Three Kingdoms

by Luo Guanzhong (Moss Roberts trans. )

  CHAPTER 67

  1. Nanzheng, sometimes called Hanzhong, was the key city of Hanzhong (the eastern Riverlands). It stood about two-fifths of the way from Chang'an to Chengdu on a southwest line. Yangping Pass is due west of Nanzheng.

  2. Mao: "When Xuande wanted to win Ma Chao over, Kongming thought of bribing Yang Song; and When Cao Cao wanted to win Pang De over, Jia Xu thought of bribing Yang Song. His greed was widely known abroad; only Zhang Lu was unaware of it. Alas!"

  3. First spoken by the founding emperor of the Eastern Han, the phrase means: "We control both sides of the Long Mountains and the reach of the River Wei; why take the risk of the long drive southward against the capital of the Riverlands, Chengdu?" Mao (introductory note): "Cao Cao had three reasons for caution. First, when he defeated Yuan Shao and absorbed his army, he made the southern march with an exhausted, unintegrated force; the result was the defeat at Red Cliffs. A campaign against the inaccessible Riverlands with the newly absorbed Hanzhong army could similarly end in failure. Second, such a campaign might enable Jingzhou and the Southland to unite in attacking his northern heartland. Third, he still feared Kongming's tactical ability, [remembering] times at [Bowang and Xinye] when Kongming thwarted his drive with fire."

  4. Mao: "This time the offer is real."

  5. Mao: "The first time no one was sent to inform Lord Guan, making it clear that Xuande and Kongming were trifling with Zhuge Jin."

  6. See chapter 34. The Southland defeat at Hefei took place in October, a. d. 215.

  7. According to the ZZTJ entry for the autumn of Jian An 20 (a. d. 215), the political situation in Chengdu was very unstable after Liu Bei's coup. Sima Yi and Liu Ye strenuously urged Cao Cao to exploit the situation by invading the Riverlands. Cao hesitated in Longxi for seven days; then he asked Liu Ye's view once again. Liu Ye replied, "Things there are a little more stable now; an attack would not be appropriate." See p. 2140.

  More than thirty years earlier, Longxi had been an independent kingdom under Song Jian. He titled himself the King from Heshou (the western end of the Yellow River) Who Will Pacify the Han. Song Jian instituted his own calendar and created his own officials. In the tenth month of Jian An 19 (a. d. 214) Xiahou Yuan put Song Jian's capital, Fuhan, to the sword, executed Song Jian, and pacified Liangzhou (SGZ, p. 44). Cao Cao put domestic business ahead of further conquest at this point. The next entry in the "Wudi ji" of the SGZ describes the arrest and execution of Lady Fu and her relatives.

  CHAPTER 68

  1. An earlier rescue of Sun Quan by Zhou Tai is described in chapter 15. According to the ZZTJ (p. 2149), other commanders would not obey Zhou Tai because of his humble origins; hence Sun Quan's act here was a public affirmation of Zhou Tai's authority.

  2. Cao Cao defended Hefei in the winter of Jian An 21 (a. d. 216-17). The fighting ended in the third month of Jian An 22 when Sun Quan nominally acknowledged Cao Cao as his suzerain. This relationship lasted until a. d. 222 when Sun Quan declared his own reign title, Huang Wu.

  3. Xun Wenruo lost his life for opposing Cao's advancement to Weigong (lord patriarch of Wei). His nephew Xun You lost his life for opposing Cao's advancement to Weiwang (king of Wei). A wang was an independent dynast who named an heir. Hence he was a potential emperor.

  4. See Rafe de Crespigny, The Last of the Han, Oriental Monograph Series, no. 9 (Canberra: Australian National University, 1969), pp. 488-89 n. 2: "The ceremonial cap was rather like a mortarboard... rounded at the front, straight at the back, and longer than it was wide. The twelve strands of white jade beads, hung six at the front and six at the back, were the prerogative of the emperor. High nobility and the three Dukes (i. e., Elders) had seven strands and the bands were green."

  Cao Cao became king in the fifth month of Jian An 21; the ceremonial cap was conferred in the tenth month of the next year.

  5. Mao: "Cao Cao's declaration that he is king of Wei is a harbinger that a son of his will usurp the dynasty; that is why a discussion of his progeny occurs here."

  By Han law the title of wang (king or prince) was awarded only to those with the surname Liu; others were enfeoffed as hou (lord). Cao Cao's previous title of gong (lord patriarch) was not a typical Han title. Only one man had taken it before: Wang Mang, the usurper of the Western Han.

