The Sanguo Yanyi - Chapter 57
Monday, June 25, 2012 at 2:07AM The Sanguo Yanyi - Chapter 57:
Sleeping Dragon Mourns In Chaisang;
Young Phoenix Intervenes At Leiyang.
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WARNING: D.J. RASPE IS PRONE TO BOUTS OF BLEAK DEPRESSION AND HE DISAPPEARS SOMETIMES, AND WHEN HE DOES, HIS CONTENT SLOWS TO A STANDSTILL. BUT HE USUALLY COMES BACK EVENTUALLY...LET THE SHOW GO ON. OH YEAH, AND SOMETHING ABOUT SPOILERS TOO...
So, it's been about a year since the last episode, and you're probably good and ready for a new episode, huh? Well, all right then. Let's get down to it. It is to be recalled that, at a previous point in the story, I mentioned how those who read this story tend to take sides. Some people are Cao Cao fans. Some are Liu Bei fans. Some are Zhuge Liang Fans, and some like Zhou Yu...this chapter, Chapter 57, is for the Cao Cao fans, it would seem.
For in this chapter, we see the conclusion of the story of the previous chapters (the rivalry between Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu), and it culminates in the death of the brilliant Zhou Yu, general of the South Land. Sad, and far too early (at least from the viewpoint of Sun Quan and the other officers of Wu), but nonetheless pretty much the inevitable result of the rivalry between Zhou Yu and his nemesis, Zhuge Liang.
One of those two had to die, that much seemed to be certain. If it had not been Zhou Yu, it would have had to be Zhuge Liang, but it would seem that it was Zhou Yu whose time had come. Zhuge Liang, as portrayed by the story, of course, appears to have seen this coming, and has purposefully goaded Zhou Yu into aggravating his injuries. Kinda a cruel tactic, but then again, Zhuge Liang was all too aware that the normal proprieties between people simply do not seem to apply on the stage of international politics. So Zhuge Liang did something which could be seen as somewhat dishonorable, in driving Zhou Yu into the grave.
That's why this chapter is for the Cao Cao fans. Zhou Yu, the great leader of the South Land, died, and Zhuge Liang, the great threat to Cao Cao's hegemony, has fallen a little bit from the grace of the ancient Han "Heaven", in dealing with Zhou Yu in such a way.
Things happen for a reason in this story, if you understand that "Heaven" guides all events, and that good things happen to those whom Heaven deems worthy, whereas bad things happen to those whom Heaven deems unworthy. There can be seen in that fact a bit of the Buddhist influence which was already widespread in China even at the time when this story is set, not to mention utterly entrenched by the time of the story's author, nearly a thousand and a half years later. Dharma plays a big part in this story, and I've a bit of a theory to that effect, that it was probably acts like this, where Zhuge Liang dealt dishonorably with Zhou Yu, which shortened the latter years of Zhuge Liang's life...for those of you who have read that far ahead in the story, notice how Zhuge Liang ALSO dies before accomplishing his design, just like Zhou Yu did...there is a certain justice to it.
At any rate, with his rival dead, Zhuge Liang saw both an opportunity and a danger looming on the horizon. For the South Land and the forces of Liu Bei were technically allies, bonded by marriage between Liu Bei and Lady Sun Ren (Shang Xiang), and the South Land had every reason to suspect foul play in Zhou Yu's demise, for which they would have been justified.
Zhuge Liang had removed a very powerful threat from the world, but now he had to step into place very quickly and do some fast talking to ensure that the South Land did not turn their baleful gaze away from Cao Cao, and toward Liu Bei's Jingzhou. That was the reason for Zhuge Liang's return to the South Land...ostensibly to mourn the passage of Zhou Yu.
Perhaps Zhuge Liang really did mourn his rival. They had worked together in the past, for one thing. And for another thing, sometimes a dear enemy is almost as good as a dear friend, and almost as bitterly mourned, strange as that sounds. But then again, it is possible, too, that Zhuge Liang did not feel nearly so much affection for Zhou Yu as all that. At any rate, it can hardly be denied reasonably that what Zhuge Liang did by going back to the South Land to mourn Zhou Yu was a machievellian sort of tactic. And a successful one, for he managed to convince the officers of the South Land that his mourning was sincere, whether or not it actually was. And convincing those officers, that was the key to the entire mission.
Of course, one of those officers is not convinced by Zhuge Liang's seemingly excessive mourning. His name is Pang Tong, and we've seen him before, when, at the Great Battle of Chi Bi, he convinced Cao Cao to chain his ships together, which later caused them to be caught in the great conflagration from Huang Gai's fire attack.
Pang Tong, a bit ugly and more than a little bit eccentric, not to mention extremely intelligent, is not like most men. His mind is devious enough to see right through Zhuge Liang's ruse, and he alone in the South Land could stop Zhuge Liang in his tracks, and thwart his designs...
Luckily for Liu Bei, however, Pang Tong has not been treated all that well by Sun Quan, so he happens to be thinking of shopping around for a master elsewhere. Very, very luckily for Liu Bei, for Pang Tong is one of those types whom it was believed could do the seemingly impossible, a feat he had even already accomplished at Chi Bi.
With both Pang Tong and Zhuge Liang to aid him, Liu Bei stood a good chance of winning the whole Empire. Of course, as is sometimes the case with ugly people, people judge them by their looks, and do not take thought for the kind of mind, the kind of soul even, which lurks beneath those exterior features. Such had happened to Pang Tong in the South Land, and such would also happen to him in Jingzhou, but for the intervention of Zhang Fei of all people...now there's an interesting twist for you. It's a brute discovering an ugly genius. Score one for the "not-so beautiful people". :D
At any rate, Pang Tong's entry into the government of Liu Bei's domain was nothing but fortuitous for Liu Bei, and it would lead, eventually, to Liu Bei's expedition into his future domain, in Ba-Shu.
There's one other portion of this chapter which has some importance to the later chapters. And that is, the fate of Ma Teng, Governor of Xi Liang (and also Liu Bei's co-conspirator in the Girdle Decree). Cao Cao has been looking for an opportunity to kill Ma Teng for years, and it would seem like the time has come. For Cao Cao has the Emperor's heart within his fist, and with the power of the Imperial State, he can order Ma Teng to march from his power base in Xi Liang into territory a lot less friendly.
Cao Cao, having lured Ma Teng to the Capital, gets ready to do away with him, and thus, he hopes, remove a great threat from the west. And the tragic Girdle Decree claims the life of yet another of its signatories, so that Liu Bei alone is left of all those whom had been in on the original conspiracy.
This event, the slaying of Ma Teng and his son, is of great importance in the immediate chapters following, for they set up the next arc of the story...the fiery hatred and the cold vengeance of Ma Teng's heir, Ma Chao...and that quest for vengeance will lead both Ma Chao and Cao Cao to a sordid encounter fraught with treachery and with deception, and a battle of both cunning and will, to be fought at Tong Gate...
Enjoy this, Chapter 57 of the Sanguo Yanyi audiobook.
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