Chapter 374: A Mournful and Heroic Song

In the twenty-seventh year, fifth month, the First Emperor of Qin toured west to Longxi and visited the Great Wall in person. Meanwhile, in Songzi County, located in Julu Commandery, a single incident was stirring the entire city into an uproar…

"Innkeeper, tell me more about that musician."

In the city of Songzi, a man dressed in the plain cloth of a traveling merchant placed three half-tael coins on the table, pressed them down with two fingers, and slid them gently toward the inn's servant.

The servant took the coins and slipped them into his sleeve, a smile appearing on his face. "If the honored guest wishes to know, then this humble one will speak freely and hold nothing back!"

It was high noon and there were few other guests, so the servant sat down before the travel-worn man and began recounting this strange affair that the whole county knew.

"That musician was originally a hired hand for the Zhao clan, a wealthy household of this county. He only came to Songzi City last year, and like me, he was employed as a menial laborer, doing lowly and toilsome work, just earning his monthly keep. On the rare occasions he visited an inn or wineshop, he would only order the cheapest wine, yet after drinking it, he would cry out, 'Exhilarating!'"

"He worked in the Zhao clan's courtyard. One day, it happened that the head of the Zhao household was hosting a banquet for guests and ordered musicians to play the zhu in the hall to add to the merriment. This hired hand lingered in the courtyard; even after finishing his work, he delayed leaving. Listening to the music, he even offered comments, saying that some parts of the zhu's melody were struck well, while other parts were not."

The zhu was a musical instrument very popular in the lands of Yan and Zhao. Shaped like a zither but larger, it had strings fixed at the head and was struck with a bamboo stick. Unlike the decadent and seductive music of Zheng and Wey, it possessed a desolate, bleak, and solemn beauty, and was always beloved by men of character.

The cloth-clad man nodded. "That hired hand, as it turns out, truly was someone who understood music."

"Indeed."

The servant continued, "The other hired hands working with him grew annoyed at his talk and reported him to the master, saying that this man, who did such menial work, was privately critiquing the music."

"The master, intending to make sport of him, ordered him into the hall to play the zhu. Everyone thought this man would make a laughingstock of himself. Who could have guessed that he would deftly pick up the bamboo slip and gently strike the zhu's strings? At first listen, it seemed chaotic, but as one listened on, they realized it was actually a complete musical piece, better than what the musicians in the hall had played."

"Thereupon, the master praised him, bestowed wine and food upon him, and told him to stop being a hired hand and become a musician instead…"

At this point, the servant grew somewhat thirsty, and the cloth-clad man generously ordered a cup of wine — the alcohol prohibition of Guanzhong and Nan Commandery had not been enforced in the various commanderies east of the mountains, so local wine prices had not been deliberately driven to exorbitant heights.

However, the measuring vessel used to pour the wine was already the standard square sheng issued by Guanzhong to all the commanderies and counties.

The servant thanked the cloth-clad man and continued, "And so, the hired hand became a musician. The head of the Zhao household held a great banquet for his guests and had him enter the hall to play the zhu. After bathing and changing his clothes, that hired hand donned a set of fine garments and even carried in his arms his own zhu, which he had hidden away for a long time. I heard from those who attended the banquet that the zhu was made of the finest paulownia wood, its strings the longest tail hairs of fine horses from Daibei, its chestnut-shell base interspersed with vermilion lacquer — a single glance told you it was worth a fortune!"

"And his appearance, after washing away the grime and combing his hair, was utterly transformed. There was a faint air of a celebrated scholar's elegance about him. All the hosts and guests at the gathering were astonished, descending from their seats to treat him as an equal, honoring him as a guest of the highest order."

"When he struck the zhu and sang, his voice was mournful, resonant, and fiercely stirring. I was there at the time delivering wine and dishes, and I heard a few notes from the courtyard. Though this humble one does not understand music, I felt the sound of the zhu enter my ears, and an inexplicable sorrow rose from my heart. When I came to my senses, I found I had been so moved that tears streamed down my face. And that day, none of the guests seated at the banquet left without weeping…"

"Ever since then, the musician has become a figure known throughout the entire county, with every wealthy household taking turns inviting him as a guest."

