Grateful to Zhang Ni for his loyalty and bravery, and for devoting his life to the imperial cause, Jiang Wei petitioned the Emperor to honor his descendants.
Many blamed Jiang Wei for the loss of lives in the war. So, following the precedent of the late prime minister after the loss of Jieting, Jiang Wei memorialized that he should be degraded in rank and only act as the supreme commander.
The country being now cleared of the enemy, Chen Tai and Deng Ai gave a banquet to celebrate the victory and rewarded their men generously. Chen Tai submitted a memorial to the Emperor of Wei praising the services of Deng Ai, and a special commission gave him an even higher rank with the seal of office. His son was also promoted to marquis.
At this time the style of the reign in Wei was changed to Gan Lu (Sweet Dew). Sima Zhao assumed full command of all military forces in the country. Whenever he went out he was escorted by a guard of 3,000 mail-clad bold men and officers. He decided all state affairs at his own residence, without even consulting the Emperor. Plans for usurping the throne constantly occupied his thoughts.
One of his confidants, Jia Chong by name, son of Jia Kui, a high-ranking general of Wei, was then working as an advisor in Sima Zhao’s house. He said to his master, “Sir, you have now very great power, but the hearts of the people are yet unknown. You should find out who your supporters are and gradually work toward your final goal.”
Sima Zhao replied, “These have been my thoughts for a long time. You can be my emissary to the east to test the feeling there. Say that you are there to reward those who took part in the recent military campaign. That would be a good pretext.”
Accordingly Jia Chong traveled to Huainan to see General Zhuge Dan, who was a cousin of Zhuge Liang. He had always been in the service of Wei but was given no important office while Zhuge Liang was alive. On his cousin’s death his promotion was rapid. He was created Marquis of Gao ping, commanding the forces in Huainan.
On the pretext of rewarding the army for their services, Jia Chong went to see him. Zhuge Dan gave a banquet to entertain him. When host and guest were both mellow with wine, Jia Chong began to probe Zhuge Dan’s sentiment toward his master.
He said provocatively, “Lately in Luoyang there has been much talk among the nobles about the weakness and lack of ability of the Emperor and his unfitness to rule. Now General Sima, whose family has served the country for three generations and whose own merits and virtue are high as the heavens, is the man best fitted to succeed the rule of Wei. I wonder what your esteemed view is.”
But Zhuge Dan flared up in anger, “How could you utter such nonsense? You, who are the son of Governor Jia Kui, and your family always having enjoyed the bounty of Wei?”
Jia Chong tried to explain, “I am only repeating what others have said.”
“If the court is threatened, I am ready to die to preserve it.”
Jia Chong said no more. The following day he took his leave and went to tell his patron what Zhuge Dan had said.
“The rat!” cried Sima Zhao angrily. “How dare he?”
“He is exceedingly popular in Huainan,” said Jia Chong. “If he is left there too long he will do harm to you. You must destroy him at once.”
Sima Zhao began to take measures. On the one hand he wrote a secret letter to Yue Chen, governor of Yangzhou, and on the other sent a messenger with an edict to Zhuge Dan, summoning him to the capital to be in charge of construction work.
When he received the edict Zhuge Dan knew that he had been betrayed, and he interrogated the messenger, who confessed that Yue Chen knew all about the matter.
“How does he know?” asked Zhuge Dan.
“General Sima has sent him a secret letter.”
The messenger was condemned to death. Then Zhuge Dan placed himself at the head of his personal guard and hastened to Yangzhou. The city gates were closed and the drawbridge raised. He summoned the gate, but no one answered.
“How dare this fellow act like this?” he cried.
He ordered his men to force the gates. A dozen of his bold officers dismounted, crossed the moat and swiftly climbed up the wall, where they slew the guards and opened the gates. Zhuge Dan entered with his men and began to set the city to fire. Presently he went to the governor’s residence and Yue Chen tried to seek refuge in a tower, but Zhuge Dan, sword in hand, went after him.
“Your father Yue Jin once received great kindness from the Wei court,” rebuked Zhuge Dan. “Now instead of repaying your country you stoop to follow Sima Zhao.”
