Three Kingdoms

by Luo Guanzhong (Moss Roberts trans. )

  To this Kongming replied, "Cao Cao commands a million-man host and acts in the name of the Emperor, yet he causes us no concern. Do you expect us to fear a little boy like Zhou Yu? If it's a bit of face you're afraid of losing, I can have Lord Liu give it to you in writing that we are borrowing the province as our temporary base, and that once Lord Liu has completed his arrangements for taking another, he will return Jingzhou to the Southland. What do you think of that?" "What place do you expect to take over?" Lu Su wanted to know. "The north," Kongming replied, "is too unsettled for us to have hopes there. But the western province of the Riverlands, Yizhou, has in Liu Zhang a governor both foolish and weak. That's where Lord Liu is setting his sights. If we succeed, we will return Jingzhou."

  Lu Su had to accept this arrangement. Xuande personally wrote out the document and affixed his seal. And Zhuge Kongming affixed his own, saying, "Since I am in the service of the imperial uncle, it hardly suffices for me to act as guarantor. May we trouble you, sir, to sign as well? I think it will look better when you see Lord Sun again." "I doubt," replied Lu Su, "that a man of humanity and honor like the imperial uncle would betray his commitment." With that, he added his seal and gathered up the document.

  The banquet ended, Lu Su bade his hosts good-bye. Xuande and Kongming escorted him to the water's edge. Kongming left him with this parting admonition: "When you see Lord Sun, speak well of us—and do not get any strange ideas. If our document is not accepted, we'll show a different face and your eighty-one townships will be lost. Both sides need good relations or the traitor Cao will make fools of us all." Lu Su made his good-byes and climbed into his boat.

  He traveled first to Chaisang to see Zhou Yu. "Well, how did you make out with our claim to Jingzhou?" Zhou Yu asked. "I have the document right here," Lu Su replied, handing it to Zhou Yu. Zhou Yu stamped his foot and cried, "So he's fooled you again! In name he borrows the province; in reality he's reneged. They say they'll give it back when they take the Riverlands. And when will that be? In ten years? Does that mean they'll keep Jingzhou for ten years? A document like this—what use is it? And you actually countersigned it! You will be implicated if they don't return it. Should our lord take offense, then what?" Zhou Yu's words left Lu Su numb. After a time he said, "I don't think Xuande will sell me out." "Oh, what a sincere soul you are," Zhou Yu exclaimed. "Liu Bei is a crafty old owl, and Zhuge Liang a sly and wily sort. They don't think the way you do." "Then what shall we do?" asked Lu Su. "You are my benefactor," Zhou Yu answered, "and I shall always remember your kindness in sharing your grain with us. How could I let you suffer? Just relax and sit tight for a few days, until our spies bring word from the north. I have something else in mind." But Lu Su's agitation did not subside.

  Several days later spies reported that Jingzhou city—that is, Gong'an—was all decked out with ceremonial flags, that a new burial site was being constructed outside the wall, and that the whole army was in mourning. Surprised by the news, Zhou Yu asked, "Who has died?" "Liu Xuande's wife, Lady Gan," was the reply. "They are arranging the funeral and the interment now." Turning to Lu Su, Zhou Yu said, "I have a plan that will deliver Liu Bei and Jingzhou into our hands with no effort at all." "What is that?" asked Lu Su. "If Liu Bei's wife is dead, he'll need another. Our lord has a younger sister, a tough, brave woman with a retinue of several hundred females who normally carry swords and who have chambers filled full of weapons. She is a woman to outman any man. I am going to propose to our lord that he send a go-between to Jingzhou and convince Liu Bei to marry into the family. When he bites the bait and comes to Nanxu, he'll find himself held prisoner instead of getting married. Then we'll demand Jingzhou in exchange for his release. After they hand over the territory, I'll have further plans. You need not be involved in any way." Lu Su expressed his gratitude.

  Zhou Yu drafted his proposal and put Lu Su on a fast boat for Nanxu. There Su told Sun Quan the result of his mission to Jingzhou and showed him the agreement with Xuande and Kongming. "What a fool you were!" exclaimed Sun Quan. "What good is an agreement like this?" "Chief Commander Zhou sends this proposal," responded Lu Su, handing him the letter, "with which he says we can recover Jingzhou." Sun Quan read it through and nodded, secretly pleased, and began asking himself whom to send as the go-between. The name that sprang to mind was Lü Fan.

