Zhou Yu wanted to kill Kongming. He asked Kongming to strike Mount Jutie, where Cao Cao’s grain was stored, and admitted to Lu Su that he meant to kill Kongming by Cao Cao’s hand. Kongming calmly made ready and said to Lu Su, I hear the children of Jiangdong sing that Zijing is the man to guard the passes and Zhou Lang the man to fight on the water. It seems Gongjin can only fight on the water.
Zhou Yu, angered, said he would go himself. Kongming told Lu Su that Cao Cao had spent his whole life cutting other men’s grain lines, so he would guard his own grain closely, and that if Gongjin went he would be captured. Zhou Yu stamped his feet, saying this man’s insight was ten times his own. Some time later Zhou Yu invited Liu Bei to his camp and hid fifty axemen behind the curtains. But when he saw Guan Yu standing behind Liu Bei with his hand on his sword, he could not act.
After that, when Jiang Gan, who had studied with him as a boy, volunteered to Cao Cao to come and urge him to surrender, Zhou Yu tricked him. Feigning drunkenness, he lay down beside Jiang Gan and let him steal a false letter saying that Cai Mao and Zhang Yun were secretly in league with Jiangdong. On seeing the letter Cao Cao had his two naval commanders executed, and realised he had been tricked only after their heads were brought to him. Zhou Yu says that the other generals will not see through the trick but Zhuge Liang will, and sends Lu Su to sound him out.
Congratulations in Advance
Lu Su goes to Kongming in a small boat and apologises for not having come to learn from him with all the business of the army. Kongming says, I have not yet congratulated the Commander myself. When Lu Su asks what for, Kongming answers, For the very thing Gongjin sent you here to find out, whether I knew or not.
Lu Su turns pale and asks how he knew. Kongming says, That trick could fool only Jiang Gan. Cao Cao was taken in for a moment, but he will soon realise it and simply refuse to admit his mistake. Now Cai Mao and Zhang Yun are dead, Jiangdong’s worries are over, so why not offer congratulations? I hear Cao Cao has put Mao Jie and Yu Jin in charge of the navy instead. In those two men’s hands the navy’s life will run out.
As Lu Su stammers and rises to go, Kongming asks a favour. Please do not tell Gongjin that I knew of this first. I fear he will grow jealous and look for some new way to harm me.
Lu Su agrees and goes, but when he sees Zhou Yu he cannot help telling the truth. Zhou Yu is shocked. This man must not live. I will have his head. When Lu Su warns that killing Kongming would make them a laughing-stock to Cao Cao, Zhou Yu says, I have a fair way to do it. I will make sure he dies without a word of complaint.
Ten Days and Three
The next day Zhou Yu gathers his generals and sends for Kongming. We shall soon fight Cao Cao’s army. In fighting on the water, what weapon should come first? Kongming answers, On the great river, bows and arrows come first.
Zhou Yu says, You are of one mind with me. But the army is short of arrows just now. Would you take charge of making a hundred thousand arrows? It is public business, so please do not refuse.
When Kongming asks when they will be needed, Zhou Yu asks whether ten days will do. Kongming says, Cao Cao’s army will be here any day. If we wait ten days we will ruin everything. When Zhou Yu asks how many days he thinks it will take, Kongming answers, In three days I will deliver a hundred thousand arrows.
Zhou Yu says, There is no jesting in the army. Kongming answers, How would I dare jest with the Commander? I will sign a military pledge. If I have not finished in three days, I will gladly accept severe punishment.
Zhou Yu is delighted. He has the army’s clerk take the document on the spot and sets out wine for Kongming. Kongming says it is already too late today, so he will start tomorrow, and asks that five hundred soldiers be sent to the riverbank on the third day to carry the arrows.
When Kongming has gone, Lu Su asks whether the man is lying. Zhou Yu says, He came to his own death. I did not drive him to it. He signed a document in front of everyone, and even if wings grew from both his sides he could not fly away. I will tell the craftsmen to drag their feet on purpose and not give him the materials he needs. Then he is sure to miss the deadline, and when I charge him, what can he say?
Twenty Boats
When Lu Su goes to see how things stand, Kongming says, I told you not to tell Gongjin, Zijing, but you would not keep it from him, and today there is trouble again. How could I make a hundred thousand arrows in three days? You must save me, Zijing.
Lu Su says, You brought this on yourself. How can I save you? Kongming says, Lend me just twenty boats. Put thirty soldiers on each, hang blue cloth screens around them, and tie more than a thousand bundles of straw along both sides. I have a use for them. On the third day there will surely be a hundred thousand arrows. Only, this time Gongjin must not know on any account. If he finds out, my plan is ruined.
Lu Su agrees but does not understand what it means. When he goes back, he says nothing to Zhou Yu about lending the boats. He says only that Kongming is not using any bamboo for shafts, or feathers, glue or lacquer, yet seems to have some method of his own. Zhou Yu is deeply puzzled. Let us see what answer he gives me in three days.
Lu Su secretly prepares twenty fast boats, with thirty or more soldiers on each and the screens and straw all made ready. But on the first day Kongming makes no move. On the second day, too, he does nothing.
