The Three Kingdoms, Volume 3: Welcome the Tiger: An Epic Chinese Tale of Loyalty and War in a Dynamic New Translation

by Luo Guanzhong

Thus Sima Yan succeeded to the throne. The new dynasty was called Great Jin and a new reign title, Tai Shi, or Great Beginning, was chosen. An amnesty was declared. Wei was no more.

  Jin took Wei as a model,

  And Prince of Chenliu resembled Lord of Shanyang

  A transfer of power at the altar again was seen

  We grieve when we recall these deeds.

  The new Emperor conferred posthumous imperial titles upon his late grandfather, uncle, and father—Sima Yi (the “Original Emperor”), Sima Shi (the “Wonderful Emperor”), and Sima Zhao (the “Scholar Emperor”). He built seven temples in honor of his ancestors, dedicated to Sima Jun, Sima Liang, Sima Jun (Sima Liang’s son), Sima Fang, Sima Yi, Sima Shi, and Sima Zhao. All these, except his uncle, were in his own direct line of ancestry.

  All these things being accomplished, the new Emperor held court daily to discuss how to subjugate Wu.

  The House of Han was gone for ever;

  And Wu would quickly follow.

  The story of the attack upon Wu will be told in the next chapter.

  Footnotes

  * Han Xin, a famous general who helped the founder of Han to win his empire, was advised by Kuai Tong to set up his own rule while he commanded the army but Han Xin failed to heed his words. Later he was deprived of his military power and he tried to rebel, but was killed at Weiyang Palace.

  † Wen Zhong and Fan Li were both officials of the Kingdom of Yue in ancient China. They helped their king destroy the Kingdom of Wu. Knowing that the king was not someone with whom one could share joy, Fan Li left to seek a life of leisure. Wen Zhong, however, did not follow his advice and was later forced to commit suicide.

  ‡ A god-like figure in ancient Chinese legends. The Han minister Zhang Liang allegedly went to Mount Ermei in southwestern China to study Taoism with Chi Song-zi after he had helped Liu Bang establish the Han Dynasty.

  * Familiar name for Zhang Liang, chief advisor to the founder of Han Dynasty.

  † Another name for Lu Shang, chief advisor to the founder of Zhou Dynasty.

  * The leader of the house of Zhou at the end of Shang Dynasty (16th–11th century B.C.). Although he had amassed a large territory he still pledged allegiance to the emperor of Shang. Later his son destroyed Shang and founded the Zhou Dynasty.

  CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY

  Recommending Du Yu a Veteran Offers New Plans

  Sun Hao Surrenders and the Three Kingdoms are Reunited

  When the Emperor of Wu learned about Sima Yan’s usurpation he knew that his own land was threatened by an invasion. The anxiety led to an illness and he was confined to his bed. Before his death he summoned to his side Prime Minister Puyang Xing, and told his heir Sun Wan to bow to the minister. The dying ruler, with his final effort, took the minister by the arm and pointed at his son. Then he died.

  Puyang Xing left the chamber and called a meeting of the officials, to whom he proposed placing the heir on his father’s throne.

  General Wan Yu objected, arguing, “He is too young to rule the government. Better to set up Sun Hao, Marquis of Wucheng.”

  This proposal won the support of another general, Zhang Be, who said, “Sun Hao is able and quick in decision-making. He is fit to be a ruler.”

  However, Puyang Xing could not decide and so he went into the palace to consult the Empress Dowager.

  “Settle this among yourselves,” she replied. “I am but a widow and know nothing of such matters of the dynasty.”

  So Sun Hao was welcomed into the capital. He was the son of Sun He, who was formerly Heir Apparent of Sun Quan, and in the seventh month he was enthroned as Emperor of Wu, and the first year of his reign was Yuan Xing. The young prince Sun Wan was consoled with the title of Prince of Yuzhang. His father Sun He was honored posthumously with the title of Emperor Wen and his mother was created Empress Dowager. The veteran general Ding Feng was made Minister of War.