Before Yue Chen could answer he was slain. Then Zhuge Dan prepared a memorial listing Sima Zhao’s crimes, and had it sent to Luoyang. At the same time he made preparations for war, gathering troops and supplies. He mobilized all the soldiers stationed in the Huainan region, to the number of more than 100,000, and took over the 40,000 who had surrendered with the fall of Yangzhou. He also sent his advisor Wu Gang to the Kingdom of Wu to propose a joint action against Sima Zhao, offering his son Zhuge Jing as a hostage to indicate his good faith.
At this time Sun Jun had died and his brother, Sun Chen, was prime minister. Cruel and violent, he had put several important ministers to death on his way to power. The ruler of Wu, although no fool, was unable to do anything.
The messenger, Wu Gang, conducted the son of his master to the residence of Sun Chen, who asked him the reason for his visit.
Wu Gang said, “My master Zhuge Dan is a cousin of Zhuge Liang, the late prime minister of Shu. He has been in the service of Wei, but as he sees how Sima Zhao bullies the Emperor, deposes the ruler, and wields his power, he intends to raise an army to destroy the tyrant. As he fears that his military strength is not sufficient he has come to submit to you. To show his good faith he has sent his son Zhuge Jing as a hostage. He entreats you to dispatch an army to assist him.”
The request was received favorably, and Sun Chen sent five officers and 70,000 men to help Zhuge Dan, with Wen Qin as the guide. The army marched in three divisions. Wu Gang returned to report the success of his mission to Zhuge Dan, who was overjoyed and continued his war preparations.
Meanwhile, Zhuge Dan’s memorial enraged Sima Zhao, who wished to command an army in person to annihilate him, but Jia Chong preached caution.
“My lord, you derived your power from your father and brother, and people across the country have not yet had the time to appreciate your virtue and your benevolence. If you leave the Emperor to go on this expedition and subversion happens while you are away, it will be too late to regret. Better request the Empress Dowager and the Son of Heaven to go with you, then nothing will go amiss.”
Sima Zhao thought the plan excellent. He went into the palace and proposed it to Her Majesty, saying, “Zhuge Dan is in revolt. My colleagues and I have discussed the matter and we entreat Your Majesty and the Son of Heaven to accompany the expedition as the late Emperor would have done.”
Too frightened to refuse, the Empress Dowager consented. The next day Sima Zhao requested the Emperor to embark on the expedition.
The Emperor said, “General, you command all the armies and can dispose of them as you will—why is it necessary for me to go?”
Sima Zhao replied, “Your Majesty is wrong to hesitate. In the past, Emperor Wu (Cao Cao) campaigned over the four seas and emperors Wen and Ming (Cao Pi and Cao Rui) had the ambition to conquer the whole empire and the determination to annex the eight wild regions. Wherever there was a major opponent they went in person to face him. Your Majesty should follow their example and sweep the land clean. Why fear?”
So the Emperor was also compelled to give consent. Sima Zhao then issued an edict mobilizing the combined forces in the two capitals, totaling 260,000. Wang Ji and Chen Qian, two distinguished generals, were in command of the van, while Shi Bao and Zhou Tai led the left and right units. The mighty army, escorting the imperial carriages, marched resolutely into Huainan like a great flood.
The Wu army went forth to meet the men of Wei, and both sides drew up for battle. Wang Ji rode out fr
om the Wei side to challenge and Zhu Yi, the van leader of Wu, engaged him. At the third bout Zhu Yi fled in defeat. His colleague Tang Zi rode out but was also beaten in the third encounter. Wang Ji ordered the Wei army to press forward, and the men of Wu were thoroughly worsted. They retreated fifty li and camped. News of the setback was sent to Shouchun and Zhuge Dan, together with Wen Qin and his two sons, set out to fight Sima Zhao.
No sooner had they damped Wu’s morale,
Than they saw Wei’s gallant men advance.
Zhuge Dan’s fate will be told in the next chapter.
Footnote
* The Chinese character Duan as a verb may mean “break,” “block,” or “broken” when used as an adjective.
