sima Shi will lose all will to fight." Zhuge Ke was delighted and sent his soldiers against the town. When the commander guarding the gate, Zhang Te, saw the mass of southern troops before him, he sealed the gate tight and reinforced his guard. Zhuge Ke ordered his men to lay siege. Swift riders reported the emergency in Luoyang. First Secretary Yu Song informed Sima Shi: "Zhuge Ke has Xincheng surrounded, but let us delay engaging him. The southern troops have marched a long way and their food is running low. When it's used up, they will leave. If we strike then, we will rout them. But border defenses on the west must be strengthened." Sima Shi approved and ordered Sima Zhao to take a company to help Guo Huai defend against Jiang Wei. Meanwhile, Guanqiu Jian and Hu Zun held off the Southland army.

  After besieging Xincheng for several months without success, Zhuge Ke issued an order to his commanders: "Attack in full strength. Slackers will be executed." The commanders pressed the attack with renewed energy, and the northeast corner of the wall began to buckle. Inside, Zhang Te decided on a plan. He sent a persuasive representative to the Southland camp with a census register and other documents. The envoy said to Zhuge Ke, "It is our practice in Wei for a town under siege to defend itself for one hundred days without aid. After that the commander may surrender without his family being incriminated in his disgrace. Your siege has lasted more than ninety days. If you can maintain it a few more days, my master will lead all his soldiers out to surrender. Here are the census register and other documents, which I tender now ahead of time." Zhuge Ke believed the envoy and suspended his attack on Xincheng.

  Having tricked the enemy into holding back, Zhang Te had houses inside the town pulled down for materials to repair the damaged wall. Then he mounted the wall and denounced the attackers: "We still have six months' grain. Would we ever surrender to the Southland dogs? All-out war can't hurt us now!" In response Zhuge Ke angrily ordered a fresh assault on Xincheng. From the wall arrows rained down on the Southland soldiers. One struck Zhuge Ke square in the forehead and he tumbled from his horse. The commanders rescued him from the field and got him back to camp, his wound wide open.

  The Southland soldiers had lost their will to fight, and the punishing summer heat made them sick. When Zhuge Ke's wound began to heal, he wanted to pursue the attack, but one of his lower officers told him, "The men are too sick to fight." Zhuge Ke said angrily, "The next to speak of sickness dies!" These words became known among the soldiers, and large numbers deserted. Suddenly it was reported that Field Marshal Cai Lin had defected to Wei with his force. Shocked, Zhuge Ke made a personal inspection of his camps: the faces of his men, sallow and distended, bore the marks of severe illness. And so he brought the army home to the Southland. News of this retreat reached Guanqiu Jian, who pursued the southerners in full force and took a heavy toll of the homeward-bound soldiers.7

  In the Southland Zhuge Ke, too humiliated to appear in court, feigned illness. The Southland ruler, Sun Liang, visited his residence and asked about his health; civil and military officials came and paid their respects. Zhuge Ke, fearful of public censure, made a thorough investigation of all offenses, sending minor offenders to the border and executing major ones as examples. As a result, the ranks of officialdom were paralyzed with fear. In addition, Zhuge Ke appointed his trusted commanders Zhang Yue and Zhu En to direct the Royal Guard, which served as his personal police force.

  Sun Jun (Ziyuan) was the son of Sun Gong and the great-grandson of Sun Jing, younger brother of Sun Jian.8 Sun Quan had loved Sun Jun and had put him in command of the Royal Guard. Now when Sun Jun heard that Zhuge Ke had transferred this command to Zhang Yue and Zhu En, he was outraged. Master of Ceremony Teng Yin, who was at odds with Zhuge Ke, took this occasion to say to Sun Jun, "Zhuge Ke uses his monopoly of power with unrestrained cruelty. He has killed some of the elder lords and cannot be expected to remain loyal to the Emperor. My lord, as a member of the royal family, why don't you do now what must be done?" Sun Jun replied, "I have been meaning to take action for some time. I will petition the Emperor for the authority to execute him."

