Chapter 34: Delivering the Letter

Inside Liu Fuguo's residence, Yang Mingsheng was leading his five-year-old daughter Xueliu toward the gate when two household retainers arranged by Liu Fuguo blocked his way, saying, "Sir, the master has ordered that you must not leave the premises recently!"

Yang Mingsheng flew into a rage, staring coldly at the two men, and said, "I am a man of letters. What standing do you have to dare block my path? I am merely taking my daughter to the Longfu Inn—she greatly misses her Uncle Li, and I wish to go pay a call on Brother Li. If you are uneasy, you may simply follow along with me!"

In this era, a scholar was regarded by common folk as a literary star descended from heaven—a godlike being. The two retainers, seeing Yang Mingsheng's anger, felt uneasy at heart and naturally dared not continue to obstruct him. So Yang Mingsheng walked ahead holding Xueliu's hand, with the two retainers following close behind, out through the courtyard gate and toward the Longfu Inn.

Upon arriving at the inn, Yang Mingsheng and his daughter entered the main hall. There were no guests in the inn—only Manager Li sitting behind the counter, propping his chin on one hand, dozing off.

Seeing this scene, Yang Mingsheng smiled faintly. Xueliu, fair as carved jade, ran merrily into the counter area, stepped onto a stool, climbed up onto the counter, grabbed hold of Manager Li's beard with both hands, and shouted loudly, "Thief!" After shouting, she giggled.

Manager Li, suddenly feeling a sharp pain in his chin from his sleep and hearing someone shout about a thief, woke in a panic. Flustered, he looked around wildly, calling out, "Where's the thief? Where? Gou Dan, come out quickly and catch the thief!"

The shop assistant Gou Dan, hearing the shout, grabbed a rolling pin and ran out from the back kitchen. Seeing Yang Mingsheng and the grinning Xueliu, he immediately understood what had happened and hurried forward to bow in greeting to Yang Mingsheng.

Manager Li had already recovered his wits. He felt his beard—fortunately Xueliu's strength was small, so she hadn't pulled out more than a few hairs. With a wry smile, he said to Yang Mingsheng, "Brother Yang, you ought to discipline Liuliu a bit. She's this mischievous at such a young age—when she grows up, won't she be tearing the tiles off the roof?"

Yang Mingsheng laughed and replied, "Brother Li, it's you who spoiled her! During that time we stayed here, you treated Xueliu better than I, her own father, did—you'd have plucked the very stars from the sky for her if you could! She runs over here almost every day, always chattering about Uncle Li this and Uncle Li that. Even I, her father, have grown jealous of you, hahaha!"

Manager Li was already past forty. In his eyes, Xueliu was clever and well-behaved, like his own granddaughter. He doted on her greatly in daily life—that special affection grandparents feel for grandchildren was something Yang Mingsheng could never understand.

He then invited Yang Mingsheng to sit down. Noticing the two retainers from the Liu household, Manager Li felt a flicker of surprise, but promptly and warmly arranged for the two men to sit at another table. Then Gou Dan went to the kitchen to prepare a few small dishes to entertain Yang Mingsheng and the two retainers.

Once the two men were seated, Xueliu ran off to the kitchen to watch Gou Dan cook. Manager Li glanced at Yang Mingsheng, then cast his eyes backward in a subtle signal. Yang Mingsheng shook his head in reply. Manager Li then found a topic of conversation and began chatting with Yang Mingsheng.

Before long, a few small dishes and a pot of spirits arrived. The two men chatted and drank together, while the two retainers ordered two bowls of noodles and wolfed them down. Liuliu, meanwhile, hid in the kitchen with Gou Dan, secretly stealing bites of mutton.

One pot of wine was quickly drained—most of it drunk by Yang Mingsheng. His swarthy face had turned dark red, and he was already six or seven parts drunk, loudly calling for Manager Li to bring another pot. Manager Li knew he was not a man given to heavy drinking, so today's behavior must have some purpose. He fetched another pot for him. After drinking his fill, Yang Mingsheng alternated between singing loudly and reciting poetry and composing verse, thoroughly in his cups. The two retainers exchanged a glance and smiled wryly at the scene before them.