  The following year the reign title was changed to Gan Lu, or Sweet Dew. The new ruler soon proved himself to be cruel and tyrannical, and he grew more so from day to day. He indulged in alcohol and lust and had as his confidant a eunuch named Cen Hun. When Puyang Xing and Zhang Bu remonstrated, both were put to death, along with their entire clans. That sealed the mouth of every courtier and thereafter none dared to voice any criticism.

  Another reign title, Bao Ding, was adopted the next year, and two officials, Lu Kai and Wan Yu, were appointed left and right prime ministers. At this time the imperial residence was in Wuchang. The people of Yangzhou had to send supplies upstream against the current and suffered exceedingly. There was no limit to the ruler’s extravagance—the public treasury was cleaned out and the income of private households was exhausted.

  At length Lu Kai ventured to present a memorial:

  “No natural calamity has fallen upon the land yet the people starve; no public work is in progress, yet the treasury is empty. I am bitterly distressed. In the past, after the fall of the House of Han the three kingdoms maintained a tripartite rule of the empire. But as a result of their own folly, the houses of Cao and Liu have lost their kingdoms to Jin. This is clearly a lesson for us today. Foolish I may be, but I would protect the state for Your Majesty’s sake. The land here in Wuchang is rugged and futile, not suitable as a royal capital. Besides, children in the street are chanting: ‘Better to drink the water of Jianye than eat the fish of Wuchang, better to die in Jianye than to live in Wuchang.’ This shows the longing of the people as well as the will of Heaven. Now the country does not have enough supplies in store for a year’s use, and all resources will soon be exhausted. The officials of all grades are vexed and distressed with exorbitant taxes.

  “In the times of the Great Emperor (Sun Quan), the palace women totaled less than a hundred, but the number has increased to a thousand since the days of Emperor Jing (Sun Xiu). This is the most extravagant waste of money. Moreover, Your Majesty is surrounded by unsuitable attendants, who are split into cliques, and plot to harm the loyal and drive away the virtuous. All these things undermine the state and weaken the people. I beg Your Majesty to reduce all forms of forced labor and remove grievances for taxes, decrease the number of palace women, and purge the court of dishonest officials. This will please Heaven, win the support of the people, and ensure the security of the state.”

  But the Emperor was displeased, and instead of reforming his ways he began yet another large project for the building of a new palace, even ordering the officials of the court to go to the hills to collect timber for the construction. He also called in a soothsayer and told him to divine for him to find out if he could attain the whole empire. The soothsayer reported a very propitious sign and assured the Emperor that he, riding in his chariot with the green canopy, would enter Luoyang in the year of geng-zi.* And the Emperor was pleased.

  He said to Hua He, “The late Emperor listened to your advice and sent officers to place hundreds of defensive camps along the river, with the veteran general Ding Feng in over all command. Now I desire to seize the former territory of Shu to avenge the wrongs of the ruler of Shu. Which place should be my first target?”

  Hua He replied, “Now that Chengdu has fallen and the throne there has been overturned, Sima Yan will assuredly desire to absorb this land. Your Majesty should cultivate virtue to placate your people. That would be the best policy. If you insist on waging war it will be like throwing hemp to put out a fire and the result can only be your own destruction. Pray consider this carefully.”

  But Sun Hao exploded, “I desire to take this opportunity to restore the old heritage yet you utter such ill-omened words? Were it not for your long service, I would slay you and expose your head as a warning.”

  He ordered his guards to hustle the minister out.

  Leaving the court Hua He sighed: “It is a shame that ‘ere long our beautiful country will pass to another.”

  From then on he shut himself inside his house and did not attend court. Then the Emperor ordered General Lu Kang to camp his a
rmy at the entrance of the Yangtze in order to attack Xiangyang.

  Spies reported this in Luoyang and it was forwarded to Sima Yan, ruler of Jin. When he heard that the army of Wu threatened to invade Xiangyang he called a council.

  Jia Chong stood forth and said, “I hear Sun Hao is devoid of virtue and indulges himself in vice. Your Majesty should command Yang Hu to hold this army at bay, and let him attack when internal troubles arise in Wu. Victory will then be easy.”

  Delighted with this proposal, Sima Yan sent an envoy to Xiangyang with an edict ordering Yang Hu to oppose the Wu army. Consequently Yang Hu mustered his troops, ready to meet the foe.

