The Three Kingdoms Volume 2 (8 page)

A poem was written to portray this:

Then, turning from his humble home,

He thought of peaceful days to come,
When he should take the homeward way

And ne’er beyond the valley stray.

But duty kept him in the west,
And there he found his place of rest.

An old poem may be quoted here:

The Founder of Han seized his gleaming blade

And at Mangdang the blood of the white snake flowed.

He conquered Qin, destroyed Chu, and entered Xiangyang.
After two centuries of rule the line was near broken,
But Guangwu, the great, restored the glory at Luoyang.
And his offspring occupied the throne
Till decay began in the days of Huan and Ling,
Then Emperor Xian removed the capital to Xuchang.

And, within the four seas, all was confusion.

Bold spirits started up in fierce contention.

Cao Cao seized the favorable moment
And the imperial authority passed into his hands,
While the Suns made to themselves
A glorious heritage east of the river,
Solitary and poor, Liu Bei wandered from place to place,
Till he found a haven in Xinye.

Sorely distressed he was at the sorrows of the people,
But the Sleeping Dragon conceived a noble ambition.
Within his breast were remarkable plans
Of great things to be accomplished by force of arms.

Then, because of the parting words of Xu Shu,
And by the three repeated visits to his retreat,
The great hero found and knew his mentor,
When at the age of but thrice nine years
He turned from his books, put aside his lute
And left the peaceful fields he had loved,
Under his guidance Jingzhou was taken,
And the land of West Chuan conquered,
He unrolled great schemes, as one all knowing
In speech, he went to and fro in the land,
The sound of war drums rolled loud from his tongue,
The words from his heart stirred one to the utmost depths,
The dragon pranced, the tiger glared,
And peace was brought to the land.

Through all the ages his fame will never decay.

After taking leave of the younger brother, Liu Bei and his followers left for Xinye, with Zhuge Liang as companion. When they took up their abode there, Zhuge Liang was treated as a respected master, eating at the same table and sleeping on the same couch with Liu Bei. They spent whole days conversing over the affairs of the state.

Zhuge Liang said, “Cao Cao is training his men for naval service and so certainly intends to invade the country south of the river. We can send our spies to ascertain what he is really doing.”

So spies were dispatched to gather information.

Now after Sun Quan had succeeded his brother to rule his territory he welcomed men of ability from every side to aid him. He even built guest-houses in Wu and directed two officials to receive and entertain all those who came. And year by year they flocked in, one recommending another. Among them were Kan Ze and Yan Jun. All these scholars were treated with great deference.

Some able warriors also joined his service, among whom were Lu Meng and Lu Xun. Thus Sun Quan obtained the assistance of many men of ability in both civil and military affairs, and all seemed to go well with him.

In the seventh year of Jian An, Cao Cao had annihilated Yuan Shao. Then he sent an envoy to see Sun Quan, ordering him to send his son to court to serve in the retinue of the Emperor. Sun Quan, however, hesitated whether he should comply with this request, and the matter was the subject of much discussion. His mother, Lady Wu, sent for Zhou Yu and Zhang Zhao and asked them for their advice.

Zhang Zhao said, “Cao Cao’s intention is to keep your son in court as a hostage so that he can have a hold on us. But if we do not comply with this request he will very likely attack us and that will be disastrous.”

Zhou Yu said, “General, you are blessed with the heritage of your father and brother and have under your rule the vast population of six districts. You also possess a large army and ample supplies. Officers and soldiers are all ready to do your bidding. So why should you be compelled to send a hostage to any man? To send a hostage is to be forced into alliance with Cao Cao, and to carry out his behest, whatever they may be. Then you will be in his power. I think it would be better not to send your son there, but rather to wait and see how things develop and then design plans to counter them.”

“That is also my opinion,” said Lady Wu.

So Sun Quan dismissed the messenger and did not send his son. Cao Cao resented this and thereafter nourished a desire to destroy the Suns. However, at that time he was fully occupied with the war in the north so no expedition to the south had been sent.