When the second pot was still half full, the liquor went to Yang Mingsheng's head. He tilted sideways and bent over, vomiting violently. The smell of wine mixed with the stench of undigested food filled the entire main hall. The two retainers covered their noses and frowned in disgust. Manager Li, disregarding the filth and stench, helped Yang Mingsheng up and led him toward the guest rooms in the back courtyard, calling out loudly as he went for Gou Dan to bring hot water to the rear courtyard. The two retainers rose and followed closely behind.

As Manager Li supported the barely-standing Yang Mingsheng through the back door of the main hall, just as the retainers behind had not yet followed out, Yang Mingsheng suddenly opened his eyes—clear and bright, with no sign of drunkenness at all. He swiftly pulled a letter from his bosom, stuffed it into Manager Li's robes, and said in a low, rapid voice, "Find a way to deliver this letter to Governor Sun. Say it concerns his great plan to suppress the bandits. Under no circumstances must anyone learn of this—it concerns the lives of my daughter and me!"

At that moment the two retainers had already followed out of the main hall. Manager Li was startled for a moment but said nothing, supporting the now-again-drunken Yang Mingsheng to the guest room. He helped him onto the bed, removed his shoes and outer robe. Yang Mingsheng turned over to face the wall and fell into a deep sleep. One of the two retainers stayed inside the room while the other waited outside to guard him.

Manager Li returned to the main hall. Gou Dan had already cleaned up Yang Mingsheng's vomit. Liuliu, finding the smell in the room unpleasant, had run out into the street to play. Manager Li went to the back kitchen, looked around to make sure no one was watching, and called Gou Dan—who was heating water—over. He said, "Gou Dan, have you ever been to Xi'an?"

Gou Dan scratched his head and said, "I've never even been to Xianyang county town in all my life, let alone Xi'an. Boss, why do you ask?"

Manager Li's brows knitted tightly. When he had seen the retainers following behind Yang Mingsheng into the inn, he had known something was amiss. Because Yang Mingsheng often came to chat with him, Manager Li could be said to be the only person in the Left Guard with whom Yang Mingsheng could truly speak. Yang Mingsheng regarded him like a father or elder brother, and Manager Li could naturally feel it. Today Yang Mingsheng's behavior was completely different from usual, and combined with what he had said when handing over the letter, Manager Li understood the gravity of the matter. He feared that if he went to Xi'an himself, no one would look after Liuliu, so he wanted to send Gou Dan on the trip. But it turned out Gou Dan had never traveled far and certainly wouldn't know the way. It seemed he would have to make the journey himself.

So he instructed Gou Dan that he was going out on business—if anyone came asking, Gou Dan was to say he had gone to Xianyang to purchase daily supplies for the inn, and to say nothing more. After repeated admonitions, Manager Li harnessed the carriage and set off for Xi'an.

A little over an hour later, Manager Li drove the carriage to the outskirts of Xi'an. He left the carriage in the care of a tavern outside the city walls, then entered through the city gate, asking directions as he went to the Governor's yamen. Half an hour later, he arrived at the square before the Governor's office.

The broad square had few passersby. Before the imposing yamen stood eight guards on each side, hands resting on the hilts of their waist swords, eyes fixed straight ahead. Seeing this scene, Manager Li could not help but feel fear rising in his heart. He was only an innkeeper—though more widely traveled and knowledgeable than the common folk, he harbored a deeply ingrained fear of officials. Even a county constable or yamen runner was enough to make him quail, let alone a Governor—a grand official governing a whole province.

He paced back and forth, wanting to approach but not daring to, yet afraid that not going forward would delay the important matter Yang Mingsheng had entrusted to him. His heart was torn with indecision. The guards on duty had long since noticed him. Seeing him lingering before the yamen, one guard walked over and barked loudly, "This is the Governor's yamen—an important place! Unrelated persons, leave at once!"

Manager Li's face turned white with fright. He turned and hurried several steps away, but then thought of Yang Mingsheng's expectant gaze. He gritted his teeth, steeled his resolve, turned back around, and bowed deeply with clasped hands to the guard, saying, "Esteemed general, this humble one has been entrusted by another with an urgent matter and requests an audience with the Governor. Might you go in and inform His Excellency the Governor?" As he spoke, he pulled a small piece of silver from his bosom and offered it with a fawning smile.

