Three Kingdoms: Red Cliff · chapter 2 of 8
A Sword on the Table
桌子上的剑
Zhuge Liang convinces Sun Quan that Cao Cao's giant army is a hollow drum. But Wu's own commander, Zhou Yu, is already planning a deadly test for him.
Read what you hear
- Sun Quan 现在这里只有我们两个人。诸葛先生，你说实话，曹操到底有多少兵？
Xiànzài zhèlǐ zhǐyǒu wǒmen liǎng gè rén. Zhūgě xiānsheng, nǐ shuō shíhuà, Cáo Cāo dàodǐ yǒu duōshao bīng?
Now it's just the two of us. Master Zhuge, tell me the truth: how many soldiers does Cao Cao really have?
- Zhuge Liang 他的信上说八十万。其实，他带来的只有二十多万，再加上新收的荆州兵，也不到三十万。
Tā de xìnshàng shuō bāshíwàn. Qíshí, tā dàilái de zhǐyǒu èrshíduō wàn, zài jiāshàng xīnshōu de Jīngzhōu bīng, yě búdào sānshíwàn.
His letter says eight hundred thousand. In truth he brought only two hundred thousand or so, and with the new Jingzhou soldiers, still under three hundred thousand.
- Sun Quan 还是很多啊。我们的水兵，只有三万。
Háishi hěnduō a. Wǒmen de shuǐbīng, zhǐyǒu sānwàn.
That's still a lot. We have only thirty thousand sailors.
Chapter 2 is part of SayMei Stories ($2.99 a month) and SayMei Premium. Chapter 1 of Three Kingdoms: Red Cliff is free, and so are The Second Cup of Tea, Mulan, The Butterfly Lovers, Journey to the West: The Monkey King, Cinderella, The Night of the Nian, Chang'e and the Moon, The Great Race: The Twelve Animals, Aesop's Fables, Little Red Riding Hood, The Three Little Pigs, The Ugly Duckling, Pangu and Nüwa: How the World Began, Beauty and the Beast, The Magic Lotus Lantern, Alice in Wonderland, Zhong Kui the Demon Queller, The Odyssey, Robin Hood, Jiang Ziya Goes Fishing, The Steadfast Tin Soldier, The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Kitchen God from start to finish.
- Zhuge Liang 人多，不一定有用。主公，我说三件事。第一，曹操的兵走了很远的路，人也累，马也累。
Rénduō, bù yídìng yǒuyòng. Zhǔgōng, wǒ shuō sān jiàn shì. Dìyī, Cáo Cāo de bīng zǒu le hěn yuǎn de lù, rén yě lèi, mǎ yě lèi.
A big crowd isn't always useful, my lord. Let me tell you three things. First, Cao Cao's men have marched a long way, and both men and horses are tired.
- Zhuge Liang 第二，北方来的兵不会坐船，一上船就想吐。第三，荆州的新兵不是真心跟他，只是没有办法。
Dì'èr, běifāng lái de bīng búhuì zuòchuán, yí shàngchuán jiù xiǎng tǔ. Dìsān, Jīngzhōu de xīnbīng búshì zhēnxīn gēn tā, zhǐshì méiyǒu bànfǎ.
Second, the northern soldiers can't sail, and they feel sick the moment they step on a ship. Third, the new Jingzhou soldiers aren't following him from the heart. They simply had no choice.
- Sun Quan 想吐？哈哈哈！曹操的八十万大军，竟然怕坐船？
Xiǎng tǔ? Hāhāhā! Cáo Cāo de bāshíwàn dàjūn, jìngrán pà zuòchuán?
Sick? Ha ha ha! Cao Cao's great army is afraid of boats?
- Zhuge Liang 主公，曹操就像一面大鼓：声音很响，里面却是空的。
Zhǔgōng, Cáo Cāo jiù xiàng yí miàn dàgǔ: shēngyīn hěnxiǎng, lǐmiàn quèshì kōng de.
My lord, Cao Cao is like a big drum: very loud, but empty inside.
