Talents of Xuzhou, Trust Me and Follow
Several days had passed since Zhang Qian and his party settled in Xiapi, and there were still plenty of men grinding their teeth over what he had done in the prefectural offices.
"You mean such a thing actually happened?"
"He's nothing but a petty merchant, and yet the wretch carried on as if he meant to buy up an entire province's army!"
"Where is the man now?"
The fellow, abroad until the news reached him and hurried in at once, pressed his senior clerks for Zhang Qian's whereabouts.
"That Lu Zijing is keeping him inside his own house."
"Zijing, of course. So he's already secured a man like that..."
"What are you saying?"
"Nothing. I only asked out of curiosity."
"Yuanlong, put idle thoughts out of your head. Do you not know your father's situation?"
"...I know it all too well."
Chen Yuanlong was only a minor official of Xuzhou, yet his father was a noted magnate of the Pengcheng region, and the tale of Zhang Baijin had caught his interest.
"It should come to about three thousand hu. With this much, feeding everyone at Xiaopei will be no trouble at all."
"You mean to send all of it to Xiaopei?"
"I offer it gladly to the lord who would aid my homeland of Xuzhou."
Staying in Lu Su's house, I had come into the great stores of grain in his granary.
Ages ago, while I was still finding my feet in this life back in Bohai, the talk of Xuzhou's rich men had certainly included him. Lu Zijing isn't that great a fortune beside our house? The very fact that he can give this away so freely means his largesse already outstrips mine. A true magnate!
"For Lord Lu's sincere devotion to Xuzhou, and for the hospitality you have shown us, you have my heartfelt thanks."
"Think nothing of it. I happen to like guests who come to my house."
When I walked the rear garden with Lu Su, laughter never ceased from within the main hall.
"Your lady is a remarkable beauty, and you yourself are a strikingly handsome man, my lord. You must take after the elder madam."
"Aiyo—such a pretty girl, and nothing but sweet words. Ho ho ho—"
Huan Ying, who had slipped into the household as naturally as any guest, fit herself just as naturally into the inner quarters.
Lu Su, it was said, had lost his parents early and been raised beneath his grandmother's care. And Ying'er, whom my elder sister had sent to wait on me, had from the moment she entered the house set about winning hearts—keeping company with Lu Su's wife, who lacked people to talk to, and with his grandmother, who had been living out her days in quiet loneliness.
"It has been a long time since Grandmother looked so happy. There seem to be many witty tongues around Lord Zhang."
"You do me too much honor."
I had brought her along wondering what use she would be, and she had stuck fast to the women of a magnate's inner quarters and become their conversation. That evening, too, the talk over the meal turned heavy.
"Being a merchant, I gather every report sent by the traders I have dispatched for business beyond Xuzhou as well."
"Baijin. What will come of it, then?"
I answered Guan Yu.
"They say Yanzhou is gathering grain, iron, and warhorses even now. A great war is certain to break over Xuzhou once more."
"And it will break right before our eyes! With matters as they stand, those rats in Xiapi—!"
Guan Yu flew into a rage at the news. Lu Su only listened in silence.
"I also released a few of my personal luxuries around Shuchun, and they are selling exceedingly well. Yuan Shu of Huainan seems to have a great fondness for such things."
Xuzhou's position was a damned mess, and no mistake. Yuan Shu to the south, Yuan Shao to the north, Cao Cao to the west, and nothing but the sea to the east.
"Thirty thousand at the least—no, twenty thousand would be enough!"
"I have heard much of Lord Yunchang's deeds in the war to punish the tyrant Dong Zhuo. They say you fought on equal terms with Lu Bu, that flying general in Dong Zhuo's service..."
"Equal?"
For an instant Guan Yu shook his head as if the very notion were absurd.
"Zijing, if Lu Bu meets me head-on, he will not leave that field alive."
