Chapter 300: Wu Rui

In the middle of the eleventh month of the twenty-fifth year of King Zheng of Qin, at Yugan, over three hundred li from Pengze Town, in a mountain pass two li from the town, dry bamboo and wood were stuffed into a furnace. The great forge instantly blazed with smoke and fire, sending dust flying in all directions.

Over a hundred Gan-Yue people, some with mallet-shaped buns and others with shorn hair, gathered around this smelting workshop. As if in a relay, they passed baskets of collected fingernails and hair one by one to the sword-caster wearing a leather skirt, who then poured them into the furnace. The flames immediately surged brighter, and a scorched, acrid smell spread through the air.

"Shorn hair and pared nails, cast into the furnace, the metals then soften, and thus the sword is formed!"

Led by a bare-chested young man with a mallet-shaped bun, the Gan-Yue people raised their hands high and shouted in their own tongue.

The young man was called Wu Rui, son of Wu Shen, the lord of Yugan Town. His father was old and frail, and had fallen ill since winter began, so Wu Rui attended today's sword-offering ceremony in his stead.

The Yugan region held many copper, tin, and iron deposits, and sword-casting was the traditional trade of the Gan-Yue people. Three hundred years ago, as the Xu people migrated south across Pengze, King Helü of Wu dominated the Jianghuai region, ruling this area and ordering the Gan-Yue to offer tribute of treasured swords and casting artisans. Thus, Gan Jiang and his wife Mo Ye were sent to Gusu to cast swords for the King of Wu.

It is said that the King of Wu ordered thousands to gather iron essence from the Five Mountains and metal bloom from the Six Directions, and had three hundred virgin boys and girls work the bellows and load the charcoal. Gan Jiang and Mo Ye forged the treasured swords, and shorn hair and pared nails were cast into the furnace, the metals then softened, and thus the swords were formed. The yang sword was named Gan Jiang, the yin sword Mo Ye, and they became the most famous treasured swords under heaven...

Thus, the people of the Central Plains called treasured swords "Swords of Wu-Yue," while the Wu and Yue states in turn called them "Swords of Gan-Yue."

Now, the Spring and Autumn era of Wu and Yue had long since vanished like smoke, but the Gan-Yue people along the Yugan River continued the sword-casting tradition generation after generation.

A sword is the first wife of a Gan-Yue man. Each year, they would divine an auspicious day through chicken-bone divination, cast a fine sword, and present it to their chieftain.

Now, with the hair and nails cast into the furnace, over a hundred people began blowing air and loading charcoal in unison. After a morning of smelting, the copper and tin finally melted completely.

At this moment, under the reverent gazes of the crowd, Wu Rui strode forward, took over the work from the master artisan, and personally poured the molten metal into the sword mold!

In the intense heat, sweat flowed over Wu Rui's bronze skin, and the dragon-and-serpent tattoos on his arms seemed to come alive.

After this, once it cooled and solidified over several days, the bronze sword would take shape, but whether the sword was good or bad remained unknown.

"My only wish is that on the day this sword leaves the mold, it may sever oxen and horses on land, strike down swans and geese in the water, and cut down any foe it meets!"

Wu Rui raised his arms and shouted, expressing his heartfelt hope!

With this, his task was complete. From here on, everything had to be entrusted to time and the blessings of the spirits.

Wu Rui donned a rough hempen coat and returned to the town with the Gan-Yue people who had come to watch the casting. Cooking smoke curled upwards; it was time for the evening meal, and the people seemed already to smell the fragrance of fish soup and rice from their homes.

The Gan-Yue town was very distinctive, built directly on the banks of the Yugan River. Along the river stood stilt-style buildings made of bamboo and wood, roofed with thatch, much like the Dai family bamboo houses of later ages. Several pillars lifted the main structure off the ground, with people living above and livestock kept below. The Jiangnan region was low-lying and hot, yet these buildings remained cool all year round.

The true town, adjacent to these bamboo houses, was a small rammed-earth citadel over a zhang high. This small citadel had been built twenty years prior by Wu Rui's father, Wu Shen, leading the local Gan-Yue people, and it was the first walled town on the Yugan River.