  Yang Hu had been well-loved by his army and the people since he came to defend Xiangyang. Whenever men of Wu who had previously yielded wished to return to their own country, he would allow them to leave. He also reduced the number of soldiers on patrol duty. Instead, he set his men to till the soil, and they cultivated an extensive area of eight hundred hectares. When he first arrived the army did not even have grain for a hundred days, but by the end of a year he had a ten-year reserve of provisions.

  When he was with his army Yang Hu often wore a light fur coat bound by a broad sash and no armor. His personal guards numbered only about a dozen.

  One day his officers came to his tent to say that spies spotted great laxity in the enemy’s camp, and they wished to attack.

  But Yang Hu replied, “You mustn’t underestimate Lu Kang, for he’s a very good strategist. Formerly his master sent him to attack Xiling, and he slew Bu Chan and many of his officers. I was too late to save them. So long as he remains in command I will remain on the defensive. I won’t attack till there is trouble and confusion among our enemies. To be rash and not await the proper moment to attack is to invite defeat.”

  They found his words wise and only strove to defend their own boundary. One day Yang Hu and his officers went out to hunt, and Lu Kang happened to have chosen the same day to embark on a hunting expedition.

  Yang Hu gave strict orders to his men not to cross the boundaries, and so they hunted only in the territory of Jin, never straying into that of Wu.

  Lu Kang sighed. “General Yang has maintained a strict discipline over his men. We can’t attack him.”

  In the evening, after both parties had returned, Yang Hu ordered an inspection of the slaughtered game and sent over to the other side any that had been first struck by the men of Wu.

  The men of Wu were greatly pleased and went to report this to Lu Kang, who sent for the bearers of the game and asked, “Does your officer drink wine?”

  They replied, “Only when it is really good wine.”

  “I have some very old wine,” replied Lu Kang, smiling. “I am going to ask you to take it to your general as a gift. Tell him that I have brewed the wine for my own consumption, and I am sending him this in return for his courtesy during yesterday’s hunt.”

  The bearers promised to deliver his message and left with the wine.

  “Why do you give him wine?” asked Lu Kang’s officers.

  To their amazement, he replied, “Well, I can’t accept his courtesy without offering him something in return.”

  The bearers of game returned with the wine and told their commander everything Lu Kang had said. Yang Hu said with a smile, “So he knows I can drink.”

  He had the jar opened and the wine poured out to drink.

  “This might be a trick,” cautioned an officer. “General, you should not drink it right now.”

  “Lu Kang is no poisoner,” replied the general.

  And he finished the whole jar. The friendly contact thus begun continued, and messengers frequently passed from one camp to the other.

  One day Lu Kang sent a messenger to inquire after Yang Hu, who asked, “Is General Lu well?”

  The man said that Lu Kang had been ill for several days.

  “I think he suffers from the same ailment as me,” said Yang Hu. “I have some remedies ready prepared. Take some to him.”

  The man took the medicine back to see Lu Kang, whose officers were suspicious: “Yang Hu is our enemy. His medicine is surely harmful.”

  But Lu Kang replied, “How can Yang Hu be a poisoner? Have no suspicions.”

  He drank the concoction. The next day he was feeling quite well, and when his staff came to congratulate him he said, “If he tries to use virtue to counter our violence, he will defeat us without fighting. Now let us see to the safety of our own boundaries and not try to gain any slight advantage.”

  The officers all obeyed his command. Soon after, a special envoy from the Emperor of Wu came. Lu Kang welcomed him and asked him the purpose of his visit.

  “The Emperor commands you to start an offensive, and not to let the men of Jin invade us first.”

  “You may return and I will send a memorial immediately,” replied Lu Kang.

  The envoy left. Soon a memorial was written and sent to the Wu capital. Some courtier presented it to the Emperor, who opened it and read the text. The memorial listed in detail the reasons why Jin could not be attacked then, and exhorted the Emperor to exercise a benign rule and reduce punishments. It also implored him to consider domestic security more important than military expansion. The memorial threw the Emperor in a rage and he cried, “I hear he has come to an understanding with the enemy, and this proves it!”

