Volume Three: The Hero Falls Silent, The World Grows Old - 6 - Pan and Liu III

For four or five consecutive days, Deng She visited Guan Duo in the mornings, received guests in the afternoons, and spent his evenings either attending banquets or hosting return dinners for Mao Jujing and others. Having learned his lesson the hard way, he grew cunning; whenever Guan Duo was not present, he would dodge or deflect the drinks pushed upon him by others whenever possible. If all else failed, he would simply slump over the table and feign drunkenness.

Since that initial invitation, Pan Mei had made no further contact. One of Sha Liuer’s subordinates in the city, an official of the ten-thousand-household rank, had evidently heard of Deng She’s snub of Pan Mei. Instead of sending an invitation, he visited in person. Deng She received him warmly and bestowed generous gifts, handling every aspect of the interaction with grace.

Guan Duo was certainly aware of these goings-on; if Fang Buzhen didn’t report them, the neighbors on the street surely would. Yet, Guan Duo said nothing, continuing to treat Deng She with the demeanor of a benevolent elder. The transfer of the one thousand sets of armor and three hundred hand cannons promised to Deng She was completed promptly and generously, with a surplus of common military supplies like wound ointment included. Deng She was, naturally, filled with gratitude.

Deng She had also gone to great lengths to uncover the background of Li Aguan. Guan Duo was her cousin once removed. When Guan Duo first joined the army, many of his clansmen followed, including Li Aguan’s father, who had later died in battle. Her husband, Li Dunru, had been married to her for over a dozen years.

Li Dunru’s participation in the Red Turbans was purely out of necessity; Guan Duo had rebelled, and his father-in-law had followed suit. With no other choice and a desire to keep his head, he had joined as well. A fellow townsman of Guan Duo, his family had been scholars for generations—an indisputable family of letters. However, his own scholarship was mediocre at best, though he possessed a talent for practical affairs, particularly financial management. Guan Duo had promoted him, and he now served as a Langzhong of the Left and Right Bureaus of the Liaoyang Province, a position of significant power and influence.

Being both a relative and a high-ranking official, yet apologizing to Deng She—a man decades his junior—left Deng She deeply uneasy. Guan Duo was showing him too much favor; each accolade heaped upon him felt not like a compliment, but a heavy burden.

After obtaining the address of the Li estate, Deng She visited twice, but Li Dunru was never home. Li Aguan refused him entry, citing the excuse that "as a humble woman, I do not see male guests," and she would not accept a single one of the gifts he brought.

Bi Qianniu, speaking with a heavy Northeast accent, grumbled, "That Chancellor Guan is something else. Why go through all this unnecessary trouble to apologize? It’s just causing more headaches for the General."

Perhaps that was Guan Duo’s true intention all along. On the surface, he granted you immense face, but in reality? He was planting thorns in your heart. Deng She smiled bitterly and said, "It is the Chancellor’s kind gesture... let it be, let it be. Come, let us return to the residence."

Halfway back, they happened to run into Guan Duo’s guards, who were looking for him. Upon inquiry, he learned that Pan Cheng and Sha Liuer had returned to the city, and Guan Duo had summoned all his generals for a major military council. Daring not to delay, Deng She hurriedly followed the guards, changing course toward the provincial government office.

Approaching the gates, Deng She noticed that the surrounding streets had been cleared; there were no civilians in sight, and many soldiers were stationed there to maintain order. It was vastly different from the usual scene—the soldiers were fierce, their equipment superior, and many carried an aura of slaughter, clearly having just returned from the battlefield. They were likely the personal guards of Pan Cheng and Sha Liuer.

Relying on Guan Duo’s token, they passed through without hindrance. The sound of hooves was constant as dozens, then hundreds, of civil and military officials arrived from their residences and camps. Their escorts and carriages were ordered to remain two streets away. Only the officials themselves were permitted to enter—a customary practice for both security and space constraints.

Because Guan Duo had not yet opened the gates, a dense crowd had formed. The air was thick with the clamor of voices and dialects from every corner of the land.

