却说孔明放了孟获，众将上帐问曰：“孟获乃南蛮渠魁，今幸被擒，南方便定；丞相何故放之？”
The officers +did not approve of the release of the King of the Mangs, and they came to the tent of Zhuge Liang and said, "Meng Huo is the most important personage of all the Mangs, and his capture is the key to restoring order in the south.
Why then, O Minister, did you release him?”
诸将闻言，皆未肯信。
They listened, but they had no great confidence +in the success of the policy of conciliation.
孔明曰：“离此一百五十里，泸水下流沙口，此处水慢，可以扎筏而渡。
"Some fifty miles lower down River Lu there is a place called Shakou, where the current is slow and shallow because of sand.
You could cross there on rafts.
汝提本部三千军渡水，直入蛮洞，先断其粮，然后会合董荼那、阿会喃两个洞主，便为内应。
I wish you and your soldiers to cross and cut the road of supplies.
After that you are to arrange with the two leaders---Dongtu Na and Ahui Nan---whose lives I spared, to be your allies on the inside,
马岱欣然去了，领兵前到沙口，驱兵渡水；因见水浅，大半不下筏，只裸衣而过，半渡皆倒；急救傍岸，口鼻出血而死。
Ma Dai went off gladly enough, and marched his troops to Shakou, where they set about the crossing at once.
And as the water was shallow, they did not trouble to make rafts, but just tucked up their clothes and waded in.
But half-way across, the men began to fall over; and when they had been rescued and taken to the bank, many of them began to bleed from the nose and mouth and died.
孔明随唤向导土人问之。
who called in the native guides and asked what this meant.
土人曰：“目今炎天，毒聚泸水，日间甚热，毒气正发，有人渡水，必中其毒；或饮此水，其人必死。
They told him, +"It happens so every year.In the hot season, poisonous miasma collects over the waters of the River Lu, especially during the heat of the day.-Anyone who drinks the water will surely die.
须待夜静水冷，毒气不起，饱食渡之，方可无事。”
have to wait till night, because the cooler waters do not breathe out the poisonous vapors.
Further, the crossing should be attempted on a full stomach."
孔明遂令土人引路，又选精壮军五六百，随着马岱，来到泸水沙口，扎起木筏，半夜渡水，果然无事，岱领着二千壮军，令土人引路，径取蛮洞运粮总路口夹山峪而来。
Zhuge Liang bade the local guides point out the best crossing place.
He sent five hundred well-seasoned soldiers to Ma Dai to lash together poles into rafts at Shakou, and in the night the crossing was safely accomplished.
Further, the guides then led two thousand men of Shu over to where the grain road of the Mangs led through a narrow valley, called Jiashan Gorge,
那夹山峪，两下是山，中间一条路，止容一人一马而过。
where, for part of the way, only single file was possible as the road was only wide enough for a soldier and a horse.
马岱占了夹山峪，分拨军士，立起寨栅。
Ma Dai at once occupied this valley and stationed a force there.
And a stockade was put up with tents inside.
洞蛮不知，正解粮到，被岱前后截住，夺粮百余车，蛮人报入孟获大寨中。
-Presently a convoy of grain came along, and it was captured, more than a hundred wagons.
The guards ran off to Meng Huo's great camp and told him.
此时孟获在寨中，终日饮酒取乐，不理军务，谓众酋长曰：“吾若与诸葛亮对敌，必中奸计。
Meng Huo,+thinking all was safe during the hot season, was enjoying himself.
Wine and music were the order of the day, and military matters were far from his thoughts.
In his cups +he admitted Zhuge Liang was ruseful, but said his army had nothing to fear.
Said he, "If I attempt to oppose Zhuge Liang, I shall certainly fall a victim to some wile of his.
今靠此泸水之险，深沟高垒以待之；蜀人受不过酷热，必然退走。
+However, my waiting policy is a safe one.
With our defenses, and the river to back them, we can wait for the heat to overcome these men of Shu, who cannot stand the hot season.
They will have to retreat,
那时吾与汝等随后击之，便可擒诸葛亮也。”
and then we can harass them.And we will capture this Zhuge Liang."
言讫，呵呵大笑。
He lay back and laughed at the thought.
忽然班内一酋长曰：“沙口水浅，倘蜀兵透漏过来，深为利害；当分军守把。”
However, one chief,+more prudent than the others, stood forth and said, "Remember the shallows at Shakou.
It would be very serious if the soldiers of Shu got across there secretly.
It ought to be guarded."
获笑曰：“汝是本处土人，如何不知？
-"You belong to these areas.-
吾正要蜀兵来渡此水，渡则必死于水中矣。”
Do you not know that I want the enemy to try to get across there?” Why, they will all perish in the water."
酋长又曰：“倘有土人说与夜渡之法，当复何如？”
-"But what if the natives tell them to cross only in the night?”
吾境内之人，安肯助敌人耶？”
"Our own people will not help the enemy that far."
正言之间，忽报蜀兵不知多少，暗渡泸水，绝断了夹山粮道，打着“平北将军马岱”旗号。
It was just then that intelligence came: "The troops of Shu, unknown in number, have crossed the river and, moreover, have seized the Jiashan Gorge.
The flags show the words ‘General Who Pacifies The North, Ma Dai'."
即遣副将忙牙长，引三千兵投夹山峪来。
He sent General Mangya Chang with three thousands troops to recapture the gorge and reopen the grain road.
却说马岱望见蛮兵已到，遂将二千军摆在山前。
When Ma Dai saw the Mang soldiers approaching, he placed two thousand troops in front of the hills +and drew up the troops in formal array.