The Three Kingdoms Volume 2 (30 page)

The three left. Then Zhuge Liang said to Liu Qi, “Wuchang is a place of strategic importance. Please return to your own city and station your troops on the bank. Some of Cao Cao’s defeated men will flee there and you can capture them. But you are not to leave the city without the best of reasons.”

And Liu Qi, too, took his leave.

Then Zhuge Liang said to Liu Bei, “You, my lord, can station your troops in Fankou and sit calmly and watch how Zhou Yu wins this great battle tonight.”

All this time Guan Yu had been silently waiting his turn but Zhuge Liang paid no notice of him. In the end he could bear this no longer and he cried, “Since I first followed my brother many years ago I have never been left behind. Now that a great battle is being fought, I’m completely left out. What does this mean?”

“Don’t be angry,” laughed Zhuge Liang. “I meant to ask you to guard a most important point but I have some apprehensions about sending you there.”

“What could they be?” asked Guan Yu. “I hope you will explain.”

“You see, Cao Cao was once very kind to you and you cannot help feeling grateful. After his defeat, he will certainly flee via the road to Huarong. If I were to send you to guard it you would let him escape. So I can’t send you.”

“You are most suspicious, sir,” replied Guan Yu. “It’s true he once treated me well, yet I have repaid him by slaying two of his most dangerous opponents, besides raising a siege. If he happened to come my way this time I certainly wouldn’t let him go.”

“But what if you do?”

“You can punish me by military law.”

“Then put that down in writing.”

So Guan Yu signed a written pledge and gave it to Zhuge Liang.

“But what if Cao Cao doesn’t come that way?” asked Guan Yu.

“I will give you a written pledge that he will,” said Zhuge Liang.

Guan Yu was much pleased.

Then Zhuge Liang continued, “On the hills by the road to Huarong you are to raise a fire with a heap of wood and grass and let the smoke lure Cao Cao into coming.”

“If Cao Cao sees the smoke he will suspect an ambush and will not come,” said Guan Yu.

Zhuge Liang said, smiling, “Don’t you know in a war falsehood may be truth and vice versa? Cao Cao is an able strategist but you can deceive him this time. When he sees the smoke he will take it as a camouflage and risk going that way. But don’t let your kindness of heart rule your conduct.”

Thus Guan Yu left, taking with him his adopted son Guan Ping, Zhou Cang, and 500 swordsman.

Liu Bei said, “My brother has a very high sense of honor. If Cao Cao should really go that way I am afraid he will let him pass.”

“I have consulted the stars and I know Cao Cao is not fated to come to his end yet,” said Zhuge Liang. “It will be good to let Yun-chang perform this kind act.”

“Indeed, no one in the country can be so far-sighted as you are,” said Liu Bei.

The two then went to Fankou, where they could watch Zhou Yu direct the battle. Sun Qian and Jian Yong remained to guard the city.

Cao Cao was in his great camp in conference with his advisors and awaiting news from Huang Gai. The southeast wind was very strong that day and Cheng Yu again asked his master to take precautions. But Cao Cao only laughed, saying, “This is the time of Winter Solstice when a new cycle in the weather pattern begins. In such moments of change there is bound to be an occasional southeast wind. I see nothing to be alarmed about.”

Just then soldiers came to report the arrival of a small boat from the southern shore with a letter from Huang Gai. The messenger was brought in and the letter presented. It said, “Zhou Yu has kept such a strict watch that there has been no chance for me to escape. But now some grain is coming down from Lake Poyang and I have been appointed leader of the convoy, which will give me the opportunity I desire. I will slay some of their best officers and bring their heads as an offering when I come. At about the second watch tonight look for ships with green dragon flags. These will be my grain ships.”

This letter delighted Cao Cao who, with his officers, went to the naval camp and boarded a great ship to watch for the arrival of Huang Gai.

On the southern shore, when evening fell, Zhou Yu sent for Cai He and told soldiers to bind him. The man protested that he had committed no crime but Zhou Yu said, “What sort of a fellow are you that you dare to come and pretend to desert to my side? I need a sacrifice for my flag and your head will serve my purpose.”

Cai He, unable to deny the charge, cried, “Two of your own men, Kan Ze and Gan Ning, are also in the plot!”

“Under my orders,” said Zhou Yu.

It was too late for Cai He to show remorse and he was taken to the riverbank, where the black standard had been set up. After the pouring of a libation and the burning of paper, he was beheaded, his blood being offered as a sacrifice to the flag.

After this ceremony the ships set out and Huang Gai took his place on the third fire ship. He wore breast armor and carried a keen blade. On his flag were written four large characters: Van Leader Huang Gai. With a fair wind his ships sailed toward the Red Cliff.

The easterly wind was strong and the waves rose high. Cao Cao in his central squadron eagerly scanned the opposite shore. When the moon emerged, shedding its light over the river, thousands of silver serpents seemed to play with the waves in innumerable folds. Letting the wind blow full in his face Cao Cao smugly laughed aloud, thinking he was sure to win the battle.

Then a soldier called out, pointing to the river, “There are some sails coming up on the wind.”

Cao Cao went to a higher point and gazed at the sails intently. Soon his men reported to him that the ships all had green dragon flags and among them was a large banner on which was written the name of Huang Gai.

