Sections
Stratagems
Six schemes everyone knows. Some are novel scenes. Some have a historical frame that the Romance stretches.
Empty Fort Stratagem
Zhuge Liang leaves the gates open and plays the qin. Sima Yi suspects an ambush and withdraws. It is not in Chen Shou’s text. Pei Songzhi rejects Guo Chong’s version as incompatible with the campaign.
RomanceChain Stratagem
Wang Yun promises Diaochan to Lü Bu and then gives her to Dong Zhuo, so that Lü Bu kills him. The named plot is the novel. The Records have the conspiracy, and Lü Bu’s affair with an unnamed maid.
RomanceSelf-Injury Stratagem
Zhou Yu has Huang Gai beaten so that Huang Gai can pretend to defect and bring fire ships to Cao Cao. The beating and the sham surrender are the novel. The Records say Huang Gai proposed the fire attack and led the boats.
RomanceBorrowing Arrows with Straw Boats
In the novel, Zhuge Liang collects Cao Cao’s arrows with straw boats in a fog and so answers Zhou Yu’s trap. Pei Songzhi quotes a different story: Sun Quan’s own boat took arrows and he turned it so the other side would balance.
BothBurning of the Linked Camps
Lu Xun burned the camps Liu Bei had chained along the river at Yiling. The fire and the rout are historical. Seven hundred li of camps, and Zhuge Liang foreseeing the loss from Chengdu, are the novel’s scale.
RomanceStratagem of Discord
In the novel, Jiang Gan steals a forged letter and Cao Cao executes the naval officers Cai Mao and Zhang Yun. Jiang Gan did visit Zhou Yu. There is no stolen letter and no execution by that trick.
RomanceBorrowing the East Wind
Zhuge Liang prays on an altar and a southeast wind rises so Huang Gai can launch. A winter wind becomes a spell. The Records only have a wind on the day of the fire.
BothCrossing in White
Lü Meng hid troops in merchant boats and took Jiangling. Lu Xun’s letter had already loosened Guan Yu’s guard. The crossing is history. Later tellings polish the costume.
RecordsHearts before Cities
Ma Su’s advice before the southern campaign: win the heart first, the city second. Settling Nanzhong is history. Capturing Meng Huo seven times is a later count hung on the sentence.
RomanceSeven Captures of Meng Huo
Zhuge Liang captures the southern leader Meng Huo seven times and releases him until he submits. The Records do not count seven. Meng Huo enters the story in later books such as the Huayang guo zhi.
RecordsThe Hidden Road through Yinping
While Zhong Hui attacked Jian’ge, Deng Ai crossed the empty Yinping country to Jiangyou. It is the surprise that ended Shu. It is not Han Xin’s Chencang, and it is not Zhuge Liang’s Ziwu valley.
RomanceDriving the Tiger to Swallow the Wolf
In the novel Liu Bei’s letter sets Yuan Shu and Lü Bu on each other while he watches. The Xu province conflicts are real. The designed letter is fiction.