Liu Feng said to Meng Da, "Uncle Guan is in deep trouble. What can we do?" "The Southland has superb troops and fearless commanders," Meng Da replied. "Moreover, all of Jingzhou now belongs to them. He has only Mai—a pitiful piece of ground. Further, we have heard that Cao Cao has marched to Mopo with four or five hundred thousand. I don't see how our little mountain-town army can do anything about two powerful enemies. We should not risk it." "That makes sense to me," Liu Feng replied. "But Lord Guan is my uncle. I can't sit back and watch without doing something." Meng Da smiled as he replied, "You say you hold him as your uncle, General. I am afraid he does not necessarily hold you as his nephew. I have heard that Lord Guan was awfully upset earlier when the king of Hanzhong adopted you. After the king of Hanzhong formally assumed the kingship, he asked Kongming about the selection of the heir apparent. Kongming said he was reluctant to interfere in family affairs and suggested the king ask Lord Guan and Zhang Fei, so the king sent a man to Jingzhou for Lord Guan's opinion. Lord Guan said that a foster son6 could not rightfully be instated and advised the king to send you to this remote outpost to avoid trouble in the future. This matter is widely known. I am surprised that you know nothing of it. Why should you now run the risk of going to war out of sentimental attachment to 'the bond of uncle and nephew'?"
To this advice Liu Feng responded, "What you say is true, but what excuse can I make?" "Simply tell him," Meng Da answered, "that the town has just become part of our kingdom and we might lose it if we rush into war before the people have fully accepted us." Liu Feng agreed. The next day he summoned Liao Hua and told him: "We have just established ourselves here and cannot spare any troops for the rescue." Liao Hua was astounded. He knocked his head on the ground, crying, "Then my lord is done for!" "Even if we went," Meng Da said to him, "how could one cup of water put out a cartload of burning wood? Return, General, and await patiently the forces of the Riverlands." Liao Hua pressed his appeal passionately. But Liu Feng and Meng Da flicked their sleeves and withdrew. Liao Hua knew the situation was hopeless and decided to appeal to the king of Hanzhong. With a great shout of defiance, then, he left the city and headed for Chengdu.7
In Mai, Lord Guan waited expectantly for relief from Shangyong. But no sign came. Only five or six hundred men remained to him, and most of those had been wounded. A shortage of rations was causing severe suffering. Suddenly a man appeared at the town wall; he called out, "Hold your arrows!" and asked for an audience. Lord Guan ordered the gates opened, and Zhuge Jin entered. The formalities concluded, tea was served. Zhuge Jin began, "At the command of my lord, Sun Quan, I come to appeal to your reason. The ancient saying runs, 'Whoever recognizes the exigencies of the occasion is a paragon of men. ' The nine districts of Jingzhou no longer belong to you. You are reduced to this single paltry town, bereft of resources within and assistance without. If you do not fall in the morning, you will in the evening. Therefore take this advice: give your allegiance to the lord of the Southland, and he will restore your position as guardian of Xiangyang and preserve your family. Favor this suggestion, my lord, with your fullest consideration."
His expression all rectitude, Lord Guan replied, "I am but a warrior from Jieliang. By my lord's favor he and I became brothers. I cannot betray my honor and throw in my lot with the enemy. If this town falls, what is left to me is death. Jade may break, but its whiteness will never change. Bamboo may burn, but its joints will always remain. The man may fall, but his name will come down through history. You may say no more. Be pleased to withdraw. I wish to decide all with Sun Quan in a fight to the finish." To this, Zhuge Jin replied, "Lord Sun wanted to form an alliance with you, based on marriage, so that we could unite against Cao Cao and uphold the house of Han. We harbor no other ambition. Why must you cling to these misconceptions, my lord?" Before Zhuge Jin could finish, Guan Ping had pulled his sword and was making for the visitor. Lord Guan stopped him. "His younger brother Kongming is in the Riverlands serving as your uncle's right-hand man. If you kill him, you will offend his brother." Lord Guan then ordered Zhuge Jin driven away. His face suffused with humiliation, Zhuge Jin left Mai and rode back to see Sun Quan. "Adamant," Jin reported to Sun Quan, "no one can persuade him." "A model of loyalty," said Sun Quan. "What is our next step?"
