8. A shrewd move by Cao Cao. Sun Quan and Zhou Yu resented nothing so much as the loss of Nanjun to Xuande. The extent of the sacrifice the south made to wrest Nanjun from Cao Cao is described in the SGZ: "In Jian An 14 [a. d. 209] Zhou Yu and Cao Ren held their [opposed] positions for more than a year. A great many were killed or wounded. When Cao Ren fled the city, Sun Quan made Zhou Yu governor of Nanjun. Liu Bei proposed that the court make Sun Quan acting general of Chariots and Cavalry [i. e., second-ranking general under the dajiangjun] and protector of Xuzhou. Bei himself was protector of Jingzhou, stationed at Gong'an." See Sun Quan's biography, SGZ, p. 1118.
9. In the Spring and Autumn period the kingdom of Jin asked the kingdom of Yu to permit its troops to pass through in order to attack the kingdom of Guo. On their way back, the Jin army annexed Yu. See Zuo zhuan, "Xigong," year 5.
10. Mao: "For Zhou Yu's 'funeral. '"
11. Mao (introductory note): " Lu Su made three attempts to recover Jingzhou, and Kongming thrice turned him down. Kongming's first excuse was that Liu Qi [Liu Biao's legitimate heir] was still living; his second, that they were waiting until the Riverlands were taken; his third, that they couldn't bear to take over the Riverlands from a kinsman. Not only does his third excuse contradict his second, but his eventual takeover of the province will contradict his third excuse! These deceptions answer those of Sun Quan, who, after sending Lu Su to reclaim Jingzhou, turned around and petitioned the Emperor to make Liu Bei the protector of Jingzhou; and having done that, turned around again and sent Lu Su to demand the return of the province.
"Zhou Yu made three attempts to kill Liu Xuande: when he tried to lure him into provisioning the troops; when he lured him into the marriage; and when he pursued him to Liulangpu. Zhou Yu also made three attempts to kill Kongming: when he tried to get him to attack Cao Cao's grain depot, hoping Cao Cao would kill him; when he had him deliver one hundred thousand arrows, hopin Kongming would be executed according to military law; and when he pursued him to the Altar of the Seven Stars. Thus, it is only fitting that Kongming drove Zhou Yu to desperation three times; yet Kongming's retaliations were not so harsh [as the acts that prompted them]."
CHAPTER 57
1. Liu Feng and Guan Ping were the adopted sons of Xuande and Lord Guan, respectively.
2. Zhou Yu's musical genius is mentioned in his biography (see SGZ, p. 1265). His "friend" refers to Sun Ce, who was killed at an early age. The TS (p. 542) dates the death of Zhou Yu to Jian An 15, 12th month (early in a. d. 211).
3. Lu Su was probably recommended not for his military ability, but presumably because—unlike Zhou Yu's senior rival Cheng Pu—Lu Su represented Wu-Shu, (i. e., Southland-Riverlands) friendship.
4. Instead of this Zhuangzi-derived phrase, the TS (p. 543) reads jihui fengyun (a time of wind and cloud), an idiom for achieving preeminence in stormy times.
5. The TS has sixteen more characters here: "You were crowded by weak men, men who quailed [at the coming struggle with Cao Cao; but] though Zhang Zhao was timid and submissive, you stood firm in rejecting accommodation [with Cao]."
6. In the TS, Pang Tong reaches for a sword but is prevented by Lu Su from killing Kongming. Afterward, Tong claims to have acted in jest. Contradictions between Pang Tong and the Liu Xuande group is a TS theme that the Mao edition partially suppresses. Mao (introductory note): "Kongming's unexpected meeting with Pang Tong after this trip is analogous to Pang Tong's unexpected meeting with Xu Shu [Shan Fu; see the end of chap. 47] after he has persuaded Cao Cao to chain his boats together. In the former case Xu Shu disappears from the narrative; in this case Pang Tong is retrieved after a prolonged absence."
7. For Pang Tong's role in the defeat of Cao Cao, see chapter 47. Lu Su is trying to strengthen the pro-Xuande group in the South by recommending Pang Tong.
8. Under Xuande, Pang Tong will hold a rank equal to Kongming's own, namely junshi zhonglangjiang, or director general and Imperial Corps commander. See SGZ, p. 954. At this point the title director general is anachronistic.
