Three Kingdoms
Page 190
CHAPTER 99
1. The Qishan hills mark the western front of the kingdom of Wei. Control of the this region assures for Wei the security of the land within the passes, and also offers a forward position for an attack south toward Chengdu.
2. Dated in the TS (p. 955) to Jian Xing 7, summer, 6th month (a. d. 229). See also ZZTJ, p. 2252.
3. Wei Yan had had primary responsibility for the Hanzhong region; see chapter 73.
4. Here dajiangjun is translated "chief general" because the context is military; "regent" or "regent-marshal" will still be used in a court context.
5. Jiange Pass, "Saber Gateway," is the gateway to the road to Chengdu.
6. The moon governs all yin phenomena, such as rain; the star mansion Net can be associated with the geographical area of the ancient state of Jin; and Jin is the name of the dynasty the Sima house will found.
7. This was the advice given by Li Zuoju to the king of Zhao when arguing for a surprise attack on Han Xin's supply line. Later, his advice led Han Xin to conquer Yan.
8. The last Shang king was Zhou (not to be confused with the Zhou of the house of Zhou).
9. See ZZTJ, pp. 2261-63, under the eighth month of Jian Xing 8 (a. d. 230).
10. Mao (introductory note): "On his first sortie from the Qishan hills, the Lord of Wu [i. e., Kongming] returned at once because Jieting had already fallen. He returned after the second sortie because he failed to capture Chencang. On this the third sortie he captured Chencang... and went on to defeat Wei in several battles. There was no reason to return, but he did so because of the death of Zhang Bao."
CHAPTER 100
1. The TS chapter title is "Zhuge Liang's Fourth Sortie from the Qishan Hills."
2. The "plank roads" are the wooden bridge-roads found fastened onto cliffsides throughout western China.
3. Chen Shi's son, Shou, is the author of the SGZ.
4. Jian Xing 8, 8th month (a. d. 230), by the Shu-Han calendar (TS, p. 970).
5. Mao (introductory note): "Thus that [dependency on eunuchs] which Zhao Lie [Liu Bei] lamented and detested in Han Emperors Huan and Ling, his son, the Second Emperor, now enters into."
6. Yu Xu was an Eastern Han governor who used this tactic successfully against the Qiang.
7. Kongming lived for ten more years after returning from the southern campaigns against the Man to Chengdu in late a. d. 225. The reader may find it convenient to have a list of the key historical events to a. d. 231.
In the summer of a. d. 226 Cao Pi died, and his son, Cao Rui, succeeded him. Rui, however, was a weak figure: his guardians controlled him; and no strong maternal family backed him. The accession of the new Wei sovereign offered Kongming an opportunity to wage war. Kongming may also have felt that his success against the Man nation would lead to successes against the stronger of the foreign peoples in the north, the Qiang and the Di, who had settled in the Qishan area, i. e., north of the River Wei and west of Chang'an. In a. d. 227 Kongming submitted his first "Petition on Taking the Field" to the Second Emperor, Liu Shan of Shu-Han. This same year Kongming also made progress in winning back the allegiance of the defector Meng Da, who had lost confidence in the Wei government after Cao Pi's death. Allying with Meng Da would have given Kongming a salient against the Wei kingdom. However, in early a. d. 228 Sima Yi learned of Meng Da's disloyalty, attacked his city, Xicheng, and killed him (see chap. 94).
Despite the death of Meng Da, Kongming commenced his first campaign from the Qishan hills in the spring of a. d. 228. His effort was rewarded by the gain of three key towns—Tianshui, Nan'an, and Anding—north and west of Chang'an. Chang'an was shaken. Kongming could attack it from Hanzhong in the south and from the three towns in the west. The Wei emperor, Cao Rui, visited the city personally. The Wei generals Cao Zhen and Zhang He counterattacked the Riverlands' newly established positions. In the fighting Kongming's commander Ma Su lost the crucial site of Jieting (often read Xiaoting), and the three towns reverted to Wei control. At Kongming's own request the Second Emperor demoted him as punishment for these losses.
Early the following year (a. d. 229) Kongming besieged Chencang but failed to take it and withdrew. A few months later Kongming began the third offensive, seizing Wudu and Yinping and driving back Guo Huai. This was Kongming's first real victory in the northern expedition, and th Second Emperor restored his titles in recognition of it. Wudu was the administrative center of Wudu district (south Liangzhou in the Han, northwest Yizhou in the Three Kingdoms period); Yinping was a key point for exercising control over the Di and Qiang nations, whose cooperation was indispensable to any effort whether by Shu or by Wei to stabilize local rule and protect Chang'an. (Presumably, Kongming's success in winning the allegiance of the Man enhanced his prestige with the Di and Qiang. ) In June of a. d. 229 Sun Quan declared himself emperor of the Southland (Wu).