Through his socializing and gift-giving over the past few days, Deng She had successfully mended old ties and made new acquaintances. Those who recognized him came over to greet him. Deng She responded with a smile while glancing around. Among the waiting officials, military officers were in the majority, while civil officials were few.

The civil officials were quiet, and even their conversations were mere whispers. The generals, most of whom held ranks of at least a ten-thousand-household command, were accustomed to rising from the bottom; they were boisterous, their voices rising and falling as they bragged or cursed. Though it appeared chaotic, there was a distinct division.

They were roughly divided into five groups. The largest group occupied the center, acting and speaking with the most abandon; half of the dozen or so marshals present were there, along with many civil officials. The second and third groups were smaller, with one adjacent to the largest and the other slightly further away, also containing a few civil officials.

The fourth group was small, mostly lower-ranking officers with no civil officials. The fifth group consisted entirely of civil officials—seven or eight men whose robes indicated high status. The officers who greeted Deng She mostly came from the fourth group, with a few from the first. Aside from Fang Buzhen, who had arrived earlier, none of the other three groups were represented.

Deng She’s socializing and hosting over the past few days were not just for show; through his conversations with old friends, he had gleaned the latest intelligence. It was clear: the first three groups were the core factions of Guan Duo, Pan Cheng, and Sha Liuer, respectively. The fourth group was the neglected "outsiders," and the final group was the traditional civil faction that looked down upon the military.

He heard someone nearby say, "Old Li, stop bragging. Who gave you the title of 'The Informer'? Fine, today I’ll test you—do you know why Chancellor Guan suddenly summoned all the generals?"

Deng She listened closely. Old Li replied, "Informer or not, it doesn’t matter. You... stop trying to goad me. But fine, I’ll play along. Listen clearly, I’ll tell you."

The man had a stutter. Deng She, worried about Korea, couldn’t help but think of Zhao Guo, and from Zhao Guo, he thought of Pyongyang, wondering if he and Wen Huaguo could handle things. Distracted, he missed a few sentences of Old Li’s reply. He exchanged a few perfunctory words with the person talking to him and then turned his attention back.

He heard Old Li saying, "...Why do I say there’s a major military operation coming? Do you know Pan and Liu have returned? Do you know when they arrived?" The others looked at one another; the return of Pan and Liu was highly secretive. Old Li smiled triumphantly. "Don’t know, do you? Pan returned the night before last, and Liu returned last night."

Someone asked, "How do you know?"

Old Li said, "The night before last, I was on guard duty at the city gate and happened to catch them. Pan only brought two companies. If I hadn’t recognized him, I wouldn’t have known. As for how I knew about Liu? That’s the skill of 'The Informer'."

His stuttering, combined with his smug expression, was quite amusing, and the group burst into laughter. One man said, "Enough nonsense, get to the point."

Old Li wasn't offended and continued, "Don't laugh. Do you know why Pan and Liu returned alone? Why? Secrecy! Why the secrecy? Conclusion: there is a major military operation coming."

Someone asked, "There is still fighting in Western Liaoning. Could it be reinforcements? Chaghan Temur has been besieging Bianliang for months. Liu has been supervising the front for over a month; he must be anxious." Most of them were unaware that Bianliang had already fallen.

The man who had goaded Old Li said, "I don't think so. Shenyang and Gaizhou are attacking from both sides, and there's also the vanguard force in front. If they don't solve those first, what are they going to reinforce with?"

Someone lowered their voice and said, "Little Deng from Korea is here, isn't he..." Those who hadn't seen him asked, "Little Deng?" The man gestured with his chin, "That one, seventeen or eighteen, with a crowd around him." Deng She felt several gazes fall upon him. Someone whispered, "That’s him? The one who took Korea with eight hundred men?"

Old Li said, "Don't judge a book by its cover." He asked mysteriously, "Do you know who his foster father is?"

"Who?"

"Deng San." Deng San was a minor commander of an outside faction; not many knew him. Old Li continued, "Do you know the Up-Horse Bandits?" The man who knew Deng She said, "Obviously. The Southern Huashan and Northern Up-Horse bandits—the two legendary gangs."

