by Luo Guanzhong
Today's excerpt from Chapter 5
1Let us now turn to Chen Gong, who was about to kill Cao Cao; he suddenly had a change of heart, thinking, "I followed him to this place for the sake of the country; killing him would be immoral. It would be better if I just left him here, and went somewhere else." He returned his straight sword to its scabbard, and mounted his horse. Not waiting until daylight, he headed to Dong Commandery by himself. When Cao awoke, he did not see Chen Gong, and thought, "This guy heard me say a couple of things, suspected me of being inhumane, and left me here. I should go at once; I cannot stay for long." He then went to Chen liu that same evening, looked for his father, and told him the whole story. He wanted to use his family's financial resources to enlist conscript soldiers. His father said, "We have limited means, and I'm afraid that we will not succeed. There is a local government official who received his post based on his record of filial piety and honesty, whose name is Wei Hong. He has shown a willingness to disperse money in order to uphold justice, and his family is super wealthy. If we can get him to help out, we could make it work."
2
Cao arranged for a banquet, and then invited Wei Hong to his house. He told him, "Today, the House of Han is without a ruler and Dong Zhuo has seized power. He is committing fraud against the emperor and causing harm to the people; everyone in the nation is gnashing their teeth in frustration. I would like to use my strength to help the country, but I regret that my strength alone is insufficient. You are a loyal servant of the empire; I boldly ask for your help." Wei Hong said, "I have been of this mind for quite some time, but regret that I have not yet found any heroes. If you are really determined, Mengde, I am willing to help out by making my family's financial resources available to you." Cao was overjoyed; he then issued a forged imperial edict, which was carried at top speed along every byway. Later, when he was gathering conscript soldiers, he planted a white recruitment banner with the words "loyalty to the empire" written on it. After not more than a few days, he had raised a massive volunteer army. They were lined up side by side, each man like a tiny drop of rain in a great storm.
Continued next week. Tomorrow's installment from Lays of Ancient Rome by Macaulay.
This is one of four great novels from China, published when it was the most highly civilization in the world. Map shows China at the time of this story.
Chapter Summary: A forged imperial edict is issued: all towns respond to Lord Cao; breaking through the soldiers at the pass: three heroes battle Lü Bu.
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This translation from Wikipedia. See license CC-BY-SA.
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