Chapter 65: My Lord (Part 1)

The sky was growing dim. On a hillside some thirty li east of Liucheng, several riders galloped up at full speed. The young Wuhuan warrior at their head had barely dismounted before he could not help gasping for breath and shouting loudly up toward the hillside:

"Uncle, my lord, why have you suddenly ordered the pursuit halted? These are all merits that can be exchanged for coin and grain!"

The Wuhuan had long dwelt within Han borders, and most of them had already been sinicized, especially the top-ranking nobles. In everything from daily habits to ordinary speech and conduct, they were now basically no different from Han people. Take Tadun's use of "my lord" here, for instance — it was perfectly proper Han rhetoric... because the man surrounded by attendants up on the hillside was none other than Tadun's own uncle and adoptive father, the Chanyu of Liaoxi Wuhuan, Qiuliju.

Given such a relationship, calling him "my lord" was naturally perfectly fitting.

"Tadun, come here." Qiuliju could not suppress a sigh, but he quickly beckoned his nephew forward. "What is the situation with the Xianbei now?"

"In reply, my lord." Tadun promptly straightened his expression and answered. "The Xianbei are truly finished this time. Over ten thousand men have been utterly routed. All along the way they have been hunted down like livestock by us and the Han army, their corpses strewn across a hundred li of ground... If I may speak bluntly, this is probably the greatest defeat the Xianbei have suffered in my entire lifetime."

"Not just yours," Qiuliju said with a sigh. "It is also the greatest defeat I have ever witnessed in my life... It may even be the worst defeat the entire Xianbei have suffered since Tanshihuai raised his army! That Ke Zuitan is a complete fool. How could he dare to advance so far in such haste just because of a single hostage?"

"Still, those young men of the Gongsun clan are formidable too," Tadun could not help shaking his head. "If not for them, even if we had won this battle, the tally would never have been so great."

"The Gongsun clan, eh?" Qiuliju frowned. "This family has entrenched itself in Liaoxi for so many years, with us on one side of the border and them on the other — we can be considered old neighbors. I never imagined this generation of their offspring would be so outstanding... But let us set that aside for now. I ask you, I have heard that the Xianbei left a rear guard of two to three thousand men at Liucheng. Is this true?"

"It is!" Tadun replied very crisply. "Many prisoners have said so. It cannot be false."

"In that case, I am at ease." Qiuliju finally let out a breath of relief. "Then let us withdraw our troops now. Taking advantage of the twilight, the remaining Xianbei should be able to flee to Liucheng tonight. Once they regroup with those three thousand rear guards there, it will be much easier for them to make an unhurried escape..."

Hearing this, Tadun felt a sudden understanding, yet also some lingering confusion.

What he understood was that he finally realized his uncle had deliberately intended to let these Xianbei go, and that the earlier military order had not been a moment of muddled thinking. What he did not understand was this: although he himself did not regard the Xianbei as irreconcilable mortal enemies either, Xianbei heads could, after all, be exchanged for substantial rewards from the Han. And in the current battlefield situation, pursuing them was practically like picking up money off the ground...

Qiuliju looked his nephew up and down, clearly perceiving the other's doubts. Moreover, since his own only son was still nursing at the breast, there might come a day when he would need to entrust the tribe to this nephew, so he could not resist offering a little guidance: "Tadun, let me ask you another question... What is the population of the Xianbei?"

"How would I know that?" Tadun replied, at a loss for words. "Even Tanshihuai himself probably has no clear idea."

"Then do you think the Xianbei and the Wuhuan combined have as many people as the Han in a single Youzhou?"

"Certainly not! The Han..."

"That is exactly the point." Qiuliju looked seriously at his nephew as he explained. "To the Han, losing a hundred thousand people is nothing worth mentioning. But for the Xianbei, especially the central Xianbei who directly face Liaoxi, losing just ten thousand able-bodied men is basically enough to break their bones and sinews... And if we continue this pursuit, those ten thousand-plus Xianbei will likely be finished for good beneath the walls of Liucheng up ahead! When that happens, it will take the central Xianbei several years to recover."

"But... what does the central Xianbei breaking their bones and sinews have to do with us?" Tadun was still somewhat muddled.

"Fool!" Qiuliju was growing impatient. "Think about it. If the central Xianbei lack the strength to send out troops, won't Liaoxi enjoy peace for the next several years? And if Liaoxi is at peace, why would the Great Han need to give us extra rewards and ask us to send out troops time and again?"

"So that is how it is!" Tadun suddenly saw the light. "What Uncle means is... we Wuhuan are the hunters, and the Xianbei are the prey. We must not hunt all the prey at once, so that we can have a harvest year after year!"