“His coming is really a blessing from Heaven,” he said joyfully.

As the ships drew closer Cheng Yu looked at them very carefully. Suddenly he said, “Those ships are treacherous. Do not let them approach the camp.”

“How do know you that?” asked Cao Cao.

Cheng Yu replied, “If they were laden with grain they would lie deep in the water. But these are light and float easily. The southeast wind is very strong tonight—if they mean treachery, how can we defend ourselves?”

Cao Cao understood at once. Then he asked, “Who will go and stop them?”

Wen Ping volunteered. “I am quite used to fighting on water,” he said. “I will go.”

Then he sprang into a small light craft and sailed out, followed by a dozen scout boats, which came at his call. Standing in the prow of his boat he called out to those advancing toward them, “Don’t approach, you southern ships! Anchor there in midstream. This is the order of the prime minister.”

His soldiers all yelled to the southerners to lower their sails. The shout had not died away when a bowstring twanged and Wen Ping fell down into the boat with an arrow in his left arm. Confusion reigned on his boat and all the other boats fled back to camp.

By then the southern ships were only a couple of
li
from Cao Cao’s camp. Huang Gai waved his sword and the leading ships were set alight—under the force of the strong wind, this soon gained strength and the ships became as fiery arrows. Soon, the whole twenty ships of fire dashed into Cao Cao’s naval force.

All of Cao Cao’s ships caught fire and as they were firmly chained together not one of them could escape from the calamity. From across the river came the roar of a signal bomb and fire ships came on from all sides at once. The surface of the three rivers was speedily covered with fire, which flew before the wind from one ship to another. The whole sky and earth were lit up with flames.

Cao Cao looked toward his camps on shore and found several of them already ablaze. Huang Gai leaped into a small boat and dashed through the fire to look for Cao Cao. Seeing the immediate danger, Cao Cao was about to make for the land when Zhang Liao came up with a small boat and helped him into it. No sooner had they left the big ship than it, too, was aflame. Zhang Liao and the others got Cao Cao out of the thick of the fire and dashed for the bank.

Huang Gai, seeing a man in a red robe get into a small boat, guessed it must be Cao Cao, so he urged his boat to press on. Sword in hand, he shouted, “Stop fleeing, Cao Cao! Huang Gai is here.”

Cao Cao moaned in distress. At this moment Zhang Liao fitted an arrow to his bow and aimed at Huang Gai, shooting at short range. The roaring of the wind and the flames prevented Huang Gai from hearing the twang of the string and he was wounded in the shoulder. He fell and rolled over into the water.

He fell in peril of water when flames were high;

Ere cudgel bruises had faded, an arrow struck.

Whether Huang Gai would survive or not will be told in the next chapter.

*
According to Chinese medicine,
qi
is the driving force that regulates the functioning of various organs in the human body. Notice the pun in Zhuge Liang’s reply—as
qi
can also mean “air,” Zhuge Liang was seemingly talking about Zhou Yu’s illness, but actually implying his concern for the lack of a southeasterly wind.

CHAPTER FIFTY

Zhuge Liang Foresees the Huarong Episode

Guan Yu Lets Cao Cao Escape Out of Friendship

A
t
the end of the last chapter Zhang Liao shot an arrow at Huang Gai, who fell down into the river, wounded in the shoulder. Then he rescued Cao Cao from immediate danger. By the time they found horses to get ashore, confusion had run rampant among his troops.

As Han Dang braved fire and smoke to attack Cao Cao’s naval forces, he was suddenly told by his soldiers that there was a man clinging to the rudder of their boat and shouting to him by his familiar name. Han Dang listened carefully and recognized the voice of his friend Huang Gai, who was calling to him for help.

“That’s Huang Gai!” he cried and quickly pulled him out of the water. He saw that Huang Gai was wounded by an arrow. He bit out the shaft of the arrow but the point was still deeply buried in the flesh. He hastily pulled off his friend’s wet clothes and cut out the metal arrowhead with a dagger, then tore up one of the flags and bound up the wound. Then Han Dang gave his friend his own fighting robe to wear and sent him off in a small boat back to camp for further treatment.

Huang Gai’s narrow escape from drowning was due to his natural affinity for water. Although it was bitterly cold and he was heavy with armor when he fell into the river, he still managed to survive.

It was indeed a great battle at the junction of the three rivers that day! And a fierce fight at the Red Cliff! Flames seemed to spread over all the wide surface of the waters and the earth quaked with the roar of fighting. Three of Zhou Yu’s mighty squadrons attacked at the same time. Han Dang and Jiang Qin closed in from the west of the Red Cliff, Zhou Tai and Chen Wu struck from the east, while Zhou Yu and Cheng Pu assaulted the center with the main fleet.

Fire was reinforced by the efforts of the soldiers and the soldiers were aided by the ferocity of fire. Under the thrusts of spears and the flights of arrows, burnt by fire and drowned by water, an incalculable number of Cao Cao’s men lost their lives.

When Wei and Wu fought the battle at Red Cliff

Vanished from the water were thousands of ships,
For there the fierce flames burned them utterly.
Zhou Yu for his lord gained the victory.