The Three Kingdoms Volume 1 (41 page)

At the same time preparations were made for defense. The four gates of the city were to be defended by the three brothers and Sun Qian, while the center force was left in the care of Mi Zhu and his brother. These two were Liu Bei’s brothers-in-law, he having taken their sister as a second wife. Hence they were suitable men to guard the family.

In due course Gao Shun came up to the south gate. Liu Bei ascended the tower and asked, “I have nothing against your master. Why do you come here with an army?”

“You have plotted with Cao Cao to injure my master. Now your treachery is exposed and you had better surrender.”

So saying, he gave the signal to attack. But Liu Bei only kept the gate closed tight.

The next day Zhang Liao led an attack on the west gate, which was protected by Guan Yu, who addressed him from the wall. “You appear no ordinary figure. Why waste yourself on a rascal?” he asked.

Zhang Liao hung his head and made no reply.

Knowing that he was a man of loyalty and high principles, Guan Yu said no more, as he was unwilling to wound him. Nor did he go out to attack.

Zhang Liao then drew off and proceeded to the east gate, and Zhang Fei went out to give battle. This was immediately reported to Guan Yu, who came over quickly. He saw Zhang Fei going out, but Zhang Liao was already withdrawing. Zhang Fei wished to pursue, but his brother held him back.

“He’s afraid and so has gone away—we’d better pursue,” said Zhang Fei.

“No,” said his brother. “As a warrior he’s not inferior to either of us, but I’ve tried to move him with straight words and they’ve sunk deep. He’s repentant now and that’s why he won’t fight with us.”

Zhang Fei understood. He ordered the soldiers to firmly guard the gate and did not go out to give battle.

When Liu Bei’s messenger reached the capital, he went to see Cao Cao and told him what had happened. Cao Cao called in his advisors and said to them, “I wish to attack Lu Bu. I do not fear Yuan Shao, but Liu Biao and Zhang Xiu may attack me in the rear.”

Xun Yu said, “These two have been too recently defeated to do something so rash. But Lu Bu is a remarkable fighting man, and if he joins forces with Yuan Shu and they set themselves to conquer the Huai and Si regions, it will be difficult to overcome him.”

Then Guo Jia said, “Let us seize the present moment when his allies have not yet made up their minds. Smite before they are fully prepared.”

Cao Cao assented. Fifty thousand men led by the Xiahou brothers and two other officers were sent in advance, while Cao Cao followed with the main force. Jian Yong also went with them.

Soon scouts informed Gao Shun of Cao Cao’s movements. He at once relayed it to Lu Bu, who dispatched three officers and two hundred cavalry to assist him and ordered him to post his army thirty
li
from the city to meet Cao Cao’s army. He himself followed with the major body.

When Liu Bei saw the enemy retreating from the city, he knew Cao Cao’s army was close at hand. So, leaving only the Mi brothers and Sun Qian to guard the city and his home, he and his two brothers marched all their men out of the city and made a camp so that they might be ready to assist Cao Cao.

Now the division of Cao Cao’s army under Xiahou Dun, having marched out in advance, arrived first and came upon Gao Shun. He at once rode out with spear set and offered a challenge. Gao Shun accepted and the two leaders fought half a hundred bouts. Then Gao Shun began to weaken and turned to ride back to his own army. His adversary pressed him hard and he fled to the rear of his army. Xiahou Dun still gave chase and followed him right into the enemy’s country. At this moment, Cao Xing, another of Lu Bu’s officers, secretly took his bow, fitted an arrow and, when Xiahou Dun had come quite near, shot at him. The arrow hit him full in the left eye. He cried out in pain, and reaching up, pulled out the arrow, and with it the eye.

“Essence of my father, blood of my mother, I cannot throw this away,” he cried, and he put the eye into his mouth and swallowed it.

Then, resuming a firm grip of his spear, he charged after this new enemy. There was no escape for Cao Xing. He was overtaken and fell with a spear wound full in the face. Soldiers on both sides were stricken dumb with amazement.

Having thus slain the man who had wounded him, Xiahou Dun rode back toward his own side. Guo Sheng went in pursuit and, waving on his men, attacked so vigorously that he won the day. Xiahou Yuan came to the rescue of his elder brother, and both fled. The defeated army retreated to Jibei and encamped there.

Having scored this victory, Gao Shun returned to attack Liu Bei. And as Lu Bu opportunely also arrived with Zhang Liao, these three joined forces to attack the three brothers.

Dauntless was Dun, that warrior bold,
His courage had been proved of old;
But smitten sore one hapless day,
He might not in the battle stay.

The fate of Liu Bei will be told in the next chapter.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Cao Cao Assembles His Forces at Xiapi

Lu Bu Perishes at the White Gate Tower

A
t
the close of the last chapter, the three brothers were being attacked by Lu Bu and his two valiant officers. Gao Shun and Zhang Liao went to smite Guan Yu, while Lu Bu attacked Zhang Fei’s camp. Both brothers went out to give battle, while Liu Bei’s force waited in reserve. Lu Bu divided his army and attacked from the rear and both Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were forced to flee. Liu Bei, with a few score horsemen, rushed back to Xiaopei. As he approached the gate with Lu Bu pressing hard on him, he shouted to the soldiers on the wall tower to lower the drawbridge. Lu Bu was so close behind that the archers were afraid to shoot lest they should wound their lord, and so Lu Bu got inside the gate. The guards were unable to hold him back so they scattered in all directions. Lu Bu led his force into the city.

