Winning Hearts at Gaimeng Pass
After entering Shu, Liu Bei first established himself at Gaimeng Pass. The pass was a strategic stronghold that anyone bound for Hanzhong had no choice but to cross.
Before returning to Chengdu, Liu Zhang once more earnestly exhorted him.
"I hope you will make Gaimeng Pass your base and strike Zhang Lu of Hanzhong."
With those words he attached Fa Zheng and Meng Da, along with several thousand troops. Both men, however, already intended to abandon Liu Zhang and throw in their lot with Liu Bei. It was rather like entrusting a fishmonger's shop to a cat, yet Liu Zhang, who never so much as dreamed of such a possibility, harbored not the slightest suspicion.
Wei Yan and several other bold-spirited officers were already brimming with anticipation, dreaming of the military glory they would soon win—whether by seizing Hanzhong or by taking Yizhou itself.
Pang Tong likewise proposed striking Liu Zhang the moment he came out to greet them, but Liu Bei refused to accept the suggestion. His calculation was simple: if he seized Liu Zhang without proper justification, the affair would only grow larger and the aftermath would become far harder to manage.
Liu Bei therefore made no move to assault Hanzhong, nor did he stage any show of force. Naturally he also refrained from attacking Liu Zhang at once.
Instead he devoted himself first to bestowing generous favors upon the common folk around Gaimeng Pass, gathering their goodwill.
"If we think of the days to come, winning the people's hearts and establishing a just cause must come before any fighting."
Liu Zhang fretted that Liu Bei showed no immediate movement, yet as time passed the region around Gaimeng Pass grew peaceful. The army that had come from outside gradually transformed, in the eyes of the people, into a welcome presence. Liu Bei, who preferred the long way around to a straight charge, rejoiced that matters were unfolding well from the very start.
Officers such as Wei Yan grumbled that they were bored without any chance to win merit, but Liu Bei soothed them skillfully.
There was, however, one minor(?) incident.
It began with Xu Shu.
On Liu Bei's orders he was touring the nearby villages, gauging the temper of the people. In the course of that work he witnessed a civilian injure himself while farming.
The wound was not grave, yet Xu Shu could not simply walk away. Drawing on his knowledge of herbal medicine, he treated the farmer on the spot.
It was a small matter, yet it produced the dual benefit of healing a man and winning popular favor; Xu Shu was quietly pleased.
Who could have guessed that so slight an episode would deal a heavy blow to one particular person's peace of mind?
The trifling affair began to grow. Word that Xu Shu was touring the villages and treating civilians spread steadily among the people.
The injured, the ailing, the sick—villagers from the surrounding districts heard the rumor and came seeking him, begging to be healed.
At first he was a little taken aback, but he accepted them readily, judging that nothing could better capture the people's hearts.
Liu Bei likewise regarded the work favorably and sent medicinal supplies and military physicians to support it.
One more person soon joined the effort: Jin Cheong, who had studied herbal medicine under Xu Shu.
"I have learned a little of herbs from Military Advisor Xu Shu myself. Allow me to help as well."
Liu Bei gladly accepted her offer and dispatched her to a different village from Xu Shu's, so that she too might treat the people.
Up to that point, everything was still fine.
Jin Do was leading a troop of cavalry along a road. On Liu Bei's orders he had been traveling from place to place, rooting out bandits and robbers and thereby gathering popular support.
That day, having just finished suppressing another band of outlaws, he was on his way back to Gaimeng Pass.
As he passed through one village, a certain sight brought him to a halt. It was the very village where his daughter Jin Cheong was assisting the military physicians in their medical work.
"The number of patients seems to keep rising. Did some large-scale accident happen at a construction site or the like?"
He had certainly heard that the sick and injured were gathering, yet this looked excessive. Had a major disaster struck, or had an epidemic broken out? Puzzled, he walked through the village and soon noticed something odd.
Why are almost all the patients men?
Wondering whether there was some reason for it, he decided to look a little longer. Then one figure caught his eye.
Hm? Isn't that the fellow who received treatment here only a few days ago?
When Jin Do had briefly stopped by while escorting a shipment of medicinal supplies, the man had been having his injured left arm treated by Jin Cheong. His frame was twice the size of an ordinary man's and his features were rough and imposing, so he had left an impression.
