After another promising Northern campaign gets short-circuited, Zhuge Liang prays to his former lord for the strength to carry on, because he’s made up his mind and he ain’t wasting no more time.

* Transcript

* Map of Key Locations

* Graph of Key Characters and Relationships

Transcript

PDF version

Welcome to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms Podcast. This is episode 130.

Last time, we left Zhuge Liang in a bit of a pickle. He was garrisoned inside a small town called Lucheng (3,2), while his opponent Sima Yi had sent an army to attack the Saber Pass, which would cut off Zhuge Liang’s path of retreat and his supply route. Meanwhile, Sima Yi was coming to attack Lucheng (3,2) in person. What’s more, all this was happening at a time when Zhuge Liang was just about to rotate his field army off the front lines in exchange for fresh reserves.

Zhuge Liang’s adviser Yang (2) Yi (2) now suggested that he should keep his field army right where it was until the crisis had passed. But Zhuge Liang disagreed.

“We cannot do that,” he said. “I have always based my authority on being a man of my words. Since I have already given the order for the men to be rotated off the front, how can I go back on it? Besides, the men who are due to rotate off have been looking forward to going home, and their families are eagerly awaiting them. Even if I am facing a calamity, I will not keep them.”

So Zhuge Liang sent out word that the troops were to rotate off as planned and they were to leave that day. But when the rank-and-file heard what he had said, they all shouted, “Your excellency is so kind and considerate! We are willing to postpone our departure and put our lives on the line to crush the enemy and repay you!”

Zhuge Liang tried to convince the men to leave, but they steadfastly refused and insisted on going out to fight. So Zhuge Liang told them, “Since you insist on following me into battle, then let’s set up camp outside the town. When the enemy arrives, pounce on them before they can catch their breath. We will be rested while they toil.”

The soldiers were delighted and they all grabbed their weapons and flooded outside the city to line up and wait. When the Wei army arrived outside the city, its troops were exhausted from the march and were just about to pitch camp and rest. But the Shu forces poured into them and sent them scurrying. While the Wei forces ran, the Shu army gave chase and left in their wake a field littered with the bodies of the enemy’s dead and rivers of blood.

Zhuge Liang now summoned his victorious troops back into the town and rewarded them. But just as the celebration was getting underway, an urgent dispatch arrived from Li (3) Yan (2), a very high-ranking Shu official who was presently overseeing the key city of Baidi (2,4), which served as a check on the frenemy kingdom of Dongwu. Given the strategic importance of Li Yan’s location, Zhuge Liang was naturally alarmed at this urgent message and quickly opened it.

The report said, “I have recently found out that Dongwu has sent an envoy to the Wei capital Luoyang to forge an alliance with Wei. Wei has ordered Dongwu to conquer our kingdom. Fortunately, Dongwu has not yet mobilized its forces. I am informing your excellency so that you can draw up a plan quickly.”

Zhuge Liang decided that he must return at once to deal with this...