Lü Fan suggested, "Let me forecast with the Book of Changes." Sun Quan ordered the forecast. Lü Fan drew the milfoil and the stalks formed a pattern—the hexagram "Master" composed of earth above water.8 In addition, Dark Tortoise, the northern quadrant of the sky, hovered overhead, meaning that an enemy would flee a great distance. "If the hexagram indicates distant flight," Sun Quan said to Lü Meng, "what would be the manner of apprehending the fugitive?" Lü Meng smiled as he said, "The hexagram's patterns fit perfectly with our plans. Lord Guan may have Heaven-mounting wings, but he cannot outfly our nets!" Indeed:
When a dragon's in a ditch, the shrimp will tease it;
When a phoenix enters the coop, the hens will mock it.
How did Lü Meng intend to capture Lord Guan?
Read on.
77
At Mount Yuquan Lord Guan Manifests a Divine Presence;
In Luoyang City Cao Cao Feels the Force of His Soul
Lu Meng offered Sun Quan the following plan: "Guan has few troops and is unlikely to flee by the main road. He'll take the steep path just north of Mai. Have Zhu Ran place five thousand of our best men there in ambush twenty li down the way and strike after the enemy passes. They'll be in no mood to fight and will flee toward Linju. Then let Pan Zhang hide another five thousand men in the hills by Linju—we will have Lord Guan! For now, attack Mai on all sides except the north and wait for them to go out through there." Sun Quan agreed and asked Lü Fan to judge the prospects of this plan in the light of the Book of Changes. When the hexagram had been formed, Lü Fan announced, "The hexagram signifies an enemy fleeing northwest. Well before midnight1 Guan is sure to be caught." Satisfied, Sun Quan ordered Zhu Ran and Pan Zhang to carry out Lü Meng's plan.
Inside Mai,2 Lord Guan counted up his forces. Of infantry and cavalry there remained a mere three hundred all told. His grain and fodder were exhausted. During the night southern soldiers called out the names of their brethren within the walls, many of whom slipped over and fled, for no sign of rescue was to be seen. At his wits' end, Lord Guan said to Wang Fu, "How I regret ignoring your good advice. In the present crisis, what more can be done?" Wang Fu wept as he answered, "Not even the ancient strategist Jiang Ziya could find a way out!" And Zhao Lei said, "We have had no relief from Shangyong because Liu Feng and Meng Da won't act on our appeal. Why not abandon this isolated town and flee for the Riverlands, reorganize an army and plan the reconquest of Jingzhou?" "That's my own inclination," Lord Guan replied. Then he ascended the wall and saw few enemy troops around the north gate.
Lord Guan asked a resident of Mai, "What is the terrain like going north?" "North of here," the reply went, "are paths in the foothills that lead to the Riverlands." "That's the route I want to take," Lord Guan said. But Wang Fu objected: "Small roads are vulnerable to ambush. Take the main road." "Even so," Lord Guan answered, "I'm not afraid." With that, he issued an order for all his soldiers and officers to pack and dress for the evacuation. Again Wang Fu wept as he said, " My lord, take care on the roads. I will remain here with one hundred men and hold Mai to the death. If they take the town, we will not submit but wait for you to rescue us.
Lord Guan and Wang Fu parted tearfully. Then, leaving Mai in the hands of Wang Fu and Zhou Cang, Guan bolted out the north gate accompanied by Guan Ping, Zhao Lei, and two hundred followers. Lord Guan rode with his sword leveled for action. By the end of the first watch, when he had gone about twenty li, drums and gongs began sounding from the pockets and hollows in the hills. Voices rang in the air as a band of troops appeared, Zhu Ran at the head. He charged, spear raised, and shouted: "Go no further! Surrender or die!" Lord Guan advanced, whirling his blade. Zhu Ran fled at once; Lord Guan pursued hotly. At the sound of the drum, troops sprang
up on all sides. Resistance was unthinkable; Lord Guan fled by a narrow road toward Linju. Zhu Ran harried the rear, reducing Lord Guan's retinue.
After another four or five li Lord Guan was confronted with earth-shaking cries and sky-reaching flames as Pan Zhang charged in for the kill. Maddened, Lord Guan met him. After three clashes Pan Zhang fled in defeat; but Lord Guan could not afford to continue fighting, and headed out toward the hills. Guan Ping overtook him and reported that Zhao Lei had fallen in the melee. Sorrow and despair overcame Lord Guan. He ordered Ping to cover the rear while he forged ahead. A dozen followers were all that remained to him.
