6. The TS (p. 355) adds: "I forsake my hopes of upholding the royal house."
7. Lü Wang (also called Jiang Ziya) was living in obscurity when King Wen, founder of the Zhou dynasty, solicited his services; he became adviser both to King Wen and to his son, King Wu. In this capacity Lü Wang played a key role in the overthrow of the Shang and the establishment of the Zhou. For the various accounts—historical and legendary—see Sara Allen, "The Identities of Taigong Wang in Zhou and Han Literature," Monumenta Serica 30 (1972-73): 57-99. Zhang Liang played an analogous role, helping Liu Bang defeat Xiang Yu and found the Han; his biography in SJ is called "Liuhou shijia."
8. Guan Zhong (d. 645 b. c. ) helped Patriarch Huan of Qi attain leadershp of the feudal lords in the Spring and Autumn period. Confucius spoke of him as one of the saviors of Chinese civilization. He died before Patriarch Huan; after Huan's death the political order that Guan Zhong had built unraveled. Guan Zhong's achievements are described in SJ, "Qi Shaogong shijia." Yue Yi, a senior general in the kingdom of Yan, organized a successful attack on its stronger neighbor, Qi, toward the end of the third century b. c. Shortly after this victory, however, a jealous minister contrived to have Yue Yi persecuted, and he went into exile. See SJ, "Yue Yi liezhuan."
9. The elegies are odes of filial mourning. The personal reference is perhaps to Zhuge Liang's early loss of his father. Liangfu Mountain is one of the lesser elevations near Mount Tai and was a site for funerary rituals. Zhuge Liang's father was styled Zigong, the name of Confucius' famed disciple; thus, the Kong of Kongming in all likelihood refers to Confucius. Ming means "enlightened" and echoes his given name, Liang, meaning "light."
10. In most instances Zhuge Liang will henceforth be referred to as Kongming.
11. Mao (introductory note): "Cao Cao did not force Lord Guan to stay, and in that way he preserved the principle of fraternal love. Xuande did not force Shan Fu to stay, and in that way he preserved the principle of filial love. But were the motives of Cao Cao and Xuande similar? No. Cao Cao openly let Lord Guan go but covertly tried to block him. Xuande simply saw Shan Fu off. Cao Cao dearly wanted Yuan Shao to kill Xuande. Xuande's only concern was that Cao Cao might kill Shan Fu's mother.... Contemplating the parting of Xuande and Shan Fu... is superior to reading dozens of Tang poems on parting."
Reflecting on this famous scene, one may suspect that Xuande and Shan Fu were testing one another. Xuande had to be sure Shan Fu would not share his military knowledge with Cao Cao before letting him go. Shan Fu had to be sure of Xuande's sincerity in letting him go before recommending Zhuge Liang. Shan Fu's close friendship with Zhuge Liang is recorded by Chen Shou in the text of the SGZ; however, the Wei lüe, our source for Shan Fu, does not say that he introduces Zhuge Liang to Xuande. On the contrary, it has Zhuge Liang traveling to see Xuande and succeeding in getting his attention. See the commentary to Zhuge Liang's biography in SGZ, esp. p. 913. The main text by Chen Shou of course has Xuande visit Kongming.
12. Shan Fu here calls Xuande by his office, Liu Yuzhou, or protector of Yu province.
CHAPTER 37
1. Mao: "Initially Shan Fu was no more than a hired sword. In spite of that, he was able to make a noted scholar of himself. That his mother should have denounced him for ending up worse than he had begun shows the novelist's ingenuity."
2. The story of Mother Xu resembles the story of Mother Wang, whose son Ling was an early supporter of Liu Bang; Xiang Yu had his mother killed. See the short notice on Wang Ling in SJ, "Chen chengxiang shijia."
3. The SGZ ( "Wudi ji" ) dates the construction of the pool to the first month of Jian An 13 (a. d. 208), after Cao Cao's return to Ye; see p. 30. The record continues, "They did away with the offices of the three elder lords [sangong] and reinstituted the [Western Han] system of a prime minister and an [assisting] imperial censor [chengxiang and yushi dafu]." In the summer of a. d. 208 Cao Cao was made prime minister. Previous use of the title in Three Kingdoms is anachronistic.
4. Lord Guan's mastery of the Spring and Autumn Annals and its commentary the Zuo zhuan is mentioned elsewhere in the TS, e. g., p. 255. His remark is thus in character, but the Mao text of Three Kingdoms tends to leave out references to Guan's scholarly interests. At this point in the TS (p. 359) Lord Guan says, "I have heard that Guan Zhong kept the realm from falling apart by unifying the feudal lords. For this Confucius praised him, saying, 'But for Guan Zhong we would have unbound hair and coats fastened on the left' [like the barbarians; Analects, 14. 18]. Yue Yi conquered seventy towns in the state of Qi [and restored the state of Yan]."
