The Heavenly Sword & the Dragon Sabre – Chapter 34 – Part 4

Peng Yingyu said, "Brother Han, there is much you do not know. The Tartar emperor employs Tibetan monks in his court, and the government falls into chaos. He commissions Jia Lu[^jialu] to excavate the Yellow River, exhausting the people and squandering their wealth, until Heaven is angered and the people resentful. In recent years we have beaten the Tartars until they flee in rout. You think this rabble of ours can truly defeat the Mongol elite who have dominated the realm? The reason we prevail is that this muddle-headed emperor does not employ good officials. The Prince of Ruyang is a master of warfare, yet the Tartar emperor deliberately thwarts him at every turn, checking him in all things for fear he should win too much glory and seize the throne itself. Thus he strips the prince of his military authority again and again. The great generals at court are at each other's throats, and rather than reconcile them the emperor stokes their rivalries, appointing only wine-skins and rice-bags who know nothing but flattery to command the armies. However skilled the Mongol soldiers may be, they are undone by these idiot generals. They fight a battle and lose it, fight another and lose it again. Is not this Tartar emperor our greatest ally?" Zhang Wuji listened to all this and nodded in agreement.

Peng Yingyu continued, “If we were to kill the Tartar emperor, the Crown Prince would ascend the throne. Judging by the look of him, the Crown Prince is a formidable character. Even if the new emperor proves a tyrant, he will be better than his muddle-headed father. Should he employ a host of battle-hardened veterans to fight us, we would be in grave danger.” Zhang Wuji said, “It is fortunate that the Dharma Master warned us in time. Had we acted rashly today, I fear we would have ruined the great enterprise.” Han Lin’er slapped his own face. “Deserved, deserved! Let’s see if you dare offer such foolish counsel again!” His antics made Zhang Wuji, Zhou Zhiruo and Peng Yingyu laugh.

Peng Yingyu continued, “The Order Leader’s person is precious, and the burden of driving out the invaders and restoring our land rests upon his shoulders. You should not court such peril, attempting a single desperate strike like the assassin at Bolang.¹ Among the emperor’s personal guards I observed no small number of formidable experts. Order Leader, though your valour and prowess are beyond compare, you must still guard against being overwhelmed by numbers. Should anything go amiss, what then?” Zhang Wuji clasped his fists and said, “I heed the Dharma Master’s wise counsel.”

Zhou Zhiruo sighed. “The Dharma Master’s words are not a word amiss. Why risk your life so? Know this: when our great enterprise is accomplished, it is you, Order Leader Zhang, who will sit upon the dragon throne in that painted tower.” Han Lin’er clapped his hands. “And when that day comes, the Order Leader becomes emperor, Miss Zhou becomes empress, Left Messenger Yang² and Dharma Master Peng become the left and right chancellors. Now that would be fine!” Zhou Zhiruo’s cheeks flushed crimson. She lowered her head in shy delight, but the corners of her eyes and brows betrayed a joy beyond containing.

Zhang Wuji waved his hands repeatedly. “Brother Han, you must not speak of such things again. Our Order seeks only to rescue the common people of the world from their sufferings. When the work is done, we withdraw. We do not crave wealth and honour. That is the conduct of a true man, and we must not violate the strict injunctions of the Holy Fire Tablets.³” Peng Yingyu said, “The Order Leader’s breadth of vision is beyond the reach of ordinary men. But when that time comes, when the yellow robe is placed upon your shoulders, you will find it impossible to refuse. When the Chenqiao Mutiny⁴ happened, did Zhao Kuangyin ever want to become emperor?” Zhang Wuji said, “No, no! If I harbour any unworthy ambition, may Heaven strike me down and I die a wretched death.”

Zhou Zhiruo heard the resolve in his voice. Her expression shifted faintly. She turned her gaze to the window and said no more.

The four of them spoke a while longer, then ate their wine and rice. Zhang Wuji said, “Dharma Master Peng and I will walk the streets and enquire after news of my sworn father.” He thought that Han Lin’er was blunt by nature, and at the slightest injustice would throw a punch and raise trouble. So he said, “Brother Han, you and Zhiruo should not go out tonight. Rest here at the inn.” Han Lin’er said, “Yes. The Order Leader is cautious about everything!”

After Zhang Wuji and Peng Yingyu left the inn, they agreed that one would go west and the other east, and meet back at the inn before the second drum.⁵

Zhang Wuji went west when he left the inn. Along the way he heard the common folk talking excitedly, all about the splendour of the day’s “Parade of the Imperial City.” One man said, “The Ming Order rebels in the south. Today when Lord Guan paraded through the streets his eyes blazed with killing intent. The rebels will surely be crushed.” Another said, “The Ming Order has Maitreya Bodhisattva⁶ to protect them. It seems Lord Guan the Holy Emperor and Maitreya Buddha will have a great battle.” Yet another said, “Minister Jia Lu conscripted labourers to dig the Yellow River, and they dug up a stone man with one eye. On the stone man’s back were carved two lines: ‘Say not the stone man has but one eye, / Set the Yellow River stirring, and the world shall rise.’ It is the work of fate, and cannot be resisted.”