Qiuliju felt his eyelid twitch uncontrollably several times in succession... In truth, he had wanted to correct him: the Xianbei were not prey, but man-eating beasts. The Great Han was the true hunter, and the Wuhuan were merely hunting dogs raised by the Great Han to deal with those beasts. It was only that in recent years, their master the Great Han had been declining year by year, which had allowed the hunting dogs to develop a few little schemes of their own.

Of course, in front of so many Wuhuan warriors, such words could never be spoken aloud, no matter what.

And so, let us set aside for now the matter of the Wuhuan secretly withdrawing their troops and letting the Xianbei escape. The next day, while the rank-and-file soldiers continued gathering spoils of war and taking heads in the area between Liucheng and Yangyue City, the Grand Administrator of Liaoxi, Zhao Bao, formally moved his main camp into Liucheng that evening and likewise began various post-battle tasks...

It must be said, by this point, Grand Administrator Zhao naturally no longer needed to find Ke Zuitan's trampled, pulpy corpse to stew it. But ordinary stewing of meat still had to be done. In fact, that very night Zhao Bao issued an order that a great banquet would be held in Liucheng in a few days' time to feast and reward the soldiers and those who had rendered meritorious service!

The officials from Liaodong and the Liaodong Dependent State who had taken part in the battle need not even be mentioned. The relief troops from the various cities of Liaoxi, who had been holed up at Lulong Pass with their jaws practically dropping to the ground at this great victory, also hurriedly disbanded their hastily assembled units. Then those of any standing and reputation all made their way lightly to Liucheng to offer congratulations. The banquet even drew the attention of the Inspector of Youzhou, Liu Yu, who had just arrived at Lulong Pass, as well as Grand Administrator Wang of Youbeiping. These two simply headed directly to Liucheng as well, declaring they had come to celebrate this great triumph!

However, Qiuliju, the Chanyu of Liaoxi Wuhuan who had rendered such great service, suddenly felt unwell and returned directly to his own headquarters, sending only his nephew Tadun to attend the banquet in his stead — which did cause people to feel rather... rueful.

And it was under just such circumstances that Gongsun Xun, at the Anli Trading Company branch in Liucheng, awaited the storm he had anticipated.

"How have you gone and done this sort of thing again?" Lady Gongsun was still out in the courtyard, but her voice, frantic with fury, had already reached inside the house.

Gongsun Fan and Lou Gui were witnessing such a scene for the first time. In their shock, they did not know whether they should offer greetings or make themselves scarce. Han Dang and Cheng Pu, however, were already experienced in this by now... The two of them calmly offered their greetings — the former even exchanging a word of greeting with Lady Jin, who was accompanying Lady Gongsun behind her — and then coolly walked outside to chat idly with Gongsun Yue, who had escorted their aunt here and was waiting in the courtyard.

Seeing this, Gongsun Fan and Lou Gui hurriedly followed suit and likewise fled outside in an instant.

"You two, out as well!" Lady Gongsun entered the room and saw her son kneeling there in a posture of begging forgiveness, clearly long prepared. This only fueled her rage. She turned and shooed out all her trusted attendants, including Lady Jin and Aunt Quan the Sixth, before adjusting her spectacles and seating herself indignantly on the high-backed chair at the head of the room. "Looking at you now, you really have grown up, haven't you? Have you long since thought up what to say to placate me? In that case, you speak first. I would very much like to see what defense you can possibly offer this time!"

"Mother." Gongsun Xun was indeed far calmer this time. Kneeling there, he was neither flustered nor hurried. "This time I did indeed take some risks..."

"Some?" Lady Gongsun was so furious she could barely contain herself. How could she possibly allow him to speak first? "The story of you five men plunging into the midst of over ten thousand Xianbei troops has already spread throughout all of Liaoxi. It won't be long before the whole of Youzhou, all of Hebei, even the entire Great Han knows of it! You're about to become famous across the realm — isn't that exactly what you wanted? 'Some'? Five men against, against ten thousand? If you had truly died, it would have served you right! And it would have served me right too, raising you for twenty years for nothing!"

Gongsun Xun lowered his head and said nothing, waiting until his mother had finished her tirade and was beginning to gasp for breath. Only then did he hastily shuffle forward on his knees to her side and take hold of her hand. "Mother, although this matter was risky... it was worth it!"

"With your life gone, no amount of merit is worth it!" Lady Gongsun shot back without the slightest courtesy. "Let me tell you, Gongsun Xun, when you go back you had better give proper thanks to A'Yue. If that boy hadn't deliberately delayed things on the road and let me arrive here two days earlier, your face would already be swollen from my slaps by now!"

"Mother couldn't bear to."

"..."

"Mother, hear me out... It is not that I maliciously court danger, but that this age we live in tells me plainly: trying to be a peaceful dog is truly too hard!" Gongsun Xun let out a long breath and spoke with a somewhat earnest tone. "I asked you that day: if we wish to cling to life in a chaotic age, why must we instead strive to make our name known among the feudal lords? You told me it was because no matter how the times change, those who survive most easily are still the great figures at the very top... Without becoming a great figure, one is not qualified to cling to life in a chaotic age."

