第十八章挑灯战马超

第十八章挑灯战马超
Chapter 18: Raising Torches to Battle Ma Chao

诸葛亮等人到达雒城后，和刘备一起攻占了雒城。刘璋赶紧向汉中的张鲁求救。此时，西凉名将马超正在张鲁军中，便自告奋勇，要求前去攻打刘备。
After ZhuGe Liang and the others reached LuoCheng, he and Liu Bei attacked LuoCheng together. Liu Zhang frantically went to Zhang Lu of HanZhong for help. At this moment, XiLiang's famous general Ma Chao was amongst the soldiers, and volunteered to take charge,and requested to start attacking Liu Bei.

诸葛亮想激张飞迎敌。当张飞请战时，诸葛亮只当没听见，故意转头对刘备说:“只有调来关羽，才能打败马超。”
ZhuGe Liang wanted to anger Zhang Fei into attacking the enemy. When Zhang Fei asked to battle them, ZhuGe Liang pretended not to hear, and purposely told Liu Bei, "We have to wait for Guan Yu, in order to defeat Ma Chao."

张飞叫道:“军师小看我，我若不能活捉马超，任凭处罚。”当即立下军令状。
"You are underestimating me!" Zhang Fei shouted, "If I can't capture Ma Chao alive, then I am willing to be punished." He then immediately signed a contract.

于是，诸葛亮让张飞领兵火速前往西川重地葭萌关御敌，还让刘备和魏延接应。
So, ZhuGe Liang had to let Zhang Fei lead the army ASAP to defend XiChuan's JiaMeng Pass, and even told Liu Bei and Wei Yan to act as reinforcements.

到葭萌关的第二天，马超领兵前来挑战。刘备见马超气宇不凡，威风凛凛，不由得非常喜欢，一心想收服他。
The second day after arriving at JiaMeng Pass, Ma Chao led his troops over to battle. Liu Bei saw that Ma Chao was calm and cool, and very imposing, and couldn't help but like him a lot, and decided to get him to his side.

张飞出阵迎战，二人大战百余回合，不分胜负。刘备怕他们有闪失，便鸣金收兵。
Zhang Fei came out to fight, and the two of them traded many blows,and neither won. Liu Bei was afraid that there would be accidents, and started calling Zhang Fei back.

张飞回营埋怨刘备道:“我就快活捉马超了。请哥哥让人点起火把，安排夜战。”
After coming back to the encampment Zhang Fei yelled, "I was about to capture Ma Chao!
Please Brother, tell the soldiers to bring torches, so we can arrange a night attack."

这边马超回到阵前，叫张飞迎战。张飞跑出阵，刘备只好下令点起千支火把。
Ma Chao returned to the front ranks, and demanded for Zhang Fei to battle him. Zhang Fei ran out, and Liu Bei could only order for them to light thousands of torches.

火把将战场照得如同白昼。战过数十回合，马超突然虚晃一枪，回马就走。
The blazing flames lit the whole battlefield up, just like a bright sunny day. Blows were exchanged, when Ma Chao suddenly waved his spear, and galloped away on his horse.

张飞纵马追赶。马超悄悄拿出流星锤，转身向张飞打去。张飞侧身躲了过去。
Zhang Fei urged his horse on, chasing the man. Ma Chao stealthily got out his trusty meteor hammer, whirled around and swung it at Zhang Fei, Zhang Fei dodged it just in time.

马超上前再战，张飞见他走近，便取出箭，突然向他射了过去。马超也闪身躲了过去。刘备怕他俩有闪失，又命收兵。
Ma Chao came up front to fight, and Zhang Fei saw him move closer, then he got out his bow and arrows, and swiftly shot it. Ma Chao dodged it as well. Liu Bei was afraid the two would have accidents, so he ordered to withdraw the troops.

第二天，张飞又要战马超。这时诸葛亮到了，对刘备说自己可施计让马超归降。
The next day, Zhang Fei wanted to fight Ma Chao again. ZhuGe Liang arrived at this moment, and he told Liu Bei that he had a plan to have Ma Chao surrender.

诸葛亮知道张鲁的谋士杨松爱财，便派人收买他，让他造谣说马超要占西川。
ZhuGe Liang knew that Zhang Lu's advisor Yang Song loved money, and ordered people to go bribe him, and tell him to spread rumors that Ma Chao wanted to conquer XiChuan.

张鲁本来就对马超有所猜疑，因此信以为真，不让马超回兵。马超进退两难。
Zhang Lu originally was suspicious of Ma Chao, and he believed the rumors, and wouldn't let Ma Chao go back to the army. Ma Chao was in a difficult situation.

时机成熟，诸葛亮派马超的朋友李恢去劝降。马超也想弃暗投明，就降了刘备。
The situation was in their favor, so ZhuGe Liang dispatched Ma Chao's friend Li Hui to go persuade him to surrender. Ma Chao also wanted to ditch the bad side and go to the good side, so he surrendered.

刘备乘胜追击，没几天就来到成都城下。刘璋见大势已去，只好开门投降。就这样，刘备顺利地占领了西川。
Liu Bei used this time as an advantage, and reached ChengDu in a matter of days. Liu Zhang saw that this huge amount of power was lost, so he had to surrender as well. So it was like this, that Liu Bei easily conquered XiChuan.

It's been hectic

I've been flying all over, both international and domestic. I just got some time today to update this blog. Indigo was taking some breaks while I was gone :-)