The cloth-clad man fell into deep thought. West of the Pass, in Sanchuan or Yingchuan, if one encountered such a person so clearly concealing his true identity, every wealthy household would likely report him to the authorities at once and have his identity papers checked, wouldn't they?

But this was the land of Yan and Zhao, where men gathered for sport and games, singing mournful and heroic songs. When they met someone who suited their temperament, who cared about the rest?

Yet the Qin officials would take notice sooner or later.

So he raised his head and asked the servant, "Whose house will that musician visit today to play the zhu? I wish to go and listen!"

Half a shichen later, when the cloth-clad man stood outside the courtyard wall of that household and heard the faint, familiar sound of the zhu drifting out, he had already confirmed the mysterious musician's identity.

"Gao Jianli…"

The man sighed with regret. "You do not properly conceal your name and bury your identity, yet you make such a grand and conspicuous display — what are you trying to do?"

…

The night was hazy, the moonlight like water. When the musician returned to his dwelling, he closed the door. Before he could even set down the zhu in his hands, he, whose hearing was extraordinarily acute, sensed that there was another person inside the room…

"Who's there!?"

He spun his head around sharply, drawing a dagger he always kept hidden in his bosom, aiming it at the dark area by the low table, ready to hurl it at any moment.

"An old friend comes to visit, and Brother Gao greets him with a sharp blade?"

A calm voice sounded, followed by the flash of a flint striking sparks. A man of about thirty, with a handsome countenance, appeared in the faint candlelight, smiling cheerfully at Gao Jianli.

Only after taking several steps forward did Gao Jianli see his face clearly, and he could not help but feel both surprised and delighted.

"Zhang Zifang! It's you!"

…

Seated across from each other at the low table, these old acquaintances, who had not seen each other for many years, could only converse in hushed voices.

Gao Jianli and Zhang Liang had become acquainted the year before last, when the men of Yan and the Three Jins who refused to submit to Qin had gathered between E and Juan in the state of Qi.

Originally, everyone wished to aid Qi in a desperate, death-defying struggle against Qin, but Zhang Liang had laughed loudly in the assembly hall, predicting that the King of Qi would surely surrender without a fight.

"Gentlemen, you had best each seek your own way out!"

Pointing at the sky where the bright sun blazed, he said mournfully, "The sky is about to grow dark. The long night stretches endlessly — who knows when light will return!"

Everyone bitterly cursed him for boosting the Qin army's morale and destroying their own prestige, but Gao Jianli took notice of Zhang Liang and befriended him, discovering that this man was supremely intelligent, and regretting they had not met sooner.

"If Zhang Zifang had been born ten years earlier and been able to hold the reins of power in Han, Han might not have perished so suddenly…" He gave Zhang Liang the highest praise.

"And Jing Ke would not have had to go to Qin, never to return."

Whenever he thought of his dear friend Jing Ke, slain in the Qin palace, Gao Jianli was still filled with regret.

A few days later, news arrived that King Jian of Qi intended to pay court to Qin. The remnants and loyalists of the feudal lords gathered between E and Juan were overcome with grief and could only scatter like birds and beasts. The two men thus parted ways — Zhang Liang went east to the coast, while Gao Jianli concealed his name and drifted to Songzi County in Julu Commandery, where he settled down.

"A year without seeing you, Zifang, and you've darkened considerably. Where has that gentleman of Han with a face like polished jade gone?"

Zhang Liang, looking as if he had shed a layer of skin, laughed. "The sun by the coast is scorching — it tanned me into this appearance. But that's for the best. What petty merchant, toiling and rushing about all day, would have a face of fair, tender skin?"

The identity he had fabricated for himself now was that of an itinerant merchant. The Zhang clan had many disciples and former officials who had already entered the Qin system as minor functionaries, so obtaining a set of travel and identity documents for him was an easy matter. That was why Zhang Liang could travel without hindrance.

Zhang Liang began to recount where he had gone over the past year or so.

"Confucius once said, 'When the Way does not prevail, take a raft and drift upon the sea.' Now that the feudal lords have all been destroyed by Qin, the Kingly Way has collapsed, and the Hegemonic Way runs rampant. There is no place left in the world for men like us. So I boarded a ship and went out to sea, staying for half a year with Lord Canghai of the Eastern Yi state of Hui. I sought a brave warrior who could help me assassinate the King of Qin. After finally finding one, I then returned to the Central Plains from the land of Yan. When I passed through Quyang County, I heard the rumors of a mysterious musician in Songzi County and guessed it might be you, so I came to see."

