After the Funeral, the Road Ahead

After Yuan Shao took his leave, I read Father's last instructions before the mourning hall in the gray of dawn, and a surprising number of names came up.

Liu Bei of Zhuo Commandery in Youzhou. Liu Biao of Jingzhou, counted among the Eight Talents of Jiangxia. Liu Yan, Governor of Yizhou. Liu Dai, Inspector of Yanzhou in the days before Cao Cao. Liu Yao, who had sunk his roots deep in Jiangdong. Set down in a row, every last one of them was a Liu of the imperial house of Han. There was even an entry concerning a woman — patronage extended to Lady Liu, Yuan Shao's present second wife, and a record of the "gifts between husband and wife" that had passed between her and Yuan Shao.

And yet the names he pressed hardest, even in those final lines, were the three brothers of the Peach Garden, with Liu Bei at their head. A hollow laugh escaped me.

Here was a man who could fling away hundreds of taels, thousands of taels, in gold and silver and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠jewels without a second thought. So why, when it came to those three, had he written it all down one item at a time — the horses by the head, the weapons by the shaft, even the cost of cart and horse — and marked every bit of it as borrowed?

The later the writing, the more Liu Bei's name spread across the page, as if he were trying to tell me something.

"Don't tell me he wants me to walk out of Hebei and go find Liu Xuande?"

I muttered it to myself and looked up. The autumn morning wind cut cold, and a night without sleep had left my whole body stiff and aching.

"Young master, are you all right?"

"Of course I am. I was about to wash ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠— bring me some water, will you?"

"I'll draw hot water in a basin at once."

Ask for a thing and it was there before the words had cooled. Convenient. I had to give them that.

I stepped outside to work the stiffness from my limbs, and just then a vast shadow came on through a rolling cloud of dust far off.

"Hm?"

A man on a snow-white horse drew steadily nearer.

We would soon be bearing the coffin out to the burial ground, and I had thought no mourner worth the name would come at dawn, not after Yuan Shao. So who was this?

"Whew. I'm not too late, am I?"

"Wh—!"

He stood nearly six foot three, and the face matched the height: a high, straight nose, thick brows, eyes that were anything but ordinary. A warrior's spirit hung on every line of him.

"A word, if I may. Is this the mourning hall of Lord Zhang, the great merchant of Zhongshan?"

"It is. And you are?"

"Whew. I've only just arrived. I wish to offer condolences — forgive me, but might I have a little water to wash?"

At that moment a servant came hurrying out with the steaming wash-water that had been drawn for me and put it straight into the tall stranger's hands.

The man returned the courtesy with a bow, let his topknot down at once, and began to wash.

Offered sweet-flag water for his face, he washed his hair with it as well. Then, in the cold dawn of autumn, he toweled the water out and bound the topknot up again, neat and proper.

He stripped off the robe caked in road dust, drew a mourning robe of hemp from his bundle, and put that on in its place.

"Young master, who is this man?"

"We haven't even traded names yet. I'd better ask him now. Who are you?"

At that he started at the sight of me, pressed his hands together, and bowed with careful formality.

"Are you Lord Zhang's son?"

"I am."

"Forgive me. My greeting comes late. I am Zhao Yun, courtesy name Zilong, come from Changshan to mourn Lord Zhang."

"Zh—Zhao Zilong?!"

"My lord, who has gone on to Xuzhou, called him a benefactor who aided him with great kindness. I had no choice but to come and pay the respects in his stead."

"Hold on. You're saying you came from Changshan? That place is swarming with bandits!"

The servant behind me blurted it out in shock. The tall, clear-featured general who had named himself Zhao Zilong shook the last of the water from his hair, set his bearing to rights, and answered.

"That is why I am a little late. I rode straight here the moment the news reached me. I am ashamed."

"No, no — please, come in. We have not yet borne him to the burial ground."

"If you are taking him there... might you be short of hands for the burial? Late as I am, let me do whatever I can."

I caught Zhao Yun by the hand and led him straight to the mourning hall.

And he was as good as his word. At my asking he took up one end of Father's coffin, and he even set his own hands to a hoe and saw the burial through beside us, all the way to the grave.

So Father's funeral came, at the last, to a proper end.

