Page:Romance of the Three Kingdoms - tr. Brewitt-Taylor - Volume 1.djvu/94

 “A stupid move,” said Ts‘ai Mao. “The enemy is at the city gates; shall we fold our hands and wait to be slain? Give me men and I will go out and fight to the finish.”

So he was placed in command of a legion and went out to the Hsien hills where he drew up his battle line. Sun Ts‘ê led the invaders, now flushed with success. When Ts‘ai approached, Sun Chien looked at him and said, “He is brother-in-law to Liu Piao; who will capture him?”

Ch‘engCh‘êng [sic] P‘u set his supple spear and rode out. After a few bouts Ts‘ai Mao turned and fled. The Suns smote him till corpses filled the country-side and he took refuge in Hsiangyang.

Kʻuai Yen said, “Ts‘ai ought to be put to death by military law. This defeat was due to his obstinacy.” But Liu Piao was unwilling to punish the brother of his newly wedded wife.

Sun Chien surrounded Hsiangyang and assailed the walls daily. One day a fierce gale sprang up and the pole bearing his standard was broken.

“Very inauspicious!" said Han Tang. “We ought to go back.”

His lord said, “I have won every battle and the city is on the point of falling. Shall I return because the wind breaks a flagstaff?”

He flouted the advice and attacked the walls still more vigorously.

Within the city they had seen an omen. It was told Liu Piao that a great star had fallen into the wild country without the city, and they had calculated that it inferred the fall of their enemy. Piao was advised to seek help from Yüan Shao.

So he wrote. But who would undertake to fight his way through with the letter? One Lü Kung, a warrior of great strength, offered himself for this service. K‘uai Liang said, “If you undertake this service listen to my advice. You will have five hundred men; choose good bowmen. Dash through the enemy’s formation and make for Hsien Hill. You will be pursued, but send a hundred men up the hill to prepare large stones and place a hundred archers in ambush in the woods. These are not to flee from the pursuers but to beguile them along devious ways round to the place where the boulders have been prepared. There stones will be rolled down and arrows shot. If you succeed, fire off a series of bombs as a signal and the men in the city will come out to help. If you are not pursued get away as fast as possible. To-night will be suitable as there is very little moon. Start at dusk.”

Lü Kung, having received these directions, prepared his force to carry them out. As soon as day began to close in he went quietly out at the east gate. Sun Chien was in his tent when he heard shouting and at once mounted and rode out with thirty men to discover the cause. Lü Kung’s men had already hidden themselves in the thick woods. Chien rode ahead of