Gao Jianli looked thoughtful. "Zifang still believes that assassinating the King of Qin is the only good remedy to destroy Qin and restore the kingdoms?"

"It is not a good remedy, but it is the only way out."

Zhang Liang said with conviction, "The King of Qin suppresses the Nine Provinces by the sheer force of his own authority. He has razed the famous cities of the world, slaughtered the heroes of the six kingdoms, gathered all weapons in Xianyang and cast them into twelve metal colossi, and relocated 120,000 households into the Pass to weaken the people east of the mountains. Now, the remnants of the six kingdoms dare to be angry but dare not speak out — entirely because the King of Qin still lives. But if the King of Qin were to die, with no crown prince established in the state, chaos would inevitably ensue. When that time comes, the heroes east of the mountains will rise up. Then our national vengeance can be exacted, and the six kingdoms can be restored!"

He had already seen clearly that Qin's power was concentrated entirely in the single person of the First Emperor, and the policies and laws that had made Qin strong were ill-suited to the soil of the six kingdoms east of the mountains, unable to take root. As long as the First Emperor was killed, the east would surely descend into chaos!

Zhang Liang had taken refuge with Lord Canghai, while also secretly seeking a brave warrior. He had now found a suitable candidate and befriended him just as Xia Lei had befriended Nie Zheng. Now, he only needed to wait for the First Emperor's eastern tour…

The purpose of his disguise as a merchant was to familiarize himself with the roads and routes of various regions and find a suitable location!

Time was pressing, and Zhang Liang immediately pointed out Gao Jianli's purpose. "Brother Gao, instead of hiding your name and properly concealing yourself in the marketplace, you suddenly restored your appearance and attire and even became famous throughout Songzi for playing the zhu. Have you set your heart on death?"

The First Emperor deeply hated Crown Prince Dan of Yan and Jing Ke. After unifying the world and proclaiming himself emperor, he ordered the empire-wide arrest of Crown Prince Dan's retainers. As a guest of honor to Crown Prince Dan and a close friend of Jing Ke, Gao Jianli was naturally on the wanted list. His head was worth five hundred jin of gold! If captured alive, it would fetch a thousand jin!

But Qin's administration had no foundation in the lands of Yan and Zhao and could not achieve the tight, meticulous control it exercised in the Qin heartland. If Gao Jianli had continued to hide as a hired hand, the Qin officials would have had no way to find him.

Now, however, things were different. The authorities would take notice of him sooner or later and send a Prefect Clerk to investigate.

"Zifang is as perceptive as ever… nothing can be hidden from you." Gao Jianli shook his head and revealed his anguish:

"I can't keep hiding any longer!"

He had once been a renowned musician in Yan and Zhao, using his deft hands to play enchanting melodies. Instruments were like the women in his life — the zhu was a somewhat fierce principal wife, the qin and se were gentle concubines, the sheng and xiao were occasional mistresses…

But he had lost everything — his status, his name, his comfortable life, the admiration and reverence of others. Working as a hired hand, doing heavy manual labor day in and day out — all that he could endure. But the day he discovered that his calloused hands had grown unfamiliar with the strings of the zhu, he could endure it no longer!

Gao Jianli's hand brushed over the zhu strings, and a gentle smile appeared. "I want to play the zhu. I want to play the qin. I want to perform the Shao music once more and sing aloud. Even if I were to die right after, it would be better than living in mediocrity, like a walking corpse."

"Must it be so…" Zhang Liang sighed, yet he could understand.

He suggested, "The Qin officers will likely come to arrest you before long, Brother Gao — perhaps tomorrow, perhaps the day after. Tonight, hide yourself in my ox-cart loaded with goods and leave Songzi County! I can escort you to the coast, let you board a ship and sail out to sea, to Jizi Korea, to the Lord of the Vast Sea. There, Brother Gao, you could play music all day long…"

"Play what music? The music of a fallen kingdom?"

