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This official named Han spoke lightly, because though he had been with Xiang Yu for over a year, he wasn’t valued highly.
Although this warrior in front of him seemed extraordinary at first glance, in the end he didn’t really know his depths.
He definitely wouldn’t simply lead him to General Xiang, especially as the general had been in a foul mood in recent days due to the issue of entering Hangu Pass. Anything might set him off.
So he turned slightly and instead went towards the tent where Fan Zeng was.
Lü Bu was alone in the unfamiliar Chu camp, but he was still calm and relaxed.
According to his thinking, no matter how many people were in the camp, none of them were a match for him.
Even if they couldn’t come to an agreement, it wouldn’t be difficult for him to break out and leave by force.
He had intended to have a few words with Attendant Han, but unexpectedly, the man not only had a stiff and indifferent face but also cherished words like gold, reminding Lü Bu of Gao Fuyi, that dull-mouthed gourd.
“We’re here,” Attendant Han murmured. If Lü Bu hadn’t had such good ears, he wouldn’t have heard it at all. Then he straightened, raised his voice, and said, “Please announce that a warrior has come to join us with a guarantee, we request to see Yafu.”
Yafu? Fan Zeng?1advisor to Xiang Liang, then to his nephew Xiang Yu; Xiang Yu respected him greatly and addressed him as his ‘Second Father’ (亞父; Yafu). I prefer to translate everything, including titles, but no matter how I do it Second Father just reads awkwardly. Wikipedia
Lü Bu came back to his senses in an instant. He didn’t object; if he couldn’t see Xiang Yu, he should still be able to achieve his goal by meeting Fan Zeng.
Unexpectedly, the guard immediately replied, “Yafu isn’t in the tent right now, you can come back later.”
This wasn’t a prevarication — just after noon passed, Fan Zeng hurried out of the tent with two others without telling anyone where he was going.
So unlucky?
Attendant Han was quite surprised. He frowned, then shot Lü Bu a slightly embarrassed look.
If Lü Bu had read history books properly instead of just regurgitating dates, he would have been able to deduce that Fan Zeng had gone in search of Xiang Zhuang,2Xiang Yu’s cousin; little is known about him except for his role at the Hongmen Banquet. Wikipedia in order to set up a plot to assassinate Liu Bang during the banquet.
At this moment, he only lamented at his bad luck. It wasn’t hard to guess what Attendant Han was being hesitant about, so before he could chase him away, Lü Bu swung his burden off his back, held it in his right hand, and said bluntly, “To tell you the truth, I really don’t have much funds right now, and this guarantee is probably worthless to many people.”
He nodded slightly and gestured at the attendant, indicating for him to put his hand on the bundle.
Although Attendant Han was sceptical, he followed his words and put his hand forward without hesitation. As a result, his eyes instantly changed.
He had been in the army for over two years and had killed not a few enemies with his own hands. Even across many layers of fabric, it wasn’t difficult to discern that the contours against his palm belonged to a face.
This was a human head.
Lü Bu’s tiger eyes had been staring at his face; after capturing his subtle change, he narrowed his eyes slightly and raised his lips, adding, “But in the eyes of General Xiang, it may be worth ten thousand taels.”
Attendant Han was silent.
“I’ll be troubling Sir to lead the way,” Lü Bu spoke again heedlessly.
His self-confidence came not from recklessness but from careful consideration.
The reason why Ying Ziying’s head caught his eye was because he remembered the deep blood feud between the Xiang family and the Qin dynasty: King Huai I of Chu was held hostage by Qin and died in captivity, and in more recent years, whether it was Xiang Yu’s grandfather Xiang Yan or his uncle Xiang Liang, they all died in battle against the Qin.
As long as Xiang Yu wasn’t a Buddhist-minded person who ate only vegetarian fare and recited scriptures all day long, he must have an inexhaustible hatred for Qin royal blood. Comparing the two of them, Lü Bu deeply hated Liu Bei who cut off his last path of retreat which he threw away his pride to obtain; how could Xiang Yu not feel anything for a grudge accumulated through generations?