Late in the eighth year of the reign of Jian An, Sun Quan led his army to attack Huang Zu and the two sides fought on the Yangtze River. Sun Quan was successful in several battles. Then one of his officers, Ling Cao, at the head of a fleet of light vessels, sailed up the river and broke into Xiakou but was killed by an arrow from one of the enemy officers called Gan Ning. His son, Ling Tong, then only fifteen years of age, fought desperately to retrieve his father’s corpse. Seeing that the war was going against him, Sun Quan turned back to his own territory.

Now Sun Quan’s younger brother, Sun Yi, was Prefect of Danyang. He was a hard man and given to drink and, in his cups, would order severe floggings of his men. Two of his officers, Gui Lan and Dai Yuan, hated him and intended to assassinate him. They took into their confidence a guard of the prefect’s, called Bian Hong, and the three plotted to kill their master. Shortly, there was a great assembly of officials at Danyang and the prefect prepared to give a big banquet to entertain them.

Sun Yi’s wife, Lady Xu, was skilled in divination and on the day of the great banquet she cast a most inauspicious lot. Therefore she begged her husband to stay away from the assembly. But he was obstinate and went anyway. The faithless guard followed his master out after the gathering dispersed in the evening and stabbed him to death. The two prime conspirators at once seized their accomplice on the charge of murdering the prefect and beheaded him in the market place. Then they went to Sun Yi’s residence, which they plundered. Gui Lan was taken with the beauty of the dead prefect’s wife and told her that as he had avenged the death of her husband she must go with him, or he would slay her. She pleaded that it was too soon after her husband’s demise to think of re-marriage but promised to be his after the mourning ceremony.

She thus obtained a respite, which she utilized to send secretly for two of her husband’s trusted officers, Sun Gao and Fu Ying. They came and she tearfully told her tale.

“My husband had great faith in you. Now Gui Lan and Dai Yuan have plotted his death, and have laid the crime on Bian Hong. They have plundered my house and carried off my servants and maids. Worse than this, Gui Lan also insists that I be his wife. To gain time I have pretended to accept his proposal. You must now send the news to my husband’s brother and at the same time we must think of a scheme to slay these two miscreants and avenge this wrong. I will never forget your kindness in this life or the next.”

And she bowed before them. They also wept and said, “We were much attached to our master and now that he has come to an untimely end we must avenge him. We will certainly do as you ask us to do.”

So they sent a trusty messenger to break the sad news to Sun Quan. On the day of the memorial service for her husband the lady called in her two friends and hid them in a secret chamber. Then the ceremony was performed in the great hall. When it was over, she took off her mourning garb, bathed and perfumed herself, and assumed an expression of joy, laughing and talking as usual. When Gui Lan heard of all this he rejoiced in his heart, thinking of the pleasure that was to be his.

When night came she sent a maid to call Gui Lan to her residence, where she entertained him with wine. When he was quite intoxicated, she suggested that they should retire and led him to the chamber where her friends were waiting. He was so pleased that he followed without the least hesitation. As soon as she entered the room she called out, “Where are you, generals?” Out rushed the two men, and the drunken man, incapable of any resistance, was instantly killed.

Then she invited Dai Yuan to supper and he was slain in similar fashion. After that, she sent people to the houses of her enemies and slew all their family members. Having avenged her husband’s death, she resumed her mourning garb and the heads of the two men were placed as a sacrifice before the coffin of her husband.

Very soon Sun Quan himself came with an army, and hearing the story of the deeds of the two officers from the widow, he rewarded them with promotion and put them in charge of Danyang. When he left he took the widow with him and arranged to let her pass the remainder of her days at his house. All those who heard of her brave conduct were loud in praise of her virtue:

Full of resource and virtuous, few in the world are like her,
Guilefully wrought she and compassed the death of the lusty assassins,
Faithless officials submit and loyal ones die,
None can compare with the heroine of East Wu.

As time went by the brigands that had troubled the region had all been suppressed and a large fleet of more than seven thousand keels were in the Yangtze ready for service. Sun Quan appointed Zhou Yu to be commander-in-chief.

