Grand general of the south who took Jiangling and said the war would open like split bamboo. A soldier with a scholar's library — the age called him the Armory.
Our momentum is like splitting bamboo — after a few joints, the rest parts to the blade, and there is nothing left to resist.Du Yu to his generals who counselled waiting, 280; Jin shu, ch. 34, Biography of Du Yu
Appears in
Relations
- Sima Yan commander & emperor — His memorial, arriving at the go board, ended the long debate; the war of 280 was launched against much of the court's counsel.
- Wang Jun co-commanders — Two arms of one war: Jiangling taken by assault on land, the chains melted on the river, and nothing left standing on either bank between them and Jianye.
Myth vs record
The story you may know
A plain battlefield commander remembered only for one proverb.
What the sources say
The age called him the Armory — a soldier with a scholar's library. He succeeded Yang Hu as the southern commander and kept the upstream plan alive at Xiangyang; the split-bamboo image was his own argument to impatient generals, spoken before Jiangling fell, and it became the proverb of the campaign.