Three Kingdoms

by Luo Guanzhong (Moss Roberts trans. )

  The next day Zhang Fei advanced and Zhang He met him. After some ten clashes Zhang He fled, and Zhang Fei pursued with cavalry and infantry. Zhang He fought and ran, on and off, drawing Zhang Fei past the hill where his men lay in wait. Zhang He then turned his force around, making the rear the front, and staked out positions for another battle with Fei, counting on his two wings to surround Zhang Fei. But Zhang He did not know that his troops were trapped in the gorge by the fiery carts and the smoky, blinding fires that spread out from them. Zhang Fei pressed his charge, crushing Zhang He, who, fighting now for his life, cut his way through to Wakou Pass. He collected his defeated troops there and did not emerge from his stronghold again.

  Zhang Fei and Wei Yan, unable to subdue He's position, gave up and retired twenty li. Scouting the surrounding paths with Wei Yan, Fei spied a few men and women with bundles on their backs, clambering along the hill by clutching vines. On horseback, Fei pointed them out to Wei Yan with his whip and said, "Those people are the means to take Wakou Pass." He instructed his men: "Don't scare them. Gently call them before me." The soldiers did so. Fei reassured the travelers and asked why they had come there. The civilians replied, "We are people of Hanzhong, trying to return to our village. We heard that heavy fighting in the area had closed the highway, so we crossed Blue Stream and followed the Zitong Range and the Guijin River into Hanzhong to get back home." Zhang Fei asked, "How far is it down this road to Wakou Pass?" They responded, "There's a small road by the Zitong Range that takes you behind the pass." Delighted, Zhang Fei brought the travelers into his camp and gave them food and drink. He told Wei Yan, "Go down and attack the pass, while I take some light cavalry and hit from the back." He ordered the civilians to lead the way, and he set out with five hundred riders.

  Zhang He despaired of rescue. When Wei Yan's assault at the front of the pass was reported, Zhang He donned his battle gear, mounted, and was about to descend when the attack on the rear was reported: "There are fires in four or five places behind the pass, and soldiers are approaching who cannot be identified." Zhang He turned to meet them. Where their flags parted, he saw Zhang Fei. Astonished, Zhang He fled by a side path; but his horse was spent, and Zhang Fei was closing in. Zhang He quit the horse and escaped uphill on foot. With barely ten men accompanying him, Zhang He made his way back to Nanzheng and there presented himself to Cao Hong.

  Enraged at seeing Zhang He return with only ten soldiers, Cao Hong cried, "I told you not to go. On the strength of your pledge, I let you go. Now you've destroyed an army. But you're still alive! What else do you want to do?" Cao Hong ordered Zhang He executed. Acting Army Major Guo Huai protested, "An army is easy to get, a general hard to find, as they say. Despite his offense, Zhang He stands high in the king's favor. He cannot be killed. Give him another five thousand men to take Jiameng Pass, contain Liu Bei's troops, and secure Hanzhong. If he fails, he can be doubly punished." Cao Hong approved and sent Zhang He to the pass with five thousand soldiers.

  The defending commanders, Meng Da and Huo Jun, disagreed on how to meet Zhang He's impending attack. Huo Jun wanted a strict defense, but Meng Da was for combat. He descended from the pass alone, therefore, and engaged, only to return badly defeated. Huo Jun sent an urgent petition to Chengdu, and Xuande summoned his director general for advice. Kongming gathered the commanders in the hall and said, "Jiameng Pass is in dire difficulty. We need to recall Zhang Fei from Langzhong to drive back Zhang He." Fa Zheng said, "Zhang Fei is posted at Wakou. From there he controls Langzhong, a strategic region. We cannot recall him. We will have to choose among the generals here." Kongming smiled. "Zhang He," he said, "is one of Wei's most renowned generals. No one but Zhang Fei will do." But a man stepped forward and said in an arresting tone, "Director! Do you make light of us all? Though I have no talent, I beg the chance to deliver Zhang He's head to your door."

