The Three Kingdoms Volume 2 (81 page)

When this memorial reached the capital, Cao Cao was in his palace at Yejun and it annoyed him immensely. “How dare this mean weaver of straw sandals behave like this? I swear I will destroy him.”

So he issued an order to muster the entire army of the state to wage a fierce war against Liu Bei.

But Sima Yi voiced his objection. “Your Highness, please do not take such great trouble to go on a distant expedition because of a moment’s anger. I have a plan to make Liu Bei bring disaster upon his own head without troubling us to bend a single bow. When his army is exhausted, we will only have to send one officer to fight with him and the victory will be ours.”

“What is your lofty plan, my friend?” asked Cao Cao.

“Sun Quan in the east has married his sister to Liu Bei, but he has stolen away the bride while he was away. On the other hand Liu Bei is still holding Jingzhou, unwilling to return the city to Sun Quan. So these two are bitter enemies. We can send an able speaker to deliver your letter to Wu and persuade Sun Quan to recover Jingzhou by force. That will put Liu Bei on his way to rescue Jingzhou with his army from the west, and at the same time you can send your army to take Hanzhong. Liu Bei will be rendered helpless and his situation will be perilous.”

The scheme pleased Cao Cao. He at once drew up a letter and sent it by the hand of Man Chong, who soon arrived in the east. As soon as Sun Quan knew of his arrival, he summoned his advisors to counsel.

Zhang Zhao said, “Wei and Wu originally bore no grudge against each other. It was due to Zhuge Liang’s intervention that our two sides fought for several years, and many lives were lost. Now this envoy has surely come to discuss peace terms, and he should be welcomed.”

Sun Quan took his advice and sent his advisors to conduct Man Chong into the city for a meeting. The envoy presented Cao Cao’s letter and said, “Wu and Wei have never had any quarrel, and our recent dissension has been incited by Liu Bei. My master sends me to make a covenant with you for a joint attack on Liu Bei. He hopes that you can seize Jingzhou, while he goes to capture the west. After Liu Bei is subdued, the conquered country will be divided between our two sides and we will forever respect each other’s territory.”

Sun Quan, after reading the letter, gave a banquet in honor of Man Chong and then arranged for him to rest in the guesthouse, while he discussed the matter with his council of advisors.

Gu Yong spoke first: “Although his intention is obviously to make us fight, Cao Cao’s words are not entirely unreasonable. I think we can, on the one hand, ask Man Chong to go back and make a covenant with Cao Cao for a joint attack while on the other, send some spies over the river to find out Guan Yu’s movements. Then we can decide how to act.”

Zhuge Jin also put forward a plan: “I hear that Guan Yu has a son and a daughter. The daughter is too young to have been betrothed. Let me go and propose marriage of the girl to your son, my lord. If Guan Yu agrees, then we can arrange with him to attack Cao Cao together. If he refuses, then we will support Cao Cao, and try to seize Jingzhou.”

Sun Quan agreed to this advice, and so after seeing Man Chong off he sent Zhuge Jin to Jingzhou to propose the marriage. Zhuge Jin was received in due politeness by his host, Guan Yu. After they had greeted each other Guan Yu asked him the reason of his visit.

“I have come to make a marriage offer. My master has a son who is a clever young man. I hear that you have a daughter, General, so I have come specially to propose a marriage between your daughter and my master’s son. Thus, the ties between our two houses will be stronger for a combined attack on Cao Cao. This will be a perfect match and I hope you will consider my proposal.”

But the warrior flared up. “My tiger daughter will never be married to a dog’s whelp! Were it not for your brother I would cut off your head at once. Say no more!”

Guan Yu called his servants to throw him out and Zhuge Jin, very scared, ran away with his hands over his head. Reaching his own place, he dared not hide the manner of his reception, but told the whole truth to his lord.

“What impudence!” roared Sun Quan in fury.

So he summoned his counselors again to consider an attack on Jingzhou.

Bu Zhi rose and said, “Cao Cao has long wished to usurp the throne, but he is afraid of Liu Bei. Now he wants us to attack Jingzhou. Clearly he is trying to shift misfortune onto us.”

