Romance of the Three Kingdoms: 1 (Tuttle Classics)

by Lo Kuan-Chung

  The dame answered in a hard voice,“Why do you malign him so bitterly? Every one knows he is a descendant of one of the Han Princes and so related to the House. He has condescended to take a lowly office and is respectful to all men. He has a reputation for benevolence. Every one, young and old, cowherds and firewood cutters, all know him by name and know that he is the finest and noblest man in the world. If my son is in his service, then has he found a fitting master. You, under the name of a Han minister, are really nothing but a Han rebel. Contrary to all truth you tell me Yuan-te is a rebel, whereby you try to induce me to make my son leave the light for darkness. Are you devoid of all sense of shame?”

  As she finished speaking she picked up the inkstone to strike Ts’ao Ts’ao. This so enraged him that he forgot himself and the need for caution and bade the executioners lead off the old woman and put her to death. The adviser Ch’eng Yu, however, stopped this act of folly by pointing out the effect it would have on his reputation and how it would enhance hers, beside adding a keen desire for revenge to the motives which led Hsu Shu to labour in the interest of Liu Pei. He closed his remarks saying,“You had better keep her here so that Hsu Shu’s body and his thoughts may be in different places. He can not devote all his energies to helping our enemy while his mother is here. If you keep her I think I can persuade the son to come and help you.”

  So the outspoken old lady was saved. She was given quarters and cared for. Daily Cheng Yu went to ask after her health, falsely claiming to being a sworn brother of her son’s, and so entitled to serve her and treat her as a filial son would have done. He often sent her gifts and wrote letters to her so that she had to write in reply. And thereby he learned her handwriting so that he could forge a “home” letter. When he could do this without fear of detection he wrote one and sent it by the hand of a trusty person to Hsinyeh.

  One day a man arrived enquiring for one Tan Fu, a secretary; he had a letter from home for him. The soldiers led him to Tan Fu. The man said he was an official carrier of letters and had been told to bring this one. Tan Fu quickly tore it open and read:—

  “On your brother’s death recently I was left alone; no relative was near and I was lonely and sad. To my regret, the Minister Ts’ao Ts’ao inveigled me into coming to the capital, and now he says you are a rebel and he has thrown me into bonds. However, thanks to Cheng Yu, my life has been spared so far, and, if you would only come and submit too, I should be quite safe. When this reaches you, remember how I have toiled for you and come at once, that you may prove yourself a filial son. We may together find some way of escape to our own place and avoid the dangers that threaten me. My life hangs by a thread and I look to you to save me. You will not require a second summons.”

  Tears gushed from Hsu Shu’s eyes as he read, and with the letter in his hand he went to seek his chief, to whom he told the true story of his life and how he had joined Yuan-te.“I heard that Liu Piao treated men well and went to him. I happened to arrive at a time of confusion. I saw he was of no use, so I left him very soon. I arrived at the retreat of Ssuma Shui-ching (‘Water-mirror’) late one night and told him, and he blamed me for not knowing a master when I saw one. Then he told me of you and I sang that wild song in the streets to attract your attention. You took me: you used me. But now my aged mother is the victim of Ts’ao Ts’ao’s wiles. She is in prison and he threatens to do worse. She has written to call me and I must go. I hoped to be able to render you faithful service, but, with my dear mother a captive, I should be useless. Therefore I must leave you and hope in the future to meet you again.”

  Yuan-te broke into loud moans when he heard that his adviser was to leave.

  “The bond between mother and son is divine,” said he,“and I do not need to be reminded where your duty lies. When you have seen your venerable mother perhaps I may have again the happiness of receiving y our instruction.”

  Having said farewell, Hsu Shu prepared to leave at once. However, at Yuan-te’s wish he consented to stay over the night.

  Then Sun Ch’ien said privately to his master,“Hsu Shu is indeed a genius, but he has been here long enough to know all our secrets. If you let him go over to Ts’ao, he will be in his confidence and that will be to our detriment. You ought to keep him at all costs and not let him go. When Ts’ao sees he does not come he will put the mother to death, and that will make Hsu Shu the more zealous in your service, for he will burn to avenge his mother’s death.”

