Chapter 65
Book 6 Chap 9 – Return to Handan
Handan still looked as good.
Here to welcome them was their ‘old friend’ Bureaucrat Guo Kai, and also Wu Zhuo who has now changed his name to ‘Di Ying’.
After a round of civilities and polite talk, all of them, together with the thousand warhorses, rode grandly into this ancient city which is the center of the Zhao’s power.
Guo Kai rode next to Xiang Shaolong and said with a smile, "His Majesty is extremely impressed that Mister still thinks of your old country even though you’re in Chu. He has specially set up a feast to welcome Mister tonight."
Xiang Shaolong was looking at the city scene with mixed feelings and on hearing that, he deepened his voice to make it sound hoa.r.s.e, slowed his tempo and said, "I am really touched that his Majesty understands my intention. Hai! A person who has lost his country is like duckweed without roots. The pain is not something an outsider can understand."
Guo Kai turned slightly towards him and said, "I heard from Mister Di from your residence that Mister Dong intends to come back display your capabilities but I don’t know if you’re aware of the situation?"
Xiang Shaolong had an idea and he pretended to be obtuse yet sincere as he replied, "I only know how to rear horses and nothing else so I hope that Bureaucrat Guo can give me some advices and I will never forget your kindness."
Their strategy for this trip is to pretend to be stupid and ignorant to handle sly characters like Guo Kai.
Guo Kai chortled before he turned serious and said with a low voice, "I don’t know why but once I saw you, I feel very happy. I wouldn’t dare give advices but I will certainly try my best to help you fulfill your dreams."
Xiang Shaolong put on a show of extreme grat.i.tude and said, "With Bureaucrat looking after me like this, I am much relieved. I wonder if there’s anything I should take note of?"
Guo Kai replied very sincerely, "Over at his Majesty’s side, I will help you with the affairs. But there are 2 people in Handan that you must be on your guard against, otherwise not only will you find your dreams difficult to fulfill, you may even end up in trouble and meet the same fate as Master Wu."
Xiang Shaolong pretended to be extremely startled as he stared and stammered his reply, "I have no enmity with anyone at all, why would anyone want to harm me?"
However he was secretly laughing in his heart.
Guo Kai obviously think of him as a ignorant, brash man with a simple mind, that’s why he used such a direct method to try and pull him over to his side so that he will be faithful and allow himself to be used.
From this he can tell that the King of Zhao intends to use him to replace Master Wu, that’s why Guo Kai thinks that he is of value and worthy to be bought over.
Guo Kai’s bright and sleazy eyes first scanned the surroundings and saw that the Zhao soldiers who are leading the way in front and Wu Zhuo and the rest who were behind are a ‘safe’ distance away before he lowered his voice to say, "The first person you have to be wary of is Guo Zhong. This person will now allow the appearance of another Master Wu."
Xiang Shaolong nodded his head to indicate his understanding.
Guo Kai’s words are not unreasonable; this is called ‘a mountain cannot have two tigers’. But if he, ‘Dong Kuang’ wants to have as much wealth and power as what Master Wu had, it would take at least a few generations to accomplish it. Therefore Guo Kai is trying to scare him.
Guo Kai continued mysteriously, "The other person you have to be careful of is the Marquis of Julu, Zhao Mu."
Xiang Shaolong can’t help but exclaim hoa.r.s.ely, "What?"
At that instant he understood that Guo Kai is unhappy to be under Zhao Mu and is looking for ways to topple him. But the way Guo Kai is revealing his inner thoughts to an outsider like him is really too careless and he can’t help but feel suspicious.
Right then they arrived at the guesthouse that will be used to house them and surprisingly it turns out to be the Hostage Residence which used to be Zhu Ji and the fake Ying Zheng’s prison.
Guo Kai smiled and did not continue talking as he accompanied them into the residence.
Guo Kai went through another round of nice talks and after accepting this valuable gift of 1000 fine horses that the Zhaos find themselves unable to reject, he went back to the Palace to report his duty done.
All of them went to the inner hall to listen to Wu Zhuo’s report.
Wu Zhuo exhaled as he said, "We were indeed lucky, the Chus really sent an envoy and luckily I manage to waylay him and got a lot of useful information."
Teng Yi replied with understanding, "Eldest Brother, it has been hard on you!"
Among these 5 sworn brothers, Wu Zhuo is the oldest so he became the Eldest Brother, followed by Teng Yi, Xiang Shaolong, w.a.n.g Jian and the youngest brother Jing Jun.
Wu Zhuo nodded his head and said, "It was indeed difficult. Although we set up traps when capturing the Chu envoy, we still lost 5 of our brothers and more than 10 others were injured, but this is something unavoidable."
Xiang Shaolong can imagine the danger and intensity at that time and asked, "Have you found out why they are coming to Handan?"
Wu Zhuo replied, "4th Brother’s way of tiring them out through questioning is really effective. That Chu envoy called Bai Dingnian could not hold on beyond 3 days and totally surrendered. He revealed the truth, it turns out that this matter involves Lord Dongzhou."
Everyone was excited.
Ever since King Wu created his empire 700 hundred years ago and used Duke Zhou’s feudal system model, maybe this can be described as a large family where generations after generations live together.
This big family is first led by a smart and hardworking founder and leading his few sons, worked hard together in adversity and creating a big patriarchal clan. The ruler and the various lords of differing surnames are usually connected through marriages.
