The Three Kingdoms Volume 2 (74 page)

Fierce Zhang Fei Takes Wakou Pass by a Clever Scheme

Aged Huang Zhong Captures Mount Tiandang by a Stratagem

Z
hang
He’s army, with which he felt so sure of victory, consisted of 30,000 men, who were in three camps protected by hills. These camps were named after the three hills Dangqu, Mengtou, and Dangshi respectively. Leaving half the men in each camp to maintain a defense he set out with the other half to capture Baxi.

The news soon reached Baxi, and Zhang Fei called in his colleague Lei Tong for counsel. Lei Tong said, “The country here is dangerous and the hills are precipitous, excellent for ambushing. You go out to give battle, General, and I will prepare a surprise attack to aid you. We are certain to capture Zhang He.”

Zhang Fei took the advice and gave 5,000 men to Lei Tong for the ambush while he himself, with double the number, went to a point thirty
li
away, where he encountered his opponent. The two armies having deployed in battle formations, Zhang Fei rode out and challenged Zhang He to one-to-one combat. Zhang He galloped out to meet him.

After some twenty bouts Zhang He’s men in the rear suddenly began to shout as they saw banners of Shu among some hills behind them. Zhang He dared not continue to fight after this, and he fled. Zhang Fei pursued him and Lei Tong also appeared to his front. So, trapped between two enemy forces, Zhang He lost the day. Zhang Fei and his comrade continued the chase into the night, till they drove their opponent back to his camp at the Dangqu Hill.

Zhang He reformed to defend the three camps, piling up logs and stones to create barricades, and remained behind his defenses.

Zhang Fei made a camp ten
li
away. The next day he went forth and offered battle, but Zhang He ignored him. Seated at the top of the hill, he drank wine to the accompaniment of trumpets and drums, and did not come down. Zhang Fei told his soldiers to shout insults, but these had no effect. On the following day, Lei Tong’s challenge again went unanswered. Lei Tong drove his men up the hill but logs and stones were rolled down, forcing him to retreat. Then Zhang He’s men in the other two camps came out to attack and Lei Tong was worsted.

On the third day Zhang Fei again offered battle, but there was no response. Again the soldiers yelled every form of insult, but from the hilltop Zhang He only replied with similar abuse.

The defensive tactics of his enemy exasperated Zhang Fei, but he was quite powerless. This stalemate lasted for more than fifty days.

Then Zhang Fei made a strong stockade just in front of the hill, where day after day he drank till he became quite drunk. And when he was thus, he would sit by the hill and revile his opponent.

About this time Liu Bei sent gifts to reward the army, and the messenger went back to tell Liu Bei that his brother was saturating himself in wine. This news startled Liu Bei, who lost no time in seeking advice from Zhuge Liang.

But Zhuge Liang was jocular, saying with a smile, “I see. Let us send him fifty vessels of the best brew of Chengdu. He probably has but poor stuff in the camp.”

“But he has always had a weakness for wine, and he used to fail because of it. Why do you want to encourage him to drink by sending him more wine?”

“My lord, can it be that you do not know your brother, even after all these years? He has always been brave and headstrong, yet when we first entered Shu he released Yan Yan, which is not what a dumb warrior would have done. Now he has been wrapped in a deadlock with Zhang He for nearly two months; every day after drinking, he sits in front of the hill and abuses his enemy, treating him with sheer contempt. This is not mere indulgence in wine, but a scheme to get the better of Zhang He.”

“This may be so,” replied Liu Bei, “but there is no harm in being more cautious. Let Wei Yan go and help him.”

Zhuge Liang sent Wei Yan with the wine, and the carts set out, each flying a yellow flag with writing in large characters: Fine wine for the troops at the battlefield.

When Wei Yan reached the camp he handed over the wine, which he said was a gift from their lord. And Zhang Fei received it with due respect.

He told Wei Yan and Lei Tong to take a troop each and move out on the two wings when they saw a red flag hoisted up. Then he had the wine laid out and began to drink, while soldiers put up a great display of flags and rolling of drums.

Spies reported all this to Zhang He on the hilltop and he came out to look for himself. There he saw his opponent seated in his tent drinking, while two soldiers wrestled before him for his amusement.

“He humiliates me too much,” said Zhang He, and he gave orders to prepare for a night attack on the enemy camp. His own men should do the raiding and the other two camps were to support them.

There was little moonlight that night, and Zhang He took advantage of the darkness to steal down the side of the hill and to the front of the enemy camp. From a distance he saw Zhang Fei drinking in his tent amid a blaze of lights. With a loud yell he dashed into the tent, and at the same time drums rolled on the hilltop in support of the advance. But Zhang Fei just sat there without stirring in the least. Zhang He rushed forward, thrust fiercely with his spear, and pierced his opponent. Zhang Fei toppled over but, lo! it was a Zhang Fei of straw! Zhang He hastened to turn back. At that moment he heard a string of explosions and a warrior appeared before him, barring his way. It was the real Zhang Fei, as the big, round eyes and thundering voice quickly made clear.

With spear set, he rode toward Zhang He. The two warriors fought many bouts illuminated by the gleaming light of the fire. All the while Zhang He waited in vain for assistance from his comrades in the other two camps. How could he know that his reinforcements had been driven back by Wei Yan and Lei Tong? And that the two camps were now held by his enemies? As his colleagues did not come he was quite helpless—and, to add to his discomfit, the glare of fire on the hill told him of the seizure of his own camp. Having lost all three camps, Zhang He could do nothing but flee to Wakou Pass.

So Zhang Fei won a tremendous victory. The news of the success delighted Liu Bei, and he realized then that Zhang Fei’s drinking had been part of a stratagem to entice his enemy into the open and defeat him.