“But I have long wanted to seize that place,” said Sun Quan.

“Cao Ren is already camped at Fancheng and Xiangyang,” continued Bu Zhi, “from where he can take Jingzhou by land without having to cross the Great River. Why doesn’t Cao Cao tell him to take it? Why does he want you, my lord, to send your army instead? This alone is enough to show his real intention. I think you can ask Cao Cao to make Cao Ren attack Jingzhou by land. Then Guan Yu will try to seize Fancheng with his army from Jingzhou. As soon as he leaves Jingzhou, you can send an army to seize it.”

Sun Quan was impressed by the soundness of the scheme and therefore he sent a letter with this proposal to Cao Cao, who adopted it readily, and sent Man Chong to help Cao Ren at Fancheng as his assistant in the operation against Jingzhou. He also sent dispatches to Wu to ask for the assistance of Sun Quan’s marine force.

Having delegated to Wei Yan the task of holding East Chuan, Liu Bei returned to Chengdu, where a palace was soon erected to befit his new status as Prince of Hanzhong. More than four hundred guesthouses and post stations were also built between Chengdu and Baishui. Grain and forage were accumulated in large quantities and weapons of all kinds filled his arsenal in preparation for the seizure of the capital and the whole of the country.

Then the alliance between Wei and Wu, along with their plot to attack Jing zhou, was reported to him and he hastily called in Zhuge Liang for counsel.

“I already anticipated that Cao Cao would do this,” said Zhuge Liang. “But Sun Quan has many advisors who will propose persuading Cao Cao to order Cao Ren to start the campaign.”

“But what am I to do?” asked the Prince of Hanzhong.

“You can send a special messenger to Yun-chang to confer on him his new title and tell him to capture Fancheng, which will so dampen the morale of the enemy troops that they will collapse quickly.”

Therefore the prince sent Fei Shi, a senior officer from his Board of War, to take the seal of his new title to Guan Yu, who received the delegate with great deference and conducted him into the city. After they had arrived at the official residence, Guan Yu inquired what new title had been conferred upon him.

“Chief of the Five Tiger Generals,” replied the envoy.

“And who are the five?”

“They are yourself, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun, Ma Chao, and Huang Zhong.”

“Yi-de is my brother,” cried Guan Yu angrily. “Meng-qi (Ma Chao) is of a distinguished family and Zi-long has been with my elder brother so long that he is like a brother. It is right for him to be of the same rank as I am. But what sort of a man is this Huang Zhong that he is given equal status as myself? A true hero does not stand shoulder to shoulder with an old soldier!”

And he refused to accept the title and seal.

“You are wrong, General,” said Fei Shi, smiling. “Of old, Xiao He
*
and Cao Shen
^†
helped the Founder of the Han Dynasty in his great enterprise and were his closest friends, while Han Xin was but a defector from Chu. Yet Han Xin was later created a prince, and so was ranked higher than the other two. I have never heard that these two resented it. Now the Prince of Hanzhong has named his Five Tiger Generals, but he is still your brother. As brothers, you two are inseparable—you are the prince and the prince is you. How can any others compare with you? The prince has always treated you with the greatest kindness and in return, you should share his sorrow and joy, disaster and good fortune, but not fuss about a mere title. I beg you, General, to reflect upon this.”

Guan Yu, realizing how wrong he was, bowed low to thank the messenger for having prevented him from making a grave mistake. He then received the seal with all humility.

Next Fei Shi produced the prince’s edict, ordering Guan Yu to capture Fancheng. Guan Yu lost no time in obeying this command. He appointed Fu Shi-ren and Mi Fang leaders of the van and ordered them to camp outside Jingzhou with their force of a thousand men, while he himself entertained the envoy inside the city. Before the dinner was over there came a report of fire in the new camp, and Guan Yu hastened out of the city to see what was amiss. He found that the two van leaders, who had also been feasting, had left a smoldering fire unextinguished behind their tent; a spark having fallen into some explosives, the fire spread to the whole camp, killing soldiers and destroying all the weapons and supplies. Guan Yu and his men did all they could to put out the fire and it was after the fourth watch that he re-entered the city. There he summoned the two officers before him, reproached them for their neglect of duty, and ordered them to be put to death.

