Three Kingdoms

by Luo Guanzhong (Moss Roberts trans. )

  The chiefs went to Dongtuna and said, "We live in the Man region, but we have never wanted to go against the middle kingdoms.2 Nor have the middle kingdoms ever infringed on our territory. We rebelled only because Meng Huo forced us to do so. We don't think we can fathom Kongming's inspired tactics—why, Cao Cao himself feared him, and Sun Quan fears him still! What can we Man expect to do? Not to mention that we owe Kongming our lives! Whatever the risk, we want to kill Meng Huo and join Kongming. That will spare the people of our region untold misery." To this appeal Dongtuna replied, "What are your real thoughts?" Among the men were some whom Kongming had originally released, and in unison they cried, "Let's go to kill Meng Huo!"

  At that, Dongtuna raised his steel sword and, at the head of a hundred men, rushed toward the main camp. Meng Huo lay drunk in his tent. Dongtuna approached, sword drawn. He found two commanders standing guard. Dongtuna pointed to them and said, "You two should show Prime Minister Zhuge gratitude for having spared your lives." "You need not take action, General," they replied. "We shall deliver Meng Huo to His Excellency." Then they burst into the tent. They tied Meng Huo up, brought him to the river, and ferried him to the northern shore, sending someone ahead to inform Kongming.

  Apprised of Meng Huo's capture, Kongming issued secret orders to each camp to prepare their weapons for display before Dongtuna arrived with Meng Huo; Kongming then sent everyone back to his station. Dongtuna presented himself to Kongming and recounted the details of Meng Huo's capture. Kongming rewarded him well for his efforts, gave him kind and encouraging words, and sent him away at the head of the chiefs.

  Next, he had armed guards march Meng Huo in. With a smile Kongming said, "Remember your promise: 'If you catch me again, I will agree to submit. ' What do you say now?" "You did not catch me by your own ability. My underlings turned on me. Why should I submit?" "And if I let you go again?" Kongming replied. "Even a Man knows something about the art of war. If Your Excellency actually sends me home, I will be back with my army to decide the day. And if you catch me again, I will offer my allegiance with heartfelt unwavering sincerity." "Next time you're captured alive and refuse to submit," Kongming warned, "it will go hard with you." He had Meng Huo's bonds removed, provided food and drink as before, and invited the captive to sit with him in his tent. After they were seated, Kongming said, "Since leaving my little thatched hut, I have won every battle I have engaged in; every attack has yielded victory. You of the Man nation—why not submit?" Meng Huo remained silent.

  Afterward Kongming invited Meng Huo to ride out with him. Together they surveyed the storehouses stockpiled with grain and weapons. Kongming said, "How foolish of you to resist these picked troops and fierce commanders so well provided for. Submit now and I will bring it to the attention of the Son of Heaven, who will reserve kingship over the Man nation for yourself and the generations after you in perpetuity. What do you think?" "Even if I did submit," the chief replied, "what of the other tribes whose hearts you have yet to win? Set me free, Your Excellency, and I will urge my men to offer unanimous allegiance." Kongming responded with enthusiasm. He returned to his camp with Meng Huo, and they drank late into the night. Then the chief took his leave. Kongming escorted him to the shore of the River Lu, and a boat provided by Kongming took Meng Huo across.3

  On reaching his camp, Meng Huo posted armed guards in ambush and sent a trusted subordinate to the camps of Dongtuna and Ahuinan. The envoy, by pretending that Kongming had sent a messenger along, deceived the two chiefs into coming to the main camp. There Meng Huo had them executed and their bodies thrown into a stream. Next, Meng Huo dispatched reliable warriors to defend his strongpoints while he led his own men out of Jiashan Defile to do battle with Ma Dai; but he found no one at the defile. Local people told him that Ma Dai had gone back to the main camp after moving all provisions across the river the previous night. Meng Huo returned to his quarters and told his younger brother, Meng You, "By now I have a clear idea of Zhuge Liang's strong and weak points, so here is what you do..."

  Meng You put his brother's plan into action: leading one hundred Man troops bearing gold and pearls, precious cowry shells, elephant tusks and gaur horn, he crossed the Lu. Meng You meant to go directly to Kongming's main camp; but the moment he landed on the northern shore, he was met by the sound of drums and horns as a band of soldiers— under Ma Dai—fanned out before him.