The Gan-Yue people they met along the way all deeply revered Wu Rui, bowing and saluting him. An old man took his hand and said with emotion, "Twenty years ago, we still wandered along this river, often warring with other Yue tribes. Thanks to Lord Wu coming here and teaching us to build towns, gathering over ten stockades into one citadel, we no longer fear being raided by other tribes!"

Yugan had clearly become the largest tribe among the Gan-Yue people, flourishing day by day. Now, as Wu Shen aged with each passing day, once he passed away, Wu Rui would become the new chieftain...

The buildings within the town were also mostly stilt-style, and even Wu Shen's residence was no exception. Yue warriors stood guard outside holding bamboo spears, and upon seeing Wu Rui return, they all greeted him.

When he stepped into the largest hall, Wu Rui discovered that during his time outside the town, his father had received several guests, who were now discussing matters...

Gan-Yue lacked the complex rituals of the Central Plains. Wu Rui strode directly forward and bowed to his father, who was advanced in years and rarely left the town: "Father, your son has returned!"

Wu Shen's hair was streaked with white. Although he was a Chu man from the Wu region, his current attire was no different from an ordinary Yue person: shorn hair, tattooed body, crossed arms, and a left-lapped robe.

He claimed descent from the royal house of Wu, originally from Jiangdong. Exiled to the Yugan River for offending powerful nobles, he did not die under the barbarian Yue arrows. Instead, relying on his intelligence, wisdom, and courage, and through marriage alliances, he helped the Yugan Yue defeat other tribes, built a walled town, and assumed the position of Gan-Yue leader.

To make the Gan-Yue people submit and not see him as an outsider, Wu Shen changed his clothing and adopted their customs, dressing himself and his son in the Yue manner. He explained, "When my ancestors Taibo and Zhongyong fled to the barbarian Yue, they entered the region and adopted its customs, tattooing their bodies with patterns and cutting their hair like the local barbarians. Only thus could they establish the state of Wu. Since we have already departed from the Xia, what harm is there in adopting Yue customs?"

However, Wu Shen had long since lost his former vigor. He sat weakly wrapped in a lambskin blanket, fearing cold in winter and heat in summer, a stark contrast to Wu Rui, who still wore short clothes and walked barefoot in the eleventh month. He was truly old.

"A-Rui, greet our honored guests."

Although Wu Shen's body grew weaker by the day, his wisdom had not diminished in the slightest; he knew whom he could not afford to offend.

Wu Rui sized up the visitors and found one to be a scholar dressed in Chu-style robes. Wu Rui knew him as Xu Shu, a man from Pengze Town who had visited Yugan a few years prior and could speak the Yue tongue.

"I haven't seen you for several years, and the young lord has already become a man."

Xu Shu smiled warmly and tried to get familiar, but Wu Rui was more interested in the other person.

That man wore armor and a trapezoidal board cap, sitting upright and formal. His hairstyle and armor were unlike anything Wu Rui had ever seen on the Chu officers and officials passing through Yugan, so he couldn't help but look at him a few more times. This man was Li Xian, a subordinate of Heifu, and he was also sizing up Wu Rui.

By the time Wu Rui sat down, the matters the three had been discussing were nearing their conclusion.

Xu Shu cupped his hands and said, "The words the Sima asked us to convey have been relayed to Lord Wu. What does Lord Wu think?"

Wu Shen smiled and said, "How could a mere small town dare defy a great state? But regarding the matter of sending troops, allow me to consider it. Although I hold the nominal title of Gan-Yue elder, I must still consult the various tribes on important matters."

Li Xian spoke at this point: "The Sima's patience is limited. The great army is about to attack Poyang. If Lord Wu does not become a subject of the Qin state, then he will be an enemy of the Qin army!"

That this man dared to speak to his father in such a way instantly enraged Wu Rui. He moved to draw his sword and rise, but a single glare from Wu Shen forced him back down.

