Departing for Hanzhong
I set out for Hanzhong with Deng Zhi. Naturally, we brought an escort and the gifts meant for Zhang Lu as well.
Along the way we stopped at Gaimeng Pass, which sat astride the road into Hanzhong. Of course, that meant I also got to see Huo Jun, who was still holding the place.
"General Huo. It's been a long time. You've worked hard all this while. I hear you even earned great merit — truly impressive. Thanks to you, we were able to focus entirely on the campaign for Chengdu."
"Haha. What hardship did I really endure? It was all thanks to the help you gave me before, General Jin. I heard you were promoted to Lieutenant General. Congratulations."
Wang Wei was doing well too, he said. Having him there had lightened Huo Jun's burden considerably. Bringing Wang Wei along really had been the right call.
As I spoke with Huo Jun, I studied his face carefully, watching for any sign of illness or discomfort.
His color looked fine for now. In the original history he was appointed Administrator of Zitong and died about three years later — what would become of him this time, I couldn't say.
Silently wishing him good health, I left Gaimeng Pass behind and pressed on toward the north.
"Lord Deng, the road is quite rough, isn't it? This really is a country of mountains. The scenery is fine, but it certainly isn't an easy path."
"Yes. Rugged."
"You're not too tired, are you?"
"I'm fine."
"I'd heard the road to Hanzhong was harsh, but this is no joke. Haha."
"Indeed."
Ugh… awkward, so awkward… I'm going to suffocate.
The conversation that barely qualified as one died out, and all that reached my ears was the clop of hooves.
Deng Zhi was a man in his thirties, and an extremely taciturn one at that. The histories recorded that he was upright, but so plainspoken and unpolished that he never got along well with people.
I tried to keep the mood alive by talking to him, but he answered only in short, clipped replies.
Gan Yong should have been here. I found myself missing that sociable man all of a sudden.
And yet a man like this was said to have been excellent as an envoy — peculiar, if nothing else.
I gave up on conversation and looked around instead. Where were we now?
Below a sheer cliff face, a plank road clung to the rock — a gallery road built out over the drop.
So this is the Mamingge Road. A vital artery leading into Hanzhong.
I pulled the historical memory up from the back of my mind.
In the future Battle of Hanzhong, Chen Shi would try to secure this Mamingge Road, only to be driven back by Xu Huang. Many men threw themselves into the mountains and ravines and died, and Cao Cao was so pleased he bestowed a ceremonial axe of authority upon Xu Huang.
That axe — the jie — was a symbol of power. To grant one meant giving the right to execute anyone who disobeyed military orders in wartime.
In other words, securing the Mamingge Road had mattered enough to Cao Cao that he handed out that kind of authority over it. Because Liu Bei ultimately won the Hanzhong campaign, modern accounts barely mention the place in passing — but still.
Hmm. How should I prepare for the fighting that will happen here later? Xu Huang was already dead, so he wouldn't be coming, but some other general might take his place. I rode along the Mamingge Road lost in thought.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw that Deng Zhi, too, seemed to be turning something over carefully in his mind. Probably how to persuade Zhang Lu into returning Ma Chao's family.
He wore the same blank expression as always, but his head must have been aching fiercely.
And so, each of us sunk in our own private calculations, we hurried our steps toward Hanzhong.
Deng Zhi was, how to put it — a man of few words, but when it came to work he was sharp as a blade.
In particular, he had an uncanny knack for sniffing out the shirkers, the ones who hid, the ones who weren't doing their jobs properly — and then he tore into them without mercy.
"Did you think I wouldn't find you if you hid here?"
"Is this how you maintain a saddle? At this rate you'll end up carrying the horse on your backs. Well? Want to start carrying it now?"
"And what is this bow supposed to be? The string's sagging like wet rope. Planning to blow on it with your mouth when you shoot?"
He never uttered a single curse, and yet he crushed the spirits of the soldiers — especially the idlers and the ones who half-did their work — so thoroughly that I almost wondered whether this was really the same taciturn Deng Zhi.
The crowning moment was when he caught soldiers who had been about to raid a civilian's fields for food.
How he managed to root out men who had slipped into the fields in secret, I still don't know — it was genuinely impressive. He hauled them in and punished them according to military law.
After a few thorough thrashings from him, the soldiers snapped to attention and conducted themselves with proper discipline.