  In the PH, Cao Cao's ascension to king of Wei touches off consequences in the rival kingdoms. Sun Quan declares himself king of Wu, and Kongming urges Xuande to declare himself king of Hanzhong. Since the position of king necessitates the naming of an heir apparent, Liu Bei asks Kongming whether Liu Feng (his adopted son) or Liu Shan (Ah Dou, son of the late Lady Gan) should be named his successor. Kongming refuses to answer and remains at home on the pretext of illness. Pressed by Liu Bei, Kongming tells him to put the question to Lord Guan in Jingzhou (p. 123). Lord Guan— Kongming obviously knows—has had conflicts with Liu Feng.

  6. Cao Pi will found the Wei dynasty in a. d. 220. Cao Zhi is the author of the "Tongque tai fu," or "Bronze Bird Tower Rhapsody" (see chap. 44).

  7. Imperial Mentor is a position that Kong Rong once held.

  8. Mao: "It is said nowadays that Liu Bei established his patrimony by tearful appeals, forgetting that the same is true of Cao Pi."

  9. Both Yuan Shao and Liu Biao had come to grief by denying the claim of the eldest.

  10. Five years earlier, according to the "Wudi ji" (SGZ, p. 34), "the Son of Heaven named Cao Cao's eldest son, Cao Pi, Imperial Commander for the Empire's Highest Officials [Wuguan zhonglangjiang] with an appointed staff, and a lieutenant to the prime minister [i. e., Cao Cao]."

  11. Mao suggests that this was a reminder of the empty box that Cao Cao had sent to Xun Wenruo as a suggestion that he take his life.

  12. Emei Mountain was a center of occult arts.

  13. Zuo Ci is referring to the dun jia, "evading stems" or "stems (and branches) to avoid." A discussion of the subject and a translation of Zuo Ci's biography may be found in Kenneth J. Dewoskin, Doctors, Diviners, and Magicians of Ancient China (New York: Columbia University Press, 1983).

  Zuo Ci says "Your Highness has reached the highest ministerial office" to suggest that Cao Cao retire. Cao Cao's original statement, "As prime minister, I have gone as high as an imperial servant can go," was made to explain why he could not retire. The statement was made in Jian An 15 (a. d. 210). See Pei Songzhi's excerpt from the Wei Wu gushi, SGZ, pp. 32-33. On that occasion Cao Ca also argued that his protection of the Han emperor Xian prevented others from unlawfully declaring themselves emperor or king.

  Mao: "At the Bronze Bird Tower Cao Cao once told his officials that he would have relinquished his powers but for fear of harm. By following Zuo Ci he could have had his wish."

  14. Mao: "Su Dongpo [in his" Second Red Cliffs Rhapsody "] mentions catching one. Can the sight of the fish remind Cao Cao of the events at Red Cliffs?"

  15. The TS (p. 661) has "jade rat" rather "earth rat." Presumably, the "golden tiger" is a tower by that name that Cao Cao had built in the seventh month of Jian An 18 (a. d. 213). Mao sees this as an omen of Cao Cao's death in the first month of the zi (rat) year (see chap. 78).

  CHAPTER 69

  1. A craft for predicting good or ill fortune. According to the SJ, "Tian guan shu," the wind could be used to predict agricultural and meteorological events.

  2. I. e., physiognomizing. Xu Zhi goes on to describe Guan Lu's powers for several pages.

  3. Mao: "If this account made Cao Cao think of the murders of the concubine Dong and Empress Fu, his heart must have shivered."

  4. Mao: "Cao's own ailment."

  5. For the biography of Guan Lu, see Kenneth J. Dewoskin, Doctors, Diviners, and Magicians of Ancient China (New York: Columbia University Press, 1983), p. 91.

  6. See chapters 20 and 21.

  7. The conspiracy of Geng Ji and Huang Wei envisioned bringing in Lord Guan, who was in a strong position at this time. See ZZTJ, p. 2154. The revolt was crushed in the beginning of a. d. 218.

  8. "Titled lordship" is the
Chinese (minghao) hou jue; "lords within the passes" is the Chinese guanzhong hou; "honorary lords" is the Chinese guannei or wai hou; and "court retainers" is the Chinese daifu. According to the Wei shu (cited by Pei Songzhi in SGZ, p. 46), "none of these enjoyed land rent. Taken together with the traditional lie hou and guannei hou, there were now six major orders [of lordship]." Pei Songzhi's own note says, "It would seem that empty enfeoffment began at this time." This entry is made under the tenth month of Jian An 20 (a. d. 215).

  9. Nanzheng, in the extreme west of greater Hanzhong, was the capital of Hanzhong district, one of the three districts into which Cao Cao divided greater Hanzhong (or the Hanzhong region) after Zhang Lu's surrender. The other two districts, from west to east, were Xicheng and Shangyong. Xicheng (later called Weixing) and Shangyong became western districts of Jingzhou during the next (Wei) dynasty. When Zhang Lu held greater Hanzhong, he changed Nanzheng's name to Hanning. On assuming control of the area, Cao Cao changed the name back. Baxi stands midway between Nanzheng and Chengdu on a southwest line. The administrative center of Baxi was Langzhong.

