The Cup of Warm Wine

Romance of the Three Kingdoms
by Luo Guanzhong
Today's excerpt is from Chapter 5.  Previously

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He had not yet finished what he was saying, before a person at the foot of the raised platform exclaimed loudly, "I am willing to go and cut off Hua Xiong's head, and present it to the people in this tent!" Everyone looked at him! They saw that he stood at a height of nine chi, and had a two chi long beard; his eyes were like that of a crimson phoenix, and his eyebrows resembled reclining silkworms; his face was the color of a dark jujube, and he had a voice that rang out like a giant bell. He was standing near the entrance of the tent. Shao asked who he was. Gongsun Zan said, "This is Guan Yu, a junior associate of Liu Xuande." Shao asked what position he currently occupied. Zan said, "He is a cavalry archer for Liu Xuande." From the raised platform inside the tent, Yuan Shu bellowed, "Are you falsely implying that we nobles lack any great generals? Seeing as you're nothing but an archer, how dare you make such outlandish statements! Let me kick him out!" Cao Cao rushed to stop him, saying, "Gonglu, calm down. For this person to make such grandiose statements, he must be brave and cunning. Why not try sending him out. If he doesn't win, it won't yet be too late." Yuan Shao said, "But if we send an archer out to fight,Hua Xiong will laugh at him for sure." Cao said, "This man has a striking appearance, how will Hua Xiong know that he is an archer?" Lord Guan said, "If I don't win, please cut off my head."

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Cao called for a cup of warm wine to be poured, which he gave to Lord Guan as Lord Guan was mounting his horse. Lord Guan said, "Go ahead and pour the wine, I will be right back." He exited the tent, took a hold of his blade, then leaped onto his horse. All of the nobles were listening to the great ruckus of drums and yelling from beyond the pass. It sounded like the sky was being torn apart, the earth was caving in, and the mountains were collapsing. Everyone was startled. Just as they thought of going out to see what was happening, they heard the sound of horse bells. A horse arrived at the Army of the Center. It was Yunchang; he took Hua Xiong's head and threw it on the ground. The wine was still warm. People of later generations wrote a poem in praise of him, which went:

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When it came to using his might to calm heavan and earth, his achievements were unsurpassed; at the entrance to the camp, the boom, boom of the brightly painted drums. Yunchang stopped drinking so that he could display his bravery; his wine was still warm when he cut down Hua Xiong.

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Continued next week. Tomorrow is Poetry Day here at Literature Daily.

More About This Story

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.