by Luo Guanzhong
18 The next day, Xuande and Zou Jing led their army forward, with much shouting and banging of gongs. When the bandit rebels engaged them in battle, Xuande led his army in retreat. The bandit rebels seized the opportunity to give chase. They had just crossed over a ridge, when the gongs from Xuande's armies all sounded in unison. The two armies on the left and right came out simultaneously, and Xuande commanded his soldiers to turn around and attack. Having been attacked from three different routes, the bandit rebels suffered a major blow. They were driven all the way to the foot of the city walls of Qingzhou, when Commandery governor Gong Jing led militia troops outside of the city walls to assist in the fighting. The power of the bandit rebels was now greatly diminished, and many of them were slaughtered; the siege of Qingzhou was over. People in later generations wrote a poem in praise of Xuande:19 He prepared a divinely inspired plan; two tigers must still yield to one dragon.
His exploits were already legendary, despite being new on the scene; it is only natural that he would divide his ding tripod, and share the pieces with the orphaned and the destitute.
20 Gong Jing had finished handing out the rewards for meritorious deeds to all of the troops, so Zou Jing wanted to return. Xuande said, "I recently heard that the palace guard commander Lu Zhi was fighting the bandit rebel leader Zhang Jue in Guangzong. I was a former pupil of Lu Zhi, so I would like to go and help him." Thereupon, Zou Jing returned home with his army; Xuande, Guan and Zhang set out for Guangzong, leading their core cadre of 500 men. They arrived in Lu Zhi's camp, and entered his tent to pay their respects. When they told him their reason for coming, Lu Zhi was overjoyed. He stayed behind with them outside of the tent so that he could listen to their story.
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: Three brave men swear an oath of allegiance at the feast in the peach gardens; our heroes' first achievement is the vanquishing of the Yellow Turbans.
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This translation from Wikipedia. See license CC-BY-SA.
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