Meet Me, and Every Negotiation Ends Here
"A family invitation. Of all things."
We had been invited in person to Tao Qian's own residence. Even in prosperous Xuzhou, that vast house — packed with the most lavish ornament to be found in the province — felt like the palace of a kingdom unto itself. Set beside it, our home in Jizhou and the villa at Zhongshan together would barely have matched its scale, and the sight set a great many thoughts turning in my head.
"To think the coin moving through a single province, in an age like this, could raise a house of this size."
"Say that where the man himself can hear you, and there'll be hell to pay."
Su Shuang murmured it aside. He was right, of course.
"Might you be Lord Zhang Baijin of the Zhang merchant house?"
"Ah — we are honored, young master."
Tao Shang had come in person to receive us. Seen a second time, he still looked faint of spirit: a man whose beard, grown in some desperate bid for dignity, sat awkwardly on his face. No steward for us. Tao Qian's own son guided us himself, through chamber after chamber strung out without end, until at last we reached the principal hall.
"Father, the household of Chief Zhang has arrived."
"Show them in."
The doors opened, and there was Tao Qian. Young maidservants beyond counting burned incense until a faint haze filled the room; they kneaded the old man's body, which could scarcely hold itself upright, and spooned gruel into his mouth.
"We pay our respects to the Governor of Xuzhou."
Su Shuang, Yanhua, and I bowed together, and Tao Qian lifted a hand. Indoors he had set aside that thick robe of silk, and his arms showed through as they were — nothing but bone.
"The two merchants I saw by daylight. And the woman behind them — whose wife is she?"
"My elder sister, and Su Shuang's wife."
"I am Zhang Yanhua."
"Heh... So the finest merchant house in all Hebei has come to my Xuzhou in full, I hear. Have you brought many fine goods?"
"A few pieces of Jizhou craftwork. A modest gift, but we would offer them to this household."
"Kindly said."
Tao Qian smiled and waved a hand.
"Shang'er, show them the house at your leisure, and entertain them generously."
"Yes, Father."
Once again, no real recompense — only a sending-off to meet the rest of the family. That was enough to make me certain. Tao Qian's span was already running out. He did not have many days left. He tried to keep his dignity about him, but the light had long since left both eyes, and without his maids to nurse him he could hardly rest easy even inside his own house. Whatever was to be discussed, it would be discussed through his eldest son.
He had summoned not only me, but Su Shuang and his wife as well, and told us outright to look the house over. This was more than someone angling for a bribe. He had sent his son to guide us in person, which meant the talk of interests had been left to his wife and his heir. I could guess at this and that well enough — and besides me, Su Shuang was here, a man whose nose for profit no one in Xuzhou could haggle down by so much as a coin.
"This is the inner residence, where my mother stays."
Announced under Tao Shang's guidance, we went in.
"All of you, lift your heads. I prefer to speak at ease."
"Yes, my lady."
When I raised my eyes, Tao Qian's principal wife, Madam Gan, proved a lady in her middle or late fifties, with dignity written all through her. Far sturdier than her husband, fond of taking her tea with elegance, her rooms crowded with ornaments — the very image of a rich household's matron.
"I hear the two of you saved Xuzhou twice. And that the merchant called Zhang Baijin gladly emptied his private purse to gather the refugees together again."
"It was done for righteousness, not for profit."
"Ho ho ho. What a remarkable young man. Old Zhang Shiping, the great merchant of Jizhou in Hebei, truly raised a splendid son."
At my father's name, something in me eased. Madam Gan drank her tea, then turned to Yanhua.
"Zhang Shiping's daughter, then. He was a man, and yet he dealt in a great many jewels that women love. And what of his daughter?"
"I couldn't say which ornaments would please my lady, but I carry in my sleeves the pieces that sell well through the Central Plains."
"Oh? Setting mine aside — might there be pretty things a young woman could wear?"