  Then he deprived Lu Kang of his military power and degraded him in rank. Another general, Sun Ji, was sent to supersede Lu Kang. None of the courtiers dared to intervene.

  As time went on the Emperor of Wu grew still more tyrannical and arbitrarily changed the reign title twice more. By the first year of the reign period of Phoenix (A.D. 272) he had become more capricious and vicious, dispatching troops for border defenses. Everyone in the state, officials as well as common folks, moaned with distress. At last, three high-ranking officials, led by the senior prime minister, boldly and earnestly remonstrated with the Emperor for his many wrongdoings, but they were all put to death. Within ten years or so more than forty loyal officials died at his hands. He also maintained an extravagantly large guard of 50,000 mailed cavalrymen, who often escorted him when he went out. The court officials lived in mortal terror and none dared to remonstrate with him.

  When Yang Hu heard of the removal of Lu Kang from his command and the tyranny of the ruler of Wu, he knew that the time had come to overcome Wu. Therefore he sent a memorial to Luoyang to request permission to attack Wu. It ran briefly as follows:

  “Although fortune is bestowed by Heaven, yet achievements depend upon human efforts. Now the land of Wu is not as dangerous as that of the Sword Pass in Shu, while the brutality of Sun Hao exceeds that of Liu Shan. The troubles of Wu are more serious than those of Shu whereas our armies are stronger than ever before. If we miss this opportunity to bring the whole land under one rule, but continue to send troops to confront our enemy at the borders, our country will be under the burden of constant expeditions. The days of prosperity will give way to decline and our rule will not endure.”

  Sima Yan was pleased to read this and he decided to give consent for the army to move. But Jia Chong and two other officials were strongly opposed to it, and he changed his mind. When Yang Hu learned that his proposal was rejected by the Emperor, he was disappointed.

  “How often things go against one’s wish!” he sighed. “What a great pity to miss this Heaven-sent opportunity!”

  In the fourth year of the period Xian Ning in Jin, Yang Hu went to court and asked to retire on account of his ill health. Before granting him leave to retire, Sima Yan asked him for advice to secure the safety of the state.

  Yang Hu replied, “Sun Hao is a very cruel ruler and Wu could be conquered without fighting. If unfortunately he were to die and a wise successor sat upon the throne, it would not be easy for Your Majesty to gain possession of Wu.”

  The wisdom of his words suddenly dawned on Sima Yan. “Suppose you lead the army to attack it now?”

  “I am now too old and too ill for
the task,” replied Yang Hu. “Please choose another bold and resourceful general.”

  He left the court and returned to his home. Toward the end of the year he was critically ill, and the Emperor went to visit him in his home. The sight of the Emperor at his bedside brought tears to the eyes of the old soldier.

  “If I died a myriad times, I could not have repayed Your Majesty,” said the sick man.

  The Emperor also wept. “I deeply regret that I cannot use your strategy to attack Wu. Who now is there to carry out your design?”

  The sick general replied tearfully, “I am dying and must be wholly sincere. General Du Yu is the right man for the task. He should be employed if Your Majesty is going to attack Wu.”

  Sima Yan said, “It is a good thing to bring worthy men into prominence. But why did you submit a memorial recommending certain men to court and then burn the draft so that no one would see it?”

  The dying man answered, “I deem it despicable to recommend someone in open court and then receive his thanks in private.”

  With these words he died. Sima Yan wailed in sorrow for him, and when he returned to his palace he conferred on the dead general the posthumous rank of Tai-fu and the title of marquis. His death was mourned everywhere. People in Nanzhou closed their shops and wept; officers and men guarding the frontier in the south wailed for him; and inhabitants of Xiangyang, recalling how he loved to visit the Xian Hills, built there a temple and set up a tablet to his memory and submitted sacrifices regularly at the four seasons. Passersby were moved to tears when they read the inscription on the tablet, which came to be named “Tablet of Tears.” In later times a poet visited the temple and composed these lines to his memory:

  One morning, moved by his memory, I climbed the hill

  I see fragments of a stone while spring visits Xian Hills

  From the pine branches dew drops constantly fall

  Could those who mourned for him then be weeping still?