The guard glanced at the silver in his hand, tilted his head, looked down his nose with an arrogant air, and said, "What urgent matter could a commoner like you possibly have? Lord Sun isn't someone just anyone can see. Be off, be off—if you don't leave, I'll have you thrown in and given a taste of the bastinado!"

Seeing this, Manager Li had no choice but to speak the words Yang Mingsheng had instructed: "This humble one has brought a letter for His Excellency the Governor. The writer said it concerns the great matter of suppressing the bandits. The details I do not know. Perhaps I could give the letter to you, and you could pass it on to His Excellency the Governor!" With that, he pulled the letter from his bosom and offered it to the guard.

The guard was startled at the mention of the great matter of suppressing bandits. Seeing the envelope, he knew it was of grave importance—for even a man like himself, who had come from the capital, was illiterate, let alone the common folk. Anyone who could write was surely a scholar, and the affairs of scholars were always momentous matters to them—things that unlettered men like himself were unworthy to know. He took the letter, turned, and ran toward the yamen. After a few steps he stopped, turned back, and barked at Manager Li, "Stand right there and don't move! If His Excellency wants to question you in person, you'll have to go in and answer! Stand still!"

The guard trotted into the yamen. Two of the remaining guards on duty came over and stood watching Manager Li.

Sun Chuanting was in his office behind the desk, writing a letter to Hong Chengchou. After all, the Governor-General of the Five Provinces was his immediate superior. Though he had no power to strip Sun of his office, if this Governor offended the Governor-General, the man could submit a memorial impeaching him, and the court would naturally side with the higher-ranking official.

In the letter, besides expressing his admiration for the Governor-General, Sun Chuanting also mentioned that he had only recently arrived and had not yet established a firm foothold, so for the time being he could not offer Hong Chengchou more assistance. But within at most a year, or even less, he would provide Hong Chengchou with greater support—from military force to pay and provisions. Once the two joined forces, they would surely sweep the roving bandits within Shaanxi clean. Having finished the letter, he was about to hand it to a clerk to seal and send to Hong Chengchou, who was in the northern Shaanxi region, when the guard on duty hurried in, knelt on one knee, and reported: "Reporting! Someone outside the yamen has delivered a letter, saying it concerns the matter of suppressing the bandits. The letter is here—please review it, Your Excellency!"

Hearing it concerned the great matter of suppressing bandits, Sun Chuanting took it seriously. He had the guard present the letter, opened the envelope, and read it. In the letter, Yang Mingsheng described in detail how Liu Fuguo had sought his counsel and how he had offered his scheme, and suggested that Sun Chuanting turn the plot against its authors—seize the opportunity to capture the high officials of the three guards in one fell swoop. The family wealth these men had accumulated would be more than enough to fund his army-building and bandit-suppression efforts.

The letter also explained that the reason he had turned against his patron was that his beloved wife had been killed by the roving bandits. He knew that only the court's official armies could wipe out the bandits and avenge his wife's death.

He knew that the Governor, newly arrived in Shaanxi and desperately short of pay and provisions to recruit soldiers, must be a man of great talent and bold vision, unafraid of slander, to have resolved to take action against the guard stations. This gave him hope. The men of the guard stations had seized and embezzled what were, after all, public properties of the court—this time the court was merely taking them back. He advised the Governor to cut through the tangle with a swift blade, eliminate this hidden danger, and use this as an opportunity to give the people of Shaanxi hope for survival.

After reading the letter, Sun Chuanting pondered for a moment, then asked, "Has the messenger left? If he is still here, bring him in for questioning!"

The guard replied, "Reporting to Your Excellency, the messenger is still here. Fearing you might wish to question him, this humble one has already ordered men to keep watch over him. This humble one will go out at once and bring him in!"

Sun Chuanting nodded. The guard turned and went out. Before long, a trembling Manager Li was brought in. The guard barked, "Kneel! His Excellency the Governor has questions for you!"

