On the evening that blades from four directions arrived before the gate of Shouchun (壽春), the gates of Shouchun were shut firmly.

To the north, Cao Cao's main army drew up its array before the northern gate (北門). Before the eastern gate (東門), Liu Bei's foot soldiers and Lü Bu's cavalry drew up together. At the southern gate (南門), Sun Ce's water forces floated their ships along the waterway of the Yangzi (長江). Only the western gate (西門) remained open, along the road to Lujiang (廬江).

Upon the wall of Shouchun, Yuan Shu's general Ji Ling (紀靈) looked upon the banners of the four directions. Ji Ling spoke low. "Bar three gates, and leave the western gate as a single road. To a man who defends a walled city, one road of escape is needed." Yuan Shu, upon the altar, heard those words. His eyes trembled faintly. The two characters road of escape (退路) had, this evening, descended for the first time into the ear of a usurper-king.

The generals of the four directions gathered at one seat outside the gate. Cao Cao from the north, Sun Ce from the south, Liu Bei and Lü Bu from the east. The hands of four men were laid upon the same table. Cao Cao spoke first. "Beneath the edict of the Son of Heaven, today the blades of four directions are gathered at one seat. Let us not dispute the order of merit; let us together break one line of the gate."

Sun Ce continued low. "The water forces at the southern gate I shall take. The waters of the Yangzi reach the foot of the southern wall; the first move of a water-attack (水攻) will be laid upon that gate." Liu Bei continued. "The eastern gate, we brothers shall take. The two weapons of Guan Yu and Zhang Fei will break its bar." Lü Bu continued. "For the grain of the eastern gate, my Sky-Piercing Halberd shall stand with them. Today's blade takes one direction together." Cao Cao spoke last. "The northern gate, my main army shall take. Leave the western gate. A road of escape is needed, so that a man inside the city may move one more step."

That night, inside the walled city of Shouchun, a single envoy slipped out along a back road of the western gate. In the envoy's bosom lay a single writing. Upon its first line it read: "Lord Yuan wishes to leave one road of escape. At the end of this road, let the armies of Yang Feng (楊奉) and Han Xian (韓暹) stand in readiness — please lay that line upon it." The envoy vanished toward the remnants of Yang Feng and Han Xian.

Beside Cao Cao, Cheng Yu (程昱) offered a low remonstrance. "My Lord. The western gate of Shouchun is left open. An envoy of the walled city walks toward the remnants of Yang Feng and Han Xian. Entrust the back of the western gate to Man Chong (滿寵). At the end of that road of escape, a trap must be laid."

Cao Cao nodded. Man Chong hid three thousand light cavalry along a mountain path behind the western gate. This night, when the gates of Shouchun stood firmly shut, the first line of a single trap was laid, quietly, at the end of one road of escape.

Inside the walled city, Yuan Shu descended from the altar and spent the night without removing his imperial robe. The twelve jade strands of his crown of pendants swayed low across his face. One of the twelve strands snapped and fell upon the table. Yuan Shu's eyes looked deep into the snap of that one strand. The first grain of a crown of twelve strands was, this night, coming down to the ground before the others.

Ji Ling stood by the window and did not report the broken strand. A general who has just watched one grain of his lord's crown fall upon a table rarely speaks of it within the same hour. He only took the fragment of jade from the tabletop and laid it inside a small lacquer box beside the lamp. In the decades to come, that lacquer box, after many changes of hand, would end up on the desk of a minor clerk of Han who would sell it, not knowing what it had once held; and by then the crown it had belonged to would have long since been laid upon the ground. Tonight, it was only a small box with one strand of jade inside, and a lamp above them both.

Outside the walls, Sun Ce's water forces tied their ships to piers along the southern bank. Zhou Yu walked among the ropes and counted the knots. Each knot had been tied by a different hand; the column of knots, read from bow to stern, told him whose sleeve had moved at what hour. Zhou Yu laid a palm upon one knot that he had tied himself three days earlier. It had not come loose in three days of travel. He took his hand from it without speaking and walked on.

The sixty-second evening of Book 3 deepened quietly before the firm gate of Shouchun. The three characters Suseongpye (壽城閉, the gate of Shouchun is shut) were planted as a seed: the breath on which the barring of three gates, the road of escape at the western gate, and the snap of a single strand of the crown lay together at one seat. The four-direction blade of Day 61's Sadohoe (四刀會) had, this evening, been laid upon one table before the gate.

—