5. In the PH (p. 65) Xuande arrives at the hermitage with three thousand troops. The lad informs Kongming, who whispers something to him. The lad then goes out and informs Xuande that Kongming is not at home.
6. Dated by the TS to the 12th month of Jian An 12; this would be January, a. d. 208. Jian An 12 ended on February 3, 208; Jian An 13 began on February 4.
7. This song in the Liangfu mode, a kind of elegy, is adapted from the first half of Li Bo's "Liangfu yin." The singer may be Kongming himself; he is said to have favored that mode, perhaps to mourn the loss of his father and, soon after, the loss of the uncle who raised him. Perhaps he was also mourning the waning royal house. The opening lines of Li Bo's poem read: "He keens the 'Liangfu yin'; / When will he meet a wise lord?" The poem then sums up the highlights of the lives of two advisers, Jiang Ziya and Li Yiji, who brought success to their lords, King Wen and Han Gao Zu. The word "keen" translates chang xiao, either a whistle or an imitation of an animal's prolonged cry. Chang xiao also occurs in the last line of the old-style ballad describing Kongming's retreat; there it is translated "impassioned cry." See "Xiao fu," Wen xuan, juan 18.
8. This incident is related only in the Han version of the Shu jing's "Tai shi." Also see James Legge, trans., The Chinese Classics, 2d ed., vol. 3, The Shoo King (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1893-95), p. 298 ( "The Great Declaration" ). According to Legge's translation, as Wuwang (i. e., King Wu) was launching the Zhou attack on the Shang, a white fish came into his boat. The lords regarded it as a favorable sign. Wuwang was the son of Wenwang (i. e., King Wen); he led the invasion after his father's death.
9. See the last stanza of Shi jing, ode 236, "Da ming."
10. A common bow was insultingly perfunctory; nothing less than prostration was called for. Li Yiji gave Liu Bang (at this time the "Big Nose Governor" of Pei) some lessons in civility and conducted diplomatic missions for him. At the time Gaoyang was both Li Yiji's hometown and Liu Bang's headquarters. An English translation of Li Yiji's biography may be found in Ssu-ma Ch'ien [Sima Qian], Records of the Grand Historian of China, trans. Burton Watson (New York: Columbia University Press, 1961), 1: 269-75.
11. The last three lines of the first part of the Li Bo poem cited in n. 7 above:
If the "Crazy Drunk" Li Yiji could do so much,
What of this hero in his prime, ready to take on his peers?
I want to mount the dragon and meet my lord!
12. Lines 3-8 refer to events chronicled in chapter 1.
13. The couplet is not in the TS. Mao Zonggang has taken it from the Zhuge Liang ji and inserted it here. See ZHT, p. 88. For a discussion of the Huang-Lao Taoist basis of this couplet, see Wang Liqi's study of Zhuge Liang's political philosophy, "Shilun Zhuge Liang de zhengzhi sixiang," in Chengdushi Zhuge Liang yanjiuhui, ed., Zhuge Liang yanjiu (Chengdu: Ba Shu shushe, 1985), pp. 18-33. This article also discusses the possible connection of Yue Yi (one of Kongming's models) to Huang-Lao Taoism. Huang-Lao was a school of early Han Taoism; adherents advocated quietism for the emperor, personal discipline and political activism for the ministers.
14. Theoretically, Liu Bei is still protector of Yuzhou, the province east of northern Jingzhou.
15. The plum blossoms early in the year and thus often faces adverse weather. The flower became a symbol of heroism and sometimes, more specifically, the gallant resistance of the Song to Jurchen or Mongol power.
16. Liu Bei's visi
t to Kongming's retreat is largely romance. The resentment of the brothers toward Kongming is one of the few historical details in the chapter. See SGZ, p. 913.
CHAPTER 38
1. Mao: "Kongming is a specialist in the military use of fire. For Zhang Fei to display his technique would have been a case of the novice trying to impress the master. A witty touch."
2. See Shi jing, ode 168, "Chu ju," for the phrase "longer, longer grow the days." The ode's first lines are:
Let our war-carts roll forth
To that grazing field.
They've come from Heaven's Son
To call us to war.
We summon our drivers;
We tell them to load.
The king tasks us hard;
Only make haste.
3. Mao: "Immediately after the meeting the author has Xuande speak first and Kongming answer." The term guanjin, describing Kongming's headdress, was translated after consultation with Donald Harper.