  CHAPTER 70

  1. Mao (introductory note): "The Zhang Fei of this day is not the Zhang Fei who lost Xuzhou [to Lü Bu, chap. 14] through drunkenness. They are virtually two different men. But the Zhang Fei who outwitted Zhang He is the Zhang Fei who outwitted Yan Yan. When he outwitted Yan Yan, there were two Zhang Feis, [a real and a false, ] one behind the woods, one in front. When he outwitted Zhang He, there were again two Zhang Feis... almost as if, like Zuo Ci, he could materialize outside of himself. Is this his transcendence in wine?"

  2. Dingjun Mountain is a key point because it protects Nanzheng (i. e., Hanzhong) from the west. It lies east of the Yangping passes. To its northeast is Willow Basket Gorge; and farther east, Ye Gorge. Kongming was buried, at his request, at Dingjun (Outpost) Mountain.

  CHAPTER 71

  1. Liu Bei had appointed Zhang Fei governor of Baxi; his main force was based in Langzhong county, on the western branch of the Han River.

  With a truce in place between Cao Cao and Sun Quan, the south is calm and the focus of military action is in the northwest, specifically Hanzhong district, named for the river that bisects it west t east. A glance at a map shows the importance of the region. To the north, Hanzhong borders on the district of the commander of the Capital Districts, where both capitals, Chang'an and Luoyang, are situated. To the east, Hanzhong touches the northern districts of Jingzhou. At the western end of the province, on the River Han, is the city of Nanzheng; that is where Cao Cao's trusted general Xiahou Yuan was stationed. The river's western branch leads some two hundred kilometers south to Jiameng Pass, crucial gateway between north and west, which Liu Xuande controls. A straight line southwest from Jiameng to Chengdu, capital of the Riverlands, measures another two hundred kilometers approximately. Midway between Jiameng and Chengdu is the county of Fuxian. South of Jiameng, on the western branch of the Han is Langzhong.

  2. This escort was an imperial prerogative. "The chariots of the five seasons [were] each painted one color of the five elements, green, red, yellow, white, or black." See HHS ( "Yu fu" ), p. 3644.

  3. In the sixty-year cycle the five hai years are "pig" years.

  4. This alludes to the legend with which the PH begins. Han Xin, of course, is reborn as Cao Cao; Kongming could be called the counterpart of Zhang Liang, but the PH names Kuai Tong as the reincarnation of Kongming. (See the afterword for a discussion of the rebirth of figures from the first Han reign in the last. )

  CHAPTER 72

  1. Mao (introductory note): "Kongming did not create the uncertainty that Cao Cao suffered from; Cao Cao himself did it. But the one man who could make Cao Cao uncertain was Kongming— who had burned him out at Bowang, thwarted him at Xinye, trapped him at the Black Forest [i. e., at Red Cliffs], and reduced him to begging for mercy on the Huarong Trail. Cao Cao had long feared Kongming. Anyone else's decoy troops would not have made him doubt himself."

  2. Wei Qing and Huo Qubing defeated the Xiongnu for Emperor Wu (r. 140-87 b. c. ).

  3. This was shortly before Cao Cao led his army west to recover what Xu Huang had lost. Cao Cao's victory over the Wuhuan is recounted in chapter 33.

  4. Historically, Cao's resentment of Yang Xiu might have had more to do with his association with Cao Zhi, the third son, now displaced as heir apparent in favor of Cao Pi.

  5. Separated, the components of the characters yield this meaning.

  6. The TS (p. 696) has Xiu say, "Our lord is a hammer in a sack" —the equivalent of a concealed weapon.

  7. Mao (introductory note): "Kong Rong, Xun Wenruo, and Yang Xiu all died for their opposition to Cao Cao. But Yang Xiu's case differs from the others. Kong Rong refused to serve Cao and opposed him truly and justly [on the question of the Emperor and military campaigns], Xun Wenruo, however, began by serving Cao Cao, unmindful of truth and justice, and only later opposed him on principle [the question of his promotion to duke of Wei], Yang Xiu, in contrast, served Cao Cao unmindful of truth and justice, and he also opposed him unjustly. Yang Xiu, the son of [Grand Commandant] Yang Biao, lowered himself by serving Cao Cao. Then, having shamed his great family, he went and aroused Cao Cao's suspicions by supporting Cao Zhi, wrongly meddling in Cao Cao's family matters. Cao Cao must bear the blame for killing those who opposed him on principle. But would an honorable and reasonable man blame him for killing one who opposed him as Yang Xiu did? Rather, the blame lies with Xiu."

  Cao Cao retreated to Chang'an, leaving Hanzhong in Liu Bei's hands, in the summer of a. d. 219.

