Treatise on Armament Technology, Volume 88

Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi faced each other in a stalemate for a long time. Liang repeatedly challenged him to battle, but Yi would not come out from his fortifications. To provoke him, Liang sent him a gift of jinguo: traditional women’s head ornaments and garments, By sending women’s clothing, Zhuge Liang was mocking Sima Yi, implying he was as timid as a woman for refusing to fight. which enraged Yi. His officers requested permission to go to battle, but the Lord of Wei The Emperor Cao Rui. sent Xin Pi, the Commandant of the Palace Guard, to act as the Army Controller. Xin arrived holding the imperial staff original: 仗節; a symbol of the Emperor's direct authority to restrain the generals.

Jiang Wei Zhuge Liang’s protégé and eventual successor. said to Liang: "The enemy original: 賊 (thief/rebel); a standard term used for the opposing army. will not come out again."

Liang asked, "Why do you say that?"

Jiang Wei replied, "Sima Yi never had any intention of fighting in the first place. The reason he persistently requested the Emperor's permission to fight was simply to make a display of his martial spirit to his own troops. There is a saying: 'When a general is in the field, he may ignore the sovereign's commands.' If he were truly capable of defeating us, why would he send a messenger a thousand miles away just to ask for permission to fight?"

Later, Liang sent a messenger to Yi's camp. Yi did not ask about military matters; instead, he asked about Liang's sleeping and eating habits and the volume of his daily workload. The messenger replied: "Master Zhuge rises early and sleeps late original: 夙興夜寐; an idiom meaning to work tirelessly from dawn to dusk.. He personally reviews any punishment involving more than twenty lashes. The food he consumes does not even amount to a few sheng." A sheng is a traditional unit of volume; at the time, this indicated a very meager diet for a grown man.

Yi remarked to his attendants, "Kongming The courtesy name of Zhuge Liang. eats so little yet carries such a heavy burden of labor. How can he last much longer?"

In the eighth month, Zhuge Liang passed away. Yang Yi, the Chief Clerk, organized the army and began the withdrawal. The common people ran to report this...