Authors: Luo Guanzhong
There being no alternative, the man agreed and the letter was written. Then the writer was placed in confinement.
One of the officers asked Zhuge Liang: “How did you know he was false, sir?”
“Sima Yi chooses his men carefully,” replied Zhuge Liang. “If he made Qin Lang a leading general, the man must be of great military skill. But Zheng Wen’s opponent was overcome in the first encounter, so he could not be Qin Lang. That’s how I knew.”
This explanation convinced all the officers, who bowed to him in admiration. Then Zhuge Liang selected a persuasive soldier and whispered certain instructions in his ear. The man at once left, carrying with him Zheng Wen’s letter to the Wei camp, where he asked to see Sima Yi. He was admitted, and the letter was read.
“Who are you?” said Sima Yi.
“I am a native of the north, a poor fellow stranded in Shu. Zheng Wen and I are fellow villagers. Zhuge Liang has given him the position of a van leader as a reward for what he has done, and he sent me to deliver this letter to you. He said he would raise a fire tomorrow evening as a signal and asked you, Commander, to lead the whole army to raid the Shu camp. He would work from the inside to assist you.”
Sima Yi took great pains to test the reliability of these statements, and he examined the letter minutely to see if it bore any signs of fabrication. As he could find nothing wrong he ordered in refreshments for the bearer of the letter. Then he said: “At the second watch tonight I will lead a force for the raid. If it succeeds I will give you a good appointment as a reward.”
Taking leave, the soldier retraced his steps to his own camp and reported what was said to Zhuge Liang.
Before deploying his troops Zhuge Liang performed a ritual. Holding aloft his sword, he took the proper paces for an incantation, and prayed. This done, he summoned five of his officers, to whom he gave some secret instructions. When they had gone to carry these out, he ascended a high hill to direct the battle, taking with him a few score followers.
Sima Yi had been taken in by Zheng Wen’s letter and intended to lead the night raid with his two sons. But his elder son expostulated with him.
“Father, you’re going on a dangerous expedition on the faith of a mere scrap of paper. What if something goes unexpectedly wrong? Let some other officer go first, and you come up as a reserve.”
Sima Yi saw there was reason in his words and decided to send Qin Lang, with 10,000 men, to raid the Shu camp, while he would command the reserve.
The night was fine at the first watch. There was a bright moon and a gentle breeze. But at about the second watch the sky was suddenly over-cast with dark clouds and a black vapor hung in the air. It was so dark that one could not even see the face of the person opposite.
“Heaven is helping me to succeed,” said Sima Yi, delighted.
The army soon advanced swiftly and silently, men wearing gags, and horses with cords round their muzzles. Qin Lang and his force made straight into the camp of Shu. To his shock there was not a man inside, and he knew he had been tricked. He yelled to his men to retreat, but torches fired up all round, and attacks began from all four sides. Fight as he would, Qin Lang could not free himself.
From behind the battle area Sima Yi saw flames rising from the camp of Shu and heard continuous shouting, but he did not know whether it meant victory for his own men or for his enemy He urged his troops to press forward toward the fire. Suddenly, a shout rose and instantly sounds of war began to rock the air and shake the earth. In the midst of the uproar, Wei Yan and Jiang Wei dashed forth from the right and left to smite their enemy.
The men of Wei were utterly worsted. Of every ten men of Wei eight or nine were killed or wounded and the rest scattered to the four winds. The arrows came as thick as swarms of locusts and Qing Lang was killed. Qin Lang’s men were completely crushed. Sima Yi eventually collected his defeated army together and fled.
After the third watch the sky cleared. Zhuge Liang sounded the gong of retreat from the hilltop. The obscurity at the second watch turned out to be Zhuge Liang’s magic, so was the clarity of the sky at the third watch.
So the Shu army returned to camp triumphantly. Zhuge Liang ordered the false deserter of Wei to be put to death. Then he considered new plans for capturing the south bank. Day after day he sent his officers out to challenge the enemy to combat, without response.
