Zhuge Liang is a name that almost every grassroots in China knows. He seems to be the embodiment of wits and wisdom. The following is an episode about Zhuge Liang.

Zhuge Liang was a great strategist and statesman during the Three-Kingdoms period (220-265) in ancient China. He served as the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Shu in nowadays Southwestern China. On one occasion, the Kingdom of Shu underwent a series of defeats by the Kingdom of Wei who controlled the Northern China. On hearing a city on the Shu's borderline had just stationed less than 10,000 soldiers, General Sima Yi, a cunning statesman and also a great strategist of the Kingdom of Wei led his 100,000-strong troops to besiege and capture it.

Hearing the report of the coming Wei army, every one in the city was at a loss. It would have been too late to call in support from other cities. Zhuge Liang made an unprecedented daring decision. He had the citizens and troops evacuated the city, leaving the city gate wide open and had a few aged people sweeping the streets.

When Sima Yi arrived, he only saw an empty city with a wide open gate, plus a Zhuge Liang sitting on the battlements, playing his zither with great composure. Two pageboys were waiting on him.

General Sima Yi thought he had to be very cautious when dealing with Zhuge Liang. He tried to tell from the nuance of the music whether the city was truly empty, or if Shu soldiers hid within it. But not a single element of anxiety was dected. As he listened, Sima Yi found himself in a quandary. All of a sudden, the tranquil music took a turn and become quite violent, which sounded to the hesitating Sima Yi's ears like the horn for attack. He decided this was a trick of Zhuge Liang's to tempt his army into an ambush, and so ordered a withdrawal. The general concluded that Zhuge Liang must have deployed strong forces inside the city, or he wouldn't have the city gate wide open. What he did not know was that the city was actually empty with no defenses at all.

The ruse helped the Kingdom of Shu to avoid another defeat and ultimate destruction.