Novel scene
Jiang Gan Is Duped at the Gathering of Heroes 羣英會蔣幹中計
About this event
"Jiang Gan Is Duped at the Gathering of Heroes" is the latter scene under the title of Chapter 45 of the Romance, "At Sanjiangkou Cao Cao Loses Troops; At the Gathering of Heroes Jiang Gan Falls into a Trap," and takes place before the Battle of Red Cliffs. Zhou Yu welcomed his old schoolmate Jiang Gan, who had come to win him over, with a banquet and pretended to be drunk, and Jiang Gan stole a forged letter showing that Cai Mao and Zhang Yun were secretly in league with Eastern Wu and took it back, causing Cao Cao to behead the two men. Romance, Ch. 45 §35–37 · 45–47 · 53–54
Chen Shou's text has no such scene. Records of Wei 6 merely records Cai Mao and Zhang Yun as partisans who set up Liu Cong, Liu Biao's youngest son, as heir, and Records of Wu 4 records that Taishi Ci, whom the Romance makes the overseer of this banquet, died in the 11th year of Jian'an (206). Records, Wei 6 §91Records, Wu 4 §33
In the Romance
In Chapter 45 of the Romance, Cao Cao, defeated in the fighting at Sanjiangkou, made Cai Mao and Zhang Yun Chief Commanders of the navy and had them build a water camp, and Zhou Yu, secretly spying on it, thought that he must first get rid of these two men, who were skilled in naval warfare, in order to defeat Cao Cao. When Jiang Gan, a retainer on Cao Cao's staff who said he had studied at the same school as Zhou Yu, volunteered to persuade Zhou Yu to surrender with his three-inch tongue, Cao Cao gave him a farewell drink and sent him off. Romance, Ch. 45 §30–36
Zhou Yu, saying that a persuader had come, told his generals of his plan before receiving Jiang Gan, who had come in a kerchief and plain cloth. He gathered the heroes of Jiangdong for a banquet, gave Taishi Ci a sword with orders to behead anyone who spoke of military affairs between Cao Cao and Eastern Wu, and then showed Jiang Gan his armed soldiers and grain piled up like mountains, telling him that even if Su Qin and Zhang Yi came back to life, they could not move his heart. Zhou Yu named this gathering the Gathering of Heroes and sang as he performed a sword dance. Romance, Ch. 45 §37–45
Pretending to be very drunk, Zhou Yu lay down on the same bed as Jiang Gan, and Jiang Gan, unable to sleep, found on the table a letter inscribed "Respectfully sealed by Cai Mao and Zhang Yun" and hid it in his robe. It said that they would deliver Cao Cao's head at the first opportunity. Around the fourth watch Jiang Gan overheard talk that someone had come from north of the river and that the two commanders Zhang and Cai had said they could not act in haste, and at the fifth watch he slipped out of the camp and went back to Cao Cao. Romance, Ch. 45 §46–51
On seeing the letter, Cao Cao summoned Cai Mao and Zhang Yun and ordered them to advance, and when they answered that the troops were not yet well trained, he had them beheaded, only then realizing that he had fallen into a trap. Cao Cao told his generals that he had beheaded the two for neglecting military law and made Mao Jie and Yu Jin Chief Commanders of the navy, and Zhou Yu, hearing the news, rejoiced that the two men he had worried about were gone. Romance, Ch. 45 §52–57
Written by 3KDEX (not yet reviewed) — The tags at the end of each paragraph link to the exact passage in the Records volume or Romance chapter it is based on.