Zhang Wuji had no wish to linger over such talk from ignorant folk. He wandered at random, and the further he went the quieter it grew. Suddenly he raised his head and found he had arrived at the little wineshop where he had once drunk with Zhao Min. His heart gave a start. “How is it that without meaning to, I have come here again? Can I not put Miss Zhao out of my mind, cannot set her aside?” He saw that the shop door was half-closed, and within all was still and silent, as if no drinkers remained.

He hesitated a moment, then pushed open the door and went in. By the counter a serving boy lay slumped across the table, dozing. He walked into the inner hall and saw that at the square table in the corner a single candle burned, flickering and uncertain. Beside the table, facing inward, sat a figure. That very square table was where he and Zhao Min had drunk twice before, and apart from this one guest the hall was empty.

The figure heard his footsteps and sprang to its feet. The candlelight wavered and fell upon that face, and it was Zhao Min.

Neither of them had expected to meet here. Both cried out in surprise.

Zhao Min whispered, “You… how did you come here?” Her voice trembled, and plainly her heart was greatly moved. Zhang Wuji said, “I was walking past by chance and came in to look. I had no idea…” He stepped to the table and saw that opposite her place was set another cup and pair of chopsticks. “Is someone else coming?” Zhao Min’s face coloured. “No one else. The two times before I drank here with you, you sat opposite me. That is why I… that is why I told the serving boy to set out an extra cup and chopsticks.”

Zhang Wuji was touched. The four dishes of wine and food on the table were the same as the first time Zhao Min had invited him to drink here. He felt the tenderness of her feeling in the depth of his heart, and could not help reaching out to take her hands in his. His voice trembled. “Miss Zhao.” Zhao Min said mournfully, “I can only grieve that I was born into a Mongol prince’s household, and so became your enemy…”

Suddenly from outside the window came two cold sneers. Something flew in, struck with a crack, and put out the candle. The hall plunged into utter darkness. Zhang Wuji and Zhao Min recognised those sneers at once as Zhou Zhiruo’s, and for a moment they stood lost and helpless. They heard light footsteps on the rooftop, and Zhou Zhiruo was gone like a gust of wind.

Zhao Min whispered, “You have pledged your lives together, haven’t you?” Zhang Wuji said, “Yes. I should not have kept it from you.” Zhao Min said, “That day I stood behind the tree and heard the sweet words you spoke to her. I wished I were dead then and there. I wished I had never been born into this world. That day I sneered twice. She repays me in kind and comes to sneer at me. But you… you have never spoken half a word to me that made my heart glad.”

Zhang Wuji was filled with guilt. “Miss Zhao, I should not have come here. I should not have seen you again. My heart already belongs to another, and I should not cause you further distress. You are of golden branch and jade leaf.⁷ From now on, forget a wandering jianghu⁸ rogue like me.”

Zhao Min took his hand and traced the scars upon the back of it with her fingers. She said softly, “I bit you here. However high your martial arts, however skilled your medicine, this scar will never fade. The scars on your own hand will never fade either. Can you remove the scar upon my heart?” She threw both arms about his neck and pressed a long, deep kiss to his lips.

Zhang Wuji felt the softness of her lips, a delicate fragrance in his senses, and his heart was swept away. Suddenly Zhao Min bit down hard, drawing blood from his upper lip. Then she shoved him at the shoulder, spun, leapt through the window, and cried, “You little thief! I hate you, I hate you!”

Footnotes

1. 搏浪之一击 – Bólàng zhī yī jī. Literally the single strike at Bolang. Reference to Zhang Liang’s attempted assassination of Qin Shi Huang at Bolang Sands, where a strongman hired to kill the emperor hurled a massive iron weight at his carriage, but missed. An allusion warning against reckless one-shot attempts on powerful figures. ↩

2. 杨逍 – Yáng Xiāo. Left Messenger of the Ming Order, one of its senior officers. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

3. 圣火令 – Shènghuǒ Lìng. Literally sacred fire tablets. Twelve tablets brought from Persia, forged from an unknown metal harder than any blade, carrying the Ming Order’s most profound martial arts and serving as the tokens of its authority. ↩

4. 陈桥兵变 – Chénqiáo Bīngbiàn. The Chenqiao Mutiny of 960 CE, in which Zhao Kuangyin founded the Song dynasty. According to legend, his soldiers draped a yellow imperial robe upon him while he slept, “forcing” him to accept the throne, though the whole affair was almost certainly prearranged. ↩

5. 二鼓 – èr gǔ. The second drum-watch, approximately 9:00 to 11:00 in the evening. ↩

6. 弥勒菩萨 – Mílè Púsà. Maitreya Bodhisattva, the future Buddha prophesied to appear on earth to teach the true dharma. Revered by the Ming Order as a symbol of renewal and deliverance. ↩

7. 金枝玉叶 – jīn zhī yù yè. Literally golden branch and jade leaf. An idiom denoting someone of noble or imperial birth. ↩

8. 江湖 – jiānghú. Literally rivers and lakes. The itinerant world beyond settled society and official reach, holding not only martial artists but the trades that travel with them, including pedlars, physicians, fortune-tellers, entertainers, boatmen, beggars, outlaws and the like. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