The Three Kingdoms Volume 2 (62 page)

Ma Chao angrily dashed at them, and the fight began. But how could these two have the least hope to resist Ma Chao? Badly smitten, they turned to flee. Ma Chao pursued them. However, the situation soon turned sour for the victor, as he heard the shouting of soldiers behind him and found that he was attacked in the rear by another force. Thus he was between two forces and had a double battle to fight. As he turned toward this new enemy, those he had been pursuing returned again to the fight. And while engaged with these two, there suddenly appeared a third force under Xiahou Yuan, who had just received orders from Cao Cao to combat Ma Chao.

Attacks on three sides simultaneously proved too much for Ma Chao, who was compelled to flee, his force in utter confusion. He retreated all night and at dawn reached his own city of Jicheng. But when he hailed the gate, a flight of arrows was the response. Soon after, the two friends of Yang Fu, Liang Kuan and Zhao Qu, appeared and reviled him from the ramparts above. More than this, they dragged his wife up upon the wall, murdered her before his very eyes, and threw the bloody body at his feet. They followed this cruel act by the murder in like manner of his three young sons and more than a dozen members of his family. And all their dead bodies were flung from the wall.

Rage and grief filled Ma Chao’s bosom—he almost fell from his steed. But little time was allowed for him to grieve, for Xiahou Yuan was nearly upon him. Knowing that he could not oppose this massive force with any chance of victory, he dared not fight long, but made a dash with his two bold officers to cut a way through the enemy line. Presently they fell upon Yang Fu and Jiang Xu, and after a brief battle they pressed on with their escape. In the same way they forced a passage through Yin Feng’s and Zhao Ang’s troops. However, they lost most of their few followers, and at the end only some three score remained.

At about the fourth watch they came to Licheng. In the darkness the gate guards, thinking that their master Jiang Xu had returned, opened the gate and unwittingly admitted the enemy. Once in the city the slaughter began from the south gate, and everyone, soldier or civilian, was slain. At the residence of Jiang Xu they dragged forth his aged mother. She showed no sign of fear, but reviled Ma Chao. In his anger he took his sword and slew her himself. Then they went to the houses of Yin Feng and Zhao Ang and slew all they found inside. The only person who escaped the massacre was the wife of Zhao Ang, who had accompanied her husband with the army.

But the city proved no place of safety. Xiahou Yuan with his army appeared the following day, and Ma Chao fled before him to the west. But before he had gone twenty
li
he came face to face with another force drawn up in battle array, led by Yang Fu. Grinding his teeth with hatred, Ma Chao set his spear and rode directly at Yang Fu, while his two officers, Ma Dai and Pang De, engaged the rear. Yang Fu, though aided by his seven cousins, was overcome. In no time all the seven cousins were slain while he himself was wounded in five places, but he still struggled on.

At that moment, however, Xiahou Yuan with his large army came up from behind and Ma Chao was again forced to escape. His followers were now reduced to less than ten, and these few continued to flee.

Cao Cao’s general, Xiahou Yuan, restored order in the district, after which he appointed Jiang Xu and the others to defend it. The wounded man, Yang Fu, was sent to the capital in a carriage. When he arrived he saw Cao Cao, who offered him the title of marquis. But Yang Fu declined the honor, saying, “I have neither the credit of sustaining a successful defense nor the merit of dying a martyr in the fall of the city. Death should be my punishment. How could I accept the honor?”

Cao Cao praised him and did not insist.

Having escaped from their pursuers, Ma Chao and his few followers decided to seek shelter with Zhang Lu in Hanzhong. Zhang Lu received them gladly, for he thought with such a bold warrior in his service he could certainly get possession of Yizhou in the west and repel Cao Cao in the east. To secure his loyalty, he even thought of making Ma Chao his son-inlaw. But when he discussed this with his men, one of them, called Yang Bo, objected.

“Remember how he brought misfortune to his wife and family. How could you give your daughter to him?” said Yang Bo.

Zhang Lu agreed and thus abandoned this idea. But a certain busybody told Ma Chao about all this and the latter, greatly annoyed, began to nurture the thought of destroying Yang Bo. Meanwhile, Yang Bo and his brother Yang Song also conspired to destroy Ma Chao.

At this time Liu Zhang’s envoy arrived in Hanzhong, begging for assistance against the invader Liu Bei. Zhang Lu refused. Soon, another envoy was sent by Liu Zhang on the same errand. He first went to see Yang Song and pointed out to him the inter-dependence of their two sides, standing next to each other like the lips and teeth. He further promised that his master was willing to hand over twenty towns if aid was offered. These words won over Yang Song, who led him to see his master. The envoy repeated his argument and laid the matter before him so cogently that Zhang Lu promised his help.

One of Zhang Lu’s officers tried to dissuade him by pointing out the old enmity between him and Liu Zhang, but another man suddenly stood out and said, “Useless I may be, but if you will give me some troops I will capture this Liu Bei and force Liu Zhang to yield the twenty towns he has promised.”

The land’s true lord goes west and then

Hanzhong sends forth its bravest men.

Who made this bold offer will be told in the next chapter.

CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE

Ma Chao Fights a Great Battle at Jiameng Pass

Liu Bei Assumes Governorship of Yizhou

I
t
was Ma Chao who rose and said, “I have been the recipient of much kindness from you, sir, which I feel I can never repay adequately. Now let me lead an army to take Jiameng Pass, capture Liu Bei, and force Liu Zhang to yield twenty towns to you.”