  All eyes turned to the veteran general Huang Zhong. Kongming said, "You are brave enough, but you may be too old to take on Zhang He." At these words, Huang Zhong, white beard bristling, replied, "Yes, I am old. But these two arms can still pull a three-hundred-pound bow. And my body has a thousand pounds of strength! Do you think I can't deal with a commonplace like Zhang He?" "General, you are nearly seventy," Kongming responded. Huang Zhong raced down from the hall, seized a great sword from its scabbard, and wheeled it round and round. Then he took stiff bows hanging on the wall and drew them till two of them snapped. Kongming said, "General, if you go, who will be your lieutenant?" "Let the veteran Yan Yan come with me," Huang Zhong replied, "and if anything goes wrong, you can have this white head!" Xuande was delighted and sent the two old warriors off to do battle with Zhang He. Zhao Zilong objected: "Zhang He has come himself to attack the pass. The director general should not play children's games. Losing this position will imperil the Riverlands. Why let two old generals go against so strong a foe?" "You think they are too advanced in years to do the job?" asked Kongming. "I predict it is they who will bring Hanzhong into our hands." Smirking broadly, Zhao Zilong and the others left the meeting.

  When Meng Da and Huo Jun saw Huang Zhong and Yan Yan coming to the pass, they laughed inwardly at Kongming's ill-chosen commanders. "Why send those two old ones to such a crucial point?" they thought. Huang Zhong said to Yan Yan, "You can see from the way they're acting, they are scoffing at our age. Let us achieve a striking victory now and conquer their doubts!" "I am yours to command," Yan Yan replied, and the two men decided on their plan.

  Huang Zhong led his men down from the pass and deployed them in opposition to Zhang He's. Zhang He issued forth and laughed at Huang Zhong, saying, "A man of your years and not ashamed to take the field?" Stung to fury, Huang Zhong replied, "A stripling like you mocks my years? The sword in my hand is not too old!" Slapping his horse, Huang Zhong raced forward, and the two warriors closed. After some twenty clashes shouts arose behind Zhang He: Yan Yan had quietly worked his way to the rear of Zhang He's army. Squeezed between two armies, Zhang He was defeated and driven some eighty li away; Huang Zhong and Yan Yan regrouped, and both sides held to their camps.

  Cao Hong wanted Zhang He to answer for this latest defeat. But Guo Huai warned, "You will only force him to join the west. Send a commander to assist him and keep an eye on him so he won't think of defecting." Cao Hong approved and sent Xiahou Dun's nephew, Xiahou Shang, and Han Hao, younger brother of the surrendered general Han Xuan. Shang and Hao took five thousand troops to aid Zhang He. When the two rescuers reached the camp, Zhang He told them: "The veteran Huang Zhong is a great hero, and he has the assistance of Yan Yan. We cannot take them lightly." Han Hao said, "I sa Huang Zhong's ferocity in Changsha. After he and Yan Yan delivered our territory to Xuande, they murdered my older brother. Now that we meet again, I will have my revenge!" Hao and Shang advanced from their fort.

  It so happened that Huang Zhong, after several days' patrolling, had learned the roads and pathways. Yan Yan said to him, "Over that way is Mount Tiandang, Cao Cao's grain and fodder depot. If we can take the position and cut off their supply, Hanzhong will be ours." "My thought exactly," replied Huang Zhong. "Here's how we'll do it." In accordance with their plan, Yan Yan led away a detachment.

  Huang Zhong marched forth to meet Xiahou Shang and Han Hao. Hao, standing before his lines, denounced Huang Zhong: "Faithless old traitor!" he cried and rode for his man, spear poised. Xiahou Shang followed to catch Huang Zhong in a pincer. Zhong fought the two commanders mightily, joining with each in ten clashes. Then he fled. Shang and Hao pursued him more than twenty li and seized his fortifications. Zhong established a bivouac. The next day Shang and Hao gave chase again. Again Huang Zhong met them and fell back after a few clashes. The two chased him another twenty li, seized his campsite and called on Zhang He to defend the one captured the day before.

  When they were together, Zhang He warned, "Huang Zhong has been in retreat two days in a row. There's a trick in this somewhere." Xiahou Shang berated Zhang He. "It takes a coward to lose so many battles. Say no more no
w and watch us make our names!" Flushed with embarrassment, Zhang He withdrew.

