Dear #classicalchinese Lazyweb,
I'm translating The Siege of Ganxia (垓下之圍) from Shiji - Xiangyu Benji (史記・項羽本紀) (what a story, it reads like a Hollywood movie script).
However, there is one thing that stumps me; what does 三處 in 令四面騎馳下，期山東為三處。mean? Is it as simple as 'He ordered [his men] to take three positions in the eastern part of the mountain'?
Also in 辟易數里與其騎會為三處 av few sentences further down?
On ctext.org all uses of 三處 seem to be fairly literal 'three places' and a translation to modern Chinese (gushiwen.cn) reads like this:
约定冲到山的东边，分作三处集合 ([they] decided to surge to the east side of the mountain, dividing it into three gathering places
项王与他的骑兵在三处会合了 。 (King Xiang met with his riders at [the] three places)
#clasicalchinese #chinese #chinesehistory #shiji #史記
Seems a bit strange to gather his remaining men at three places.
It would make more sense if 三處 were ancient military jargon for 'rendezvous point', but I have no sources to back that up.
Does anyone have easy access to an English version an annotated edition? #chinese #classicalchinese #chinesehistory
#shiji #史記