Gao Jianli smiled bitterly. "I don't want to go to Mount Shouyang and become a Boyi or Shuqi… And Zifang, you wish to emulate the assassinations of Xia Lei and Nie Zheng to strike at Qin. I fear that will not easily succeed — and it is far too slow."

"Zifang must know that the King of Qin decreed last year that in the former lands of the six kingdoms, all weights and measures, all coinage must be unified; carts must share the same axle width, writing the same script. Everything must be made the same as Qin."

"The next generation of Yan scholars will no longer write the Yan script passed down for eight hundred years, nor will they be able to read the classical texts and histories handed down through the ages."

When he raised his head, his eyes were already brimming with tears. "Zhao Zheng harbors a greedy and base heart, treating his people like slaves. He not only tramples the altars of the Duke of Shao — he wants to destroy the very foundation of Yan, to break the backbone of the Yan people! If this continues, in less than twenty years, there will be no more Yan people left in this world!"

"So I can wait no longer. Jing Ke is gone, Crown Prince Dan is dead — but Gao Jianli is still here! I want Yan, I want all under heaven, to know that Yan still has men of unyielding iron bones that will never break!"

"You intend to deliberately lure the Qin officers into capturing you." Zhang Liang immediately guessed Gao Jianli's true purpose.

"You want the Qin officers to bring you before the King of Qin. You wish to emulate the deeds of Zhuan Zhu and Yao Li — to assassinate Qin at close quarters!?"

Gao Jianli nodded. "Zhao Zheng is arrogant and conceited, believing himself the master of all under heaven. He offered a thousand jin of gold and ordered the Qin officers to capture me alive. I suspect he wants to make me an object to flaunt his achievements, displayed in Xianyang Palace!"

"Once I am there, there will be a way!"

"He will be on guard against you." Zhang Liang disagreed. "You may not even get a single audience with him."

But Gao Jianli was confident. "The land of Qin also delights in the sound of the zhu. There is no one in this world who can hear my playing and remain unmoved. And no one who, having heard it once, does not wish to hear it a second time! As long as I am taken to Xianyang, there will surely be an opportunity!"

Zhang Liang knew Gao Jianli's resolve was set. He could only sigh. "Brother Gao uses himself as bait, looking upon death as a homecoming. This courage far surpasses Zhang Liang's…"

Gao Jianli cupped his hands in salute. "Zifang possesses great talent and should preserve his useful life. But I, apart from playing the zhu and performing music, am good for nothing. In times of good governance, it might still delight the spirit; in these degenerate times, it is of no use."

Zhang Liang fell silent for a long while. Only after a good moment did he lift the cup from the low table.

"Liang can only use water in place of wine to toast you, Brother Gao!"

He bowed deeply. "Liang is one who cherishes his own life. Tomorrow I must leave Songzi swiftly and cannot see Brother Gao off in person…"

But Gao Jianli laughed heartily. "If my endeavor fails, then I can only count on Zifang. Besides…"

The bamboo slip in his hand glided across the zhu once more, as if he were truly playing.

"Many years ago, I already composed a farewell melody — for Jing Ke, and also for my own self of tomorrow!"

In the early hours before dawn, as Zhang Liang scaled the wall to leave, he heard the sound of Gao Jianli's zhu.

First came the shifting-zhi notes that filled the listener's heart with grief and indignation, nearly making Zhang Liang shed tears beneath the wall. Then followed the impassioned, soaring yu notes:

"The wind sighs, the Yi River runs cold — the hero departs, never to return!"

…

The next day, the Qin officers of Songzi County indeed dispatched scribes to investigate Gao Jianli's identity and took him to Julu Commandery. Someone who had seen Gao Jianli before identified him. The Governor of Julu was overjoyed and had Gao Jianli imprisoned, a wooden cangue locked around his neck, and sent under escort to Xianyang.

Meanwhile, a thousand li away in Didao, Longxi Commandery, after watching the First Emperor's carriage procession head north toward Beidi Commandery, Li Xin and Heifu also led a force of over a thousand men out beyond the Qin border fortifications of the Long Wall, deep into the lands of the Di and Qiang beyond the frontier…

According to the First Emperor's plan, the White Horse and the Black Hound would take the first step of the westward expansion!

(End of Chapter)