The whole system of a feudal state is centralized around the family clan.
Just by deducing from this, one will know that it’s only a matter of time that this empire will fall. The danger comes from 2 sides. Firstly the rule that the eldest son would succeed and once the successor is not the eldest, then there will be upheaval and King You* of Zhou is the most obvious example.
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_You_of_Zhou
Secondly, the original close relations.h.i.+ps are slowly getting distant after a few generations and with the increase in population and the differences in the good and the bad, there will most certainly be some struggles or enmities formed and may even reach the state of a fight.
Once chaos ensued, no one will have the power to stop the natural turning of history’s wheel. Once the royal family loses the power to control the lords, they will immediately fall into the situation where the country is divided into rival baronies.
And the invasion by others have forced King Ping of Zhou to move east and this provided such an opportunity.
The status between a ruler and his followers are initially forged by power and when this power disappears, the status becomes just an empty t.i.tle and the Zhou family’s power totally disintegrated.
But such a crack appeared slowly, and it’s not a sudden break.
Before the 3 states were separated, there were still some old relations left between the lords and the Zhou family so they were not overly defiant.
That’s why for 300 years after King Ping moved to the east, respect and deference are still generally accorded to the Zhou family.
After the 3 states were separated, there was still no situation where those not from the royal family oversteps his authority and tried to usurp the position. But the authority of the Zhou family was further weakened and their power reduced. However Lord Dongzhou is still the leader of the lords in name.
Now Lord Dongzhou is making use of everyone’s fear towards Qin to launch a last fight and indeed this is something that cannot be brushed off easily.
Wu Zhuo continued, "The secret envoy Lord Dongzhou sent is called Ji Zhong. If he manages to get the alliance of the 6 states: Qi, Chu, Yan, Zhao, Wei and Han, Qin will be faced with extremely dire situation and now it seems that chances of success is quite high."
Teng Yi looked at Xiang Shaolong and said, "We must try and sabotage this matter, otherwise it’ll be difficult for Lu Buwei to keep his position as Premier."
Xiang Shaolong immediately felt his head getting heavier.
Teng Yi’s words are very reasonable. After all Lu Buwei got his position as Premier because of King Zhuangxiang and it’s not stable yet. And the Qins place the most emphasis on military contributions so if the 6 states join forces, they will certainly lose this war and by then even King Zhuangxiang won’t be able to protect Lu Buwei.
If Lu Buwei falls, the Wu family can forget about staying in Qin. The world may be huge but there will be no place where the Wu family can live in peace.
An originally simple matter has now become something complicated and troublesome.
Jing Jun finally found an opportunity to interrupt and said, "Isn’t Yan and Zhao at war? Why would the Yans be involved this time as well?"
Teng Yi replied, "For these few centuries haven’t the lords been fighting and making up again all the time?" He continued seriously, "Xiao Jun you’d better try to contain your impatience, don’t go looking for your Zhao Zhi before the situation is cleared. Otherwise if you reveal your disguise, all of us can forget about leaving Handan alive."
Jing Jun looked crestfallen as he nodded his head in agreement but everyone can see how unwilling he felt.
Xiang Shaolong asked, "How’s the situation like over at Zhao Mu’s?"
There seems to be some remnants of fear as Wu Zhuo replied, "Luckily we caught the envoy sent by the Chus, otherwise we’ll definitely be greatly disadvantaged. It turns out that Zhao mU is the 5th son of Chu’s Lord Chunshen and this Chu envoy Bai Dingnian is sent by Lord Chunshen to make contact with Zhao Mu. He even brought with him Lord Chunshen’s secret letter that he wrote personally and this saves me a lot of trouble trying to question him."
Teng Yi said with a laugh, "And of course Eldest Brother won’t give it to that conniving thief without changing a single word on that letter!"
Wu Zhuo replied with a smile, "That’s of course. The contents of the secret letter is simple, only telling Zhao Mu to trust Bai Dingnian and cooperate with him well. As for what to cooperate about, it was not written. Therefore I copied the seal on the letter and wrote another letter to give to Zhao Mu. Now it seems that he totally trusts us."
Xiang Shaolong had an idea as he asked, "Is that secret letter still around?"
Wu Zhuo replied, "How can I lose such a useful thing, I even kept that Chu envoy and he’s being imprisoned in a secret place in Handan. Zhao Mu is in trouble this time."
Xiang Shaolong was overjoyed and after the 4 brothers had some further discussion, he recollected his thoughts and went to the Zhao Palace for the feast.
Along the way Xiang Shaolong remembered the time he went to the Zhao Palace for his duel with Lian Jin and feelings arose in him.
How everything in the world is so unpredictable, just like this.
Who would have thought at that time that on this day, 2 years later, he would come to see the King of Zhao in another ident.i.ty and a totally different feeling?
Under the guidance of the Zhao soldiers, Xiang Shaolong and his 3 sworn brothers proudly rode past the Palace gates.
The imperial guards were posed to welcome them at the square in front of the main palace building and with the drums beating, it was a very lively atmosphere.
Xiang Shaolong and the rest did not expect such a huge welcome and were all surprised. Now they know that the King of Zhao places much importance on their ‘return’.
One of the military officers rode out on his horse and cried out loudly complimentary and welcoming phrases and surprisingly it’s their old friend, that ungrateful Cheng Xu.
That fellow’s army uniform has changed and it seems like he has been promoted a rank and has become the head