Thick Fog
At the fourth watch on the third day, Kongming secretly invites Lu Su to his boat. When Lu Su asks what for, Kongming says they are going to fetch the arrows together. When Lu Su asks where from, Kongming says not to ask but to come and see.
Kongming has the twenty boats tied together with long ropes and sets off straight for the north bank. That night a thick fog fills the sky, and on the Yangtze it is thicker still, so that people facing each other cannot see one another. Kongming urges the boats on.
At the fifth watch the boats near Cao Cao’s water camp. Kongming has them line up in a single row, bows to the west and sterns to the east, and has drums beaten and shouts raised on the boats.
Lu Su is alarmed. What if Cao Cao’s troops all come out at once? Kongming laughs. Cao Cao will not dare come out in a thick fog. Let us drink and enjoy ourselves and go back when the fog lifts.
A Rain of Arrows
In Cao Cao’s camp, Mao Jie and Yu Jin hear the drums and shouts and hurry to report. Cao Cao gives the order. Thick fog covers the river and the enemy has arrived suddenly, so there must be an ambush. On no account move rashly. Have the naval archers shoot at will.
Cao Cao also has Zhang Liao and Xu Huang in the land camp bring three thousand archers each to the riverbank to shoot. Before the order even reaches them, Mao Jie and Yu Jin, afraid the southern troops will break into the water camp, have already set their archers shooting.
Soon the archers from the land camp arrive, and more than ten thousand men are all shooting at the river. Arrows come down like rain.
Kongming has the boats turned round, bows to the east and sterns to the west, and brings them in close to the water camp to take arrows, all the while beating drums and shouting. When the sun is high and the fog lifts, Kongming has the boats pulled back and hurries home. The straw on both sides of the twenty boats is thick with arrows.
Kongming has the soldiers on every boat shout with one voice. Thank you for the arrows, Chancellor! By the time Cao Cao is told, the boats, light and riding a swift current, are already twenty li downstream and cannot be caught. Cao Cao bitterly regrets it.
A Life in Heaven’s Hands
On the boat home Kongming says to Lu Su, Each boat has five or six thousand arrows, so without spending the least of Jiangdong’s strength we have more than a hundred thousand. Tomorrow we can shoot them back at Cao Cao’s troops. Won’t that be convenient?
Lu Su asks, You are truly a man of the gods. How did you know there would be such a thick fog today?
Kongming answers, A general who does not understand the heavens, does not know the land, knows nothing of directions and timing, is ignorant of the seasons, cannot read battle plans and does not grasp the shape of a battle has only a mediocre talent. Three days ago I worked out that there would be a thick fog today, and so I dared to accept a three-day limit. Gongjin gave me ten days but would not supply craftsmen or materials. He meant to use this little lapse as a clear excuse to kill me.
我命繫於天 公瑾焉能害我哉
wo ming xi yu tian, gong jin yan neng hai wo zai
My life is bound to heaven. How could Gongjin harm me? (Chapter 46)
Lu Su bows in admiration.
The Word on the Palm
When the boats reach the bank, the five hundred soldiers Zhou Yu sent are already waiting to carry the arrows. The arrows taken from the boats number more than a hundred thousand, and all are carried to the central tent and handed over. Lu Su goes in and tells Zhou Yu in detail how Kongming got the arrows, and Zhou Yu sighs in astonishment. Kongming’s divine schemes and wonderful reckoning are beyond me.
Soon Kongming enters the camp, and Zhou Yu comes down from his tent to meet him with praise. I bow to your miraculous reckoning. Kongming answers, A trivial little trick. Why call it remarkable?
Zhou Yu invites Kongming into the tent to drink. Yesterday my lord sent someone to urge an advance, but I have no remarkable plan yet. Please teach me. Kongming says he is a man of no talent and has no clever plan.
Zhou Yu says, Yesterday I looked at Cao Cao’s water camp, and it is so strict and orderly that it cannot be attacked lightly. I have thought of one plan, but I do not know whether it will work. Please judge it for me. Kongming says, Do not say it yet, Commander. Let us each write it on our palm and see whether they are the same.
Today, a Three-Day Limit
Zhou Yu, delighted, has brush and inkstone brought, writes first in secret and hands the brush to Kongming. Kongming too writes in secret. The two draw their seats close and open their hands to each other. On Zhou Yu’s palm is a single word, fire, and on Kongming’s palm is the same single word, fire. The two laugh aloud together.
Zhou Yu says, Since we both see it the same way, there is nothing more to doubt. On no account let it leak out. Kongming answers, It is the public business of both our houses. How could it leak out? Cao Cao has been caught twice by this scheme, but he is sure not to guard against it, so go ahead with it, Commander. The drinking ends and they part. None of the generals knows of it.
Zhou Yu gave ten days and hoped Kongming would miss the deadline, and Kongming said three days would do and signed a military pledge. Lu Su could not keep the first secret but kept the second. On the first and second days Kongming did nothing, and at dawn on the third day he brought back Cao Cao’s arrows out of the fog.
When everyone thought something could not be done, did you ever wait quietly and prepare for it?