In the winter of the twelfth year of the reign of Jian An, Lady Wu, feeling her end approaching, called to her bedside the two advisors Zhou Yu and Zhang Zhao and said: “I came of a family in Wu. As our parents died in early life, my younger brother and I emigrated to Yue. Later I married into this family and bore my husband four sons. When Ce was born, I dreamed of the moon falling into my bosom and when it was time for Quan, I dreamed of the sun dropping into my breast. These omens were interpreted by a soothsayer as signs of the greatness that would be theirs. Unfortunately Ce died young, but Quan succeeded him and I pray you will both assist him so that I may die in peace.”

And to her son she said, “These two you are to treat as your teachers and never should you neglect your duty. My younger sister and I were both married to your father, and so she is also a mother to you and you are to serve her after I am gone, as you now serve me. And you must treat your sister with affection and find a good husband for her.”

These were her last words and very soon she died. Sun Quan wept bitterly in sorrow. Then followed the mourning and her burial, but these are of no concern to us here.

The following year Sun Quan began to think of an attack upon Huang Zu again. Zhang Zhao objected, saying that the army should not move during the period of mourning. However, Zhou Yu said that vengeance should not be postponed on that account and it could not wait one year. Sun Quan vacillated between the two opposing opinions and could not decide.

As he was hesitating, Lu Meng, commander of the north region, came in to see him with news. Lu Meng said, “While I was guarding the Longqiu Gorge one of Huang Zu’s officers, Gan Ning by name, came to surrender. I questioned him about his reason for submission and he told me everything about himself. He is a native of Linjiang and his other name is Xing-ba. He is a powerful man of great strength and is also known to be something of a scholar. In his youth he was fond of wandering about as a knight-errant. Once he assembled a band of outlaws with whom he plundered rivers and lakes, terrorizing everybody. He wore a bell at his waist and at the sound of this bell people fled and hid themselves from his sight. He fitted his boats with sails of West Chuan brocade and people called him the ‘Pirate with Sails of Silk.’

“Later he reformed. He and his band went to Liu Biao, but they left him when they saw he would never accomplish anything. Then they wanted to come and serve under your banner, but were detained by Huang Zu at Xiakou. Remember last time when we were attacking Huang Zu, it was this man who helped our enemy to recover Xiakou—yet he was not treated well. Even though the commander-in-chief, Su Fei, recommended him several times for promotion, Huang Zu refused, saying that he was unsuited for any high positions as he was no more than a pirate.

“So Gan Ning became a disappointed and resentful man. The commander knew his heart and he invited him to a wine party at his house. He said to Gan Ning, ‘I have put your name forward many times but our chief says he has no place suitable for you. However, time slips away and man has but a very short life. One must make the most of it. I will recommend you to be magistrate of Zhu, and you must decide for yourself whether to stay or leave.’

“So Gan Ning was able to get away from Xiakou and would have come to you then, but he feared that he would not be welcomed, since he had assisted Huang Zu and killed Ling Cao. I told him you were always ready to welcome able men and would harbor no resentment for former offenses. After all, everyone is bound to do his best for his master and he was only doing what was expected of him then. He would come with alacrity if he only felt sure of a welcome. I pray you will decide whether he is to stay or not.”

This was good news for Sun Quan and he said, “With his help I could destroy Huang Zu.” Then he told Lu Meng to bring Gan Ning to see him.

When he had paid his obeisance, Sun Quan said to him, “I am very pleased with your coming and I bear no resentment against you. Please have no doubts on that score. I hope you can advise me on how to destroy Huang Zu.”

Gan Ning replied, “Han is taking its last breath and Cao Cao will sooner or later assume authority. Then he is sure to attempt to absorb the country as far down as the river unless he is opposed. Liu Biao prepares nothing for the future and his sons are quite unfitted to succeed him. You should lay your plans to oust him at once before Cao Cao comes. First attack Huang Zu, who is getting old and only interested in exploiting his subordinates and his people, so that he is hated by everyone. He is totally unprepared for a fight and his army is undisciplined. He will fall at the first blow. After he is gone, you can move westward to control the Chu passes and then proceed to conquer the regions of Ba and Shu. Then you will be securely established.”