Novel scene
The Wooden Statue Terrifies the Wei Commander 見木像魏都督喪膽
About this event
This scene belongs to the chapter title of Chapter 104 of the Romance, "The Wooden Statue Terrifies the Wei Commander," and is the passage at the end of the Battle of Wuzhang Plains in which Sima Yi, pursuing the withdrawing Shu army after Zhuge Liang's death, flees on seeing a wooden statue of Zhuge Liang on a carriage. The Romance says that this gave rise among the people of Shu to the saying "A dead Zhuge put a living Zhongda to flight." Romance, Ch. 104 §30–34
Chen Shou's text has neither this pursuit nor the wooden statue. The Biography of Zhuge Liang in Records of Shu 5 records that after the army withdrew, Sima Yi inspected the site of Zhuge Liang's camp and fortifications and called him "a remarkable talent of the realm," and the Annals of Emperor Ming in Records of Wei 3 say only that when Zhuge Liang died, his army withdrew and went back. Records, Shu 5 §38Records, Wei 3 §40
In the Romance
In Chapter 104 of the Romance, Sima Yi sees a great red star flow from the northeast to the southwest and fall into the Shu camp, and is about to raise troops, saying Zhuge Liang is dead, but turns back suspecting that he has feigned death by the art of the Six Ding and Six Jia, and has Xiahou Ba scout the Wuzhang Plains with a few dozen horsemen. When Xiahou Ba reports that the Shu army has all withdrawn, Sima Yi says that this time he will go in person, charges into the empty Shu camp with his two sons Sima Shi and Sima Zhao, and pursues at the head of his army to the foot of the hills. Romance, Ch. 104 §21–22 · 30–31
Just then the Shu army wheels its banners about, beats its drums again and turns back, and beneath a great banner reading "Zhuge Liang, Chancellor of Han and Marquis of Wuxiang," on a four-wheeled carriage surrounded by dozens of generals, sits Zhuge Liang in a silk kerchief, holding a feather fan. Saying he has fallen into a trap, Sima Yi turns his horse and flees, and Jiang Wei shouts after him that he has been caught by the Chancellor's plan. The Wei troops throw away their armor and helmets and flee, trampling one another, and Sima Yi, having fled more than fifty li, asks Xiahou Ba and Xiahou Hui, who have caught up with him, "Is my head still on?" Romance, Ch. 104 §31–33
Two days later, when villagers report that wailing shook the ground as the Shu army entered the valley and that the Zhuge Liang on the carriage was a wooden statue, Sima Yi sighs that he could fathom him while he lived but cannot fathom him in death. He pursues again as far as Chi'an Slope, but the Shu army has already gone far, and on the way back, seeing that the site where Zhuge Liang pitched his camps conforms to the rules, he says, "A remarkable talent of the realm!" and returns to Luoyang by way of Chang'an. Only when they enter the mouth of the plank road do Yang Yi and Jiang Wei change into mourning clothes and announce the death. Romance, Ch. 104 §34 · 36–38
Where the Romance differs
"A remarkable talent of the realm": In Chapter 104 of the Romance, Sima Yi, pursuing the Shu army, flees more than fifty li on seeing the wooden statue, then, after confirming Zhuge Liang's death and pursuing again, sees the site of his camp on the way back and calls him "a remarkable talent of the realm." The Biography of Zhuge Liang in the Records says only that when the army withdrew, Sima Yi inspected the site of his camp and fortifications and said the same words, and the pursuit and the wooden statue are not in Chen Shou's text. Romance, Ch. 104 §31–33 · 36Records, Shu 5 §38
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.