Honestly, it made things easy for me. Thanks to him, our conduct and military order stayed solid the whole way.
The mountains that had seemed as if they would never end began to thin out, and at last something that could reasonably be called flat ground appeared. We had reached Hanzhong.
"We've finally arrived, Lord Deng."
"Yes. You've worked hard."
"It looks like someone Zhang Lu sent has come out to meet us."
Up ahead, a group of people was walking toward us. Guides dispatched by Zhang Lu, by the look of it.
"This is the administrative residence. Please, come in. Ah — before that, we must inspect your belongings. I ask for your understanding."
Deng Zhi and I submitted to the search and entered the residence where Zhang Lu was waiting. Naturally, we surrendered all our weapons.
We stepped into the main hall, passed between the rows of officials standing to either side, and at last came face to face with Zhang Lu himself.
"I am Jin Cheong, Lieutenant General. I have come here under the orders of my lord, Left General Liu Bei."
"I am Deng Zhi, the Pavilion Commander. It is an honor to meet Lord Teacher Zhang, who governs Hanning."
The middle-aged man seated in the great chair at the center spoke.
"Yes. I am Zhang Lu."
Hanning was the name Zhang Lu had given the region when he declared himself an independent warlord. Calling it Hanzhong would have soured his mood, but Deng Zhi had addressed it as Hanning from the very first word, carefully catering to his pride.
And he used the title "Lord Teacher" — the style Zhang Lu had chosen for himself — without fail. No one had coached him, yet he instinctively selected the words his counterpart most wanted to hear. As an envoy, his talent was unmistakable.
More than anything, the way this once-taciturn man opened his mouth the moment we arrived and poured out fluent, polished speech as if he were someone else entirely was rather astonishing. Hmm. And here I thought I was going to die of awkwardness on the way.
Greetings and courtesies were exchanged for a while, and we also paid our respects to Yang Bai, Yan Pu, and the others present.
"So then — what business brings you all this way?"
With Zhang Lu's question, we moved to the main subject. Deng Zhi opened his mouth.
"Then allow me to explain. We have come regarding General Ma Chao."
"Ma Chao… Ma Chao."
The moment Zhang Lu heard the name, his brow furrowed. Not only him — the atmosphere among the officials present turned distinctly sour as well. Only moments ago the mood had been decent enough, but that single name was like a bucket of cold water dumped over the room.
In particular, I noticed one military officer standing nearby whose expression twisted quite badly. That would be Yang Bai — the man who had slandered Ma Chao and driven him to flee to the Di tribes. Thinking of it that way, he occupied the role of a treacherous minister, and yet thanks to him Ma Chao had been able to defect to our army, so perhaps he was something of an unwitting benefactor?
"Ma Chao. I heard he surrendered to Left General Liu — is that true?"
"Yes. It is true. He currently holds the post of General Who Pacifies the West in our army."
"What does Ma Chao have to do with us that you've come all this way? I don't harbor particularly warm feelings toward that man, you understand. He borrowed a great many of our soldiers, claiming he would retake Xiliang, and then produced nothing whatsoever."
"Exactly. He forgot the favor we did him, never so much as sent word, and then we hear he's surrendered to Lord Liu Bei? Do you have any idea how absurd that news sounded to us?"
"Just tell us why you've come. As the Lord Teacher said, Ma Chao is as good as a stranger to us now."
When Zhang Lu spoke curtly, Yang Bai, Yan Pu, and the others piled on. The atmosphere we had so carefully built up turned ice-cold, but Deng Zhi remained perfectly composed.
"Yes. General Ma Chao is now one of us — but I understand that his family members are still here."
"So you're saying you want them returned?"
"Yes. That is correct. General Ma Chao has been counting the days until he can see his family again."
Yan Pu snorted.
"Hah! He abandoned them and ran when it suited him, and now he claims he's been waiting?"
"They are bound by blood. Wanting to be together is only natural, is it not?"
Yang Bai sneered.
"And you're just going to take them, pretending we never looked after them all this time?"
They were beginning to work themselves into a temper, but Deng Zhi stayed calm.
"Which is precisely why we have prepared a small token of gratitude."
We presented the wealth we had brought from Chengdu. At that, they fell silent for a moment. From their perspective, now that Ma Chao had left their hands, accepting payment and handing over his family might well be more advantageous than continuing to care for them.
Reading their mood, Deng Zhi continued.