This offer delighted Zhang Lu, who sent the envoy back first through a byroad and then assigned an army of 20,000 men for Ma Chao to lead. As Pang De happened to be ill and so was unable to take part in the expedition, Yang Bo was sent in his place. A date was chosen for the army to start. Meanwhile, the messenger sent by Fa Zheng to Chengdu had returned. He told Liu Bei that Liu Zhang had been advised to destroy the crops and the granaries, move away the people, and maintain a strong defense. This news alarmed Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang greatly, for it would be a grave danger to them. However, Fa Zheng was more optimistic.

“Do not be anxious,” he said. “Though the plan is lethal, it will not be accepted by Liu Zhang.”

Surely enough, very soon they heard that Liu Zhang, unwilling to cause the people so much disturbance, had refused to accept the advice. It was a great relief to Liu Bei.

Zhuge Liang said, “Now let us try to capture Mianzhu quickly. When that town is seized, Chengdu will be as good as ours.”

Therefore he sent Huang Zhong and Wei Yan to advance first. When Fei Guan, commander at Mianzhu and brother-in-law to Liu Zhang, heard of their advance, he ordered Li Yan to go out and confront them, and the officer went out with 3,000 men. The two sides being arrayed, Huang Zhong rode out and engaged his opponent. They fought about fifty bouts but neither was able to claim victory over the other, and so Zhuge Liang ordered his men to clang the gongs to cease the battle. When Huang Zhong got back he said to the advisor, “Sir, why did you sound the gong of withdrawal just as I was going to capture my opponent?”

“Because I saw that he would not be overcome by mere force. Tomorrow when you fight with him, pretend defeat and then lead him into the hills. There will be an ambush awaiting him.”

Huang Zhong agreed to try this ruse, and so the next day he accepted Li Yan’s challenge when it was offered. After about ten bouts he and his men pretended to be worsted and fled. Li Yan pursued and was quickly lured into the hills. Suddenly, danger flashed into his mind and he hurriedly turned to go back. But there he found Wei Yan’s men blocking his way, while Zhuge Liang shouted down from a hilltop: “You had better yield—if not, there are bows and crossbows on both sides of you, ready to take your life to avenge the death of our Pang Tong.”

Li Yan hastened to dismount, threw aside his armor, and yielded. Not a man of his was hurt. He was conducted to Liu Bei, whose affable attitude immediately won his heart, so he offered to try to persuade Fei Guan to forfeit his allegiance to Liu Zhang.

“Though he is related to Liu Zhang, he and I are very close friends. Let me go and persuade him.”

Li Yan was thus sent back to the city to induce his friend to come over to Liu Bei’s side. He talked to his friend so eloquently about the kindness and virtue of Liu Bei that Fei Guan was convinced. Throwing open the city gates he, too, surrendered to the invaders.

As soon as Liu Bei entered Mianzhu he began preparations for the seizure of the capital of the west country. While thus engaged he received an urgent message to the effect that Ma Chao was making a fierce attack on Jiameng Pass and that it would certainly be lost if help was not sent quickly.

“We need Yi-de or Zi-long for this,” remarked Zhuge Liang.

“But Zi-long is away,” said Liu Bei. “However, Yi-de is here. Let us send him now.”

“Do not say anything, my lord. Let me stir him up so that he will fight his best.”

As soon as Zhang Fei heard of Ma Chao’s presence at Jiameng Pass he went to see his brother, shouting loudly, “I must take my leave, brother. I’m off to fight Ma Chao.”

Of this passionate burst of courage, Zhuge Liang pretended as if he had not heard a word. Turning to Liu Bei, he said, “That Ma Chao is invading Jiameng Pass and we have no one to drive him back unless we get Yun-chang from Jingzhou. He is the only one who can counter Ma Chao.”

“Why do you despise me, sir?” cried Zhang Fei. “Didn’t I once drive back a whole army of Cao Cao’s? Do you think I can’t deal with a stupid fellow like Ma Chao?”

Zhuge Liang said, “Well, Yi-de, last time you succeeded in holding the Long Slope Bridge against Cao Cao’s large army because he was in doubt. If he had known our real strength, you would not have fared so well. Now this Ma Chao is famous throughout the country for his valor. His six battles at the Wei Bridge forced Cao Cao to cut short his beard and throw away his robe. He very nearly slew him, too. This is no light task, and even your brother might fail.”

“I will go right now, and if I don’t overcome this fellow, I’m willing to take the consequences.”

“All right,” said Zhuge Liang. “If you will put that down in writing, you may lead the vanguard.”

Turning to Liu Bei, he continued, “My lord, you can lead another division to support him and I will stay here and guard this town till Zi-long returns.”

“I also want to go,” volunteered Wei Yan.

Wei Yan was allowed to go ahead of Zhang Fei with five hundred light cavalrymen as scouts. Liu Bei was to lead the rearguard. The three forces soon left the city for Jiameng Pass.

Wei Yan and his scouts arrived first at the pass, where he fell in with Yang Bo. They engaged—but after a few bouts Yang Bo fled in defeat.

At this success Wei Yan was seized with ambition and, hoping to snatch the credit that would fall to Zhang Fei, he pursued. Presently he came across a body of soldiers all drawn up, the commander being Ma Dai. Wei Yan, thinking it was the redoubtable Ma Chao, rode toward him, whirling his sword. In less than ten exchanges Ma Dai started to run away, and Wei Yan again followed. However, Ma Dai suddenly turned back and shot an arrow, which wounded his pursuer in the left arm. Wei Yan gave up the chase and turned to flee. This time Ma Dai came after him and chased him nearly up to Jiameng Pass.