Bamboo Scroll竹簡 Ep. 9 · The Bait at Shiting
In misted hills above a winding mountain road, a commander in Wu armour looks down on a long column of Wei carts and banners strung out through a narrow pass, Shiting 228 CE
Bamboo Scroll · Three Kingdoms · Episode 9

The Bait at Shiting

Shiting, 228 CE — A Wu official offered Cao Xiu his head of hair as the price of treason; a hundred thousand Wei soldiers followed the bait into the mountains, and Lu Xun was waiting at the end of the road.
16 panels~6 min read free to readevery line sourced
Panel 01: 228 CE. Six years after Yiling, Wu's armies stood quiet behind the river while one of the king's own administrators wrote letters of treason to Wei. Somewhere in the mountains between the Huai and the Yangtze, a road was waiting to become a trap.
228 CE. Six years after Yiling, Wu's armies stood quiet behind the river while one of the king's own administrators wrote letters of treason to Wei. Somewhere in the mountains between the Huai and the Yangtze, a road was waiting to become a trap.
Panel 02: In the second month of 228, the Wei court opened a great campaign against Wu on three roads: Cao Xiu down the Huai toward Poyang, Sima Yi from Jing province toward Jiangling, and Cao Zhen against the middle Yangtze. The largest of the three armies was given to a cousin of the house of Cao.
In the second month of 228, the Wei court opened a great campaign against Wu on three roads: Cao Xiu down the Huai toward Poyang, Sima Yi from Jing province toward Jiangling, and Cao Zhen against the middle Yangtze. The largest of the three armies was given to a cousin of the house of Cao.
Panel 03: In Poyang, south of the river, a Wu official called Zhou Fang had been sending letters north. Seven articles of them, the sources say: Poyang, he told Cao Xiu, wished to submit its commandery to Wei. He had been sending them for years.
In Poyang, south of the river, a Wu official called Zhou Fang had been sending letters north. Seven articles of them, the sources say: Poyang, he told Cao Xiu, wished to submit its commandery to Wei. He had been sending them for years.
Panel 04: Cao Xiu's spies pressed for a proof that words could not give. Zhou Fang stood before his own king's court at Wuchang and drew a blade across his head. To cut one's hair was to mutilate the body one had received from one's parents — the gesture, under the law of the age, was the price of a great crime. Afterward, the biography says, he shut his gates and pretended to hold his commandery for Wei.
Cao Xiu's spies pressed for a proof that words could not give. Zhou Fang stood before his own king's court at Wuchang and drew a blade across his head. To cut one's hair was to mutilate the body one had received from one's parents — the gesture, under the law of the age, was the price of a great crime. Afterward, the biography says, he shut his gates and pretended to hold his commandery for Wei.
Panel 05: At Wuchang, Sun Quan answered the three roads with one command. Lu Xun, the scholar who had burned four hundred li of Liu Bei's stockades six years before, was made grand commander of the whole eastern front, with the golden tally and the authority of the king's own presence. Six armies were given into his hand.
Sun Quan Hold the tally for me. What passes through these mountains passes through you.
At Wuchang, Sun Quan answered the three roads with one command. Lu Xun, the scholar who had burned four hundred li of Liu Bei's stockades six years before, was made grand commander of the whole eastern front, with the golden tally and the authority of the king's own presence. Six armies were given into his hand.
Panel 06: Cao Xiu believed. With ten thousand cavalry and a hundred thousand soldiers, the sources say — the number is the shape of the danger, not a muster — he took the road south from Wan, down the Jiashi causeway, with Zhou Fang's letters for his map and Poyang for his prize.
Cao Xiu believed. With ten thousand cavalry and a hundred thousand soldiers, the sources say — the number is the shape of the danger, not a muster — he took the road south from Wan, down the Jiashi causeway, with Zhou Fang's letters for his map and Poyang for his prize.
Panel 07: The road went where the army could not deploy: the Jiashi causeway between the river and the hills, long causeways and narrows where carts went single file. Cao Xiu's column strung out for a hundred li, and Zhou Fang's own troops, it was said, had already come out to meet the new master.
The road went where the army could not deploy: the Jiashi causeway between the river and the hills, long causeways and narrows where carts went single file. Cao Xiu's column strung out for a hundred li, and Zhou Fang's own troops, it was said, had already come out to meet the new master.