With the affairs of Zhongshan behind me, I let out a long breath.

"It's truly over."

"Qian'er. You've been through so much."

My sister, Zhang Yanhua, soothed me, took my hand, and spoke with her face set hard in resolve.

"From now on you have to lead the merchant house Father built. I'll lean on my husband until he helps you, one way or another."

"Just hearing you say it, I'm grateful. Truly."

He had left an inheritance of thousands in gold, and by great good fortune there was not a single kinsman buzzing around like a fly, looking to tear a piece off it. The fortune was mine; the running of it fell to Su Shuang. A clean split of the road.

Better still, my sister meant to keep a firm grip on Su Shuang herself — her husband, and the elder of the two — so for the moment I could breathe.

"Then I'll tidy things quickly and head for the mansion in Yecheng."

"Oh. You're set on going there?"

"I ought to thank the people who came to mourn, for one. And I need to see what's stored there."

The ledgers and the treasures would have to be gone over with Su Shuang before I could work out what any of it was for. And what I had set in motion at Bohai ought to be stacking up neatly by now.

So, with Zhongshan settled and Yecheng ahead, I took one more man along.

"Could you help with our house's affairs for a while?"

I went to Zhao Yun and asked him outright.

"The affairs of Lord Zhang's household, you mean?"

"I'll see you compensated. However much it takes."

Zhao Zilong, standing right there in front of me. How was I supposed to swallow that and let him walk away?

Use him as nothing but a guard, and I doubted there was a man in all Hebei who could handle him. Keep him at the house as a mere retainer, and the rabble would not dare come within smelling distance.

"If it is a request, I will gladly go."

"Good. We leave at once!"

"Qian!"

Su Shuang started as if he had been struck and caught me back.

"What's the matter? He helped bury Father, and if it's Zhao Zilong, I know the man well myself."

"I know Zhao Zilong too! But do you truly mean to take this man to Yecheng? He served under Gongsun Zan — the man who stood against Yuan Shao!"

Ah. Right.

I hadn't thought of that.

However large-hearted Yuan Shao had played it to my face, he could still look at this man and see the one who had put a blade to his army in the last war.

"No. I will go."

"Lord Zilong! Are you in your right mind?"

"I left Gongsun Zan's army long ago. It has been nearly a year since I withdrew to the countryside. The Governor of Jizhou will have nothing to say of me."

"So that's how it is?"

"Qian, but if this goes wrong..."

"It will all work out. Come with us."

The chain of it had settled in my head, and in any case I would not be lingering in Yecheng. The funeral, everything I had heard along the way, Father's last instructions — taken together, they left no doubt. Jizhou was a place I had to leave. I would look one last time, so I would know where I was going.

And so we came to Yecheng: Su Shuang, Zhao Zilong riding as our guard, and I, with only part of the clan in our train.

Zhongshan had a certain scale of its own. Ye was another magnitude entirely.

"So this is the heart of Hebei."

"Qian. This is the master's mansion in Yecheng."

Before my eyes stood a great house easily twice the size of the main residence back in Zhongshan.

It was large enough to swallow several thousand retainers without strain. Servants who had been waiting guided us through, and the main hall was crowded with bamboo slips — and, behind the doors of the cabinets, with jewel box after jewel box, every one of them a question I badly wanted answered.

We had barely made it this far.

This was the office where Zhang Shiping had lived under Yuan Shao's eye until the day he died. A great strongbox stood in it even so. Su Shuang drew out a key and held it out to me.

"Open it yourself."

I took it and lifted the lid. Inside lay heaps of gold ingots and silver, and thick bundles of bamboo slips: deeds to the horse pastures, the ox pastures, and the pig pastures around Yecheng, and to villa after villa, garden after garden, besides.

A ledger lay among them. I spread it open.

"The list of everything we've sponsored over the years is packed in tight."

"Ah. So that's where it was."

Not Yuan Shao alone. So much to his wife, Lady Liu. So much to his eldest, Yuan Tan, and so much to his second son, Yuan Xi. So much to his nephew, Gao Gan. Sums one could not quite call tribute and could not quite call extortion. I was still moving through the names of powerful clan after powerful clan when a guest arrived without warning.

"A greeting, then. I am Xu Ziyuan, come as an aide to the Governor of Jizhou!"

