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The First Ruler sighed, saying, “If I had listened to the Prime Minister's advice, the defeat would not have happened. Now how can I face a return to my capital?”

So he promulgated a command to change the guest-house into the Palace of Eternal Peace. He was deeply grieved when they told him of the deaths Feng Xi, Cheng Ji, Fu Tong, Zhang Nan, King Shamo Ke, and many of his generals.

Next he heard people say: “Huang Quan, who had been given command of the army on the north bank, had given in to Wei. Your Majesty should deliver his whole family to the authority and hold them responsible for the renegade.”

But the First Ruler only said, “The army was quite cut off by Wu from the south bank, and he had no alternative but to surrender. Really, I betrayed him, not he me. Why should I take vengeance on his family?”

So he continued the issue of the renegade's pay to his family.

When Huang Quan surrendered, he was led into the presence of Cao Pi, who said, “You have surrendered to me because you desired to imitate the admirable conduct of Chen Ping and Han Xin of old.”

But Huang Quan replied, weeping, “The Ruler of Shu has been very kind to me, and he gave me the leadership of the army on the North of the Great River. Lu Xun cut me off so that I could not return to Shu, and I would not surrender to Wu, wherefore I have yielded to Your Majesty. Defeated as I am, I should be only too happy if my life were spared, but I have no claim to the credit of the virtuous ones of old.”

The reply satisfied the Ruler of Wei, and he conferred on him the title General Who Guards the South. But Huang Quan, however, declined the offer.

Then one of the courtiers said, “A spy has reported that all of your family have been put to death by the Ruler of Shu.”

But the leader replied that he could not believe it.

“I have the greatest confidence in the clemency of the Ruler of Shu. He knows I would not have surrendered of my own free will, and he would not injure my family.”

And the Ruler of Wei agreed with his opinion. A poem has been written upbraiding Huang Quan:

That was a pity that Huang Quan grudged to die;

Though he yielded to Wei, not Wu,

Yet he crooked the knee in an alien court.

Which the loyal cannot do.

Cao Pi sought advice from Jia Xu concerning his design of bringing the whole country under his own rule.

“I wish to bring the whole empire under my rule; which shall I first reduce, Shu or Wu?”

“Liu Bei is an able warrior, and Zhuge Liang is a most capable administrator; Sun Quan possesses discrimination, and his general, Lu Xun, occupies all the strategic positions of importance. The natural obstacles, the intervening rivers and spreading lakes, would be hard to overcome. I do not think you have any leader to match either of these two men. Even with the prestige of Your Majesty's own presence, no one could guarantee the result. The better course is to hold on and await the outcome of the struggle between those two.”

“I have already dispatched three armies against Wu; can it be that they will fail?”

The Chair of the Secretariat, Liu Ye, held the same opinion as his colleague. Said he, “Lu Xun has just won a great victory over the great host of Shu, and all his army is full of confidence. Further, there are the lakes and the rivers, which are natural difficulties hard to cope with. And again, Lu Xun is resourceful and well prepared.”

The Ruler of Wei said, “Formerly, Sir, you urged me to attack Wu; why do you now give contrary advice?”

“Because times have changed. When Wu was suffering defeat after defeat, the country was depressed and might be smitten. Now this great victory has changed all that, and their morale has increased a hundred times. I say now they may not be attacked.”

“Well; but I have decided to attack. So say no more,” said the Ruler of Wei.

He then led the Imperial Guards out to support his three armies. But the scouts soon brought news justifying the opinion of his advisers: “A force of Wu has been sent to oppose each of our three armies. Lu Fan leads an army against Cao Xiu at Dongkou, Zhuge Jin against Cao Zhen at Nanjun, and Zhu Huan against Cao Ren at Ruxu.”

Liu Ye pointed this out and again said, “Wu has prepared, and no success can be expected.”

Still Cao Pi was obstinate, and marched.

The Wu leader, Zhu Huan, who had been sent against Cao Ren at Ruxu, was a young man of twenty-seven. He was bold and resourceful, and Sun Quan held him in great regard. Hearing that Cao Ren was going to attack Xianxi, Zhu Huan led the bulk of his troops to defend it, leaving only five thousand troops in Ruxu. Then he heard that the van of the enemy, fifty thousand under Commander Chang Diao, with the aid of Zhuge Qian and Wang Shuang, had made a dash for Ruxu, so he hastened back and found the officers were in great fear.