Southern Huashan, the bandits of Jiqing, had defeated tens of thousands of Yuan soldiers with only thirty-six men before Liu Futong’s uprising. Later, the Prince of Zhennan—who eventually died at the hands of Zhao Junyong—sent many armies to suppress them, only for his own forces to suffer heavy losses. In terms of fame, they were even more renowned than the Up-Horse bandits, though they eventually perished at the hands of the "Blue Army" formed by salt smugglers.

The Mongol iron cavalry had dominated the world for nearly a century. The reason the Red Turbans dared to revolt on such a scale was not only due to the suffering of the people, but also because the two great bandit gangs had rampaged across the north and south, and the Mongol Yuan could not stop them. Thus, almost everyone knew of the Up-Horse bandits.

Old Li said, "Deng San was the leader of the Up-Horse bandits."

The group looked at Deng She with newfound respect. The man from before said, "A tiger father has no dog for a son." Someone who knew more about Korea said, "Or rather, the student has surpassed the master. A while ago, he took Pyongyang. From east to west, dozens of cities—if the Lord knew, wouldn’t our Great Song have another province?"

There were those who admired him, and those who were resentful. Someone said, "The Koreans are weak."

"Bah, you go try it? Eight hundred men, in less than half a year, gathering forty or fifty thousand. Can you do that?" Old Li said, "Rumor has it, it’s more than forty or fifty thousand..." "More than forty or fifty thousand? You're just bragging." The speaker looked at Deng She and said, "He’s only a Chief Administrator."

"Have you ever seen a seventeen-year-old Chief Administrator? Do you know what it means to be a young man of ambition? Chancellor Guan doesn't give him a high position because he wants to protect him. You’re just jealous, aren't you?" Most of the group disagreed with Old Li’s statement, murmuring that it was a stretch.

Another said, "Do you know the 'Two Walls of Western Liaoning'? Zhang Jujing and Shijiabao. Last year, Marshal Mao Jujing suffered a loss under them. For the past month, Chancellor Liu has been supervising the front personally, and the fighting has been fierce—it’s a stalemate. Those two are famous generals, right? But I heard that Chief Administrator Deng defeated both of them months ago with nothing but a group of new recruits."

"That’s different. Little Deng fought in the open field, while Marshal Mao and Chancellor Liu were conducting sieges. It’s two different things." Old Li curled his lip, "Tomorrow I’ll report to Chancellor Guan and have you transferred to Western Liaoning for field duty!" Someone muttered, "If he took the name Guan, forget being a Chief Administrator; being a Marshal would be a piece of cake."

Old Li said, "Forget the Marshal title. Deng San is dead; it would be normal for Chancellor Guan to adopt him." The jealous one mocked, "You just said he was a young man of ambition, and now you’ve upgraded him to an adopted son." Old Li replied, "Don't laugh. Little Deng knows how to conduct himself. See that group around him? Look how happily they’re laughing."

"They’re all just miscellaneous outsiders."

"His father was from a miscellaneous background. Why aren't there any of Pan or Liu’s people around him? Think about it!" The group pondered. Someone said, "There are few outsiders; even if you add them all up, at most two or three thousand. Most are old, weak, or wounded, and their weapons are poor. They’re useless." Old Li gave a thumbs up: "Smart."

Someone winked and asked, "I’ve heard Little Deng brought a lot of Korean beauties?" One man said, "Is that rare? There are plenty of Koreans in the city." The other person said, "It’s different! He brought the daughters of officials." The man replied, "So what? Take off their clothes, and they’re all the same."

Old Li shook his head repeatedly, "You’re an amateur. Do you know radishes? Do you know ginseng? A radish looks like ginseng, but it isn't ginseng. What’s the difference? That’s the difference between a radish and ginseng."

"Bragging again! Have you ever eaten ginseng?" Old Li glanced at Deng She, smiled, and said, "I won't lie to you, I’ve tasted it."

The group was very interested and urged him to continue. Old Li grinned and boasted, "A brother of mine knows Deng San. He saw Little Deng two days ago, and Little Deng gave him one. Thanks to him, I got a taste. Do you know what it tastes like?"

"Speak, you dog!"

"I’ll tell you one thing." Old Li held up three fingers and said, "Forget two birds, you can handle three!"

