Translator: Foxs' Wuxia
Snowflakes were constantly sprinkled on these two, one-old-one-young, representing-the-Central-Earth’s-two-generations-of-outstanding-figures – bodies.
Sensing Kou Zhong’s unusual state of affairs, Song Que looked at him in astonishment and asked, “What are you thinking about?”
Kou Zhong replied dejectedly, “From Fazhu and Qinghui Zhaizhu’s differences, I recalled the divergence of thought between me and Yuzhi, therefore, I deeply understand Fazhu’s state of mind at that time.”
Slightly nodding his head, Song Que said, “The differences between Qinghui and me indeed made it difficult for us to develop further, other reasons are secondary. Qinghui believes that the Han people not only has the advantage in numbers, but in economic and cultural level of achievement, we also have obvious superiority. As long as there is enough time, we could assimilate the invading foreign tribes. When ethnic differences disappear, the chaotic warfare between ethnic groups will naturally end, from being split up we move toward unity; this is a historical inevitability. To a certain extent, I agree with her view in this aspect. However, she believes that only after the Hu [non-Han people] are transformed will the great integration of northern ethnic groups become our Han people’s future growth. In this matter, Ol’ Song really beg to differ.”
It was the first time that Kou Zhong heard anybody looking at the changes in the situation in the Central Earth from this perspective, so he had quite a novel feeling. The Hu transformation of the Han people of the north, or the Han transformation [i.e. Sinicization] of the Hu people, was an established fact; for example, Yuwen Huaji, Wang Shichong, and the likes, they were either a hundred-percent Hu people after Han transformation, or Han people after Hu transformation. The Li Clan also had blood relationship with Hu people. But for Song Que, a man who persevered with the Han unification – to accept the Hu people being transformed into Han, or Han people transformed into Hu, was quite impossible. The differences between Fan Qinghui and Song Que were like rivers Jing and Wei separate clearly [idiom: to be entirely different], and this difference was reflected in the current situation even more.
Song Que spoke heavily, “I am not opposed to foreign culture at all. It is the secret recipe for maintaining the progress and vitality of the nation. Buddhism was passed on from Tianzhu, so the source is distant and the flow is long [idiom: goes back to the dim and distant past] with our Han people. After combining with deep and extensive and subtle culture, it was brought to great height of development. However, if we are vigilant toward the foreign tribes, slight negligence might turn into showing the wolf into the house. Just like Liu Wuzhou, Liang Shidu, and the likes, precisely because the Hu transformation is too deep, they ignore the scourge of the Tujue people. Yet the Li Clan, father and sons are stepping on the dust behind them, they have close relationship with various tribes beyond the Great Wall, sooner or later it will lead to disaster. I appreciate Qinghui’s broad-mindedness in tolerancing them, but in the actual situation, I must strictly maintain the difference between the Han and the Yi [barbarians, non-Han people], otherwise the various tribes outside the Great Wall will, one falls, the next follows, step into the Central Plains, and thus there will be no peace in the Central Earth. Since the North is powerless to save itself, they could only let us, the southerners to rise up and unify the world, to bring order out of chaos. Other than this, there is no other way. Otherwise, our Great Han will lose the cultural cohering force, with which the unity is relying on, and the world will be caught in division for a long time.”
And then he laughed aloud and said, “The load on my mind that was evoked by Qinghui, which had been tightly closed in my brains for nearly forty years and caused distress – are pouring down in torrents, Ol’ Song feels greatly delighted. Shaoshuai should understand my, Song Que’s goals and ideals now, I am helping you to ascend to the emperor’s throne, it is not for the honor and disgrace of the Song family at all, but for the orthodoxy of our great Huaxia [old name for China] and Great Han. The emergence of a great nation is not historically inevitable, it is not easy to obtain, and it is not based on people’s will and cannot be transferred. If there was no Emperor Yingzheng, the Central Earth might probably be still in a situation where powerful hegemons are setting up an independent regime. I hope that after a thousand autumns, ten thousand ages, people of Huaxia will remember your, Kou Zhong’s era, and accepted you, Kou Zhong as the third person after Yingzheng and Yang Jian who ends the division of the Central Earth. This is a great mission, everything else is insignificant.”