Liu Bei saw the situation was too desperate for him to go to his residence. He had to abandon his family. He hastened through the city and escaped by the west gate. Alone on horseback, he fled for his very life.

When Lu Bu reached Liu Bei’s house he was met by Mi Zhu, who said: “I hear that a great man does not harm another man’s wife. Your rival for the empire is Cao Cao, and my master, always mindful of the good turn you did him when you shot the wonderful arrow from your camp, would not be ungrateful. He was forced to seek help from Cao Cao and I hope you will pity him.”

Lu Bu replied, “Your master and I are old friends—how could I bear to harm his family?”

Therefore he sent Liu Bei’s family to Xuzhou, with Mi Zhu to take care of them. Then he led his army into Yanzhou in Shandong, leaving Gao Shun and Zhang Liao to guard Xiaopei.

During the turmoil, Sun Qian had also managed to flee the city. Liu Bei’s two younger brothers, each with a handful of men, had got away to the hills. As Liu Bei was retreating from the scene of his defeat, he heard someone coming up behind him. When he got closer the person proved to be Sun Qian.

“Alas! I don’t know the fate of my brothers, whether they are alive or dead, and my family are lost to me! What can I do?” said Liu Bei.

Sun Qian replied, “I see nothing better than getting away to Cao Cao. We can plan our future moves later.”

Liu Bei had no better plan to propose and the two men directed their way to the capital, choosing bypaths rather than highways. When their small supplies ran out they would enter a village to beg. Whenever his name was mentioned people vied with each other to offer all that was needed.

One day they sought shelter at a cottage. A young hunter named Liu An came out and bowed low to him. Hearing who the visitor was the hunter wished to lay before him a dish of game, but though he sought for a long time nothing could be found for the table. So he came home, killed his wife, and prepared a portion for his guest. While eating, Liu Bei asked him what meat it was. The hunter told him it was wolf. Liu Bei believed him and ate his fill. The next day at daylight, just as he was leaving, he went to the stables in the rear to get his horse, and passing through the kitchen, he suddenly saw the dead body of a woman lying on the ground. The flesh of one arm had been cut away. Quite startled, he asked what this meant, and then he knew what he had eaten the night before. He was deeply affected at this proof of his host’s regard for him, and tears rained down as he mounted his steed at the gate.

“I wish I could go with you,” said Liu An, “but as my mother still lives I cannot go so far from home.”

Liu Bei thanked him and went away with his companions. On the road, they saw not far off a thick cloud of dust. When the troop came nearer they found they were men of Cao Cao’s army, and with them they made their way to the central camp to see Cao Cao, who wept at the sad story of Liu Bei’s distress, the loss of the city, his brothers, and his family. When Liu Bei told him of the hunter who had sacrificed his wife to feed them, Cao Cao sent the hunter a hundred ounces of gold as a reward.

They continued to march to Jibei, where they were welcomed to camp by Xiahou Yuan. When Cao Cao heard that his brother was still ill from the wound he had received in the eye he went to the sick man’s bedside to see him, and had him removed to the capital for careful treatment.

Presently the scouts, sent out to find tidings of Lu Bu, returned to say that he had allied himself with the outlaws in the Taishan Mountains and they were launching a joint attack on Yanzhou. On hearing this, Cao Cao dispatched Cao Ren with 3,000 soldiers to take Xiaopei, while he, together with Liu Bei, moved against Lu Bu. As they came near Xiao Pass on their journey to Shandong they were stopped by the four Taishan brigands with a large force. However, they were easily beaten back and were pursued right up to the pass.

The scouts told Lu Bu, who was then back in Xuzhou and was planning to start an expedition to lift the siege at Xiao Pass, the hidden spy of Cao Cao’s. He unwittingly left the protection of his city to Chen Deng’s father, another of Cao Cao’s men, and set out with the son.

As Chen Deng was starting out his father said to him, “Remember the words of Cao Cao, that the business of the east is in our hands. Now is the moment, as Lu Bu is about to fall.”

“Don’t worry, father, I’ll take care of the things on the outside. But if he returns beaten you must arrange with Mi Zhu to keep him out of the city. I’ll find a means of escape,” said Chen Deng.

“His family is here and so are many of his trusted men. How can I avoid them?’

“I also have a scheme to settle them.”

Then he went to see Lu Bu, to whom he said: “Xuzhou is surrounded and this city will be fiercely attacked. We ought to prepare for probable retreat and I think it will be wise to store grain and money in Xiapi. We could retreat there if the day went adversely. Why not see about this in good time?”

“Your words are indeed wise. I will also send my family there,” said Lu Bu.

The family then left under escort and with them was sent much grain and silver. And the soldiers marched to the relief of the pass. About half way there, Chen Deng said: “Let me go to the pass first to find out how things are so that you, my lord, may advance with confidence.”

Thus Chen Deng parted company with his chief and went alone to the pass, where he was received by Chen Gong. He said, “The general is greatly annoyed by your inaction. He’s going to investigate it.”

“The enemy is great in force and we can’t be too careful,” said Chen Gong. “We’re holding the pass and you should persuade our master to take steps to guard Xiaopei.”