In a. d. 230 the Wei emperor, Cao Rui, decided on a major offensive against the Riverlands, summoning Sima Yi from the southern to the western front. Unceasing heavy rains stalled the effort (chaps. 99, 100), and Sima Yi retreated. In the beginning of a. d. 231 Kongming began his next offensive (called the "fourth" by the TS; not the offensive beginning chap. 100, but the one beginning chap. 101).
Kongming's offensives from the Qishan hills have been interpreted in a variety of ways. Some scholars believe the campaigns weakened Shu, others that they assured its survival for another generation. Some scholars argue that Kongming should have followed Wei Yan's advice and struck directly at Chang'an through the Zi-Wu Gorge. Others claim that Kongming's indirect approach through the Qishan hills succeeded as an offensive defense of Shu. See Yang Weili, "Lun Zhuge Liang beifa," Peng Nian and Hou Cheng, "Wuchu Qishan shuping," and Tang Jinyu, "Jiang Wei fa Wei yu Zhuge Liang de zhanlüe sixiang," in Zhuge Liang yanjiu, Chengdushi Zhuge Liang yanjiuhui, ed. (Chendgu: Ba Shu shushe, 1985), pp. 226-49. See also Shi Nianhai, "Lun Zhuge Liang de gongshou celüe," Heshan ji (Beijing: Shenghuo dushu xinzhi Sanlian shudian, 1963), pp. 280-301.
CHAPTER 101
1. The TS (p. 975) reads: "On previous campaigns a good many soldiers felt resentment." Yang Yi will later become Kongming's successor.
2. "Grand Harmony" (a. d. 231); it was the fifth expedition according to the TS (p. 975).
3. Mao: "Sima Yi gradually comes to resemble Cao Cao."
4. Marshal Tianpeng, a folk deity.
5. Since ancient times the Chinese have computed days and years by means of two sets of characters, the ten "heavenly stems" and the twelve "earthly branches." In a complete sequence each stem will pair with six (always the same six) of the branches to form a cycle of sixty. For further explanation, see George A. Kennedy, ZH Guide (New Haven: Yale University, Sinological Seminar, 1953), pp. 16-17. The Six Jia and the Six Ding refer to the six branch combinations with the ding stem (mao, chou, hai, you, wei, si) and the six branch combinations with the jia stem (zi, xu, shen, wu, chen, yin). The ding combinations were described in Taoist texts as yin or female in nature, the jia combination as yang or male. Whoever could command these agents of nature (yin and yang) could control both the external weather and the spiritual self. See the index under liu chia and liu ting in James R. Ware, Alchemy, Medicine, and Religion in the China of a. d. 320: The Nei P'ien of Ko Hung (New York: Dover Publications, reprint of the 1966 M. I. T. Press edition, 1981).
According to an ancient fairy tale, Fei Changfang of the Later Han possessed a Taoist skill that enabled him to travel to meet various people a thousand li apart in the space of a single day; he called his technique "shrinking the land." (Footnote to the Renmin wenxue chubanshe edition of the Sanguo yanyi [Beijing, 1973], p. 875. )
6. "Horse," ma, refers to Sima Yi; "river deer," zhang, refers to Zhang He. The Mumen (Treegate) road ambush occurred in midsummer, a. d. 231.
7. Qiao Zhou was the mentor of Chen Shou, author of the SGZ. Later, Qiao Zhou will urge the Second Ruler to submit to Wei.
CHAPTER 102
1. "The sixteen stars of K'uei [Kui, or Legs, the
fifteenth lunar mansion]... form the arsenal of the heavens... [and] govern the employment of military strength to ward off attack" ; Ho Peng Yoke, The Astronomical Chapters of the Chin Shu, Le monde d'outre mer passé et présent, sér. 2: Documents, n° 9 (Paris: Mouton & Co., 1966), p. 100.
2. In Jian An 24 Cao Cao rescued Cao Ren from Fan, where Lord Guan had him under siege. Cao Cao stationed his troops at Mopo.
3. Qing Long 1 dates to a. d. 233.
4. Xingjun sima, a Wei title, derives from xing sima in the Zhou li.
5. For the Dance of Yu and the importance of the Dipper to early Taoist ritual, see Edward H. Schafer, Pacing the Void (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1977), pp. 239-42.
