Kan Ze quietly presents a hidden note of false surrender. Pang Tong skillfully introduces the linked-chain stratagem.

Kan Ze, whose courtesy name was Derun, came from Shanyin in Kuaiji. His family was poor, yet he loved learning and took day labor with others when needed. He would borrow books, study them once, and remember them without losing what he had read. His speech was sharp and convincing, and he had uncommon courage for his age. Sun Quan enlisted him as a military adviser, and he became closest to Huang Gai. Huang Gai recognized how boldly and artfully he spoke, so he asked him to deliver a feigned surrender letter.

Kan Ze agreed at once. “A man of stature should not live without making merit and helping to build our realm. Is it not better to be one thing in life than rot like brushwood and trees? You have already offered yourself in sacrifice for your lord. Why should I hesitate to throw away this little life?” Huang Gai rolled off his bed, knelt, and thanked him. Kan Ze said, “There must be no delay; I depart tonight.” Huang Gai replied, “The document is already drafted.”

Kan Ze took the letter and, that very night, dressed as a fisherman, climbed into a small boat and headed for the northern bank. That night the stars were cold and bright. By the third watch he had arrived early at Cao Cao’s waterside camp. A patrolling soldier of the river guards seized him and carried the news through the night to Cao Cao at once.

Cao Cao, whose courtesy name was Mengde, asked, “Could you be an enemy agent?”

The soldier said, “Only one fisherman, claiming to be Kan Ze, adviser of Eastern Wu, bringing urgent intelligence for a personal report.”

Cao Cao ordered him brought in. When the soldier led Kan Ze before him, Cao Cao was seated upright at a table in the torchlit command tent and asked, “If you are an adviser of Eastern Wu, what business brings you here?”

Kan Ze replied, “People say Chancellor Cao longs for talent as if he thirsted for water, yet this question fits him badly. As for Lord Huang, he too has mistaken the situation.”

Cao Cao said, “You and Eastern Wu have war with us at dawn and dusk. You travel here in secret. Why do you not ask first?”

Kan Ze answered, “Lord Huang Gai, a retainer whose family had served Eastern Wu for three generations, was cruelly beaten before all officers by Zhou Yu, whose courtesy name was Gongjin, without cause. He burns with grievance and wants to surrender to the Chancellor to take revenge. He sought my aid in conceiving this.”

“I and Lord Huang are as close as blood kin,” Kan Ze continued. “I have come directly to submit a secret note. I do not know whether the Chancellor will accept it.”

Cao Cao asked, “Where is the letter?”

Kan Ze handed it over. Cao Cao opened it and read beneath the lamp. The letter read:

I have long owed deep gratitude to Lord Sun; I ought not to hold divided loyalty in my heart. Yet by today’s circumstances, we all see it clearly: the troops of six commanderies in Jiangdong cannot face the million-strong armies in the center of the realm. Even the common soldiers and officials there know this is impossible. That boy Zhou Yu, narrow-minded and shallow, is swollen with conceit, and he dares to oppose stone with an egg. Worse, he acts arbitrarily, punishing the innocent and rewarding no one for merit. I, a man of long service, was insulted and broken without reason. I cannot hide my hatred. I have heard that the Chancellor receives men sincerely and with an open heart. Therefore I am prepared to lead men to surrender, in hope of earning merit and clearing our disgrace. Provisions and transport equipment will come aboard ship as tribute. I weep blood and kneel in submission. Let no one suspect anything else.

Cao Cao flipped and re-read the document over a dozen times on the desk. Then he suddenly struck the tablet, eyes wide, and shouted in fury, “So Huang Gai used the ‘bitter-meat strategy’ to hide treachery and sent you with this false surrender letter to mock me! Send him out and execute him!”

He ordered Kan Ze thrown out for immediate death. Kan Ze, however, remained calm and laughed up at the sky. Cao Cao had him dragged back and barked, “I have already seen through the plot. Why do you laugh?”

Kan Ze replied, “I am not laughing at you. I am laughing at Lord Huang Gai for failing to know people.”

Cao Cao demanded, “What does he fail to know?”

Kan Ze said, “If you intend to kill me, do so. Why ask so much?”

Cao Cao said, “I have long studied the military books since boyhood and understand deception and fraud well. Your scheme may deceive other men, but how could it deceive me?”

Kan Ze said, “Then explain which part of your own letter is deceptive.”

Cao Cao said, “I will tell you every flaw in your ruse so you may die without complaint. If you truly came in sincerity to surrender, why did you not specify a date for an agreed rendezvous? Now you ask me for what reasoning?”

Kan Ze laughed aloud. “You have no fear and dare to boast that you know war treatises! Should you not have withdrawn your troops in time? If battle comes, you will be taken by Zhou Yu. An unlearned one! How regrettable that I must be forced to die at your hands!”

