Novel scene
Jiang Wei Defeats a Great Foe with His Back to the River 姜維背水破大敵
About this event
This scene is the episode named in the chapter title of Chapter 110 of the Romance, "Jiang Wei, with his back to the river, defeats a great foe," the passage in the Battle of Didao in which Jiang Wei draws up his ranks with the Tao River at his back, routs Wang Jing, Inspector of Yong Province for Wei, and besieges the city of Didao, but is checked by the relief forces of Chen Tai and Deng Ai and withdraws. The Romance says that in the year Sima Shi died, Jiang Wei overrode Zhang Yi's objections and set out toward Fuhan with fifty thousand men. Romance, Ch. 110 §30–31 · 34–37 · 41–43
Chen Shou recorded this battle in the Biography of Jiang Wei, Records of Shu 14, the Biography of the Later Sovereign, Records of Shu 3, and the biography of Zhang Yi in Records of Shu 15, as well as in the account of Chen Tai in Records of Wei 22 and the Annals of the Three Young Emperors, Records of Wei 4. The Biography of the Later Sovereign says that in the summer of the 18th year of Yanxi (255) Jiang Wei went out to Didao and routed Wang Jing west of the Tao River, and that when Wang Jing held the city of Didao, Jiang Wei pulled back and stayed at Zhongti. Records, Shu 14 §37Records, Shu 3 §35Records, Shu 15 §15–16Records, Wei 22 §43–50Records, Wei 4 §57–58
In the Romance
In Chapter 110 of the Romance, Jiang Wei asks to take the field, saying that with Sima Shi dead and Sima Zhao only just in power, Sima Zhao will not dare leave Luoyang. At Hanzhong, Zhang Yi tries to stop him, saying that the land of Shu is small and short of money and grain, but Jiang Wei says he must carry on the Chancellor's dying charge, and Xiahou Ba proposes to go out to Fuhan with light cavalry and win the land west of the Tao River and Nan'an. When Jiang Wei advances toward Fuhan with fifty thousand men, Wang Jing, Inspector of Yong Province, comes to meet him with seventy thousand cavalry and infantry. Romance, Ch. 110 §30–34
Jiang Wei sends Zhang Yi and Xiahou Ba off with plans of their own and draws up his ranks in person with the Tao River at his back. Wang Jing, saying that since the Shu army has its back to the water they will all drown if beaten, sends out four generals, and when Jiang Wei flees after a few bouts he pursues with his main army. Reaching the water's edge, Jiang Wei cries, "The situation is desperate!" and his officers and men turn and charge back, while Zhang Yi and Xiahou Ba swing round behind the Wei army and surround it, so that countless men drown in the Tao River and more than ten thousand heads are taken. Wang Jing flees with a hundred riders to the city of Didao, shuts the gates and holds out. Romance, Ch. 110 §34–37
Zhang Yi tries to stop him, saying it would be like adding legs to a drawn snake, but Jiang Wei surrounds the city of Didao and attacks it from eight directions. Deng Ai, Inspector of Yan Province, who has come to help Chen Tai, says that since Jiang Wei, instead of gathering the Qiang and contending for Guanzhong and Long, is going after the strong city of Didao, they can win by deploying troops on Xiang Ridge, and Chen Tai hides twenty companies carrying banners, drums and beacon fires in the mountain valleys southeast of the city of Didao. While the city still has not fallen after several days of attack, the two columns of Chen Tai and Deng Ai arrive and firelight and drumming rise on all sides; saying he has fallen into Deng Ai's trap, Jiang Wei abandons Didao and withdraws, realizing only after entering Jiange that it was a sham, and encamps at Zhongti. Romance, Ch. 110 §38–43
Where the Romance differs
The fight west of the Tao River: In Chapter 110 of the Romance, Jiang Wei deliberately draws up his ranks with the Tao River at his back to lure Wang Jing out, and more than ten thousand heads are taken. In the account of Chen Tai in the Records, Chen Tai told Wang Jing to garrison Didao and wait for the main army, but after things went badly for him at Guguan, Wang Jing crossed the Tao River on his own initiative, was routed by Jiang Wei, and got back to the city of Didao with some ten thousand men. The Biography of Jiang Wei says that the dead among Wang Jing's host numbered in the tens of thousands, while the edict in the Annals of the Three Young Emperors says the officers and men who died numbered in the thousands. Romance, Ch. 110 §34–37Records, Wei 22 §43Records, Shu 14 §37Records, Wei 4 §58
The relief plan: In Chapter 110 of the Romance, Deng Ai devises the plan, and Chen Tai hides troops carrying beacon fires and drums in the mountains southeast of Didao. In the account of Chen Tai in the Records, Deng Ai and others proposed holding the strongpoints and waiting for the enemy to tire, but Chen Tai, saying they must advance quickly, crossed the Gaocheng Ridge and by night lit many beacon fires and sounded drums and horns on the high mountain southeast of Didao. Romance, Ch. 110 §39–40Records, Wei 22 §44–49
Jiang Wei's retreat: In Chapter 110 of the Romance, Jiang Wei abandons Didao and withdraws without fighting, realizing only after entering Jiange that the show of force was a sham. In the account of Chen Tai in the Records, when Chen Tai pretended to take the southern road, Jiang Wei laid an ambush for three days; when Chen Tai came out to the south, Jiang Wei charged along the mountains and engaged him, then fell back, and when Chen Tai arranged with Wang Jing to attack his line of retreat, Jiang Wei fled. Romance, Ch. 110 §42–43Records, Wei 22 §50
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.