マニアなヒロトの三国志

The Eight Arrays — The Man Who Stopped an Army with an Arrangement of Stones Alone

From Chapter 84 of Romance of the Three Kingdoms and the Biography of Zhuge Liang in Records of the Three Kingdoms

There is not a single soldier. There are no weapons either. There are only mounds of stone piled by the riverbank. Yet before that arrangement of stones, a victorious army stopped. Today: the Eight Arrays as the Romance tells it — the story of a mysterious formation that stopped an army with stones alone.

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The Eight Arrays — The Man Who Stopped an Army with an Arrangement of Stones Alone
The Eight Arrays — The Man Who Stopped an Army with an Arrangement of Stones Alone
There is not a single soldier. There are no weapons either. There are only mounds of stone piled by the riverbank. Yet before that arrangement of stones, a victorious army stopped. Today: the Eight Arrays (Hachijinzu) as the Romance tells it — the story of a mysterious formation that stopped an army with stones alone.

After Yiling

The Eight Arrays — The Man Who Stopped an Army with an Arrangement of Stones Alone
Liu Bei of Shu, seeking to avenge Guan Yu, invaded Wu with a great army. The young Lu Xun, Wu's commander-in-chief, met him. Lu Xun set fire to Shu's linked camps and won a great victory. Liu Bei fled to Baidicheng, and Wu's army, riding its momentum, pursued westward. At this rate, they might press on as far as Chengdu, Shu's capital.The army's momentum was at its peak.
The Eight Arrays — The Man Who Stopped an Army with an Arrangement of Stones Alone
But in front of the pass of Kuiguan, Lu Xun reined in his horse. From the land beyond, facing the mountains and running along the river, a mass of killing air seemed to rise up to the sky. Lu Xun said: ahead, there is surely an ambush.Lu XunThe army must not advance lightly.Lu Xun withdrew more than ten li, formed camp on open ground, and first sent out scouts.

Three Rounds of Scouting

The Eight Arrays — The Man Who Stopped an Army with an Arrangement of Stones Alone
The first scouts' report was this: in that land, there is no encampment of troops. Lu Xun did not believe it. He dismounted himself, climbed a mountain, and looked beyond. Then the killing air rose up again. A second party of scouts went out. Their report was that ahead there was not a single man or horse.
The Eight Arrays — The Man Who Stopped an Army with an Arrangement of Stones Alone
Even as the sun tilted west, the killing air, far from vanishing, grew stronger and stronger. A third time, he sent a trusted man to look carefully. This report was that by the riverbank there were only eighty or ninety piles of disordered stones — that alone, and no men or horses.There were no troops, yet there was killing air alone. Lu Xun summoned the local old men and asked them.

The Testimony of the Local People

The Eight Arrays — The Man Who Stopped an Army with an Arrangement of Stones Alone
Who had piled the disordered stones into mounds? Why did killing air rise from within the stone mounds? The old men's answer was this: this land is called Yufupu. When Zhuge Liang entered Shu, he drove his troops to gather stones in this land and arrange them on the shore in the form of a formation. Ever since, from within this formation, a cloud-like air has constantly risen, they said.
The Eight Arrays — The Man Who Stopped an Army with an Arrangement of Stones Alone
Zhuge Liang — Shu's strategist, Zhuge Kongming. A stone formation that man had left behind long ago. Lu Xun listened in silence. On the face of the famed general who had broken Shu, there was no color of carelessness.

Entering with a Laugh

The Eight Arrays — The Man Who Stopped an Army with an Arrangement of Stones Alone
Lu Xun took several dozen horsemen and went to see the stone formation with his own eyes. Standing on a hill and looking, in every direction there were gates and doors. Lu Xun laughed: this is a trick to bewilder men. What use can it be? Taking only a few horsemen, Lu Xun went down the hill and rode straight into the stone formation.
The Eight Arrays — The Man Who Stopped an Army with an Arrangement of Stones Alone
Within the formation, he went around viewing the stones' appearance throughout. The stones were only stones, and the figure of a soldier was nowhere to be seen. His deputy said: the sun is setting. Commander-in-Chief, please return soon. It was just as Lu Xun was about to leave the formation.