"If it's earrings, rings, and the like, I brought gifts meant for the ladies of the house."
And so she and Yanhua fell to talking, drawing the jewels from their sleeves and appraising them between them. I watched that go on as time slipped past, until Tao Shang brought in tea.
The real talk would come now. If it closed, then just as Tao Qian had said: a table groaning with food, cups shared, a handshake snapped shut. If not, a polite enough reception, and nothing afterward but a delicate current in the air.
"A house with real skill, to be sure. If you please even me, you could strike up a friendship with the other great clans of Xuzhou."
"You honor us, my lady."
"Shang'er."
When Madam Gan spoke to her son, Tao Shang cleared his throat and addressed Su Shuang and me.
"We called you this far because there is something to say about Lord Liu Xuande, whom you sponsor — and about Xuzhou."
"Since you've promised us a fine reception, I hope the council will be short and the meal long."
Nothing here to shrink from. Invited all the way into the inner quarters, to confer with the wife old Tao Qian had deputized and a son of thin mettle? Even without Su Shuang, I was confident I could roast the pair of them through and through.
"Hrrrm. Hm!"
Tao Shang cleared his throat. Madam Gan nodded, and the talk began at once.
"As for this Xuzhou — it was once a land where countless great clans each held their own wealth and their own private troops, until my father, General Tao, came to rule over it, and it enjoyed peace. They all swore loyalty to the general, and that oath is kept firm to this day."
Madam Gan added her piece.
"My lord and I came up from Danyang in Yangzhou, to the south. Since then our house has sunk its roots through Yuzhou and Xuzhou."
"Yes, my lady."
"His Lordship is advanced in years, and hard-pressed to bear Xuzhou hereafter. And so he is thinking of a successor."
Tao Qian was looking for someone to inherit the governorship of Xuzhou. At that, Su Shuang smiled and spoke to Tao Shang and Madam Gan.
"I beg pardon for the presumption, but is the young master not seated here before us — General Tao's own eldest son?"
"Ah..."
Inheriting a provincial post of the realm — did that even make sense? But what age was this, if not a chaos beyond the ordinary? Unless you were some unusually stiff-necked Confucian, you smiled and told the governor's house, the family that held the real power in each province, to pass it down the generations like the kings of a little realm. The Lius of Yizhou had done it. The Sun clan had done it. The Lius of Jingzhou would, the Yuans would, and in time the Caos would too.
"I thank you for saying so. But in truth, I have no confidence I can bend Xuzhou's native clans to me as my father did. My younger brother Ying, off in the backcountry, has been sent clean away as a refugee from this war."
"Well now... to be telling us a thing like this..."
"Are you not his patron — the man who can move Xuande's heart? We want a road on which Xuande and Xuzhou can both live."
Not Xuzhou. A way for the Tao clan of Xuzhou and Liu Bei to coexist. Su Shuang hoarded his words as carefully as he could, and Sister Yanhua, polishing the ornaments she had brought, kept her eyes on Madam Gan alone. I held my tongue a moment. In the stretch of silence Tao Shang's face kept begging for an answer, until Su Shuang cleared his throat.
"Ahem. My lord, we are only merchants. How could we speak to a matter so weighty..."
When Su Shuang stepped in with that troubled tone, Madam Gan made her offer.
"I would like someone to help this child, and to see the line of the Governor of Xuzhou kept in plenty, generation after generation — and if it can be done, by a bond tight enough to guard the governorship itself."
Su Shuang's eyes wavered. I barely held a laugh in.
Aha. So that's the game.
Tao Qian wanted to hand all of Xuzhou to his son Tao Shang, but the boy's mettle was thin, and so he was thinking of Liu Bei — a guardian powerful enough to hold the lad up? Say a thing like that to Guan Yu or Zhang Fei, and they would have put on one magnificent look, smashed the heated floor to pieces, and walked straight out.