  The next day the battle resumed. Huang Zhong again retreated twenty li. The two commanders followed his track. The day after that, Huang Zhong retreated all the way to the pass and steadfastly refused to show himself. The two commanders pitched camp there. Meng Da secretly notified Xuande of Huang Zhong's situation. Xuande was disturbed and turned to Kongming. "This is merely the old general's trick to make the enemy overconfident," the adviser said. But Zhao Zilong and the others refused to believe it, and Xuande sent Liu Feng to the pass to support Huang Zhong. When Feng arrived, Huang Zhong said, "What do you mean, young general, by coming to 'help' me?" Feng replied, "My father sent me because of your recent defeats." Huang Zhong smiled. "I am only trying to make them overconfident. In tonight's engagement I shall recover all my camps and take the supplies and horses they've put there. The camps are 'on loan' for them to restock! Tonight leave Huo Jun guarding the pass. General Meng Da can help me move the supplies and horses. And you, young general, can watch me break the foe."

  During the second watch Huang Zhong opened the barriers and raced down with five thousand men toward Xiahou Shang and Han Hao, who had grown lax watching the closed pass day after day. When Huang Zhong burst upon them, the two generals fled for their lives before their men could don armor or saddle a horse. In the stampede that ensued, the defenders killed many of their own. By dawn Huang Zhong had recaptured his three camps, and he transported the weapons, saddles, and horses acquired to Jiameng Pass.

  Huang Zhong pressed his pursuit of the defeated army, refusing Liu Feng's plea that he rest. ' "To get the cubs, go to the tiger's lair,' they say," Huang Zhong replied and took the lead. His soldiers pushed forward. Now the retreating units of the two northern commanders barged into Zhang He's own troops, forcing them out of their positions and sweeping them into the rearward flight, which took them to the shore of the River Han. All the camps and barricades were left to Huang Zhong.

  Zhang He sought out Xiahou Shang and Han Hao and said to them, "We are near Mount Tiandang, our grain and fodder depot. Moreover, it connects to Mount Micang, another storage point. These are the lifelines of our troops in Hanzhong. If we lose them, we lose Hanzhong. We must think of a way to protect them." Xiahou Shang answered, "My uncle, Xiahou Yuan, has part of his force guarding Micang, which is adjacent to Dingjun Mountain.2 No need to worry. And my older brother Xiahou De is defending Tiandang. We should go there and help defend it." Zhang He and the two commanders subsequently went to Tiandang and told Xiahou De what had happened. "I have one hundred thousand men here," Xiahou De said. "Use them to retake your positions." But Zhang He said, "It would be better to maintain the defense and take no imprudent action." At that moment the air was filled with gongs and drums announcing the arrival of Huang Zhong's army.

  Xiahou De laughed loudly and said, "That old thief is no master of tactics. He relies on courage alone." But Zhang He answered him, "He plans well; he is more than a brave general." "It's hardly good planning for him to take troops fatigued from a long trek straight into battle," said Xiahou De. "Still," cautioned Zhang He, "it's better for us to defend than engage." Han Hao broke in, "Give me three thousand crack troops and victory will be almost certain." Xiahou De detailed the men, and Han Hao descended the mountain.

  Huang Zhong deployed his troops to receive the attack. Liu Feng objected. "The sun has set," he said, "and the troops are weary from the long march. Shouldn't we rest a while?" "Not at all!" said Huang Zhong. "Heaven is handling us a rare victory; not to take it would offend Heaven itself!" So saying, he had the drums roll and the army move. Han Hao advanced for the battle. Whirling his sword, Huang Zhong raced for Han Hao, cutting him down in a single encounter. The soldiers from the west charged up the mountain. Zhang He and Xiahou Shang met them. Shouts went up, flames jumped skyward, and everything turned red. Xiahou De came to put out the fires, but he was accosted by the veteran general Yan Yan, who dispatched him with one swift stroke.

  Earlier, Huang Zhong had had Yan Yan conceal men to await Zhang He's arrival. They put piles of branches and hay to the torch so that fierce flames stretched upward, illuminating hill and dale. After killing Xiahou De, Yan Yan came on from behind the mountain. Zhang He and Xiahou Shang, in utter disarray, had to abandon Mount Tiandang; they dashed headlong for Dingjun Mountain, which Xiahou Yuan then controlled. Huang Zhong and Yan Yan fortified Mount Tiandang and reported the victory to Chengdu.

