Welcome to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms podcast.

This is episode 129.

Last time, Zhuge Liang had just showed up Sima Yi, first by besting him in a competition to see who

could build a better battle formation, and then with an outright butt-wipping on the battlefield.

Sima Yi lost most of his army and decided to just hide in his camp on the south bank of the Wei

River. Meanwhile, Zhuge Liang returned victoriously to his base at Qi

Mountain, but he was greeted with an unpleasant piece of business. A new supply of grains

arrived from the senior official Li Yan, which was good news, but the bad news was that the guy

that Li Yan had sent to escort the supplies,

an officer named Goan, had a little too much to drink along the way,

and the convoy ended up being ten days late.

This infuriated Zhuge Liang.

Provisions have always been crucial to our army, he scolded Goan.

Even being three days late would warrant execution.

You were late by ten days.

What do you have to say for yourself?

Actually, it didn't really matter what Goan had to say for himself,

because Zhuge Liang immediately ordered the guards to execute them. However, the senior

advisor Yang Yi intervened. Go-an is in the service of Li Yan and he is responsible for transporting

money and grains out of the riverlands, Yang Yi said. If you kill him, then no one will dare

to escort grain again.

So Zhuge Liang was convinced to spare Go An's life, but Goan did not get off scot-free.

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