  “I cannot do that. It would be very cruel and vile to procure the death of his mother that I might retain the son’s services. If I kept him it would lead to a rupture of the parental lien, and that would be a sin I would rather die than commit.”

  Both were grieved and sighed. Yuan-te asked the parting guest to a banquet, but he declined saying,“With my mother a prisoner I can swallow nothing, nay, though it were brewed from gold or distilled from jewels.”

  “Alas! your departure is as if I lost both my hands,” said Yuan-te.“Even the liver of a dragon or the marrow of a phoenix would be bitter in my mouth.”

  They looked into each other’s eyes and wept. They sat silent till dawn. When all was ready for the journey the two rode out of the city side by side. At Long Pavilion they dismounted to drink the stirrup cup. Yuan-te lifted the goblet and said,“It is my mean fortune that separates me from you, but I hope that you may serve well your new lord and become famous.”

  Hsu Shu wept as he replied,“I am but a poor ignorant person whom you have kindly employed. Unhappily I have to break our intercourse in the middle, but my venerable mother is the real cause. Though Ts’ao Ts’ao use all manner of means to coerce me, yet will I never plan for him.”

  “After you are gone I shall only bury myself in the hills and hide in the forests,” said Yuan-te.

  Tan Fu said,“I had in my heart for you the position of leader of the chieftains, but my plans have been altogether upset by my mother. I have been of no advantage to you nor should I do any good by remaining. But you ought to seek some man of lofty wisdom to help you in your great emprise. It is unseemly to be downcast.”

  “I shall find none to help better than you, my master.”

  “How can I permit such extravagant praise?” said Tan Fu.“I am only a useless blockhead.”

  As he moved off he said to the followers,“Officers, I hope you will render the Princely One good service, whereby to write his name large in the country’s annals and cause his fame to glow in the pages of history. Do not be like me, a man who has left his work half done.”

  They were all deeply affected. Yuan-te could not bring himself to part from his friend. He escorted him a little further, and yet a little further, till Shu said,“I will not trouble you, O Princely One, to come further. Let us say our farewell here.”

  Yuan-te dismounted, took Hsu Shu by the hands and said,“Alas! we part. Each goes his way and who knows if we shall meet again?”

  His tears fell like rain and Shu wept also. But the last goodbyes were said and when the traveller had gone Yuan-te stood gazing after the little party and watched it slowly disappear. At the last glimpse he broke into lamentation.

  “He is gone! What shall I do?”

  One of the trees shut out the travellers from his sight and he testily pointed at it, saying,“Would that I could cut down every tree in the countryside!”

  “Why?” said his men.

  “Because they hinder my sight of Hsu Yuan-chih.”

  Suddenly they saw Hsu Shu galloping back.

  Said Yuan-te,“He is returning, can it be that he is going to stay?”

  So he hastened forward to meet him and when they got near enough he cried,“This return is surely for no slight reason.”

  Checking his horse, Hsu Shu said,“In the turmoil of my feelings I forgot to say one word. There is a man of wonderful skill living about twenty li from the city of Hsiangyang, why not seek him?”

  “Can I trouble you to ask him to visit me?”

  “He will not condescend to visit y
ou; you must go to him. But if he consent you will be as fortunate as the Chous when they got the aid of Lu Wang, or Han when Chang Liang came to help.”

  “How does the unknown compare with yourself?”

  “With me? Compared with him I am as a worn-out cart-horse to a kilin, an old crow to a phoenix. This man is of the same kidney as Kuan Chung and Yo I but, in my opinion, he is far their superior. He has the talent to measure the heavens and mete the earth; he is a man who overshadows every other in the world.”

  “I would know his name.”

  “He belongs to Yangtu of Langya; and his name, a double name, is Chuko Liang. His minor name is K’ungming. He is of good family. His father was an official but died young and the young fellow went with his uncle to Chingchou, the Prefect of which was an old friend of his uncle’s, and he became settled there. Then his uncle died and he, with a younger brother, Chun, were farmers. They used to amuse themselves with the composition of songs in the ‘Old Father Liang’ style.

