Kong Ming’s lute

Kong Ming’s lute is the instrument at the center of the Empty Fort Strategy at Xicheng. With a vastly outnumbered force and the city’s defenses stripped from view, Kong Ming plays on the wall in full sight of Sima Yi’s approaching army; the calm performance persuades Sima Yi that the open city is a trap and prompts him to turn aside.

The Lute at Xicheng

After the loss of Jieting, Kong Ming learns that Lieliu has also fallen and hurries to Xicheng, where the army’s supplies are stored. He has only five thousand men, while Sima Yi advances with a force of a hundred and fifty thousand. The disparity leaves little room for conventional defense, and the lute’s role begins with the performance Kong Ming chooses instead.

Kong Ming orders the signs of occupation removed, including the banners, and has everyone concealed and silent. Then, dressed in his customary Daoist robes and accompanied by only two boys, he sits on the city wall and plays the lute. The instrument is not described as a weapon or as a magical object; its force in this scene comes from being played where an enemy expects evidence of danger.

How the Performance Works

When Sima Yi rides up to inspect the scene, the gates stand open and Kong Ming appears untroubled. Rather than read the apparent emptiness as proof that the city is undefended, Sima Yi suspects a concealed ambush. He orders his large army to turn aside, and it soon disappears from view. The lute’s music thus forms part of a deliberate display: Kong Ming makes the danger seem hidden, and Sima Yi’s caution completes the stratagem.

The episode reverses the military imbalance without changing the numbers. Kong Ming’s five thousand are not shown defeating Sima Yi’s hundred and fifty thousand in combat; instead, the enemy’s interpretation of the open gates and composed musician determines the immediate outcome. The lute supplies the visible center of that contrast, making a quiet act of performance the occasion for a retreat.

Narrative Significance

A poem sums up the reversal by saying that a lute only three feet long defeats a vast army and that Kong Ming thereby forces a retreat from Xicheng. The contrast between the small instrument and the immense force turns the scene into a compact image of strategy: apparent ease stands against overwhelming danger, and confidence becomes difficult to distinguish from a trap.

The instrument’s importance is therefore specific to this encounter. It is the focal object through which Kong Ming’s composure becomes legible to Sima Yi, while the concealed troops and cleared city provide the conditions that make the performance persuasive. The result is not a victory in battle but a successful withdrawal induced by what the enemy believes the scene conceals.