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND TWELVE
Yu Quan Dies Nobly to Rescue Shouchun
Jiang Wei Fights Fiercely to Seize Changcheng
Hearing of this joint attack from Zhuge Dan and the men of Wu, Sima Zhao sought advice from two of his subordinates, Pei Xiu and Zhong Hui.
Zhong Hui said, “The Wu army is helping our enemy for the sake of profit, and hence we can entice them with some bait to win the battle.”
Sima Zhao agreed and deployed his troops accordingly. First, he sent two officers to lay ambushes near Stone City* and another two major officers to stay in the rear with the veterans. Then he ordered a junior officer, Cheng Zu by name, to lead tens of thousands of men out to provoke the enemy into giving a battle. And lastly he told Chen Jun to load wagons, oxen, horses, donkeys, and mules with various articles as rewards for the army, and place them in the midst of the battlefield. All this stuff was intended to be abandoned when the enemy advanced, so as to tempt them to plunder.
On the day of battle Zhuge Dan, with Zhu Yi and Wen Qin on his two sides, looked across at his opponents and saw that the Wei army was in disarray. So he led on his men to attack in full force. Cheng Zu at once retreated and Zhuge Dan went after him in hot pursuit. While chasing the enemy, his men noticed the large quantities of booty strewn all over the fields, so the men of Wu lost all desire to fight but scattered to gather the spoils.
Suddenly a bomb exploded and down came the two ambushing forces of Wei upon them. Alarmed, Zhuge Dan attempted to withdraw, but the two Wei generals also appeared with their forces of veterans, and he was sorely smitten. But worse was yet to come. At that moment Sima Zhao himself arrived with his army as reinforcements. Zhuge Dan fled into Shouchun, where he fortified himself. Then the Wei army laid a siege to the city. The army of Wu retreated into Anfeng. The ruler of Wei was lodging at this time in Xiangcheng.
Zhong Hui offered more advice to Sima Zhao. “Despite his defeat, Zhuge Dan still has plenty of grain and fodder in the city of Shouchun and his allies, the men of Wu, are stationed nearby to support him. His position is strong. Our soldiers are now besieging the city. If we slacken our efforts they will hold out for a long time, and if we press on with the attack they will make a desperate sortie. The men of Wu may also fall upon us at the same time, and it would be to our disadvantage. Therefore I advise that the attack be made only on three sides, leaving the south gate open for them to flee. If they do, we can fall on them and gain a complete victory. The men of Wu, having come from afar, cannot have supplies for very long, and we can send some light cavalry to get round and attack their rear. They will retreat without a fight.”
“You are indeed my best strategist!” said Sima Zhao, stroking the back of his advisor.
So Wang Ji, who was besieging the city from the south, was ordered to withdraw.
In the Wu camp at Anfeng, Sun Chen was very angry at the defeat. He said to Zhu Yi, “If you cannot even relieve the siege of a single city of Shouchun, how can you ever hope to overrun the north? Another failure and I will put you to death!”
The threatened officer went back to his camp to discuss the situation with his colleagues. Yu Quan said, “The south gate is free. Let me lead a troop out from there to help Zhuge Dan defend the city. Then you go and challenge the Wei army, and I will rush out from the city to support you. Our joint attack will destroy the Wei army.”
Zhu Yi thought the plan good. Three other officers were also willing to go into the city and participate in the attack. They were allowed to march into the city from the south gate without interference, since the Wei officers had no orders to stop them.
When this was reported to Sima Zhao, he said, “They are trying to collaborate with Zhu Yi to defeat our army by attacking from both the front and the rear.”
So he summoned two of his officers, Wang Ji and Chen Qian, and told them to take 5,000 men to block Zhu Yi’s way to the city and strike him in the rear. The two took the order and left.
Now Zhu Yi was advancing toward the city when he heard a shouting in the rear, and soon he was attacked by Wang Ji on the left and Chen Qian on the right. His army was worsted and he had to return to Anfeng. When Sun Chen heard of this new defeat he was furious.
“What is the use of officers like you, who always lose?” he cried.
He put the poor man to death. Then he upbraided Quan Yi, son of Quan Duan: “If you do not drive off this army of Wei let me never again see your face, nor that of your father.”
