"Lord Guan failed only because he disregarded Kongming's advice to maintain amity with Sun Quan. The Emperor was defeated for the same reason.... Zhuge Jin tried twice to persuade Lord Guan [to cooperate with the south] and tried once to persuade the Emperor. Although less talented than his brother Zhuge Liang, his understanding of the situation was largely the same."
The battle of Yiling has very little source material behind it in the SGZ; the majority of it is found in Lu Xun's biography. An introduction to the battle may be found in Cao Xuewei's article "Yiling zhi zhan de qingjie he renwu chuangzao," in XK 2 (1986): 254-63.
3. Mao: "Lu Xun had reckoned that no outside aid would be needed to end the siege of Yiling."
4. The words also mean "consort of a treacherous owl" ; "treacherous owl" was an epithet applied to Liu Bei.
5. This poem and the notice of Lady Sun's suicide are not in the TS, which says earlier that Lady Sun returned to the Southland. By this revision Mao Zonggang seeks to turn her into a devoted Confucian wife who follows her lord in death. For this he claims a historical basis in the Xiao ji zhuan (Tales of ill-fated consorts).
In Mao Zonggang's list of emendations, he mentions this revision (paragraph 2), together with his revision of the TS account of the conduct of Emperor Xian's consort (see chap. 80). Mao's text note says, "How firm of purpose was Lady Sun when she denounced the [pursuing] Southland soldiers! Her will may have weakened when she tried to take Ah Dou south with her, but her suicide here in grief for her husband [Liu Bei] shows her chaste honor undiminished."
6. There is a powerful description of the noise caused by the rolling of boulders on the floor of the Yangzi in John Hersey's A Single Pebble (New York: Knopf, 1956), p. 43.
7. Mao: "Lord Guan obligated Cao Cao when he released him on the Huarong Trail. Here Huang Chengyan similarly obligates Lu Xun at Fishbelly Meadow."
CHAPTER 85
1. a. d. 222. The reign title Zhang Wu, which the kingdom of Shu proclaimed, began in 221. Prior to that, Shu loyally followed the reign titles of Han Xiandi; thus, 220 was Jian An 25, and 221 was Jian An 26 (see TS, p. 775); Jian An 26 retroactively became Zhang Wu 1, which was proclaimed in May of that year. The ZZTJ follows the reign titles of Wei under Cao Pi: Huang Chu 1 is a. d. 220. Three Kingdoms, following Zhu Xi's Gangmu, indicates its support for the cause of Liu Bei when it uses Shu-Han reign titles. But at times in the narrative the reign titles of the other kingdoms will be found.
2. Both generals served Xiang Yu before joining Liu Bang's cause and helping him defeat Xiang Yu.
3. In the TS (p. 817) Liu Bei says to Kongming: "I must request that Your Excellency take responsibility for our cause." The PH says (p. 128): "The heir apparent was summoned before his father, who bade him prostrate himself before the lord of Wu [Kongming]. The lord of Wu attempted to raise the lad up, but the Emperor held his son down. The lord of Wu said, 'It is a capital offense for your vassal [to receive the heir apparent's obeisance]. ' The First Ruler said, 'The director general knows the story of Dan, duke of Zhou, who [as regent] protected King Cheng. ' The First Ruler continued, 'Ah Dou is too young to bear rule. If it is fitting, place him in power; if not, rule yourself. ' The lord of Wu said, 'What virtue have I for that? If Your Majesty entrusted the heir to me, my death would not suffice to requite the honor. ' The heir apparent [rose], advanced on his knees, and then prostrated himself. The Emperor said, 'Whenever the heir apparent has official business, let him consult with the director general. ' With these words, the Emperor passed away." The SGZ says that Liu Bei named Li Yan, chief of the Secretariat, as Ah Dou's second guardian (p. 891).
4. June 10, a. d. 220.
5. Cranes and herons are thought to return to the same nest in successive years.
6. This seven-character regulated verse is the fourth of a five-ode sequence, Yonghuai guji, "Songs to Remember Historic Sites," by the renowned mid-Tang poet Du Fu. A translation and discussion of the five poems may be found in Hans Frankel, The Flowering Plum and the Palace Lady (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1976), pp. 116-24. The first three poems of the sequence lament, in turn, two poets and a palace beauty who suffer owing either to their sovereign's neglect or his misfortune. Mao Zonggang has substituted this one poem for a group of prose compositions and verses extolling Liu Bei (TS, pp. 818-20). The effect is to echo Liu Bei's tragic recognition that he should never have ignored Kongming's warnings about invading the Southland. The last line reads Yiti junchen jisi tong; one literal translation would be "As one body, liege and liege man, sacrificial services shared." The words yiti, "as one body," come from the Yili, "Sangfu zhuan," which explains that father and son, husband and wife, and brothers are "as one body" when their spirits are worshiped, hence the translation "in sacred union." Liege and vassal (junchen) are not included in the list, however; thus the line may be Du Fu's way of saying that the worshipers at the two neighboring shrines were treating Kongming as Liu Bei's true son or brother and therefore co-recipient of services to the late emperor. The phrase yiti occurs early in chapter 81 when Liu Bei says of the executed Lord Guan, "Yunchang is I—in sacred union," implying that he will be ritually remembered jointly with Lord Guan.