Lord Guan came to a place called Breach in the Rocks where the hills squeezed the road. Reeds and shriveled grass grew against the hills, crowded by tangles of shrubs and trees. The fifth watch had nearly ended. Suddenly a voice cried out, springing another ambush. Spear-length hooks and loops reached out and yanked Lord Guan from his mount. As he tumbled to the ground, Pan Zhang's commander, Ma Zhong, took him prisoner. Guan Ping rushed to his father's aid. But Pan Zhang and Zhu Ran had surrounded him. Ping fought on, alone, until he was spent; then they took him, too. As the day broke, Sun Quan was informed of the capture of Lord Guan and his son. Immensely pleased, he called his commanders together.
After a short while Ma Zhong hustled Lord Guan into Sun Quan's tent. Sun Quan said, "General, out of long-standing admiration for your splendid virtues, I sought to work out a liaison through marriage. Why did you spurn the offer? You have ever clung to the view that you are without peer in the empire. How has it come about that you are my prisoner today? Do you, General, acknowledge yourself beaten?" Lord Guan damned him harshly: "Green-eyed scamp! Red-whiskered rodent! I gave my allegiance to Imperial Uncle Liu in the peach garden when we swore to uphold the house of Han. What would I be doing in the ranks of traitors in revolt such as you? Now that I have blundered into your treacherous devices, death alone remains. There is no more to say."
Sun Quan turned to his assembled officers. "Lord Guan," he said, "is one of the valiant champions of our time, a man I cherish deeply. I propose that we treat him with the utmost courtesy to encourage him to come over to us. What do you say?" First Secretary Zuo Xian said, "It will not work. That time when Cao Cao had him, he enfeoffed him as a lord, granted him rank, and feasted him—every third day a minor banquet, every fifth day a major one. Whenever he got on his horse, Cao handed him gold. Whenever he got down from his horse, Cao handed him silver. With such kindnesses Cao failed to hold him, and saw Guan leave and kill his pass guards on the way. And today Cao Cao is on the verge of shifting his capital to avoid the thrust of Guan's offensive. My lord, Guan is our captive. If you do not do away with him immediately, I fear the consequences."
Sun Quan pondered for some time until he admitted the truth of the secretary's words and ordered the prisoner removed. And so Lord Guan and his son, Ping, were beheaded in the twelfth month of the twenty-fourth year of Jian An (a. d. 220). Lord Guan was fifty-eight years of age. A poet of later times has left these lines expressing his sorrow and admiration:
Unrivaled in the latter years of Han,
Lord Guan towered high above all men.
Bold in arms by dint of godlike might,
He knew his letters in a scholar's right.
Like glare of day, his heart reflected true,
His Spring and Autumn honor touched the clouds—
A shining spirit to live through history,
Not just the crowning glory of a world in three.
Another verse says:
For the paragon of men, look back to Jieliang;
There men vie to honor Lord Guan of the Han.
For the peach grove brother oath he sealed one day,
A thousand autumns' tribute of royal rites.
His manly soul had power like wind or thunder;
His glowing purpose shone like sun or moon.
And now the realm abounds in statued shrines
With winter-braving crows on olden boughs.
After the passing of Lord Guan, his glorious steed, Red Hare, captured by Ma Zhong, was presented to Sun Quan, who made Ma Zhong a gift of the horse. But Red Hare refused to eat and died after several days.
Inside the town of Mai, meanwhile, Wang Fu, trembling and fearful, asked Zhou Cang, "Last night our lord came to me in a dream. Covered with gore, he stood before me. As I questioned him, I woke with a violent start. What does it signify?" Then came the report: the southerners were at the gate with the heads of Lord Guan and Guan Ping, calling for the surrender of the town. Wang Fu and Zhou Cang quickly climbed the wall and looked down at the heads. The report was all too true. Wang Fu let out a cry and fell to his death. Zhou Cang cut his throat. Thus, the town of Mai, too, came into the possession of the Southland.
The vapor from Lord Guan's soul remained undissolved, floating attenuated until it came to rest on Jade Springs Hill in Dangyang county, Jingmenzhou. On the hill lived an old monk whose Buddhist name was Pujing, or Universal Purity. He was the abbot of Zhenguo Temple at the Si River pass.3 In his jaunts through the realm, he had come to the mountain and, attracted by its charming scenery, had built himself a thatched shelter there. In this hermitage he would seat himself for meditation each day, searching for the truth of life. Beside him was a single novice; they lived on the food they could beg.