Zhang He retreated to Wakou Pass, but with the loss of more than half of his army. He sent an urgent message to his chief to ask for assistance.

Cao Hong was very angry. “He would not listen to me and insisted on going. Now he has lost a key strategic point and yet he tries to seek help from me.”

So he refused to send aid. Instead, he ordered Zhang He to go out and fight. Afraid of offending his chief, Zhang He dared not disobey. Finally he decided upon a plan of action. He sent out two bodies of men to lay ambushes on some byroads in front of the pass.

Before they left, he said to them: “I will feign defeat and flee. Zhang Fei will surely follow and then you can cut off his retreat.”

However, when he marched his men out that day he met Lei Tong. The two engaged in battle and Zhang He soon ran away. Lei Tong pursued and fell into the ambush. Then Zhang He turned back and slew Lei Tong. The defeated men went back and told Zhang Fei, who came up to avenge his comrade.

Zhang He again employed the same stratagem—he feigned defeat and fled, but Zhang Fei did not pursue. Zhang He turned back to fight again and then tried the ruse a second time—but Zhang Fei, knowing full well what it meant, simply withdrew.

Back in his own camp, Zhang Fei said to Wei Yan: “Zhang He plotted the death of Lei Tong by leading him into an ambush, and now he attempts to lure me into another. Why don’t we try to catch him by his own game?”

“But how?” asked Wei Yan.

“Tomorrow I will lead a troop forward, while you follow me with a company of veterans. When his ambushing forces come out from their hiding places, you can smite them, sending half your men against each. In addition, fill the byroads with dozens of carts loaded with combustibles and raise a fire there to block the passage. In the confusion I will try to capture Zhang He and avenge the death of Lei Tong.”

Having decided on the plan, Zhang Fei went out the next day, and Zhang He came to fight. After ten bouts, Zhang He resorted to his old trick and ran away, and this time Zhang Fei pursued. Zhang He, now fleeing, now stopping to exchange a blow or two, led his opponent through the hills and into a valley. There he halted, turning his rearguard to face the enemy and offer battle.

It was now the moment when he expected his hidden men to appear and surround Zhang Fei. But none emerged. He did not know that his ambush had been broken up by Wei Yan’s brave men and driven into the valley, where the road was filled with cartloads of combustibles, and that the valley was all aflame, blocking the way out.

Zhang Fei pressed on with the attack, and the rout was complete. Zhang He, fighting desperately, managed to get through to Wakou Pass, where he mustered the remnants of his men and set up defenses.

Zhang Fei and Wei Yan then tried to take the pass, but day after day they failed. Zhang Fei, seeing no hope of success, retreated twenty
li
. From this point he and Wei Yan went out to explore the country with a small following of riders to reconnoiter certain paths. While scouting they observed some bearers, men and women, clambering up a pathway, pulling down the creepers and pushing aside the grasses.

“That is the way to take Wakou Pass,” cried Zhang Fei, pointing with his whip to the wayfarers.

He ordered his soldiers not to scare the people, but to call gently and bring them to him. They soon brought the people before their leader, who spoke to them kindly and put them at ease.

“Where did you come from?” asked Zhang Fei.

“We are natives of Hanzhong and are going home. We heard that there was fighting and that the high road was blocked, and so we are taking this way through Cang Stream, into the Zitong Mountains, and down Guijin River to get back to our homes in Hanzhong.”

“Can one reach Wakou Pass by this path? And how far is it?”

The country people replied: “The rear of the pass can be reached from a pathway in the Zizhuang Mountains.”

For this information Zhang Fei rewarded them by taking them into his camp and giving them a good meal. Then he told Wei Yan to make a frontal attack on the pass, while he himself led some light horses to attack it from the rear by way of the mountains.

At the pass, Zhang He was grieving that his chief had sent no help. Soon Wei Yan’s attack was reported. He girded on his armor and was about to ride out when there came the startling news that fire had started at half a dozen places behind the pass and it was not clear from where the enemy had come. So Zhang He decided not to face Wei Yan in front, but instead to meet this unknown foe behind. To his horror, when the flags were unfurled, his eyes fell on the terrible figure of Zhang Fei. Away he fled along a pathway.

But the path was too narrow for his steed, and as Zhang Fei pressed very hard upon him, he abandoned his horse and ran up the mountainside on foot, following whatever paths he could find. When he finally outran his pursuers he had just a dozen followers left of his army of 30,000 men. It was a small and dejected party that trudged its weary way on foot into Nanzheng. Cao Hong was very angry at the sight.

“I told you not to go, but you were willful. And you gave a written pledge. Now you have lost all your men, and yet you do not commit suicide. Why have you come back?”

Cao Hong ordered his guards to put him to death. At this an officer called Guo Huai interceded.

“An army is easily raised—a leader is hard to find,” said the man. “Though he is guilty, he is a great favorite with our prince and I think you should spare him. You can give him another 5,000 men and send him to take Jiameng Pass. This move will affect the deployment of Liu Bei’s forces at all his stations. Consequently, the threat against Hanzhong will be diminished. If he should fail a second time you can punish him for both faults.”

Cao Hong accepted his advice and so Zhang He was given command of another 5,000 men to take Jiameng Pass.

The officers he was going to confront at the pass were Meng Da and Huo Jun. Hearing of his approach, the two, however, were at variance—the former desiring to go out to meet Zhang He, the latter insisting on a firm defense. Meng Da, set on having his way, went out to give battle and was defeated. Huo Jun reported this to Chengdu, where Liu Bei at once called in his chief advisor to consider the matter. Zhuge Liang assembled all the chief officers in the hall.