Next day the deliverer went out to battle, with his pack of wild creatures in his train. Zhao Yun and his colleague Wei Yan quickly made their array of footmen and then took their station in front side by side and studied their opponents. The Mang banners and weapons were all extraordinary. Most of the warriors wore no armor and none wore any clothing. Their faces were sunburned. They carried four sharp pointed knives in their belts. Signals were not given by drum or trumpet, but by a gong.
King Mu Lu had two swords in his belt and carried a hand bell. He urged his white elephant forward and emerged from between his flags.
“We have spent all our life in the battlefields, but we have never seen the like of that before,” said Zhao Yun.
As they talked to one another, they noticed that the opposing leader was mumbling something that might be a spell or a curse, and from time to time he rang his bell. Then suddenly the wind got up, stones began to roll and sand to fly, and there was a sound as of a heavy shower of rain. Next a horn rang out, and thereupon the tigers and the leopards, and the wolves and the serpents, and all the other wild beasts came down on the wind snapping and clawing. How could the soldiers of Shu stand such a thing as that? So they retreated, and the Mangs came after them fiercely, chasing and slaying their enemies as far as the city of Three Rivers.
Zhao Yun and Wei Yan mustered their defeated troops and went to their leader to confess their failure. Zhuge Liang, however, was neither angry nor dejected.
“The fault is not yours,” he said. “Long ago, when I was still in my rustic hut, I knew the Mangs possessed certain powers over beasts, and I provided against this adventure before we left Shu. You will find twenty big sealed carts in the baggage train. We will use half of them now.”
He bade his staff bring forward ten of the red box-carts. They all wondered what would happen. Then the carts were opened, and they turned out to be carved and colored models of huge wild beasts, with coats of worsted, teeth and claws of steel; each could accommodate ten people. Choosing one hundred beasts, he told off a thousand troops and bade them stuff the mouths of the beasts full of inflammables.
Next day the army of Shu marched out to the attack and were arrayed at the entrance to the Silver Pit Hills. The Mang soldiers went into the ravine and told their king. Mu Lu, thinking himself perfectly invincible, did not hesitate, but marched out, taking Meng Huo with him. Zhuge Liang, dressed in the simple robe of a Taoist, went out in his light chariot. In his hand he held a feather fan. Meng Huo, who recognized his enemy, pointed him out to Mu Lu.
“That is Zhuge Liang in that small chariot. If we can only capture him, our task is done.”
Then Mu Lu began to mutter his spells and to ring his bell. As before, the wind got up and blew with violence, and the wild beasts came on.
But at a wave of the simple feather fan, lo! the wind turned and blew the other way. Then from out of the host of Shu there burst the horrible wild beasts. The real wild beasts of the Mang saw rushing down upon them huge creatures, whose mouths vomited flames and whose nostrils breathed out black smoke. They came along with jingling bells, snapping and clawing, and the real beasts turned tail and fled in among the host of their own side, trampling them down as they sped. Zhuge Liang gave the signal for a general onset, and his troops rushed forward with beating drums and blaring trumpets. Mu Lu was killed in the melee. Meng Huo's whole clan fled in panic and tore up among the hills out of the way. And thus the Silver Pit Hill was taken.
Next day, as Zhuge Liang was telling off parties to search for and capture the King, it was announced that the brother-in-law of Meng Huo, Chief Dai Lai, having vainly tried to persuade the King to yield, had made prisoners of him and his wife and all his clan and were bringing them to Zhuge Liang.
Hearing this, Zhang Ni and Ma Zhong were called and received certain orders, upon which they hid themselves in the wings of the tent with a large body of sturdy warriors. This done, Zhuge Liang ordered the keepers to open the gates, and in came Chief Dai Lai with Meng Huo and his people in custody. As Dai Lai bowed at the entrance of the hall, Zhuge Liang called out, “Let my strong captors appear!”
At once out came the hidden men, and every two of them laid hands upon a prisoner and bound him.
“Did you think your paltry ruse would deceive me?” said Zhuge Liang. “Here you are a second time captured by your own people and brought before me that you might surrender. The first time I did not hurt you. But now I firmly believe this surrender is part of a plot to kill me.”
Then he called out to his guards to search the prisoners. They did so, and on every man they found a sharp knife.
“Did you not say that if your family were taken prisoners you would yield? How now?” said Zhuge Liang.
“We have come of our own will and at the risk of our lives; the credit is not yours. Still I refuse to yield,” replied Meng Huo.
“This is the sixth time I have captured you, and yet you are obstinate; what do you expect?”
“If you take me a seventh time, then I will turn to you and never rebel again.”
“Well, your stronghold is now destroyed. What have I to fear?” said Zhuge Liang.
He ordered the bonds to be loosed, saying, “If you are caught again and lie to me once more, I shall certainly not be inclined to let you off.”
Meng Huo and his people put their hands over their heads and ran off like rats.
The defeated Mangs who had fled were of thousands, and more than half of them were wounded. They fell in with their King, who restored what order was possible and felt glad that he had still some leaders left. Then he and the Chief Dai Lai took counsel together.
“Whither can we go?” said Meng Huo. “Our stronghold is in the hands of the enemy.”
Dai Lai replied, “There is but one country that can overcome these troops; that is the Wugo Kingdom. It lies two hundred miles to the southeast. The King of that state is named Wutu Gu. He is a giant of twelve spans. He does not eat grain, but lives on serpents and venomous beasts. He wears scaly armor, which is impenetrable to swords and arrows. His warriors wear rattan armor. This rattan grows in gullies, climbing over rocks and walls. The inhabitants cut the rattans and steep them in oil for half a year. Then they are dried in the sun. When dry they are steeped again, and so on many times. Then they are plaited into helmets and armor. Clad in this, the men float across rivers, and it does not get wet. No weapon can penetrate it. The soldiers are called the Rattan Army. You may seek aid from this king, and with his help you can take Zhuge Liang as easily as a sharp knife cleaves a bamboo.” Meng Huo went to the Wugo Kingdom and saw the King. The people of this country do not live in houses, but dwell in caves. Meng Huo told the story of his woes and obtained a promise of help, for which he expressed great gratitude. Wutu Gu called up two generals named Xi Ni and Tu An and gave them thirty thousand of the rattan-armored soldiers and bade them march northeast.
They came to a river called the River of Peach Flowers, on both banks of which grow many peach trees. Year after year the leaves of these trees fall into the river and render it poisonous to all but the natives. But to the natives it is a stimulant which doubles their vigor. They camped on the bank of this river to await the coming of the army of Shu.
Now Zhuge Liang was informed of the journey of Meng Huo and its results, and he knew when the rattan-clad army camped at the ford. He also knew that Meng Huo had collected all the soldiers of his own that he could help. Zhuge Liang at once marched to the ford. He questioned the natives, and they told him that the peach leaves were falling and the water of the river was undrinkable. So he retired two miles and camped. Only Wei Yan was left to hold the bank of Peach Flowers.