7. The ZZTJ always refers to Liu Bei as Hanzhu (ruler of Han), not Xianzhu (First Ruler) as in SGZ, or Shuzhu (ruler of Shu). Sima Guang was simply following the usage of the Shu leadership, not acknowledging Liu Bei as the legitimate Han emperor. Note that on occasion Three Kingdoms refers to the western kingdom as Shu-Han; note also that the second word in Liu Bei's posthumous temple title, Zhao Lie, contains the fire element. Liu Shan is called Houzhu, Later Ruler, usually translated here as Second Ruler or Second Emperor; he reigned until a. d. 263.
8. Mao (introductory note): "From the First Ruler's words committing Liu Shan to Kongming's guidance, we can tell that the campaign against Wei was more important to him than the campaign against Wu. The ruler said to Kongming. 'You are ten times more able than Cao Pi. ' Why did he not say 'than Sun Quan'? I would answer, because the Cao clan's Wei dynasty was Han's mortal enemy. When the First Ruler said, 'If Liu Shan deserves support, support him; if not, assume the throne yourself, ' it was as if he were saying 'If he is able to suppress the rebels, support him; if not, then take over. ' The emphasis is on suppressing the rebels [in the north],... Did the First Ruler really mean for Kongming to assume his throne? In one sense, yes; in another, no. To have Kongming usurp as Cao Pi did is something the First Ruler could never have permitted himself to suggest. He had to have said what he did to Kongming in order to strengthen his commitment to support Liu Shan, but also to let Liu Shan know that he had to respect and obey Kongming absolutely." According to Li Yan's biography (SGZ, p. 999), the dying Liu Xuande decreed by edict that Li Yan and Zhuge Liang should jointly support and guide the new ruler, Liu Shan.
The SGZ and the ZZTJ as well as Three Kingdoms (especially the TS) suggest some opposition in the Riverlands to an offensive strategy against the north. However, there is no record of the kind of full-scale debate in the Riverlands over the war policy that took place in the Southland between Zhang Zhao and Zhou Yu before the battle at Red Cliffs.
9. In the next several chapters Kongming will settle the potential conflict between the Southern Man people and the new Riverlands government. In their civil wars the Chinese used Man nations as early as the Spring and Autumn period (see HHS, p. 2831). In a. d. 223 uprisings in the Riverlands had already begun under Huang Yong after he learned of Liu Bei's illness; later, the news of Liu Bei's death led to outbreaks in the Nanzhong districts in the south of the province. See Ssu-ma Kuang [Sima Guang], Achilles Fang, trans., The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms 1: 153, 160.
10. Liu Shan was also seventeen.
11. It was lese majesty for Kongming to have caused the Emperor to come to him.
12. Mao (introductory note): "Yi Yin [served the king of Shang] after three invitations; Kongming [agreed to serve] after three visits [from a humbled Liu Bei], making him another Yi Yin. Lü Wang [i. e.,
Jiang Ziya] was angling in the river [when called to serve the king]; Kongming is contemplating fish, making him another Lü Wang."
13. Mao (introductory note): "Gao Zu slew the white serpent and founded his career. Guang Wu arose in White Water Village and revived the Han. The First Ruler entered White Emperor city [Baidi] to die and gave his son into the care of Kongming.... From the peach garden to this point is one great line of development. The First Ruler's life ends here; Kongming's will commence a new phase. His previous conquest of the Riverlands and Hanzhong fulfilled [the forecast he made] when Liu Bei visited him in his thatched hut. His subsequent achievements—capturing Meng Huo and leading the army out of Qishan—stem from his acceptance of responsibility for the orphan heir. Thus, this chapter marks the transition between two large portions of the story."
CHAPTER 86
1. a. d. 222. The reign title Huang Wu combines the first character of Wei's reign title (Huang Chu) and the second of Shu's (Zhang Wu), as if to acknowledge neutrally both calendars in Wu's own. Sun Quan did not formally declare himself emperor until a. d. 229. At the end of 221, Emperor Cao Pi of Wei ordered Sun Quan made king (wang), rejecting the alternative course of advancing Sun Quan in military rank and honoring him as a lord (hou) with a fief of ten thousand households (ZZTJ, p. 2193).