Panel 08: Then the defector's camp was empty, and Zhou Fang's men were gone — not over to the Wei side, but back inside the Wu lines. The scouts who went to find Poyang found Wu banners where Poyang should have been, and the road behind the Wei column was no longer the road it had been that morning.
Then the defector's camp was empty, and Zhou Fang's men were gone — not over to the Wei side, but back inside the Wu lines. The scouts who went to find Poyang found Wu banners where Poyang should have been, and the road behind the Wei column was no longer the road it had been that morning.
Panel 09: At Shiting, where the mountains open toward Poyang, Lu Xun had three armies waiting. When the Wei column was fully inside the pass, the Wu drums answered on both flanks at once.
Lu Xun Now. Let the mountain have them.
At Shiting, where the mountains open toward Poyang, Lu Xun had three armies waiting. When the Wei column was fully inside the pass, the Wu drums answered on both flanks at once.
Panel 10: The battle was decided in one morning. Strung out on causeways where no line could form, the Wei army was cut into pieces. Tens of thousands were killed or taken; the baggage train — carts, stores, weapons, and the seals of office — went to Wu as one spoil.
The battle was decided in one morning. Strung out on causeways where no line could form, the Wei army was cut into pieces. Tens of thousands were killed or taken; the baggage train — carts, stores, weapons, and the seals of office — went to Wu as one spoil.
Panel 11: Cao Xiu ran back the way he had come. On the Jiashi road the column that had marched south in order came north in pieces: carts dragged into the river to clear the way, baggage burning where the road narrowed, and the Wu pursuit coming on behind.
Cao Xiu ran back the way he had come. On the Jiashi road the column that had marched south in order came north in pieces: carts dragged into the river to clear the way, baggage burning where the road narrowed, and the Wu pursuit coming on behind.
Panel 12: What kept the rout from becoming an annihilation was a general who had not wanted the war. Jia Kui, governor of Yuzhou, had marched his own column east against his own advice. He came up at Jiakou just as the Wu pursuit closed — and the pursuit, finding a fresh army where it had expected a broken one, pulled back.
What kept the rout from becoming an annihilation was a general who had not wanted the war. Jia Kui, governor of Yuzhou, had marched his own column east against his own advice. He came up at Jiakou just as the Wu pursuit closed — and the pursuit, finding a fresh army where it had expected a broken one, pulled back.
Panel 13: At Wuchang the spoil was counted before the king: ten thousand prisoners and dead, carts and weapons without number, and the seals of the defeated army. Sun Quan made Zhou Fang's deed the story of the day — the man who had cut his hair to save his country.
Sun Quan You cut your hair for your lord's house. Now the north knows what that hair was worth.
At Wuchang the spoil was counted before the king: ten thousand prisoners and dead, carts and weapons without number, and the seals of the defeated army. Sun Quan made Zhou Fang's deed the story of the day — the man who had cut his hair to save his country.
Panel 14: In the Wei camp, Cao Xiu lived. The defeat was survived; the winter was not. His biography says he died that same year of an ailment of the back — and the Wei records do not trouble to hide that shame went with it.
In the Wei camp, Cao Xiu lived. The defeat was survived; the winter was not. His biography says he died that same year of an ailment of the back — and the Wei records do not trouble to hide that shame went with it.
Panel 15: Jia Kui did not live much longer — illness took him in the same year. On his deathbed, the Wei record says, he asked that the eastern front be held with settled defence and not great offensives. Two of the three roads of 228 ended with their commanders in the ground.
Jia Kui did not live much longer — illness took him in the same year. On his deathbed, the Wei record says, he asked that the eastern front be held with settled defence and not great offensives. Two of the three roads of 228 ended with their commanders in the ground.
Panel 16: Shiting was one of the few great set-piece victories the record gives to Wu — planned not in a night of fire but over years of letters, and won by a scholar-commander at the head of an ambush. The novel gives it half a page. The histories give it the shape of a campaign.
Shiting was one of the few great set-piece victories the record gives to Wu — planned not in a night of fire but over years of letters, and won by a scholar-commander at the head of an ambush. The novel gives it half a page. The histories give it the shape of a campaign.

