The spies of Wei duly reported these doings to the Ruler of Wei: “Shu marches against Wu, erecting forty base camps along two hundred miles of woods and hills. Moreover, the Ruler of Shu places Huang Quan in command of the North of the Great River. Huang Quan's marines patrolled as far as thirty miles daily. We do not know their intention.”
The Ruler of Wei laughed aloud when he heard the details of the long line of camps and the encampments among the trees and all this. “Liu Bei is going to be defeated,” said he.
“How do you know?” asked his courtiers.
“Because Liu Bei does not know how to wage war. How can he beat off an enemy along a front of two hundred miles? The maxims of war forbid to camp in open plains, among marshes, amid precipitous heights and obstacles. He will be defeated at the hand of Lu Xun, and we shall hear of it in about ten days.”
His officers felt more than doubtful and entreated their master to prepare an army.
But the Ruler of Wei replied, “If successful, Lu Xun will lead all his force westward into the Western Land of Rivers, and his country will be defenseless. I shall pretend to send an army to help. I shall send them in three divisions, and I shall overcome Wu easily.”
They all bowed acquiescence and approval. Then orders went out appointing Cao Ren to lead an army out by Ruxu, Cao Xiu to take a second out by Dongkou, and Cao Zhen to command a third to go through Nanjun, and the three armies were to combine on a given date for a sudden attack on Wu. The Ruler of Wei would himself bring up the reinforcement in this southern campaign.
Reaching Chengdu, Ma Liang lost no time in seeing the Prime Minister and presenting the plan of the armies as they were in the field.
“Now the forces are on both sides of the Great River extending along a front of two hundred miles, with forty stations, each beside a mountain stream or in a pleasantly shaded forest. At our lord's command, I prepared this map, and he sent me to ask your opinion.”
“Who advised such an arrangement? He ought to be put to death, whoever it was,” cried Zhuge Liang sorrowfully, tapping the table at his side.
“It is entirely our lord's own work; no other had any hand in it,” said Ma Liang.
“The life and energy of the Hans are done indeed,” said Zhuge Liang. “He has committed those very faults which the rules of the Art of War lay down as to be particularly avoided. The camps are made where free movement is impossible, and nothing can save him if the enemy use fire. Beside, what defense is possible along a two-hundred-mile front? Disaster is at hand, and Lu Xun sees it all, which explains his obstinate refusal to come out into the open. Go back as quickly as you can and tell our lord that this will not do, that it must be changed at once.”
“But if I am too late — if Wu has already attacked and won—, what then?”
“The enemy will not dare to follow up their victory by a march on Chengdu. So this capital is secure.”
“Why will they not?”
“Wei is behind their back; that is why. Our lord will be compelled to shelter in Baidicheng. I have already placed ten thousand troops in hiding at Fishbelly Creek.”
“Have you? I have been up and down that creek three or four times without seeing a soldier. I do not see the reason of telling lies to me,” said Ma Liang.
“You will see; do not ask so many questions.” With the precious instructions which he had persuaded Zhuge Liang to draw up, Ma Liang hastened back to the imperial camp, while Zhuge Liang went to the capital to prepare a relief expedition.
The soldiers of Shu had become slack and idle and no longer maintained adequate defense, wherefore Lu Xun perceived that his moment had arrived, and called his generals to his tent to receive orders.
“There has been no fighting since I received our lord's command. I have spent the time in acquiring a knowledge of the enemy. As a preliminary operation I want to capture a camp on the south bank. Who volunteers?”
Out stepped Han Dang and Zhou Tai and Ling Tong, all three at once, each crying that he wanted to be sent. But they were sent back; the Commander-in-Chief did not want any of them.
Then he called up the junior general, Chunyu Dan, and said, “You will take the fourth camp on the south side; you may have five thousand troops. The commander of the post is Fu Tong. I shall support you.”
When Chunyu Dan had gone, Lu Xun summoned Xu Sheng and Ding Feng and said, “Each of you will take three thousand troops and bivouac two miles from the camp, so that if your colleague is repulsed and pursued, you can rescue him.”
Chunyu Dan marched between the lights and reached the camp he was to capture just after the third watch. His drums rolled, and he attacked at once. The defenders came out led by Fu Tong, who, spear ready to thrust, rode straight toward the leader of the attack and forced him back. Suddenly there arose the roll of other drums, and a cohort under Zhao Rong barred the way. Chunyu Dan turned off along another road, escaping with loss of many troops.
But he was not yet safe. Some distance farther he ran against the Mang tribesmen leader Shamo Ke. However, Chunyu Dan avoided him also and went on his way, pursued now by three parties. Soon he reached the spot two miles from the camp, and here the two leaders of Shu — Xu Sheng and Ding Feng—, who had been placed ready to afford succor, came out and stopped the pursuit. When the enemy had retired, Chunyu Dan was escorted back to camp.
He was wounded, and with the arrow still undrawn he appeared before Lu Xun and apologized for his failure.
“It was no fault of yours;” said the Commander-in-Chief, “I wanted to test the force of our enemy. My plan of attack is quite ready.”
“The enemy is very strong and will not be easily overcome,” said Xu Sheng and Ding Feng. “We have now suffered great loss to no purpose.”
“This plan of mine would not hoodwink Zhuge Liang, but happily he is not here. His absence will allow me to score a great success.”
Then he summoned his generals to receive orders: “Zhu Ran is to lead the marine force. He is to advance next day afternoon, when the southeast wind will serve. His ships are laden with reeds and straw, which are to be used as ordered. Han Dang is to attack the north bank, Zhou Tai the south. Each soldier, in addition to his weapons, is to carry a bundle of straw or reeds, with sulfur and saltpeter hidden therein, and each has a piece of tinder. They are to advance, and, when they reach the Shu camps, they are to start a conflagration. But they are to burn only alternate camps, twenty in all, leaving the others untouched. They are to advance and only stop if they capture Liu Bei.” The leaders received the orders and so set out.
The First Ruler was in his own camp, pondering over a plan to destroy the armies of Wu, when suddenly the staff that bore the great standard in front of his own tent fell over and lay on the ground. There was no wind to account for this, so he turned to Cheng Ji and asked what it might portend.
“It means only one thing, that the troops of Wu will raid the camp tonight,” said Cheng Ji.
“They will not dare after the slaughter of yesterday.”
“But suppose that was only a reconnaissance; what then?”
Just then a report came in that some troops of Wu could be seen, very far off, going along the hills eastward.
“They are soldiers meant to put us in confusion,” said the First Ruler. “Tell the generals not to move, but let Guan Xing and Zhang Bao, with a small mounted force, go out to reconnoiter.”
It was dusk when these two returned, and they then reported: “Fire is seen among the camps on the north bank.”