A Thousand Pieces of Gold

by Adeline Yen Mah

  Enraged, Xiang Yu boiled Zhou to death.

  Mad Master, Li Shiqi, now approached Liu Bang and said, “I have noticed that Xiang Yu has one glaring weakness. He does not pay enough attention to the question of food. An army fights on its stomach, and no hungry army survives for long. Now Xiang Yu has taken the important city of Jungyang. Just outside Jungyang is Chengkao and the huge Ao Granary, which contains enough grain to feed the entire state of Qin for at least two years. Having captured this vital edifice, Xiang Yu does not seem to recognize its significance.

  “He who can pick out the essence of what is most important will be able to possess All Under Heaven. If one lacks that ability, then there is no possibility of long-term success. To a king, the support of his people is the essence of what is most important. But to the people, min yi shi wei tian, ‘the essence of what is most important is food.’ Therefore, of Everything Under Heaven, nothing is more important than food.

  “As for the Ao Granary, I hear that its capacity is immense and the grain there plentiful. Xiang Yu neither pays attention to the Ao Granary nor guards it with care. He has transferred his best troops eastward and left only a few soldiers with disciplinary problems to man the granary. Xiang Yu’s lack of perception is Heaven’s gift to us. You must get the Ao Granary back as soon as possible and never allow it to be retaken again.”

  As mentioned previously, after I recovered from pneumonia at the age of thirteen, my stepmother allowed me to recuperate at home for one week. I was still weak and spent a lot of time resting in the room I shared with my grandfather. Neither of us realized that it would be our last summer together.

  To while away the time, we used to play chess hour after hour. At one point, during a hard-fought game, while my attention was diverted in trying to capture one of his knights, he checkmated me. Immediately he took down his copy of Shiji from the bookshelf and read me the section containing the biography of Mad Master Li Shiqi.

  “I have often thought that life is similar to a game of chess,” Ye Ye said. “According to Mad Master, ‘He who can pick out the essence of what is most important will be able to possess All Under Heaven.’ In playing chess, the king is the most important piece and must be guarded at all times. Before you make a move, any move, look and see whether your king is being threatened. Protecting your king, and taking the opponent’s king, is the essence of the game of chess. If you lose your king, you lose the game even though all your other pieces are intact.

  “In life, health is the essence of what is most important. By the word health, I include physical, mental, and emotional health. Think of life as a number. Health is represented by the number one. Delineate the rest of life by adding a zero for each attribute you attain: education, spouse, friends, money, car, house, and so forth. You end up with a number such as 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. No matter how many zeroes you manage to accumulate, when you lose your health, the number one gets erased. What do you end up with? A big bunch of zeroes!”

  After the death of our father in 1988, our stepmother, Niang, summoned her five stepchildren back to Hong Kong to attend his funeral. Of her own two children, one had died from polio at the age of thirteen and the other she had disowned after a quarrel fifteen years earlier. By 1988 Lydia had already successfully poisoned Niang’s mind against me, but I was not aware of it.

  They wished to involve my brother James in their plot, so Niang told everyone that Lydia was staying with her at her flat on Magazine Gap Road during Father’s funeral. In actuality, Lydia stayed with James at his flat. My two other brothers and I were put up in a small hotel nearby.

  Throughout the week that I was in Hong Kong, I believed that Lydia was staying at my stepmother’s flat. By obeying Niang’s commands and keeping Lydia’s lodging place during that period a secret from me, James was forced into playing their vicious and soul-destroying game. Worse than that, he had to involve his wife, his children, and his servants in the falsehood.

  I only found out the truth years later, from Niang’s two live-in maids, who assured me that Lydia never stayed with Niang while she was in Hong Kong. The knowledge saddened me greatly. I asked them to speculate why Niang resorted to such lengths to involve James in perpetuating so meaningless a lie.

  They said, “Min xiu zhan dao, an du Chen Cang! ‘Ostensibly repairing the plank roads, in actuality crossing via Chen Cang!’”

  It must have sounded pretty harmless and trivial when Niang first mentioned to James her plans to deceive me. My poor brother probably had no idea that Niang and Lydia were in the midst of hatching an elaborate fan jian ji, a “plot to sow discord and create enmity.” By including James in their fraudulent conspiracy, not only did they drag James down to their level, they also managed to destroy the trust between my brother and me.