  Xuande gathered his commanders to celebrate the news. Fa Zheng said, "Previously, Cao Cao gained Hanzhong by Zhang Lu's surrender. But he failed to use his advantage to complete the conquest of the Riverlands—the Ba and Shu regions—only leaving two generals to hold Hanzhong while he took the main army back to the capital. What a blunder that was! Now we have our chance—with Zhang He defeated and Mount Tiandang in our hands—for Your Lordship personally to lead a major offensive and conquer Hanzhong. After that we can drill our men, husband our grain, and keep alert for any opportunity to bring the traitor to justice; we can also retreat and protect our position. Let us not pass up a moment vouchsafed by Heaven." Xuande and Kongming approved this suggestion strongly and ordered Zhao Zilong and Zhang Fei to take the vanguard. Xuande and Kongming led an army of one hundred thousand and picked the day to conquer Hanzhong. Orders circulated throughout the territory to remain on alert.

  It was the twenty-third year of Jian An (a.d. 218); on an auspicious day in the seventh month Xuande's army came out of Jiameng Pass and established its camps. Huang Zhong and Yan Yan were summoned and richly rewarded. Others said you were too old, "Xuande said," but the director general knew what you could do. Now you have rendered an extraordinary service. All the enemy has is Dingjun, which screens Nanzheng and holds their grain and fodder. If we take Dingjun Mountain, we will face no threat all the way to Yangping. General, are you game for another campaign? "

  Huang Zhong was eager to take up his lord's challenge, but Kongming checked him. "Veteran general, though you are brave and brilliant, Xiahou Yuan is nothing like Zhang He. He is versed in the ways of war and wise in military movements. Cao Cao used him as a buffer against Xiliang. First, Yuan stationed his men in Chang'an and drove back Ma Chao; now his army is firmly planted in Hanzhong. Cao trusts his generalship above all others'. Your victory over Zhang He does not portend another over Xiahou Yuan. I think we should consider sending a man to Jingzhou to substitute for General Guan and bring Guan back before we go into battle." Indignantly, Huang Zhong retorted, "At eighty years of age, Lian Po, the famous veteran of Zhao, ate a bushel of grain and ten pounds of meat each day. The feudal lords feared him so much that none dared breach the borders of his state. And what of me? Not yet seventy. You say I am old, Director General. This time I am not taking a lieutenant commander, just my own corps of three thousand; and I'll deliver Xiahou Yuan's head to your command post." Kongming remained unyielding, but Huang Zhong insisted on going. Finally, Kongming said, "Since you are determined, General, let me send a military superviser with you. Agreed?" Indeed:

  Even a great general has to be stirred;

  A youth may not compare to the man of years.

  Whom did Kongming send to help Huang Zhong?

  Read on.

  71

  Huang Zhong's Fresh Fighters Conquer a Fatigued Foe;

  Zhao Zilong's Few Overcome Many

  "Since you are determined to do battle with Xiahou Yuan," Kongming told Huang Zhong, "I will have Fa Zheng back you up. Work out every angle of the campaign with him before you start. I will follow with reinforcements." To these conditions Huang Zhong agreed; then he set out with Fa Zheng.

  "One really has to stir up the old general before he will accomplish anything," Kongming explained to Xuande. "But this time support troops will be needed." He instructed Zhao Zilong: "Take a brigade along the side roads and reinforce him. But stay put unless Huang Zhong is being defeated." Next, Kongming gave orders to Liu Feng and Meng Da: "Take three thousand troops and co
ver the key points in the mountains. Plant plenty of flags and banners to impress and intimidate the enemy." The three—Zhao Zilong, Liu Feng, and Meng Da—departed to carry out their orders. Kongming also sent a man to Ma Chao with certain instructions. Finally, he sent Yan Yan to defend key points in Baxi and Langzhong and to relieve Zhang Fei and Wei Yan so they could join in the conquest of Hanzhong.1

  Zhang He and Xiahou Shang went to Xiahou Yuan and confessed, "Mount Tiandang is lost, Xiahou De and Han Hao have been killed. Liu Bei himself is said to be leading an army to Hanzhong. We must petition the king of Wei at once for fresh forces to meet this threat." Xiahou Yuan notified Cao Hong, who raced to the capital and presented the news to Cao Cao. Cao hurriedly gathered his counselors to discuss sending troops to save Hanzhong. Liu Ye, one of his chief advisers, said, "If Hanzhong is lost, the northern heartland will be shaken. Your Highness must accept the heavy responsibility of leading the campaign yourself." Cao Cao responded ruefully, "This is what I get for not heeding your advice to complete the conquest of the Riverlands," and ordered four hundred thousand men put under his personal command.