One day Zhuge Liang rode out in his small chariot to carefully scan the lie of the land in front of Qishan and to the east and west of the Wei River. Presently he came to a valley shaped like a gourd, large enough to form a hiding place for a thousand soldiers in the inner recess. Then he found in between two hills another valley, which could hide half as many, but in the rear the hills were so close that they left a passage only for a single rider and his horse. Immensely pleased with the discovery, Zhuge Liang asked his guide what this place was called.
“It is called Shangfang Valley, or Gourd Valley,” replied the guide.
Returning to his camp, he called up two officers named Du Rui and Hu Zhong and whispered into their ears certain secret orders. Next he sent a thousand artisans that had been with the army into the Gourd Valley to construct “wooden oxen and running horses” for the use of the troops. Finally he sent Ma Dai with five hundred soldiers to guard the mouth of the valley and prevent all movement in or out.
“I will come to inspect the work now and then,” he added. “My plan to capture Sima Yi depends on the work here, so it must be kept a profound secret.”
Ma Dai left to guard the Gourd Valley. Inside, the two officers, Du Rui and Hu Zhong, superintended the work of the artisans. Zhuge Liang came every day to give instructions.
One day Yang Yi went to see Zhuge Liang. “All our grain is at Sword Pass, and the labor of transport is very heavy. What can be done?”
Zhuge Liang replied, smiling: “I have been thinking about this for a long time. I have told the carpenters to construct ‘wooden oxen and running horses’ with the timber we have accumulated. These can be used very conveniently to convey grain as they require neither food nor water, and can travel day and night without resting.”
All were amazed. “Since ancient times no one has ever heard of ‘wooden oxen and running horses.’ What excellent plan do you have, sir, to make such marvelous creatures?”
“These animals are now being made after the specifications I give them, but they are not yet ready. I will write down the method in full detail for you to see.”
Zhuge Liang then wrote out the specifications for making a wooden ox and a running horse on a sheet of paper. All the officers bowed to the ground after reading, and lauded their prime minister for his super-human genius. A few days later the transport animals were complete. They looked like real animals and could move up and down a hill with alacrity. The whole army was delighted to see them. Zhuge Liang ordered Gao Xiang, with a thousand soldiers, to drive the animals from Sword Pass to the main camp in Qishan, to transport grain for the use of the troops.
Along the Sword Pass mountain roads
The running horses bore their loads,
And through Ye Valley’s narrow way
The wooden oxen paced each day.
Oh! if they were at hand today,
Transport troubles would melt away.
Sima Yi was already distressed at his defeat when he was told of these “wooden oxen and running horses” that the men of Shu were using to convey their grain. This troubled him still more. With this device his enemy might never be compelled to retreat for want of food. What was the point of him shutting his gates and remaining on the defensive, waiting for them to be starved, when they never would be starved?
He immediately summoned two officers. “I want you to lead five hundred men each and take some bypaths to Ye Valley to wait for the enemy. When the men driving the wooden animals have all passed, rush out all at once, seize only several of these animals and come back.”
That night the two officers and their soldiers sneaked into Ye Valley and hid themselves there, disguised as men of Shu. Presently they saw their enemy leading the “wooden” convoy along. When nearly all of them had gone past they made a sudden rush, shouting and beating drums at the same time. The men of Shu were caught unprepared and abandoned several of their transport animals. The northerners captured these gleefully and took them to their own camp.
When Sima Yi saw the wooden animals he was amazed to find that they could move forward or backward, just like live ones.
Overjoyed, he said, “If he can use this, so can I.”
Sima Yi called in more than a hundred clever artisans, who were told to take the machines to pieces in front of him and to construct their own transport animals exactly like Zhuge Liang’s models. In less than two weeks they had produced 2,000 such animals that could also move about. Then he placed Chen Wei, with a thousand men, in charge of this new means of transport, and the wooden animals, much to the delight of the officers and men, began to ply between the camp and Longxi, carrying grain and forage.
