could only produce one miserable horse, on which the Emperor mounted, while the Prince rode with the officer on the other.[1]
THE GOD OF WAR.[2]
By the loss of two generals, one after the other, Ts‘ao Ts‘ao[3] was greatly depressed. “Allow me,” said one of his staff, “to recommend the very man you want;” and on being asked by Ts‘ao Ts‘ao for the name, he replied, “The only man for this job is Kuan Yü.” Ts‘ao Ts‘ao was soon convinced, and gladly dispatched a messenger to summon him. After taking leave of his two sisters-in-law, who begged him to enquire for news of their Imperial uncle, Kuan Yü set out to obey the summons. Seizing his green-dragon sword, and mounting his hare-brown charger, accompanied by several followers, he went straight to an interview with Ts‘ao Ts‘ao, who told him of the deaths of the two generals and of the loss of moral in the ranks; also, how Yün Ch‘ang had been invited to a consultation with the enemy.[4] To this, Kuan Yü replied, “Suffer me to see this business through;” upon which Ts‘ao Ts‘ao ordered wine and treated him most cordially. Suddenly, it was announced that the enemy, under General Yen, was preparing an attack; and Ts‘ao Ts‘ao took Kuan Yü to the top of a hill to reconnoitre. They sat down, and the other generals stood round them, while Ts‘ao Ts‘ao pointed out the position of the enemy, the fresh-looking splendour of his standards, the dense masses of his spears and swords, all drawn up in a formidable array. Then he
- ↑ On reaching the capital, the young Emperor was at once deposed by his chief Minister, and the still more youthful brother, who had shared the above adventure, was set up in his stead. The former only reigned for five months, and is not included by Chinese historians as an actual occupant of the throne. The brother resigned the throne in a.d. 220.
- ↑ The hero of the above story, Kuan Yü, after long and bloody campaigns was taken prisoner in a.d. 219 and put to death. Posthumously ennobled in the 12th century, in 1594 he was made a God; and ever since that date he has been worshipped as the God of War, and temples in his honour have been built all over the empire.
- ↑ One of the leading figures in the wars of the Three Kingdoms, whose son became the first Emperor of the short-lived Wei dynasty. In his last illness, he is said to have called in the famous physician of the day, who diagnosed wind on the brain and offered to get rid of this trouble by opening his skull under an anæsthetic. Fearing treachery, Ts‘ao Ts‘ao declined the operation.
- ↑ And was then actually in the enemy's camp.
