Following the winding path along the Han River, they arrived at Baozhou within half a month. Before the Great Tang, it was called Hanchuan Commandery. After Li Yuan established the nation, he renamed it Liangzhou. Li’er disliked how Liangzhou sounded like Liangzhou (Cool Province), so he changed the name to Baozhou. During the Qin Dynasty, Hanzhong Commandery was established with its administrative seat at Nanzheng, making it one of the thirty-six commanderies of Qin. At the end of the Qin Dynasty, various political forces competed across the Chinese mainland. After the Hongmen Banquet, Liu Bang pledged allegiance to Xiang Yu, who then enfeoffed him as the King of Han. The Records of the Grand Historian records that Liu Bang was quite disappointed, but his strategist Xiao He consoled him: “The saying goes ‘Heavenly Han,’ which has a most auspicious meaning.” During Liu Bang’s time in Hanzhong, he bided his time and built up strength, adopting Zhang Liang’s strategy of “openly repairing the plank roads while secretly advancing through Chencang.” He appointed Han Xin as Grand General, then launched a surprise attack to seize the Three Qin region, contending with Xiang Yu for supremacy in what history calls the “Chu-Han Contention.”
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, political turmoil reigned. Ethnic minorities from Ba Commandery rose up, attacking Hanzhong and the Three Shu regions. In the first year of Zhongping, Zhang Xiu of the Five Pecks of Rice movement started an uprising in response to the Yellow Turban Rebellion, attacking Ba Commandery and entering Hanzhong, but was defeated and submitted to Liu Yan. During the Xiping years (172-178 CE), the Five Pecks of Rice movement spread in Hanzhong. Later, Zhang Lu eliminated Zhang Xiu and established a theocratic regime here that lasted nearly thirty years before surrendering to Cao Cao. Due to its special geographical position as a gateway into Shu and its role as a major north-south transportation route, after Liu Bei entered Shu, it quickly became a region fiercely contested between Cao Cao and Liu Bei. Liu Bei ultimately prevailed and declared himself King of Hanzhong, with the Shu Kingdom occupying this territory.
Throughout history, ancestors have always seized land while descendants lost it. Hanzhong was no exception. After Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang died, Hanzhong was seized by Cao Wei, ultimately benefiting the Sima clan.
This cycle continued through the Western Jin, Eastern Jin, Song, Qi, Northern Wei, Liang, Western Wei, and Northern Zhou regimes until the Sui Dynasty, finally benefiting Li’er. Although Yun Ye could continue recounting this cycle, for the sake of his own head, he decided to keep his mouth shut, because Li Tai, who had compiled the Comprehensive Geography, was even more familiar with this land than he was.
Unable to best Li Tai in official history, he turned to unofficial history. When Li Tai spoke of Liu Bei’s brilliance, Yun Ye spoke of Zhuge Liang’s mystical abilities. No one wanted to hear about Liu Bei’s brilliance, but Zhuge Liang’s mystical qualities fascinated all the old generals. When everyone heard how Zhuge Liang, for the future of Shu, decided to use the Seven Star Lamp to extend his lifespan, only for it to be accidentally kicked over by Wei Yan, they all sighed with regret.
“Impossible! Young Ye, you’re making this up. It’s completely impossible for something as absurd as Zhuge Liang capturing Sima Yi alive to occur. The two men died eighteen years apart. Moreover, Sima Yi holding a blank book and licking his finger to turn pages, then being poisoned to death by the enemy—this is completely impossible. Which general would be so foolish?”
“Prince Wei, this old man has always licked his finger to turn pages. Don’t speak in such absolutes. It seems this old man needs to correct this habit, lest someday a story emerges about someone capturing Cheng Yaojin alive—that would be too embarrassing.” Cheng Yaojin was quite displeased with Li Tai’s interruption. It was a good story to listen to; why all the fuss?
