Zhuge Liang toys with Cao Zhen time and again on his second Northern expedition.

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Welcome to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms Podcast. This is episode 125.

So first, a quick progress update. By my count, we only have about 25 to 30 episodes left in the podcast. That’ll still take us well into next year before we finish, but the end is definitely coming up on us, fast and furiously.

Unfortunately for Zhuge Liang, his second Northern expedition was proceeding at a much slower pace. In fact, he was stalled outside the first key point on his route, the fortress at the important passage of Chencang (2,1). Hao (3) Zhao (1), the Wei general overseeing the defense of this location, had handled everything Zhuge Liang threw at him. And then, he got backup, as the vanguard of the Wei forces sent to stop Zhuge Liang arrived. Their general, a mighty warrior named Wang Shuang (1), lived up to his billing. He killed two no-name officers that Zhuge Liang sent, and then wounded an actual named general.

A concerned Zhuge Liang now summoned his pet project, the officer Jiang Wei, and asked him if he had any ideas.

“Chencang has strong fortifications,” Jiang Wei said. “Hao Zhao is staging a stiff defense, and now he has help from Wang Shuang. This is indeed an impossible place to take. We should leave a top general to pitch camp here. Dispatch another top general to guard against an attack from Jieting. Then lead the main army to attack the Qi Mountain. If we proceed in such and such a manner, we can capture Cao Zhen.”

Zhuge Liang took Jiang Wei’s suggestion. He ordered the officers Wang Ping and Li (3) Hui (1) to lead two armies to guard the backroads leading to Jieting. He also stationed Wei Yan at the head of a force that kept watch on Chencang. Then, Zhuge Liang set off along the backroads through the Xie (2) Gorge toward the Qi Mountain, with the general Ma Dai as his vanguard and the officers Guan Xing and Zhang Bao bringing up the rear.

 

While Zhuge Liang was getting stymied, the Wei supreme commander Cao Zhen was feeling mighty good about himself. He had gotten his butt kicked by Zhuge Liang when they faced off in the last campaign, and then Cao Zhen had to watch Sima Yi get all the credit for turning back Zhuge Liang. So this time, when he heard that his vanguard general Wang Shuang had slayed enemy officers and won a couple battles, Cao Zhen was ecstatic, and he ordered his officers to keep up a tight watch on all the key locations.

One day, the Wei pickets captured an enemy spy in the Xie (2) Gorge and took him to see Cao Zhen. This man kneeled on the ground and said, “I am not a spy. I was coming to deliver important intelligence to you, general, but I got lost and was picked up by your men. Please, let’s speak in private.”

So Cao Zhen ordered the man be untied and then dismissed everyone else. This guy then told him, “I am Jiang Wei’s confidant, here to deliver a secret letter from him.”

As he spoke, this man took out a letter from under his shirt. The letter said:

“I, Jiang Wei, a deserter, offer a hundred prostrations and this letter to Supreme Commander Cao Zhen. I have long received my living from the kingdom of Wei and was sent to defend a border town. I have received great kindness and have no way to repay it. Previously, I fell for Zhuge Liang’s scheme and had to find a way to survive a desperate si...