Chapter 14: Section Two

He turned his head to look back — it was that private secretary, hurrying over with a face full of smiles. "The Imperial Son-in-Law says that General Huang and I will be colleagues from now on, and told me to get closer to the General, so I thought I'd invite General Huang out for a drink."

Another one sent to probe him — Huang Shi had long been mentally prepared for this kind of treatment, and immediately nodded with a smile. The two walked side by side. Several times along the way the scholar laid traps, but each was easily defused by him, his responses watertight. Very soon the scholar was completely at ease, and in their conversation no longer held anything back. The two exchanged utterly insubstantial flattery, and before long were as cordial as blood brothers.

"This Huang is no general — you over-praise me, sir."

"General Huang is too modest. Now that the Great Jin is newly founded, the General's future prospects are limitless."

"You flatter me too much, sir."

……

Huang Shi quickly figured out that this was yet another Han Chinese who had failed the Licentiate exams — he had taken the exams for over a decade without passing, and so was full of resentment toward the Great Ming. Just in time to catch the opportunity of the Later Jin's early arrival in Liaodong, he had climbed a branch and transformed into a phoenix. His speech incessantly vaunted the Later Jin's martial prowess and sang the praises of the Khan's diligent governance and love for the people.

The scholar himself had even more of an air of "not born a Later Jin man, but more Later Jin than the Later Jin." Huang Shi was very familiar with this type. The scholar's words, expressions, and gestures were all perfectly coordinated, presenting an appearance of intoxicated self-satisfaction that nearly made Huang Shi vomit on the spot. Sending such an idiot to probe him — Li Yongfang really was a fool.

Forcefully suppressing the deep loathing he felt for this man, Huang Shi played along with feigned civility. Anyway, flattery is a mutual lift — he deployed just ten or twenty percent of his book-quoting, bootlicking skills, and instantly had the scholar floating on cloud nine. While Huang Shi's mouth piled flattery on this shameless wretch, in his heart he fervently hoped the man would meet with a colossal misfortune.

The scholar, who kept both sleeves drawn together, swayed left and right as he walked — a posture that struck Huang Shi as awkward, even less graceful than a woman with bound feet. Fortunately, they soon arrived at a side chamber.

Once inside the side chamber, the scholar still addressed Huang Shi as "General" at every turn. After fine wine and hot dishes were served, only the two of them remained in the room. With ill intent, Huang Shi plied him cup after cup; the scholar refused none, and before long was adorably drunk. Yet even then, he could still pinch his long sleeve, and when lifting his wine cup only that crooked little finger extended out.

Drinking with hands tucked in the sleeves — what inconceivable refinement. Huang Shi, prostrate with admiration, secretly studied this etiquette while piling a fawning smile on his face, listening to the scholar boast of how highly Li Yongfang regarded him. That Li Yongfang was not only an Imperial Son-in-Law, but had also been enrolled by Nurhaci into the Plain Blue Banner. He possessed large numbers of niru, and was moreover responsible for training most of the Han army niru — absolutely a man of high rank and heavy authority.

"Blue, blue the scholar's collar; long, long my yearning heart. That is how the Imperial Son-in-Law spoke of me."

Li Yongfang came from a military background; after several encounters, Huang Shi had long since taken the measure of his cultural attainments. Brag away — bragging isn't taxed, after all. Even if you beat Huang Shi to death, he would never believe that a rough military man like Li Yongfang would know Cao Cao's verses. "For you, sir, to have won the Imperial Son-in-Law's high regard — the day you can fully display your talents is surely just around the corner."

The scholar burst into loud laughter, then immediately let out a wine belch. His gaze grew increasingly unfocused; by Huang Shi's experience, this man was nearly done. Sure enough, the fellow was now too drunk to conceal his contempt for military men any longer. In a mocking tone he said, "General Huang understands poetry too? Ha, those two lines I recited have a most illustrious origin."

How could I not know "Short Song"? Huang Shi cursed in his belly. But the scholar was naturally not a tapeworm inside Huang Shi's belly. Looking at the silent Huang Shi, he roared with laughter: "Just as I expected — General Huang indeed does not know. Words not full and true must be punished with three cups."

