Off to See Those Fine Clans of Southern Xuzhou
A few days had passed since we arrived in Xiaopei. Day after day proved remarkably comfortable, and the people were kind. They were reclaiming ruined ground and raising a proper fortress, and every one of them was working hard simply for the sake of eating and living.
"Ah, Qian."
Su Shuang looked as though he had been up all night again. He came out to meet me with a scruffy beard and both arms full of bamboo slips.
"You look terribly worn, brother-in-law."
"Laying the foundation is always the busiest stretch of the work."
I took one of the slips and opened it. Inside was a budget ledger set down in exhaustive detail.
"A single palisade means counting the logs and the wages of skilled hands. An earthen rampart means the stone you haul in and the straw matting. And you even have to figure the fish oil that must be kept on hand at all times. This is why I keep saying you need an experienced local official."
"Surely your ability is already the match of a grand administrator or an inspector?"
"Bah. I haven't the caliber for that."
So he said, but the praise had been constant. Ever since Liu Bei arrived, and my brother-in-law Su Shuang with him, the flow of money and the keeping of accounts inside Xiaopei had run remarkably smooth. Because of it, Liu Bei could send Guan Yu and Zhang Fei out to raise the line holding Yanzhou at bay and still spend his full strength on the work, the rear settling into order without a hitch.
I love the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, but I cannot for the life of me see how the Liu Bei of this very time managed all of it alone. His only staff officer amounted to Tian Yu, and even that friend was soon to leave. He had nothing like the later circle of Jian Yong, Sun Qian, and Mi Zhu—only Jian Yong, and him alone.
"How do you find life in Xiaopei?"
"Busier than Jizhou, certainly. I have to manage the supplies coming down from Hebei as they arrive, too."
"Even so, if we raise what has fallen, won't there be a great deal accomplished?"
"The household goods we brought down last time with a thousand private troops sold at a handsome profit across Yuzhou and along the Huai."
Su Shuang was a truly remarkable man of business, and coming south to Xuzhou together had been the right decision a hundred times over.
"Qian. Tell me something, though. What do you make of this?"
"Of what?"
Su Shuang began to write on a bamboo slip.
He passed it over. It was neither a budget nor a matter of trade.
We left Yuan Shao, master of all Jizhou—the richest of the Han's thirteen provinces—and came to Liu Bei, a man with a single walled town to his name.
"!?"
A silent exchange of writing. He had set it down on the spot and shown it to me so that no one else would hear, and only I would see.
Qian. Do you believe you can raise this man Liu Bei as high as Yuan Shao? The Liu Bei whom my father and I sponsored in Zhuo County is still a man who struggles to govern even a single commandery.
I read the slip and flung it straight into the brazier, where it burned. Then I put the present situation into a single line.
"What we did in Jizhou was a transaction. What we will do in Xuzhou is a partnership."
"!?"
"We will see the fruit of it. Without fail."
"Ha—hahaha!"
Su Shuang laughed aloud and nodded.
"Shall we speak of something else? I've met a great many scholars while staying here, but one friend in particular caught my eye—a man of the Zhuge clan."
"Ah. You mean Ziyu?"
"Yes. And I hear Ziyu's younger sister has taken an interest in you. What do you think of that?"
"Ah..."
"You brought Ying'er out of Xuzhou, and you're of an age besides. Taking a wife and concubines is only the natural thing."
The moment I moved to answer, a huge shadow appeared beyond the door.
"If you're in there, I'll be imposing a moment."
"!?"
Rattle!
The door opened, and a giant of staggering size filled the frame. His face was as solid as his bulk, and two eyes blazing with inner fire flicked from me to Su Shuang and back.
"Is this not Lord Zhang Yide?"
"Ah, Lord Zhang!"
Zhang Fei had come. He offered us a greeting and dropped down on the spot. The air about him was different from Guan Yu's, but he was, at every glance, a warrior worth ten thousand men, his whole body brimming with a tremendous fighting spirit.
"I'd as soon pay my respects, drink a cup of tea, and talk over the old days in Zhuo, but it can't be helped. I'll say only what needs saying."
A chill came off Zhang Fei's words, but there was no hostility in them.
"Word is Cao Cao of Yanzhou is coming at us again. How's the preparing coming?"
"Lord Xuande of Xiaopei has entrusted me with full authority, so I am allocating the budget as it ought to be allocated."
Once Su Shuang had explained, he passed straight on to Zhang Fei the merchants' talk he had picked up while selling household goods in Yuzhou and along the Huai.
"They say Yanzhou keeps buying up iron, water-buffalo horn, timber, and glue. All of it materiel for war."
"And in the middle of that, the money owed our side keeps getting put off?"
"What do you mean?"
"Just what I said. That fellow who calls himself Governor of Xuzhou, sitting in Xiapi, has stuck us out on the front and won't send the funds."
The moment Zhang Fei said it, Su Shuang's eyes went wide.
No—honestly, I was shocked as well. Hadn't Tao Qian promised support on the condition that we hold off Cao Cao's army out of Yanzhou? Wasn't that why Liu Bei, after being recommended as Inspector of Yuzhou, was still here building the defensive line?
"That cannot be. The budget tallies we drew up through yesterday were all made on the assumption that the support would come from Xiapi!"
"I'll say I'm sorry to Lord Su, and to you, Qian. But there's still no answer out of Xiapi, and this is where it's left us."
"Then what of the laborers' wages, this very moment?"
"We're portioning out that dried seaweed and those beans you brought, and feeding them on that. A man can fill his belly. He can't get a real meal's strength out of it."
An awkward fix. Let discontent start at the front, and it swells past anyone's grip—and trust in Xuzhou is forgotten.