  Meng You panicked. Ma Dai, after questioning him, had him wait in an outer area while he sent word to Kongming, who was in his tent deliberating the pacification of the Man with Ma Su, Lü Kai, Jiang Wan, Fei Yi, and others. Suddenly Meng You was announced. Kongming asked Ma Su, "Do you know his purpose?" "Rather than speak openly," Ma Su answered, "let me write it down and see if it accords with your own esteemed judgment." Kongming agreed. Ma Su handed his note to Kongming, who rubbed his palms together and laughed out loud. "Your plan has already been put in motion! Our views are one!" he said and called for Zhao Zilong, to whom he whispered certain instructions. He also called for Wei Yan and to him confided another charge. Wang Ping, Ma Zhong, and Guan Suo also received secret orders.

  When each commander had left to perform his duty, Kongming called Meng You into his tent. Meng You prostrated himself and said, "My elder brother, Meng Huo, grateful to you for sparing his life and having until now presented no tribute to you, has ventured to prepare a number of treasures that may provisionally serve to reward your army. In the future there will be further presentations of ritual tribute to the Son of Heaven." "Where is your elder brother now?" Kongming asked him. "Thankful for Your Excellency's boundless kindness," Meng You replied, "my brother has gone to collect more valuables in the Silver Pit Hills. He should be back shortly." "How many came with you?" Kongming asked. "Not many. A retinue of no more than a hundred or so to transport our gifts," Meng You answered. Kongming had them all enter his tent. They were tall, strong men, disheveled and barefoot, with blue-green eyes and swarthy complexions, yellowish hair and purplish beards. Gold rings hung in each man's ear. Kongming had the bearers seat themselves and told his commanders to serve them them wine and treat them all with full courtesy.

  Meng Huo was waiting in his tent for news of the mission when two of Meng You's men came back and informed the chief, "Zhuge Liang, most pleased with the gifts, has slaughtered oxen and horses and feasted the whole retinue in his tent. The lesser king asked us to inform you that the action is set for the second watch tonight. Our men are inside their camp now, ready to support an attack from outside to achieve our goal."

  Delighted by the news, Meng Huo called up thirty thousand Man soldiers, whom he divided into three armies. He charged the tribal chiefs: "Each soldier is to carry inflammable materials. When we reach the Riverlands camp tonight, fire will be the signal. I myself will take on their central army and capture Zhuge Liang!" The Man commanders were then given their orders. Toward the day's end they crossed the River Lu. Meng Huo, proceeding unopposed with a hundred mounted followers, reached the entrance to Kongming's main camp. But on bursting in, he and his commanders found the site deserted. In the main tent, lamps and candles surrounded the sprawled, drunken forms of Meng You and his Man troops.

  This is what led up to the scene that Meng Huo found. Kongming had told Ma Su and Lü Kai to entertain Meng You. Accordingly, Ma Su and Lü Kai had plied Meng You and his men with wine while performances were put on for them. The wine being drugged, Meng You and his men were soon unconscious. And so when Meng Huo entered the tent to demand an explanation, those still awake simply pointed to their mouths. Meng Huo knew he had been fooled and tried to get Meng You and his men back to his camp, but ahead of them harsh war cries sounded and torchlights appeared.

  The Man soldiers were scuttling off as Wang Ping led a band of men in for the kill. Meng Huo dashed frantically to his left force, but Wei Yan, leading Riverlands troops, accosted him as torches lit the sky. Meng Huo then raced desperately toward his right force, but again he met torchlights and hostile forces, this time under Zhao Zilon
g. Faced by three armies, with no avenue of escape, Meng Huo abandoned his men and fled alone on horseback to the River Lu. There he found a few score of Man soldiers steering a small ship. Meng Huo motioned them closer to land. But the moment man and mount boarded, a horn sounded and Meng Huo was seized and bound. This was Ma Dai's part in the plan. He had disguised his troops as Man soldiers and poled his craft into position to lure Meng Huo into being captured.