Storm and Labyrinth

The Eight Arrays — The Man Who Stopped an Army with an Arrangement of Stones Alone
Suddenly, a great wind arose. In an instant, sand flew, stones ran, and heaven and earth were covered over. The strangely shaped stones stood in rows like swords, and the lying sand and earth looked piled up like mountains. The sound of the river and the sound of the waves were just like the sounds of swords and drums in battle.Lu Xun started: I have fallen into Zhuge's stratagem, he thought.
The Eight Arrays — The Man Who Stopped an Army with an Arrangement of Stones Alone
He tried to hurry back. But the road he should have come by was nowhere to be seen. In every direction, only mounds of stone. The gates and doors all wore the same face, and would not tell him the way out. Lu Xun, who had kept winning, was brought to a standstill within the arrangement of stones.

Huang Chengyan

The Eight Arrays — The Man Who Stopped an Army with an Arrangement of Stones Alone
It was then, as he stood in astonishment and bewilderment, that an old man stood before Lu Xun's horse. The old man laughed and said: General, do you wish to leave this formation? Lu Xun answered:Lu XunElder, please lead me out.The old man, leaning on his staff, walked slowly. Then, strangely, without any hindrance, he led him straight through the formation and up onto the hill.
The Eight Arrays — The Man Who Stopped an Army with an Arrangement of Stones Alone
Lu Xun asked:Lu XunElder, who exactly are you?The old man answered: I am Huang Chengyan, father-in-law of Zhuge Kongming. Long ago, when my son-in-law entered Shu, he laid out a stone formation here. Its name is the Eight Arrays (Hachijinzu). It is a formation that runs through eight gates, corresponding to the eight gates of Dun Jia: Xiu (Rest), Sheng (Life), Shang (Wounding), Du (Blocking), Jing (View), Si (Death), Jing (Alarm), and Kai (Opening).

The True Nature of the Eight Arrays

The Eight Arrays — The Man Who Stopped an Army with an Arrangement of Stones Alone
Huang Chengyan's words continued: this formation changes endlessly, every day and every hour, and can be compared to 100,000 picked troops. And Kongming, when he left, had charged him thus: even if later a Wu general loses his way in the formation, you must never lead him out. Even so, Huang Chengyan had been watching from atop the rocks.Watching Lu Xun enter through the Gate of Death, he said. I have always liked helping people, and I could not bear to watch the general come to a standstill here. So I led you out through the Gate of Life, he said.
The Eight Arrays — The Man Who Stopped an Army with an Arrangement of Stones Alone
Lu Xun asked:Lu XunDid you learn this formation method?Huang Chengyan's answer was a single phrase: its changes are inexhaustible.Huang ChengyanIt is not something that can be learned.Lu Xun hurriedly dismounted, bowed deeply, and gave his thanks.

A Word for Kongming

The Eight Arrays — The Man Who Stopped an Army with an Arrangement of Stones Alone
Back at camp, Lu Xun is said to have lamented thus: Kongming is truly the Sleeping Dragon (Wolong).Lu XunI cannot match him.It is the scene in which the man who broke Shu's great army at Yiling acknowledged his opponent's talent before stones laid without a fight.
The Eight Arrays — The Man Who Stopped an Army with an Arrangement of Stones Alone
Lu Xun thereupon ordered a withdrawal. Those around him asked: Liu Bei is defeated and has lost his momentum, holding out in a single town. Now is the perfect chance to attack — yet you withdraw on seeing a stone formation; why? Lu Xun's answer lay somewhere other than the stone formation.

The Real Reason for Withdrawing

The Eight Arrays — The Man Who Stopped an Army with an Arrangement of Stones Alone
It is not that I withdraw for fear of the stone formation. Cao Pi of Wei is a man of treachery no less than his father, he said. While we pursue Shu, Wei will surely strike at our emptiness and attack. If we go deep into Xichuan, we will not be able to withdraw quickly. Lu Xun had one general secure the rear, and pulled the great army back.
The Eight Arrays — The Man Who Stopped an Army with an Arrangement of Stones Alone
Not two days after the withdrawal, a report came flying in: Wei's army, in several hundred thousand, was pressing on the border from three roads. Lu Xun laughed: just as I read it. The preparations to receive them are already made. The stone formation had stopped Lu Xun for one night.And that stopped time saved Wu's army from Wei's attack.