Hot blood welled up in Kou Zhong’s heart, at the same time, he understood Song Que’s intention in his willingness to confide the load on his mind, which had been buried at the bottom of his heart for many years – with him, which was, he was actually not optimistic at all about this decisive battle against Ning Daoqi. His flaw lay in Fan Qinghui. When he thought that he was no longer affected by his feeling toward Fan Qinghui. Shi Feixuan delivered the letter of challenge on behalf of Ning Daoqi, which evoked his feelings of the past, and once it started, there was no way to stop it. This has made him unable to maintain the ‘apart from the saber, there was nothing else’ way of the saber, which greatly diminish his chance of certain victory.
Song Que not only wanted Kou Zhong to understand his painstaking effort to unify the world, but he also wanted him to persevere with his beliefs. Even if Song Que suffered defeat and died, Shi Feixuan could not possibly reason with him, making Kou Zhong abandoning his mission of revitalizing the Han and unifying it for a thousand autumns.
Kou Zhong spoke solemnly, “Fazhu, set your heart at ease, Kou Zhong will press on until I accomplish the dream in Fazhu’s heart.”
Song Que let out a long laughter and said, “Good! I, Song Que, did not misread you. Remember that what we are doing is not for selfish reason, but for the blessing of all the people. Now I can put down all the load on my mind, all my heart and soul will be put into the decisive battle against Ning Daoqi, to see if he already obtains the Dao and Zen, or if my Heavenly Sword is superior by a notch. Do you still want to come with me and be the spectator on the wall?”
Kou Zhong nodded without the slightest hesitation.
Song Que let out another long laughter, he flew forward, deep into the boundless great snow, spotlessly white open country.
Kou Zhong ran closely behind him, in the blink of an eye, two great top martial art masters, one old and one young, disappeared into the depths of the endless, pure and clean great snow.
‘Knock! Knock!’
Sitting alone inside the guest room, Xu Ziling responded, “Xianhe, please come in. The door is not bolted.”
Yin Xianhe pushed the door and entered the room, he closed the door, and sat on the other side of the small table across from Xu Ziling with stupefied expression.
This was another hotel with quite a scale located on the same street as the wine shop. After bidding farewell to Fu Qian, they booked two upper rooms here.
Concerned, Xu Ziling asked, “You can’t sleep?”
Yin Xianhe nodded, still with wooden expression, he spoke dejectedly, “Am I that useless?”
Xu Ziling disagreed, “How could you look at yourself like this?” he said, “You are worried about personal gains and losses, this is in line with human emotions. Since your honorable little sister disappeared, you have been looking for her to the ends of the earth. Although there is no result, there is always a glimmer of hope. Now your honorable little sister’s whereabouts might be revealed by Ji Qian, if I were you, I would also be afraid that what I hear will be an irreparably terrifying fact. At that time, you will lose all hope, so much so that you lose the meaning of life; therefore, fear is only natural.”
Yin Xianhe spoke in pain, “You understand me.”
Xu Ziling’s eyes shooting strange light, he said, “But I have a premonition that you will be reunited with Xiaomei. I really have this feeling, I am absolutely not saying that to comfort you.”
Yin Xianhe bestirred himself somewhat, he asked, “How do you feel about Fu Qian?”
Xu Ziling looked at him blankly for a moment, smiling bitterly, he said, “I don’t want to think about him, after all, we are all friends.”
Yin Xianhe said, “Isn’t Tuli also your friend in life and death? However, under pressing circumstances, there will come a day where you will fight him on the battlefield. Although from time-to-time Xieli and Tuli fight with each other, but in the war against outsiders, for the sake of their common interest, they will be united. I agree with Fu Qian’s statement that Xieli and Tuli’s coalition forces will, in the indeterminate future, invade the Central Plains on large scale. This is a reality that no one can change.”
Xu Ziling asked, “What common interests do they have?”