  Following this, Sun Jun and Teng Yin came before the Southland ruler, Sun Liang, and secretly submitted their petition. Sun Liang responded, "When we see this man, we too feel fear and have often wished to remove him but have never found it convenient. Now you gentlemen, if you are truly loyal and honorable, may take the necessary measures in secret." Teng Yin said, "Your Majesty, hold a banquet and place guards behind the wall hangings. Throw a cup as a signal and have him killed then and there; it will spare us future trouble." Sun Liang approved the suggestion.

  Since returning in defeat, Zhuge Ke had remained home on pretext of illness; his mental state was troubled, his concentration poor. One day by chance he went out of his central hall and came upon a man garbed in hemp and wearing white mourning cloth. Because the man was entering his dwelling, Zhuge Ke questioned him harshly. The man was startled and could not explain himself. When Zhuge Ke had him taken for interrogation, the man said, "I have come to find a Buddhist monk to perform a memorial service for my father, who has recently passed away. I saw the temple and went in, never dreaming it was the imperial guardian's residence—I have no idea how I came to be here." Zhuge Ke angrily summoned the gate guards and questioned them. "There are several dozen of us," they answered. "We carry spears and secure the gates. We are never away from them, not for a moment. We never saw a single person come through." Zhuge Ke was furious, and had the entire corps executed, including the trespasser.

  That night Zhuge Ke could not sleep. Suddenly he heard peals in the main hall, much like thunder. When he went to look, he saw the main beam of the house had split in two. Startle
d, he returned to his bedchamber. A chilling gust of wind blew by; he could see the man in hemp and the gate guards carrying their heads in their hands, chiding him for having them killed. Zhuge Ke fainted with fright and revived only much later.

  The next morning when washing himself, Zhuge Ke smelled blood in the basin water. At his insistence, the serving maids changed the water dozens of times, but the odor remained. Fear and perplexity tormented him. At this time he was informed that an envoy from the Son of Heaven had come to summon him to a royal banquet. Zhuge Ke ordered his carriage readied. He was about to go out of his door, when a tawny dog gripped his clothing in its teeth and yelped as if it were a man crying. "Is the dog trifling with me?" he said and angrily ordered his attendants to drive the animal off. Then he mounted his carriage and departed. After advancing a few paces, he noticed a white rainbow before the carriage, like a white ribbon reaching from the ground into the sky. Zhuge Ke watched it in amazement. His trusted commander Zhang Yue came to the front of the carriage and whispered to him, "This banquet in the palace—who knows what it bodes? Perhaps it would be wiser for Your Lordship not to go." On his advice Zhuge Ke turned back.

  His carriage had gone homeward but a dozen paces, when Sun Jun and Teng Yin rode up before him and asked, "Why has the imperial guardian turned back?" "My stomach began to ache suddenly," Zhuge Ke answered. "I cannot enter the Son of Heaven's presence." Teng Yin said, "Since the army's return the court has yet to hear your account of the events. A grand banquet is therefore being held for you during which matters of state will also be taken up. Although you may feel some discomfort, Imperial Guardian, still you should force yourself to make the trip somehow." Zhuge Ke accepted this advice and, accompanied by Zhang Yue, followed Sun Jun and Teng Yin into the palace.

  Zhuge Ke presented himself to the Southland ruler, Sun Liang, and, after performing the prescribed ritual, took his seat. Sun Liang ordered wine served, but Zhuge Ke was suspicious and declined the wine, saying, "My health is not good enough." Sun Jun said, "Imperial Guardian, you often take medicinal wine at home. Would you like to have some brought?" Zhuge Ke assented and ordered some followers back to his home to fetch the medicine he had prepared himself. This potion Zhuge Ke drank without uneasiness.

