Jiang Gan 蔣幹

In Chapter 45 of the Romance, when Cao Cao, whose camp had been spied on by Zhou Yu, asked his generals for a plan, Jiang Gan stepped forward from below the tent and said that, having studied at the same school as Zhou Lang from childhood and been close friends with him, he would use his three-inch tongue that never rots to persuade him to surrender. The Romance introduces him as a man of Jiujiang, courtesy name Ziyi, then serving as a staff adviser in the headquarters. Cao Cao laid on a drinking party to see him off. Romance, Ch. 45 §35–36

Wearing a cloth headband and a plain robe, Jiang Gan rowed a small boat to Zhou Yu's camp and had it announced that an old friend had come to visit. Zhou Yu said, 'A persuader has come,' whispered instructions to his generals, and came out to meet him, asking, 'Have you come to act as a persuader for the Cao clan?' When Jiang Gan said he had come to talk over old times and would take his leave, Zhou Yu caught him by the arm and brought him into the tent. Romance, Ch. 45 §37–39

Zhou Yu called in the heroes of Jiangzuo to greet him, handed his sword to Taishi Ci, and told him to behead anyone who raised military matters between Cao Cao and Eastern Wu. Jiang Gan was alarmed and did not dare say much. Zhou Yu showed him armed soldiers and provisions piled up like mountains, then said that even if Su Qin, Zhang Yi, Lu Jia and Li Yiji came back to life, they could not move his heart, and Jiang Gan's face turned the color of earth. Zhou Yu named this gathering the Gathering of Heroes. Romance, Ch. 45 §40–45

Late at night Zhou Yu made a show of being very drunk and lay down in the same bed as Jiang Gan. Unable to sleep, Jiang Gan secretly read, from a bundle of letters on the table, one inscribed 'Respectfully sealed by Cai Mao and Zhang Yun', and, believing that the two were in secret contact with Eastern Wu, hid it in his clothes. Around the fourth watch he overheard someone outside the tent passing on the words of 'the two Chief Commanders Zhang and Cai'. Thinking that Zhou Yu would harm him once he found the letter missing, Jiang Gan called his page at the fifth watch, slipped out of the camp and rowed back. Romance, Ch. 45 §46–51

Jiang Gan reported to Cao Cao that Zhou Yu was magnanimous and lofty in aim and could not be moved by words, and to the angry Cao Cao he produced the letter and recounted the earlier events one by one. Cao Cao summoned Cai Mao and Zhang Yun and ordered them to advance, then in anger had both beheaded, and when their heads were presented he realized, 'I have fallen for a ruse!' In Chapter 46 Kongming told Lu Su that the stratagem could fool no one better than Jiang Gan. Romance, Ch. 45 §52–54Romance, Ch. 46 §2

In Chapter 47, when Cao Cao, not fully trusting the surrenders of Gan Ning and Huang Gai, looked for someone to enter Zhou Yu's camp and bring back true news, Jiang Gan, saying he was ashamed at having failed last time, volunteered to go again. Hearing that Jiang Gan had come again, Zhou Yu said, 'My success depends entirely on this man,' and had Lu Su invite Pang Tong. When Jiang Gan came in, Zhou Yu rebuked him for having stolen the letter last time and caused the deaths of Cai Mao and Zhang Yun, and sent him to a hermitage in the Western Hills to rest. Romance, Ch. 47 §20–25

That night, strolling behind the hermitage, Jiang Gan came upon a man in a thatched hut reciting the military treatises of Sun Wu and Wu Qi with a sword hung before his lamp; it was Pang Tong. When Pang Tong said he was living in seclusion because Zhou Yu, confident in his own talent, could not tolerate others, Jiang Gan offered to recommend him if he would go over to Lord Cao, and the two went north of the river that very night. Hearing the story from Jiang Gan, Cao Cao came out of his tent in person to welcome Pang Tong. In Chapter 57, the funeral address that Kongming read before Zhou Yu's coffin contains the line, 'When Jiang Gan came to persuade you, you were at ease and unconstrained.' Romance, Ch. 47 §26–29Romance, Ch. 57 §11 · 13