Attendant Han only nodded. He didn’t ask more questions before turning and going directly towards Xiang Yu’s military tent.
If this person was just being arrogant, General Xiang probably wouldn’t let him leave alive, at best he would have to pay a heavy price.
And what the warrior said just now was hard for him to refute — if he was making a mistake, Attendant Han would at most get a scolding.
If this person was somehow telling the truth, it would be even more correct to bring him to General Xiang.
In his eyes, it was already worthy of respect to straightforwardly request to see General Xiang.
Fan Zeng’s tent wasn’t far from Xiang Yu’s tent. The two quickly arrived after a short, silent walk.
This time, Attendant Han personally went in to report. He entered with an expressionless face, and when he came out, his face was still expressionless. He only nodded slightly to Lü Bu, “Go in.”
Lü Bu bowed back and was about to enter when he suddenly remembered that he’d never asked for this person’s name.
If everything went well in the tent, they might have to work together for a while, so he casually asked, “Thank you, sir, I wonder if I may have your name?”
Attendant Han, obviously also thinking that they might be colleagues in the future, pulled his mouth into a reluctant smile. “I am General Xiang’s halberd-bearer, named Han Xin.”
After speaking, he bowed, turned, and left.
Yet Lü Bu, whose eyes were previously dull, slowly opened his mouth in shock, and almost couldn’t hold back a burst of swearing.
How could he have guessed that this ash-covered dull gourd with a dejected face was actually a brilliant military strategist who would go down in history!
As expected of the Hegemon-King of Western Chu, he had crouching tigers and hidden dragons all around him, anyone you bumped into might be an amazing person.
Lü Bu clicked his tongue.
At any rate, he had also once been a ruthless master of many — he had beheaded everyone from the former King of Qin to the lowest foot soldier, and now he wanted to take the head of Liu Bang, the founding emperor of the Han dynasty. Therefore, he quickly regained his composure after his brief surprise.
As he strode into the tent, he couldn’t help remembering his lowborn past. Although he had strong martial skills, he still had to sacrifice his pride and recognise two adoptive fathers to get ahead.
But in Xiang Yu’s case, famous ministers and generals proactively came to his doorstep.
He couldn’t not be sad when he thought of the sharp contrast between them.
The tent was brightly lit, and in the center a person sat quietly with a cup of wine in his hand.
The cup was half full. The liquid within swayed slightly as if they were meditating on something.
This person was at least two metres tall,3至少在九尺开外: specifically, 9 chi, so at least 2.07m; as a reminder, 1 chi is 0.23m and his height was evident even when he was sitting. He wore not armour but a black brocade robe over similarly black inner garments, embroidered with gold thread to show a great roc4actually a peng, a mythological bird transformed from a kun (giant fish); linguistically, it symbolises greatness — both great promise and great accomplishments. Wikipedia with outstretched wings. His waist was tied with an ivory belt, and hanging from it was a jade ornament and the Eight Treasures.5aka the Eight Precious Things; popular symbols often depicted in art/charm accessories, for things like happiness, a just & upright life, wealth, etc. Wikipedia Looking lower, his boots were decorated with leopards and tigers, and a scabbard made of fish skin sheathed his Longyuan Sword.
Even though he sat there quietly without a word, his neat clothing couldn’t conceal his broad shoulders and waist, nor his powerful muscles and tendons.
What a mighty man!
In the Chu camp, there was only one man who could be described with this temperament and majesty: the one and only Hegemon-King of Western Chu, well-known through the ages.
As Lü Bu approached, his gaze slowly swept upwards.
