Romance of the Three Kingdoms 119/120 by Luo Guanzhong

You are listening to PastThink.com audiobook. Please like and subscribe, thank you. Chapter 119 Jiang Wei Plots Revenge A second abdication imitates the first, and Sima Yan becomes emperor. Zhonghui now worries how to go about overthrowing Deng Ai. He asks Jiang Wei for his advice. Dispatch Commander Wei Guan to arrest him. If Deng Ai kills him, that's outright rebellion, and thus you'll have the excuse to march against him. But when Wen Guan is told to go and arrest Deng Ai with his own troop, they all realize that this is a plot to have Wen Guan killed in order to provide a valid excuse for Zhonghui to attack. As a result, Wen Guan sends secret messages to Deng Ai's own officers warning them that he has been instructed to arrest Deng Ai, but if they join him he will make sure they are not arrested as well. If you do not agree, you are likely not only to die, but to see your entire clan wiped out. Only then does he set out with two prison wagons for Chengdu. Upon arrival, all of Deng Ai's officers take up the offer and kowtow to Wen Guan at the break of the following day. Emboldened, Wen Guan breaks into Deng Ai's quarters while he is still asleep and arrests him and his son. Almost immediately Zhonghui and Jiang Wei arrive on the scene. They mercilessly beat Deng Ai, shouting abuse at him. But Deng Ai replies with equal venom. Once Deng Ai and son are en route as prisoners to Luoyang, Zhonghui conscripts all Deng Ai's men into his own army. Crowing at his success and the fulfillment of his dream, he is gently chided by Jiang Wei, who points out that many in the past have thought they had risen to the top, only to find it is at that point that their fall begins. He even recommends that Zhonghui might think about retiring or possibly becoming a hermit on a mei mountain. I'm not even 40 yet, so I've no plans to retire, replies Zhonghui, and with the tacit encouragement of Jiang Wei he begins to have expansionist ideas. Jiang Wei even writes secretly to the second ruler encouraging him to have hopes for the restoration of the Han. But all this is cut short when a letter arrives from Sima Zhao. He announces that he is en route from Chang'an, concerned that you need more troops to help overcome Deng Ai. Zhonghui is no fool and realizes that this is a covert way of saying Sima Zhao doesn't trust him because he has more than enough men to take control by himself. Realizing that a crisis is brewing, Zhonghui starts to plan to consolidate his hold on Xu and in effect do exactly what Xuanda did in making it his base. Then Jiang Wei comes up with a new scheme. The queen mother has just died, so why don't you claim that just before she died she sent you a letter authorizing you to avenge the murder of the emperor by capturing Sima Zhao. This will enable you to seize the north. Zhonghui is delighted by this idea and invites Jiang Wei to join him, lead the vanguard, and share in the spoils. Seeming deeply touched but worried, Jiang Wei thanks him, but points out that many of the Wei officers might oppose this. I know, says Zhonghui. Tomorrow is the end of the New Year celebrations, the 15th day of the first month, and there will be a great lantern festival. I will host a banquet and invite all the officers. Then anyone who refuses to vow obedience we will kill there and then. Jiang Wei is secretly delighted with how well his plan is going. And that is what happens. At the banquet the next day Zhonghui suddenly starts crying. His officers ask what the matter is. He announces that he has a secret letter from the late queen mother. She commissioned me to overthrow and punish Sima Zhao for his crimes of killing the emperor and trying to take over the kingdom. You must all join me in this. The announcement astonishes all present and there is a moment of stunned silence. If anyone does not join me, declares Zhonghui, he will die. So everyone vows to join him. But he does not trust them and has the entire officer group imprisoned. Jiang Wei pushes him even further. You can't trust them, you know, he says, so kill them all now. To which Zhonghui, smiling, says, already planned. A burial pit has been dug and there are thousands of clubs ready to beat them all to death. Now this is overheard by one of the minor officers whom he trusted so has been spared imprisonment, Wen Xiujian. He has served faithfully under one of the officers now imprisoned, Hu Lai, and he sends him a warning. He in turn has a son outside the city with his own troop and an urgent message is sent to him, asking for immediate help. The son, Hu Yuan is distraught when the letter arrives and summons all the other main officers still at liberty to join him in launching an attack a couple of days later, on the 18th day. This they all heartily agree to do. On the night of the 17th, Zhonghui has a dream in which he is being attacked by a vast number of snakes. The following morning he asks Jiang Wei how he would interpret this dream. To allay any fears, Jiang Wei says this is a dream about dragons, and that means it is auspicious. Zhonghui then gives Jiang Wei the order to go and execute all the Wei officers. But no sooner has he started the executions than Jiang Wei has a heart attack and collapses, out cold. Just as he starts to come round, the din of an attack overwhelms the palace prison, and chaos breaks out, with men rushing about everywhere. Mutiny, cries Jiang Wei. Kill all the officers. But it is too late. Soldiers burst in, fires break out, and even though Zhonghui fights back he is taken down with an arrow, and then his head is hacked off. Rushing out to the attack, Jiang Wei suffers another heart attack. I've failed. So be it, this is the will of heaven. And so saying, he cuts his own throat. He is 59 years of age. His whole family perishes that day. Only Wei Guan is able to restore order, but then news comes that in the mayhem Deng Ai and his son have been released