  CHAPTER 16

  The Heart of the People Belongs to Han

  Ren Xin Gui Han

  Although I lived the first fourteen years of my life in China, my teenage and adult years were spent in England and America. From time to time I have been asked, “Do you still consider yourself Chinese?” Also, “What is the essence of being Chinese?”

  The truth is that when I am among Americans (such as my Chinese-American husband, Bob, who was born and bred in America) and conversing in English, I feel American. But when I am among Chinese people and speaking Chinese, I feel Chinese.

  Concepts are expressed by words. If certain English words are absent in Chinese, it follows that the concept expressed by those English words will be absent in China, and vice versa. The language we speak, therefore, affects our thoughts and reasoning.

  My grandfather spent the last three years of his life living with my parents in Hong Kong. Since he could not speak the local Cantonese dialect, he spent most of his time reading. He read the newspaper regularly, but outside of that his reading gradually became limited to only three books: the I Ching, Shiji, and the Chinese dictionary.

  Once I asked him why he restricted his reading to these three particular books. Looking at me thoughtfully, he replied, “I used to read widely, but nowadays I’ve lost all interest in reading fiction or make-believe. Maybe it has something to do with my age. Only true events happening to real people interest me anymore. That is why I read the newspaper. As for books, I consult the I Ching whenever I need help in making difficult decisions. I study the dictionary if I don’t know a certain word. But I read Shiji because it is the foundation of China’s civilization and culture. For me personally, these three books define the essence of being Chinese.”

  Although Liu Bang was able to alienate Xiang Yu from his adviser, Old Man Fan, by the clever use of a fan jian ji, a “plot to sow discord and create enmity,” he continued to be dominated militarily by Xiang Yu in the south. Meanwhile, General in Chief Hahn Xin was fighting Scholar-General Chen Yu for supremacy on a separate front in the north.

  Chen Yu and Zhang Er were both Confucian scholars from the state of Wei. After the First Emperor annexed Wei in 226 B.C.E., the two scholars joined a secret society aimed at restoring the deposed aristocrats and resurrecting the banned teachings of Confucius. The Qin authorities placed a price on their heads. They fled to Chu and disguised themselves as watchmen. During this period, although Chen Yu was much younger than Zhang Er, the two developed wen jing zhi jiao, “a friendship so close that they would risk having their throats cut rather than betray each other.”

  When the frontier guards revolted in 209 B.C.E., the two friends went north and joined the revolution in Zhao. They established a scion of the old ruling family of Zhao, named Zhao Xie, to be King of Zhao.

  After Treasurer Zhang Han killed Fourth Uncle Xiang Liang and defeated his army, he turned his attention northward toward the state of Zhao. King Zhao Xie fled with Scholar-General Zhang Er to the city of Julu, where they were besieged by the Qin army. However, Scholar-General Chen Yu happened to be away at that time with a force of 50,000 men. Zhang Er repeatedly asked Chen Yu to come to their rescue, but Chen Yu did
not do so. As a result, the two friends had a falling-out. Eventually, Xiang Yu relieved the siege by routing the Qin army at the battle of Julu. Chen Yu then wrote the famous letter to Treasurer Zhang Han that convinced the Qin commander to defect to Xiang Yu, thereby leading to the downfall of Qin.

  Soon after their victory at Julu, Zhang Er followed Xiang Yu when the latter marched triumphantly into Xianyang. Feeling bereft because his contribution toward the war effort had not been sufficiently appreciated, Chen Yu left in a huff and went fishing. Perhaps because of Chen Yu’s absence at this critical juncture, Xiang Yu made Zhang Er the new King of Zhao but gave Chen Yu only three small counties to govern when he divided the empire. Chen Yu was so insulted that he “borrowed” troops from the rebellious King Rong of the state of Qi to attack his erstwhile friend Zhang Er. After defeating Zhang Er on the battlefield, Chen Yu further defied Xiang Yu by welcoming back the former Zhao Xie as King of Zhao.