“Hehe, it is indeed a good story. Listening to stories while viewing the great land of Hanzhong naturally lifts one’s spirits. Whether true or false, it’s all just passing clouds—who would pursue it? But we old men are gradually graying, our courage difficult to sell. Wanting to command the battlefield as we once did has become very difficult.” Qin Qiong stroked his graying beard while gazing at Mount Micang, somewhat melancholy.
“Uncle Qin, what are you saying? Huang Hansheng’s feat of beheading Xiahou Yuan while sporting a white beard occurred at Mount Dingjun, not far from here. You’re not yet Huang Hansheng’s age—why speak such dispiriting words? Your nephew here still plans to compose a tale about you. Listen well.”
To cheer up Qin Qiong, Yun Ye picked out some anecdotes from the Romance of the Sui and Tang Dynasties to tell everyone as jokes. When Cheng Yaojin heard that he was originally a rake seller who wielded a mountain-cleaving axe with three moves—what were they called? Digging ears, jabbing eyes, and what else?—he burst into laughter: “So this old man was a rake seller, wielding a mountain-cleaving great axe with those three moves called… what was it? Ear-digging, eye-jabbing, and what else? It seems this old man should practice the mountain-cleaving axe when he has time. After using a horse lance my whole life, now I need to handle an axe. Still, it’s better than Old Niu’s five-pronged heaven-supporting fork. Hahaha…”
Li Ji laughed and said, “This old man has also become a Daoist priest with a bullring nose. Young man, why don’t you talk about Li Jing? Even if you’re making up stories, how can you spare him?”
“No way! All you uncles care about your nephew, but Uncle Li Jing traveled over ten thousand li with my aunt to find trouble with me. It’s better to say less about him. Too strange—every time I mention Uncle Li Jing, he’s sure to appear.”
Just as Yun Ye finished speaking, he saw Li Jing poke his head out from the Emperor’s carriage, looking at Yun Ye and saying, “Continue, don’t stop. You’ve slandered all these uncles—this old man is waiting for you to slander him too.”
This place in Hanzhong was evil. Others say “speak of Cao Cao and Cao Cao arrives,” but why was it that when he spoke of Li Jing, Li Jing arrived? Fortunately, he hadn’t embellished and spread tales about Li Jing—there was still room to salvage the situation.
While thinking about how to appease Li Jing, he heard Li’er’s voice transmit from the carriage: “Continue speaking. You’ve made it up quite well. You described Xuanba as a peerlessly strong contemporary hero—very good. Tell us, how will you resolve Xuanba’s early death? According to your account, Xuanba was already invincible under heaven. One hammer weighed eight hundred catties, and his two gourd hammers together weighed sixteen hundred catties. Such a hero would be comparable to a deity, wouldn’t he? How will you arrange Xuanba’s ending? Speak quickly—I’m waiting.”
Li Tai, Cheng Yaojin, Qin Qiong, and Niu Jinda all looked at Yun Ye with bitter smiles. Just now, they had enjoyed listening to Yun Ye’s boasts so much that none of them had thought about the cause of Li Xuanba’s death. Now that Li’er had brought it up, everyone realized it would be difficult to handle, and could only respond with bitter smiles.
“The story goes that Li Xuanba feared thunder from childhood. Whenever thunder rumbled in the sky, he became irritable and restless. One day, after leaving Mount Siming with Chai Shao covering the rear and Li Xuanba wielding his great hammers to clear the path ahead, suddenly wind rose and clouds gathered. In an instant, the sky darkened, lightning flashed like golden serpents, followed by rolling thunder. Li Xuanba wanted to cover his ears, but the thunder still drilled into his brain, causing his savage nature to flare. He pointed at the firmament and said, ‘You dare to annoy me with thunder? I’ll smash you to death!’ With that, he hurled one gourd hammer into the air to smash the Thunder God to death. The hammer flew into the air, and soon fell back down. Seeing no blood on the hammer, Li Xuanba’s fury intensified. He struck his two great hammers together—the tremendous sound actually drowned out the thunder. He dismounted and, spinning his body on the ground, roared and hurled both hammers into the sky. Lightning struck the two flying hammers, brilliant electrical light flashing. One hammer fell, and Li Xuanba caught it to check for blood. He had forgotten that he had thrown up two hammers. While he was examining the first hammer, the second hammer fell, striking directly on the crown of his head. In that instant, ten thousand peach blossoms bloomed…”
After finishing this tale, Yun Ye quietly observed the expressions of the old generals around him. Finding their faces filled with longing, he realized this was a true fierce warrior—invincible on earth, he challenged heaven itself. Though he perished, his heroic spirit remained.