"But you cannot throw your life away first just to become a great figure!" As she spoke, Lady Gongsun could not help the tears welling up again. "I truly have no other wish in this life but for you to live on in safety."

"Mother, hear me out to the end... I am not refuting you. I only want to tell you that after this incident, I see it with perfect clarity: there is no need to wait for a chaotic age. Even now, even a two-thousand-bushel Grand Administrator of Liaoxi cannot guarantee the safety of his own family's lives!" Gongsun Xun's expression and tone grew ever more earnest. "A high official of two thousand bushels, his own mother traveling properly along the road under the escort of several dozen cavalry — and she could still be seized as a hostage and then hacked to pieces before the battle lines... Then I dare ask you, Mother, having witnessed such a thing, do you still believe that in the present age, matters of life and death can truly be avoided? Or rather, when faced with life and death, is the chance of survival greater if you turn and flee, or if you meet it head-on and fight?"

Lady Gongsun removed her precious spectacles, propped her forehead on her hand, and pondered for a long while: "You truly did not do this just to earn merit?"

"I did it to earn merit," Gongsun Xun quickly replied. "But earning merit is for the sake of surviving better... Mother, do not be angry, just hear me out... Setting aside pestilence, do you know where the greatest danger to us, mother and son, comes from before the outbreak of war and chaos?"

Lady Gongsun was momentarily at a loss for words... She had truly never considered this question before. But now it seemed that this age was descending into chaos step by step. Even if the chaos of the Three Kingdoms had not yet begun, her precious only son was not so safe after all.

"From just two places. One is the warfare and turmoil of the frontier. The other is the crushing weight of the imperial court." Gongsun Xun gave a cold laugh. "The former needs no explanation. As for the latter, between the so-called eunuchs and the Partisans, whole families are confiscated and clans exterminated at a moment's notice — rivers of blood flow!"

Lady Gongsun was, after all, a woman of exceptional insight and had some measure of understanding of her own son, so she grasped his meaning in an instant: "You mean to say that to evade the former, you must rise quickly in official rank, so that whether you flee this place or become a man of real power, either outcome is good. And to evade the latter, you must have a powerful backer... You have your eye on Zhao Bao's connections and want to use his path?"

"Your son is, in the end, a student of Teacher Liu and Teacher Lu. No matter what happens with the Partisans, it will not come to the point where they treat me as an enemy... And as for this Grand Administrator Zhao, didn't you say yourself? On the surface he is irreconcilably at odds with his clansman Zhao Zhong, but in truth they likely share a tacit understanding. Tell me, if I took such a risk, rendered such great service, and then managed to connect to this line as well — then for the next seven or eight years, no matter how the situation shifts, would I not be as steady as Mount Tai?"

Lady Gongsun was slightly taken aback, and for a moment she could find no rebuttal: "So that is why you took such a risk to rescue that Lady Zhao, the aunt of Regular Attendant Zhao?"

"Yes," Gongsun Xun answered frankly. "But it is still not enough... still not enough to make that Regular Attendant Zhao truly remember my name and secretly look after me."

"What else do you intend to do?" Lady Gongsun could not help growing wary.

"I will not hide it from you, Mother... I have already undergone the capping ceremony."

"And then?"

"That Grand Administrator Zhao has a single daughter. This time, I carried her out from under the blades of the Xianbei on my back. At the time I thought nothing more of it, but now that I reflect on it, perhaps..."

"..."

"..."

Mother and son stared at each other for a long while, then suddenly fell into a strange silence.

"That..." Gongsun Xun, unnerved by his mother's gaze, was the first to break the silence.

"Is she beautiful?" Lady Gongsun suddenly slapped the armrest of her chair and asked in a serious tone.

"In the early reign of Emperor Ling, among the Wuhuan leaders, there was Nanlou of Shanggu, with a multitude of over nine thousand camps; Qiuliju of Liaoxi, with a multitude of over five thousand camps — both styled themselves kings. There was also Supuyan of Liaodong, with over a thousand camps, who styled himself King Qiao; and Wuyan of Youbeiping, with over eight hundred camps, who styled himself King Hanlu. All were valiant, robust, and full of stratagems." — Book of the Later Han, Volume 90, Biographies of the Wuhuan and Xianbei, Section 80

PS: The "Sun" in the previous chapter naturally refers to Sun Quan... And I wonder, in the official histories, besides Zhang Liao and Chen Deng... does Yu Jin also count as one? After he was captured, he should have been sent to Sun Quan's side, and before that, in Xudu, given his status, there was no reason he wouldn't have met Big Ears.

Finally, there is also a reader group, 684558115, welcome to come and chat.

(End of this chapter)