A man of great erudition

[CHUNG Yoon-Ngan <chungyn@mozart.collective.com.au>]

   A man of great erudition

   The collapse of the Han Dynasty (206BC to 220AD) in 220AD ushered in 
the Three Kingdoms Period (220Ad to 265AD) when the land was carved up by
the Dynasty's three most powerful generals into three Kingdoms. Cao Cao,
the adopted son of an eunuch set himself up in the North, Sun Quan in the
South-East (dominating the region of the lower Yangtze River) and Liu Bei
in Sichuan (the western part of the land). Civil wars waged by the three
generals lasted for about forty-five years, from 220AD to 265AD.

   Cao Cao died in the summer of 220AD and was succeeded by his son, Cao Pi,
who in the same year dethroned Xian Di, the last Emperor of Han Dynasty,
and founded the Wei Dynasty (220AD to 265AD) and proclaimed himself
Emperor Wen Di.

   In the following year, Liu Bei established the Shu Han Dynasty (221AD to
263AD) in the West and became its first Emperor. Sun Quan in the South-East
was rewarded by Emperor Wen Di of the newly established Wei Court and
installed as the King of Wu.
 
   In 222AD Liu Bei mobilized an army and attacked Wu. The army of Wu led by
its King, Sun Quan, put up a strong resistance. Knowing that Wu was in
danger of being overrun, Sun Quan sent an envoy called Zhao Zi to the Wei 
Court asking for assistance. Zhao Zi arrived in Xu Chang (present day Xu
Chang city in Henan province), the capital of Wei and immediately sought
an audience with the Emperor of Wei.

   Cao Pi, the Emperor of Wei, presumed that Sun Quan must be in danger of
being defeated by Liu Bei and that was the reason why an envoy was sent to
his Court. In actual fact, Cao Pi was not keen to help Wu. However, he was
willing to talk to the envoy.
 
   During the conference Cao Pi discovered that Zhao Zi was calm and
confident and did not betray any haste. He was very polite and exhibited a
gracious and amicable manner. He was neither arrogant nor humble. Most of
all, he was a man of great erudition. He won the respect and admiration of
Cao Pi who asked him,

  "Are there many people like you in Wu? 
   Actually how many are there in Wu?"

Zhao Zi replied,
   "There are about one hundred people who are very intelligent and very
    learned in Wu. People like me, the second class diplomats, are everywhere. 
    You need a huge cart to carry them and a large instrument to measure 
    them. There are countless of them in Wu".

Cao Pi was much amazed and he knew there were unknown of quantity of
erudite officials in Wu.


"Che Zai4 Dou3 Liang4"
San Guo2 (The Romance of Three Kingdoms) Chapter 82

CHUNG Yoon-Ngan.    chungyn@mozart.collective.com.au