“Your story is well-rounded. Invincible among men, he challenged heaven itself. Such a death, even though fabricated, should satisfy Xuanba’s spirit. Yun Ye, are you using this story to allude to the Great Tang? Now that the Great Tang has no enemies on earth, what we’re doing is constantly challenging heaven. That the world suffers no famine or want—this is already acting against the heavens. Yet we continue striving to make all people under heaven even more prosperous. Heaven and earth are impartial, treating all things as straw dogs. Perhaps what we’re doing has already exceeded bounds. But no matter—if we truly succeed, even if the Thunder God comes to punish us, I may not be able to hurl eight-hundred-catty hammers, but operating eight-ox crossbows for battle poses no problem. I wonder if you ministers are willing to follow?”
Cheng Yaojin laughed heartily: “How could such a fine matter not include this old Cheng? The eight-ox crossbows in the army have already achieved single-person operation. Why can’t we sovereign and subjects fight side by side once more?”
Not only did Cheng Yaojin say this, but all the other generals present answered likewise. Li’er’s owl-like laughter rang out, mingling with various strange cries that echoed through the mountain valley.
One had to admire Li’er. Taking casual entertainment, lifting anecdotes compiled by later generations—he could extract the essence from them and make use of it. Li’er had probably been considering this matter for some time. He didn’t even like using whole bowls for eating, always preferring to chip a notch in them, fearing that being too perfect would provoke heavenly displeasure and bring down calamity. Now he actually dared to speak of bombarding heaven with eight-ox crossbows. Whether he had changed or had other plans, hot-headedness was something that never occurred to Li’er, especially not in such directive language. He would scrutinize every word before speaking. Bombarding heaven? What kind of joke was that! He would only make sacrifices to heaven. Yun Ye was very worried that one day Li’er might place him alongside pigs and sheep as an offering to apologize to heaven. That would turn the three sacrificial animals into four.
He felt some regret. He shouldn’t have said these things. It was all Li Tai’s fault. If he hadn’t boasted about the learning in the Comprehensive Geography, Yun Ye wouldn’t have brought up the Three Kingdoms, and without mentioning the Three Kingdoms, he wouldn’t have talked about the Romance of the Sui and Tang Dynasties, much less mentioned that unfortunate Li Xuanba.
Hanzhong produced abundant rapeseed. Now was the time for harvesting rapeseed on the high mountains. In the distance, commoners stood on the high slopes busily harvesting rapeseed. Seeing the large military procession, they habitually hid to watch. Just moments ago, there had been faint singing voices, but now they were completely gone. Hanzhong had much rain. Today had been overcast, and when a gust of wind blew over, pattering autumn rain began to drift down.
The rain wasn’t heavy but persistent, like Yun Ye’s current mood—full of tangled worries. This mouth of his should be sealed. Literary inquisitions didn’t arise because of problems with the text, but because the listener’s mood changed.
As a general, without the Emperor ordering them to make camp, he could only continue forward on Wang Cai in the heavy rain. Everyone’s spirits were high. Only Wang Cai seemed able to sense Yun Ye’s anxiety, occasionally turning his head to look at Yun Ye, both ears standing straight up, as if ready to carry Yun Ye far away at the first sign of trouble.
The feeling of being with a tiger! Being with Li’er was more dangerous than being with a tiger. He hoped this was just a false alarm. Yun Ye comforted himself thus, looking back at his family’s convoy, draping his cloak over Wang Cai’s belly, slowly advancing with the large troop through the light rain…