4. Nanhai, the main city of the Southern Viets or Nanyue, was a commercial entrepot close to Canton.
5. The meaning is "and on to Chang'an." Qinchuan is present-day Shaanxi and eastern Gansu, the region of the ancient state of Qin. The capitulation of the county of Wan, capital of Nanyang district, played a crucial role in Han Gao Zu's successful assault on the Qin capital at Xianyang. See Ssu-ma Ch'ien [Sima Qian], Records of the Grand Historian of China, trans. Burton Watson (New York: Columbia University Press, 1961), 1: 88.
6. With this speech the novel returns from the romantic mode to the historical. SGZ (pp. 912-13) and ZZTJ (p. 2075) both carry the text of the speech.
7. The late king is Xianzhu, the first ruler of Shu (the Riverlands), i. e., Liu Xuande. Wuzhangyuan ( "the last campaign" ) is a place-name. After a hundred-day stalemate in the war with Wei, Zhuge Liang died there in a. d. 234. It is now a. d. 208. The year a. d. 209 will be reached in chaps. 51-52.
8. The TS (p. 333) introduces the lines as follows: "When Kongming left his cottage, he was twenty-seven. In testimony we have this poem in the old style from Zeng Zigu."
9. Mao (introductory note): "Kongming urged Xuande to take over the territory of Liu Biao and Liu Zhang but not that of Sun Quan or Cao Cao. Some say it made no sense for Xuande to eliminate his own royal kinsmen if he wanted to uphold the Han. I disagree. The territory of the two Lius would have fallen to Sun or Cao in any event. It would have been far preferable to receive Jingzhou from Liu Biao than to fight Sun Quan for it.... Taking the Riverlands from Liu Zhang was tantamount to taking it from Cao Cao."
10. Sun Ce was Sun Quan's elder brother, killed in a. d. 200.
11. The six districts of Yangzhou as listed in the HHS: Jiujiang, Danyang, Lujiang, Kuaiji, Wujun, Yuzhang. The traditional regional name, Wu (the Southland), rather than the administrative provincial name (Yangzhou), is used in order to deny central government authority.
In the TS (p. 372), Zhou Yu's speech begins: "I disagree. Long ago when the land of Chu was first granted its fief beside the Jing Mountains, it had less than a hundred li of territory. Through many generations of able leadership Chu expanded its boundaries and established its capital at Ying. Thus we came to possess south of the Jing Mountains as far as the lands of the Viets and have maintained our rites for more than nine hundred years."
12. I. e., the expeditions against Yuan Shao, his sons, and the Wuhuan, which lasted until late a. d. 207.
13. I. e., Jian An 8 (the last weeks of a. d. 203 through to the first weeks of 204). Posted at Xiakou, Huang Zu was Liu Biao's forward defense against the Southland.
14. Only two Southland districts lay above the Great River, Lujiang and Jiujiang. Danyang, below the river, was southeast of these districts. Jiujiang was nominally loyal to Cao Cao. Lujiang's governor Li Shu rebelled against Sun Quan (a. d. 201-2), but Cao Cao refused to help him, and Sun Quan was able to regain control of the district after a major military campaign; see Pei Songzhi's commentary to SGZ, p. 1116. The Sun Yi incident is dated in the TS to the twelfth month of Jian An 9 (the first weeks of a. d. 205).
15. The TS (p. 374) version of this verse reads:
Honorable and chaste, she guarded her person;
To avenge her wronged husband and execute the villains, she pretended to offer herself.
Of the many heroes in the time of the Kingdoms Three,
Does any compare to this Southland woman?
16. Sun Quan regarded Liu Biao and Huang Zu as mortal enemies. Liu Biao's men had killed Sun Jian, Quan's father, in an ambush (Chu Ping 3, 11th month; late a. d. 192 to early 193). Huang Zu, who was involved in the action, was taken alive by Southland soldiers and later exchanged for the body of Sun Jian. See chapter 7. The TS (p. 375) makes the revenge motive explicit.
17. Mao: "Su Fei recommended Gan Ning to Huang Zu for the sake of Gan Ning. Had Su Fei acted for the sake of Huang Zu, then he should have told Huang Zu either to give Gan Ning an important command or to kill him and prevent his becoming an asset to the enemy. How could Su Fei go so far as to smooth Gan Ning's path to the south? In planning for his friend Su Fei was loyal. In planning for his lord he was disloyal."
18. The easternmost district of Jingzhou, Jiangxia faced the Southland districts of Lujiang and Yuzhang. Huang Zu was posted at Xiakou; the Southland's key salient was Chaisang in Yuzhang district, just south of the Great River.
19. The Great River meets the Mian (also called the Han) at Miankou (also called Xiakou), site of the modern city of Wuhan in eastern Hubei. The region was called Three Rivers (Sanjiang) in later times.
