Chapter 284: Wu She Had Two Sons

On the journey north to Huaiyang, Ji Ying tilted his head to look at the vast Chu royal harem consorts and palace maids hemmed in between two columns of Qin troops. Gazing at their slender waists, he couldn't help swallowing.

"If only I could bring one home."

These harem consorts and palace maids inside the Chu palace never had to do farm work. In terms of upkeep and looks, they were naturally far superior to the Anlu women they usually saw, and they were so gentle, quiet, and lovely — just looking at them made one's heart stir endlessly.

"In your dreams."

Heifu laughed scornfully. "These Chu palace women are all destined to fill His Majesty's royal chambers. You lot can look all you want on the road, but if anyone dares lay a finger on them, I'll have no choice but to take your heads and go apologize to General Wang!"

Wang Jian had issued a death order: should any violation or defilement occur en route, even though the victims were Chu people, offenders would still be dealt with according to Qin law — rape was a capital crime! So Heifu and the other officers kept their men under strict watch. He knew all too well how restless these fellows, who'd been away from home over half a year, became at the sight of so many beauties.

Along the way, several incidents had already occurred in other units. Some Qin soldiers had tried to force themselves on Chu palace women when they went to relieve themselves or took shelter in tents from the rain, causing disturbances. By now, their heads had been chopped off by the army judge and hung from the banners...

"Company Commander, if I may be so bold as to ask one thing."

Ji Ying asked cautiously, "These consorts and palace maids number at least over a thousand. His Majesty... can His Majesty really enjoy them all?"

"Still wagging your tongue!"

Heifu shot him a fierce glare and raised a hand to strike him. Only then did Ji Ying shut his mouth sheepishly, not daring to speak further.

At that moment, Mu, who carried Heifu's banner, spoke up at an utterly inappropriate time: "These women, with their skinny arms and legs, aren't good for bearing children, can't do farm work — what use are they?"

"What does a dullard like you know! If you brought a woman like that home, would you have the heart to make her work the fields?"

Ji Ying vented the frustration he'd gotten from Heifu onto Mu. After cursing him out, he went to the rear to relay orders as Heifu had commanded.

"Company Commander's orders: slow the pace, wait for the prisoners to catch up!"

Their column was very long, stretching out of sight along the road, and the prisoners being escorted by the lengthy Qin army were also numerous.

Ever since receiving the Qin King's edict, Wang Jian had not dared delay. He immediately handed the tiger tally to his deputy, Meng Wu, while he himself, along with Feng Wuji, took King Fuchu of Chu, the queen, the ducal clan, key ministers, and others, traveling light toward Huaiyang.

Meanwhile, Li You and two commandants from Guanzhong who had earned great merit were ordered to escort the several thousand harem consorts, palace attendants, inner servants, entertainers, and craftsmen, along with all manner of portable ritual vessels, heavy treasures, maps and registers, bamboo-slip documents, chariots and carriages, crowns and regalia, and other goods, traveling slowly.

With so many people, and all on foot — these harem consorts and palace attendants were long accustomed to a life of ease. Now, on a long-distance march, exposed to wind, rain, hunger, and cold, some could not bear the hardship from time to time and would look up to heaven and wail, only to be shouted down at once. When mealtime came, the Qin army gave them the same food the common soldiers ate. These women, used to fine silks and delicacies, just stared at each other wide-eyed, unwilling to touch such coarse fare.

But after a few days, marching day after day, they were so hungry they were reduced to grabbing handfuls of millet and wolfing it down.

One can imagine how slow the pace was. From Shouchun to Huaiyang was over five hundred li. They had set out in early May; half a month had passed, and they had covered only two-thirds of the distance. Heifu calculated the time and realized that by the time he arrived, it would already be the start of the sixth month.

Fortunately, Li You told Heifu that the Qin King actually hadn't reached Huaiyang yet either.

"When His Majesty learned of Xiang Yan's defeat and knew Chu's cause was lost, he sent Lord Feng ahead to issue the edict. Right now, His Majesty is still on an inspection tour of Dang Commandery and should arrive around the same time as us."

Heifu understood. The Qin King had very likely prepared two edicts: if Wang Jian had not yet taken Yingdu, the edict would urge the troops on; if Yingdu had already fallen, Wang Jian was to bring the prisoners and some meritorious officers and soldiers to Huaiyang — partly to reward merit and display martial glory, and partly to rein in Wang Jian's military authority. After all, this old general had now conquered three states in succession; his achievements were too high, his prestige too great...

At last, at the end of the fifth month, they reached Xiang County, with only a hundred li left to go. But those frail Chu harem consorts and palace attendants could walk no further. They were long past their initial delicate charm and now looked rather bedraggled.

So Li You and the three commandants decided to switch from the land route to the water route, using the Honggou Canal that led straight to Huaiyang. They put these several thousand people onto boats and had over ten thousand trackers haul the vessels — these trackers were originally Chu young men captured during the war.

Just as the palace attendants were slowly boarding the boats, Heifu heard shocking news from a commandant of the "Northern Army" who was also hurrying to Huaiyang.

"The Xiang clan of Xiaxiang has surrendered!?"

Heifu, and even Li You — nearly everyone who had fought in the decisive battle south of Qichun — found it unbelievable.