Guan Yu would likely have said, "And whom, exactly, do you mean to make steward of the Taos of Xuzhou?"
Zhang Fei would have spat. "Ain't no bottom to what you're askin' off us."
"My lady. My lord. To our ears, this sounds far too fearful, and far too hard."
"So it is, then..."
"My brother-in-law's specialty is the business of trade, so he is weak in matters like these. But this, I can do."
"Brother-in-law..."
Sister Yanhua and Su Shuang moved to press me back, but I only met Tao Shang's eyes at my ease and spoke without hurry.
"My lord, we have already saved Xuzhou, and ranged that battlefield, fighting in earnest for the sake of peace. So if you will speak frankly of what comes after the war, we will gladly do our best to see it take a good road."
A beat, here.
"Of course, no one knows when that vicious Cao Cao will set his own house in order and come over these borders again. And Yuan Shu of the Huainan, who can hardly be called an ally anymore, may also learn how Xuzhou stands now and come himself. When that day arrives, you, my lord — you, who would succeed General Tao — will fight with valor too, will you not?"
"Th-that is why we wished a constructive word with Lord Xuande, and asked you to carry our intent."
"Yes. In Xuzhou, Lord Xuande has won the hearts of the people and of the clans, so he will surely answer a talk. But his support is already too great for him to remain forever a mere captain of Xuzhou's defense."
"..."
"And if, on top of that, any two among Yuan Shu, Yuan Shao, and Cao Cao should join hands and strike Xuzhou again..."
"E-enough! This talk will run far too long!"
In the end Tao Shang's eyes were the first to waver. Crushed under the weight of it, his hands trembled, and his mother, Madam Gan, hastily covered them with her sleeve and cleared her throat. I had offered only one example among the worst of cases, and even that he couldn't bear? Well. In the tales of the Three Kingdoms, once a hard provincial governor died, the thin-mettled sons never knew what to do with themselves, and flailed this way and that.
"...This will not be settled in a short talk, I think. We called you here to entertain you grandly, now that you are back from the field, so I shall guide you to the banquet hall."
"Yes, my lady."
The rest was just drink, meat, and a friendly little talk, was it? I could give them plenty more. In the future I would be the one to stop it — but I hadn't even mentioned yet that Lu Bu and Chen Gong might still come this way.
"Might Baijin's sister stay a moment, and show an old woman a few more jewels?"
"Oh — not at all! Yes, my lady!"
Madam Gan cut it off clean. Tao Shang, for his part, would guide Su Shuang and me to the banquet hall. I rose and offered the mother and son a courteous bow.
"Brother-in-law, I'm certain of it. The Governor of Xuzhou is on his last days, so they're looking for a regent and a patron who can take real responsibility for the clan."
"Even knowing that, how can you pour it out so freely in the governor's own house? We are merchants. We have neither office nor title."
"Anyone can see they're weighing three candidates — Xuzhou's native power, the faction that has always followed the general, and Lord Xuande, come on like a comet. This is when we stamp it into them. That we are the surest of the lot."
I knew the Three Kingdoms absurdly well, and I was enjoying the situation — but this was something anyone with decent instincts and a little business in them would have seen at once. An aged chairman, an incompetent son beneath him, and a specialist to take over the household in his place.
Invited to the banquet in Tao Qian's house, we found the food truly, staggeringly splendid.
"Brother-in-law, aren't you eating? It's more lavish than anything we had in Yecheng."
"I can't tell whether it's going in my mouth or up my nose. Honestly, my lady or Lord Tao could seize us this very moment and kill us, and neither mouse nor bird would know."
"Sister will be along soon. And she'll tell us they asked about the jewels used at a wedding."
"How can you be so sure of that?"
"One thing comes to mind, clear as day. Some time ago a man of Xiapi's great clans, Chen Yuanlong, said this: if we ever met General Tao's family, we were to be sure to let them know that Lord Xuande was unmarried."