Xiang Yu’s skin was a sun-tanned wheat colour which looked translucent under the candlelight. Upon looking closer at his face, the most eye-catching thing wasn’t his full forehead, nor his sharp eyebrows or aquiline nose and thin lips, but his pair of mysterious ink-black double pupils.6 indeed, Xiang Yu is recorded as having double pupils (polycoria) in one of his eyes, thus he was seen as an extraordinary person because double pupils are the mark of a king or sage in Chinese tradition; in reality it’s a rare condition that results in decreased eye function. Wikipedia
Although it was his first time seeing the famed double pupils, Lü Bu didn’t care much about his appearance and only took a single glance before calmly looking away.
He didn’t have any literary words to describe him. After seeing Xiang Yu’s appearance clearly, he could only sigh that this man was not only born tall and strong but was also strangely handsome.
Thinking of those years, he hadn’t been too shabby either.
Lü Bu, feeling proud, pushed his chest out further.
But what moved him the most was that when Xiang Yu met with a stranger, he left not a single guard inside the tent.
By acting like this, it was obvious that he had confidence in his martial skills, and had no fear that his guest had evil intentions or might be an assassin.
Ha, back then wasn’t I just as cool?
Xiang Yu didn’t get angry at his blatant staring, he calmly let him look.
Since he was a child, he had been very ambitious and wanted to learn from a thousand teachers; after he grew into adulthood, he was very skilled in martial arts, to the point that no one in the camp could compare to him. No one was even close to being his opponent, not even Long Qie, Ying Bu, or Zhongli Mo, whom he favoured.
However, he had always cherished talents and respected soldiers.
Although Lü Bu appeared young, he had a handsome yet imposing appearance and his every move revealed himself as a capable practitioner, which immediately won his appreciation.
Lü Bu bent to salute, and after reporting his name, Xiang Yu — who became more satisfied the more he looked — had more or less decided to keep him.
Commoners had no courtesy names, and neither did kings. Those who had courtesy names were mostly scholars.
Of the old clans, there weren’t many with the Lü surname, but it also couldn’t be said to be a rare name. The only question was which family he came from.
He nodded slightly and motioned for Lü Bu to sit, then immediately asked politely, “Why have you come?”
His was a deep voice, husky and powerful and easily commanding attention.
“I have a blood feud with Liu Bang of Han.” Lü Bu resisted the urge to scratch his ears which were itchy for no reason, sat down, and got straight to the point. “However, it is difficult for me to avenge my hatred alone, and so I am willing to serve General Xiang with my life. I have brought with me a guarantee of my loyalty, and hope to receive a position in the army.” And it would be best to be in the vanguard, so that he could reach Liu Bang faster.
Of course, Xiang Yu had no way of knowing Lü Bu’s inner supplement.
He didn’t mention the specific reason for his enmity with Liu Bang, so Xiang Yu didn’t ask either, he just nodded to show his understanding. Then his gaze moved to the cloth bag that Lü Bu had randomly put somewhere on the low table in front of him. “Open it, then.”
“Yes,” Lü Bu responded seriously as he pulled on the bag’s knot.
…He couldn’t open it.
Neither of the two in the tent expected this.
Xiang Yu silently shifted his eyes to Lü Bu’s face.
Lü Bu didn’t change his expression, he only pulled harder — but maybe because he’d just randomly tied it at the beginning, not only did it not loosen, it even became tighter.
Damn it!
He secretly cursed at the bag for dropping the link at this important juncture but still didn’t move a muscle in his face. Pulling at the bag again, this time he used over half of his strength.
With a sharp noise of tearing fabric, the rough cloth was instantly torn apart, and because of the excessive force, Ying Ziying’s head — open-eyed and terrified — bounced out and fell towards the ground.
Thanks to Lü Bu’s keen eyes and quick hands, he didn’t let it fall. He simply hooked it with the toe of his boot as if it were a ball, and tossed it back into his hand.
Fortunately, the weather hadn’t been too hot these days so it wasn’t rotten, but the smell truly couldn’t be described as pleasant.
“General Xiang, please see,” Lü Bu said solemnly.
Xiang Yu resisted the urge to kick the stench away — after all, it was his first time receiving a head as a guarantee — and slowly blinked his twitching eyelids as he stared at it expressionlessly.