Then Sun Chen returned to the capital of Wu.
When his departure was known in the Wei camp, Zhong Hui said to his chief: “Now that Sun Chen has left, the city of Shouchun has no hope of support from outside. This is our moment to attack it.”
A vigorous assault began. Quan Yi wanted to break the siege, but when he saw how strong the Wei army was he realized there was no hope of success. So he surrendered to Sima Zhao, who received him well and gave him the rank of a junior general.
Grateful for this kindness, Quan Yi wrote to his father and uncle inside the city, telling them how brutal Sun Chen was and urging them to follow his example. He tied the letter to an arrow and shot it over the walls. His uncle picked up the letter and so the two elder Quans, with several thousand followers, went out and yielded to Wei.
Within the city Zhuge Dan was distressed. Two advisors came to him to urge him to give battle, since food in the city was short. He turned on them angrily.
“I want to defend, yet you talk about going forth? Are you trying to betray me? If you say that again you will die.”
“He’s going to perish,” they said, sighing deeply as they cast their eyes heavenward. “We’d better surrender or we’ll die, too.”
At about the second watch that night they slipped over the wall and surrendered. Both were given important posts. Of those left in the city some were also for fighting, but they dared not say so.
Meanwhile, Zhuge Dan saw the Wei soldiers building walls all around their camp to take precautions against the possible flooding of the Huai River. So he anxiously waited for the river to rise and submerge the enemy’s clay walls. If that happened he would be able to smite Sima Zhao. However, from autumn to winter, the weather was unusually dry and there was no flood.
Within the city food diminished rapidly, and soon starvation stared them in the face. Wen Qin and his sons were defending the citadel. As his soldiers were falling one by one for lack of food, Wen Qin went to see Zhuge Dan and proposed sending out the northern men to save food. His suggestion brought forth an outburst of fierce wrath.
“Do you want to kill me by proposing to send my men away?”
He ordered Wen Qin to be put to death. When they saw their father slain, his two sons ran amok with rage. Drawing their daggers, they at once slew dozens of guards, then flew over the wall to desert to Wei.
However, Sima Zhao had not forgotten that one of the two, Wen Yang, had pinned down his whole army single-handedly. At first he wanted to put him to death, but his advisor Zhong Hui interposed.
“The real offender was his father,” said Zhong Hui, “but he is dead. Now these two have come to you in desperation. If you slay those who come to surrender, you will only harden the will of those inside to defend the city.”
Sima Zhao saw reason in this, and
so their submission was accepted. They were led to Sima Zhao’s tent, and he soothed them with kind words, gave them sturdy horses and fine robes, and employed them as lieutenant generals. They were even created marquises. After expressing their gratitude, they rode about the city on the horses he had given them, shouting: “The great commander has not only pardoned us but conferred on us noble ranks. Why don’t you all yield?”
When those inside the city heard this they said to each other, “Wen Yang used to be an enemy of Sima Zhao’s, and yet he has been well received—how much more may we expect generous treatment!”
The desire to surrender possessed them all. When Zhuge Dan learned about this he was incensed, and went round the posts night and day trying to enforce his authority through punishment of death.
Zhong Hui calculated that Zhuge Dan had lost the support of his men. He went to Sima Zhao and said, “This is the time to seize the city.”
Sima Zhao was only too pleased. He exhorted his whole army to storm the walls all at once. Then an officer in the city treacherously opened the north gate and let in the Wei soldiers. When Zhuge Dan heard that the enemy had entered the city, he hurriedly called together several hundred guards and tried to escape along some byroads to the gate. But at the drawbridge he met the Wei officer Hu Zun, who raised his sword and cut Zhuge Dan down. His followers were all captured.
Wang Ji led his men to the west gate, where he encountered the Wu officer, Yu Quan.
“Why don’t you yield?” shouted Wang Ji.
Yu Quan replied, “I received orders to rescue those in danger. Although I have failed in my effort, I deem it dishonorable to surrender to the enemy.” Then throwing off his helmet, he cried, “Lucky is the man who can die on the battlefield.”