[Three Kingdoms 365 · Day 173] Rings of Chained Ships — Pang Tong proposes chaining the warships together to steady Cao Cao’s fleet

Pang Tong (龐統) reached Cao Cao's (曹操) camp in the north. Upon the northern bank of the river, a small boat tied up at a wooden wharf. Pang Tong disembarked, borrowed a horse, and walked step by step to the front of the main tent of Cao Cao's camp.

Before the tent, Xun Yu (荀彧) received Pang Tong. Xun Yu first recognized the single clear pool inside the ugliness of the face. His eyes narrowed slightly at that pool. Yet Xun Yu did not show the narrowing upon his face, and guided Pang Tong before Cao Cao.

Cao Cao looked upon Pang Tong from the high seat of the tent. Pang Tong bowed his head.

"Chancellor. I am Shiyuan (士元) Pang Tong, a scholar of Jingzhou (荊州). Following the submission of Liu Cong (劉琮), Liu Biao's (劉表) son, I have come a long road to the north to offer my submission to the Chancellor's seat."

Cao Cao's eyes widened. The name of Fengchu (鳳雛) had already reached the north. Cao Cao, too, had long ago heard Master Water Mirror's (水鏡) line that whoever gained either Wolong (臥龍) or Fengchu would gain the realm.

"Fengchu Sir's crossing to the north — this chancellor has long awaited this seat. Prepare a chair."

Cao Cao offered Pang Tong a chair beside the high seat. The height of that chair was a hand's-breadth lower than Cao Cao's high seat. The same etiquette of a hand's-breadth of lowness as in the hall at Chaisang (柴桑) of Jiangdong (江東) was repeated this afternoon in Cao Cao's tent. Only, the hand's-breadth of Jiangdong had been the etiquette of a sovereign's decision, while the hand's-breadth of Cao Cao's was the etiquette of one who had come in submission.

Pang Tong took the seat. The clear pool inside his eyes reflected the inside of Cao Cao's tent. Within that pool, the shape of this afternoon's stratagem had already been prepared.

Cao Cao spoke first.

"Fengchu Sir. There is one thing this chancellor wishes to ask. What do you see as the first weakness of our two hundred thousand naval force?"

Pang Tong raised the tip of his fan lightly. It was a small fan of a form different from Kongming's (孔明) fan.

"Chancellor. The first weakness of the two hundred thousand is this: the bodies of the soldiers are not accustomed to the sway of a boat on the river. The bodies of the northern soldiers were born on horseback and raised on horseback. A single wave of the river shakes their stomachs. On the dawn of a long battle, that shaking can take a soldier's breath for good."

Cao Cao nodded. This fact he already knew himself. The shaking of the northern soldiers' stomachs had been a concern in his chest since before the battle of Ruxukou (濡須口).

"Fengchu Sir's answer."

Pang Tong raised the fan again. The tip of the fan pointed at a corner of the map of the river upon Cao Cao's desk.

"Chancellor. Set an iron ring (鐵環) between ship and ship. When two ships are chained by an iron ring, the two sway as one body. When ten ships are chained by rings, the ten sway as one body. When the whole of two hundred thousand ships is chained by rings, the two hundred thousand become, upon the surface of the river, a single body like one great island. The shaking of a soldier's stomach will be settled upon one layer of that island."

Cao Cao's eyes widened. This answer was one he had never thought of. Yet the moment he heard it, the depth of its move settled within his chest. This resolution of the sway of the ships was a way to make the whole of the two hundred thousand into one body.

Xun Yu offered a word beside him.

"Chancellor. Please examine it carefully. To bind the two hundred thousand as one body becomes, in a battle won on one side, a great victory; yet in a battle lost on one side, it becomes the collapse of the whole as one body at once. Since ship and ship do not separate, if one ship catches fire, the two hundred thousand burn up together. This move must be examined once more deeply."

Cao Cao shook his head.

"Xun Yu. The wind of the river in this winter flows from north to south. For fire to rise, the wind must blow from south to north. In the river of this season, the direction of that wind never turns. I shall not place the worry of fire within this tent this afternoon."

Pang Tong bowed his head quietly. Inside this line of Cao Cao, the last sliver of this afternoon's stratagem sank quietly. Cao Cao's conviction that the direction of the wind would not turn in this season was letting this afternoon's decision of the iron rings fall into place.

Cao Cao let fall a single line.

"Fengchu Sir's plan is accepted. From this afternoon, chain the ships of the two hundred thousand with iron rings, one after another. By tomorrow's dawn, let every ship become one body."

The generals inside the tent bowed their heads. The clear pool inside Pang Tong's eyes rippled once more, quietly. Within that ripple, the last piece of this afternoon's move was planted. On the day the ships became one body, the picture of that body burning together before a sliver of fire had already been sketched, quietly, inside Pang Tong's pool.

The twelfth afternoon of Book 6 was closing quietly upon a single iron ring. The ships of the two hundred thousand were beginning to become one body. The wind was still from north to south. Yet at one seat of the river, the seed of a reversal (反轉) of the direction of that wind was already being quietly planted.

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