Ancient Chinese statesman Zhuge Liang (181 – 234) was a wily chancellor and military strategist from the late Han Dynasty and early Three Kingdoms Period. His stratagems of manipulating an enemy via ruses became proverbial in Chinese culture. Below are some interesting facts about that fascinating figure.
Securing a Supply of Arrows from the Enemy
One of Zhuge Liang’s best known exploits took place in 208 during the buildup to a climactic battle between rival armies that were separated by the Yangtze River. Zhuge Liang’s rivals maneuvered him into committing himself to furnish 100,000 arrows within a few days. It was a seemingly impossible task, but after he mulled it over, he came up with a daring plan to pull it off. He gathered a flotilla of riverboats, lined them up with bales of wet straw, and instructed the crews what he expected from them.
Zhuge Liang waited for a foggy night on the Yangtze, then quietly rowed his riverboat flotilla across the river. Undetected, he positioned his riverboats in a line close to the enemy camp. Then at a signal, his crews erupted with loud noises to shatter the night’s silence, shouting, beating drums, clanging gongs, and creating an unholy din. Startled, the enemy camp awoke in a panic. Convinced that they were under a surprise night attack, they unleashed a storm of arrows at the boat silhouettes flitting in the murk – arrows that were embedded in the wet bales of straw. Then, his pin-cushioned boats groaning with the weight of more than 100,000 captured arrows, Zhuge returned to camp with the promised munitions.
The Empty Fort Stratagem
Zhuge Liang is also known for another daring bluff, which became proverbial in China as the “Empty Fort strategy”. It came about when he was tasked with the defense of a walled city. However, the city’s garrison was tiny, and did not have enough soldiers to man and defend the walls. A vastly superior enemy army approached – one against which Zhuge Liang’s miniscule force stood no chance. Since a stand up fight was bound to end in defeat, he resorted to ruse.
Rather than barricade the city gates, Zhuge Liang threw them open. He then grabbed a musical instrument, and proceeded to nonchalantly play it while seated atop the gates. When scouts informed the enemy commander what they saw, he rode to the gates and observed that they were indeed wide open, as an old swept the ground in front of them. He looked up at the walls, and saw that they were unmanned, while Zhuge Liang nonchalantly played music above. Suspecting a trap, the enemy commander turned his army around and left the defenseless city.
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Some Sources & Further Reading
Gonick, Larry – The Cartoon History of the Universe, Volume II (1994)
Encyclopedia Britannica – Zhuge Liang