Meanwhile Gao Xiang returned to camp and reported the loss of five or six of his wooden “oxen and horses.”
“I wanted the enemy to capture some of them,” said Zhuge Liang, much pleased. “I have lost only a few wooden oxen and running horses, but before long I will get some very solid help in exchange.”
“How do you know, sir?” asked his officers.
“Once he sees them Sima Yi will certainly try to make his own, copying my models, and when he has done that I have another scheme ready to play on him.”
Some days later, Zhuge Liang received a report that the northerners had also constructed their own wooden animals and were using these to bring up supplies from Longxi.
“Just as I expected,” said Zhuge Liang joyfully.
He called Wang Ping to him and said, “Take a thousand men and disguise yourselves as men of Wei. Move quickly and secretly past Beiyuan, pretending to be patrol men for the grain convoy, and go to their depot. Once there turn on the guards and scatter them all away. Then drive the wooden animals back past Beiyuan, where you will surely be pursued. When that occurs, turn the tongues of the animals, and they will not move. Leave them where they are and run away. When the men of Wei come up, they will be unable to drag the creatures along, nor will they be able to carry them. Later when you see another troop of ours come, turn back and give the tongues a backward twist and bring the convey here. The enemy will certainly find it supernatural.”
Wang Ping departed to carry out the plan. Next Zhuge Liang called Zhang Ni and said, “Take five hundred men and dress them up as heavenly soldiers with heads of demons and bodies of wild beasts. Let them paint their faces in five colors and assume all kinds of grotesque facial expressions. Let each of them hold a flag in one hand and a sword in the other, and slung across his shoulder is a gourd with combustibles hidden inside. Hide these men among the hills till the grain convoy approaches. Then they are to kindle the flammable material inside the gourds, rush out all at once, driving the wooden animals along. The enemy will think you are supernatural and dare not pursue.”
When he had left, Wei Yan and Jiang Wei were called.
“You two take 10,000 men and leave for the camp in Beiyuan to guard the wooden transport creatures in case there is fighting.”
Then Zhang Yi and Liao Hua, commanding 5,000 men, were sent to check Sima Yi’s route of retreat, and Ma Dai and Ma Zhong, with 2,000 men, were ordered to challenge the enemy on the south bank of the river.
The Wei officer Cen Wei was leading a convoy of wooden animals to transport grain from Longxi. On the way scouts suddenly reported some soldiers ahead, who declared that they were patrol men for the grain convoy. Cen Wei halted and sent his men to inquire. It appeared they were truly men of Wei and so he advanced without suspicion. The newcomers mingled with his own men.
But before they had gone much farther there was a yell, and the newcomers, who were men of Shu in disguise, began to kill, while shouting “General Wang Ping is here!” The Wei soldiers were taken aback and many were killed. Cen Wei rallied around him the remaining troops to resist but was slain by Wang Ping and the others ran away. Then Wang Ping led his men to drive the wooden animals to the Shu camp.
The Wei soldiers ran back to Beiyuan and reported the mishap to Guo Huai, who at once set out to rescue the convoy. When he approached, Wang Ping ordered his men to turn the tongues of the wooden animals and left them on the road. Then they fled, intermittently fighting with the pursuers. Guo Huai made no attempt to pursue, but told his men to lead the wooden animals back. But he could not move them.
Guo Huai was greatly perplexed, not knowing what to do. Suddenly there arose the roll of drums all around, and out burst two parties of soldiers. These were Wei Yan and Jiang Wei’s men, and when they appeared Wang Ping’s men faced about and joined the attack as well. Pounded by the three forces, Guo Huai fled in utter defeat. Thereupon the tongues were turned back again and the wooden animals set in motion.
Seeing this, Guo Huai intended to pursue again but just at that moment he saw clouds of smoke curling up behind some hill and a body of unusual warriors burst out, each holding a flag and a sword and all grotesque to look at. They rushed at the “animals” and goaded them away.
“Truly these must be supernatural helpers,” cried Guo Huai, quite frightened.