  “On their land was a ridge of hills called the Sleeping Dragon and the elder of the two took it as a name and called himself ‘Master Sleeping Dragon.’ This is your man; he is a veritable genius. You ought really to visit him and if he will help you, you need feel no more anxiety about peace in the Empire.”

  “‘Water-mirror’ spoke that time of two men, Fu-lung and Feng-ch’u, and said if only one of them could be got to help me all would be well. Surely he, whom you speak of, is one of them.”

  “Feng-ch’u, or ‘Phoenix Fledging,’ is ‘P’ang T’ung’: and Fu-lung, or ‘Hidden Dragon,’ is ‘Chako K’ungming.’”

  Yuan-te jumped with delight,“Now at last I know who the mysterious ones are. How I wish they were here! But_ for you I should have still been like a blind man,” said he.

  Some one has celebrated in verse this interview where Hsu Shu from horseback recommended K’ungming:—

  Yuan-te heard that his able friend

  Must leave him, with saddened heart,

  For each to the other had grown very dear,

  Both wept when it came to part.

  But the parting guest then mentioned a name

  That echoed both loud and deep,

  Like a thunder clap in a spring-time sky,

  And there wakened a dragon from sleep.

  Thus was the famous K’ungming recommended to the lord he was to serve, and Hsu Shu rode away.

  Now Yuan-te understood the speech of the hermit Ssuma Hui, and he woke as one from a drunken sleep. At the head of his officers, he retook the road to the city and having prepared rich gifts set out, with his brothers, for Nanyang.

  Under the influence of his emotions at parting Hsu Shu had mentioned the name and betrayed the retreat of his friend Now he thought of the possibility that K’ungming would be unwilling to play the part of helper in Yuan-te’s scheme, so he determined to go to visit him. He therefore took his way to Reposing Dragon Ridge and dismounted at the cottage. Asked why he had come, he replied,“I wished to serve Liu Pei of Hsiangchou but my mother has been imprisoned by Ts’ao Ts’ao, and has sent to call me. Therefore I have had to leave him. At the moment of parting I commended you to him. You may expect him speedily and I hope, Sir, you will not refuse your aid but will consent to use your great talents to help him.”

  K’ungming showed annoyance and said,“And so you have made me the victim of your sacrifice.”

  So saying he shook out his sleeves and left the room. The guest shamefacedly retired, mounted his horse and hastened on his way to the capital to see his mother.

  To help the lord he loved right well,

  He summoned the aid of another,

  When he took the distant homeward way,

  At the call of a loving mother.

  What was the sequel will appear in the following chapters.

  CHAPTER XXXVII

  ANOTHER SCHOLAR INTRODUCED: THE THREE VISITS TO THE RECLUSE

  A s has been said Hsu Shu hastened to the capital. When Ts’ao Ts’ ao knew he had arrived he sent two of his confidants to Lreceive him and so he was led first to the minister’s palace.

  “Why did such an illustrious scholar as you bow the knee to Liu Pei?” said Ts’ao.

  “I am young and I fled to avoid the results of certain escapades. I spent some time as a wanderer and so came to Hsinyeh where I became good friends with him. But my mother is here and when I thought of all her affection I could no longer remain absent.”

  “Now you will be able to take care of your mother at all times. And I may have the privilege of receiving your instruction.”

  “Hsu Shu then took his leave and hastened to his mother’s dwelling. Weeping with emotion he made his obeisance to her at the door of her room.

  But she was greatly surprised to see him and said,“What have you come here for?”

  “I was at Hsinyeh, in the service of Liu of Yuchou when I received your letter. I came immediately.”

  His mother suddenly grew very angry. Striking the table she cried,“You shameful and degenerate son! For years you have been a vagabond in spite of all my teaching. You are a student and know the books. You must then know that loyalty and filial piety are often opposed. Did you not recognise in Ts’ao a traitor, a man who flouts his king and insults the mighty ones? Did you not see that Liu Pei was virtuous and upright as all the world knows? Moreover, he is of the House of Han and when you were with him you were serving a fitting master. Now on the strength of a scrap of forged writing, with no attempt at any enquiry, you have left the light and plunged into darkness and earned a disgraceful reputation. Truly you are stupid! How can I bear to look upon you? You have besmirched the fair fame of your forefathers and are of no use in the world.”

