Chapter Fifty-Four: Zhang Xiu

After leaving Liu Biao’s residence, Deng Hong returned home with Shen Chen.

Madam Cai, who was fond of reading and weaving, was in the backyard today, spinning thread on a machine Shen Chen himself had improved. Hearing Deng Hong and Shen Chen arrive unexpectedly, she came to the front yard, surprised, and asked, “Husband, why are you home so early today? Don’t you have duty at the provincial office?”

Deng Hong, though feeling bitter inside, forced himself to rally and replied, “His Excellency has sent me on an errand to Nanyang. I might not return for three or five days, so I’ve come to fetch a couple of changes of clothes.”

Observing the faint strain in her husband’s expression, Madam Cai grew alert. “Husband, is this journey of yours taking you somewhere dangerous?”

“It’s nothing,” Deng Hong answered with a forced smile. “What haven’t I seen? I came south from Xuzhou, wading through mountains of corpses and seas of blood—this is only Nanyang. What danger could there be?”

“Champion County.”

Madam Cai spoke with quiet certainty. “You must be heading to Champion County, to negotiate with those Xiliang soldiers who crossed from Wuguan.”

Deng Hong was taken aback. “Awei, who told you I was going to Champion County?”

“First tell me, am I right or not?”

Deng Hong and Shen Chen exchanged glances, both seeing the surprise on the other’s face. The meeting today had been called at the last minute, and Shen Chen had only at the spur of the moment volunteered his grand-uncle for the task. There was no way Madam Cai could have known in advance. There was only one explanation: she had deduced it purely from Deng Hong’s demeanor.

So the tales of a woman’s keen intuition were true—Shen Chen was seeing it firsthand today. Just what kind of prodigy had his grandfather married?

Deng Hong gave a wry smile. “Yes, but the Xiliang army has just suffered a defeat—they’re anxious and demoralized. They won’t harm me.”

Madam Cai’s face darkened. She had been uncertain before, but now she was sure: her husband was about to undertake a mission to the notoriously ill-reputed Xiliang army. How could she possibly be at ease? More than that, she knew her own husband well—though talented, he was hardly a master strategist who could bend the world to his will. Sent as an envoy to the Xiliang army, he might well be devoured without a trace by those wolves.

Shaking her head repeatedly, Madam Cai protested, “No, a gentleman does not stand under a crumbling wall. Those Xiliang troops are desperate and vicious, spreading their poison through the land. How can you risk your life so?” True to her upbringing among the great clans, she quoted the classics with ease, likening the Xiliang army to the usurper Wang Mang, warning Deng Hong of the peril and urging him not to go.

But Deng Hong’s expression grew solemn. “I understand your concern for my safety, Awei. But having given my word to His Excellency, I must see it through. You wouldn’t want me to become a man who breaks his promises, would you?”

“But…” Madam Cai, full of worry, unconsciously touched her belly—a few words on her lips, but she didn’t know how to say them.

Deng Hong laughed, turning to Shen Chen. “Besides, Acheng will be going with me. If he can lead our Deng clan back to Nanyang, he can certainly keep me safe. Isn’t that right?”

Shen Chen smiled. “Of course, Sixth Grandmother. Zhang Ji has come to Nanyang to survive, not to perish. He can’t return to Guanzhong, and fighting Liu Biao would mean certain death. So for both sides, persuading him to surrender is all gain and no loss.”

“I understand.” Madam Cai nodded quietly, then turned to the inner room. “I’ll fetch a couple of sets of clothes for my husband.”

Watching her retreating figure, Deng Hong felt a strange unease. “Acheng, your sixth grandmother is acting a little odd today.”

“How so?” Shen Chen hadn’t dealt much with his sixth grandmother, always supposing her to be a sheltered, overweight young lady of a noble family. His impression had changed after the incident with Gan Ning—he’d come to see her as sensible and intelligent, but still, that was all. He spent most of his time studying at the academy, only occasionally visiting Liu Biao to discuss ancient texts, so his time with this grandmother had been limited.

Deng Hong scratched his head. “I can’t say exactly. I just feel she wants to tell me something.”

“Perhaps she’s just worried about you, Sixth Uncle.”

“Maybe so.”

