Ding Feng draws his short weapons in the snow.
Sun Jun works a close-knit stratagem in the hall.

Jiang Wei was just setting out when he ran into Sima Shi with troops raised to intercept him. When he had captured Yong Province, Guo Huai had flown in to report at court. The Wei Emperor and Sima Yi had already settled counsel together. Sima Yi sent his eldest son, Sima Shi, with fifty thousand troops to come to Yong Province to aid the campaign. When Sima Shi heard that Guo Huai had driven back the Shu army, he judged the Shu forces weak and moved out midway to strike them. He rode straight to Yangping Pass, but there Jiang Wei applied the linked-bolt method passed down by Wuhou: more than a hundred hidden linked crossbows were set on both sides, each machine discharging ten bolts at once, all of them poison shafts. As both sides loosed together, the front ranks of men and horses fell by the tens of thousands. In the confusion, Sima Shi fled for his life and turned back.

In Qushan City, the Shu general Ju An, seeing that reinforcements would not arrive, opened the gates and surrendered to Wei. Jiang Wei had his battalions broken apart in the tens of thousands, then led the broken troops back to Hanzhong and encamped. Sima Shi returned to Luoyang. In the autumn of the third year of Jia Ping, Sima Yi sickened and worsened, and called his two sons to his bedside to charge them.

“Over the years I have served Wei, and I have been made Grand Tutor; a position above ordinary ministerial rank. Others all suspect I harbor some hidden design, and I have long feared that suspicion. After my death, you two must govern the state well. Be vigilant! Be vigilant!”

When he had spoken, he died. The eldest, Sima Shi, and the second, Sima Zhao, both reported to Emperor Cao Fang. The emperor granted him full rites, enhanced honors, and posthumous title. He made Shi Grand General, with overall charge of confidential matters in the Secretariat, and made Zhao Great General of Agile Cavalry.

As for Wu’s ruler Sun Quan, he had first made Sun Deng his crown prince; Sun Deng was born to Lady Xu and had died in the fourth year of Chiwu. He then established his second son Sun He, born to the Lady of Langye, as crown prince. Because Sun He fell out with Princess Quan, the princess slandered him, and Sun Quan deposed him. Sun He died in bitterness and resentment. Sun Quan then made his third son Sun Liang his crown prince; Sun Liang was born to Lady Pan. At this time both Lu Xun and Zhuge Jin had already died, and all major and minor affairs of state fell to Zhuge Ke.

On the first day of the eighth month of the first year of Taihe, a fierce wind suddenly rose; the seas of Jiang and the estuary heaved. Water reached eight chi deep on level ground. All the pines and cypresses Sun Quan had planted over the years were torn up, carried all the way and stuck upright in the road outside Jianye’s south gate. Alarmed by this, Sun Quan became ill. By the end of that August, his illness had deepened. He summoned Grand Tutor Zhuge Ke and Grand Commandant Lü Dai to his bedside to entrust the realm’s future. He died after finishing his charges.

He reigned twenty-four years and died at seventy-one years of age. That was in the fifteenth year of Yānxi in Shu-Han. Later writers put it in verse:

“Blue-black-bearded, blue-eyed, all call him a hero;\ Only he could make ministers and retainers serve with loyalty to the end.\ For twenty-four years he raised a mighty enterprise,\ Dragon coiled and tiger crouched firm in Jiangdong.”

After Sun Quan died, Zhuge Ke enthroned Sun Liang as emperor, issued a general amnesty, and changed the era to Da Xing Yuan; Sun Quan was given the posthumous title Great Emperor and buried at Jiangling. Agents had already entered this news quickly and sent it to Luoyang. When Sima Shi learned Sun Quan was dead, he proposed raising forces against Wu. The Prefect of the Secretariat, Fu Jia, replied,

“Wu has the natural advantage of the Yangtze. The late emperor attacked there again and again but could not force success. It is better to hold each frontier. That is the highest strategy.”