Come to think of it, hadn't Guan Yu caught that in passing too? If I went out and laid this before Liu Bei and his two brothers, they would read the situation well enough.
Chen Deng, you more than earned your meal the last time we met. Do as you advised, and if Liu Bei rises to Governor of Xuzhou without a hitch, I'll repay you handsomely later.
Then the door opened. I thought it was Sister Yanhua. It was Tao Shang.
"Does the food suit you?"
"Ah — my lord!"
"A reception beyond our deserts! We truly thank you!"
Tao Shang had a table set for himself, then poured at once and drank it straight down. One cup didn't loosen him. With a trembling hand he took two or three more in a row, then picked up the bottle and came toward Su Shuang and me. Su Shuang rose first and took the cup. When it came my turn, the man finally spilled everything.
"Hoo — Baijin. I have one thing to ask. Lord Xuande is a man overflowing with honor, is he not?"
"Of all the heroes I have seen, he was the one most overflowing with chivalry."
"And he looks after his own, to the very end?"
"To save me — a mere merchant he had met only once — he sent me Guan Yunchang from the battlefield. A commander who could face ten thousand alone."
"Yes. He would be that sort of man..."
Tao Shang lifted his cup.
"In place of the aged Governor of Xuzhou — and because he is my father, and for the safety of our house — I meant to negotiate with Xuande through you. Of course, even now, I am making our wishes known through you."
"Tell me anything, and I will carry it for you, my lord, and for the governor's house."
"Liu Xuande. I wanted to settle him here in Xuzhou. Our house has no daughter, but among the women of my mother's clan there is a niece of peerless beauty. We meant to arrange the match, and bring him into the family."
Once the bluff that would have kept the initiative in their hands was broken, Tao Shang simply laid it all out — the whole of their private circumstances, just as they were.
"As it happens, they say Lord Xuande has no principal wife. Of course one would need to know what sort of young lady she is, and what matters is Lord Xuande's own heart, but..."
The niece of Tao Qian's wife — of the Gan clan, then. Which meant Lady Gan. Liu Bei would become nephew to Tao Qian by his wife's blood, and they would proclaim that, in name, he was one of the family. And after that, the governorship of Xuzhou would of course have to be Liu Bei's.
"And the seat of Governor... that seat... if I cannot take it..."
Tao Shang could not bring himself to finish. He knew better than anyone that even if he wanted the post, he lacked the quality for it. He was doing this because he feared Yuan Shu or Cao Cao coming later, and could not bear that weight.
"Are there many candidates to succeed as Governor of Xuzhou?"
"Aigoo, Baijin!"
I checked my brother-in-law, who was scrambling to stop me, and heard Tao Shang's answer.
"There was Mi Zhu of Juxian in Xuzhou, a noted gentleman of the province for generations. There was my father's retainer Zhao Bao, who proposed that if I were set up as Governor and his daughter given as a concubine, he would go to the front and fight. And in that man's place... Lord Xuande."
Of course. If they were introducing a niece so as to bring a man into the family, they had to be thinking not of some mere aide beside the governor, but of the governorship itself.
"But the problem is what comes after. Father's illness grows worse and worse, and even famous physicians, when we summon them, look grim. If the thing we truly hate to imagine should come to pass, then we..."
"Ha. Indeed..."
"From the salt trade to iron, oil, silk, and the rest — the merchant house that moves those markets, and the estates besides — we can manage them all. My brother-in-law here, Lord Su, is an expert in precisely that business."
"I want a negotiation that not only you, my lord, but my lady, and General Tao himself in his illness, can all accept."
Liu Bei had been the third candidate to hold Xuzhou, after Mi Zhu and Zhao Bao, and they had meant to sound me out. It couldn't end there. The moment they met me, I could keep them here all day if I had to — so we might as well press the seal to the contract before we left. Afterward, I could paint them a truly beautiful picture between Liu Bei and the house of Tao Qian.