"Ha—haha. Is that so? True enough, I heard that in those days Dong Zhuo's army took one look at Lord Yunchang at Sishui Pass and was too terrified to come forward."
I had never actually seen Lu Bu, and I could not say whether the two had ever truly fought one against one. What was certain was this: even with Lu Bu for an opponent, Guan Yu's confidence—an arrogance close to the absolute certainty that he would win—and his fighting spirit simply filled the room.
Just then the grounds outside grew busy.
"My lord, a guest has come."
"At this hour?"
"He gives his name as Yuanlong."
"What—that friend?"
Yuanlong?
Hearing the name, Lu Su opened the door, stepped out, and gave a servant his instructions. Then he sat down before me, Guan Yu, Zhuge Jin, and Zhao Yun.
"May one more person join us? Chen Deng, courtesy name Yuanlong. This friend, too, is a noted talent of Xuzhou."
"Agreed! By all means!"
If it was Chen Deng, of course he had to be let in. When I gave my assent, Zhao Yun nodded as well, and Zhuge Jin concurred.
"Was there another man in Xiapi with a working mind, besides Master Zijing?"
"Haha. Lord Yunchang ought to meet him once for himself."
Put so agreeably to Guan Yu, the matter was settled, and Chen Deng came to the gathering—a debonair young man of about Lu Su's years, with a neat mustache. The moment he arrived he exchanged greetings, took his seat, and accepted the wine set before him.
"I offer my greetings to the gentlemen from Xiaopei. I am Chen Yuanlong."
Chen Deng fell at once upon the wine and fish Lu Su had set out, eating and drinking with gusto.
"Whew—how long has it been since I tasted anything this fine."
"Is your house still in that state?"
"Zijing, I'm nearly out of my mind. With my father detained, I cannot even open our granary as I please."
Chen Deng took a swallow of wine and went straight to the point.
"I offer my thanks to those who saved Xuzhou last winter, and as a magnate of Xuzhou I have one request."
"What is it?"
"So out of nowhere you want us to shut our eyes and fight once more?"
"Ah—so you are Lord Guan? The man who stormed Sishui Pass alongside the late Polu General of Yangzhou, Sun Jian!"
Guan Yu's brows twitched, but Chen Deng went on, perfectly at ease.
"I heard that last time your request for aid was refused through Colonel Cao, but that could not be helped. Please try to understand the circumstances of Xuzhou's leadership as well."
"Master Chen. I should like to hear this in detail."
Curiosity got the better of me, and I asked him to speak plainly.
"I will tell you everything. Within Xuzhou at present, it is the various factions—and Yuan Shu to the south—that keep men from looking kindly upon you."
"Yuan Shu... they are still thinking of an alliance?"
"Yes. General Tao, who governs this place, originally formed an alliance through Gongsun Zan and Yuan Shu and kept up a steady exchange. But because of this latest affair, Lord Liu Xuande, Chancellor of Pingyuan, came to our aid, and through Lord Zhang Baijin hands were joined with Yuan Shao. The magnates who were originally of the pro-Yuan Shu faction do not look well upon that."
So all of this comes down to factions?
"That makes even less sense. Has Yuan Shu ever once helped while Cao Cao was invading?"
"He could not help the people of Xuzhou, no. But he did guarantee their safety—if Cao Cao pushed this far, he would protect every family and every fortune, so they had only to come south of the Huai River of their own will."
What?
"The magnates who lead private troops in Xuzhou were, until only last year, men allied with Gongsun Zan and Yuan Shu, opposed to Yuan Shao, who had shed a great deal of blood. To them, Lord Xuande looks like a man who switched to Yuan Shao the moment Gongsun Zan was routed and bowed his head to yesterday's enemy—and they find that picture distasteful."
"What nonsense is this!"
Guan Yu burst out, but Chen Deng went on with his explanation.
"My father serves as an Attendant Officer of Xuzhou, yet because he has been on friendly terms with Yuan Shu since childhood, he went to request aid and was instead detained together with my uncle. Thanks to that, I too am confined and cannot leave Xiapi."