The Records and the Romance

The Eight Arrays — The Man Who Stopped an Army with an Arrangement of Stones Alone
Here, let us draw the line between the historical record and the Romance. In the Biography of Zhuge Liang in the historical record, a single sentence remains: that Zhuge Liang developed the art of war, created the Eight Arrays (Hachijinzu), and grasped its essentials. In other words, the formation method called the Eight Arrays itself is something found in the historical record. But neither the stone formation at Yufupu nor the story of Lu Xun losing his way within it is written in the historical record.The scene told today is a story the Romance built upon the name of a formation method. However, the tradition of the piled-stone formation itself is older than the Romance. In a poem by Du Fu, too, there is a line: his achievements overshadow the division of the realm into three, and his name was made by the Eight Arrays. By the river at Fengjie, an arrangement of stones said to be the remains of the Eight Arrays is said to remain even now.

Conclusion

The Eight Arrays — The Man Who Stopped an Army with an Arrangement of Stones Alone
Let us lay it out: not a single soldier. No weapons either. Only eighty or ninety mounds of stone. Yet before those stones, Lu Xun stopped his steps, lost a night, and in time pulled back his whole army. Kongming's real contrivance may have been not the stones themselves, but planting bewilderment in the heart of the opponent who saw them.

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After Yiling

Liu Bei of Shu, seeking to avenge Guan Yu, invaded Wu with a great army. The young Lu Xun, Wu's commander-in-chief, met him. Lu Xun set fire to Shu's linked camps and won a great victory. Liu Bei fled to Baidicheng, and Wu's army, riding its momentum, pursued westward. At this rate, they might press on as far as Chengdu, Shu's capital.

The army's momentum was at its peak. But in front of the pass of Kuiguan, Lu Xun reined in his horse. From the land beyond, facing the mountains and running along the river, a mass of killing air seemed to rise up to the sky. Lu Xun said: ahead, there is surely an ambush.

Lu XunThe army must not advance lightly.

Lu Xun withdrew more than ten li, formed camp on open ground, and first sent out scouts.

Three Rounds of Scouting

The first scouts' report was this: in that land, there is no encampment of troops. Lu Xun did not believe it. He dismounted himself, climbed a mountain, and looked beyond. Then the killing air rose up again. A second party of scouts went out. Their report was that ahead there was not a single man or horse.

Even as the sun tilted west, the killing air, far from vanishing, grew stronger and stronger. A third time, he sent a trusted man to look carefully. This report was that by the riverbank there were only eighty or ninety piles of disordered stones — that alone, and no men or horses.

There were no troops, yet there was killing air alone. Lu Xun summoned the local old men and asked them.

The Testimony of the Local People

Who had piled the disordered stones into mounds? Why did killing air rise from within the stone mounds? The old men's answer was this: this land is called Yufupu. When Zhuge Liang entered Shu, he drove his troops to gather stones in this land and arrange them on the shore in the form of a formation. Ever since, from within this formation, a cloud-like air has constantly risen, they said.

Zhuge Liang — Shu's strategist, Zhuge Kongming. A stone formation that man had left behind long ago. Lu Xun listened in silence. On the face of the famed general who had broken Shu, there was no color of carelessness.

Entering with a Laugh

Lu Xun took several dozen horsemen and went to see the stone formation with his own eyes. Standing on a hill and looking, in every direction there were gates and doors. Lu Xun laughed: this is a trick to bewilder men. What use can it be? Taking only a few horsemen, Lu Xun went down the hill and rode straight into the stone formation.

Within the formation, he went around viewing the stones' appearance throughout. The stones were only stones, and the figure of a soldier was nowhere to be seen. His deputy said: the sun is setting. Commander-in-Chief, please return soon. It was just as Lu Xun was about to leave the formation.

Storm and Labyrinth

Suddenly, a great wind arose. In an instant, sand flew, stones ran, and heaven and earth were covered over. The strangely shaped stones stood in rows like swords, and the lying sand and earth looked piled up like mountains. The sound of the river and the sound of the waves were just like the sounds of swords and drums in battle.

Lu Xun started: I have fallen into Zhuge's stratagem, he thought. He tried to hurry back. But the road he should have come by was nowhere to be seen. In every direction, only mounds of stone. The gates and doors all wore the same face, and would not tell him the way out. Lu Xun, who had kept winning, was brought to a standstill within the arrangement of stones.

Huang Chengyan

It was then, as he stood in astonishment and bewilderment, that an old man stood before Lu Xun's horse. The old man laughed and said: General, do you wish to leave this formation? Lu Xun answered:

Lu XunElder, please lead me out.