Yin Xianhe said, “I have been wandering inside and outside the Great Wall for a long time, looking for Xiaoji, so I have a deeper understanding of the mentality of the tribes outside the Great Wall compared to you or Kou Zhong. What they fear the most is the emergence of a unified and powerful Central Plains empire, the disaster Yang Guang inflicted on them remains fresh in their memory. The only thing I disagree with Fu Qian is that in this kind of time, the Western Tujue’s Tongyehu will never pull Xieli’s hind legs. That is their wolf usual practice, seeing a fat sheep, the pack will devour it, in order to satisfy their hungry stomach. At present, the Li Clan is divided inside and outside, due to the rise of Kou Zhong, the Central Earth is facing the North-South confrontation situation. If the Tujue do not take advantage of this once-in-a-thousand-years opportunity to pounce and devour us, this fat sheep, as soon as the Li Clan or Kou Zhong, either one of them, unifies the Central Plains, they will lose the opportunity.”
Xu Ziling felt the chill creeping up his soaked-with-cold-sweats spine. Yin Xianhe had never tried to explain anything in such a lengthy talk, yet this time he opened his golden mouth wide and each word was like a bead of pearl, analyzing the situation inside and outside the Great Wall vividly, terrifying and in great detail.
Suddenly, he deeply understood the reason why Shi Feixuan stepped onto the mundane world again, it was precisely to do everything in her power to prevent things from developing like Yin Xianhe said.
Politics is about the outcome, regardless of the motive.
Kou Zhong’s contending for supremacy in the world might bring even greater disasters.
“Ziling! You once said that if Li Shimin ascends to the emperor’s throne, you will persuade Kou Zhong to withdraw. For the sake of the common people of the world, I wonder if Ziling could adopt a proactive approach to help Feixuan accomplishing her cherished desire?”
Shi Feixuan’s words echoed in his mind.
At that time, he did not think too deeply about what she said, but this moment, it was like evening drum, morning bell rousing him from slumber so that his whole body was drenched in cold sweat.
The happiness of all the people was hanging on this one thought.
Yin Xianhe’s voice rang in his ears, “Why does your countenance become so unsightly?”
Struggling hard to answer, Xu Ziling said, “I have seen with my own eyes the terrible scene of a pack of vicious wolves encircling and devouring a deer, so your metaphor made fear grows from the bottom of my heart.”
Yin Xianhe sighed and said, “Tujue people have always used wolves as their model, their tactics are exactly the wolves’ tactics, they snarl all around you to test what is true and what is false first, to crumble your fighting spirit, to put your spirit under pressure. As long as you show a little cowardice, immediately the pack would pounce and strike, to tear the prey to pieces using the most savage offensive, while dashing on bravely with no thought of personal safety.”
After a short pause, he went on, “If I were Xieli, I would never allow Kou Zhong to have the opportunity to unify the world. Their misgivings toward Kou Zhong surely surpass their misgivings toward Li Shimin, because no one knows Kou Zhong’s ability on the battlefield better than Xieli. These three-month or so of ice age is precisely the best time for Xieli to invade.”
Severely shaken, Xu Ziling said, “Lucky that Xianhe reminded me, I never thought that this freeze-over season could be this damaging.”
Yin Xianhe said, “Ziling grew in the south, you did not know the day and night raising-the-heart-hanging-the-guts miserable plight of the people living north of the border. Tujue people are like a pack of wolves, they appear and disappear unpredictably like a spirit or a ghost, coming and going like the wind, leaving no roof tiles intact everywhere they go.”
Xu Ziling spoke resolutely, “No! I am not going to allow this to happen.”
Yin Xianhe spoke with discouragement, “What else can we do?”
Frowning, Xu Ziling said, “Is Tuli not going to look at Kou Zhong’s and my sentiment and face completely?”
Shaking his head, Yin Xianhe said, “Tujue people will always put their nation first and individual second, Ke Dazhi is a good example. What’s more, there is Bi Xuan supporting Xieli, as long as Bi Xuan intervenes, Tuli will not dare not to obey, otherwise, his Khan’s position cannot be guaranteed. In this kind of situation, any brotherhood will be useless, Ziling must face the facts.”
Xu Ziling spoke heavily, “I’m going to see Li Shimin.”
Stunned, Yin Xianhe said, “Seeing him will be useless too, you are no longer friends, but mortal the-two-cannot-exist-together enemies.”
Xu Ziling’s expression resolute, he said, “What you said tonight made the murky darkness suddenly opens, I understand a lot of things. In the past, Kou Zhong and I always determined our ideals and goals from our own standpoints, we never thought about the consequences that would follow.”
