Wubei Zhi (Vol. 12)

Bi Yan original: 柝甫 (Tuo Fu), the courtesy name of Bi Yan, a high-ranking minister serving Gongsun Yuan requested that the siege be lifted and the troops withdrawn, promising that the lord and his ministers would then present themselves bound as captives “Binding oneself” was a ritual of total surrender in ancient China. Sima Yi ordered him executed. He sent a proclamation to Gongsun Yuan, saying:

“During the era of the Warring States, when the states of Chu and Zheng were rivals, the Earl of Zheng still met his conqueror bare-chested and leading a sheep in submission. I am a High Duke of the Son of Heaven, yet Bi Yan and his fellows wished me to retreat from my position. Is this in accordance with ritual propriety? Those two were old and senile, and failed to convey your intentions correctly; I have already executed them on your behalf. If you still have intentions to discuss, you may send a younger man who possesses clarity and decisiveness.”

Gongsun Yuan again dispatched the Palace Attendant Wei Yan to plead for a fixed date to send hostages. Sima Yi said to Wei Yan:

“In military affairs, there are five essentials: If you can fight, you must fight. If you cannot fight, you must defend. If you cannot defend, you must flee. As for the remaining two options, they are simply to surrender or to die. You are unwilling to present yourself bound; this means you have resolved to seek death. There is no need to send hostages.”

Shortly thereafter, the city's defenses collapsed. Gongsun Yuan led several hundred cavalrymen in an attempt to break through the encirclement and flee, but Sima Yi attacked and executed him. He then entered the city and executed everyone from the high ministers down to the soldiers and commoners—over seven thousand people in total—and piled their bodies to construct a Great Mound: a "jingguan" (京觀), a grisly monument made of enemy corpses or heads to commemorate a military victory and deter future rebellion.