“More importantly, have you thought through how you’ll address the Xiliang army?”

“Shouldn’t that be for you to decide and then teach me?”

“We’ll have to improvise as well.”

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“That’s true. But are we really going just the two of us? Isn’t that too dangerous?”

“Didn’t Governor Liu say we could ask for anything we needed? Uncle Xingba is renowned for his bravery—let’s have him come along with some men. Wouldn’t that be much safer?”

“Bring Xingba along?”

“Yes. Besides, there’s no need for us to go all the way into Champion County. It’s the Xiliang army that’s desperate. Why not meet at a country pavilion outside the city?”

“Exactly, Acheng—you’re the clever one.” Deng Hong slapped his forehead. Why hadn’t he thought of that? There was no need to walk into the tiger’s den. Meet outside, each side bringing a modest retinue—out in the open countryside, neither party need fear an ambush. This way, not only would their own safety be assured, but it wouldn’t be taken as an offense by the Xiliang army.

While grandfather and grandson were still working out the details, Madam Cai returned with the clothing. Deng Hong, his mind still on Shen Chen’s advice, failed to notice the subtle change in his wife’s expression; he simply took the bundle and said, “Awei, if all goes well, I’ll be back in a couple of days. Wait for me here.”

She nodded gently.

Deng Hong picked up the bundle and headed for the door. “Awei, we’re off.”

“Sixth Grandmother, we’re leaving now,” Shen Chen called as well.

“Husband, Acheng, take care of yourselves.”

“Don’t worry.”

Madam Cai accompanied them to the main street, where servants waited with a carriage. She watched as they boarded, waving to her from the carriage window until it rolled away and disappeared from sight. Only then, almost unconsciously, did she gently rub her belly.

These past months she had actually lost a lot of weight. Never much to look at and plagued by shyness since childhood, her reclusive habits had only made her heavier. But since marrying Deng Hong and leaving her oppressive old home, happiness had shed more than twenty pounds from her frame. Yet even so, she was still stout, and so, even after a month of pregnancy, she hadn’t realized her condition. Only when her period was long overdue did she reluctantly send for a female physician, finally learning the truth just that morning. She had planned to tell her husband after he returned from duty in the afternoon. But now… For fear of distracting him, how could she dare?

…

…

Deng Hong and Shen Chen took the carriage to the north gate. With the governor’s seal displayed, their journey was unhindered, and they quickly reached the Xiangyang docks outside the city walls. Xiangyang, surrounded on all sides by water and girded by a moat eighty paces wide, required boats for travel. As a provincial official on a mission from Liu Biao, Deng Hong’s first stop was not Champion County but Fancheng. Diplomats needed an escort, so he had to find Zhang Yun to request soldiers. Then they would proceed to Chaoyang, Xinye, and Rangcheng, to inform Deng Ji, Liu Wei, Wang Jie, and Wen Pin of Liu Biao’s current strategy, so they could gather forces and prepare for the worst.

In other words, if diplomacy failed, war would follow. Even if negotiations succeeded, the local commanders needed to know so that, should the Xiliang army accept Liu Biao’s terms, they could yield the northern Nanyang strongholds and redeploy their troops southward.

The grandfather and grandson, along with two attendants, crossed the river and found Zhang Yun at Fancheng. Upon hearing it was Liu Biao’s order, Zhang Yun dared not delay. At Deng Hong’s request, he assigned Gan Ning, Lou Fa, Shen Mi, and eight hundred soldiers as their escort. Gan Ning, delighted to be included in such an important affair by his good friend, swiftly readied his crack troops—his old pirate crew—and set off north with Deng Hong for Chaoyang.

Though Chaoyang County was the closest to Fancheng, it was still a hundred li distant. Setting out from Xiangyang in the morning, they didn’t arrive until evening, after some five hours on the road. Deng Ji’s routed army was camped there.

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Deng Hong delivered Liu Biao’s orders to Deng Ji. They rested in the city for a day, then set out for Xinye the next morning, arriving by midday; their business concluded, they pressed on to Rangcheng, arriving in the evening. There, Deng Hong wasted no time, dispatching a messenger by night to Champion County, inviting the leader of the Xiliang army to meet at a pavilion near the Tuan River.

