Read Online The Three Kingdoms, Volume 3: Welcome the Tiger: The Epic Chinese Tale of Loyalty and War in a Dynamic New Translation by Luo Guanzhong - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Luo Guanzhong
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Cao’s pulse and made a careful examination. Then he said to Cao Cao, “Your headaches are due to a malignant tumor in the skull. As the tumor is deep inside, swallowing drugs is futile. I propose to administer a dose of anesthesia, then open the skull and remove the tumor. That will eliminate the root of your headaches.”
“You want to kill me?” cried Cao Cao angrily.
“Sir, have you heard how I cured Guan Yu of his wounded arm? The poison had penetrated into the bones and I scraped them to cure him, and he did not flinch a moment. Your malady is trifling—why do you mistrust me?”
“A painful arm may be scraped, but how can you cut open a man’s head? You must be intimate with Guan Yu and you are trying to take this opportunity to kill me in revenge for his death.”
He told his guards to throw Huo Tuo into jail and have him tortured to find out who his accomplices were. Jia Xu pleaded for the physician on account of his rare skill, but his intervention was of no avail, for Cao Cao was convinced that the physician was just another Ji Ping (see Chapter Twenty-Three) and wanted to take this chance to kill him. He ordered his men to press on with the interrogation.
One of the jailers was named Wu, and was known to everyone as Wu the Jailer. Out of respect for the doctor he saw to it that he was well fed.
Huo Tuo, grateful for his kindness, said to him one day, “I am doomed, I know. My only regret is that my Blue Book of medicine will be lost to later generations. You have been most kind to me, and as I have no other way of recompensing you, I will give you a letter for my wife, telling her to bring me the Blue Book, and I will give it to you so that you may continue my work.”
Wu the jailer rejoiced greatly, saying, “If I have this book I will give up this menial position of jailer and travel about the country healing the sick, so as to carry on your work and spread your virtue and reputation.”
Huo Tuo wrote the letter and gave it to Wu, who lost no time in going to the doctor’s house and bringing back the Blue Book. After Huo Tuo had read through the book carefully, he presented it to his jailer, who hid it at his home.
Ten days after this, Huo Tuo died in prison. Wu the jailer bought a coffin and had him buried. Then he quit his job and went home, intending to make a thorough study of the book. But when he got back he found, to his horror, his wife putting the very book on the fire. He hastened forward to snatch it away, but what was left of the book amounted only to a couple of pages. Exasperated, he vented his fury in cursing his wife.
She retorted: “What’s the use of that book? Even if you can learn to become such a skillful doctor as Huo Tuo, you will only end up dying in prison like him.”
It struck Wu the jailer that there was something in what she said, and he ceased grumbling at her. However, the final outcome of this episode was that the learning in the Blue Book was forever lost to the world, for what was left only contained a few operations concerning domestic animals.
Huo Tuo was the ablest of leeches;
And his diagnoses topped them all.
Alas! that he died, and his Blue Book
Is lost forever to the sight of all.
After the death of the doctor Cao Cao became worse, and his worries over his rivals in Wu and Shu further aggravated his illness. One day when he was preoccupied with thoughts of his enemies an envoy from Wu came with a letter from Sun Quan, which ran as follows:
“Your servant Sun Quan has long noted that Heaven means you, sir, to be the supreme ruler and looks forward to your early accession to the throne. With your army you will destroy Liu Bei and quash rebellion in the west. When that time comes, your servant will lead all his subordinates to submit the land of Wu to you.”
Cao Cao laughed as he read this. Then he showed the letter to his followers, saying, “That youth is trying to put me on a furnace!”
But they replied seriously, “The Hans have been
“You want to kill me?” cried Cao Cao angrily.
“Sir, have you heard how I cured Guan Yu of his wounded arm? The poison had penetrated into the bones and I scraped them to cure him, and he did not flinch a moment. Your malady is trifling—why do you mistrust me?”
“A painful arm may be scraped, but how can you cut open a man’s head? You must be intimate with Guan Yu and you are trying to take this opportunity to kill me in revenge for his death.”
He told his guards to throw Huo Tuo into jail and have him tortured to find out who his accomplices were. Jia Xu pleaded for the physician on account of his rare skill, but his intervention was of no avail, for Cao Cao was convinced that the physician was just another Ji Ping (see Chapter Twenty-Three) and wanted to take this chance to kill him. He ordered his men to press on with the interrogation.
One of the jailers was named Wu, and was known to everyone as Wu the Jailer. Out of respect for the doctor he saw to it that he was well fed.
Huo Tuo, grateful for his kindness, said to him one day, “I am doomed, I know. My only regret is that my Blue Book of medicine will be lost to later generations. You have been most kind to me, and as I have no other way of recompensing you, I will give you a letter for my wife, telling her to bring me the Blue Book, and I will give it to you so that you may continue my work.”
Wu the jailer rejoiced greatly, saying, “If I have this book I will give up this menial position of jailer and travel about the country healing the sick, so as to carry on your work and spread your virtue and reputation.”
Huo Tuo wrote the letter and gave it to Wu, who lost no time in going to the doctor’s house and bringing back the Blue Book. After Huo Tuo had read through the book carefully, he presented it to his jailer, who hid it at his home.
Ten days after this, Huo Tuo died in prison. Wu the jailer bought a coffin and had him buried. Then he quit his job and went home, intending to make a thorough study of the book. But when he got back he found, to his horror, his wife putting the very book on the fire. He hastened forward to snatch it away, but what was left of the book amounted only to a couple of pages. Exasperated, he vented his fury in cursing his wife.
She retorted: “What’s the use of that book? Even if you can learn to become such a skillful doctor as Huo Tuo, you will only end up dying in prison like him.”
It struck Wu the jailer that there was something in what she said, and he ceased grumbling at her. However, the final outcome of this episode was that the learning in the Blue Book was forever lost to the world, for what was left only contained a few operations concerning domestic animals.
Huo Tuo was the ablest of leeches;
And his diagnoses topped them all.
Alas! that he died, and his Blue Book
Is lost forever to the sight of all.
After the death of the doctor Cao Cao became worse, and his worries over his rivals in Wu and Shu further aggravated his illness. One day when he was preoccupied with thoughts of his enemies an envoy from Wu came with a letter from Sun Quan, which ran as follows:
“Your servant Sun Quan has long noted that Heaven means you, sir, to be the supreme ruler and looks forward to your early accession to the throne. With your army you will destroy Liu Bei and quash rebellion in the west. When that time comes, your servant will lead all his subordinates to submit the land of Wu to you.”
Cao Cao laughed as he read this. Then he showed the letter to his followers, saying, “That youth is trying to put me on a furnace!”
But they replied seriously, “The Hans have been
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