The old man, leaning on his staff, walked slowly. Then, strangely, without any hindrance, he led him straight through the formation and up onto the hill. Lu Xun asked:

Lu XunElder, who exactly are you?

The old man answered: I am Huang Chengyan, father-in-law of Zhuge Kongming. Long ago, when my son-in-law entered Shu, he laid out a stone formation here. Its name is the Eight Arrays (Hachijinzu). It is a formation that runs through eight gates, corresponding to the eight gates of Dun Jia: Xiu (Rest), Sheng (Life), Shang (Wounding), Du (Blocking), Jing (View), Si (Death), Jing (Alarm), and Kai (Opening).

The True Nature of the Eight Arrays

Huang Chengyan's words continued: this formation changes endlessly, every day and every hour, and can be compared to 100,000 picked troops. And Kongming, when he left, had charged him thus: even if later a Wu general loses his way in the formation, you must never lead him out. Even so, Huang Chengyan had been watching from atop the rocks.

Watching Lu Xun enter through the Gate of Death, he said. I have always liked helping people, and I could not bear to watch the general come to a standstill here. So I led you out through the Gate of Life, he said. Lu Xun asked:

Lu XunDid you learn this formation method?

Huang Chengyan's answer was a single phrase: its changes are inexhaustible.

Huang ChengyanIt is not something that can be learned.

Lu Xun hurriedly dismounted, bowed deeply, and gave his thanks.

A Word for Kongming

Back at camp, Lu Xun is said to have lamented thus: Kongming is truly the Sleeping Dragon (Wolong).

Lu XunI cannot match him.

It is the scene in which the man who broke Shu's great army at Yiling acknowledged his opponent's talent before stones laid without a fight. Lu Xun thereupon ordered a withdrawal. Those around him asked: Liu Bei is defeated and has lost his momentum, holding out in a single town. Now is the perfect chance to attack — yet you withdraw on seeing a stone formation; why?

Lu Xun's answer lay somewhere other than the stone formation.

The Real Reason for Withdrawing

It is not that I withdraw for fear of the stone formation. Cao Pi of Wei is a man of treachery no less than his father, he said. While we pursue Shu, Wei will surely strike at our emptiness and attack. If we go deep into Xichuan, we will not be able to withdraw quickly. Lu Xun had one general secure the rear, and pulled the great army back.

Not two days after the withdrawal, a report came flying in: Wei's army, in several hundred thousand, was pressing on the border from three roads. Lu Xun laughed: just as I read it. The preparations to receive them are already made. The stone formation had stopped Lu Xun for one night.

And that stopped time saved Wu's army from Wei's attack.

The Records and the Romance

Here, let us draw the line between the historical record and the Romance. In the Biography of Zhuge Liang in the historical record, a single sentence remains: that Zhuge Liang developed the art of war, created the Eight Arrays (Hachijinzu), and grasped its essentials. In other words, the formation method called the Eight Arrays itself is something found in the historical record. But neither the stone formation at Yufupu nor the story of Lu Xun losing his way within it is written in the historical record.

The scene told today is a story the Romance built upon the name of a formation method. However, the tradition of the piled-stone formation itself is older than the Romance. In a poem by Du Fu, too, there is a line: his achievements overshadow the division of the realm into three, and his name was made by the Eight Arrays. By the river at Fengjie, an arrangement of stones said to be the remains of the Eight Arrays is said to remain even now.

Conclusion

Let us lay it out: not a single soldier. No weapons either. Only eighty or ninety mounds of stone. Yet before those stones, Lu Xun stopped his steps, lost a night, and in time pulled back his whole army. Kongming's real contrivance may have been not the stones themselves, but planting bewilderment in the heart of the opponent who saw them.

Sources and Basis

The Source Story

Based on the text of Chapter 84 of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, “Lu Xun Burns the Camps for Seven Hundred Li; Kongming Skillfully Lays Out the Eight Arrays” (the text collected on Wikisource), and on the description of the Eight Arrays in the Biography of Zhuge Liang in Records of the Three Kingdoms (Chen Shou's history). The eighty or ninety piles of disordered stones, the place name Yufupu, and so on are as they stand in the text.

Distinguishing the Romance from the Records

The Biography of Zhuge Liang in the historical record states that Zhuge Liang was versed in the method of the Eight Arrays and left traces of a formation of piled stones at Yufupu. The details of the scene in which Lu Xun wandered into the stone formation and withdrew are the Romance's way of depicting it. The text writes the two distinctly.