It’s just that although his Xiang family had a bloody feud with the Qin, he had never set eyes on Ying Ziying himself before, and naturally he couldn’t recognise which unlucky ghost this head belonged to.
Sensing some meaning from his silence, Lü Bu took out the gold identity plate he had taken for insurance against just such a situation and proffered it with both hands as he explained concisely, “This is Ying Ziying’s head.”
Xiang Yu breathed deeply.
His eyes stopped on the gold plate for a moment as he said in a tone that was difficult to distinguish joy or anger, “Ying Ziying?”
Lü Bu nodded seriously. “I swear to heaven and to earth, this is he.”
Unless Ying Ziying was even more amazing than he who’d come back to life and travelled to three hundred years in the past, and grew a second head.
However, Xiang Yu’s reaction made him uncertain what was going on.
Xiang Yu stared at the gold plate, pondered for a while, then he looked at the head a few more times. His expression was a little disbelieving, as if he still had doubts…
A while later, he seemingly remembered that Lü Bu was still waiting patiently for a response. “You have come a long way, the journey is hard and you must be exhausted. Please, avail yourself of our baths.”
Lü Bu himself didn’t expect anything to be decided on the spot, besides, he had once also been a lord, he knew that the more cautious they acted now, the more likely he was to succeed in the end.
So he readily agreed, and was led out of the tent.
As soon as he left, Xiang Yu’s expression darkened. With his eyes filled with renewed anger, he shouted, “Come, call Yafu and…” He bit off the word ‘uncle’ before he could voice it, then continued, “Call Yafu for a discussion.”
Author:
Right now not only Han Xin, Chen Ping is also in service to Xiang Yu.
Translator:
Due to the peculiarities of rank in historical China, there’s no good way to translate 王 into English. It literally means king and is translated as such by Wikipedia — but functionally it’s for someone like… a prince of the imperial court and/or lord of a significant area (one or the other or both), who may or may not be related to the emperor and may have been bestowed that title or claimed it for themselves (not the done thing but probably did happen, particularly by rebels). 王 is also used for foreign kings, since the emperor (皇帝) ruled all under heaven this implied the foreign monarch was inferior. A (non-comprehensive) explanation of historical Chinese titles can be found at nyanovels.com.
Using the King of Chu as an example: his personal name is Xiong Xin (熊心), and when the Chu state was resurrected as an insurgent state against Qin imperial rule he was installed as a puppet ruler. During his reign, he was known as King Huai of Chu (楚怀王); people might also call him King of Chu (楚王) or King Huai (怀王) — Chu is his territory and Huai is his title, like how in the British system a Duke of Cornwall wouldn’t be called Duke Cornwall for example. Historically he was later ‘promoted’ to emperor but we won’t get into that here.
Trying to keep a historical tone, not sure if I succeeded. It’s hard because Lü Bu’s self-narration is very casual.
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- 1advisor to Xiang Liang, then to his nephew Xiang Yu; Xiang Yu respected him greatly and addressed him as his ‘Second Father’ (亞父; Yafu). I prefer to translate everything, including titles, but no matter how I do it Second Father just reads awkwardly. Wikipedia
- 2Xiang Yu’s cousin; little is known about him except for his role at the Hongmen Banquet. Wikipedia
- 3至少在九尺开外: specifically, 9 chi, so at least 2.07m; as a reminder, 1 chi is 0.23m
- 4actually a peng, a mythological bird transformed from a kun (giant fish); linguistically, it symbolises greatness — both great promise and great accomplishments. Wikipedia
- 5aka the Eight Precious Things; popular symbols often depicted in art/charm accessories, for things like happiness, a just & upright life, wealth, etc. Wikipedia
- 6indeed, Xiang Yu is recorded as having double pupils (polycoria) in one of his eyes, thus he was seen as an extraordinary person because double pupils are the mark of a king or sage in Chinese tradition; in reality it’s a rare condition that results in decreased eye function. Wikipedia
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