  After several rounds of wine Sun Liang rose, claiming to have business to see to. Sun Jun descended from the banquet hall, replaced his surcoat with a short jacket covering a torso shield, and returned to the hall, knife in hand. "The Son of Heaven has issued an edict to execute a rebel traitor!" he shouted. Zhuge Ke panicked and flung down his cup. Before he could draw his sword to defend himself, his severed head was already on the ground. Zhang Yue, after watching Sun Jun kill Zhuge Ke, lunged with his sword; but Sun Jun dodged quickly, and the sword's point nicked only a finger of his left hand. Sun Jun turned and returned the blow, cutting Zhang Yue's right arm. By then the guards had reached the scene. They cut Zhang Yue down and chopped him to pieces. Sun Jun had Zhuge Ke's relatives arrested and the corpses of Zhuge Ke and Zhang Yue wrapped in reed mats, carted away, and thrown into the unmarked burial pits by Stone Ridge beyond the city's south gate.9

  As these events were taking place Zhuge Ke's wife was in her room, too perturbed to occupy herself. Suddenly a maidservant entered the chamber. Zhuge Ke's wife asked her, "Why are you covered with blood?" The woman's look turned hostile; she ground her teeth, dashed toward a pillar, and smashed her head against it. "I am Zhuge Ke! Slain by the treacherous Sun Jun!" she cried. Ke's wife gathered the members of the household around her and wailed dreadfully. Moments later soldiers of the court arrived and surrounded the house. They bound all members of Zhuge Ke's family, young and old indifferently, and removed them to the public market, where they were put to death. It was winter, the tenth month of the second year of Jian Xing, according to the calendar of the Southland (a. d. 253).

  Many years before, when Zhuge Jin was alive, he had observed that Zhuge Ke was a man who let his brilliance show too completely, and he had sighed as he reflected, "This is not a son who will preserve the clan." Also, Zhang Qi, palace director under the Wei dynasty, had once said to Sima Shi, "Zhuge Ke will not live long." When Sima Shi asked why, Zhang Qi had replied, "His prestige constitutes a threat to his lord—how long can he survive?" In the event, these predictions proved correct.

  After Sun Jun had eliminated Zhuge Ke, the Southland ruler, Sun Liang, appointed Jun prime minister, regent-marshal, and lord of Fuchun; the ruler also gave him final authority over police and military matters. From then on all power was concentrated in Sun Jun's hands.

  Meanwhile, in Chengdu Jiang Wei had received Zhuge Ke's letter seeking the Riverlands' help in a war against Wei. Jiang Wei entered the court and, after receiving the Second Emperor's approval, mobilized a large army for an expedition against the northern heartland. Indeed:

  If an earlier campaign could not report success,

  Perhaps another attempt to suppress the traitors would achieve its end.

  Would Jiang Wei's next campaign succeed?

  Read on.

  109

  A Han General's Ruse: Sima Zhao Trapped;

  Retribution for the House of Wei: Cao Fang Deposed

  By the calendar of Shu-Han it was autumn of the sixteenth year of Yan Xi (a. d. 253). General Jiang Wei had mobilized two hundred thousand men and ordered Liao Hua and Zhang Yi to serve as the left and right vanguard, respectively, Xiahou Ba as military adviser, and Zhang Ni as quartermaster. The army went forth from Yangping Pass and attacked Wei.1

  Jiang Wei, conferring with Xiahou Ba, said, "Our previous attempt on Yongzhou failed; this time we must make better plans. What is your esteemed view?" Xiahou Ba replied, "Nan'an is the only one of the Longshan districts rich in cash and grain—an ideal base, if we can take it. Our first attempt to occupy the region failed because the Qiang troops never arrived, but this time if we send someone to meet them in Longyou and advance with them through Shiying, we can capture Nan'an direct by the route through Dongting precinct." "An excellent plan, my lord," Jiang Wei said, well pleased, and sent Xi Zheng as his envoy bearing friendship gifts of gold and pearls and Riverlands brocades for the Qiang king. King Midang received the gifts and mobilized fifty thousand men. He had the Qiang commander Eheshaoge lead the vanguard in the direction of Nan'an.

