Battle of Red Cliffs

Chapter 152 is now done, bringing both v26 and the famous Battle of Red Cliffs to a close. Even though this is the battle that is best remembered in the story, by no means does that mean later events will be a letdown compared to this one. On the contrary, the story only gets even better on from here, now that Cao Cao’s military might has been compromised and each of the three major factions begin to stand on more even grounds.

Also, since my old fluffypress site went down, I’ll mention again Yoshikawa Eiji’s significant change to the events of the last chapter in this volume (spoiler ahead if you haven’t fully read v26 yet). In the original novel, Cao Cao manages to convince Guan Yu to turn a blind eye through a famous story from the Spring and Autumn annals which touches Guan Yu’s sense of virtue. The story, in case you’re curious, is that of Yu Gong the Wei archer, who is sent to kill Zi Zhuo. However, Yu Gong realizes the master who taught him archery, Yin Gong, was in turn trained in archery by Zi Zhuo. Therefore, Yu Gong breaks off the points of his arrows and shoots them, thereby sparing Zi Zhuo’s life but also still carrying out his orders.

However, Yoshikawa Eiji, a famous Japanese historical novelist noted for his tales on samurai, changed this scene to have Guan Yu convinced instead by the loyalty of Cao Cao’s soldiers to better fit the Japanese feudal ethic that emphasized loyalty over all else. Although Yokoyama’s manga does adapt Yoshikawa’s version, I personally feel that it is sort of a compromise between the two versions. Yokoyama’s appropriate usage of the flashback seems to imply that Guan Yu was equally touched by both Cao Cao’s former kindness as well as the unwavering-loyalty of his soldiers. I would be quite interested to know what others thought of this scene, and whether I’m reading too much into what should be a by-the-book adaptation of Yoshikawa’s version or not.

Download:

Sangokushi c152:   Mediafire

Sangokushi v26:   Mediafire