  Driven from his throne, Zhang Er fled. Instead of turning to Xiang Yu for justice, however, he decided that Liu Bang had the better future. He betrayed his former benefactor by beheading Xiang Yu’s relative Xiang Ying and presenting his head to Liu Bang as a gift. The latter was delighted and immediately gave Zhang Er refuge. The two got along so well that Liu Bang betrothed his daughter to Zhang Er’s son. Liu Bang then sent Zhang Er north to help General in Chief Hahn Xin launch a battle against Chen Yu for Zhao.

  As General Hahn Xin’s forces neared Zhao, a scholar named Li approached Chen Yu and advised, “There is an old saying that ‘when food has to be transported over great distances, troops run the risk of getting nothing to eat; when wood has to be chopped on the run for cooking, soldiers’ stomachs will be half empty.’

  “General Hahn’s army has to travel a long distance over wild and mountainous terrain in order to reach us here in Jinjing. The roads are rough and difficult even for horses, let alone chariots. After a couple of hundred miles, their food carts are bound to fall behind. I beg Your Highness to ‘lend’ me 30,000 troops. I will take a shortcut, slice off their food carts, and destroy them. Meanwhile, Your Highness will remain safe behind your fortress. No matter how much they provoke you, simply stay within your barracks and do not engage them in battle. After a few days of hunger, they will face the terrible dilemma of not knowing whether to advance or retreat.

  “When they do turn back, our troops will await them on their route and ambush them. This way, they will not be able to forage for food from our countryside and fight a protracted guerrilla war. I predict that within ten days I will be able to present you with the heads of General Hahn and Zhang Er on a plate.”

  Scholar-General Chen Yu prided himself as a Confucianist, high-minded and righteous. Even in battle, he despised subterfuge and believed in honor. So he said, “It is written in the Art of War, ‘If you outnumber the enemy ten to one, surround them. If you outnumber the enemy two to one, fight them.’ Although General Hahn claims to command an army of tens of thousands, in reality I think the number is closer to a few thousand. Besides, they come to us after having traveled a great distance and must be exhausted. If we don’t fight them while their numbers are small and they are tired, how will we cope when their main army arrives in full force? Besides, if I hide within my barracks and avoid combat, the nobles from all the other states will perceive Zhao as being weak and vulnerable and might even send troops to invade us themselves.”

  General Hahn sent spies to gather military information in advance and was delighted to hear that Chen Yu was going to tackle them head-on without subterfuge. About nine miles from the city of Jinjing, Hahn ordered his troops to encamp for the night.

  At midnight, General Hahn alerted his troops. He selected 2000 light cavalrymen and issued to each a red Han flag. (Red was the color chosen by Liu Bang to be the symbol of Han.) He led them up a mountainous path to the back of the Zhao barracks, hid them behind bushes, and bade them to watch secretly the movement of the Zhao troops. He cautioned them and said, “When Chen Yu sees our army retreating, he will order his troops to leave their camp en masse to pursue us. Take that opportunity to rush into their barracks. Remove all the Zhao flags and hoist our red Han flags instead.”

  Then he ordered that food boxes be prepared and issued to the soldiers, telling his officers, “Spread the word to the men that we will meet after defeating the Zhao army and eat our dinner together this evening at leisure.”

  None of General Hahn’s officers believed him because they knew themselves to be outnumbered. At that time, General Hahn had barely 30,000 soldiers, whereas Chen Yu had 200,000, a ratio of six and a half to one. To humor their commander, they all nodded and said, “Yes!”

  General Hahn deployed 10,000 troops halfway down the slope and arrayed them with their backs against the river. The Zhao forces watched from above and laughed at their manifest stupidity. Hahn’s men then unfurled a series of tall red flags and hoisted them as they marched up the hill toward the Zhao barracks, accompanied by the beating of military drums. About half of the Zhao army came out, and the two sides fought.

  After a while, General Hahn and Zhang Er pretended to abandon their drums and flags on the ground while ordering a retreat to the riverbank. Hoping for a quick victory, the Zhao army followed in hot pursuit, and the two sides fought again by the river.

  Seeing General Hahn’s drums and red flags littering the slope and expecting a rout, the rest of the Zhao army rushed out of its camp in full force to join the chase and hunt for war trophies.

