Yang Hu 羊祜

In Chapter 120 of the Romance, when Sun Hao has Lu Kang, General Who Guards the East, garrison Jiangkou and make designs on Xiangyang, Jia Chong advises Sima Yan, ruler of Jin, to issue an edict to the Chief Controller Yang Hu to resist him and to attack once trouble arises within Wu. Receiving the edict, Yang Hu guards Xiangyang and greatly wins the hearts of the soldiers and the people. The Romance says that he let all the men of Wu who had surrendered and then wished to leave go, and that he reduced the garrison troops to open up more than 800 qing of fields, so that an army that at first did not have provisions for a hundred days had stores for ten years by his last years. In camp he wore a light fur coat and a broad belt and did not put on armor, and the guards before his tent numbered no more than ten or so. Romance, Ch. 120 §9–11

When a lieutenant proposes a surprise attack because the Wu army is slack, Yang Hu laughs and says that Lu Kang is a man full of wisdom and rich in schemes: not long ago he attacked Xiling and beheaded Bu Chan together with several dozen of his officers and men, and Yang Hu himself went to the rescue but could not arrive in time. The generals are won over when he says that with such a man in command they must hold their own ground and wait for trouble to arise within Wu. Romance, Ch. 120 §11–12

When the two meet while hunting, Yang Hu forbids his men to cross the border and returns all the game that men of Wu shot first. When Lu Kang sends wine in return, the lieutenant Chen Yuan fears a trick, but Yang Hu, saying that Lu Kang is not one to poison people, tips the jar and drinks. Hearing that Lu Kang is ill in bed, he sends medicine he has prepared, and Lu Kang, saying, 'How could there be a Yang Shuzi who poisons people?', takes it and recovers. Romance, Ch. 120 §13–14 · 16–18

When Lu Kang is stripped of command by Sun Hao after memorializing that Jin cannot be attacked, Yang Hu sees an opening in Wu and submits a memorial proposing an attack on Wu: the barriers of the Yangtze and the Huai are not as formidable as Jiange, Sun Hao's cruelty exceeds that of Liu Shan, and the hardship of the people of Wu is worse than that of Ba and Shu. Sima Yan is pleased, but Jia Chong, Xun Yi and Feng Dan oppose it strongly and it is not carried out, and Yang Hu laments that of the things in the world, eight or nine in ten never go as one wishes. Romance, Ch. 120 §19–22

In the 4th year of Xianning (278) Yang Hu comes to court and asks to return home to recuperate from illness, saying that now, while Sun Hao's tyranny is at its worst, Wu can be conquered without fighting, but if Sun Hao dies and a worthy ruler takes the throne, Wu cannot be won. When his illness becomes critical in the 11th month of that year, Sima Yan visits him in person, and Yang Hu recommends Du Yu, General of the Right. Asked why he burns the draft of his memorial after recommending a man, he answers that he does not approve of having a man receive office at the public court and then give thanks for the favor at a private gate, and he passes away. Romance, Ch. 120 §22–25

Sima Yan confers on him posthumously the titles of Grand Tutor and Marquis of Juping, and the people of the southern province close their markets and weep. The people of Xiangyang erect a shrine and a stele on Mount Xian, where Yang Hu often used to stroll, and since everyone who reads its inscription sheds tears, it is said to have been called the Stele of Falling Tears. As Yang Hu advised, the ruler of Jin makes Du Yu Grand General Who Guards the South in charge of the affairs of Jing Province, and later, on seeing Wang Jun's memorial on attacking Wu, makes up his mind, saying that it tacitly agrees with the views of Chief Controller Yang. Romance, Ch. 120 §25–26 · 28 · 30