Shi said, “Heaven’s pattern changes every thirty years; can war always remain with the two powers at a standstill? I intend to strike Wu.”

Sima Zhao added, “Sun Quan has just died, and Sun Liang is young and weak; this opening can surely be exploited.”

So Sima Shi ordered the General Who Conquers the South, Wang Chang, to lead one hundred thousand men against Nanjun, the General Who Conquers the East, Hu Zun, to lead one hundred thousand against Dongxing, and the Inspector Who Guards the South, Guanqiu Jian, to lead one hundred thousand against Wuchang. They moved out on three routes. He also sent his brother Sima Zhao as Great Commander to take overall control of all three armies.

In the tenth month of winter that year, Sima Zhao’s force reached the Wu border, where they camped. He called Wang Chang, Hu Zun, and Guanqiu Jian into his command tent to plan and said, “The most critical point in eastern Wu is Dongxing Commandery. They have raised a great embankment there and two fortresses at either side, to block an attack from behind Chaohu Lake. The generals here must study this carefully.”

He then ordered Wang Chang and Guanqiu Jian each to lead ten thousand troops to the flanks and refrain from advancing; when Dongxing was taken, then all would move together. The two obeyed and withdrew. Zhao then made Hu Zun the vanguard over all three forces, ordered him forward to build a floating bridge first and seize the great embankment at Dongxing. If he could take the two side fortresses, it would be a great feat.

Hu Zun obeyed and brought his troops to construct the floating bridge.

Over in Wu, Grand Tutor Zhuge Ke heard that Wei’s three columns were coming and assembled his officers to deliberate. The General Who Pacifies the North, Ding Feng, said, “Dongxing is the key place in eastern Wu. If we lose it, Nanjun and Wuchang are in danger.”

Zhuge Ke said, “That is well said. You may take three thousand water troops down the river. I will then order Lü Qu, Tang Zi, and Liu Zuan each to bring ten thousand infantry from three routes to relieve them. When the chain-cannon sounds in unison, you are to advance together. I myself will bring the main force behind them.”

Ding Feng took the command and led three thousand soldiers by water, dividing them into thirty ships and moving toward Dongxing.

Hu Zun crossed the floating bridge and camped on the embankment. He sent Huan Jia and Han Zong to attack the two cities. In the left city stood the Wu general Quan Yi on guard; in the right city, General Liu Lue. These two cities were high and strong, and pressed attack could not break them. Quan and Liu, seeing the great Wei force, dared not sortie, and held their walls.

Hu Zun camped the army under a temporary fort at Xuzhou. It was midwinter, and snow fell heavily. He and his commanders sat down in the snow for an enormous banquet. Suddenly there came word that thirty warships had arrived on the water. Hu Zun rode out from camp to inspect. He saw the ships mooring one after another along the bank, about a hundred men aboard each. He returned to the pavilion and told his commanders,

“It is only three thousand men; why should we fear it?”

He merely ordered scouting detachments forward and kept drinking before him. Ding Feng cast his ships out upon the water in a single line. Then he told his captains,

“A true man of worth must seize fame and rank today!”

He ordered his men to strip off armor and helmets, leaving long spears and halberds behind and carrying only short blades. The Wei troops laughed at the sight and made no further preparation.

When the chain-cannon thundered three times in a row, Ding Feng drew his saber first and leapt onto the bank. All the men unsheathed their short swords and followed him ashore, cutting into the Wei camp. The Wei soldiers were unready. Han Zong rushed out a great halberd from before the command tent to meet them, but Ding Feng seized him, drove blade downward, and cut him over in one stroke.

Huan Jia broke out from the left flank and quickly thrust with his spear at Ding Feng; Ding Feng caught the shaft and held it. Huan Jia dropped the spear and ran. Ding Feng’s blade flew out and struck him on the left shoulder. Huan Jia staggered a little and then fell. Ding Feng closed and stabbed him with a spear. Three thousand Wu soldiers surged in the Wei encampment, rushing this way and that.