So saying, he pressed Huang Shi to pour wine for him, his sidelong gaze at Huang Shi full of ridicule. This made Huang Shi's anger surge upward, and he gave him a barbed retort, neither soft nor hard: "This Huang has heard that when that traitor Cao wrote this poem, he already harbored disloyal ambitions — I wonder if that is so or not."

These words not only mocked the scholar, but also implicitly dragged Li Yongfang into it, making him freeze for a moment before awkwardly starting to drink to cover it up. Huang Shi watched his embarrassed expression with satisfaction, even happier that his boasting had finally come to a pause.

But it was only a brief pause. Very soon the scholar started up again, and grew more and more outrageous: "Zhuge Wuhou was plucked from his thatched hut by the Former Ruler; I too was invited by the Imperial Son-in-Law from commoner status to be his chief private secretary. This is precisely what is meant by: when Heaven is about to confer a great office upon a man, it first embitters his heart and will..."

After listening to his rambling nonsense for a long while, Huang Shi finally seized a gap to flatter him: "Sir, your learning fills five carts, your belly brims with statecraft. This Huang is but a crude military man — I am in awe, in awe."

This flattery made the scholar lose all sense of his own standing, his arrogance fully revealed: "I intend to advise the Imperial Son-in-Law — that Mao Wenlong in Zhenjiang is nothing but a petty jumping clown. The Ming army in Liaodong is fundamentally at Guangning. Once the Khan breaks their root, the remnant scum will naturally scatter. Therefore, we should dispatch troops to the Liaohe at the earliest moment! What does General Huang think?"

Ignoring an active enemy in the rear to go provoke a large army sitting quietly to the front, and not even knowing to destroy enemy forces while they are still weak — and with this level of idiocy he still dares to offer plans. Huang Shi sneered inwardly; he increasingly wished he could stand by and watch this two-hundred-and-fifty-point traitor get a good whipping.

So Huang Shi impatiently added fuel to the fire: "The Liaodong war situation is indeed just so. Sir, you see through it as clearly as watching a fire — this is what is called devising strategies within the command tent and deciding victory a thousand li away. Sir, you should go offer this plan at once!"

"The other day I also came upon a poem by the Yuan Grand Ancestor: 'Ten thousand li of chariots and script all unified, how could Jiangnan have a separate border domain? Raising a million troops upon West Lake, at once planting my horse atop Wu Mountain's first peak.'" The scholar swayed his head from side to side as he finished reciting the great work of Wanyan Liang, the Prince of Hailing, his face again showing that nauseatingly smug smile. "When I offer my plan to the Khan to send troops to the Liaohe and trample Guangning, I shall certainly present this poem to the Khan!"

After the Prince of Hailing wrote this, he was utterly routed by the Song army and died amidst the chaos of battle. Presenting such an utterly inauspicious poem to Nurhaci — he would likely get to enjoy the treatment of riding the wooden donkey through the streets right away. Huang Shi now fully understood this gentleman's caliber; no wonder he had failed to pass the Licentiate exams for decades.

"Sir, you are truly a great talent," Huang Shi praised with heartfelt sincerity, grinning broadly, and again offering a cup of wine with both hands. "The Khan will surely be overjoyed. When you soar to prominence, sir, do not forget me."

The scholar did not take the wine cup, nor did he pick up the thread of conversation. The drunken look faded from his face, his gaze now clear and bright — where was there even a shred of arrogance? This bright gaze gradually narrowed to a needle point — carving across Huang Shi's face like a blade's edge.

A moment later, the scholar gave Huang Shi a faint smile, turned his head, shook out his sleeves, and extended a hand to pour himself a cup of wine. The killing intent that suffused the air made Huang Shi spring to his feet with a jolt; the wine cup in his hand fell to the floor with a harsh shattering sound. He retreated to a corner of the room, and with one motion drew his waist saber — cold light instantly flooded the chamber.

As if utterly oblivious to the tense, saber-drawn atmosphere, the scholar calmly drank that cup of wine, and only then spoke to Huang Shi with composed ease:

"If the Prince of Hailing had been a great man like Liu Yu, seventeen men would have sufficed to destroy a dynasty and seize a kingdom, to found a reign and establish the ultimate — what need would there have been for a million mighty warriors? But if one is not a true man, even with elite troops and fierce generals, one merely ends up dead and one's state destroyed, the laughingstock of all under heaven. Mr. Huang, would you not say so?"