Three Kingdoms

by Luo Guanzhong (Moss Roberts trans. )

  CHAPTER 117

  1. The TS (pp. 1128-29) notes: ' "Two fires first spring forth' indicates the first year of Yan Xing [a. d. 263] by the Shu-Han calendar: the character yan is formed of two 'fire' elements [see chap. 116, n. 1]; xing means 'spring forth. ' 'A man will cross' shows that Zhuge Liang foresaw that Deng Ai would pass. 'Two warriors contend' refers to the graph shi in the styles of both Deng Ai and Zhong Hui."

  2. Dated in the TS to the eleventh month of Yan Xing 1: probably in the beginning of a. d. 264.

  3. Dongchuan, "East Rivers," refers to Hanzhong.

  4. Actually Feng; the spelling is varied here to avoid confusion with the chief commander Ding Feng.

  CHAPTER 118

  1. I. e., the Riverlands' Nanzhong region: Yuesui, Zhuti, Zangge, Yunnan, Xinggu, Jianning, and Yongchang (ZZTJ, p. 2472).

  2. Qiao Zhou was formerly the grand historian. See chap. 91, n. 13. Mao: "Earlier Qiao Zhou had helped persuade Liu Zhang to surrender [the Riverlands to Liu Bei]."

  3. Mao (introductory note): "The Martial Lord lived in his son and grandson beyond his lifetime. The First Emperor [Liu Bei] had no [worthy] son, but his grandson served for one; and so the First Emperor lived again [in him]. Suppose the prince of Beidi had been the Second Emperor. Then Shu would have devoured Wu and extinguished Wei, and the Han would not have passed into history."

  4. An ancient ceremony of surrender.

  5. In this Tang poem by Li Shangyin "the brothers" refers to Lord Guan and Zhang Fei. Jinli, or "Damasktown," is a fancy name for Chengdu. Zhuge Liang often sang songs in the Liangfu mode, and visitors to his temple honored his memory with their own performances.

  6. Mao: "This is a false surrender. Jiang Wei's claim that he has surrendered unwillingly shows his mastery of deceit."

  7. Mao: "As honored guest, Jiang Wei maintained a formal distance; but as brothers, the two became close friends."

  8. Here Yizhou refers not, as before, to the district (jun) but to the entire province of the Riverlands (Xichuan or Shu) restored to central (i. e., Wei dynasty) control. Yizhou was also a province during the Han dynasty.

  9. Mao: "The edict speaks only of enfeoffing Deng Ai but does not mention enfeoffing Liu Shan [the Second Emperor], because Sima Zhao does not want Deng Ai to have sole power in the Riverlands."

  10. Mao (introductory note): "Upon the death of the Martial Lord, Yang Yi and Wei Yan submitted rival memorials. Upon the fall of Chengdu, Zhong Hui and Deng Ai submit rival memorials."

  CHAPTER 119

  1. Kuai Tong had advised Han Xin to support neither the kingdom of Han (i. e., Liu Bang) against the kingdom of Chu (i. e., Xiang Yu) nor Chu against Han, but to exploit the Chu-Han war by creating a third kingdom of his own. Han Xin rejected Kuai Tong's advice. Remaining loyal to Liu Bang, Han Xin helped him defeat Xiang Yu and found the Han dynasty. However, a few years after the founding of the Han, Liu Bang had Han Xin arrested and executed.

  2. After the kingdom of Yue took its revenge by conquering the kingdom of Wu, Fan Li urged Wen Zhong to retire from politics with a famous phrase: "When the sky has no more birds, the fine bows are put away; when the cunning hare has been caught, the tracker hounds are cooked."

  3. The Taoist transcendent Chi Songzi, or Master Red Pine, was a rainmaker for the mythical sovereign Shen Nong. According to legend he was impervious to fire. At the end of his biography, Zhang Liang, one of Liu Bang's chief advisers, says that he wants to leave behind the affairs of the world and ramble off with Master Red Pine; see SJ, "Liuhou shijia."

  4. This line means that Jiang Wei was committed not to return to Chengdu until the armies of Wei were defeated. The Mao edition is more protective than the TS of the reputation of Jiang Wei, since he carried on Kongming's policy of war against Wei. The TS (p. 1148) adds a line after this poem, "Thus, with a single plan Jiang Wei killed three worthy men [Deng Ai, Deng Zhong, and Zhong Hui]" ; the TS uses the same words to title this chapter. It is not that the TS is notably critical of the Shu-Han war party, but it includes more anti-war views. For the diverse judgments on Jiang Wei, see SGZ, pp. 1068-69; ZZTJ, p. 2481; and TS, p. 1149.

  5. This is Lord Guan's grandson; he holds his grandfather's first title.

  6. Zhongshu (Palace Documents) is the name if the department to which the deputy imperial executive belonged. When Cao Cao declared himself king of Wei, he created in his palace the office of mishu (Confidential Documents), a kind of Secretariat separate from the Han court's shanghsu. After establishing the Wei dynasty, the house of Cao renamed the mishu the zhongshu; as a Cao family executive organ, the zhongshu coexisted with the shangshu (Secretariat).