Hu Zun mounted in haste and rode off, forcing a way through. The Wei soldiers ran together up the floating bridge, but the bridge was already broken; most went into the water and drowned. How many died in the snow, no one could count. Their carriages, mounts, horses, and military stores all fell into Wu hands.

When Sima Zhao, Wang Chang, and Guanqiu Jian heard of the defeat at Dongxing, they too set their troops to withdrawal.

Returning, Zhuge Ke’s forces reached Dongxing, and after disbanding and rewarding the men he gathered his generals.

“Sima Zhao has been beaten and has turned back north. This is the right moment to press into the Central Plains.” He dispatched one party with letters to Shu, asking Jiang Wei to advance north to attack and offering to divide the realm in two. At the same time he raised two hundred thousand troops to strike the Central Plains.

When they were ready to march, a single strip of white vapor rose from the earth, blocking the three armies and concealing the opposite side.

Jiang Yan said, “That is white-rainbow omen. It presages the loss of soldiers and a broken army. Great Tutor, you should return to court; do not attack Wei.”

Zhuge Ke flew into a rage.

“How dare you speak inauspiciously and dampen my soldiers’ spirit?” he shouted, and shouted down a warrior to execute him.

All begged for mercy; Zhuge Ke then demoted Jiang Yan to commoner status. He pressed the army onward. Ding Feng said,

“Since Wei holds Xincheng as the key choke point, if we take this city first, Sima Zhao will lose heart.”

Zhuge Ke rejoiced and drove forward to Xincheng. Zhang Te, governor of the gate, saw the Wu host arriving in force, shut his gates and held firm. Zhuge Ke ordered his men to encircle the city on all sides.

A swift messenger had already reported at Luoyang. The clerk Yu Song told Sima Shi,

“Zhuge Ke is now besieging Xincheng and it is not yet time to give him open battle. Wu troops have marched far, they are short of provisions, and they will turn back when grain is gone. If we wait for them to begin withdrawing, then strike, we shall win utterly. We must still guard against possible incursions by Shu across the border.”

Shi accepted the point. He ordered Sima Zhao to lead one division to aid Guo Huai in guarding against Jiang Wei while Guanqiu Jian and Hu Zun held Wu back.

Zhuge Ke kept the siege of Xincheng going month after month without success. He ordered all his generals to throw themselves at the walls, and any who were slow were executed on the spot. His men attacked with full effort, and the northeastern corner of the city was about to fall.

Inside the city, Zhang Te had worked out a stratagem. He sent a man who was clever in argument, carrying bound registers, into the Wu camp to meet Zhuge Ke and report,

“In Wei law, if a besieged city has resisted one hundred days with no relief force arriving and then the commander breaks out to surrender, his household is not punished. Your General has been besieging this city for more than ninety days. Grant us a few more days’ delay, and I, together with the city’s command, will bring out soldiers and townspeople and surrender. I have here prepared the registers of the households.”

Zhuge Ke believed him fully and withdrew men and mounts, thus suspending the assault. The truth was that Zhang Te’s delaying measure merely drew Wu’s men away. He then broke down houses inside the city, repaired the breaches, and when they were sound he climbed the walls and shouted, “We still have grain for half a year. How could we surrender to Wu’s dogs? Let us fight through all!”

Zhuge Ke was furious and drove the army harder. Arrows flew chaotically from below. One struck him in the center of the forehead, and he flipped backward from his horse. His officers brought him back to camp. The wound, a severe puncture, broke open and bled.

The men had no fighting spirit, and the weather was hot and oppressive; soldiers fell sick by the multitude. When the wound cooled somewhat, he tried to urge another attack. The quartermaster reported,

“Everyone is sick. How can they fight?”

Zhuge Ke shouted in fury,

“Any man who speaks again of sickness will be beheaded!”