"I am Zhang Qian, newly become head of this merchant house."

"Heh-heh-heh-heh. Yes, yes. I've heard a great deal from my lord. I trust you'll look after us as kindly in the next generation as the last."

Xu You, one of Yuan Shao's inner circle, had no sooner stepped inside than he began peering into every corner of the house.

Those eyes, brimming with greed, were hunting for something here to tear off and eat. No flies inside the family — so a leech had crawled in from outside.

"Hmm. Ahem! As you well know, our lord means to sweep the bandit swarms out of all Hebei, for the sake of the realm. But war, as ever, wants money and materiel. You ought to know that better than anyone, Su Shuang."

"You're requesting military funds for the next campaign?"

"Our lord has said that once Gongsun Zan is pacified, he will entrust you with the whole running of the merchant routes in Youzhou. A monopoly for your house alone."

From what I knew, Su Shuang's base had been Youzhou to begin with, and the trade across Hebei was already ours. What the hell kind of nonsense was this?

"I'll put in a good word with my lord, so we can give our young heir a proper push. I'll introduce you to the great clans of Yecheng, and I'll attach a suitable wife to you besides. Aah — what a shame I have no daughter of my own!"

"I understand. Then..."

"Aah, dear me! Such a hasty temper. Then I'll say just one thing more. Coming in, I noticed a familiar giant, a man over eight chi. This is plainly the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠land of our lord, General Yuan — so what is a lackey of Gongsun Zan, who raised arms against him, doing here?"

I had thought the wretch would sit quietly and do nothing but demand coin. Instead Xu You slid Zhao Yun into the talk as if it were nothing.

"That man left Gongsun Zan long ago and lived on his own. I've taken him as a personal guard. A retainer in my service."

"Hmmm. Are you certain? A wolf that has once bared its fangs can never be trained into a dog... I wonder how my lord will judge the matter."

At that, Su Shuang lifted a box and held it out.

"My ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠lord, this is a coat of marten fur. It should see you through the winter in fine warmth."

Something slipped across in a hurry, to stop the man's mouth? Xu You took the box, popped it open, and lifted out a coat with real weight to it.

"Hmm. Heavy. Was marten fur always this heavy? Hehe. Well, I'll look it over at my leisure."

So something had gone into the pocket of that coat. A silver flask, or a silver ingot. One of the two.

"Well then. I'll put in a good word."

Xu You smiled, greed written all over his face, and cast me glance after glance.

"Our lord holds your house in particular expectation. I do hope you will all live up to it."

A man who had not even come to the funeral had walked in, borrowed Yuan Shao's name, and walked off with his cut. That settled it.

"Yecheng is no place to stay for long after all. How long will it take to put the family property here in order?"

"Qian, where do you mean to go? I need to know at least which base we're moving to."

"I'm thinking."

Just then Zhao Yun came in and bowed his head with careful courtesy.

"The man who came earlier smiled strangely when he saw me. I am certain I saw him once upon a battlefield. Did my being here put you in a difficult position?"

"No. Nothing of the sort. Rest easy."

"I am ashamed. I will repay this kindness before long. I must."

"How?"

Zhao Yun lowered his voice and spoke to the two of us.

"All I can do is go out to a battlefield and fight. They say a great war is upon Xuzhou, and the man I serve there as I would an elder brother is fighting a bitter fight. I will go and aid him, and then I will make Lord Zhang's name known."

"You mean to seek out Liu Xuande, Chancellor of Pingyuan?"

At Su Shuang's question, Zhao Yun nodded.

And now that I thought of it, it was not only Father's words that had kept catching on me. What Zhao Yun said caught as well.

"That man... When word came of a great crisis in Xuzhou, he said he was going to aid the province, and off he went to pay a last farewell on my late father-in-law, too."

"...Liu Xuande was here? And he left?"

"He was."

"You're saying that before Father died, he told him he was going to relieve Xuzhou — Xuzhou, while Cao Cao was ravaging it — and then he went?"

"That's what I'm telling you. It wasn't even a few months past. So my father-in-law even added a little, and told him to buy military grain with it."

"And Liu Bei is in Xuzhou even now?"

"He is!"

I heard that, and at once the numbers started turning.