Cao Cao asked, “How so unlearned?”

Kan Ze said, “You do not discern stratagems nor understand principle. Is that not ignorance?”

Cao Cao said, “Tell me where I am wrong.”

Kan Ze replied, “You do not know how to receive worthy men; I need not waste breath on it. I have only my life to spend.”

Cao Cao said, “If you make your case with reason, I will yield to it.”

Kan Ze said, “Have you not heard, ‘A loyal servant who turns coat has no fixed term’? If you set a date in advance and hurry, the chance slips. One must act only when opportunity appears; how could a date be fixed beforehand? You do not understand this principle, yet would wrongfully put an honorable man to death. Why should one set a meeting beforehand if he intends to make a move by opportunely seizing the moment?”

Cao Cao listened, then changed his expression, descended from his seat, and said, “I judged this wrongly and have offended you by my offense. Do not keep this in your heart.”

Kan Ze answered, “I and Lord Huang Gai are heartily prepared to surrender, like a child longing for its parents. Are there even now any signs of deceit?”

Cao Cao brightened. “If the two of you can win great achievements, when honors and rank are conferred, yours will stand above all others.”

Kan Ze answered, “My companions have not come for titles and salaries. We should follow Heaven’s decree and the hearts of men.”

Cao Cao then had wine brought.

After a short while, someone entered, leaned in by Cao Cao’s ear, and whispered. Cao Cao said, “Bring the letter for me to see.” The man presented a sealed note. Cao Cao read it and was visibly pleased.

Kan Ze thought to himself, “This must be news from Cai Zhong and Cai He that Huang Gai has been punished. Cao’s gladness proves he believes my surrender to be true.”

Kan Ze said, “Please return to Jiangdong once more and arrange with Lord Huang. Send the news across the river first. I will meet him there with troops.”

Kan Ze added, “I have already left Jiangdong and cannot go back again. Send only a trusted secret courier.”

Cao Cao said, “If another person goes, the matter may leak.”

Kan Ze refused repeatedly, then after a while said, “If I go, I dare not linger. I will leave at once.”

Cao Cao awarded him gold and silk, which Kan Ze did not take. After he took his leave and left the camp, he once again took a small boat and rowed back across the river. He returned to Huang Gai and explained everything in detail.

Huang Gai said, “Had you not been so able to argue, I would have only suffered this pain.”

Kan Ze answered, “I will now go to Gan Ning’s camp to learn what news Cai Zhong and Cai He have brought.”

Huang Gai said, “Very good.”

Kan Ze arrived at Gan Ning’s camp. Gan Ning greeted him. Kan Ze said, “General, yesterday you went out to rescue Lord Huang Gai and were insulted by Zhou Yu. I am very displeased.” Gan Ning laughed and did not answer.

As they were speaking, Cai He and Cai Zhong arrived. Kan Ze noticed them and nodded at Gan Ning.

Gan Ning understood and said, “Zhou Yu trusted only his own talent, never caring about us. After my humiliation, I can no longer face Jiangleft dignitaries.” He bit his teeth and spoke through clenched anger.

Kan Ze stepped close and spoke quietly to Gan Ning’s ear; Gan Ning lowered his head in silence and sighed heavily.

Cai He and Cai Zhong saw that both Kan Ze and Gan Ning seemed to incline the other way and provoked them: “General, why this trouble? What disturbs you, Master? What injustice wounds you?”

Kan Ze answered, “Would you know the bitterness in our bellies?”

Cai He said, “Could this be a plan to betray Wu and submit to Cao?”

Kan Ze turned pale.

Gan Ning drew his sword and stood.

“I have already seen through this,” he said. “It must be ended now, and we cannot leave his mouth open to leak the truth.”

Cai He and Cai Zhong, alarmed, replied, “My lord, do not worry. I, too, will tell you all in confidence.”

Gan Ning said, “Speak quickly.”

Cai He said, “Both of us are envoys of Lord Cao, sent as men of false surrender. If either of you truly wishes to submit, I can bring you forward.”

Gan Ning demanded, “Are your words true?”

Both answered, “How could we dare deceive?”

Gan Ning feigned delight. “If this is so, Heaven has given us a gate!”

Cai He and Cai Zhong added, “I already informed the Chancellor about how Lord Huang was insulted and humiliated.”

Kan Ze said, “I delivered my letter to him for Huang Gai already. I have come today only to meet Xingba and arrange our joint surrender.”

Gan Ning said, “A true man who has found a bright lord should lean his heart without reserve.”

So the four drank together and spoke openly. Cai He and Cai Zhong immediately wrote a secret letter, reporting that Gan Ning and some others were also inside collaborators.