Entering the main hall, Manager Li was overawed by the solemn atmosphere. His head hung so low it nearly touched the ground, his legs went weak, and sweat poured from his body. Hearing the command, he hastily dropped to his knees and kowtowed repeatedly.

Sun Chuanting said in a kindly tone, "Where are you from? What is your relationship to the letter's writer? Tell me the whole story in detail. Rise and answer!"

Manager Li's legs were too weak for him to stand. Two guards came forward and helped him up, supporting him. He stammered for a long while before finally speaking in a trembling voice: "Reporting to Your Excellency, this humble one is from the Left Guard of Xi'an. In ordinary times I run an inn. The letter's writer was once taken in by this humble one—"

At the mention of running an inn in the Left Guard, Sun Chuanting looked at him closely with narrowed eyes, then suddenly burst into laughter: "Hahaha, so it's you! I've met you once before—no wonder your voice sounded familiar. Here, give him a seat!"

Manager Li had also felt that Sun Chuanting's voice sounded familiar. Hearing this, he plucked up his courage and took a look at Sun Chuanting, then cried out in delighted surprise, "So it's you, honored guest! And where is the other honored guest?"

Sun Chuanting laughed heartily and said, "He had other important business. Truly, what a small world—haha, who would have thought I'd meet an old acquaintance today! Come, come, sit down and answer my questions!"

Seeing that this was a customer he had dealt with before—one he had even kindly warned—Manager Li's mood relaxed at once. He did not take the seat the guard had brought, but wiped the sweat from his brow and said, "There is no place for this humble one to sit before Your Excellency. Please, ask whatever you wish—this humble one will tell all he knows. Just now I was scared half to death! To be honest with Your Excellency, the day I saw you at the inn, I could tell you were no ordinary man, which is why I offered that kindly warning. I never imagined you were such a great official. This humble one is truly fortunate beyond measure!"

Seeing that he declined to sit, Sun Chuanting did not press him. Smiling, he asked, "Manager Li, who exactly is the letter's writer? How did you come to know him?"

Manager Li composed himself and then recounted in detail how he had taken in Yang Mingsheng and his daughter, why Yang Mingsheng had gone to serve as a private adviser in Liu Fuguo's household, and how today Yang Mingsheng had feigned drunkenness to entrust him with delivering the letter.

After hearing this, Sun Chuanting formed a very favorable impression of Yang Mingsheng—a man of usable talent. He said to Manager Li in a gentle voice, "Since you came to deliver the letter under the pretext of making purchases, I will not detain you. Remember: no one must learn of this trip. I will have someone purchase some supplies your inn needs. Once they are loaded onto your cart, return at once to the guard station. It is still early—when you go back, no one will think it unusual. If fate allows, we shall meet again!"

Sun Chuanting ordered a guard to escort Manager Li out through the back gate, and sent someone to purchase goods and deliver them to the spot outside the city where his carriage was stored, saying they had been sent by a trading firm. Manager Li took his leave and departed. Sun Chuanting, for his part, waited for Zhuang Yuanzhou and the others to discuss countermeasures—but that is another matter.

Manager Li returned to the guard station around shen hour. He drove the carriage to the back courtyard and called Gou Dan to unload the goods. Taking the opportunity, he asked in a low voice whether anyone had come while he was away. Gou Dan said quietly that no one had come—after Yang Mingsheng sobered up, he had taken Liuliu back to the Liu residence, and nothing unusual had happened in between. Only then did Manager Li feel at ease. Having been tense for most of the day and made a trip to Xi'an, he was exhausted in both body and mind. Now that he relaxed, a wave of drowsiness washed over him. He instructed Gou Dan to close the inn's front door once the goods were unloaded, and went straight to the inner courtyard to rest.

Yang Mingsheng brought Liuliu back to their small courtyard in the Liu residence. Of the two retainers, one stayed to keep watch while the other went directly to report to Liu Fuguo. Upon hearing that Yang Mingsheng had taken his daughter to the Longfu Inn, drunk himself into a stupor, and slept soundly all afternoon, Liu Fuguo thought nothing of it. He merely ordered that Yang Mingsheng be kept under strict watch and forbidden from contact with strangers. The retainer acknowledged the order and left.