The night Lord Guan died, the moon glowed pale and a breeze blew cool and fresh. Some time after the third watch, as the monk was sitting in meditation, a voice in the sky called out, "Return my head." Pujing scrutinized the air. A man was riding the steed Red Hare and brandishing the sword Green Dragon. Two men were in his train, a general of fair complexion and a swarthy man with curling whiskers. Together the three alighted from a cloud onto the summit of Jade Springs Hill. Pujing realized that it was Lord Guan and struck the door with a deer-tail whisk for protection against the spirit. He said, "Lord Guan, where are you now?" Lord Guan's glowing cloud-soul seemed to comprehend instantly as it dismounted and dropped on the wind before the monk's hut. Palms together, the wraith spoke: "Who are you, master? I would know your name-in-Buddha." "This old monk is known as Pujing," he replied. "We met once before at the Zhenguo Temple, my lord. Can you have forgotten?"
Replied Lord Guan: "My gratitude for the help you once gave me is engraved in my memory. A calamity has befallen me, and I appeal to you now for the redeeming counsel that will point me out of the darkness of my wandering." "Right and wrong, past and present are relevant no more; retribution follows human action with the certainty of fate," the monk answered. "Now you cry out for your head, having met your death at the hands of Lü Meng. From whom shall Yan Liang, Wen Chou, Cao Cao's six pass guards, and the countless others whom you killed seek their heads?" In a flash Lord Guan realized the truth and, bowing his head in submission to Buddha's law of Karma, he departed.4 Thereafter he frequently manifested himself in divine form on Jade Springs Hill to afford protection to the common people. And the local dwellers showed their gratitude by building a temple on the summit, where they made offerings each season. Later someone inscribed the following couplet on the temple wall:
Behind the ruddy face, a ruby heart—
Lord Guan astride Red Hare outrode the wind.
But far as he rode, he served the Fire King.5
By oil lamp light he studied history;
In war he trusted to his dragon sword.
His inmost thought would welcome light of day.6
Now that Lord Guan was dead, Sun Quan consolidated his hold on all the territories of Jingzhou. After rewarding all units of the army, he held a grand banquet for the commanders in honor of Lü Meng. Turning to the assembly, Sun Quan said, "After long frustration, our easy acquisition of Jingzhou is owing to the meritorious service of Lü Meng." Lü Meng tried repeatedly to decline the testimonial, but Sun Quan continued, "At an earlier time, Zhou Yu, a man of exceptional talent and vision, defeated Cao Cao at Red Cliffs. Alas, he died prematurely and was replaced by Lu Su, who in his very fi
rst interview with me broached a grand imperial strategy for the Southland—the first boon. When Cao Cao descended upon us, I was universally counseled to surrender. Lu Su alone urged me to call in Zhou Yu, to oppose and attack Cao Cao—the second boon. The only fault I found in Lu Su is that he talked me into allowing Liu Bei to borrow Jingzhou. But today it is you, Lü Meng—you worked out the strategy for retaking Jingzhou, and thus you excel the other two by far."
Sun Quan personally poured out wine and presented it to Lü Meng. Lü Meng received it and was about to drink, when he dashed the cup to the ground instead and seized Sun Quan with one hand. "Green-eyed scamp!" he screamed. "Red-whiskered rodent! Have you forgotten me? Or not?" The assemblage looked aghast. Everyone moved to rescue Sun Quan, but Meng knocked him to the ground, strode to his throne, and seated himself upon it. Meng's eyebrows arched, his eyes grew round and prominent as he bellowed, "I have crisscrossed the empire for thirty-odd years since defeating the Yellow Scarves, only to have your treacherous trap sprung on me. But if I have failed to taste your flesh in life, Lü Meng, I shall give your soul no peace in death—for I am Guan Yunchang, lord of Hanshou precinct!"7
Fear-stricken, Sun Quan led the assemblage in offering obeisance. But lo! Lü Meng collapsed on the ground, blood ran out of his orifices, and he died. There was general terror. Sun Quan had Lü Meng's corpse coffined and buried, and posthumously appointed Meng governor of Nanjun and lord of Chanling; Meng's son, Ba, inherited his rank. Thereafter Sun Quan was tormented with anxiety over the execution of Lord Guan.
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