  As soon as General Hahn’s hidden cavalrymen saw the mass exodus of the Zhao army, they galloped into the Zhao barracks and replaced the Zhao flags with 2000 red Han flags.

  Noon arrived. They had fought for many hours and were at a stand-still. The Zhao army was ordered to turn back. It was only then that they discovered the walls of their barracks covered with Han’s red flags fluttering in the autumn breeze. The Zhao troops were greatly alarmed, suspecting that Han had somehow already won the battle and taken their leaders captive. A panic ensued, and they trampled over one another as they rushed to escape.

  Taking advantage of the confusion, General Hahn ordered a massive attack, which completely routed the terror-stricken Zhao army. Chen Yu was beheaded, and King Zhao Xie was captured.

  Having heard of Li’s reputation for wisdom, General Hahn gave the order that Chen Yu’s adviser, Li, was to be taken alive. The soldiers were told that whoever delivered Adviser Li unharmed would be given a reward of a thousand pieces of gold. Soon Li was brought in front of him.

  General Hahn unbound Li’s fetters himself and invited him to sit in the seat of honor facing east while he himself sat facing west. Many officers came forward to present their captives as well as various enemies’ heads. After rendering their congratulations, one of them asked, “In the Art of War, it states that the most advantageous position for an army is to have mountains to the right rear and rivers or marshland to the left front. Yet this time you ordered us to fight with our backs to the water. You also predicted that victory would be ours by dinnertime. Please tell us your reasoning.”

  General Hahn replied, “It’s all written in the Art of War. You haven’t noticed it, that’s all. The book says, Zhi zhi si di er hou sheng! ‘Confront a man with the danger of death, and he will fight to live.’ I placed all of you in a life-threatening situation with your backs against the river to motivate you. If you had had an easy escape route, the temptation of flight would have been on your mind constantly and you would not have fought so valiantly.”

  General Hahn now turned to Li and asked, “I would like to turn north and attack Yan, then go east and conquer Qi. How should I go about it?”

  Li replied, “An officer from a defeated army should no longer claim bravery. A minister from a conquered nation should not cherish high hopes. Here I am, your prisoner! How dare I discuss matters of import with you, my conqueror?”

  General Hahn said, “I have heard of a man in ancient times who, while he was working as a minister in
Yu, Yu was conquered. But when he became a minister in Qin, Qin prospered. This was not because the same man was stupid in Yu and suddenly turned smart in Qin. It’s a question of whether he was used or not used by his king and his ideas adopted or denied. If Chen Yu had embraced the strategy that you advised, then I would probably be your captive today. It’s only because he rejected your suggestions that I am given the chance to be your student. Please believe that I am entirely sincere in wishing to learn from you.”

  Li replied, “Although it is true that zhi zhe qian lu, bi you yi shi, ‘the wisest among us are not always free from error,’ yu zhe qian lu, bi you yi de, ‘yet even a fool sometimes hits on a good idea.’ Kuang fu zhi yan, sheng ren ze yan, ‘learned men have said that the ranting and raving of a madman is sometimes appropriate.’

  “Notwithstanding the fact that my stratagem may not be suitable, through it I wish to express to you my gratitude and loyalty.

  “As for Chen Yu, I once placed in his hands a war plan that would have worked a hundred out of a hundred times. But he rejected it. The result is that he lost the war within the short time of one single morning and paid for it with his life.

  “Regarding Your Highness, today I saw you vanquish 200,000 Zhao soldiers with only 30,000 of your own. In spite of your great victory, however, your soldiers may be tired. Should you attack Yan just now, you might not be successful even after a long and protracted siege. Those who are skilled at war should never use weakness to attack strength, but always use strength to attack weakness.”

  General Hahn asked, “So what should I do?”

  “In my opinion,” Li replied, “you should give your officers and men a period of rest and relaxation. Govern Zhao benevolently. Nurture and tend to Zhao’s orphans and children. When you do this, the people will welcome you with wines and meats and other sumptuous foods. Reward your soldiers liberally and console the wounded. Only when they are well rested should you turn north toward Yan.