2. The narrative goes back to the Southland court when Cao Pi was organizing an invasion of the west (see chap. 85).
3. Deng Zhi's arrival is dated by the ZZTJ (p. 2217) to the tenth month of a. d. 223, five months after Liu Shan succeeded Liu Bei.
4. Li Yiji went to Qi to persuade the king of Qi, Tian Guang, to submit to Liu Bang. The king agreed and suspended military preparations. Han Xin, Liu Bang's general, chose this moment to attack, and the king boiled Li Yiji alive, thinking he had betrayed him.
At this time Sun Quan owed fealty to Cao Pi.
5. Mao: "He not only shows no fear, he speaks of the Southland's fear! How artful!"
6. Mao: "He speaks of the Southland's interest, not the Riverlands'. How artful!"
7. Mao: "Deng Zhi asks first to know Sun Quan's mind. In this lies his art."
8. Mao: "Deng Zhi's art lies in reverting to hard words."
9. Mao: "Deng Zhi contrives to have Sun Quan make the request to him. Artful beyond description!"
10. Mao: "Deng Zhi is the one posing difficulties! Exquisitely artful!"
11. Mao: "This shows Kongming's continuing concern for the late Emperor's wish to attack the Southland."
12. Mao: "And said not a word."
13. Mao: "Speaking before the king of the Southland, Deng Zhi never once alluded to the Riverlands' attack on the Southland. But here, to the Southland envoy, Kongming repairs the 'omission. '"
14. From Shi jing, ode 241, "Huang yi."
15. From Shi jing, ode 184, "He ming."
16. From Shi jing, ode 229, "Bai hua."
17. This version of the mythological war between Gong Gong and Zhuan Xu comes from the "Tian wen" section of the Huainan zi.
18. Mao: "At the Battle of Red Cliffs Cao Cao already had Jingzhou, so his forces could cross from there. In this case Jingzhou was in Sun Quan's hands, so northern forces on the Huai had to come across from Guangling."
19. a. d. 224; the year is named by the Wei calendar.
20. Zhongjun huwei: a Wei, not a Han, title.
21. Shangshu puye: traditionally, the Secretariat's principal authority was the ling; the puye was second to him.
Throughout the Han and into the Wei the secretariat was increasing in staff and complexity of functions. See Yang Hongnian, Han Wei zhidu congkao (Wuhan: Wuhan daxue chubanshu, 1985), pp. 91-93.
22. Mao: "Unlike Cao Pi, Sun Quan is deeply devoted to his brothers."
23. In the tenth month of 224 the Emperor returned to Xuchang (ZZTJ, p. 2221).
24. In the late summer of 223 in Yizhou district (present-day Jinning of Yunnan province), Yong Kai initiated an armed rebellion. At the critical moment when Liu Shan succeeded Liu Bei, Yong Kai murdered the Shu-Han-appointed governor of Yizhou, Zheng Mao, then arrested Zheng Mao's successor, Zhang Yi, and sent him to the Southland in exchange for Sun Quan's support. Sun Quan reciprocated by appointing Yong Kai governor of Yongchang. The SGZ (p. 894) places Deng Zhi's visit to the Southland to reestablish friendship with the Riverlands after Yong Kai's rebellion.
According to the ZZTJ (p. 2216), the chief official at Yongchang, Lü Kai, barred Yong Kai's entrance. As a result, Yong Kai had a native of the district, Meng Huo, incite the southern tribes against Lü Kai.
CHAPTER 87
1. The year is a. d. 225. Jian Xing ( "Commence the [Dynastic] Revival" or simply "New Beginning" ) is the reign title of Liu Bei's son Liu Shan, Second Emperor of Shu-Han. Kongming will return to Chengdu from these wars in the fall of the same year (chap. 91).
2. Mao (introductory note): "After the peace with Wu, Kongming should have followed up with an attack on Wei. Instead, he began the southern march. Why? I would reply, Cao Pi wanted t borrow Sun Quan's army to attack the Riverlands. Cao Pi also wanted to borrow Meng Huo's Man troops to attack the Riverlands. The Riverlands had succeeded in turning the Southland troops north against Wei but could not do the same with Meng Huo's troops. Rather, Kongming had to invest all his efforts in eliminating the threat Meng Huo posed, because a precipitate attack on the north would have exposed the Riverlands to Meng Huo from the south. Thus, both in concluding peace with Wu and in attacking the Man, Kongming's ultimate objective remained Wei."
