The Empty City Stratagem

Zhuge Liang (Zhūgě Liàng) commands the armies of a small kingdom at war with a far larger one. He is famous on both sides for never being caught out, and that reputation has kept him alive more often than his soldiers have.

It has just failed him. The pass guarding his army's road home is lost, his troops are scattered fetching supplies, and he is sitting in a small walled town with clerks, carters and baggage waggons where an army ought to be.

The enemy is a day's march away. The general leading them, Sima Yi (Sīmǎ Yì), has fought Zhuge Liang before — and has learned never to walk into anything this man leaves standing open.