9. See chapter 35.
10. Dated by the TS (p. 547) to the fifth month of Jian An 16 (a. d. 211).
11. At this point the action shifts westward as Cao Cao sets his sights on the regions from which the Han dynasty first arose. Cao will approach from the north: he will take Guanzhong first, then Hanzhong, and finally the Riverlands—the latter an objective he shares with Sun Quan and Liu Bei. If he succeeds, he will have matched his consolidation of the north a decade earlier. In preparation for this, he reinforces at the key border cities: Xiangyang and Fancheng in the center; Hefei and Shouchun to the east. Meanwhile, Liu Bei has consolidated Jingzhou; Sun Quan, the Southland, especially the southern regions, Jiaozhou and Nanling (see ZZTJ, p. 2105). According to the histories, Cao's announced target for the western campaign was Zhang Lu, the independent ruler of Hanzhong (this point has been dropped in the novels), but his actual objective is the Ma clan of Liangzhou and Guanzhong. The key city of Guanzhong is Chang'an. Liangzhou or Xiliang (modern Gansu) is west and north of Guanzhong.
Liu Chunfan summarizes Ma Teng's career: "In a. d. 192 Ma Teng and Han Sui came to the assistance of the Emperor when he was [Dong Zhuo's prisoner] in Chang'an; for this the Emperor rewarded Teng with generalships. In a. d. 194 Teng planned to expand his power by attacking Chang'an, but, exposed and defeated, he returned to Liangzhou. In a. d. 202, after Yuan Shao's death, Shao's son Yuan Shang tried to ally with the southern khan in an attack on Hedong [one of the Capital Districts], To meet this threat Cao Cao came to the aid of Zhong Yao, who besieged the khan in Pingyang. Then Teng's son Ma Chao aided Zhong Yao by defeating Yuan Shang's generals. The khan surrendered and Teng received a generalship and a lordship. When Cao Cao attacked Jingzhou in a. d. 208, he elevated Ma Teng to commandant of the Guards in order to forestall a rebellion by bringing him to court. Hearing that Cao Cao was planning to attack Zhang Lu, Ma Chao and Han Sui [felt Guanzhong was at risk and] organized the Guanzhong commanders for the defense at Tong Pass." (Excerpted from Liu Chunfan, Sanguo shihua [Beijing: Beijing chubanshe, 1981], p. 113. )
The Sanguo novels, however, make an important change: they have Ma Teng called to Chang'an by Cao Cao after, not before, the defeat at Red Cliffs. The reason, presumably, is to preserve Teng's integrity as one of the signatories of the oath taken by Liu Xuande and the others in response to Emperor Xian's secret decree. For similar reasons Three Kingdoms chooses to ignore the recorded fact that Ma Chao also held an appointment under Cao.
12. Dong Zhuo had been a general in Xiliang before he entered the capital and put Emperor Xian on the throne.
Mao (introductory note): "It is some thirty chapters since Dong Cheng and seven others swore a secret oath to uphold the Emperor against Cao Cao. Among them, only Ma Teng has been lost to view since he departed for Xiliang, leaving him virtually suspended as far as the reader is concerned. Suddenly he reappears in this chapter, and in a way that ingeniously fits together with Pang Tong's advice to Xu Shu [i. e., to request that Cao Cao assign him to hold Tong Pass against Ma Teng and thus escape the conflagration at Red Cliffs], Such a [tight] narrative style makes each chapter seem like a sentence."
13. In the service of Guang Wu, first emperor of the Eastern Han, Ma Yuan suppressed the revolt of the Trung sisters and established Chinese institutions in northern Vietnam in the year a. d. 43. The Southland court had ties to the local (Jiaozhou) leaders.
14. According to the TS, "because he was too poor to take a [proper i. e., Chinese] principal wife."
15. The next three paragraphs diverge markedly from the TS (p. 547), according to which Ma Teng and his two sons accept titles from Cao Cao and are about to begin their expedition against Liu Xuande when Emperor Xian summons Ma Teng to inform him that he has not sanctioned the expedition. The Emperor urges Ma Teng to live up to the example of his famous ancestor Ma Yuan, to remember the secret edict, and to turn his armed forces on Cao Cao, not Liu Xuande. Ma Teng accepts the Emperor's injunction eagerly and conv
inces his sons to help him support the house of Han.
The three paragraphs in the translation are not in the TS. The narratives come together again with Ma Teng serving wine to Cao's envoy, Huang Kui.
The PH (p. 103) renders the beginning of the Ma Teng episode as follows:
Cao Cao came to Chang'an and held court. He said to his officials, "I often think back to the situation two years ago, when I drove a poor and isolated Liu Bei into Xiakou. He had an army of five thousand then. Still, I couldn't capture him. Now he has Jingzhou with thirteen districts, fifty thousand gallant fighters, and thirty ferocious commanders. No one can stand against him. He has Zhuge, who is knowledgeable in civil matters, and commanders Guan and Zhang, who are knowledgeable about warfare. How can we deal with him?"