"If you return his family, General Ma Chao will not forget the Lord Teacher's kindness. Moreover, from now on we shall be neighbors with your lord as well — would it not be wise to begin cultivating goodwill from this moment?"
Even so, they did not come around at once. They kept failing to produce an answer, whispering among themselves. From the way they kept glancing sideways at us, they were probably discussing whether it might be better to keep Ma Chao's family as hostages. As long as his wife and children were in their hands, Ma Chao would not dare attack Hanzhong lightly.
Sensing the atmosphere, Deng Zhi spoke again. His previously deferential manner shifted, just slightly.
"Lord Teacher. Forgive my presumption, but allow me one word. As the master who rules this Hanning, you ought to weigh greater matters. One must not blot out the moonlight merely to preserve a light no brighter than a firefly."
"What are you saying? Trying to sway me with that silver tongue of yours?"
"Not at all. You are a man of virtue who governs this land by righteousness and the Way. If you reflect only a little further, you will know well enough what must be done to preserve that virtue. Consider whom General Ma Chao has been fighting all this time."
The one Ma Chao had fought was, of course, Cao Cao. They had fought with the intent to kill each other. In other words, Cao Cao and Ma Chao were mortal enemies — enemies who could not share the same sky.
At a time when Cao Cao was already eyeing Hanzhong with open hunger, falling out of his favor was something Zhang Lu would do well to avoid as much as possible.
Looking at Zhang Lu's future, the point was not wrong. Once Cao Cao conquered Hanzhong, the things he did to Ma Chao's family made that clear enough.
In days to come, Cao Cao would subjugate Hanzhong and bestow Lady Dong upon Yan Pu.
And Ma Chao's son, Ma Qiu? Cao Cao left his fate to Zhang Lu himself — and Zhang Lu ultimately had the boy killed.
Zhang Lu would carry the stain of having murdered a child; Yan Pu, the stain of having taken another man's wife.
Leaving Ma Chao's family in Zhang Lu's hands was no different from cradling a seed of disaster. That was what Deng Zhi was saying.
"E-even so, can we hand them over so easily? We have lived with them for a long time."
When Zhang Lu still could not bring himself to decide, Deng Zhi seemed to conclude that another approach was needed. His eyes narrowed.
"As the Lord Teacher well knows, General Ma Chao bears the illustrious title of Divine Might Heavenly General, and his ties to the Qiang and Di peoples run deep. Moreover, having been entrusted with the post of General Who Pacifies the West by our lord, he can mobilize troops whenever he wishes."
"Wh-what! Are you threatening us?!"
Zhang Lu flared up, but the ends of his words trembled slightly.
"Not a threat — a request that you consider the peace of this Hanning."
"Mmm…"
Zhang Lu was a man respected in this Hanzhong, but he was not a bold one. Right now he would be weighing the scales furiously in his mind: whether it was better to quietly hand over Ma Chao's family, or to make enemies of Ma Chao, Liu Bei, and the foreign tribes alike.
They whispered among themselves again, still watching us from the corners of their eyes. But from what I could see, the mood had already tipped. Better to cast off the anxiety of holding those people than to keep trembling over them. The gifts were a bonus.
"Very well. Take them with you."
At last the permission fell from Zhang Lu's lips. I stepped forward one pace and spoke.
"We are grateful for the Lord Teacher's deep consideration. However — I have heard that General Pang De is also residing here."
"Pang De? That is so, but…"
Zhang Lu let the sentence trail off. He had deliberately avoided mentioning the man first, no doubt hoping we would leave without him. A fierce general who might prove even more useful than Ma Chao's family, after all.
"Yes. That is correct. Would it be acceptable for General Pang De to accompany us as well?"
"Mmm. You mean I must send Pang De too?"
"Yes. As the Lord Teacher knows, General Pang De and General Ma Chao are the closest of comrades. If you send him along as well, that kindness will not be forgotten."
"But he has duties here…"
"Before I came, I heard something in passing. That General Ma Chao has been searching for a way to contact General Pang De. He seems to miss him nearly as much as his own family. I ask that you consider this with generosity."
It was a roundabout way of saying that if things went poorly, we would find a means to collude with Pang De or extract him ourselves.
"Mmm. Very well. Take them all. Since it's come to this, better to settle everything cleanly at once."
"Thank you."
Deng Zhi and I bowed at the waist in gratitude. Things seemed to have gone better than expected.