User:Lds/Sandbox/Translations

New entry
<!--

San Gu Mao Lu or San Gu Cao Lu, literally meaning "three visits to the thatched cottage", refers to an event in the late Eastern Han dynasty of China in which the warlord Liu Bei visited Zhuge Liang thrice at his residence and successfully recruited Zhuge Liang to be his adviser. During their meeting, Zhuge Liang verbally presented to Liu Bei his Longzhong Plan, which envisioned a tripartite division of China between Liu Bei and two other warlords, Cao Cao and Sun Quan. The term San Gu Mao Lu later became a Chinese idiom to describe a person's eagerness in recruiting talents.

In historical records
This event is recorded in only a single sentence in Zhuge Liang's official biography in the 3rd-century historical text Records of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguozhi) by Chen Shou, as follows: ""(Liu Bei) thus went to find (Zhuge) Liang, visited him thrice and met him.""

Although the Sanguozhi recorded that Liu Bei visited Zhuge Liang three times, historians such as Yi Zhongtian noted that the "three times" could also be interpreted in a metaphorical way to mean multiple times, à la the Chinese saying yī ér zài, zài ér sān which describes something done repeatedly.

The Zizhi Tongjian, an 11th-century chronological Chinese history text by Sima Guang, recorded that the meeting(s) took place in the year 207.

Alternative accounts
Two other 3rd-century historical texts, the Weilüe by Yu Huan and the Jiuzhou Chunqiu (九州春秋) by Sima Biao, provide a completely different account of how Liu Bei met Zhuge Liang. It mentioned that Liu Bei was at Fancheng (樊城; present-day Fancheng District, Xiangyang, Hubei) at the time, and that Cao Cao had just pacified northern China and was preparing to attack Jing Province. Zhuge Liang went to Fancheng to meet Liu Bei, who treated him like any other ordinary guest because he did not know Zhuge Liang before that and thought that he was just a typical young scholar. When all the other guests left after the meeting, Zhuge Liang stayed behind. Liu Bei did not ask him if he had something to say, and started playing with a gift from one of the guests. Zhuge Liang said, "I heard that you, General, have great ambitions, yet all I see is you playing with that." When Liu Bei heard that, he sensed that Zhuge Liang was no ordinary person, so he threw aside the gift and said he was only playing with it as a hobby. Zhuge Liang then asked him if he and Liu Biao could resist an invasion by Cao Cao. When Liu Bei replied that neither him nor Liu Biao was capable of resisting Cao Cao and that he was at a loss on what to do, Zhuge Liang proposed a plan for him. He pointed out that there were large numbers of refugees who migrated south to Jing Province to escape from the chaos in central and northern China, and suggested to Liu Bei to have them registered as new residents so that the Jing Province administration could collect taxes from them and draft them into military service. Liu Bei heeded Zhuge Liang's advice and managed to increase the strength of his forces. From then on, he saw Zhuge Liang as a great talent and started treating him like an honoured guest.

Pei Songzhi, a 5th-century historian who annotated the Sanguozhi, commented that the Weilue and Jiuzhou Chunqiu accounts contradict what Zhuge Liang wrote in the Chu Shi Biao, which says: ""(Liu Bei) visited me thrice in the thatched cottage, (and) consulted me on the affairs of our time."" He argued that it was obvious from the Chu Shi Biao that Zhuge Liang did not visit Liu Bei first.

In Romance of the Three Kingdoms
The 14th-century historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms gives a romanticised account, spanning two chapters, of how Liu Bei met Zhuge Liang. After Xu Shu recommends Zhuge Liang to him, Liu Bei travels to Longzhong with his sworn brothers Guan Yu and Zhang Fei to find Zhuge Liang. When they reach Zhuge Liang's house (described as a "thatched cottage"), a servant tells them them that his master is out. Liu Bei then asks the servant to pass a message to Zhuge Liang that Liu Bei came to find him. Later during winter, Liu Bei and his sworn brothers brave heavy snowfall and travel to Longzhong again. Along the way, they meet Zhuge Liang's friends. This time, the servant leads them to his "master", who turns out to be Zhuge Liang's younger brother, Zhuge Jun. Just as they are about to leave, Liu Bei sees an older man approaching and thinks he is Zhuge Liang, but the man introduces himself as Huang Chengyan, Zhuge Liang's father-in-law. When spring arrives, Liu Bei decides to visit Zhuge Liang again, much to the annoyance of his sworn brothers. On this third occasion, Zhuge Liang is at home but is asleep. Liu Bei waits patiently for hours until Zhuge Liang wakes up.