novelSusiti Chapter 76 Sima Yi sent an envoy—Liu Shan made him stand for half an hour.
Chapter 76 Sima Yi sent an envoy—Liu Shan made him stand for half an hour.
The messenger's trousers got half wet when he crossed the river.
The Wei River is shallow. The water is knee-deep. The horse is unwilling to go into the water.
The messenger tugged on the reins three times before the horse finally moved.
At the foot of Wuzhangyuan Cliff, twelve Shu crossbowmen crouched behind a rock.
The crossbow is nocked. The arrowhead is pointed at the river.
The envoy was alone. A white flag was planted on his horse's back.
He wasn't wearing any armor. He wore a blue cloth robe and an official's hat. He was a civil official.
Zhao Yun stood on the edge of the cliff and looked down.
"Put it up here?"
Liu Shan sat at the entrance of the tent, munching on a flatbread.
The pancakes are a little softer than yesterday's. The kitchen somehow managed to get some oil.
"put."
The messenger led his horse onto the narrow path south of the cliff. The horse's hooves slipped on the gravel.
The messenger dismounted and was led away. They walked for a quarter of an hour.
We've reached the top of the cliff. I'm panting like a bull.
The White Feather soldiers blocked him at the camp gate. They searched him. He had no weapons.
A silk scroll was tucked into his sleeve. Sealing wax. Sima Yi's seal.
The messenger was led to the open space in front of the central command tent.
Standing.
No one cares about him.
The tent flap was closed. There was no sound from inside.
The messenger waited for a quarter of an hour.
Another quarter of an hour.
The sun rose. It shone on the cliff top. It was scorching. Sweat beaded on the messenger's forehead. It trickled down his temples.
Another quarter of an hour.
The curtain was lifted.
It wasn't Liu Shan. It was Dong Yun.
"Who are you."
The envoy bowed. "Xu Yi, Military Advisor of Cao Wei, acting on the orders of the Grand Tutor—"
"Bring the silk manuscript."
Xu Yi was stunned. He took out a silk book from his sleeve and handed it over.
Dong Yun accepted it. He turned and went into the tent. The curtain closed again.
Xu Yi stood in the sunlight. He opened his mouth slightly, but no words came out.
—Inside the tent.
Liu Shan removed the sealing wax from the silk scroll. (Expand)
Sima Yi's calligraphy. Regular script. Overly neat. Every stroke is tightly controlled. It's as if he was suppressing his temper while writing it.
Three lines.
The first line reads: "Respectfully presented by Sima Yi, Grand Tutor of Wei, to His Majesty the Emperor of Han."
The second line reads: "When two armies clash, each fights for its own lord. Yet the people suffer greatly, which is not what a sage desires."
The third line reads: "Please withdraw your troops a hundred li. Each shall return to their own territory. The supply lines shall not interfere with each other."
Liu Shan placed the silk scroll on the table and rested his hands on his knees.
They retreated a hundred li. Each returned to their own territory. Their supply lines no longer interfered with each other.
In plain language: Stop intercepting my food supplies. I won't hit you anymore. Let's go home.
Zhao Yun stood to the side, glancing down at the silk scroll.
"He was scared."
Liu Shan didn't respond. He tapped his fingers twice on his knee.
"He's not afraid. He's trying."
Zhao Yun waited.
"This letter is not for me to see."
Liu Shan's finger traced across the silk scroll, landing on the character "致" (zhi) in the first line.
"It's for his own soldiers to see."
Zhao Yun loosened his grip on the spear shaft, then clenched it again.
"Sima Yi wrote a letter seeking peace and sent it to me. I refused. He went back and told the 60,000 soldiers—the Shu army refuses to make peace. It's the Shu army that wants to fight, not that I can't defeat them."
He paused for a moment.
"Morale. He's boosting the morale of his men."
Zhao Yun paused his spear on the ground.
"Then why don't we see the messenger?"
"See."
Liu Shan stood up, folded the silk scroll, and tucked it into his sleeve.
"General Zilong."
"Your subject is here."
"Let him stand there for another fifteen minutes. Then bring him in."
Zhao Yun left the tent.
Liu Shan returned to his desk. He picked up his brush and laid out a blank strip of silk. He thought for three breaths, then wrote.
I wrote half a page. I put down my pen. I blew on it to dry. I folded it neatly.
Another fifteen minutes passed.
The tent flap was lifted. Xu Yi was led in.
Half an hour into the sun, Xu Yi's face was flushed red. His lips were chapped. Sweat soaked his collar. But his posture remained unchanged. He maintained the air of a civil official.
Entering the tent. Bowing with hands clasped.
"Xu Yi, Military Advisor of Cao Wei, was ordered by the Grand Tutor—"
"sit."
Xu Yi was stunned.
Chen Dao moved a wooden stump over and placed it inside the tent flap, about eight steps away from Liu Shan's desk.
Xu Yi sat down.
Liu Shan didn't look up. He was flipping through a geomantic map in his hand, as if he were busy with something else.