It was Yin Xianhe’s turn to frown deeply, he said, “The situation has reached the once-it-gets-started-there’s-no-stopping-it stage, now that Song Que is out of Lingnan, no one in the world can reverse this situation. Ziling is going to see Li Shimin, what do you have to say?”
“I don’t know!” Xu Ziling replied, “But this is the last chance for the Central Plains to avoid a catastrophe. If I don’t try my best, I will feel a twinge of guilt for the rest of my life, furthermore, I will fail to live up to Feixuan’s earnest hope of me.”
Yin Xianhe began to understand Xu Ziling’s intentions; drawing out a mouthful of cold air, he said, “What good would persuading Li Shimin do? Above Li Shimin. There’s still Li Yuan; Jiancheng, Yuanji, none does not want to put Li Shimin to death. In my opinion, Ziling is doing more than is required, it’s pointless.”
Xu Ziling revealed a deep-in-thought expression, he did not answer him.
Yin Xianhe sighed and said, “Kou Zhong is no longer the Kou Zhong of the past. Now, he is not only the leader of the Shao Shuai Army, even more so, he is Song Que’s successor, he has a very heavy burden on his shoulders. I really do not wish to see the two of you, good brothers, to become estranged because of this.”
Xu Ziling said, “I can’t afford to bother about gains and losses one by one; I only know that the common people of the Central Earth are facing imminent catastrophe. They have suffered enough! They should live their days in peace and happiness, in a long-term peace and stability.”
Yin Xianhe nodded and said, “Ziling is just such a person who only give thought to others, disregarding your own gains and losses. Unfortunately, both the time and situation have returned to the lacking-strength-to-reverse-the-rotation-of-the-sky state. Even if Kou Zhong surrenders to the Li Tang, Song Que will still not give up. You know Kou Zhong best, even in the nastiest situation, he is still unwilling to surrender. What’s more, this is the moment when unification is showing some promise, not only he is unable to explain to himself, it is difficult to explain to those who follow and support him, he is unable to answer the officers and soldiers who sacrificed their lives for him even more.”
After a short pause, he continued, “I am talking so much, not because I don’t understand Ziling’s painstaking efforts and what’s in your heart, but because I’m afraid that you will be in danger. The battlefield has never considered friendship. If you see Li Shimin just like that, how he is going to deal with you is really hard to predict. Even if he cherishes old friendship, Li Yuanji, Yang Xuyan, and the likes can’t possibly let you get away. Eliminating you is equivalent to crippling half of Kou Zhong’s body. In my opinion, Li Shimin would not miss this kind of opportunity of Ziling coming to see him like a lamb in a tiger’s den.”
Xu Ziling was deeply touched by the deep friendship that this person, who seemed to be not the least bit concerned of everything – was showing him; emotionally moved, he said, “I will proceed cautiously.”
Inwardly he was thinking of Li Jing; originally he did not intend to see him, but now he must go to see him, he no longer cared about the danger that this matter would bring.
Seeing that he could not persuade him, Yin Xianhe strived for the last effort, he said, “If you want to persuade Kou Zhong to surrender, why see Li Shimin?”
Xu Ziling said, “If I cannot persuade Li Shimin, it will be impossible to move Kou Zhong, therefore, I must lobby him first. This matter is complicated to the extreme point, its implication extensive, it’s hard to explain in a few words.”
Yin Xianhe spoke heavily, “How are you going to resolve Song Que’s problem?”
Xu Ziling said dejectedly, “I don’t know, I have no choice but to take it one step at a time. Feixuan said that she is going to create an opportunity for a peaceful unification, I hope she can really do it.”
Yin Xianhe spoke resolutely, “I am going to come with you to see Li Shimin.”
Xu Ziling said, “Let’s see Ji Qian first and talk about it later!”
Yin Xianhe sighed and said, “Talking with Ziling like this brings a great benefit to me. Compared with the happiness and peace of the common people under the heavens, personal bitter wound is insignificant.”
Suddenly Xu Ziling reached out to extinguish the oil lamp on the small table, he said, “Someone’s invading our territory!”
Yin Xianhe grabbed the refined steel long sword on his back, gusts of wind rang out outside the window and outside the door.