The high officer said to the prime minister: "The former emperor dismissed Ma Teng, his credentialed agent in the western region.... Teng has two sons, Chao, the eldest, and Dai, who are universally regarded as having great prowess and courage. Ma Teng can handle Zhuge; Ma Chao, Lord Guan; and Ma Dai, Zhang Fei."
On Cao Cao's petition the Emperor summoned Ma Teng to court. Ma Teng said to his son Chao, "You must know how the Ten Eunuchs seized power; and how Dong Zhuo did, too. Do you not realize that in Cao Cao's empire the power of life and death rests with him, and not Emperor Xian?"
16. See chapter 20.
17. The title was silang. He was either a full member of the Secretariat staff, after three years probation, or a lieutenant to an Imperial Corps commander.
18. Li Jue and Guo Si were two of the four generals who rebelled after Dong Zhuo's death. See chapters 9 and 10.
CHAPTER 58
1. The historical texts do not have Kongming playing an instigatory role in the Cao Cao-Ma Chao conflict, which had causes of its own. At this time the historical Cao Cao was building his dynasty, reinforcing his defenses to the south and east, and turning his main attention to the west. See notes below in this chapter.
2. Dated by the TS to Jian An 16 (a. d. 211), the first ten days of the 7th month.
3. According to the "Wudi ji," Cao Cao began the year a. d. 211 by announcing a campaign against the independent ruler of Hanzhong, Zhang Lu. The news alarmed the Ma clan, who controlled Guanzhong, which Cao Cao had to cross to attack Zhang Lu. The Mas organized the local chieftains, and Tong Pass became their first point of defense. See SGZ, p. 34.
4. Zhong Yao (Yuanchang) from Changshe in Yingchuan was a general of considerable importance to the rise of Cao Cao, as these highlights from Zhong Yao's career, taken from his biography in the SGZ (p. 391), show:
When Li Jue and Guo Si were holding the Emperor captive in Chang'an, Zhong Yao helped the Emperor to escape. For this Cao Cao rewarded him well. Later Cao Cao sent Zhong Yao to Chang'an as privy counselor to perform the duties of commander of the Capital Districts. Zhong Yao had a free hand in the region, which he governed well with the cooperation of Ma Teng and Han Sui.
During the battle of Guandu, Zhong Yao provided Cao Cao with two thousand horses, a vital contribution. He continued to be the mainstay of Cao Cao's influence in the west, keeping the west from allying with Cao's main enemy at the time, the Yuan family.
Soon after the Cao established the state of Wei, Zhong Yao became prime minister.
5. Mao: "Pang De had slipped into town with the crowd."
6. Mao (introductory note): "On the eve of the battle at Red Cliffs, Xu Shu petitioned Cao Cao to send him away to guard Tong Pass. Yet here we find Zhong Yao but no Xu Shu. Why? He might have died. If not, though he pledged not to advise Cao Cao, he could hardly have abandoned his post if he were indeed at the pass. But since his whereabouts are unknown, it is likely that he retired to his village on the pretext of illness." The battle at Tong Pass is one of the decisive battles of the period.
7. The white battle gown indicated mourning for his father, Ma Teng.
8. Mao: "How dare Cao Cao wear red when Ma Chao was mourning his father? Cao Cao's stripping of his red battle gown is tantamount to putting on mourning for Ma Chao's sake!"
Mao's introductory note: "Both Cao Cao and Sun Quan attempted to avenge their fathers' deaths. But these attempts were private, not public; made for their fathers' sakes, not for their lords'. Ma Chao's attempt to avenge his father, however, was public, made for this father's sake and for his lord's. Inasmuch as Ma Teng died on account of [Emperor Xian's] secret decree, he was a loyal servant of the Han. And Ma Chao took up arms against Cao Cao because of his father's loyal sacrifice. That makes Chao a filial son and a loyal servant, despite the fact that histories of earlier times slander him as a traitor and a rebel.... [By contrast, ] Cao Cao failed to kill his father's killer, Tao Qian, and retreated because of Lü Bu's attack; Sun Quan, too, failed to kill his father's killer, Liu Biao, and even sent Lu Su on a condolence mission after Biao's death."