"Brother-in-law, that budget as it stands is absolutely necessary, is it not?"
"Of course it is."
"What if our house covers it for the time being and presents the bill to Xiapi?"
"We could. There won't be a scrap of profit in it, though. It would be pissing on a frozen foot."
"Then give me that budget proposal."
"!?"
I took the bamboo slip that carried the bill and looked once at Zhang Fei, once at Su Shuang. I had been meaning to visit Xiapi, the administrative seat of Xuzhou, in any case. This worked out well. We were all people of Xuzhou, and yet Dongguan, the Kingdom of Langya, and the rest of the north were being scorched to nothing, while the great clans of the south and His Excellency the Governor's men went on enjoying all that plenty. I intended to have a look at them.
"I mean to go and settle this properly."
"Qian, what are you saying?"
Su Shuang asked in alarm, but I turned to Zhang Fei.
"Lord Yide, I hear Lord Xuande will be here soon. When may I see him?"
"This very evening."
"Then I'll get his leave and leave for Xiapi tomorrow."
At that, the fierce set of Zhang Fei's face twitched, and for the first time he broke into a wide grin and nodded.
"Qian, you're going to Xiapi?"
"Even a common carpenter in the marketplace, once the work is done, goes to his employer to collect his wages. If they want Xuzhou defended, someone has to tell the Governor of Xuzhou to act like one."
"Haaah. Lord Tao is advanced in years. His reply is only a little slow."
"I'll go and see for myself whether that is truly the case."
I said it in front of Liu Bei, just returned from inspecting the front, and every eye in the room turned sharp. The first to speak was Zhuge Jin.
"To be honest... while my lord has been exerting himself like this in Xiaopei, Xiapi has not shown even the minimum of sincerity. That is a fact. I believe this is a matter of good faith, before it is ever a matter of trade."
"He's right! We aren't asking for gold and jewels, or for soldiers. Isn't it simple human decency to send military grain, at the very least? How can the Governor of Xuzhou—a province of more than a million households—be so shameless?"
"People are dying in droves before our eyes, the land is a wasteland, and not one of them has come out to set it right!"
Once Zhuge Jin opened the sluice, Yan Jun, Bu Zhi, Xu Sheng, and the rest burst out with everything they had been holding in. Liu Bei gave a bitter smile, lifted a wine cup, and went among them to fill each man's cup in turn.
"At least know this. I will not leave this place over a matter like this. Don't worry."
"My lord!"
"Lord Xuande!"
"Qian, if you're set on going, I'll write you a letter."
Liu Bei nodded, his eyes full of trust.
"Is there anything you need for the road?"
"My martial skill is lacking, so I'll need an escort."
"Take Yunchang and Zilong as your guards."
"!"
Guan Yu's eyes, fixed at Liu Bei's side, flew wide. Zhao Yun looked at me, nodded, and smiled.
"I'll leave tomorrow. But, Lord Xuande—there is someone I don't see."
"You mean Guorang?"
Tian Yu, who served as a staff officer alongside Zhuge Jin, was nowhere in sight. At the name, Liu Bei shook his head with a bitter face.
"That friend is leaving us now."
"Lord Xuande!"
"He says he has no choice but to leave the army, on account of his aged mother alone in his hometown. His home is Yuyang Commandery in Youzhou, so he is returning to Hebei."
"Lord Xuande, Guorang Tian Yu is a truly remarkable talent. Is it all right to send him off like this?"
"He means to care for his widowed mother. How could I hold him? It grieves me that I could not achieve great things together with him, but for the sake of filial piety and benevolence, I gave him travel money and a horse of mine and sent him on."
"Where is he?"
"!"
I ran straight out.
When I found Tian Yu, he was fortunately just about to leave, checking the saddle on the white horse Liu Bei had given him.
"Lord Tian."
"Ah—is that not Lord Qian?"
"I heard you were leaving for Youzhou."
"I could not bear the sight of my mother, seventy years old and alone in our hometown, so I am going. I truly regret it."
"How much would it take?"
"...What do you mean by that? I am not going for money. I am going for filial duty."
"That's why I asked. How much money does it take to carry out that duty?"
For an instant Tian Yu's eyes went cold.
"What do you take me for, to say a thing like that?"
I pressed into his hand the gold I had brought inside my robe. The jade case alone was exceedingly dear, and within it pure gold threw off a clear, luminous gleam, so that Tian Yu's eyes flickered.
"This is support, so you can see your mother and restore her to health."
"???"
I drew one more ingot of gold from my robe and closed his fingers around that as well.
"And this is the cost of the move, for bringing your mother back with you to Xuzhou—and money for cart and horses, so you can find capable men along the way and bring them in."
"!!!"
Tian Yu's expression was something to behold.
Even if he took it and never came back, I would not feel it as any great loss. I only wanted the thing carved, unmistakably, into the heart of the man called Tian Yu.
"I have to go see the Governor of Xuzhou first thing tomorrow morning, so I can't talk long. Travel safely as far as Youzhou."
"You are telling me to bring my mother down into this Xuzhou—this pit of fire—and settle here outright?"
"The judgment is Guorang's to make. At the least, we will still be here."
"..."
Tian Yu bowed his head to me, and late in the night I waved him off.
Someone had been watching.
"Qian, you really are..."
"Ziyu, you saw that?"
"I have just reported it to our lord myself. I will go with you on the road to Xiapi."
"Oh?"
"If someone is to make the men in Xiapi understand the misery of Xuzhou, I am the fittest man for it."
Guan Yu, Zhao Yun, and Zhuge Jin besides—I would take them all and go to Xiapi in Xuzhou. With that company, I ought to be able to give Tao Qian and the hands around him a very great shock inside the city.