Finding the situation strange, Jin Do decided to question him while he was at it.
"What ails you, that you have come here?"
"Ah, my lord. This humble one is a woodcutter. While felling trees I injured my right arm."
"Did you not come a few days ago with an injury to your left arm?"
"Yes. I am rather clumsy at my work, so I get hurt quite often. Heh heh."
The man laughed awkwardly, yet to Jin Do's eyes he looked more suspicious still.
Further conversation revealed that the man had also injured his legs, his shoulders, and more, all of which had been treated. Yet none of the wounds Jin Do could see were particularly serious.
A little more inquiry showed that men who came in repeatedly with such frequent injuries were by no means rare. Moreover, their expressions were not those of people who had come because they were in pain. One and all they were grinning foolishly at something, and now and then a few whispered among themselves.
Following their gazes, Jin Do found the single person who stood out: his own daughter, Jin Cheong.
She was now sixteen. As a woman she had finished growing; outwardly she had matured and carried herself with natural dignity. To him, however, she was still only his young and adorable daughter.
She was wrapping a bandage around the shoulder of the male patient in front of her. The man was staring at her face with a vacant, blissful smile.
Only then did Jin Do understand why these people were behaving as they did. Unprecedented rage flooded through him.
These...! These worthless scoundrels of the world! How dare they cast their eyes on my daughter...!
His teeth ground together; his beard trembled.
She was no renowned physician; she was merely assisting the military doctors. Yet the great majority of those present had clustered around her.
His daughter was examining the patients one by one, looking after their wounds. There were so many of them that, pitifully, her face seemed to have grown thin and haggard. (In truth she was tired, but not to the point of looking half-dead; that was merely how it appeared in a father's eyes.)
Even so she never lost her smile and tended each patient with care.
She was so clever in every other matter—why was she so dense about something like this?
He made up his mind. He would take measures.
I cannot leave my daughter among a pack of jackals like these.
That night Xu Shu received a piece of news through his adjutant: an order from Liu Bei to exchange medical stations with Jin Cheong.
He found it a little odd, yet reassigning districts was common enough, so he thought little of it.
The next piece of news, however, startled him. In the course of arranging the change, General Jin Do had flown into a rage—and a fierce one at that.
"General Jin Do lost his temper?"
"Yes. I do not know the precise reason myself, but the rumor is that he grew so furiously angry that both His Lordship and his daughter, Lieutenant Jin Cheong, were quite taken aback."
"Did some accident occur? Or some unexpected turn of events?"
"I have heard of no accident or incident of any kind. Only that a great many patients had been gathering."
Xu Shu could only tilt his head. Among Liu Bei's officers, Jin Do was counted, along with Zhao Yun, as one of the most mild-mannered and upright of men.
And that man had lost his temper? Without any particular reason? No amount of pondering yielded an answer.
The next day Xu Shu went to the village that Jin Cheong had previously managed and continued his medical work as usual—examining patients, selecting herbs, preparing medicines. Yet something felt strange.
I distinctly heard that patients were pouring in in enormous numbers.
He had assumed he had been sent here because of the crowd, yet that did not seem to be the case. The number of people who came was little different from the place he had left.
Setting the puzzle aside for the moment, he devoted himself to the patient before him.
"Well now, how is it? Better? If anything still hurts, speak freely."
"It is fine..."
The rough-looking man answered with a sullen face. The lukewarm response was a little disheartening, but Xu Shu supposed the man simply felt unwell and let it pass.
What he did not know was that the patients gathered here were either genuinely ill or those who had heard the news a little late.
A few men farther back whispered among themselves.
"Hey, is this really the place? I heard the rumor and even cut my finger on purpose while working just so I could come."
"I swear she was here until yesterday."
"Then where did she go?"
"How should I know?"
Seeing only some man handling herbs where the beauty who treated injuries was supposed to be, they could not hide their disappointment.
Xu Shu, oblivious, simply continued to care for the patients with diligence. A few days later, however, another report arrived that left him tilting his head once more.
The number of patients in the village to which Jin Cheong had gone had suddenly exploded.
"What is this? Did some plague break out in the meantime?"