That solemn, tragic Chu song "Guo Shang" seemed still to linger in their ears. Xiang Yan's charge, in which he looked death calmly in the face, and the ghastly scene of him choosing suicide rather than letting his head fall into Qin hands — in Qin eyes, the Xiang clan and Qin shared a blood-deep enmity. They were plainly the most die-hard resistance faction. So no matter who surrendered to Qin, it could not possibly be the Xiang clan...

"Absolutely true. The one who surrendered is Xiang Yan's second son, Xiang Liang."

The colonel from the Northern Army said, "Last month, Xiang Yan's eldest son, Xiang Rong, took some death-sworn men and fled south. Xiang Liang, however, took the greater part of the Xiaxiang Xiang clan members and accepted the surrender!"

"How can the two sons of the Xiang clan be as different as mud and cloud!"

At the end of the fifth month, outside Juchao city, which had become the main base of the Chu remnants, beside a wineshop at a small roadside pavilion, two minor Chu nobles who had fled from Huaibei were also discussing this matter. They believed Xiang Liang had cowardly surrendered to Qin, while Xiang Rong had shouldered the great burden, retreating to Huainan to safeguard it and forming the final resistance force with Lord Changping. Thus, everyone scorned Xiang Liang and praised Xiang Rong, even feeling that before long, Xiang Rong and Lord Changping would recover Shouchun and Huaibei, and then they would certainly deal harshly with that coward!

An old fisherman sitting beside them, sorting his fishing net and reeking of fish, looked up. After hearing them out, he burst into loud laughter.

"I went to Xiaxiang several years ago and met Xiang Liang once. Though this man does not lead troops or engage in military affairs like his father and elder brother, he often associates with bold and heroic figures from Huaibei, Donghai, and Jiangdong. He is skilled in strategy, deep in thought, and possesses courage and resourcefulness — he is absolutely not the coward you claim him to be."

The two men, seeing that the speaker was merely an old fisherman, waved him off dismissively. "Affairs of family and state — what does a fisherman like you understand? Go catch your loaches!"

The fisherman shook his head and sighed. "The meat-eaters are base and cannot plan far ahead. No wonder Chu declines day by day."

He removed the bamboo hat from his head. Though he was over fifty, he was full of vigor and had an extraordinary bearing. When the locals of the wineshop saw this, they came over one after another to salute him, addressing him as "Lord Fan."

Only then did the two minor nobles realize this was a local wise man. Not daring to slight him, they left their seats and asked for his insight.

Lord Fan smiled. "Three hundred years ago, Wu She of Chu was framed by the treacherous minister Fei Wuji and imprisoned by King Ping of Chu. Wu She had two sons: one was Wu Shang, the other Wu Yuan. Both were worthy men; if not killed, they would become a calamity for Chu. So King Ping sent Fei Wuji to summon them. Wu Shang was benevolent by nature. Though he knew going to face disaster meant certain death, for the sake of his reputation for filial piety and benevolence, he went anyway — and as a result, died alongside his father. Wu Yuan, however, was tough and ruthless by nature, skilled at enduring humiliation. While Wu Shang surrendered without resistance, he resolutely fled, went to the state of Wu, and bore the name of an unfilial son to carry out his revenge. That is the kind of man who can truly accomplish great things..."

"Though the matter of the Xiang clan's two sons now is slightly different, the essence is no different. Chu's great army has been utterly lost in Huaibei, and the last bit of reinforcements was ambushed and annihilated outside Shouchun by the Qin army. Xiang Rong's followers number only a few hundred, and the troops Lord Changping can use are no more than ten thousand. Chu's cause is lost; it is only a matter of time before Huainan and Jiangdong are conquered by Qin."

"To raise troops at this moment and resist violent Qin with force would indeed win public acclaim, but in the end it would be hard to prevail, and it would also cause the complete annihilation of the Xiaxiang Xiang clan. Therefore, Xiang Liang accepted Qin's offer of surrender with his clansmen — to preserve the lineage."

"I have heard that when Qin captured Shouchun, it did not engage in mass slaughter. This shows that while it wishes to annex Chu, it also wants to consolidate its hold. What could reassure the Chu people and make them submit more than leniency toward the Xiang clan? In this way, Xiang Rong fulfills his vow to stand by Chu to the very end, while Xiang Liang lives on, enduring humiliation, and also preserves the hope of future revenge. The choices of the Xiang clan's two sons are comparable to those of Wu She's two sons. In my view, the one who will ultimately achieve great things is still Xiang Liang!"

The further he spoke, the softer Fan Zeng's voice became, until at last he was merely murmuring with a sigh: "Only, Wu Zixu still had the state of Wu to turn to. Now, Qin has already swept away the feudal lords; Yan, Dai, and Qi have all lost their nerve. Xiang Liang must find shelter under Qin, bear the infamy, and endure in silence. If the Xiang clan wishes to take revenge, compared to Wu Zixu, it will be ten times, a hundred times harder!"

Meanwhile, Heifu had also arrived at Huaiyang. After a day's rest, bathing and washing away the dust of the journey, he waited outside Huaiyang city along with tens of thousands of Qin troops, awaiting the arrival of King Zheng of Qin...

As they left camp and assembled, Heifu suddenly realized this would be the first time he ever laid eyes on Qin Shi Huang.

"It's said that historically, when Liu and Xiang saw the First Emperor's imperial carriage, each muttered a line to himself..."

"I'm much earlier than those two. When I see the Qin King in a moment, what kind of thought will arise in me?"

PS: Chapter 3 might be late, until 1 a. m. Since it's quite important, I need to let it brew first...

(End of chapter)