After the two had left, he said with considerable displeasure, "Although the Lord of Poyang sends men every year to collect ten fine swords and fifty halberds as tax, even those Chu grandees treat Father with respect. Yet this man directly threatened you with words. Why not kill him!"

Wu Shen, however, coughed for a while and then shook his head: "The thing I worried about has finally come. Do you know who that military officer is?"

"Is he... a Qin, as Father once told me about?"

Wu Rui was born in Yugan and had never traveled far, so everything about the outside world was relayed to him by his father.

Wu Shen said, "Indeed. The Qin have promised that if I choose to submit and send troops to assist that Qin Sima in attacking Poyang, the Qin state will recognize me as the Lord of Yugan, a title inheritable by my descendants, and will grant tax reductions according to the Qin state's old precedents for ruling barbarian tribes..."

Wu Rui was displeased: "This town was built by Father. Father is the chieftain, supported by the local Gan-Yue people. Since when do we need others to recognize that? Even the Lord of Poyang would not dare to threaten Father like this."

Wu Shen sighed: "My son, you do not understand. In the past, the Lord of Poyang did not dare to move against me because our forces in Yugan were evenly matched with his. But Qin is different."

Wu Shen was a man of Wu from Jiangdong who had once been a retainer of Lord Chunshen. After Lord Chunshen's fall, he was implicated and exiled in disgrace to Yugan by the Chu Prime Minister Li Yuan. Thus, he had some insight and knew the might of Qin. He also understood that since even the Chu state had suddenly collapsed, it was only a matter of time before the tiny town of Yugan fell under Qin's rule.

"For the past twenty years, I, along with the Lords of Poyang, Pengze, Shanggan, Xun, the Yang-Yue, the Mei clan of Luling, and others, have been nothing more than small fish and shrimp in a pond, all of similar size. But now, a great alligator has burst into the pond, disemboweled the great whale that was Chu, and swallowed the Lords of Xun and Pengze one by one. Next, it will be the Lord of Poyang's turn. And Yugan must also make a choice: to become a subject of Qin, or an enemy of Qin..."

Xu Shu had spoken kindly and brought gifts, while Li Xian had directly threatened. One soft, one hard—he had no choice but to comply.

After much deliberation, Wu Shen decided to agree to the demands of Li Xian and Xu Shu, and to send a thousand Gan-Yue men to assist the Qin army in attacking Poyang.

According to the Qin side's request, the two parties would meet with their troops half a month later, on the first day of the twelfth month, at the confluence of the Gan River, Po River, and Yugan River, to form an alliance and jointly discuss the grand plan to attack Po...

Li Xian returned satisfied to report to Heifu, who had already set out from Pengze, while Xu Shu stayed behind to coordinate communications.

"I am long ill and find it hard to leave the town. You will go in my place to meet with that Qin army Sima."

On the day of departure, Wu Shen instructed his son: "My son, you are young and full of hot blood, but your father is already old. Sooner or later, you must shoulder the great responsibility of Yugan. Therefore, on this trip, you must be cautious in all things and not act rashly!"

Although Wu Rui verbally agreed readily, he still felt some defiance in his heart, thinking his father was truly old, frightened into timidity by a few words from two men.

He touched the sharp sword he had just retrieved from the casting furnace. It was a rare fine sword, gleaming coldly, sharp enough to sever a hair blown against it.

Wu Rui's pride and self-satisfaction, like this sharp sword, had been forged from the bits and pieces of life over these twenty years. He did not know how powerful Qin was; he only knew that on the Yugan River, among the Gan-Yue, he and his father's word was absolute!

He thought to himself secretly, "If the Qin are truly so powerful, why do they need our strength to attack Poyang? I must see for myself what is so remarkable about these Qin people!"

Wu Rui never imagined that this trip of his would make him fully understand the meaning of the saying, "There are people beyond people, and heavens beyond heavens"...

PS: These past few days I've been busy preparing for my thesis defense. While writing, I dozed off and collapsed onto the keyboard several times. I really can't squeeze out Chapter 3, so I'm taking a break. Go ahead and curse me if you want — I'm going to sleep for a bit...

(End of chapter)