Novel scene
Zhuge Liang Mourns Zhou Yu at Chaisang 柴桑口臥龍弔喪
About this event
Zhuge Liang Mourns Zhou Yu at Chaisang is the scene of the Chapter 57 title of the Romance, "At Chaisang Landing the Sleeping Dragon mourns." When Zhou Yu breathed his last at Baqiu, Zhuge Liang crossed over to Chaisang with Zhao Yun, read an elegy before the coffin and wept bitterly, and on the way back he met Pang Tong on the riverbank and left him a letter. Romance, Ch. 57 §4–5 · 10–11 · 15 · 17–18
Chen Shou's main text has no condolence visit by Zhuge Liang. The Biography of Zhou Yu in Records of Wu 9 records that Zhou Yu died of illness at Baqiu, and the Biographies of Pang Tong and Fa Zheng in Records of Shu 7 record that Pang Tong escorted Zhou Yu's coffin to Wu. Records, Wu 9 §21Records, Shu 7 §4
In the Romance
In Chapter 57 of the Romance, Zhou Yu, setting out to attack Xichuan, reached Baqiu and received a letter from Zhuge Liang warning that if Cao Cao struck while he was attacking Xichuan, Jiangnan would be ground to dust. Zhou Yu wrote a letter to be submitted to Sun Quan and urged his generals to serve Sun Quan well; then, crying out several times, "Since Heaven created Zhou Yu, why did it also create Zhuge Liang!" he breathed his last at the age of thirty-six. Sun Quan made Lu Su Chief Commander (dudu) as Zhou Yu's last letter recommended. Romance, Ch. 57 §1–5 · 8
Zhuge Liang, observing the heavens at night in Jing Province, saw a general's star fall and knew that Zhou Yu had died. When he said he would go to Jiangdong on the pretext of offering condolences and look for worthy men there, Liu Bei worried that the Wu generals might harm him, but Zhuge Liang replied that he had not been afraid even while Zhou Yu was alive. He set out by boat with Zhao Yun and 500 soldiers, bringing sacrificial offerings, and on hearing that the coffin had already returned to Chaisang he went straight there. Lu Su received him with due courtesy; Zhou Yu's officers wanted to kill Zhuge Liang, but seeing Zhao Yun at his side with a sword at his belt, they did not dare to act. Romance, Ch. 57 §9–11
Zhuge Liang personally poured the libation and, kneeling on the ground, read the elegy. It mourned in turn Zhou Yu's friendship with Sun Ce, his marriage to Xiaoqiao, the time Jiang Gan came to persuade him, and his defeat of the enemy by fire attack, and ended, "From now on there is no one left in the world who truly understands me!" When Zhuge Liang threw himself on the ground and wept loudly, the generals said that the talk of bad blood between the two had been nonsense, and Lu Su thought to himself that Zhou Yu, being narrow-minded, had brought about his own death. Romance, Ch. 57 §11–15
When Lu Su's banquet was over and Zhuge Liang was about to board his boat, Pang Tong seized him on the riverbank and laughed loudly, saying that to anger Zhou Yu to death and then come to mourn him was to scorn Dongwu as having no one of worth. Zhuge Liang left him a letter saying that Sun Quan would surely not make good use of him, and that if things did not go as he wished he should come to Jing Province and serve Liu Bei together; then he returned alone to Jing Province. Romance, Ch. 57 §17–18
Where the Romance differs
Zhou Yu's death: In Chapter 57 of the Romance, Zhou Yu read Zhuge Liang's letter at Baqiu urging him not to attack Xichuan, sighed and breathed his last, and Sun Quan made Lu Su Chief Commander as his last letter directed. In the Biography of Zhou Yu in the Records, Zhou Yu asked Sun Quan to let him take Shu, received permission, and returned to Jiangling to prepare for departure, but died of illness on the way at Baqiu. The age of thirty-six is the same. When his illness became critical, Zhou Yu submitted a memorial recommending Lu Su as his replacement, and Sun Quan made Lu Su Colonel of Vigorous Might and had him lead the troops in Zhou Yu's place. Romance, Ch. 57 §2–5 · 8Records, Wu 9 §20–21 · 47–48
The condolence visit and the coffin: In Chapter 57 of the Romance, Zhuge Liang went to Chaisang with Zhao Yun and read an elegy, and when Lu Su escorted the coffin to Wuhu, Sun Quan received it. Chen Shou's main text has no condolence visit by Zhuge Liang. The Biography of Zhou Yu says that Sun Quan put on plain mourning clothes to grieve for him and went out as far as Wuhu to meet the coffin when it returned to Wu, and Pang Tong's biography records that when Zhou Yu died, Pang Tong escorted the coffin to Wu. Romance, Ch. 57 §10–11 · 19Records, Wu 9 §21Records, Shu 7 §4
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.