Kan Ze separately wrote one and had someone send it in secret to Cao Cao. In the letter he specified: if Huang Gai came, he was to be identified by the signal of a blue-toothed flag flying at the bow of the boat.

When Cao Cao received two letters in succession, he remained uncertain and gathered strategists to debate.

He said, “Gan Ning of Jiangdong, disgraced by Zhou Yu, now offers himself as an inside ally. Huang Gai was blamed and sent Kan Ze in false surrender. Neither should be trusted. Who among us dares to slip directly into Zhou Yu’s camp and gather confirmed intelligence?”

Jiang Gan (Xiying) stepped forward: “Some time ago I went to Eastern Wu and failed. I still carry shame. I now offer my life and go again to bring back verified information.”

Cao Cao was delighted and immediately ordered Jiang Gan to board.

Jiang Gan rowed a small boat and reached the riverbank edge of Eastern Wu’s waterside camp at once, then sent word of his arrival.

When Zhou Yu heard that Jiang Gan had come again, he was overjoyed. “My success rests on this man alone,” he said. He then told Lu Su, “Please ask Pang Tong to come; he must advise us.”

Pang Tong, whose courtesy name was Shiyuan, had once moved to Jiangdong from Xiangyang when he avoided the turmoil. Lu Su had once recommended him to Zhou Yu, but they had not yet met. Zhou Yu, whose courtesy name was Gongjin, first asked Lu Su, whose courtesy name was Zijing, for a plan. “If we are to break Cao’s army,” he said, “what is your device?”

Pang Tong privately answered Lu Su, “To break Cao’s force, we must use fire attack. But if one ship burns, the rest will scatter across the great river. Only if they are bound in the linked-chain method will they remain in one mass, and then the task can be completed.”

Lu Su reported to Zhou Yu. Zhou Yu believed the argument deeply and said, “Only Pang Tong can carry this out for me.”

Lu Su said, “I fear Cao Cao is sly. How will you go?”

Zhou Yu hesitated and could find no opening, and then news came that Jiang Gan had returned.

Zhou Yu was glad. He once again told Pang Tong to use the plan and at once, sitting in his tent, had Jiang Gan summoned.

Jiang Gan, seeing no one come to welcome him, felt his suspicions rise. He told a boatman to moor in a secluded cove, then entered camp to see Zhou Yu.

Zhou Yu glared and said, “Why, Ziying, have you deceived me so far beyond measure?”

Jiang Gan laughed. “I remember us as old brothers and came to unburden matters. Why would we deceive each other?”

Zhou Yu said, “You ask me to surrender? Only when the seas dry up and the rocks wear away! The last time I recalled old ties and invited you to drink, kept you in the same bed. You stole my private papers and left without so much as asking leave, then returned to report to Cao Cao, killing Cai Mao and Zhang Yun and ruining my plans. Why come now? You do not come in good faith.”

“Old bonds do not move me,” he said. “Two blades can cut you in two! I had already planned to send you across, but within a day or two I must break Cao’s bandits. To keep you in the ranks will invite leakage.”

He ordered his attendants, “Send Ziying to rest in the hermitage behind Xishan. Once I have broken Cao Cao, I will take you across the river.”

When Jiang Gan tried again to speak, Zhou Yu had already gone into the tent and disappeared.

His guards gave him two horses to ride and sent him to the small retreat behind Xishan, where two soldiers were posted to attend him.

Inside the hut Jiang Gan was anxious and sleepless. That night, with stars spilled across the sky and bright dew in the air, he walked out behind the hut and heard voices from a distance reading aloud.

He wandered toward the sound and saw, by a rock face, a thatched hut with a lamp shining within. He peered inside and saw a man, with a sword hanging nearby, reading aloud a book of military strategy by Sun Wu and Wu Qi.

“Surely this is no ordinary man,” Jiang Gan thought, and knocked on the door.

The man opened and came out to greet him. He had a presence beyond common rank.

Jiang Gan asked his name. He replied, “My surname is Pang, my given name Tong, courtesy Shiyuan.”

Jiang Gan asked, “Could you be Master Fengchu?”

Pang Tong answered, “I am.”

Jiang Gan said, “I have long heard your name. Why live in such seclusion?”

Pang Tong replied, “Zhou Yu trusts only his own brilliance and can not bear other men. That is why I withdrew here.”

“And who are you?”

Jiang Gan said, “I am Jiang Gan.”

Pang Tong invited him into the hut. They sat and spoke at length.

Jiang Gan said, “With your ability, where can you not succeed? If you are willing to come to Cao, I can introduce you.”

Pang Tong replied, “I have long wished to leave Jiangdong. Since your intention is to bring me in, I will leave at once. If delayed, Zhou Yu will hear of it and likely see to my death.”

