Zhou Yu fools Cao Ren; Cao Ren fools Zhou Yu; Zhou Yu fools Cao Ren again; Zhuge Liang fools everyone; Zhou Yu bursts a blood vessel.

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Welcome to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms Podcast. This is episode 63.

First, I want to wish everyone a happy new year. Yes, we’re well into January, but the show was on its regularly scheduled break last week. So let me take this opportunity to say thank you for all your support in 2015, and here’s to even greater things in 2016.

 

So when we left off last time, Cao Cao had retreated from the South, and both the forces of Dongwu and Liu Bei were setting their sights on his holdings in Jing Province. First up was the city of Nanjun (2,4), which was defended by Cao Ren, one of Cao Cao’s most trusted generals. The problem was that there was only one Nanjun, and both Dongwu and Liu Bei wanted it. Zhou Yu, the commander of the Dongwu forces, reached an agreement with Liu Bei that Dongwu would get first crack at the city. If Dongwu could not take it, then Liu Bei was free to try.

Of course, Zhou Yu only agreed to this because he figured taking the city would be easy and that Liu Bei would never even get the chance to try. Unfortunately for Zhou Yu, it turned out to be not so easy. While he was stalled outside Nanjun, Zhou Yu got more bad news. He had sent one of his top generals, Gan Ning, to attack the nearby city of Yiling (1,2) so as to isolate Nanjun. Gan Ning took Yiling (1,2) easily enough, but then was trapped inside that city by enemy reinforcements.

When word of this reached Zhou Yu, he wanted to go rescue Gan Ning, but he was also worried about the enemy inside Nanjun taking advantage of his absence and attacking while his back was turned. At this point, one of his officers, Lü (3) Meng, boldly stepped up and … volunteered a fellow officer for the task of holding down the fort.

“We can leave General Ling (2) Tong (3) in charge here,” Lu Meng said. “Then I will serve as the vanguard of the relief force, while you, commander, follow with the main army. We will be victorious within 10 days.”

“General Ling, are you willing to assume my post here?” Zhou Yu asked Ling Tong.

“For 10 days, yes. Beyond 10 days, I dare not,” Ling Tong answered.

 

Ling Tong didn’t exactly sound like he was brimming with confidence, but it was good enough for Zhou Yu. He left Ling Tong with about 10,000 troops to defend the camp outside Nanjun, and then set off with the main army toward Yiling (1,2).

Along the way, Lü Meng offered up another idea.

“There is a backroad to the south of Yiling (1,2) that easily connects to Nanjun,” he said. “We should send 500 soldiers there to cut down trees and block that path. When the enemy is defeated, they will surely flee in that direction. When their path is blocked by the trees, they will abandon their horses and continue on foot, and then their horses will be ours.”

Zhou Yu agreed and sent some troops to carry out this plan. When the main army arrived at Yiling, Zhou Yu tasked the general Zhou (1) Tai (4) with fighting through the ring of enemy troops around the city to deliver word to their comrades inside. Wielding his blade, Zhou Tai galloped into the fray and slashed his way to the foot of the city, where Gan Ning came out to meet him. Once Zhou Tai briefed him, Gan Ning immediately ordered his troops to pack up, eat a full meal,