  The Wei army general of the Left, Guo Huai, quickly informed Luoyang. Sima Shi put the question to his commanders: "Who dares go forth against the Riverlands army?" General Xu Zhi, Mainstay of the Kingdom, volunteered. Sima Shi was delighted, for he knew Xu Zhi to be a man of splendid valor. He ordered Xu Zhi to lead the vanguard under Sima Zhao's command. The force set out for Longxi and came face-to-face with Jiang Wei in Dongting, where the two armies formed their battle lines. Xu Zhi, carrying his mountain-splitting great axe, challenged the westerners to combat. From the Shu line Liao Hua rode forth. Defeated in a brief clash, Liao Hua rode back, trailing his sword. Next, Zhang Yi, spear high, came forth. He too was defeated quickly. Xu Zhi swept after him and took a heavy toll of the Riverlanders, who fell back thirty li. Sima Zhao recalled his troops and both sides pitched camp.

  Jiang Wei consulted Xiahou Ba: "Xu Zhi is a great fighter. Is there any way to get him?" "Tomorrow feign defeat," Xiahou Ba replied, "then take him by ambush." Jiang Wei said, "I would think the son of Sima Yi knows the arts of war too well to give chase across such uneven terrain. But cutting the Wei grain lines, as they have cut ours so many times, may draw them out and deliver Xu Zhi to us." Jiang Wei summoned Liao Hua and Zhang Yi and gave them certain instructions. The two men departed with their units. At the same time Jiang Wei had his soldiers spread vines of barbed iron across the road and sharpened stakes and brambles around the base camp to show that he meant to dig in for the duration.

  Xu Zhi sought battle day after day, but the Riverlands army refused to come forth. Mounted scouts reported back to Sima Zhao: "The enemy is behind Iron Cage Mountain, moving in grain with wooden bulls and gliding horses to support a protracted defense. They are
biding their time until the Qiang join hands with them." Sima Zhao summoned Xu Zhi and said, "In the past we defeated the west by cutting off their grain supply. Now they are behind Iron Cage moving grain. Tonight take five thousand men and interdict their line, and the Riverlands army will withdraw." Accordingly, at the first watch Xu Zhi led his force to Iron Cage Mountain and found some two hundred soldiers driving one hundred grain-laden "bull" and "horse" carriers.

  From the Wei troops a war call went up and Xu Zhi took the lead. He blocked the carriers, and the Riverlands troops abandoned them and fled. Xu Zhi divided his force in two: half to bring the grain back to camp, half to pursue the enemy under his own command. Xu Zhi had pursued them less than ten li when he came to a string of wagons across his path. Xu Zhi ordered his men to clear them away. Suddenly fires broke out on either side of him. He tried to turn and flee the way he had come, but behind him was an inaccessible and narrow stretch of the mountain on which more burning wagons stood. Braving smoke and flame, Xu Zhi managed to gallop through, but then a bombard sounded and two corps attacked him: on the left Liao Hua, on the right Zhang Yi. In the ensuing slaughter the northern army was badly beaten. Xu Zhi, straining every nerve, escaped alone. His horse, like himself, was spent.

  As Xu Zhi was fleeing, a detachment under Jiang Wei came at him. Xu Zhi panicked, unable to offer a defense. His horse took a spear thrust from Jiang Wei and he fell with it; a crowd of soldiers hacked him to death. Meanwhile, the troops Xu Zhi had sent back to camp with the grain had been intercepted by Xiahou Ba, to whom they all surrendered. Xiahou Ba had the Riverlands soldiers outfit themselves with the captured Wei uniforms and armor and mount the horses. Flying the banners of Wei, they rode back by side paths to the Wei base camp. Seeing what they took to be their own men returning, the gate guards let them through. The Riverlands army then sacked the camp. Sima Zhao desperately took to horse, but Liao Hua was already in front of him. Unable to advance, Sima Zhao tried to retreat, but Jiang Wei closed in on that side. Sima Zhao had no way out; he dashed back to Iron Cage Mountain with his men and there established a defense.