6. See chapter 101, n. 50.
7. It was about six hundred li from Saber Gateway to Ye Gorge.
8. I. e., about four to five hundred jin.
9. This tentative interpretation of the text is guided by an article in Tongji daxue xuebao 16 (1988): 301-16, entitled "Muniu liuma bianyi," by Chen Congzhou of Tongji University's Department of Architecture and Lu Jingyan of the Department of Mechanical Engineering.
After acknowledging the many doubtful points about the vehicle, the authors suggest that both the bull and the horse were wheelbarrows, specially improved to travel the wooden plank roads built along steep cliffs as well as the hilly western terrain. The wooden plank roads were also called "five-span roads" ; only a one-wheeled vehicle would have the maneuverability to negotiate them. On steep hills an improved braking system was essential. The authors believe that the four legs were struts which extended from each corner of the vehicle and served to brace it up or down hills (see the opening sentence of Kongming's description).
The puzzling phrase "every six spans the porters advance, the bull advances four paces" is explained as referring to the six spans of the wheel, which the authors estimate to have had a diameter of two spans; such a large wheel would have conserved the porters' energy.
10. The preceding description of the parts for making a wooden bull concerns itself with the form and function of the vehicle. There follows a section called "How to Make a Gliding Horse," which is a list of measurements for assembling those parts; a translation is not attempted here.
The authors of the article mentioned in note 9 above regard the gliding horse as a smaller variant of the wooden bull. They suggest that the bull was made to be drawn by man or beast and could bear a considerable load, while the horse, meant to be pushed, carried lighter cargo.
In all likelihood, the authors say, these vehicles were relatively simple machines and the materials for their construction were prepared during the three-year lull before this campaign (a. d. 231-34).
CHAPTER 103
1. Mao (introductory note): "Before Kongming's second sortie from the Qishan hills, Wei had attacked Wu and suffered defeat. At the time of the sixth sortie, Wu attacked Wei and suffered defeat. Why did Wu succeed in defense but fail in offense? Because Wu had no determination to suppress the traitors!... In the first case, Wei withdrew from Wu fearing attack by Shu on the west. But Wu, facing no such threat, withdrew precipitately after losing a single battle to Wei. Kongming's reliance on Wu was an empty illusion. How sad!"
2. The following two paragraphs appear in the TS:"After Kongming had returned to his base on the south bank of the River Wei and settled into his camp, Wei Yan protested to him: 'Ma Dai blocked the rear exit of Gourd Gorge. But for that Heaven-sent rain I and my five hundred men would have perished in the fires. ' (Kongming meant for Wei Yan to die with Sima Yi; the unexpected rain saved them. Later, when he was dying, Kongming left Ma Dai with a plan for killing Wei Yan. ) In great anger Kongming criticized Ma Dai, saying, 'Wei Yan is a great general. When I gave you the plan, I told you only to burn out Sima Yi. What did you mean by trapping Wei Yan in the gorge? It is our court's great good fortune that the sudden storm saved him. Had things gone wrong, I would have lost my right arm! ' Kongming rebuked him severely and said, 'Guards! Remove and execute him' (p. 1001).
"The other commanders prostrated themselves before Kongming's tent and pleaded again and again before Kongming relented and spared Ma Dai. He had Ma Dai stripped and punished with forty strokes on the back, deprived of his positions as General Who Subdues the North and lord of Chencang, and reduced to an unregistered army servant. After this public denunciation Ma Dai returned to his former base. Kongming secretly sent Fan Jian there to inform him, 'The prime minister knows you for a loyal and honorable general, and so he desires that you carry out this secret plan. In future your achievement will be of the first rank. But you are to blame the incident on Yang Yi so as to resolve the enmity between yourself and Wei Yan. ' Ma Dai received the plan with enthusiasm and the following day forced himself to go to see Wei Yan and acknowledge his fault: T would never have done such a thing to you; it was planned by Senior Adviser Yang Yi. ' Wei Yan, who detested Yang Yi, went directly to Kongming and said, 'I desire the services of Ma Dai as my subordinate commander. ' Kongming refused at first, but agreed after repeated requests" (p. 1002).
3. Shanhe, "land," literally translates "mountains and rivers." The Sima family brought an end to the Three Kingdoms era between a. d. 265, when it founded the Jin dynasty, and a. d. 280, when it incorporated the Southland.
4. In the case of the headdress, the conceit is that Sima Yi is as cloistered in his fort as an unmarried woman safely secluded in her boudoir (gui); see Zhuge Kongming quanji (Hong Kong: Guang zhi shuju, n. d. ), p. 134.