It was not until the third morning that a reply arrived: the current Xiliang commander, Zhang Xiu, agreed to the meeting at the appointed place outside Rangcheng.

That afternoon, the weather turned. In mid-February, a fine spring rain began to fall over Nanyang. It was only a light drizzle, barely perceptible unless one lingered long enough for a few droplets to bead at the temples.

The spring breeze on the face was particularly pleasant as Deng Hong and Shen Chen rode in their carriage, Gan Ning leading a twenty-man guard beside them, with several scouts riding ahead. Champion County was very close to Rangcheng; the rendezvous was set at a pavilion on the left bank of the Tuan River, halfway between the two towns. The river ran swift, and a post station stood beside the road near Jiangzuo. The fields and villages nearby, once rich and populous, were now deserted, the inhabitants having fled the war, leaving the villages and the pavilion empty and forlorn.

Outside the pavilion, they could already see, from afar, twenty cavalrymen in black armor standing in strict formation—a formidable sight. At their head, two men sat on horseback, clearly the commanders.

“Zhang Xiu must be truly anxious,” Shen Chen remarked to Deng Hong in a low voice, smiling. “He’s probably eager to negotiate.”

“How can you tell?” Deng Hong asked.

“Negotiation is a test of patience. But we’ve only just arrived, and it seems they’ve been waiting for some time. Clearly, Zhang Xiu wants this resolved quickly.”

“Then our chances are good?”

“Very good indeed.”

“That’s a relief.” Deng Hong felt reassured; Shen Chen’s judgment had never failed him yet.

Their party approached the pavilion, the drizzle still falling. Deng Hong and Shen Chen alighted from the carriage, sizing up Zhang Xiu, who appeared to be in his thirties—strong, tall, and burly, with a full beard and the rugged air of a frontier man from Xiliang. Behind Zhang Xiu stood another officer, even taller and more robust, wearing only a rough white linen tunic beneath a short suit of lamellar armor that covered just his chest and back, his muscular arms exposed—a man clearly not of ordinary strength.

The one in front was Zhang Xiu; the one behind, naturally, was Hu Che’er. It was said that Dian Wei’s twin halberds weighed eighty jin, as recorded in the Records of the Three Kingdoms, and Hu Che’er had not only stolen them but could run with five hundred jin on his back, making him both a strongman and a long-distance champion. Judging by his appearance alone, one might easily mistake him for a truly formidable warrior.

As Deng Hong and Shen Chen studied them, Zhang Xiu and Hu Che’er were sizing up the newcomers. Deng Hong, with his scholarly air, was rather handsome but slender and not even one meter eighty—much shorter than the six-foot-tall Zhang Xiu and Hu Che’er—and so lacked some presence. By his side stood a boy—Shen Chen, who was already ten years old. Thanks to daily exercise and a diet of meat, fish, shrimp, and milk, he had grown rapidly and was now nearly one meter sixty-eight, almost a young man in appearance. It was perplexing to see a youth who appeared twelve or thirteen present at such important talks, but Zhang Xiu, anxious for peace, did not dwell on it. Instead, he dismounted and stepped forward. “Are you Clerk Deng?”

“General Zhang!” Deng Hong stepped forward and bowed. “Deng Hong, scribe to the governor of Jingzhou, greets General Zhang.”

“Greetings, Clerk,” Zhang Xiu replied with a bow.

Deng Hong gestured toward the pavilion. “There is wind and rain outside—shall we not discuss matters within?”

“Very well.” Zhang Xiu nodded and entered with Hu Che’er. Deng Hong, Shen Chen, and Gan Ning followed them inside.

The pavilion was small but tidy, clearly swept in advance by Zhang Xiu’s men. They took seats facing one another, neither side assuming the host’s position. Once everyone was settled, Zhang Xiu, knowing he must not appear too impatient—unaware that Shen Chen had already seen through him—feigned calm and said, “For what reason has Governor Liu sent Clerk Deng to see me?”

Deng Hong glanced at Shen Chen, who appeared utterly composed. Deng Hong hesitated, then, resigned, followed the script they’d agreed upon, steeling himself to make a bold statement: “General, I am here today as the emissary of Governor Liu to declare war. Your days are numbered; can it be that you do not yet realize it?”

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