Read The Three Kingdoms Volume 1 Online
Authors: Luo Guanzhong
The Three Kingdoms Volume 1 (77 page)
Liu Bei listened. “Surely this is one of the men Sima Hui spoke of,” he thought.
He dismounted to greet the singer and invited him into his residence. Then, when they were seated, he asked the stranger’s name.
“I am from Yingchuan and my name is Shan Fu. I have known you by reputation for a long time and they say you appreciate men of ability. I wanted to come to you but I hesitated lest I was intruding. So I thought of attracting your notice by singing that song in the market place.”
Liu Bei thought he had found a treasure and treated the newcomer with the greatest respect. Then Shan Fu spoke of the horse that he had seen Liu Bei riding and asked to look at it again. So the animal was brought round.
“Is this not a Dilu?’ said Shan Fu. “But though it is a good steed it will bring danger to its master. You must not ride it.”
“He has already fulfilled the omen,” said Liu Bei and he related the story of that miraculous leap across the wide stream.
“But this was saving its master, not harming him—he will surely harm someone in the end. But I can tell you how to avert the omen.”
“I should be glad to hear it,” said Liu Bei.
“If you have an enemy against whom you bear a grudge, give him the horse and wait till the evil omen is fulfilled on this man. Then you can ride it in safety.”
Liu Bei changed color. “What, sir! You are but a newcomer and yet, instead of leading me to the road of virtue, you advise me to take an evil course and to harm another for my own advantage? No, sir! I do not want to hear your advice.”
His guest smiled. “People said you were virtuous but I was still dubious, so I put it that way to test you.”
Liu Bei became polite again. He rose and returned the compliment. “But how can I be virtuous while I lack your teaching?” he said modestly.
“When I came here, I heard people singing: ‘Since Liu came, oh blessed is the day! We’ve had good luck—long may he stay!’ So you see, your virtue has benefited the ordinary people.”
Then Shan Fu was made chief military advisor of the army.
After his sweeping victory in the north Cao Cao had often nursed the thought of capturing Jingzhou. He sent Cao Ren and Li Dian, with the two Lu brothers, to camp at Fancheng with 30,000 men so as to pose a threat against Liu Biao’s region and to spy on his actual strength.
The two Lus said to Cao Ren: “Liu Bei is strengthening his position at Xinye and bringing in large supplies. He is ambitious and should be dealt with as soon as possible. Since our surrender we have not performed any noteworthy service—if you will give us 5,000 men, we promise to bring you the head of Liu Bei.”
Cao Ren was only too glad and the expedition set out. The scouts reported this to Liu Bei, who turned to Shan Fu for advice.
Shan Fu said, “We must not let the enemy get into our city. Send your two brothers to lay an ambush on the right and the left, one to attack the enemy in the middle of their march, and the other to cut off the retreat. You and Zhao Yun will make a front attack.”
The two brothers started out, while Liu Bei went out of the gate with 2,000 men to oppose the enemy. Before they had gone far they saw a great cloud of dust behind the hills. This marked the approach of the Lu brothers. When both sides had formed a battle array, Liu Bei rode out and stood by his standard. He called out, “Who are you that dare to encroach on my territory?’
“I am the great general Lu Kuang, and I have the prime minister’s order to capture you,” said the leader.
Liu Bei ordered Zhao Yun to go out and the two engaged. Very soon Zhao Yun had disposed of his opponent and Liu Bei gave the signal to advance. Lu Xiang could not maintain his position and fell back. Soon, his men found themselves attacked from the side by a force led by Guan Yu. The losses were very heavy and the remainder fled for safety.
About ten
li
farther on they found their retreat barred by an army under Zhang Fei, who stood in the way with a long spear ready to thrust. Crying out who he was, he bore down upon Lu Xiang, who was slain without a chance of striking a blow. His men again fled in disorder. They were pursued by Liu Bei and most of them were captured.
Then Liu Bei returned to his own city, where he rewarded Shan Fu very handsomely and entertained his victorious soldiers with feasts.
Some of the defeated men took the news of the deaths of the two Lus and the capture of their comrades to Cao Ren. Much distressed, Cao Ren consulted his colleague, Li Dian, who advised him to stay where they were and hold on until reinforcements from the capital could arrive.