  Sun Quan summoned Lü Fan and said to him, "Recently we have had news of the passing of Liu Xuande's wife. I desire to invite him to marry into my family by taking my younger sister to wife. Bound thus in lasting kinship, we can join wholeheartedly in the struggle to defeat Cao Cao and uphold the house of Han. You are my choice for go-between. I count on you to present our case in Jingzhou." Lü Fan accepted the assignment, readied a boat, and, lightly attended, set out.

  Liu Xuande was sorely distressed by the loss of Lady Gan. One day while speaking with Kongming, he was informed of the arrival of Lü Fan from the Southland. Kongming smiled. "Zhou Yu's up to something; he's still after Jingzhou," he said. "I'll just step behind this screen and listen in. Go along with anything he says, my lord, and when he is resting up in the guesthouse, we can talk further."

  Xuande invited Lü Fan to enter. Formalities completed, they took their places. After tea had been served, Xuande asked, "Well, what have you come to tell us?" "Imperial Uncle, I heard recently," Lü Fan began, "that Lady Gan's demise has left you a widower. Now, I have the perfect match for you, and even at the risk of arousing your mistrust have come to arrange it. May I ask your own wishes in this matter?" "To lose a wife in one's middle age is a great misfortune," replied Xuande. "I could not bear to talk about marriage, with my late wife still warm in her grave." "A man without a spouse," said Lü Fan, "is a house without a beam. One cannot abandon this fundamental relationship in mid-life. My lord has a younger sister, a woman both beautiful and worthy, who can 'serve you with dustpan and broom.' If the two houses of Sun and Liu ally through matrimony as the ancient states of Qin and Jin once did, the traitor Cao will never again dream of confronting the south. Such a union would benefit both families and both states. Please do not mistrust us, Imperial Uncle. The only thing is, the queen mother, Lady Wu, dotes on her youngest and is loath to send her away. We must request that the imperial uncle come to the Southland instead."

  To this proposal Xuande replied, "Has Lord Sun been informed of this?" "Would I dare speak to you on my own without first presenting the idea to Lord Sun?" Lü Fan replied. "I am already fifty," said Xuande. "My temples are streaked with white. Lord Sun's sister is but a young woman, barely nubile. I wonder if she's the right mate for me." "Although still a girl," Lü Fan answered, "Lord Sun's sister has more strength of will than a man. She has often said, T will marry only a true hero.' Imperial Uncle, you are known in the four corners of the realm. This is the ideal match of 'the comely lass and the goodly man.'4 Why raise questions because of disparity in age?" "Remain with us a while," Xuande said, "and I will sleep on it."

  That day a banquet was laid out, and Lü Fan was received in the guesthouse. In the evening Xuande consulted Kongming, who said, "I already know what he's here for, and I have divined great good fortune and prosperity from the Book of Changes. So, my lord, you may give your assent. But first have Sun Qian return with Lü Fan to confirm the agreement with Lord Sun face-to-face. Then we can select an auspicious day for the marriage." "Zhou Yu plans to murder me," responded Xuande. "How can I walk lightly into this trap?" Kongming gave a hearty laugh and said, "I doubt if he can outwit me. I have a little 'plan' of my own to make sure Zhou Yu gets nowhere while you make Sun Quan's sister your wife without the slightest risk to Jingzhou." Kongming's boast left Xuande bewildered.

  At Kongming's behest Sun Qian accompanied Lü Fan south and presented himself before Sun Quan for the purpose of sealing the marriage alliance. "It is my desire," Sun Quan began, "to welcome Xuande here as my sister's groom. In this we are utterly sincere." Sun Qian bowed down and expressed thanks. He then returned to Jingzhou and declared to Xuande, "The lord of the Southland
expectantly awaits Your Lordship's arrival that you may join his family through marriage." Xuande remained hesitant to go. Kongming said to him, "I have settled upon three stratagems, but only Zilong can carry them out." He called Zhao Zilong and whispered a few confidential words: "I leave our lord in your care when you enter the Southland. Take these three brocade sacks. Each contains a useful scheme. Use them in the correct order." Zhao Zilong secreted the sacks on his person. Kongming had already sent an envoy ahead with gifts; everything was ready.