  Kongming offered amnesty, and countless Man soldiers surrendered. Kongming cheered and encouraged one and all and, imposing no punishment, simply had them extinguish whatever fires they had started. Soon Ma Dai brought in Meng Huo, and Zhao Zilong brought in Meng You. Wei Yan, Ma Zhong, Wang Ping, and Guan Suo followed with the tribal chiefs in custody. Kongming smiled as he said to Meng Huo, "Did you expect to fool me by sending your brother with gifts, pretending to surrender? Now that I have caught you once again, are you willing to submit?" "You won because my brother overindulged a bit and fell victim to your poisoned wine. That's what ruined us. Had I come myself and left my brother to back me up, we would have succeeded. Heaven, not my failure, has defeated me—so why should I submit?"

  "Why not?" Kongming asked. "It's the third time!" Meng Huo lowered his head and kept quiet. "I'll have to let you go again, then," Kongming said with a smile. "Your Excellency," Meng Huo responded, "release me and my brother and let us regather our own clansmen for a grand battle with you. If you succeed in capturing me again, I will submit to you and banish forever all thought of resistance." "It will not go easy with you the next time," Kongming warned. "Exercise extreme caution, study diligently the texts on the art of war, put your most reliable troops in fighting condition, and use sound tactics without delay to avoid further failures." With that, Kongming freed Meng Huo, Meng You, and the other chiefs. They bade a grateful good-bye and left.

  By this time, Riverlands troops had already reached the Lu's southern bank. After Meng Huo had crossed over, he found Kongming's troops and commanders arrayed along the shore, their banners flying thickly overhead. When Meng Huo reached his base area camp, he found Ma Dai sitting in state. Pointing at the chief with his sword, Ma Dai declared, "This time you will not get off!" Coming to his own camp, Meng Huo found Zhao Zilong's troops in position and Zilong himself in control, sitting under a large banner, resting his hand on his sword. "Do not forget the great mercy His Excellency has shown you!" Zhao Zilong declared. Meng Huo murmured in agreement and left. He was about to enter the hills when Wei Yan, at the head of a line of a thousand picked troops deployed on a slope, reined in and shouted, "I have already penetrated your nests and dens. Your strategic places are in our hands but, stubborn and stupid, you resist the imperial legions. When we catch you again, your corpse will be sundered a thousand ways! There will be no mercy!" Meng Huo and his leaders scurried off and headed home. A poet of later times left these lines in tribute to Kongming:

  A fifth-month march into the southern heath,

  On a moon-bright night as river vapors rose—

  His bold design requites Liu Bei's three calls.

  Unto seven times he dares to free his foes!4

  Meanwhile, Kongming had crossed the River Lu, pitched camp, and rewarded the armies. Gathering the commanders in his tent, he said, "The second time we caught Meng Huo, I let him see our entire base area in the hopes that he would attack. Since Meng Huo has some military knowledge, I gave him a good view of our weapons and provisions. My real purpose was to get him to notice our weak points, against which he was sure to use fire. His brother surrendered only so he could collaborate from within. After three captures I finally spared Meng Huo because what I really wanted was to subdue him mentally and not to have to exterminate his tribes. Today I can explain all this to you. Do not shirk future hardships. Apply yourselves in serving your kingdom."

  The commanders bowed low and said, "Your Excellency is a man of humanity no less than wisdom, of courage no less than humanity. You excel even the famed advisers of antiquity, Jiang Ziya and Zhang Liang." "I am unworthy of the ancients," Kongming replied. "It is your collective strength that sustains me in our effort to accomplish our mission." The commanders were gratified by Kongming's words.

  Meng Huo, frustrated by the three captures he had suffered, returned to the Silver Pit Hollow in an ugly mood. He sent trusted men bearing gifts of gold, pearls, and treasure to the ninety-three districts of the eight outer nations of the southwest as well as to the smaller tribes in the Man region. In response they sent several hundred thousand hardy warriors armed with shields and swords. On the appointed day the various details massed together like clouds to receive their instructions from Meng Huo. Sentinels on the roads reported the enemy's preparations to Kongming, who said, smiling, "I was hoping to draw the Man forces here to show them what we can do!" Kongming then mounted a small carriage and set out. Indeed:

  But for the fierce and awesome southwest tribal chiefs,

  Could the director general have shown the world his skills?

  Which side would prevail?

  Read on.