  7. This paragraph is not in the TS.

  8. Mao: "This may remind the reader of the time when Cao Cao was honored as king of Wei."

  9. This refers to Dong Zhuo's dethroning of Emperor Shao (Liu Bian) at the beginning of the novel.

  10. September 11, a. d. 264.

  11. Mao: "Sima Zhao clearly follows the example of Cao Cao; Sima Yan, the example of Cao Pi."

  12. Mao (introductory note): "Wei was doomed, not by Jin but by itself. Why so? When Sima Yan forced the Wei ruler out of power, he said 'How do I compare to Cao Pi? How does my father compare to Cao Cao? ' The fact is that Wei taught Sima Yan usurpation, and thus we may say that Wei doomed itself. Further, not only did Wei doom itself but Han also doomed it. Why so? When Sima Yan received the abdication he said, 'I take revenge for Han; I am following the precedent of Han. ' So the fact is that Han taught him to receive the abdication, and thus we may say that Han too doomed Wei."

  13. February 6, a. d. 265.

  14. Cao Pi enfeoffed Emperor Xian as lord of Shanyang after his abdication; before becoming emperor, Xian had been prince of Chenliu.

  CHAPTER 120

  1. Dated in the TS to Yong An (Enduring Peace), year 7 (a. d. 264) by the southern calendar.

  2. Xing is also the given name of the prime minister.

  3. During the Han dynasty Yangzhou was the provincial name of the Southland; use of the name emphasizes the area's subordination to the northern dynasty.

  4. I. e., a. d. 280; the previous gengzi year had been a. d. 220.

  5. In the TS (pp. 1154-55) this memorial is dated to the tenth month of Xian Ning, year 2 (a. d. 276); it is twenty-two rather than four lines long. The opening sentence reads: "The late Emperor pacified Ba-Shu to the west and kept peace with Wu-Kuai, thus bringing the realm to the verge of an era of armistice. But then Wu betrayed its allegiance to us, and border conflict reappeared. Heaven ordains..." The TS lacks the preceding narrative concerning Yang Hu's hunting parties and his fraternizing with Lu Kang.

  6. Mao (introductory note): "The northern forces were reluctant to attack the south because previous attempts had always ended in failure. Zhou Yu was victorious at Red Cliffs, and Lu Xun at Xiaoting; Xu Sheng at Nanxu, and Zhu Huan at Jiangling; Zhou Fang at Stonetown, and Ding Feng at Xutang. The south had always appeared formidable indeed. No one anticipated that the previous string of defeats would end with a single easy victory."

  7. I. e., Zhang Ti refused to save his own life by betraying the master who trusted him.

  8. The text of the last two paragraphs is not found in the TS. The invasion began at the turn of the year a. d. 279/280.

  9. Mao (introductory note): "The three kingdoms formed when the Han royal house declined. The Han royal house declined when the eunuchs abused the sovereign and officials subverted the government. This great novel begins with Zhang Rang and Zhao Zhong and ends with Huang Hao and Cen Hun in order to issue a warning about eunuchs [in government]."

  10. Jingling is another name for Jianye. The poet is Liu Yuxi; see his Xisai shan huaigu. The period between Han and Sui (i. e., between a. d. 220 and 581) came to be known by a variety of names: the period of disunity, the period of Northern and Southern Dynasties, and also the Six Dynasties period. This last name refers to the six southern houses that made their capital at Jinling, i. e., Wu (the Southland), Eastern Jin, Liu-Song, Qi, Li
ang, and Chen.

  11. This refrain from Shi jing, ode 65, "Shu li," ends each of the poem's three stanzas. "Shu li," the first poem in the "Wang feng" section, has been traditionally understood as a lament for the old capital of the Western Zhou dynasty after the ruling house had moved east and lost its dominion over the other kingdoms.

  12. Mao: "Concluding with the three rulers rather than with Sima Yan gives the three kingdoms the last word."

  13. These are the enfeoffment titles of the last rulers of Wei, Wu, and Shu (i. e., Cao Huan, Sun Hao, and Liu Shan) after they had relinquished their thrones.

  14. Only the last line of the ballad differs in the TS: "With unity [restored], the primal forces of creation belong again to Jin."

  Mao (introductory note): "This chapter records the end of the period of division; it does not record the beginning of the period of unification. The emphasis is not on Jin but on the three kingdoms, whose unification may be projected ahead to Jin, just as the division of Han was traced back to emperors Huan and Ling.... As the novel focuses on Han, it could have ended with the fall of Han. But Wei usurped Han. To end the tale before Han's enemy had itself met its fate would be to leave the reader unsatisfied. The novel could have ended with the fall of Wei, but Han's ally was Wu. To end the tale before Han's ally had fallen would be to leave the reader with an incomplete picture. So the tale had to end with the fall of Wu."