The Villain's Lair

Chapters 55-56

We get a good episode with Xuande and Lady Sun, then a brief interlude with Cao Cao, then another failed scheme by Zhou Yu.

Cao Cao’s interlude is the best. He has finally finished the Bronze Bird Tower, and it’s a classic villain’s lair. Cao Cao holds an archery contest there. The contest devolves into physical combat: two warriors fight each other over the trophy, and they end up destroying the trophy by accident. Cao Cao laughs it off, saying, “Courage is all I admire. That [trophy] gown means nothing.” (p. 963) It’s like a throwaway scene in a movie where we cut to the villain doing something comically evil. It fits the story like a scene with the Sheriff of Nottingham and his goons in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.

I don’t think I saw any new Magic cards in these chapters, so I’m going to check on a few that I missed earlier:

Renegade Troops - This sounds like the first few chapters of the novel, but does not appear as a direct quote.

Shu Foot Soldiers - The Battle of Runan mentioned here refers to Chapter 31, the disaster where Liu Bei and the Peach Garden Oath brothers scatter.

Fire Ambush - This flavor text appears word for word on p 706 in Chapter 39

Red Cliffs Armada - In Chapter 49, “Each unit [of four units total] included three hundred warships and was preceded by twenty fireboats.” (p. 859) This doesn’t add up to seven thousand.

Wu Admiral - This is about the Battle of Red Cliffs (e.g., Chapter 49), but nobody specific.

Blaze - This flavor text appears word for word on p 870 in Chapter 50.

Exhaustion - Like “Red Cliffs Armada”, the numbers are wrong. The flavor text mentions Cao Cao only having 27 men remaining. The closest is Chapter 50, when Cao Cao is granted passage by Lord Guan. On page 876, “Cao saw that he was left with a mere three hundred mounted followers.”

Flanking Troops - The flavor text refers to Chapter 51, when Liu Bei takes Jingzhou.

Wu Light Cavalry - These events, where Cao Ren tricks Zhou Yu into entering Nanjun, occur in Chapter 51.

Wu Infantry - The flavor text refers to the events of Chapter 53.

Poetry Writing Constraints

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Head is a Hot Potato

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Seriousness replaced absurdity

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Poetry Writing Constraints

The Devil Goes Down to Arabia

Head is a Hot Potato

Seriousness replaced absurdity