So they descended together under cover of night, reached the riverbank, found their original boat, and with urgent strokes crossed north.

Once they arrived at Cao’s camp, Jiang Gan entered first and explained everything. Cao listened to Pang Tong’s account and, hearing that Master Fengchu had come, personally came out of his tent to welcome him. He set host and guest seats. “Zhou Yu is young and relies on his talent to bully the crowd. He will not use good advice. For long I have heard your name and now receive your favor; I beg you to instruct me freely.”

Pang Tong said, “I have long heard the Chancellor commands war with method. Today I am honored to behold your array.”

Cao ordered his horse prepared and invited Pang Tong to ride high and view the dry encampment. They mounted together and looked over it from an elevation.

Pang Tong said, “You follow the hills and woods, with fore-and-aft movement and winding routes mutually guarded. Even if Sun Wu and Wu Qi were reborn, or Sima Rangju returned, they would not do better than this.”

Cao said, “Do not praise me so highly; still I welcome instruction.”

Then he took him to inspect the waterside camp.

There they saw twenty-four river gates to the south, each with armored warships arranged like city walls. Small craft were hidden inside them, lanes opened between, rise and fall in order.

Pang Tong laughed. “The Chancellor’s deployment is exactly as praised.” Pointing south across the river he said, “Zhoulang! Zhoulang! He will surely perish at the appointed time!”

Cao happily returned to camp, invited him into the tent, and set out wine. They drank together and discussed the matter of war. Pang Tong spoke forcefully and answered with ease. Cao held him in deep esteem and treated him with ceremony.

Pang Tong feigned inebriation and asked, “Do you have good physicians in the army?”

Cao asked, “For what purpose?”

Pang Tong said, “Your water troops are sickly and need good physicians.”

At that time Cao’s men did not thrive in the river climate and many suffered vomiting, with many dying. Cao had indeed been worried over this, so when Pang raised it he was alert.

“How did you know that?” Cao asked. “My way of training river troops is not poor, yet there is some flaw.”

Pang Tong said, “I have a method that can keep both large and small squadrons healthy.”

Cao eagerly asked for this skillful solution.

Pang Tong said, “In the Great River, the tide rises and falls, the wind and waves never cease. Men unused to boats grow ill when thrown in this rolling motion. If you lash large and small vessels together in groups—sometimes thirty to a row, sometimes fifty—connecting bow and stern with iron rings and laying wide planks across them, men can cross on them; even horses can pass. Go this way, and let wind, waves, and tide do what they can.”

Cao got up in disbelief and thanked him: “Without your excellent counsel, how could I have broken Eastern Wu?”

Pang Tong said, “My insight is shallow. The Chancellor will do as he sees fit.”

Cao at once ordered smiths summoned from the ranks and worked through the night to forge chain-fastened anchors and lock the ships together. The soldiers heard this and rejoiced.

There was later a verse about it:

Red Cliffs fights by fire and flame, every plan and stratagem agreeing, But for Pang Tong’s linked-chain design, could Gongjin have won such triumph?

Pang Tong then said to Cao, “I have observed the heroes of Jiangleft; many resent Zhou Yu. With my three-inch tongue I can persuade them to come over. Then Zhou Yu will stand isolated, and the Chancellor will capture him. If Zhou Yu is broken, Liu Bei will have no use left for those men.”

Cao said, “If you can truly achieve a great deed, I will report it to the Son of Heaven and enshrine you among the Three Excellencies.”

Pang Tong said, “I do not seek riches and rank. My only wish is to save ten thousand households. When the Chancellor crosses the river, take care not to harm the people.”

Cao said, “I uphold Heaven’s order in war. How could I bear to slaughter common people?”

Pang Tong requested a proclamation to secure his relatives. Cao asked, “Where do your family now live?”

Pang Tong answered, “They are only on the riverbank. If I hold this proclamation, that will keep them safe.”

Cao ordered the decree written and delivered. Pang Tong thanked him and said, “After we part, advance quickly. Do not wait for Zhoulang to sense anything.”

Cao assented.

Pang Tong bowed and departed. At the riverbank, just as he was about to board, he saw a man on the bank, in robes with a bamboo hat, who grabbed him by the arm and cried:

“Bold fool! Huang Gai used the bitter-meat stratagem and Kan Ze came with false surrender notes. Now you come with the linked-chain stratagem. I fear you will not carry the burning through to the end! Such vicious methods may deceive Cao Cao, but they cannot deceive me!”

Pang Tong was shaken to the core. Then came the close:

Do not say the southeast can alone win wars, nor that the northwest has no men. In the end who this person is, let the next chapter explain.

How this turned out will be told in the next chapter.