After an arrow causes a festering wound, Guan Yu signs up for a bleeding-edge surgical procedure.

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Welcome to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms Podcast. This is episode 95.

Last time, Guan Yu was in a stalemate against a Wei army led by Yu Jin and Pang De. While Yu Jin was busy sabotaging Pang De out of jealousy, Guan Yu was busy plotting both of their downfalls. Yu Jin had unwittingly garrisoned his army inside a ravine. With it being the middle of the fall rainy season, Guan Yu devised a plan to unleash the rising torrents of a nearby river to drown Yu Jin’s army.

Yu Jin might have been unaware of this pending threat, but one of his officers, a man named Cheng (2) He (2), was not. In fact, Cheng He went to see Yu Jin and said, “Our troops are camped inside a ravine, at a rather low elevation. Even though there are some hills, they are relatively far from our camp. With all the rain lately, it’s been hard on the troops. Also, there have been recent reports that the enemy troops have moved to higher ground and are preparing rafts at the mouth of the Han (4) River. If they use the river’s water against us, we would be in dire straits. We should plan for that possibility.”

Yu Jin, however, admonished Cheng He.

“How dare you damage my troops’ morale? If anyone dares to speak of this again, he shall be executed!”

Well, you can’t say Yu Jin didn’t get any warning. He Cheng, humiliated by his commander’s rebuke, went to relay his worries to Pang De.

“I share your concerns,” Pang De said. “Commander Yu refuses to move his troops, but tomorrow, I will move my own troops to another location.”

But tomorrow turned out to be too late. That night, a strong gale kicked up and heavy rain poured down. As he sat in his tent, Pang De suddenly heard an earth-shaking noise that sounded like 10,000 horses sprinting. When he stepped outside to see what’s going on, he found that the entire area was flooded by roaring torrents of water. The entire army was in chaos as countless soldiers were swept away by the strong currents. Soon, the ravine was covered by water 10 feet high, forcing Yu Jin, Pang De, and the other officers to scramble to a few small hills for relief.

When dawn arrived, so did Guan Yu and his army, coasting into the ravine on large ships. At this point, Yu Jin only had about 50 or 60 men with him. Seeing no way out, Yu Jin quickly declared his willingness to surrender. So Guan Yu took him prisoner, removed his armor, and locked him up on a ship.

Guan Yu then turned his attention to Pang De, who was holed up on another hill with Cheng He and a couple other officer, along with about 500 foot soldiers. None of them had any armor, but when Guan Yu approached, Pang De showed no sign of fear and instead valiantly went forward to face him.

Guan Yu, however, didn’t even have to get off his ship. He just ordered his fleet to surround the hill that Pang De was on and then bombard the trapped enemy with a shower of arrows, which killed most of the soldiers on the hill.

Seeing a hopeless cause, two of the officers trapped on the hill said to Pang De, “Most of our men are either dead or wounded, and there’s no way out. Why don’t we surrender?”

But that just riled up Pang De.

“I have received great kindness from the King of Wei; how can I submit to another?!” he said angrily as he personally cut down the t...