by
wenhousecrafts.com
The Classic Art
of War
An Empty Town (1)
空城计
9 October 2008
Since earliery 20th century,
palm-sized picture books (lianhuaihua 连环画 or
xiaorenshu 小人书) first
appeared in Shanghai and quickly became a popular
pass-time and educational tool for children as well as
many young adults. Prior to the television era, one could
easily spot mobile picture book stalls in almost every
Chinese city, formed by a stand to hold books and few
benches around for readers, with book rental fee ranged
from one to five fens.
Here we introduce a classic
picture book titled "The Empty For Strategy (空城计)",
depecting how a military strategist defended his kingdom
by winning a critical battle against an empire of war
machine with his extraordinary courage and outstanding
wisdom.
Original drawings were done by
Chinese artists 钱笑呆,徐余兴.
Once upon a time between year 220 and
265, there were three kingdoms in
China, with Shu (蜀) in west, Wu (吴) at
east and Wei (魏) in north; among the three,
Wei was militarily most powerful and headed by a
group of warmongers. One day Sima Yi (司马懿), Wei's general secretary plus
defence sectreary plus de facto vice king, decided to lead 200,000-strong
troops advancing towards the border of Shu.
In the kingdom of Shu, there was a man
named Zhuge Liang (诸葛亮) who is one of the greatest
military strategists plus greatest statesmen plus
greatest I Ching masters in Chinese history, and by
the time he happened to be the premier of the
kingdom. But when Zhuge Liang received the report on
Sima Yi's military actions, it was too late for him
to summon the force from other parts of the kingdom.
Zhuge Liang calculated that Sima Yi
would go for the Street Pavilion Town (街亭)
to control Shu's resource supply, so announced that
he wanted a brave and smart general to guard this
vital position. On hearing that, Ma Su (马谡)
immediately self-recommended, because he believed he
was the most brave and smartest guy in the kingdom.
Zhuge Liang understood that Ma Su had
read many books about the arts of war, and might have a plan to write his
own true stories about the war (军旅报告文学是也), but wasn't quite sure if
he was good in the real battle situation. However,
after Ma Su explained his war theories twice,
mentioned his elite background three times and
presented his pledge to win the fight four times,
Zhuge Liang gave it a go and appointed Lieutenant
General Ma Su as the Commander in Chief of the
operation. He then further arranged Wang to assist Ma
at his side, Gao to help Wang from nearby and Wei to
support Gao from behind and Zhao and Deng to keep a
watchful eye on everybody from a distance.
Once arrived at Street Pavilion Town
which did not have a citywall around, the Commander in Chief Ma
decided to set up his military base on a hilltop
outside of the town. When the wisdom of his decision
was challenged by Wang, Ma shouted back: who has read
more books, and who has a higher position here, you
or me?
Of course, Ma read more books, and Ma
was Wang's boss, so Ma seccessfully set up his base
on the hilltop, while Wang, with just 5,000 soldiers
under his command, guarded the town by the main road
down the hill.
An Empty Town (2)
An Empty Town (3)
|
|
|