Chen Deng's father, Chen Gui, was on good terms with Yuan Shu, had gone as an envoy, and had been seized by Yuan Shu instead. And so Chen Deng, left behind in Xiapi, could not get out either?
"Of course, my father is a man of keen stratagem and a scholar of renown in these parts, so he will keep negotiating with Yuan Shu and labor for Xuzhou's peace. In the end, the men in Xiapi City are watching two lifelines and waiting to see which one to seize."
"The more I hear, the more it seems Xiapi holds nothing but worthless wretches."
Guan Yu said exactly what I had been about to say. It was nothing more than the psychology of local worthies in an age of chaos: so long as a man secured his own property, his own family, and his own safety, the ignorant commoners dying in the next district were no concern of his. Worse, a power they had fought to the death until last year now sat over them in the name of alliance, and the whole arrangement rankled. They themselves had never felt the terror of war right in front of their faces.
"But not every magnate of Xuzhou is like that. Naturally there are many who prize Lord Xuande's righteous spirit, and the support Lord Baijin has given in both goods and heart, and who stand behind you. If Lord Mi Zizhong were at this table—the foremost magnate of Xuzhou, now gone to serve as magistrate of Donghai—he would gladly help. As would I, and Zijing."
So Mi Zhu, Chen Gui, Chen Deng, and Lu Su support us, and the rest do not. Precisely the talents we need are on our side.
"From where I sit, I see three possibilities."
"Three?"
"First, Cao Cao abandons his plan to invade this place. Then everyone is happy. Second, Lord Xuande at Xiaopei holds off Cao Cao's army and, having saved Xuzhou twice, has that support recognized by the house of the Inspector of Xuzhou, and an alliance is formed. Third, Yuan Shu, seeing that Xuzhou is about to go over to Yuan Shao, provides even now more than double the aid, drives Cao Cao out, and the alliance of the central plains is drawn up anew."
"I'll wager this. The first and the third will never come to pass."
"That is why I came. For now, the thing is to keep Xuzhou out of Cao Cao's grasp by whatever means we can. After that, everything can be planned."
"Well said."
Guan Yu drained the wine jar in great gulps and opened his tiger's eyes, as if he might take the field that very moment. Lu Su stepped in to mediate what remained.
"I pray for the martial fortune of Lord Xuande and his following. I myself am leaving, but I entrust Xuzhou to you."
Has he grown so thoroughly sick of a Xuzhou like this that he means to leave? Somehow I have to get this man aboard the great work...
"Zijing."
"Yes, Lord Yunchang."
"I would rather you simply came with us. To Xiaopei."
At Guan Yu's blunt proposal, Lu Su's brows twitched.
"I am sorry to say it, but I have no talent for arms. I am merely a magnate of an ordinary scholar-official house."
"I could seize you by force and drag you to Xiaopei. But I would truly rather we went together. I will protect your entire family."
"This is... a truly difficult proposal."
Might Guan Yu's sheer bullheadedness actually land?
Just then a servant called for Lu Su from outside once more.
"My lord, the elder madam summons you."
"What—Grandmother?"
"She says that in the midst of the banquet, there is something she absolutely must tell you."
"Ha. Of all things... Forgive me. I will return shortly."
With Lu Su gone, Chen Deng refilled his cup and asked us, sidelong.
"There is... one thing I would ask."
"What is it?"
"What?"
"What would you ask?"
Zhang Qian, Guan Yu, and Zhuge Jin had all spoken at once. Chen Deng cleared his throat, glanced about, and put his question.
"Lord Liu Xuande, at Xiaopei... has he married?"
"My elder brother has met a number of women since Zhuo County, but sadly he has no principal wife at present. Why do you ask?"
"Ah—is that so? I shall keep that carefully in mind."
Chen Deng offered some inscrutable remark, then drew close beside me, watched Guan Yu's face, and whispered.