CHAPTER 39
1. Jingzhou is the capital of the province; it is also called Xiangyang.
2. Mao: "This recalls the events of chapter 7 but also echoes Lady Xu's sacrifice to her husband's altar in the previous chapter. In chapter 7 Sun Ce exchanged a live Huang Zu [whom he had captured] for his father's body. Here Sun Quan offers a dead Huang Zu to his dead father, Sun Jian. Such dutiful sons make the father immortal."
3. Mao: "The author goes directly from Sun Quan's revenge to Gan Ning's repayment of kindness, then from there directly to Ling Tong's revenge. The honorable warrior and the filial son are vividly shown forth."
4. Mao: "This will lead to Liu Qi's request [to Liu Biao] to guard Xiakou."
5. Mao: "Ling Tong did not get satisfaction. Sun Quan got partial satisfaction: Huang Zu was dead, but Liu Biao still lived. Lady Xu got complete satisfaction for her husband's wrongful death."
6. Wu-Kuai, as in the previous chapter, is translated as Wujun following the annotation in ZZTJ, p. 2135. Kuaiji was administered from Wuxian (or Wujun, present-day Suzhou); hence the name Wu-Kuai for the Southland capital. Chaisang is the Southland's westernmost strongpoint on the Great River.
Mao: "At this point the reader feels certain Sun Quan and Liu Biao will go to war, never imagining that the stage is being set for their joint action against Cao Cao."
7. Mao: "Kongming is anxious that [Xuande] not treat Sun Quan as an enemy—precisely because he will soon want to turn to him."
8. Mao: "He is subtly alluding to Gan Ning. But also, Huang Zu's failure to use Gan Ning well and Liu Biao's failure to get rid of Cai Mao are similar errors. Xuande uses Huang Zu to criticize Liu Biao."
9. Both were sons of the Patriarch Xian of Jin during the Spring and Autumn period. After the patriarch made Lady Li his favorite, he wished to make her son, Xi Qi, his heir. Lady Li nonetheless slandered the two other sons to the patriarch, saying they wished for his death. Advised to flee, Shensheng refused and was forced to commit suicide. Chong Er went into exile and eventually became ruler of the state of Jin. See Zuo zhuan, "Xigong," year 4.
10. Mao (introductory note): "After Huang Zu's death Liu Biao wanted Xuande to help him oppose Sun Quan. But Kongming wanted to preserve Sun Quan as an ally. For that reason Kongming advised Xuande to leave Quan [the southern front] and confront Cao Cao."
11. Mao (introductory note): "Liu Qi borrows Jiangxia as a refuge from [the Cai family's] intrigues. Kongming de
vises this safe move for Liu Qi—and also for Xuande—well in advance, should he need help in case of military defeats."
12. Jian An 13 (a. d. 208), sixth month (ZZTJ, p. 2079). He created the Eastern and the Western Bureaus, each with its own director. See Rafe de Crespigny, The Last of the Han (Canberra: A. N. U. Centre of Oriental Studies, Monograph 9, 1969), p. 465 n. 7.
13. Zhubu, usually translated here "first secretary." Mao: "Sima Yi's family background is narrated in considerable detail. Even before Wei has supplanted Han, the supplanter of Wei has been introduced." (The Sima family ended the Wei dynasty of the Cao clan and founded the Jin dynasty in a. d. 265. )
14. Mao: "Cao Cao wants Xinye watched, not Xiangyang, showing that he despises Liu Biao and respects Xuande."
15. Mao (introductory note): "The reader has often been led to doubt Kongming's plan could succeed,... but finally with the defeat of the enemy he sighs at the ingenuity of the writing. The outcome was more than he could have foreseen. If the author had simply wanted to use an inflexible narrative line, then the Gangmu headline, 'Zhuge Liang destroys Cao's army at Bowang, ' would have taken care of the matter and the novelist [yanyizhe] could have spared himself the trouble of composing the text."
CHAPTER 40
1. Mao: "Herein Cao Cao excels: he rewards his commanders despite the defeat." In the PH (p. 71) Cao Cao condemns Xiahou Dun to death for the defeat, but the commander is spared on Shan Fu's appeal.
2. The day named in the text for the invasion to begin is bingwu. In addition to and independent of the calendar pegged to the imperial reigns, the Chinese traditionally had a system of counting days (and years) in cycles of sixty, a system sometimes called the sexagenary cycle. Ten tiangan (Heavenly stems) are paired off with twelve dizhi (earthly branches): stem one with branch one, stem two with branch two, and so on; on the sixtieth day (or year), when the tenth stem is paired with the twelfth branch, the cycle ends and the count begins again. Bingwu is the forty-third day of the cycle, but a bingwu day did not fall in the seventh month of Jian An 13; neither the SGZ nor the ZZTJ specifies a date. Accordingly, the date has been left out of the translation.
Three Kingdoms Page 179