  CHAPTER 73

  1. Shangyong was the easternmost part of Hanzhong. Due east about 175 kilometers in the neighboring province of Jingzhou was the city of Xiangyang, the focus of the next phase of struggle with Cao Cao. In this region the River Han was called the River Xiang.

  2. The TS (p. 699) has a phrase, "imitating Yao's abdication to Shun," which is omitted here.

  3. The TS version of Kongming's speech (p. 699) depicts a scene of disorder with "men of virtue and talent joining together in serving their lords at great risk, whether for fame or fortune. Now, my lord, if you care only about avoiding the criticism of others and cling to your sense of honor without acting, then all who serve you will lose heart." Xuande is urged to become a contender, but not described as a future dragon.

  4. TS (p. 699): "The army will revolt."

  5. Mao: "Whenever Xuande is self-effacing and reluctant to accept some honor, Zhang Fei comes forward, and most bluntly." TS (p. 700): "Zhang Fei said, 'If you do not become king, an age of heroes will turn into a dream. '"

  For a comparison between Zhang Fei and the character Li Kui from the novel Shuihu zhuan, see Andrew H. Plaks, The Four Masterworks of the Ming Novel (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987), p. 430 n. 245.

  6. Here the TS cites the entire memorial as it appears in Xuande's biography, "Xianzhu zhuan" (SGZ, p. 884), but with a most significant change. The document in the SGZ has 120 backers, the better-known of whom are listed by name—Ma Chao, Xu Jing, Pang Xi, She Yuan, Zhuge Liang, Lord Guan, Zhang Fei, Huang Zhong, Lai Gong, Fa Zheng, and Li Yan—with the leading lights of the Riverlands from Liu Zhang's previous administration preceding the Jingzhou group. The TS (p. 700) says that Kongming ordered Qiao Zhou to compose the memorial. In this version the order of names is changed: Zhuge Liang is the first signatory, followed by Lord Guan, Zhang Fei, Ma Chao, Huang Zhong, Lai Gong, Fa Zheng, and Li Yan; the old Riverlands guard is largely omitted. Ma Chao's importance seems to be his acceptability to both the Jingzhou group and the Yizhou group; hence, he is number one in the SGZ document, number four in the TS. Mao Zonggang dropped the document from his edition.

  After the list of names the document cites a number of historical cases of rebellion by those brought up under the favor of the ruling house, and then goes on to describe how those rebellions were crushed by loyalist heroes. Cao Cao is described as the contemporary incarnation of the rebel, and Liu Xuande as the loy
alist savior. Dong Cheng's imperially mandated effort to eliminate Cao Cao is cited.

  The next section of the memorial discusses the importance of solidarity within the imperial family as the sine qua non of state security: "The house of Zhou, reflecting on the failures of its predecessors, honored those of its own clan with fiefs. The Book of Odes proclaimed the rightness of this course, and the dynasty enjoyed a lengthy rule. Likewise, the Han began by subdividing the territory to provide fiefs for the princes [of the blood], thus thwarting the Lü clan and establishing the great [Liu] clan patrimony."

  The next section asserts that the crisis of authority after the defeat of Cao Cao in Hanzhong exceeded that at the end of the Former Han: "The strife at court and the danger to the imperial person chills every heart. Hence, your subjects make bold to follow an ancient precedent, enfeoffing [Liu] Bei as king of Hanzhong and appointing him chief commander to guide and reorganize the armed forces of the dynasty, reconfirm alliances, and exterminate vicious subversives. Our kingdom will be composed of Hanzhong, Ba, Shu, Guanghan, and Jianwei. Such an expedient may be arbitrarily undertaken provided it is in the interest of the sacred shrine to soil and grain. Afterward, when success vindicates our cause, we will retire and gladly make amends with our lives. Fearful and trembling, we press our heads to the ground, acknowledging our capital offense."

  7. In his introductory note, Mao contrasts Xuande's advance to king of Hanzhong with his earlier offices: "Cao Cao, borrowing the Emperor's right of appointment, designated Xuande protector first of Xuzhou and then of Yuzhou. [Later] Sun Quan's duplicitous memorial was the basis for Xuande's protectorship of Jingzhou. But rule of the Riverlands Xuande gave to himself. Still, this was preferable to getting it from Cao Cao, a traitor whose appointments carried no moral weight. Xuande's title general of the Left and his lordship of Yicheng precinct resulted from imperial action. His king-ship of Hanzhong did not; it resulted from his own action. But in this case there is no difference between imperial action and Xuande's own action—because if Xuande should have succeeded in bringing the traitor Cao to justice, then the kingship would only have been what the Son of Heaven would have wanted to give him.... Hence, in the Gangmu, Zhu Xi says nothing critical about Xuande's assumption of power in the Riverlands or about his accession to king of Hanzhong."