  The son remained bowed to the earth, not daring to lift his eyes while his mother delivered thing vilifying tirade. As she said the last word she rose suddenly and left the room. Soon after one of the servants came out to say she had hanged herself Her son rushed in to try to save her, but was too late.

  A eulogy of her conduct has been written thus:—

  Wise Mother Hsu, fair is your fame,

  The storied page glows with your name,

  From duty’s path You never strayed,

  The family’s renown you made.

  To train your son no pains you spared,

  For your own body nothing cared.

  You stand sublime, from us apart,

  Through simple purity of heart.

  Brave Liu Pei’s virtues you extolled,

  You blamed Ts’ao Ts’ao, the basely bold.

  Of blazing fire you felt no fear,

  You blenched not when the sword came near,

  But dreaded lest a wilful son

  Should dim the fame his fathers won.

  Yes, Mother Hsu was of one mould

  With famous heroines of old,

  Who never shrank from injury,

  And even were content to die.

  Fair meed of praise, while still alive,

  Was yours, and ever will survive.

  Hail! Mother Hsu, your memory,

  While time rolls on, shall never die.

  At sight of his mother dead Hsu Shu fell in a swoon and only recovered consciousness after a long time. By and bye Ts’ao heard of it and sent mourning gifts, and in due course went in person to condole and sacrifice. The body was interred on the south of the capital and the dead woman’s unhappy son kept vigil at her tomb. He steadily rejected all gifts from Ts’ao Ts’ao.

  At that time Ts’ao was contemplating an attack on the south. His advisers dissuaded him, saying he should await milder weather; and he yielded. But he began to prepare, and led the river waters aside to form a lake, which he called the Training Lake, where he could accustom his men to fight on the water.

  As has been said Yuan-te prepared gifts to offer to Chuko Liang on his visit. One day his servants announced a stranger of extraordinary appearance, wearing a lofty headdress and a wide belt.

  “Surely this is he” said
Yuan-te, and, hastily arranging his dress, he went to welcome the visitor. But the first glance showed him that it was the recluse of the mountains, Ssuma Hui. However, Yuan-te was glad to see him and led him into the inner apartment as he would an old friend. There Pei conducted him to the seat of honour and made his obeisance, saying,“Since leaving you that day in the mountains I have been overwhelmed with military preparations and so have failed to visit you as courtesy demanded. Now that the brightness has descended upon me I hope this dereliction of duty may be pardoned.”

  “I hear Hsu Yuan-chih is here. I have come expressly to see him,” replied the visitor bluntly.

  “He has lately left for Hsuch’ang. A messenger came with a letter telling of the imprisonment of his mother.”

  ‘Then he has just fallen into Ts’ao Ts’ao’s trap, for that letter was a forgery. I have always known his mother to be a very noble woman, and even if she were imprisoned by Ts’ao she would not summon her son like that. Certainly the letter was a forgery. If the son did not go, the mother would be safe, if he went, she would be a dead woman.”

  “But how?” asked Yuan-te, dismayed.

  “She is a woman of the highest principles, who would be greatly mortified at the sight of her son under such conditions.”

  Liu Pei said,“Just as your friend was leaving he mentioned the name of a certain Chuko Liang. What think you of him?”

  Hui laughed, saying,“If Yuan-chih wanted to go, he was free to go. But why did he want to provoke him into coming out and showing compassion for some one else?”

  “Why do you speak like that?” asked Yuan-te.

  He replied,“Five men, K’ungming, Ts’ui Chou-p’ing, Shih Kuang-yuan, Meng Kung-wei and Hsu Yuan-chih were the closest of friends. They formed a little coterie devoted to meditation on essential refinement. Only K’ungming arrived at a perception of its meaning. He used to sit among them with his arms about his knees muttering and then, pointing to his companions, he would say, You, gentlemen, would become governors and prefects if you were in official life.’