  It was the fourteenth year of Jian An (a.d. 209), winter, the tenth month. Xuande, together with Zhao Zilong and Sun Qian, selected ten swift vessels and five hundred followers to accompany them to Nanxu. All affairs in Jingzhou were left in Kongming's hands.

  Xuande was unable to compose himself. As they reached Nanxu and his boat came along shore, Zilong said, "It is time to read the first of the director general's stratagems." He opened the first brocade sack and read the enclosed instructions, then gave certain orders to the five hundred warriors, who left to carry out their assignments. After that, Zilong suggested Xuande pay his respects to State Elder Qiao, the father of the two eminent ladies Qiao, who resided in Nanxu.5 Xuande got ready sheep and wine, went to the home of the respected elder, and explained the nature of his visit. His guard of five hundred, gaily clad in red, covered Nanxu, purchasing various articles and spreading the news that there would be a new son-in-law in the house of Sun. Soon everyone in the city knew of the affair. Learning of Xuande's arrival, Sun Quan had Lü Fan entertain him and provide for his comfort in the guesthouse.

  State Elder Qiao, after receiving Xuande, went at once to offer his congratulations to the state mother, Lady Wu. "And what would be the occasion?" she asked. "Your beloved daughter has been promised to Liu Xuande. He has already arrived," he said. "Are you trying to fool me?" the state mother said in surprise. "No one told me!" She called for Sun Quan so that she could question him. At this time a man she had sent into town to learn what he could reported back: "The rumor is true. The prospective son-in-law is presently resting in the guesthouse, and five hundred of his soldiers are all over town buying up pigs and sheep and fruit in preparation for the marriage feast.6 The go-between on our side is Lü Fan, on theirs Sun Qian. Both of them are being entertained in the guesthouse." The news astonished Lady Wu.

  When Sun Quan came to see his mother in her private quarters, she was beating her breast and weeping. "What is the matter, Mother?" Quan asked. "So this is how you regard me," she sobbed, "as a thing of no consequence. Have you forgotten my elder sister's last injunction?" Startled by this outburst, Sun Quan responded, "Speak plainly, Mother. Why are you so distressed?" She replied, "When a man is grown, he must take a wife; and a woman, when grown, must be married. This is how things have been done since most ancient times. I am your mother. For such an event my approval should have been sought first. How could you invite Liu Xuande to join our family behind my back? She is my daughter!" Sun Quan, taken aback, demanded, "What are you saying?" "'If you don't want it known, don't let it happen!' The whole city knows, and you're still trying to fool me!" Lady Wu exclaimed. Then State Elder Qiao spoke: "I myself learned of it many days ago. I came here to congratulate the state mother." "You've got it all wrong!" cried Sun Quan in despair. "It was a scheme of Zhou Yu's to retake Jingzhou. We used the pretext of a marriage to trick Xuande into coming here so that we could detain him and then trade him back for Jingzhou, or kill him if they refused. That was the plan. There was no actual marriage intended."7

  The state mother, angrier than ever, directed her wrath toward Zhou Yu. "You, chief commander of our six districts and eighty-one townships," she cried, "have no better strategy for recovering Jingzhou than to use my daughter in a 'seduction scheme' that would leave her a widow before she ever was a bride? Who will seek her hand after this? Her life will be ruined. You are all preposterous!" "Even if the scheme succeeded," the state elder Qiao added, "we would be the butt of general ridicule. Such a plot could never work." Sun Quan sat glum and silent.

  The state mother continued her denunciation of Zhou Yu, but State Elder Qiao said, "Since things have progressed as far as they have, let us not forget that Imperial Uncle Liu is after all related to the imperial house. I would advise making the invitation to marry your sister genuine before we make utter fools of ourselves." "But they are so far apart in age," Sun Quan objected. "Imperial Uncle Liu is one of the eminent men of our day," replied Elder Qiao. "To have him marry your sister is no disgrace to her." "I have yet to see the imperial uncle," the state mother interjected. "Arrange for us to meet in the Temple of Sweet Dew8 tomorrow. If he fails to suit me, you are free to do as you like. If he does suit me, I will personally give your sister to him."