- Sun Quan 好一面大鼓。那你的主人刘备，会和我们一起打吗？
Hǎo yí miàn dàgǔ. Nà nǐ de zhǔrén Liú Bèi, huì hé wǒmen yìqǐ dǎ ma?
What a big drum indeed. And will your master, Liu Bei, fight beside us?
- Zhuge Liang 刘将军手下有一万水兵。加上主公的三万，我们就有四万。四万水兵，再加上这条大江，够了。
Liú jiāngjūn shǒuxià yǒu yíwàn shuǐbīng. Jiāshàng zhǔgōng de sānwàn, wǒmen jiù yǒu sìwàn. Sìwàn shuǐbīng, zài jiāshàng zhè tiáo dàjiāng, gòu le.
General Liu has ten thousand sailors. With your thirty thousand, that makes forty thousand. Forty thousand sailors, plus this great river, is enough.
- Sun Quan 好！从现在开始，我不想再听到“投降”这两个字。
Hǎo! Cóng xiànzài kāishǐ, wǒ bùxiǎng zài tīngdào “tóuxiáng” zhè liǎng gè zì.
Good! From now on, I don't want to hear the word 'surrender' again.
- Sun Quan 谁再说投降，就和这张桌子一样！
Shuí zàishuō tóuxiáng, jiù hé zhè zhāng zhuōzi yí yàng!
Anyone who says 'surrender' again will end up like this table!
- Zhuge Liang 主公的桌子，少了一个角。这个桌子，一定很疼。
Zhǔgōng de zhuōzi, shǎo le yí gèjiǎo. Zhè ge zhuōzi, yídìng hěn téng.
Your table is missing a corner, my lord. That table must be in a lot of pain.
- Sun Quan 哈哈！先生，你真会说话。不过，这么大的事，我还是要听听周瑜的。他今晚就回来。
Hāhā! Xiānsheng, nǐ zhēnhuì shuōhuà. Búguò, zhème dà de shì, wǒ háishi yào tīngtīng Zhōu Yú de. Tā jīnwǎn jiù huílái.
Ha! You really can talk, Master. But for something this big, I still want to hear what Zhou Yu thinks. He returns tonight.
- Zhuge Liang 主公放心。周都督是聪明人，他会做出和您一样的决定。
Zhǔgōng fàngxīn. Zhōu dūdū shì cōngmingrén, tāhuì zuòchū hé nín yí yàng de juédìng.
Don't worry, my lord. Commander Zhou is a wise man. He'll decide just as you did.
- Lu Su 都督！你终于回来了！大堂里的人天天说投降，我都睡不着了！这可怎么办？
Dūdū! Nǐ zhōngyú huílái le! Dàtáng lǐ de rén tiāntiān shuō tóuxiáng, wǒ dōu shuì bù zhe le! Zhè kě zěnmebàn?
Commander! You're finally back! Everyone in the hall talks of surrender all day, and I can't sleep! What are we going to do?
- Zhou Yu 投降？我周瑜的字典里，没有这两个字。
Tóuxiáng? Wǒ Zhōu Yú de zìdiǎn lǐ, méiyǒu zhè liǎng gè zì.
Surrender? There are no such words in Zhou Yu's dictionary.
- Lu Su 主公也决定打了！是诸葛先生说服了他！
Zhǔgōng yě juédìng dǎ le! Shì Zhūgě xiānsheng shuōfú le tā!
My lord has decided to fight too! It was Master Zhuge who convinced him!
- Zhou Yu 诸葛亮？刘备的那个军师？他这么快就说服了主公？
Zhūgě Liàng? Liú Bèi de nà ge jūnshī? Tā zhème kuài jiù shuōfú le zhǔgōng?
Zhuge Liang? Liu Bei's strategist? He convinced our lord that quickly?
- Lu Su 是啊！他说曹操的兵累了，怕水，心也不齐。他说得清清楚楚，好聪明啊！
Shì a! Tā shuō Cáo Cāo de bīnglèi le, pàshuǐ, xīn yě bùqí. Tā shuō dé qīngqīngchǔchǔ, hǎo cōngming a!