However, Fei Shi interceded for them, saying, “It is not auspicious to put your own officers to death before the army has even marched. You might reprieve them at least.”

Guan Yu, his anger by no means subsided, said to the two guilty officers: “Were it not for my respect for General Fei I would certainly have you both beheaded.”

Then he ordered them to be flogged forty times each, and removed them from their positions as van leaders. As further punishment, Fu Shi-ren was sent away to guard Nanjun and Mi Fang to guard Gongan.

“Now be warned,” said Guan Yu. “If, when I return from my victory, there is the least sign of neglect of your responsibilities, you will suffer for both faults.”

The two men flushed crimson with shame and, murmuring obedience, went away.

Then Liao Hua was made van leader and Guan Ping his aide, while Guan Yu himself took command of the main army, with Ma Liang and Yi Ji as his advisors. Before the army set out the envoy took his leave and returned to Chengdu, taking with him a man called Hu Ban, son of Hu Hua, who had earlier come to Jingzhou to seek shelter with Guan Yu. Remembering how the man had saved his life (see Chapter Twenty-Seven), Guan Yu asked the envoy to present him to the Prince of Hanzhong in order to be awarded a position.

The day that Guan Yu offered a sacrifice to his standard in preparation for the campaign, he was resting in his tent when suddenly there dashed in a completely black boar, huge as a bullock. It came straight at him and bit his foot. He angrily drew his sword and killed the creature, and it squealed with the sound of tearing cloth. Guan Yu awoke in shock. The attack had been a dream but he could feel a gnawing pain in his left foot.

The dream perplexed him, and he could not explain it. He sent for his adopted son, Guan Ping, and related it to him. Guan Ping suggested a favorable interpretation, saying that the boar was something of a royal beast, like the dragon; and that having the dragon at his feet meant a rise in status for him. Then he told the dream to his subordinates, some interpreting it as auspicious and some the reverse.

“Well, I’m nearly sixty,” said Guan Yu. “There is nothing to regret, even if it means I’m going to die.”

Just about that time another envoy came with an edict from the Prince of Hanzhong, creating him Chief General, with honorable insignia of rank and control over the nine districts in Jingzhou. When the officers congratulated him on his new honors they did not forget the dream.

This cleared Guan Yu of any perplexing doubts. Soon he departed with his army along the highroad to Xiangyang.

At Fancheng, Cao Ren was startled when he heard that the great warrior was coming himself to seize his city, and was inclined to take a defensive posture. But his second in command, Zhai Yuan, did not support this policy: “The Prince of Wei has ordered you, General, to act in concert with Wu to take Jingzhou. Now Guan Yu’s coming like this is to walk to his own death—certainly we have no reason to avoid a conflict.”

However, the newly-sent advisor, Man Chong, urged caution. “I know Guan Yu is both brave and resourceful. He is not to be treated lightly. I think firm defense is our best policy.”

His proposal was scoffed at by another officer called Xiahou Cun. “This is the talk of a pedant. Don’t you know the plain truth that when the flood approaches, bank up to keep it out; when enemies come, meet them on the battlefield? Our opponents are exhausted after their journey, while we are fully rested. We are sure to win a victory.”

Cao Ren was persuaded by this argument. He placed Man Chong in defense of the city while he went outside to counter Guan Yu. When he learned of the coming of his enemy, Guan Yu called to his side Guan Ping and Liao Hua, to whom he gave certain orders. Then the two armies met, and Liao Hua rode out to challenge. Zhai Yuan accepted—but soon after the combat began, Liao Hua turned to leave the field as if beaten. Zhai Yuan went after him. The Jingzhou men retreated twenty
li
or so.

The following day, when the Jingzhou soldiers came again and offered battle, Xiahou Cun and Zhai Yuan both went out. The maneuver of the preceding day was repeated, and Cao Ren’s men pursued their enemy for another twenty
li
. But suddenly there was a loud shouting behind them, mingled with the rolling of drums and blowing of horns. Cao Ren hastily called upon his men to return. But as they did so, Guan Ping and Liao Hua turned and followed on their heels, throwing them into confusion.