  Sun Quan, a man of the deepest filial devotion, quickly assented to his mother's demand. On leaving her presence, he instructed Lü Fan to arrange a banquet in the reception hall of the Temple of Sweet Dew so that the state mother could receive Liu Bei. "We could have Jia Hua hide three hundred men in the flanking corridors," suggested Lü Fan. "At the first sign of Her Grace's displeasure, you would have only to say the word and the soldiers would take Liu Bei and his attendants." On this advice Sun Quan summoned Jia Hua and ordered him to await the state mother's view.

  State Elder Qiao, returning home after his visit with Lady Wu, sent word to Xuande: "Tomorrow Lord Sun and the state mother will receive you personally. Do be careful!" Xuande took counsel with Sun Qian and Zhao Zilong. "This meeting tomorrow," Zilong said, "is more ominous than auspicious. I will take our five hundred guards along."

  On the following day State Mother Wu and State Elder Qiao arrived first at Sweet Dew Temple and took their seats in the abbot's chamber. Sun Quan arrived next, leading a retinue of counselors, and sent Lü Fan to the guesthouse to escort Xuande. Xuande, dressed in light metal armor under a brocade surcoat, was attended closely by his personal guard, swords slung over their shoulders. The party rode with Lü Fan to the temple. Zhao Zilong was in full battle dress at the head of the five hundred guards. They reached the temple and dismounted. Sun Quan received them first and, noting Xuande's extraordinary bearing and appearance, felt a queasy sensation come over him. The two leaders concluded the formalities and entered the abbot's quarters to present themselves before the state mother.

  State Mother Wu was delighted at the sight of Xuande. Turning to State Elder Qiao, she said, "This is the son-in-law for me!" "He has the earmarks of an emperor," he replied.9 "A man, moreover, to combine anew humanity and virtue and manifest them throughout the world. You are truly to be congratulated on acquiring so excellent a son-in-law." Xuande prostrated himself and voiced his thanks. The feast began; Zilong came in presently, armed with a sword, and stood by Xuande. "Who is this?" the state mother asked. "Zhao Zilong of Changshan," replied Xuande. "Not the man who rescued your son, Ah Dou, at Steepslope in Dangyang?" the state mother went on. "Yes it is," Xuande answered. "A good and worthy general," she said, ordering wine for him.

  At this point Zilong said quietly to Xuande, "I was just looking around the hallways and saw armed men hidden in the rooms. They mean us no good. You'd better inform the state mother." Xuande kneeled in front of Lady Wu and tearfully appealed to her: "If you would have me killed, then let it be here." "What are you saying?" she exclaimed. "Armed men are hidden in the corridors," he said, "what other purpose could they have?" The state mother turned wrathfully on Sun Quan and berated him: "Today Xuande has become my son-in-law; that is to say, he is my child. Why have you placed men in ambush in the corridors?" Feigning ignorance, Sun Quan demanded an explanation of Lü Fan, who put the blame on Jia Hua. The state mother summoned Jia Hua, who bore her denunciation in silence. The state mother would have ordered him executed, but Xuande intervened. "To kill a general," he said, "bodes no good to bonds of kinship. I would not be able to serve you as a filial son for long." State Elder Qiao added his own pleas, and Lady Wu relented, dismissing Jia Hua with a sharp rebuke. His armed followers beat a sham
efaced retreat.

  Xuande walked outside to wash his hands. There, in front of the temple hall he saw a large rock. Borrowing a sword from an attendant, he raised his eyes to Heaven and pledged, "If I am to return to Jingzhou and complete my hegemon's mission, let this sword cleave this stone. If I am to die here, let the stone not split." So saying, he struck a blow, and the stone broke apart in a shower of sparks. Sun Quan, who had been observing from behind, asked, "Lord Xuande, what grudge do you bear this stone?''" Though nearly fifty, "Xuande replied," I have failed to purge the dynasty of traitors, a matter of acute distress. Now—honored by the state mother as son-in-law—now is the most fortunate moment of my life. So I put a question to Heaven: if we are to destroy Cao and revive the Han, let the stone crack—and it happened! "Sun Quan mused," Can Liu Bei be trying to put something over on me? "Gripping his own sword, he said," I too shall put a question to Heaven! "But to himself he swore," If I am to regain Jingzhou and if the Southland is to thrive, let the rock split in two. " He brought the sword down upon the giant stone, and it broke again. To this day there remains a Rock of Rue bearing this oath. In later times a poet visiting the site composed these lines in admiration:

  The treasured sword, the rock that split in two,