On the evening after the first court of Xudu had ended, Xun Yu again laid a low counsel in his master’s ear inside Cao Cao’s tent.

Xun Yu spoke low. “My Lord. On this night, now that the shade of Xudu has settled, the next move must be laid in advance. Your Lordship’s hand now holds the jade seal of the Son of Heaven. Choose the first seat upon which that seal will be used.”

Cao Cao asked low. “Wenruo. Where is that seat?”

Xun Yu smiled quietly. “Xuzhou (徐州), my Lord — Lü Bu (呂布) and Liu Bei (劉備). Lü Bu has attached himself beneath Liu Bei’s roof; the two tigers lie together in one den. Set them to eat each other, and one tiger will bite the other, while the tiger that remains will walk into Your Lordship’s hand of his own accord. This is called the plan of Two Tigers Competing for Food (二虎競食).”

Cao Cao nodded deeply. “How is the first line of that move laid?”

Xun Yu took up his brush. “In the name of the Son of Heaven’s edict, invest Liu Bei as General Who Pacifies the East (征東將軍), Marquis of Yicheng Precinct (宜城亭侯), and Governor of Xuzhou (徐州牧). Send with that edict a separate secret letter, plainly commanding him to kill Lü Bu. If Liu Bei obeys, a fierce general named Lü Bu vanishes; if Liu Bei does not obey, Lü Bu will first bite Liu Bei. Either way, a larger gain remains in Your Lordship’s hand.”

Cao Cao laughed low. “A seat where the food of each of two tigers is the other. I shall follow the brush of this night.”

That night, an edict and a secret letter were written together. Upon the edict, the Son of Heaven’s name was pressed as a great seal; upon the secret letter, Cao Cao’s small seal was pressed quietly. An envoy carried the two writings side by side in his chest and rode toward Xuzhou.

Several days later, the envoy arrived inside Xuzhou’s gate. Liu Bei received the edict with formal respect. He faced north and bowed four times. After that, the envoy handed over, quietly, the secret letter from his chest. Upon the first line of the secret letter lay a line written by Cao Cao’s own hand. “Cut down Lü Bu. By that merit, Xuzhou shall be entrusted to your hand still more deeply.”

Liu Bei swallowed a long breath. He called Zhang Fei (張飛) and Guan Yu (關羽) to his side.

Zhang Fei cried out loud. “Elder brother. Lü Bu is a dog who has changed his master twice. Obey this secret letter and cut him down.” Guan Yu continued low. “Elder brother. Lü Bu has entrusted (依託) his body to us. To kill a man who has entrusted himself is against righteousness (義).”

Liu Bei looked at his two brothers and answered low. “Younger brother Guan Yu’s word is right. To strike a man who has entrusted himself, with my own hand, would be a seat upon which the name of the Peach Garden’s vow would crack. Cao Cao’s secret letter is the plan of Two Tigers Competing for Food. If I follow this plan as written, my name will be inscribed as the errand-hand of Cao Cao’s tiger. Let this letter be laid, quietly, inside a drawer, as if not received.”

Liu Bei offered the envoy a bow of thanks for the edict, and sent him back to Cao Cao. He wrote no reply to the secret letter, only offered gratitude for the edict. After the envoy had gone, Liu Bei took the secret letter from his chest and brought it close above a candle flame. Guan Yu restrained him low. “Elder brother. Do not burn it. This single letter may, one day, stand as a witness of our innocence.” Liu Bei nodded and laid the secret letter again inside the drawer.

Meanwhile, Lü Bu sat in a guest-chamber inside the walls of Xuzhou, drinking wine without knowing anything. One day, Zhang Liao (張遼) sat quietly beside him. “General. Cao Cao’s envoy has been inside Liu Bei’s walls. Take care.” Lü Bu emptied a cup and laughed. “I am a body lying beneath the roof of Lord Liu Xuande. Xuande will not strike me.” Zhang Liao only bowed his head low and spoke no more.

Inside Liu Bei’s study, the single letter lay in the drawer for many evenings. Sometimes, after the lamp had gone down, Liu Bei would lay his palm upon the closed drawer and feel a small shape of paper beneath the wood. He did not open the drawer. Some letters, once laid aside, are better answered by the silence of a drawer than by the grain of a reply. Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, too, did not again mention the letter. Yet each of the three brothers knew that the drawer had now become a small chamber in which one man’s plan had been courteously refused; and that the refusal had been written upon no paper except the wood of that drawer and the silence of three breaths.

On another evening, Lü Bu’s servant left a small basket of peaches at the door of Liu Bei’s study as a gift of thanks. Liu Bei took one peach and held it against the lamp for a breath. The skin of the peach was a shade nearer the skin of a tiger than to anything else in the room. He laid the peach down upon the table above the drawer, unbitten, and left it there through the night. In the morning, the peach was gone; a servant had taken it away without asking. Liu Bei did not ask where it had gone. Some fruits are best removed by a hand that does not explain itself.

The fifty-fourth night of Book 2 deepened quietly above Liu Bei’s drawer. The three characters Ihogye (二虎計, the plan of two tigers) were planted as a seed: the breath on which an edict and a secret letter lay side by side in one chest, and a secret letter, instead of meeting a candle flame, was laid inside a drawer. Day 53’s jade-seal seat of Heodojo (許都朝) had, on this night, been transferred and laid above the small seat of a small seal.

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