In the wind and the snow filling the air, Song Que and Kou Zhong stood on Yi River’s eastern bank, looking down at the river flowing before their eyes.
Until this moment, Kou Zhong still did not know either the time or the place of Ning Daoqi’s appointment with Song Que.
Song Que was relaxed and calm, he did not show the least bit of sign that he was in a hurry.
Suddenly he smiled and said, “How does Shaoshuai feel about the Yangtze River?”
Kou Zhong thought about all kinds of situation pertaining to the Yangtze River, momentarily all sorts of feelings welled up in his heart, he sighed lightly and said, “It’s hard to explain in a few words.”
Song Que spoke slyly, “The Yangtze River is like a big dragon, from the distant Tanggula Mountains’ [on the Qinghai – Tibet Plateau] main peak Geladaindong snowy peak, pouring down in torrents across the Central Earth, flowing from the west to the east and rushing out of the ocean, nurturing the south’s civilization, making it a prosperous land. Compared to the Yellow River, in many places the Great River is a bit more beautiful and gentle. The Jiang, Huai, He and Ji are called the ‘Four Rivers’ [Chang ‘Jiang’, ‘Huai’ He, Huang ‘He’, and ‘Ji’ Shui, respectively, where the words jiang, he and shui are all different words for ‘river’], they are all river courses that flow into the ocean. Although the title of the world’s largest river belongs to the Yellow River, I am only in love with the Great River [Da Jiang, i.e. Yangtze]. In many ways, the Big River [Da He, i.e. Huang He, Yellow River] cannot compare to it.”
Kou Zhong was completely unable to make any sense of the matter; he did not understand why Song Que suddenly talked about the Yangtze River. Although he seemed to have some kind of binding-the-dream-leading-along-the-soul profound affection toward the Great River, the tone of his voice was desolate and sad.
Song Que continued, “One time I explored the source of the Great River, entering from the west along the river. I saw many glaciers, where the mountain range was continuous, with brilliant white snow cover. Enormous-beyond-compare blocks of snow melted in the sun, sinking down in all directions along the ice cliffs, forming hundreds and thousands of small waterfalls cascading down, converging into a river, rushing eastward. The momentum is extremely spectacular, unless you see it with your own eyes, you won’t dare to believe it.”
Listening to him, Kou Zhong heart was opened wide, he said, “If I have a chance, I will definitely take Ziling to see it.”
“You seem to forget about Yuzhi,” Song Que reminded him.
Kou Zhong dejectedly said, “She will never come with me!”
Song Que smiled and said, “If it were yesterday, I might tell you that time will wash away everything, but now I do not dare to make a final conclusion. After becoming the emperor, do you think you can still run around everywhere as you please?”
Kou Zhong was discouraged, he felt lost and did not respond.
Returning to the previous topic, Song Que said, “People say that the Three Gorges Canyon is the same as the Yellow River. It has the majestic and steep Qutang Gorge, the beautiful and serene Wu Gorge, and the stream-flows-without-stopping Xiling Gorge, the highest on the Yangtze River. This is merely the words of the ignorant. The wonderful scenery surrounding the Big River, at the front end is the Tiger Leaping Gorge within the Jinsha River, extending for several dozen li, falling into several steep ridges in succession, where the snowy waves are turning over and flying, the water mist is hazy, the snow peaks on both sides extending for a thousand li, glaciers are hanging down, the clouds are winding around, the fog is spiraling up, the canyons are ten thousand zhang deep, one nearly doubted whether one was in a faraway world. That is the best of the Yangtze River.”
Smiling wryly, Kou Zhong said, “I’m afraid I will never have the chance to go there to confirm what you, the Senior said.”
Not paying him any attention, Song Que spoke indifferently, “My boat sank there. When I reached Bashu and transferred to a passenger ship, it was late at night with the bright moon hanging in the sky, I came across Qinghui on the cabin deck. I have never tried to take the initiative to talk to any beautiful woman, but that night I was unable to restrain my emotions, I used a poem as an opening remark, which gave me an eternally beautiful and sad memory. When I thought that it had faded from my memory, it becomes a more profound memory than at any other time.”
Inwardly Kou Zhong was severely shaken, he never expected that Song Que still could not escape from the memory of Fan Qinghui; he was really not optimistic about this battle.
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