Hearing this, numbers slipped away in terror. A report then came in that Commander Cai Lin had taken his own detachment and defected to Wei. Zhuge Ke was greatly shaken. He mounted and rode through each camp; indeed every soldier’s face was yellowed and swollen with illness. He ordered a full withdrawal back toward Wu.

A courier from the interior had already informed Guanqiu Jian. Jian raised all his force and then ambushed, and the Wu army was badly beaten as it fell back.

Shamed deeply, Zhuge Ke feigned illness and stayed away from court. Sun Liang himself went to his house to inquire after him. Civil and military officials all came to make their respects. Fearing gossip, Zhuge Ke first searched for every officer and general’s fault. Minor mistakes meant banishment to the frontiers, and grave ones meant execution by beheading before all.

So every official within and without was in fear. He then set his trusted men Zhang Yue and Zhu En to command the palace guard as his sharp teeth and claws.

Now Sun Jun, whose courtesy name was Ziyuan, was a great-grandson of Sun Jing, a younger brother of Sun Jian, and was the son of Sun Gong. Sun Quan had loved him greatly in his day and had put him in charge of the palace cavalry. When he learned that Zhuge Ke had made Zhang Yue and Zhu En command the palace cavalry and taken his authority away, his heart burned with anger.

Teng Yin, Grand Minister of Rites, had long been at odds with Zhuge Ke and took his moment to tell Sun Jun,

“Zhuge Ke monopolizes power and abuses cruelty. He kills gentlemen and ministers, and clearly intends to be disloyal. You are imperial kin. Why not act first?”

Sun Jun answered,

“I have harbored this intent for a long while. I will now submit it to the Son of Heaven and ask for an order to execute him.”

So Sun Jun and Teng Yin appeared before Emperor Sun Liang and confidentially reported the matter.

The emperor said,

“I also find this man most terrifying. I have often wished to remove him but had not found a chance. If you are truly loyal, plot this in secret.”

Teng Yin replied,

“Your Majesty may summon Zhuge Ke here with an official audience. Conceal warriors under their armor. Let them stand ready at the first cry of a clinked cup, and kill him in his seat, so later trouble is cut off.”

The Son of Heaven agreed.

Meanwhile, after the defeat and return, Zhuge Ke had stayed home pretending to be ill and was feverish in his thoughts. One day he happened to go into the central hall, when he saw a man in coarse mourning cloth walk in. He barked at him; the man was stunned and confused. Zhuge Ke seized and interrogated him, and the man said,

“I came because my father has just died and I entered the city to find a monk to plead my case. I happened upon this shrine and entered, and did not know it was the residence of the Grand Tutor. How I have come here, I do not know.”

Zhuge Ke was angry and summoned the gate soldiers for questioning.

They told him,

“We are only dozens; we all held spears and guarded the gate, never leaving, and saw no one enter.”

Furious, he beheaded them all that instant.

That night Zhuge Ke did not sleep well. He suddenly heard a sound in the front hall like thunderclap. He came out to see. The central beam had split in two. He staggered in fear into his sleeping room. Then, when a cold wind rose, he saw the slain mourner in coarse robes and dozens of the gate soldiers he had beheaded, each with a severed head, demanding his life. Zhuge Ke collapsed, stunned, and only after some time came to himself.

The next morning, as he washed his face, he noticed that the water smelled strongly of blood. He ordered his maidservants to bring fresh tubs and replace them by the score, yet every one smelled the same.

Even as he sat in this dread, news came that the Son of Heaven had sent an envoy calling the Grand Tutor to a banquet. Zhuge Ke made ready his carriage train. As he was about to leave, a yellow dog seized his robe and whined as if crying. Zhuge Ke snapped, “Is this beast mocking me?” and shouted servants away from it. He then took his seat in the carriage and rolled out.

