When Sima Yan read this, he gave orders for the army to move. But three officers — Jia Chong, Xun Xu, and Feng Dan — opposed it, and the orders were withdrawn.
Yang Hu was disappointed and said, “What a pity it is that of ten affairs in the world, one always meets with eight or nine vexations!”
In the fourth year of Universal Tranquillity, in Jin calendar (AD 278), Yang Hu went to court and asked leave to retire on account of ill health.
Before granting him leave to go, Sima Yan asked, “Do you have plans to propose to settle the state?”
Yang Hu replied, “Sun Hao is a very cruel ruler and could be conquered without fighting. If he were to die and a wise successor sat upon his throne, Your Majesty would never be able to gain possession of Wu.”
“Suppose your army attacked now; what then?” asked the Ruler of Jin.
“I am now too old and too ill for the task,” replied Yang Hu. “Some other bold and capable leader must be found.”
Yang Hu left the court and retired to his home. Toward the end of the year he was nigh unto death, and the Ruler of Jin went to visit him. The sight of his master at his bedside brought tears to the eyes of the faithful old leader.
“If I died a myriad times, I could never requite Your Majesty,” said Yang Hu.
Sima Yan also wept, saying, “My great grief is that I could not take advantage of your abilities to attack Wu. Who now is there to carry out your design?”
Hesitatingly the sick man replied, “I am dying and must be wholly sincere. General Du Yu is equal to the task, and is the one man to attack Wu.”
Sima Yan said, “How beautiful it is to bring good people into prominence! But why did you write a memorial recommending certain people and then burn the draft so that no one knew?”
The dying man answered, “I bowed before the officials in open court, but I did not beseech the kindness of the private attendants.”
So Yang Hu died, and Sima Yan wailed for him and then returned to his palace. He conferred on the dead
leader the posthumous rank of Imperial Guardian and Lord of Juping. The traders closed their shops out of respect to his memory, and all the frontier camps were filled with wailing. The people of Xiangyang, recalling that he loved to wander on the Xian Hills, built there a temple to him and set up a stone and sacrificed regularly at the four seasons. The passers-by were moved to tears when they read Yang Hu's name on the tablet, so that it came to be called “The Stone of Tears.”
On the strength of Yang Hu's recommendation, Du Yu was placed over Jingzhou, and the title of General Who Guards the South was conferred upon him. He was a man of great experience, untiring in study and devoted to the Zuo Volume, the book of commentaries composed by Zuo Qiuming upon the Spring and Autumn Annals. In hours of leisure, a copy of Zuo Volume was never out of his hand; and when he went abroad, an attendant rode in front with the beloved book. He was said to be “Zuo mad.”
Du Yu went to Xiangyang and began by being kind to the people and caring for his soldiers. By this time Wu had lost by death both Ding Feng and Lu Kang.