In this episode

The people who carried this year. The sources disagree about almost everything else.

Portrait of Lu Xun
Lu Xun陸遜
183–245 CE
Grand commander of Wu at Shiting. Six years after burning Liu Bei out of the gorges, he closed the trap on Wei's main eastern army in a single morning.
Portrait of Sun Quan
Sun Quan孫權
182–252 CE
King of Wu. Approved one man's offer of treason, gave him his own hair to cut, and let a scholar command the whole eastern front a second time.
Portrait of Zhou Fang
Zhou Fang周魴
d. c. 228 CE
Grand Administrator of Poyang. Sent seven articles of false intelligence, cut his hair before his own king, and pulled a hundred thousand men into an ambush.
Portrait of Cao Xiu
Cao Xiu曹休
d. 228 CE
Cousin of the Wei house and commander of the eastern front. Believed the defector, marched deepest of the three Wei armies, and died within the year.
Portrait of Jia Kui
Jia Kui賈逵
d. 228 CE
Governor of Yuzhou on Wei's eastern flank. Warned, marched anyway, arrived too late for the battle — and just in time to save Cao Xiu.

Myth Check

The novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a masterpiece — and not a source. Where its famous scenes depart from the histories, we leave them out of the story and put them here.

The story you may know

Shiting is a side-note of the Three Kingdoms period — a skirmish the sources barely mention.

What the sources say

The official histories treat it as one of the largest set-piece victories of the whole Wu record: a Wei army given as a hundred thousand strong was lured into the hills and routed, its baggage train taken entire, and both Wei commanders of the eastern front died within the year. It is the novel, not the record, that shrinks it.

Sanguozhi, Wu shu 2 (Annals of Sun Quan); Wu shu 13 (Lu Xun); Wei shu 9 (Cao Xiu); Wei shu 15 (Jia Kui)
The story you may know

Zhou Fang cut his hair to Cao Xiu himself, in the Wei camp, as a defector's oath.

What the sources say

The sources put the haircut at home, before his own king's court, as the token the northern spies demanded — and they mark it as grave self-mutilation, since the hair is received from one's parents. It was a price paid inside Wu, not an oath sworn inside Wei.

Sanguozhi, Wu shu 12, Biography of Zhou Fang; Zizhi Tongjian, scroll 71
The story you may know

Cao Xiu was killed in the battle, or died on the field of his wounds.

What the sources say

The record is quieter and colder: Cao Xiu escaped the rout, was recalled, and died of illness — an ailment of the back — later the same year. The Wei sources connect the death to the shame of the defeat, but they do not say the battle killed him.

Sanguozhi, Wei shu 9, Biography of Cao Xiu; Zizhi Tongjian, scroll 71
The story you may know

Lu Xun won Shiting alone, by the same kind of single stroke of genius the novel gives him at Yiling.

What the sources say

The sources give a campaign with three authors: Zhou Fang, who spent years feeding Cao Xiu false intelligence; Sun Quan, who authorised the deception and the command; and Lu Xun, who held the trap and sprang it. It was statecraft, not sorcery — and the novel, which prizes the lone genius, mostly leaves this one out.

Sanguozhi, Wu shu 12 (Zhou Fang); Wu shu 13 (Lu Xun); Wu shu 2 (Annals of Sun Quan)

Sources

Every caption and quotation in this episode traces to one of these. Where scholars disagree, the panel says so.

Next

Before this: Episode 8 · High Water (Fancheng and Jing Province, 219 CE). Next: Episode 10 · The Gates at Dawn (Luoyang, 249 CE). Or meet the cast, or read the chronology of the age.