Yes! He said Cao Cao's men are tired, afraid of water, and don't share one heart. He explained it all so clearly. He's so clever!
- Zhou Yu 这些话，本来应该是我来说的……一个客人，竟然比我先说了。
Zhè xiē huà, běnlái yīnggāi shì wǒ láishuō de… yí gè kèrén, jìngrán bǐ wǒ xiān shuō le.
Those words should have been mine to say... and a guest has said them before me.
- Lu Su 都督，先生是来帮我们的朋友啊！
Dūdū, xiānsheng shì lái bāng wǒmen de péngyou a!
Commander, the master is a friend who came to help us!
- Zhou Yu 今天是朋友，明天呢？他比我聪明，还比我年轻。这样的人，不会永远给别人做事。
Jīntiān shì péngyou, míngtiān ne? Tā bǐ wǒ cōngming, hái bǐ wǒ niánqīng. Zhè yàng de rén, búhuì yǒngyuǎn gěi biérén zuòshì.
A friend today, but tomorrow? He's cleverer than I am, and younger too. A man like that won't work for others forever.
- Lu Su 可是，我们现在最需要的，就是聪明人啊！
Kěshì, wǒmen xiànzài zuì xūyào de, jiùshì cōngmingrén a!
But what we need most right now is clever people!
- Zhou Yu 我知道。所以……我先不动他。鲁肃，你帮我想一件事。
Wǒ zhīdào. Suǒyǐ… wǒ xiān bú dòng tā. Lǔ Sù, nǐ bāng wǒ xiǎng yí jiàn shì.
I know. So... I won't touch him yet. Lu Su, help me think of something.
- Lu Su 想……想什么事，都督？
Xiǎng… xiǎng shénme shì, dūdū?
Think... of what, Commander?
- Zhou Yu 一件很难很难的事，难到诸葛亮绝对做不到。他做不到，就不能怪我了。
Yí jiàn hěnnán hěn nán de shì, nándào Zhūgě Liàng juéduì zuò búdào. Tā zuò búdào, jiù bùnéng guài wǒ le.
A very, very hard task. So hard that Zhuge Liang could never finish it. And if he fails, no one can blame me.
- Lu Su 哎呀……都督，你千万别做傻事！
Āiyā… dūdū, nǐ qiānwànbié zuò shǎshì!
Oh dear... Commander, please don't do anything foolish!
- Zhou Yu 放心，我不会杀他。我只是给他一个……很短的期限。
Fàngxīn, wǒ búhuì shā tā. Wǒ zhǐshì gěi tā yí gè… hěn duǎn de qīxiàn.
Don't worry, I won't kill him. I'm only going to give him a... very short deadline.
- Lu Su 很短的期限？多短？
Hěn duǎn de qīxiàn? Duōduǎn?
A very short deadline? How short?
- Zhou Yu 十天。十天以内，他要给我十万支箭。
Shí tiān. Shí tiān yǐnèi, tā yào gěi wǒ shíwàn zhījiàn.
Ten days. Within ten days, he must bring me one hundred thousand arrows.
- Lu Su 十万支箭？！天哪，这可怎么办……
Shíwàn zhījiàn?! Tiān nǎ, zhè kě zěnmebàn…
A hundred thousand arrows?! Heavens, what are we going to do...
Hear the chapter
What changed in the story?
- What does Zhuge Liang say is really the size of Cao Cao's army?
“也不到三十万”
- Which of these is one of Cao Cao's weaknesses, according to Zhuge Liang?
“北方来的兵不会坐船，一上船就想吐”
- What does Sun Quan do to show he will not surrender?
“谁再说投降，就和这张桌子一样”
- How does Zhou Yu feel when he hears Zhuge Liang already convinced Sun Quan?
“一个客人，竟然比我先说了”
- What task does Zhou Yu plan for Zhuge Liang?
“十天以内，他要给我十万支箭”