“No,” objected Cao Ren. “We cannot sit idly at the death of our two officers and the loss of so many men. We must avenge them quickly. Xinye is a poor place and not worth disturbing the prime minister for.”
“Liu Bei is an extraordinary figure,” said Li Dian. “Don’t take him lightly.”
“What are you afraid of?” sneered Cao Ren.
“The
Art of War
says, ‘To know your enemy and yourself is the secret of victory.’” replied Li Dian. “I’m not afraid of fighting the battle but I’m not sure if we can win.”
“You want to rebel?” cried Cao Ren angrily. “Then I will capture Liu Bei myself.”
“If you go I will guard this city,” said Li Dian.
“If you don’t go with me, then you really are rebelling,” retorted Cao Ren.
At this reproach, Li Dian felt compelled to join the expedition. So they led all their men to cross the river and marched toward Xinye.
Feeling keenly the shame of his officers and men slain,
Their chief determines on revenge and marches out again.
The result of the expedition will be told in the next chapter.
Continued in Volume Two of
The Three Kingdoms.
About the Authors
Ron Iverson
first visited China in 1984 as the personal representative of the Mayor of Chicago as part of a Sister Cities program. For the past 30 years he has continued to regularly visit China and has founded joint business ventures with Chinese partners and taught Business Strategy at Tongji University in Shanghai. He also personally arranged the first ever exhibition of Forbidden City artifacts from the palace Museum in Beijing to tour the US.
Early in his visits to China, Iverson discovered
The Three Kingdoms
and came to realize the enormous cultural significance the Chinese people place in the book. Believing that one needed to be familiar with the principles revealed in the book in order to find business or political success in China, and being dissatisfied with existing translations, Iverson decided to fund and edit a new translation aimed towards delivering the thrill of a contemporary novel while imparting understanding of a key aspect of Chinese culture.
Yu Sumei
is a professor of English at East China Normal University. She has translated several English language books into Chinese and is the first native Chinese speaker to translate
The Three Kingdoms
into English. She invested a total of two years into working on this new translation of
The Three Kingdoms
, spending the time on sabbatical in New York with her daughter, who typed the translation out as she completed it.
The Tuttle Story
“Books to Span the East and West”Many people are surprised when they learn that the world’s largest publisher of books on Asia had its humble beginnings in the tiny American state of Vermont. The company’s founder, Charles Tuttle, came from a New England family steeped in publishing, and his first love was books—especially old and rare editions.
Tuttle’s father was a noted antiquarian dealer in Rutland, Vermont. Young Charles honed his knowledge of the trade working in the family bookstore, and later in the rare books section of Columbia University Library. His passion for beautiful books—old and new—never wavered throughout his long career as a bookseller and publisher.
After graduating from Harvard, Tuttle enlisted in the military and in 1945 was sent to Tokyo to work on General Douglas MacArthur’s staff. He was tasked with helping to revive the Japanese publishing industry, which had been utterly devastated by the war. When his tour of duty was completed, he left the military, married a talented and beautiful singer, Reiko Chiba, and in 1948 began several successful business ventures.
To his astonishment, Tuttle discovered that postwar Tokyo was actually a book-lover’s paradise. He befriended dealers in the Kanda district and began supplying rare Japanese editions to American libraries. He also imported American books to sell to the thousands of GIs stationed in Japan. By 1949, Tuttle’s business was thriving, and he opened Tokyo’s very first English-language bookstore in the Takashimaya Department Store in Ginza, to great success. Two years later, he began publishing books to fulfill the growing interest of foreigners in all things Asian.
Though a westerner, Tuttle was hugely instrumental in bringing a knowledge of Japan and Asia to a world hungry for information about the East. By the time of his death in 1993, he had published over 6,000 books on Asian culture, history and art—a legacy honored by Emperor Hirohito in 1983 with the “Order of the Sacred Treasure,” the highest honor Japan bestows upon non-Japanese.
The Tuttle company today maintains an active backlist of some 1,500 titles, many of which have been continuously in print since the 1950s and 1960s—a great testament to Charles Tuttle’s skill as a publisher. More than 60 years after its founding, Tuttle Publishing is more active today than at any time in its history, still inspired by Charles Tuttle’s core mission—to publish fine books to span the East and West and provide a greater understanding of each.