The Man had also approached the Southland for troops. After the Riverlands' first successful downriver attacks on the Southland, Man agents from Wuqi in Wuling sought military assistance from Sun Quan (ZZTJ, p. 2191).
CHAPTER 88
1. Mao: "One may conclude that Kongming [unlike Liu Bei] would never have been burned out at Xiaoting." Mao's preceding note says, "At Xiaoting, Liu Bei also pitched camp in a shady wood; Kongming's camps, however, are not connected."
2. The Han sphere.
3. Mao (introductory note): "Kongming's purpose in showing Meng Huo around the base area is actually to lure him into making an attack."
4. By the Tang poet Hu Zeng (TS, p. 853). The "three calls" on Kongming refer to Liu Bei's visits to his Longzhong farm to solicit his service (chap. 37).
CHAPTER 89
1. Ma Yuan, who reconquered the area (the former Southern Viet kingdom) for the Chinese in a. d. 44 after the uprising of the Trung sisters. The first General Who Tames the Deeps in this area was Lu Bode; he overcame the Southern Viets for Han Wudi in 111 b. c.
2. According to the TS, this poem is by Sima Wen.
3. The TS (p. 859) has the last line read: "Remember the gravity of the cause of Han." Mao Zonggang tends to "correct" the TS's secular language of political power with the moralistic language of imperial authority.
4. The poem uses "Wu hou" (lord of Wu), not "Kongming."
5. Geng Gong was the hero of a desperate battle against the northern Xiongnu during the reign of Han Mingdi (a. d. 58-75).
CHAPTER 90
1. The legendary fire god.
2. Typically, Han conquerors controlled minority regions by establishing districts and appointing Han bureaucrats to govern them. Kongming's strategy of psychological subjugation (fuxin) aimed at "going to the local chieftains and giving them office." See the extract from the Han jin chunqiu in SGZ, p. 921. The description of Kongming's strategy in Three Kingdoms is historical. But according to the slightly different picture presented in the SGZ, the original rebellion of Yong Kai did not attract many adherents and some Man peoples aided Kongming in suppressing the rebels. Three Kingdoms has enhanced the scale of the rebellion, as well as Kongming's methods of suppressing it. See Liu Chunfan, Zhuge Liang zhuan (Beijing: Zhongguo qingnian chubanshe, 1986), pp. 102-15.
The PH account differs significantly from the Three Kingdoms account: "Half a year after Liu Shan succeeded Liu Bei as emperor, the Man king Meng Huo sent a Man general for the ten legions that Liu Bei had [ear
lier] borrowed. The Man general said, 'What are you trying to get from us? ' Director General Kongming kept him for fifteen days in a guesthouse before sending him away with valuable gifts. The young ruler [Liu Shan] asked Kongming to devise measures against the Man general should he come again."
The PH says further that Meng Huo instigated three district governors (taishou)—Yong Kai, Lü Kai, and Du Qi—to revolt against the Riverlands on account of the ten unreturned legions. During one battle Du Qi said to Kongming, "Zhuge, you are unprincipled. You killed our sovereign Liu Zhang. Why shouldn't I revolt?" (pp. 129-30).
According to the Han Jin chunqiu, however, Kongming had no military or economic support from the Man until after his successful southern campaign; Three Kingdoms follows this source.
Qiu Zhensheng points out elements of superstition and Han chauvinism in Three Kingdoms' treatment of the campaign and notes that certain minorities reverse the legend by celebrating Meng Huo for organizing various local peoples in the struggle against Zhuge Liang and for capturing and releasing Zhuge Liang seven times. See ZHT, pp. 238-39; and cf. the "obligating release" of Cao Cao by Lord Guan.
CHAPTER 91
1. The familiar mantou or steamed buns.
2. a. d. 225: Jian Xing (Commence the Revival) is the Second Emperor's first reign period.
3. TS (p. 876): "... as if waiting to serve his father." Mao: "The situation resembles Emperor Xian's reception of Cao Cao."
4. a. d. 226. The TS (p. 877) first gives the year according to the Wei calendar: Huang Chu 7.
5. Wen, a basic term for Chinese culture, may be translated as "civil order" ; it forms a contrastive pair with the term wu, "martial might." Cao Cao, Pi's father, was posthumously titled Wu Huangdi, August Emperor Wu. The Chinese word huang conventionally translated "august" literally means "high and shining like the sun." It is the -no in the Japanese tennō, "emperor." Cao Cao's temple name was Tai Zu, or Great Ancestor, just as Liu Bang was called Gao Zu, or Supreme Ancestor. Cao Pi's death is dated to June 29. Wen Zhao means Reflector of Emperor Wen; zhao contains the graph for sun.
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