The famous story of Borrowing Arrows with Straw Boats (草船借箭) is a classic tale from the historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. When most people hear of it, they immediately think of Zhuge Liang cunningly acquiring 100,000 arrows from Cao Cao.
During the Three Kingdoms period, Cao Cao led a massive army of 800,000 to conquer the state of Wu. In response, Sun Quan and Liu Bei formed an alliance to resist Cao Cao’s forces. Sun Quan’s top general, Zhou Yu, was a brilliant strategist but was also narrow-minded and jealous of Zhuge Liang’s talents. Because arrows were essential for naval combat, Zhou Yu challenged Zhuge Liang to produce 100,000 arrows in ten days. Zhuge Liang, however, boasted that he only needed three days and signed a military order, agreeing to face execution if he failed. Zhou Yu saw this as an opportunity to get rid of Zhuge Liang, as he believed it was impossible to produce that many arrows so quickly. He secretly instructed his craftsmen to delay preparing the materials while also sending his official, Lu Su, to spy on Zhuge Liang.
When Lu Su met with Zhuge Liang, Zhuge Liang confided in him, “I need your help with this. Please lend me 20 boats, each with 30 soldiers. The boats must be covered with tarps and lined with over a thousand straw bundles on each side. But you must not tell your commander about this, or it won’t work.” Lu Su reported back to Zhou Yu, only mentioning that Zhuge Liang didn’t need any materials, keeping Zhuge Liang’s plan a secret. Two days passed with no activity, leading Zhou Yu to believe Zhuge Liang would fail. But on the third day, at the fourth watch, Zhuge Liang secretly invited Lu Su to join him on the boats, saying they were going to “collect” the arrows. Zhuge Liang ordered the boats to be tied together and rowed toward the opposing shore.
That night, a thick fog covered the river, making it impossible to see anyone on the opposite bank. When the boats neared Cao Cao’s naval camp, Zhuge Liang ordered them to form a single line and had the soldiers on board beat drums and shout. Cao Cao, thinking his enemies were attacking, feared a surprise attack in the fog and ordered 6,000 archers from his land camps to fire arrows into the river. The arrows rained down, sticking into the straw bundles on the boats. After a while, Zhuge Liang ordered the boats to turn around, allowing the other side to collect arrows. As the sun rose and the fog began to dissipate, Zhuge Liang commanded the boats to head back. With a favorable wind and current, Cao Cao’s troops couldn’t catch them. By then, the straw bundles on both sides of the boats were densely covered in arrows. Each boat had at least five or six thousand arrows, for a total of well over 100,000. When Lu Su explained what had happened to Zhou Yu, Zhou Yu sighed with admiration, “Zhuge Liang is a brilliant strategist. I am no match for him.”
Dr. Wilson Yong. Copyright 2025.