5. It was not part of the duties of Bing Ji, a Former Han prime minister, to find out why the people had died. But he did bear official responsibility for food production and so, seeing a panting ox when the weather was not hot, he worried that some abnormality of climate might affect the harvest. (Footnote to the Renmin wen wenxue chubanshe edition of Sanguo yanyi [Beijing, 1973], p. 899 n. 3. )
6. Another famous prime minister of the Former Han period; Chen Ping concerned himself with supervision only and did not deign to interest himself in the functions of any particular office. (Footnote to the edition of Sanguo yanyi cited above, p. 899 n. 4. )
7. Triple Platform (santai) comprises six stars in Ursa Major, arranged in pairs. Upper Platform (shangtai) controls fate. Ho Peng Yoke, The Astronomical Chapters of the Chin Shu, Le monde d'outre mer passé et présent, sér. 2: Documents, n° 9 (Paris: Mouton & Co., 1966), p. 80.
8. I. e., twelve years, the time it takes Jupiter, the year star (sui), to circle the sky. The Northern Dipper was imagined as an imperial carriage, a higher power able to overrule decisions of the lower Triple Platform (santai), the seats of the Three Elders (sangong).
CHAPTER 104
1. The Zhuge Liang ji, compiled by Chen Shou in a. d. 274.
2. All sources say that Kongming died in the eighth month, which began on September 11, a. d. 234; neither the ZZTJ (p. 2296) nor the SGZ (p. 925) gives the date. A noteworthy coincidence is "the interment of Emperor Xian on September 30 with the ceremonial dignity befitting a Han Son of Heaven" (HHS, p. 391). Like Kongming, Emperor Xian was fifty-four years old. The duke of Shanyang [i. e., Emperor Xian] had died on April 21, a. d. 234, and he was posthumously honored with the temple name Xian (see HHS, p. 391, SGZ, pp. 101-2, and ZZTJ, p. 2295). Fifteen years earlier, Emperor Xian was demoted to duke of Shanyang by the first Wei emperor, Cao Pi. In recounting the deposing of the Emperor, Three Kingdoms (chap. 80) says that when rumors of Emperor Xian's death reached the Riverlands, Liu Bei donned mourning garments; afterward, he declared himself emperor of Han.
3. A meteor's fall was almost always ominous. Sometimes meteors were called mingxing (mandated stars) because they carried the will of Heaven down to earth. See Edward H. Schafer, Pacing the Void (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1977), p. 98. (This poem is not in Du Fu's complete works. )
4. Wo, here translated "ensconced," can also mean "lying low" or "sleeping" ; Sleeping Dragon was an epithet for Kongming. "A fish finding water" (i. e., physical or po
litical survival) is a metaphor for Liu Bei's winning Kongming to his cause.
5. "Heavenly Han" (tian Han) is the Milky Way (the River Han in the heavens); lin, or "heavy rain," means a minister who saves his lord. (Dragons were thought to be the cause of rain. )
6. I. e., Kongming protected the Second Emperor. The "calls to war" refer to the "Petition on Taking the Field" and the "Second Petition on Taking the Field," which have become literary classics.
7. Mao (introductory note): "Guan Zhong revered the Zhou dynasty and is credited with saving it from overthrow; Yue Yi preserved the kingdom of Yan and succeeded in restoring it after its house was terminated. Kongming compared himself to them because he had both aims."
8. Mao (introductory note): "Some may wonder if Kongming had supernatural powers: the Eightfold Ramparts Maze, the wooden bulls and gliding horses—all somehow seem made by gods or immortals. Yet he could not escape his own death. Why? Kongming was not like Zuo Ci or Li Yi, invulnerable to death, a transcendent divine. Kongming was mortal, a worthy sage in the world of men.... He did not make use of the unknowable and leave the world wondering. He made use of the knowable and left the world a model."
CHAPTER 105
1. Ye Gorge, southwest of present-day Meixian in Shaanxi, is the northern end of a passage some 470 li long, the southern end of which ends in Bao Gorge; thus, Ye and Bao were also called the northern and southern gorges respectively. See Miao Yue, Sanguozhi daodu (Chengdu: Ba Shu shushe, 1987), p. 258 n. 2. The Zi-Wu Gorge runs parallel to the Ye-Bao passage about 100 li to the east; see chap. 95 n. 2.
2. Hanzhong's seat of government.
3. Liu Bei, the founder (kai), and Liu Shan, the successor (ji).
4. The single plume may refer to Kongming's feather fan.
5. If successful, Kongming would have surpassed Xiao He and Cao Shen, famous prime ministers to Han Gao Zu. Chen Shou judges Kongming to be "second only to Guan Zhong and Xiao He" ; see SGZ, p. 934. As a young man Kongming had compared himself to Guan Zhong and Yue Yi, neither one a Han figure; see SGZ, p. 911