Xu Yi sat for ten breaths. Then he spoke.
"Your Majesty has read the Grand Tutor's instructions. I wonder—"
"I have read it."
Liu Shan closed the geomantic map and looked up at Xu Yi.
Xu Yi then got a good look at the face of the Shu Han emperor. Young. Younger than he had imagined. His eyes weren't large, but they never looked away when he was looking at someone.
"Go back and tell Sima Yi."
Xu Yi straightened her back.
Liu Shan picked up the written strip of silk from the table and handed it to Chen Dao. Chen Dao walked over and placed it in Xu Yi's hand.
"This is my reply. He'll understand after reading it."
Xu Yi instinctively tried to dismantle it.
"Don't take it apart. Take it back and take it apart."
Xu Yi tucked the silk strip into his sleeve. He stood up and bowed.
"Your Majesty—the Grand Tutor has given another message."
Liu Shan leaned back in his chair.
"explain."
Xu Yi's throat was extremely dry. She swallowed.
The Grand Tutor said, "I have long heard that Your Majesty is a man of few words. Only today do I realize this. I admire you."
The tent was quiet for two breaths.
Liu Shan tapped his finger on the armrest.
"Go back and deliver a message for me."
Xu Yi waited.
"I kept it hidden for ten years. Grand Tutor Sima endured it for thirty years. In terms of patience—I am not as good as him."
He paused for a moment.
"But patience can't put food on the table. Eleven days. Is that enough time for him to figure things out?"
Eleven days.
Xu Yi's expression changed.
He was a soldier. He knew the exact amount of provisions. Eleven days—how did the Shu army know that number?
"Let's go. The horse is waiting at the bottom of the cliff. The road is slippery. Be careful."
Xu Yi bowed and withdrew from the tent.
The curtains fell.
Zhao Yun's voice came from outside: "Your subject will escort him down the cliff."
Liu Shan sat at his desk. He did not move.
Eleven days. He threw out that number. Xu Yi will definitely report it to Sima Yi when he gets back.
Sima Yi would then know—his supplies were so detailed that the other side could detect every single grain.
The curtain moved. Dong Yun entered.
"Your Majesty. What did that reply say?"
Liu Shan leaned back in his chair, his eyes closed.
"Eight characters."
Dong Yun waited.
"We can withdraw our troops. But first, send us supplies."
Dong Yun couldn't help but twitch his lips.
Liu Shan opened his eyes.
"What will he do?"
Dong Yun thought for a moment. "Refuse. Then—hold out to the death. Wait for the second batch of grain from Hedong."
"Is there still grain in Hedong?"
"Yes. But it needs to be rearranged. It will be transported from Bingzhou. It will take at least a month."
One month. Eleven days' worth of rations. Nineteen days' difference.
Sixty thousand people went hungry for nineteen days.
Liu Shan pulled out the third draft of the strategy from under his desk. He turned to the page on "The Standoff at the Wei River".
The last line. Written yesterday—when food supplies run out and the countdown reaches zero, he only has one path: cross the river.
Today, I added three words to the end.
"Or—disperse."
Sign off.
The tent flap was lifted. Chen Dao had returned.
"Your Majesty, Xu Yi has descended the cliff and returned to the north bank."
Liu Shan nodded.
"Has Zhao An been interrogated yet?"
Chen Dao pulled a strip of silk from his sleeve.
"The interrogation lasted all night. Zhao An confessed."
Liu Shan took it. He unfolded it.
Three lines.
First line – Zhao An. A military man. In the fifth year of Jianxing, he was assigned by Sima Shi, the eldest son of Sima Yi, to cross the mountains and enter Shu. He infiltrated the engineering battalion.
The second line – above – describes a scout leader among the Chencang garrison. After the fall of Chencang, this man mingled with the surrendered soldiers and was incorporated into the supply battalion.
The third line—this person's name. Zhao An doesn't know. Only the code name—"Iron Nail." Black beans are used as tokens for each rendezvous.
Iron nails.
Liu Shan placed the silk strip on the table.
Among the 1,600 surrendered soldiers in Chencang, there was one codenamed "Iron Nail." Zhao An didn't even know his real name.
"Sixteen hundred people. How do we find them?" Chen asked.
Liu Shan turned the silk strip over. The blank side was facing up. He picked up a brush.
I wrote two words.
"I won't look for it."
Chen Dao looked at those two words.
"Let him show himself."
Liu Shan placed Zhao An's and Zhou Fu's silk strips together under a paperweight.
"Stuff another sheet into the bamboo tube."
Chen waited.
Liu Shan wrote six characters.
"Get the nails here quickly."
The brushstrokes. Zhao An's square-shaped handwriting. He traced it three times. The third time—it was nine-tenths similar.
"Put it back in. Wait."
Chen received it and left the tent.
The curtains fell.
Liu Shan lay back down on the military chair. The dagger under the pillow was pressing against the back of his head.
Two lines. One burned the grain. The other was used for fishing.
Sixty thousand people on the other side of the Wei River. Eleven days.
enough.
[End of Chapter]