by their supporters, and Wei Guan begins to fear for his life. An officer who has personal reasons for wanting them dead offers to do the deed, and he sets off with 500 men. When Deng Ai sees the men advancing, he believes they have come to support him so with no protection goes to greet them. He and his son are cut down in cold blood. A poet has written this about Deng Ai. Even as a youth he loved to plan and plot. In so many ways he triumphed in his role. He could read what the land told him. And just as easily, the stars and the heavens. Mountains split to allow his horsemen through. Rocks sundered to make a path for his men. But brutal murder destroyed all his gains. His soul drifts now over the river Han. Another poet has written about Jiang Wei. From birth he was quick-witted. As advisor he found a role at court. His strategies defeated the Saimas. Another Kong Ming they said of him. His triumph was at Shouchuan. At the Jian Gate fame was his. Not for him hiding in the hills. His soul wanders, longing for rest. And another has written about Jiang Wei. Tianshui renowned as his birthplace. His home province proud of him. His ancestry back to the hero Jiang Ziya, 30. All he knew, drawn from Kong Ming. Great in courage, so what did he have to fear? Forging forward, never considering return. On the day he died in Chengdu. All the generals of the Han wept. Many fine men die that day, Lu Rui, the heir apparent, Guan Yi, grandson of Guan Yu, and so many others. It takes Jia Chong, who arrives 10 days later, to restore order. The Wu army, seeing that Shu has now fallen and the Han have ended, withdraw back to Wu. When the deposed second ruler Lu Shan arrives in Luoyang, Sima Zhao upbraids him in public for his dissolute lifestyle, for his mistreatment of good men, and for destroying his own government. But then, acknowledging that Lu Shan has surrendered of his own volition, he awards him a minor title and funds of not inconsiderable generosity. But the eunuch Huang Hao is publicly tortured to death for the terrible harm he has done to the kingdom. The very next day, Sima Zhao holds a grand banquet for Lu Shan and his men. At first the entertainment is all-way dances and music, which deeply offends the Shu men. All, that is, bar the second ruler, who sits grinning throughout. Then come dances and music of the Shu, which cause the men of Shu to weep, so moved are they. Taken aside and chided by Sima Zhao as to why he is not moved by the Shu as his men are, Lu Shan simply says he is having a nice time and expresses thanks. Later, Shi Zheng, one of his advisors, takes him aside and tells him he really ought to look and sound distressed. Say something like, My father's shrine lies so far away. I long for the lands of Shu. I remember them every day. The second ruler goes back in and parrots Shi Zheng exactly, My father's shrine lies so far away. I long for the lands of Shu. I remember them every day. This causes Sima Zhao to say, Why? You sound exactly like Shi Zheng. Actually that is quite true. Umm, says Lu Shan. And Sima Zhao, realizing the man is basically a simpleton, also appreciates he has nothing to fear from him. In recognition of his victories and the collapse of Shu, courtiers petitioned Chao Huan to make Sima Zhao a king in his own right as a reward. Unable to say no, the son of heaven ennobles Sima Zhao as the king of Jin. But others, reporting strange omens and auguries, push for the new king of Jin to become an emperor in his own right. Encouraged, Sima Zhao enters the palace, meaning to implement this. But a sudden violent stroke renders him speechless, so much so that, as he lies dying, all he can do is to point to his heir, Sima Yan, to indicate that he is indeed to succeed to his titles. It is summer AD 264 when he dies. Sima Yan is immediately crowned as king. Sima Yan asks Jia Chong how his father compares with Chao Chao. Jia Chong points out that Chao Chao was highly successful, but feared and thought to be utterly ruthless. Under his son, Chao Pai, things went from bad to worse due to the brutality of his regime. In contrast, Sima Yi and Sima Zhao were militarily successful and also cared for the ordinary folk. Then your father, says Jia Chong, overthrew the Shu, and his standing rose above all else. Frankly, how could Chao Chao even be spoken of in the same breath? This then leads to a discussion about how dynasties are sustained, and as Chao Pai appeared to continue the Han, could not he, Sima Yan, continue, on the same moral basis, the Wei? It is agreed that this precedent means he could. That is all he needs. He goes immediately to the palace rooms of the emperor Chao Huan with his sword unsheathed. Exactly who won the kingdom for the Wei, he demands. Your grandfather and father, says a cowed emperor. Well, your majesty, says a smiling Sima Yan, frankly you have none of the skills or talents required to rule or command a country. Perhaps it is time to abdicate and let someone more competent take over. Now don't you think that is a good idea? An astonished emperor is left speechless, but an official speaks up for him, claiming that not only did Chao Chao win this, but his descendant is a worthy man. He is beaten to death for his troubles. The emperor's other advisors, seeing the writing on the wall, recommend abdication, and that way the emperor will be able to live out his years in peace. And so it happens. Early in AD 265 the emperor abdicates, and Sima Yan ascends the throne. Jia Chong reads out the pronouncement that the mandate of heaven passed from the Han when they lost it to the Wei 45 years ago. Now they too have lost it. Heaven and earth's choice now rests upon the Sima family. With that Chao Huan is dismissed with a minor title, and Sima Yan becomes the emperor of the new dynasty entitled the Great Jin. And so the Wei dynasty dies. The Han are gone. The Wu's hills and rivers will soon no longer be theirs either. How did this happen? Let us find out.