This is an episode from the Three Kingdoms. Cao cao sent a letter to Zhou Yu to summon him to surrender. Zhou Yu tore Cao's letter to pieces. Zhou Yu's classmate, Jiang Gan, was working for Cao Cao as an adviser, Jiang offered to travel to Wu to persuade Zhou Yu to surrender. One day while Zhou Yu was discussing with his subordinates（下屬） how to defeat Cao Cao, he was told that Jiang Gan had come to see him. Zhou immediately figured out that Jiang must have come to persuade him to surrender. Zhou Yu devised a clever plan to thwart（挫敗，反對） his efforts and enlisted the help of his subordinate to carry it out. Then he went to meet Jiang Gan all smiles. Zhou Yu took Jiang Gan's hands and marshaled him into his tent and treated him to a banquet（盛宴） . When all his generals and subordinates came for dinner, Zhou Yu told those around the table: "This is an old friend or mine. Though he came from the Cao Cao camp, he did not come to persuade me to surrender. Please do not suspect him."

After the banquet, Zhou Yu pretended that he had too much and invited Jiang Gan to his bedroom for a rest. Zhou Yu soon pretended to have fallen asleep. Jiang Gan took this chance to thumb through Zhou Yu's documents. He was shocked to find a letter from Cai Mao and Zhang Yun, two generals of the Cao camp, who had written Zhou Yu to surrender. Jiang hid letter of surrender in his pocket and returned to the bed, pretending that he was sill asleep.

After midnight, someone sneaked into Zhou Yu's tent and woke him up, telling him "A messenger came from the Cao camp to say that Cai Mao and Zhang Yun were not yet a position to carry out their plan." After he heard the news, Zhou Yu went back to sleep. Jiang Gan got up again silently and snuck out of Zhou Yu's camp. He crossed the river immediately and handed the letter of surrender to Cao Cao. Cao was enraged（暴怒的） and he had Cai Mao and Zhang Yun executed. When the news spread to Wu, Zhou Yu burst into laughter and said, "Cai Mao and Zhang Yun were the two generals I feared most. Now I fear no one." Before long, Cao cao realized that he was cheated by Zhou Yu's stratagem（策略） of sowing distrust in Cao's camp.

這個故事發生在三國時期。

赤壁大戰前夕，曹操親率百萬大軍，駐扎在長江北岸，意欲橫渡長江，直下東吳。東吳都督周瑜也帶兵與曹軍隔江對峙，雙方箭拔弩張，準備大戰一場。

蔣干，字子翼，是曹操手下的謀士。他因自幼和周瑜同窗讀書，便向曹操毛遂自薦，要過江到東吳去作說客，勸降周瑜，免得大動干戈。曹操聞知大喜，親自置酒為蔣干送行。

這天，周瑜正在帳中議事，部下傳報“故人蔣干相訪”。周瑜聞訊，已經猜出蔣干來意，他眉頭一皺，計上心來，連忙吩咐眾將依計而行，隨后帶著眾人親出帳門迎接。二人相見，寒暄一番，周瑜挽著蔣干手臂同入大帳，設盛宴款待蔣干，請文武官員都來作陪。席上，周瑜解下佩劍交給太史慈，命他掌劍監酒，吩咐道：“蔣干和我是同窗契友，雖從江北到此，卻不是曹操的說客，諸位不要心疑。今日宴席之上，只準共敘朋友舊交，有人提起兩家戰事，即席斬首！”蔣干聽了，面色如土，哪敢多言！周瑜又對蔣干說道：“我自領兵以來，滴酒不飲，今日故友相會，正是：江上遇良友，軍中會故知。定要喝它個一醉方休！”說罷，傳令奏起軍中得勝之樂，開懷暢飲。

酒至半酣，周瑜舉杯祝酒道：“在座各位，都是江東豪杰，今日之會，可稱作群英會！真是—同窗契友會‘群英’，江東豪杰逞威風！”隨后，乘著酒興，起身舞劍作歌：“丈夫處世兮立功名，立功名兮慰平生，慰平生兮吾將醉，吾將醉兮發狂吟。”

直喝得酩酊大醉。

宴罷，蔣干扶著周瑜回到帳中，周瑜說道：“很久沒和子翼兄共寢，今夜要同榻而眠。”說著，朦朦朧朧地睡去。蔣干心中有事，想起在曹操面前曾經夸下海口，不知回去如何交代，聽聽外面鼓打二更，哪里還睡得著？他見周瑜鼾聲如雷，便摸到桌前，拿起一疊文書偷看起來。正翻著，忽見里面有一封書信，細看卻是曹操的水軍都督蔡瑁、張允寫給周瑜的降書。蔣干看罷，大吃一驚，慌忙把信藏在衣內。再要翻其它文書，卻聽周瑜夢中囈語：“子翼，我數日之內，定叫你看曹操首級！”蔣干口中含糊答應著，連忙吹了燈，匆匆睡下。

清晨，有人入帳叫醒周瑜，說道：“江北有人來……”周瑜急忙止住他，看看蔣干，蔣干只裝熟睡。周瑜和那人輕輕走出帳外，又聽那人低聲說道：“蔡瑁、張允說，現在還不能下手……”聲音越來越低。蔣干心中著急，可又不敢亂動。不一會兒，周瑜回來躺下睡了。蔣干怕驚動周瑜，等周瑜睡熟，偷偷地爬起來，徑直走出軍營，守營軍士也不阻攔。他來到江邊，尋著小船，飛一般馳過長江，回見曹操。
其實，這一切都是周瑜定下的反間計。他知道曹軍中只有蔡、張二將精通水戰，便設下此計，想借曹操之手殺掉這兩個人。曹操果真上了當，斬了蔡瑁、張允。等到眾人蔡瑁,張允的頭送上時,曹操才省悟過來，已經晚了，只好另換了兩個水軍都督。結果，赤壁一戰，曹操水軍一敗涂地。

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