After only a few paces, he saw before the cart a white streak of vapor rising from the earth and climbing like a white ribbon into the sky. He was greatly unsettled. His trusted officer Zhang Yue stepped ahead to the carriage and warned in a low voice,

“Today the palace has made this banquet. I do not know good or ill. My lord should not enter lightly.”

When Zhuge Ke heard this, he ordered the carriage back. In fewer than ten paces, Sun Jun and Teng Yin rode up to it and asked,

“Why does the Grand Tutor turn back so soon?”

Zhuge Ke said,

“Sudden illness in my belly; I cannot appear before the Son of Heaven.”

Teng Yin said,

“The court has arranged this gathering because your service to the realm leaves you unaccounted for at headquarters; they called you to this banquet to discuss matters of state. Even with your pain, you must force yourself to come.”

Zhuge Ke accepted his words and entered the palace with Sun Jun and Teng Yin. Zhang Yue followed as well.

When Zhuge Ke came before Emperor Sun Liang, after saluting he took his seat. The emperor ordered another round of wine. Zhuge Ke was wary and declined,

“My frail body cannot endure drinking.”

Sun Jun said,

“The Grand Tutor keeps medicinal wine at his residence. Could it be brought?”

Zhuge Ke replied,

“Yes.”

He sent a servant back to fetch the wine he had prepared himself; only then did he drink with confidence.

After several rounds the emperor rose first, claiming other business. Sun Jun came down from the hall, removed his formal robes, put on a short jacket under ringed mail, and drew a fine weapon. Ascending again, he shouted,

“The Son of Heaven orders the execution of this traitorous rebel!”

Zhuge Ke was terrified. He flung down his cup and tried to draw his sword, but his head had already fallen from his body.

When Zhang Yue saw Sun Jun kill Zhuge Ke, he swung his saber forward to meet him. Sun Jun sidestepped the blade edge and grazed his left finger. Sun Jun turned and cut Zhang Yue’s right arm. The palace guards surged in together and cut Zhang Yue down, hacking him to meat pulp. Sun Jun at once ordered his men to seize Zhuge Ke’s household, and ordered one to wrap the heads of Zhang Yue and Zhuge Ke in a rush-mat and load them on a small cart, then carry them out and cast them into the disorderly pit of tombs at Shizigang outside the city’s south gate.

Now Zhuge Ke’s wife, in her chamber, was unsettled and restless in every motion and stillness. Suddenly a maid entered and asked, “Why does your whole body smell of blood?”

The maid abruptly bared her teeth in feral anger, leapt up, and struck her head against the beam, then screamed in a loud voice,

“I am Zhuge Ke! Sun Jun the traitorous villain has plotted my death!”

Zhuge Ke’s whole household, old and young, was overtaken by panic and weeping.

Before long, troops arrived and surrounded the estate. They bound all of Zhuge Ke’s household, old and young alike, and took them to the city prison offices to be beheaded.

That was in the tenth month of winter, the second year of Jianxing.

In the past, when Zhuge Jin was alive, he had seen how Zhuge Ke’s brilliance burned brightest in public and sighed,

“This one is no man to guard his own household!”

Also Wei’s Director of Civil Appointments, Zhang Ji, had once told Sima Shi,

“Zhuge Ke will not live long.”

Shi asked why, and Ji replied,

“He threatens to overawe his lord; how can he last long?”

And now this had proved his words.

After Sun Jun killed Zhuge Ke, Emperor Sun Liang made Sun Jun Chancellor and Grand General and titled him Marquis of Fuchun, and made him head of all military affairs both inside and out. From then on, authority and command of arms returned entirely to Sun Jun.

Now Jiang Wei was in Chengdu when he received Zhuge Ke’s letter asking for help to strike Wei. He entered court, obtained the Later Ruler’s approval, and raised a great army again, then launched another northern campaign.

It is fittingly put:

The field is raised once, but no victory is yet won;\ twice the rebels are fought and still sought to be vanquished.\ How this turned out will be told in the next chapter.