  89

  The Lord of Wuxiang Puts His Fourth Plan to Work;

  The King of the Man Meets His Fifth Arrest

  Guarded by a few hundred riders, Kongming guided his carriage along the road. Before them a river called the West Er ran sluggishly. Not a boat was on it. They made a raft, but it sank on launching. Kongming turned to Lü Kai, who said, "I'm told there's a hill upstream thick with bamboo, some of great thickness. Fell enough to make a bridge so our forces can cross."

  Kongming sent thirty thousand men into the hills, where they cut down hundreds of thousands of bamboos and floated them downriver to a narrow point where Kongming's men built a bridge one hundred spans long. Next, he had a row of camps pitched on the northern shore. Now with the river as their moat and the bridge their gateway and a wall formed of heaped earth, they crossed to the southern shore and set up three large bases, there to await the Man army.

  Leading hundreds of thousands of warriors, Meng Huo came on in a towering fury. Approaching the West Er, he led a vanguard force of ten thousand blade-and-shield barbarians up to the Riverlands camp to issue a challenge to battle. Kongming was sitting in his four-mount carriage; he had a band wound round his head, crane plumes for a cloak, and a feather fan in his hand. His commanders clustered about him.

  Kongming kept his eye on Meng Huo, who was armored in rhino hide and wore a red headpiece. In his left hand a shield and in his right a sword, he rode a red ox. Curses spewed from his mouth. The ten thousand brave men in his command came charging, whirling their weapons.

  Kongming ordered an immediate retreat. He sealed the camp tight and forbade combat. The Man troops, stark naked, came up to the camp and let loose their cries and curses. The Riverlands commanders appealed heatedly to Kongming: "We volunteer to go out and fight them to the death." But Kongming would not allow it. On their insistent protests he explained, "The Man disdain the sovereign's grace; in this mad rage they should be left alone. Better to hold back a few days longer and let them cool off. I have an excellent way to defeat them then."

  For several more days the Riverlands troops continued defending their positions while from the vantage of a hilltop Kongming studied the enemy. At the first sign of slackness among the Man, he gathered his commanders and asked, "Are you ready?" The commanders were eager. Kongming first summoned Zhao Zilong and Wei Yan and whispered instructions to them; the two went boldly forth. Next, Wang Ping and Ma Zhong took their orders and left. Then Kongming said to Ma Dai, "I am going to abandon these three camps and withdraw to the north shore. As soon as I do, you are to take down the floating bridge and move it downstream so Zhao Zilong and Wei Yan can get across and stand ready to assist us." Ma Dai left, and Kongming called Zhang Yi. "When I withdraw," he told him, "light lamps all over the camp. Meng Huo will pursue once he finds out we've gone—and you will cut off his retreat." Zhang Yi retired with his instructions. Kongming had Guan Suo protect his carriage. As the army w
ithdrew, the lights were lit.

  The Man soldiers surveyed the western troops but dared not strike. The following dawn Meng Huo found the Riverlands' three camps deserted. Inside, several hundred grain and fodder wagons lay abandoned. Meng You said to him, "Zhuge has fled. This must be a trap—no?" Meng Huo replied, "I suppose Zhuge Liang left his supply train behind because of a crisis in Shu. The Southland may have invaded, or perhaps Wei has attacked. He lit these decoy lights to fool us and ran. He must not escape!"

  Meng Huo himself marched the forward army to the bank of the West Er. On the far shore they saw flags and banners still in strict array, glorious as a brocade, a gorgeous, moving, multicolor wall extending along the river. The Man scouts would not advance. Meng Huo said to Meng You, "Zhuge Liang may linger on the northern shore, fearing pursuit. But in a day or so he'll be gone." Meng Huo stationed his army on the riverbank and sent troops into the hills to cut bamboo for rafts. Next, he moved his most daring soldiers to the front of his camp. Meng Huo had no inkling that Riverlands forces had already entered his own territory.

  That day strong winds blew. On four sides fires blazed and drums rolled. The Riverlands troops closed in, routing the Man braves, who overran each other in the confusion. Meng Huo panicked. Leading the warriors of his own hollow, he fought his way back to his original base camp—only to be met by Zhao Zilong and a band of troops coming out of it! In despair Meng Huo returned to the West Er and headed for a secluded point in the hills. But another band of troops stood before him, Ma Dai at their head. To Meng Huo there now remained only a few dozen battered soldiers. Seeing dust and fire to the south, north, and west, he fled eastward toward the ravines.