"Since you are Lord Xuande's patron, I will speak plainly. The next time you come here, leave the Inspector of Xuzhou's subordinates alone. Try the inner quarters."
"Hm?"
"The Inspector dotes exceedingly upon his principal wife, Lady Gan. They have two grown sons between them, and the Gan clan, backed by the mistress of the Inspector's inner chambers, holds a faction of its own across Yuzhou and Xuzhou."
The Gan clan? The famous Gans of Xuzhou in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms... wait?
"Just remember this much. The Gan house of these parts is a hidden power."
At that moment the door opened and Lu Su came in. Whatever his grandmother had said to him, he sat with a flushed face and immediately drained cup after cup.
"Haa—!"
Then he looked us over one by one and let out a long breath.
"Did you ask me to go with you to Xiaopei?"
"We did."
"And the one who, having come to Xiapi, now understands this place's circumstances best is Lord Zhang Baijin?"
"That is so."
"Lord Zhuge, who has sat so quietly, knows better than anyone the state of Xuzhou's devastated north. And Lord Zhao, come from Changshan, is a man who has traveled all this way simply to follow Lord Xuande."
Lu Su, having named even the silent Zhao Yun and Zhuge Jin, gave a bitter smile and delivered his conclusion.
What?
"Mm!"
Just like that?
Lu Su laughed as if the strength had gone out of him and looked at me.
"Somehow or other, Grandmother says she wishes me to remain in Xuzhou and make my name."
The household had been set on going forth with a great ambition, and the family's elder, the grandmother, had opposed it. In that instant the picture shifted at tremendous speed—Ying'er spending these past days in the inner quarters of Lu Su's house, and Lu Su's own pretext that he would leave Xuzhou to keep his family safe from the wars.
"...And so I would go where a great calamity will befall Xuzhou, to see it with my own eyes and hear it with my own ears. Will you... help me?"
At those words I rose at once and offered Lu Su a cupped-fist salute. Guan Yu, Zhao Yun, and Zhuge Jin rose as well and gave him their sincere thanks.
On the road from Xiapi back to Xiaopei, we had failed to meet Tao Qian, and yet we carried home a truly enormous gain.
"How in the world did you do it?"
"Hmm~ Do what?"
"Lu Zijing's household was going to leave Xuzhou for another land, and the one who held them was that man's grandmother—the one you'd been talking with so well."
At that, Ying'er smiled a small, pleased smile.
"It was nothing. I only kept an old grandmother company and talked a little, being from the same Xuzhou."
"Then how did a house bent on fleeing the wars come to a stop?"
"I just told her about Pengcheng, my hometown in Xuzhou, and how my lord saved me after all I had suffered. Remembering that time, the tears came and I wept, and she comforted me."
"..."
"She said she had heard there was a hero here who would save Xuzhou. Then Lord Lu's grandmother told my lord, 'If Xiapi, the ground we have lived on all our lives, comes to that, then to live will not be to live at all!' And she said, 'However worthless our neighbors may be, if every one of them is to die, how could our house alone run away?'"
—!
That it had taken with Lu Su's household was impressive enough. That she had also come away with gifts—earrings for his grandmother, and a sewing casket inlaid with mother-of-pearl for his wife—was the greater coup. Sharper than I had ever imagined, and she knew how to handle people.
"My lord rescued me and brought me into the Zhang household. Shouldn't I at least earn my keep?"
"Ah. Yes. You did very well this time. Thanks to you, the road home is a rich one."
"I've even received betrothal gifts, so you may take me in whenever you like."
"..."
"Oh—and the principal wife is that Lady Zhuge? I can serve her perfectly well."
"Let us... leave that talk for another time."
"Yes, my lo-ord~♥"
At my words, Huan Ying opened the sewing casket she had been given and set to her embroidery alone.
Yes. The more I came to know her, the more she proved a truly fine woman.