Page:Romance of the Three Kingdoms - tr. Brewitt-Taylor - Volume 1.djvu/227

 “He is a beast, with neither a sense of humanity nor of right. Let us leave him,” said Hsien.

“He is not worth fighting for. The best we could do would be to seize him and hand him over to Ts‘ao Ts‘ao.”

“I was punished because I got my horses back again, yet all he trusts in is his own steed. If you two till betray the gate and seize Lü Pu I will steal the horse and go out to Ts‘ao’s camp.”

They settled how to carry out the plot and that very night Hou Ch‘êng sneaked into the stables and got the Hare away. He hastened to the east gate which was opened to let him through. The guard made a pretence of pursuing him but only a pretence.

Hou Ch‘êng reached the besiegers’ camp, presented the horse and told Ts‘ao what had been arranged. They would show a white flag and open the gates to his army. Hearing this Ts‘ao had a few notifications written out, which were attached to arrows and show over the walls. This is one of them:—“The General Ts‘ao Ts‘ao has received a command to destroy Lü Pu. Those who interfere with the operations of his grand army, whatever their rank, shall be put to death in the gate on the day that the city shall be captured. Should any one capture Lü Pu or bring his head he shall be well rewarded. Let all take note of this.”

Next day at daylight a tremendous hubbub was heard without the city and Lü Pu, halberd in hand, hasted to the wall to see what it meant. As he went from gate to gate inspecting the defences and guards he censured Wei Hsü for letting Hou Ch‘êng escape and get away with his horse. He threatened to punish him. But just then the besiegers began a fierce attack as the white flag had just appeared and Lü Pu had to turn all his energies to defence. The assault lasted till noon, when the attacking force drew off for a time.

Lü Pu was taking a rest in the tower and fell asleep in his chair. Sun Hsien sent away his attendants, and when they had gone he stole his master’s weapon, the halberd in which he trusted. Then he and Wei Hsü fell upon Lü together and before he was well awake had bound him with cords, trussing him so that he could not move. Lü Pu shouted for his men, but they were driven off by the two traitors and could not come near. Then a white flag was shown and the besiegers again approached the city. The traitors shouted out that Lü Pu was a prisoner. But Hsiahou Yüan could hardly believe it till they threw down the famous halberd.

The gates were flung open and the enemy entered the city. Kao Shun and Chang Liao, who were at the opposite gate, were surrounded and cut off by the water and helpless. They were captured. Ch‘ên Kung made a dash to the south gate but was also taken. Presently Ts‘ao Ts‘ao entered and at once gave