9. Mao (introductory note): "The gentleman-scholar may well conclude that Cao Cao's cutting his beard and discarding his surcoat was due to the almost magical influence of the Han Emperor's authority. Why so? If the decree concealed in the robe had not been communicated, the declaration of [the seven] loyalists would not have been made, Ma Teng would not have perished, and Ma Chao would not have come [to avenge him], [In this chain of causation] it was only because the Emperor pricked his finger [to write the decree] that Cao Cao cut his beard; it was only because the Emperor removed his robe [and gave it to Dong Cheng] that Cao Cao discarded his surcoat."
10. Mao (introductory note): "During the battle at Tong Pass, if the Sun and Liu camps had joined forces to attack the capital while Cao Cao was absent, it would have been a great day! Why was neither one willing to do it? The Southland was prepared for defense but not for offense. How could they take Xuchang if they couldn't subdue Hefei? Moreover, their goal was Jingzhou, not the north-central plains. As for Liu Bei, he was building up his forces to attack the Riverlands to the west.... Though his strategic objective lay to the north, Liu Bei did not dare make that move until the west was won."
Tong Pass is south of the juncture of the Wei and the Yellow rivers, north of the Hua Mountains. The pass was located in the Zhongnong district and was therefore under the jurisdiction of the commander of the Capital Districts, who tried to keep the River Wei region under his control as far west as possible. The irregular border between Liangzhou or Xiliang and Guanzhong was about 70 miles west and northwest of Chang'an. The safety of the western capital depended on control of the rivers north and west of the city.
11. They crossed slightly north of the Yellow River's right-angle turn east. Cao Cao sent two commanders across first; after he joined them, the combined force descended southward along the west bank of the Yellow River, thus getting behind Tong Pass, the gateway to Guanzhong from the east. This maneuver enabled Cao Cao to recapture Chang'an, the administrative center of Guanzhong. Cao Cao's operations show that he had acquired a better understanding of river warfare since Red Cliffs.
12. The rivers are the Wei and the Yellow River. The Wei flows east and meets the south-flowing Yellow River as it turns ninety degrees east. It is because the Yellow River makes a right-angle turn that the text speaks of an east and west as well as a north and south bank. The name Wei seems to apply slightly east of the juncture, however. See Liu Chunfan, Sanguo shihua, p. 114, for a map of the battle. Also see Ren Zhaokun and Shen Bojun, "Shitan Sanguo yanyi de dili cuowu," in XK 1: 285-94, for a discussion of certain geographical errors in the novel.
13. The office of commandant for Military Standards was held by Cao Cao himself under Emperor Ling. The commandant's principal function was army training and discipline.
14. Mao (introductory note): "While Zhou Yu lived, the houses of Sun and Liu were at odds; when Zhou Yu died, the two houses cooperated. When Cao Cao was domestically occupied, the houses of Sun and Liu were at odds; when Cao Cao threatened [one or the other], the two houses cooperated. This is the key to the relations between the Sun and the Liu."
CHAPTER 59
1. Mao (in
troductory note): "Military science calls for great ingenuity in dividing one's enemies. Two are far easier to overcome than one, for two can be split... but the techniques are manifold. After the conversation on horseback, the letter aroused suspicion. And the letter made the conversation appear more suspicious. Dividing one's enemies requires a foundation. Before Han Sui executed Cao Cao's messenger there was the first letter [which he showed to Ma Chao], which made the second letter more suspicious. Then, when Han and Ma offered Cao Cao territory if he would end the war, a letter was sent to Cao, and Cao sent one back—another source of suspicion. The ways in which Cao Cao sowed suspicion in Ma Chao's mind show how deeply he grasped the subtleties of the art of dividing one's enemies."
2. According to the TS (p. 565), Yang Qiu said, "Ma Teng rebelled against the dynasty and has been punished as he deserved. My lord, do you wish to make common cause with rebels?" Mao Zonggang has eliminated this accusation of treason, perhaps because it casts Cao Cao in a loyalist light; the cut also spares the reputation of Ma Chao, who will join the camp of Liu Xuande.
3. Mao (introductory note): "The genius of Zhou Yu's deception of Jiang Gan [chap. 45] lay in his use of dark night. In dividing Han Sui and Ma Chao, Cao Cao's genius lay in his use of broad daylight. The genius of Zhou Yu's letter deceiving Jiang Gan lay in its clarity; the genius of Cao Cao's letter, in its vagueness. When Zhou Yu met Jiang Gan, his master stroke was his saying what was most essential [i. e., 'Do not allude to the military situation']. When Cao Cao met Han Sui on horseback, the master stroke lay in his saying what was most inconsequential."
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