[Three Kingdoms 365 · Day 170] A Boat Won by Drums Alone — Zhuge Liang borrows arrows from Cao Cao via drums and fog

The sound of the drums kept on. The twenty drums of the twenty boats sounded one after another in turn. The rhythm of the drums shook, layer by layer, deeper into the fog. The shouts of the two hundred and more soldiers carried on, between the beats of that rhythm.

Inside Cao Cao's (曹操) naval encampment, at last, a decision was made. One line from a vanguard general passed at once through the entire navy.

"Shoot arrows. Send arrows from this side into the fog. Since the fog veils this side's sight, respond to the scale of the enemy inside the fog by the number of arrows."

Several thousand archers drew their bows together. Several thousand arrows flew into the fog. Within the fog, the arrows struck the straw of the twenty boats. The heads of the arrows met the thickness of the straw and made a dull booming, one after another.

Kongming (孔明) raised his fan. The right side of the twenty boats faced Cao Cao's camp. Kongming let fall one line.

"Hold this position until the right side is fully filled."

Arrows kept striking the straw along the right side of the boats. The fibers of the straw received the arrowheads one by one. After a little less than an hour, the right side was full. Kongming raised his fan again.

"Turn the prows. Let the left side face Cao Cao's camp."

The prows of the twenty boats turned as one. The left side now stood facing Cao Cao's camp. Arrows began to strike the straw of the left side. The same rhythm and the same movement filled both sides, right and left, in turn.

Lu Su (魯肅) asked beside Kongming.

"Sir. Until when will Cao Cao's archers shoot? If they decide to halt, the left side of this scholar's boats may end up less than full."

Kongming closed his fan.

"Lu Sir. Look again upon the structure of this dawn's decision. Cao Cao's decision was 'the second road.' Within the second road, the number of arrows is the response to the scale of the enemy. When that scale is not clear, archers shoot more arrows. This dawn's archers will not halt before the fog lifts. The hour at which the fog lifts is the very hour at which the left side of this scholar's boats fills."

Lu Su bowed his head deeply. Kongming's calculation this dawn was a single move that folded, within a single breath of dawn, three numbers: the thickness of the fog, the rhythm of the archers, and the receiving capacity of the sides of the boats.

The left side filled, gradually. A little more than an hour later, it too was full. At that hour, the fog began to thin. The three numbers fell into alignment within a single breath.

Kongming raised his fan a final time.

"Turn the prows south. We return to the main body."

The twenty boats turned to the south. In the direction of return, the river's wind flowed with them. The speed of advance became faster than on the way out. The arrows embedded in the straw along both sides balanced the boats with a layer of weight.

On the boats, the soldiers each drew a breath. The fog was now thinning, bit by bit, below the eye-level of a man. Yet the stretch of sky viewed from the middle of the fog was still gray. A full lifting of the fog was still an hour away. That hour was the hour of the twenty boats' return to the southern main body.

Upon Kongming's face, a light smile settled. The dawn of last evening's promise with Zhou Yu (周瑜) was nearly completed within this hour. Lu Su smiled beside him. A layer of puzzlement on his face had now changed into deep admiration.

The twenty boats flowed southward through the middle of the river. The twenty drums were silent now. The shouts of the two hundred and more had fallen still. Only the heads of tens of thousands of arrows embedded in the straw reflected a quiet light through the gaps of the fog.

The middle of the tenth dawn of Book 6 was opening, quietly, upon a boat won by drums alone. The rhythm of twenty drums, without a single arrow shot, laid up almost one hundred thousand arrows upon one scholar's hand. The hour the fog had lent was now turning into the hour of return to the south.

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