During the Three Kingdoms period (220-280), Cao Cao led 830,000 soldiers to attack Sun Quan and Liu Bei in an attempt to unify the country. Sun Quan and Liu Bei decided to ally their forces. Liu Bei sent Zhuge Liang to the State of Wu to assist Sun Quan. Zhuge Liang was a knowledgeable, brilliant and shrewd military strategist. Zhou Yu, who was a narrow-minded man, was jealous of him and was determined to find a way to kill him.
One day, Zhou Yu gathered his subordinates
together to discuss some official business. He sent for Zhuge Liang, and asked him, “What kind of weapon is the most powerful in a battle fought on water?” “Arrows, of course.” Zhuge Liang replied without any hesitation. “Ah! But we are very short of arrows. I hope you can make 100,000 arrows for us - please say you can do it,” pleaded Zhou Yu. Zhuge Liang smiled and said, “I’ll do my best. When should I finish?” Zhou Yu asked, “Is ten days enough time?” Zhuge Liang replied confidently,“As war is imminent, three days is enough.” Zhou Yu was satisfied with Zhuge Liang’s words. He said, “A military pledge must be kept!” “I promise! I’m ready to suffer punishment if I fail.” After saying these words, Zhuge Liang signed the pledge.
Zhou Yu laughed to himself when Zhuge Liang left. He thought that it was impossible to make 100,000 arrows in ten days; not to mention three days! I will make him pay for his rash promise, he thought to himself!
Zhuge Liang didn’t try to find any workmen. Instead, he asked Lu Su to help him. He said to Lu Su, “I need your help! Zhou Yu intends to use this opportunity to disgrace me and to kill me!” Lu Su replied, “Well you asked for it! What kind of assistance can I give you?” “Please lend me 20 boats, and get your men to place several grass figures on both sides of each boat.” Zhuge Liang said, “Remember not to tell Zhou Yu about it; otherwise I will be a dead man.” Lu Su agreed.
Two days had passed, and Zhuge Liang did nothing.
On the third night, it was foggy on the water. At midnight, Zhuge Liang invited Lu Su to drink with him on his boat. Lu Su asked, “What can I do for you?” “Come along. Let’s harvest the arrows!”
Zhuge Liang ordered his men to link the twenty boats together and sail towards Cao Cao’s camp. When they got close to the target, Zhuge Liang ordered his men to line up the boats, beat their drums and shout out as loud as possible. Lu Su was afraid that Cao Cao would order an attack, but Zhuge Liang just smiled and said, “It is foggy on the water. Everything is a blur in the distance. Cao Cao dares not attack. Don’t worry. Just enjoy your drink.”
As Zhuge Liang expected, once he heard the shouts and the loud drumbeats, Cao Cao said to his troops, “It is foggy on the water. Launch no attack without counting the enemy soldiers.” Cao Cao ordered over 10,000 archers to shoot at the enemies. Immediately, tens of thousands of arrows flew through the air at once.
Zhuge Liang ordered all boats to turn around and line up, so that the other side of the boats faced Cao Cao’s troops. When dawn was breaking, Zhuge Liang ordered his men to leave. All the grass men on the boats were covered in arrows.
Zhou Yu sent someone to collect the arrows, which totaled over 100,000. When Zhou Yu learnt where these arrows had come from, he sighed deeply, “Zhuge Liang has such amazing foresight. He is too much for me!”