Hearing this, Deng She nearly laughed out loud. After Old Li and the others chatted about women for a while, they returned to the main topic. Someone said, "It’s strange. Korea was just taken and isn't stable. Why would Chancellor Guan call him back? I heard Old Yao is also in Korea..." He lowered his voice, "Could it be that we’re pulling out of Liaoyang and the whole army is moving into Korea?"

Old Li scoffed, "Do you think we can just pull out? Is your brain made of elm wood?"

"Then what do you think the major military action is?"

Old Li looked around furtively and whispered, "Rumor has it, we’re going to attack Liao..." He stammered for a long time, unable to get the "Liao" out, his face turning red. Someone lost patience and slapped him on the head, making his helmet clang, forcing him to blurt out: "Southern Liaoning!" He realized his voice was too loud and covered his mouth, making sure no one was paying attention. He calmed down and warned, "I only told you guys, don't spread it."

His information was quite accurate. Deng She observed him calmly and noted his appearance.

Once the words "Southern Liaoning" were out, the men around him were startled, looking at each other in shock. After a long while, someone asked, "Where did you hear that? Attack Southern Liaoning? We’re not saving Bianliang? Chancellor Guan agrees, Pan agrees, but what about Liu? He will definitely oppose it."

Old Li asked, "Who are you listening to?" The man replied, "Chancellor Guan, naturally." Old Li asked others, "Who are you listening to?" He gestured to the surrounding crowd, "And them? Three Chancellors, two agree—this will happen. Do you know why Pan returned a day earlier than Liu?"

Someone said, "Guangning is closer, Western Liaoning is further." Old Li dismissed this with disdain, "Don't talk to me, your brain is... underdeveloped. No matter how close Guangning is or how far Western Liaoning is, Pan returns the first day, Liu the second—is that a coincidence? Who is Chancellor Guan? He calculates the days."

It made sense, and the others suddenly understood. Someone hesitated: "And the Lord?" Old Li said, "Are you stupid? Does the Lord care if you’re fed? Who cares what you wear?"

The man who had goaded him earlier looked around and stopped him from saying more. The logic was sound, but how could it be spoken so openly? "Alright, alright, stop here. As subordinates, we just do what the Chancellors tell us to do. No point in saying more." He waved his hand, "Let’s disperse."

The group scattered, with Old Li shouting after them, "Everyone, don't spread this!"

As they spoke, the gates opened, and two civil officials emerged, bowed to the crowd, and said, "Chancellor Guan’s orders: the military council is about to begin. Officials, please enter." One of them added, "This is a government office; please leave your swords outside."

Guards had set up ropes outside, and the generals hung their swords there. According to rank and relationship, the civil officials stood on the left and the military on the right, forming two long lines as they filed into the office.

Deng She had attended large military councils with Deng San, but Deng San was only a thousand-household commander, far below the level of this meeting. As a Chief Administrator, his rank was neither high nor low, placing him in the middle. Being young and humble, he dared not take the front and fell to the end of the Chief Administrator line.

Guan Duo’s military discipline was strict; once they entered the provincial office, no one dared to speak loudly. The office was guarded every three steps. Deng She followed the procession slowly. With over a hundred officials, the meeting was held in the main hall. Guan Duo sat in the center, with Pan Cheng and Sha Liuer to his sides; the three were already present.

The group entered, stood in four columns according to their ranks, and knelt in unison: "We pay our respects to the Chancellor."

Guan Duo, with a smile like the Maitreya Buddha, said, "Rise." His gaze, soft and gentle, swept over the crowd. Deng She felt it linger on him for a moment longer than the others. Taking the opportunity, he glanced at Pan Cheng and Sha Liuer.

Pan Cheng looked the same—square-faced with thick brows and large eyes. In his prime, he was praised as a handsome man in the army. Sitting beside Guan Duo, he looked spirited and heroic. Sha Liuer had changed significantly; Deng She was surprised to find he had aged greatly. At only thirty, his temples were already gray, his face weathered, and he sat with a furrowed brow, looking distracted as if preoccupied with something.

Guan Duo said, "I have summoned you all here today to announce two matters."