Authors: Yueh Tung
Four Drumbeats Between Ch'in and Ch'u; Beautiful Ladies, True and False, Appear in the Same Mirror
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Hsiang Yü asked Beautiful Lady Yü, “What is it?”
Monkey said, “The shock I had from that ape today upset my heart and blood. Perhaps Your Majesty would enter the silk curtain of mutual happiness first? I'll stay here on the couch and rest a while. I'd also like to have some green tea and wait ‘til the depression in my heart eases. Then I'll come to bed.”
Hsiang Yü embraced Monkey and said, “How could I leave you and go to sleep alone? If you don't go to bed till the first watch, I'll stay up till the first watch. If you don't go to bed all night, I'll stay up all night.
“Beautiful Lady,” he continued, “I've had too many cups of wine tonight. My insides are knotted in a World of Grief. Let me tell you some stories to keep you company and calm myself too.”
Monkey giggled and said, “I hope Your Majesty will control your temper and talk slowly.”
King Hsiang assumed an air of forbearance and impassioned indignation to deliver his story, grasping his scabbard with one hand and placing his left foot forward. He began: “Beautiful Lady, Beautiful Lady, my life is complete! This Hsiang Yü is a true man. Until I was twenty I hadn't studied calligraphy or swordsmanship. When I saw how stupid the Ch'in Emperor was, I led eight thousand men and took along the seventy-two year old Fan Tseng
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with the one intention of replacing the Ch'in Emperor. At that time there was a Taoist in a feathered robe who knew the workings of the cosmos. Several times I sent men to see him, and each time he said Ch'in's mandate had not run out.
“Beautiful Lady, do you think Ch'in's mandate had really expired or not? Later my power waxed strong and my ambition was fierce. Even
good old Heaven was no longer in control. Ch'in shouldn't have ended, but it did; Ch'u shouldn't have risen, but it did.
“One morning I hung up Sung I's”
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head, reeking of blood. The courage of all the generals took flight and they stood with their tongues hanging and knees shaking. Those days it was great fun being Hsiang Yü.
“When Chang Han
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came to do battle, I went out to meet him. The strength of the Ch'in army was still great then. A general rode in front of my horse and I shouted at him, ‘What's your name?’ When he saw my dark face and heard my rumbling voice, he fell from his silver dappled horse with a thud. I spared that one.
“Then came another general. On his fluttering red banner was clearly written, ‘Great Ch'in General Huang Chang.’ I thought, ‘If Ch'in has come to this, it's no longer great,’ and let out a laugh, ‘Ha! Ha! Ha!’ on the battlefield. I wouldn't have guessed that the sight of my laughing face would crush his bones to powder. His spear hung limp and half his body sagged; frantic, he waved a signal banner and beat a green metal gong. Then I saw a general in gold armor rushing away toward his own camp.
“By then I was on the edge of the Ch'in encampment. I lost my temper and taunted Chang Han: ‘Little Ch'in general, you don't dare stick your own head out! Instead you send out these three- or four-inch high babies carrying wooden sticks to offer themselves to my sword.’
“Then the blade of my precious sword said to me, ‘I don't want to drink the blood of those little lackeys—I want Chang Han's blood!’ I heeded the words of my precious sword and let Huang Chang go.
“Beautiful Lady, what kind of man do you think Chang Han was? It was already sunset and that lackey Chang Han was leading ten thousand crack troops. He didn't open his mouth, didn't say a word. He picked up a jade-handled mountain-cleaving axe and swung it at my head. My whole body was aflame and my precious blade began to hum. One of my aides, Kao San-ch'u, seemed to me a man of ambitious mettle. He said, ‘Chang Han must not be killed. He should be made to surrender. I need a cook in my camp—give the job to Chang Han.’
“I listened to Kao San-ch'u's suggestion and lightly swung the tip of my sword, killed the dappled dragon-horse he rode, and sent him away with Kao. Was Chang Han ever scared!”
Monkey said in a low voice, “Have some tea, Your Majesty, then you can slowly tell me more.”
No sooner had Hsiang Yü stopped speaking than they heard a “thump…thump…” sound from the guard tower. It was the second watch. Hsiang Yü said, “Beautiful Lady, don't you want to sleep?”
Monkey said, “My heart is still depressed.”
Hsiang Yü said, “Since you won't sleep, I'll go on with the story. Next morning at daybreak I was still snoring ‘zza-zza' in my tiger-head tent when I heard a million men shouting from the south, ‘Ten thousand years! Ten thousand years!' From the north a million shouted ‘Ten thousand years! Ten thousand years!’ From the west a million shouted, ‘Ten thousand years!’ and from the east another million shouted, ‘Ten thousand years!’ I rolled over in bed and asked the orderly, ‘I suppose that's the Emperor of Ch'in, who's led his soldiers out to fight me? Since he's also an emperor I'll put on a new suit of armor today.’
“Beautiful Lady, what do you think the orderly said? He knelt beside my tent and said with a stutter, ‘Y-Your M-M-Majesty is mistaken; are you still using the word “Ch'in” today? The lords from the eight directions stand before Your Majesty's jade tent and shout “Ten thousand years!'”
“Hearing him say this I quickly combed my hair and put on my helmet, washed my feet and put on my shoes, but I didn't bother to put on new armor. I gave orders at once calling all the lords under Heaven to come through the gate and hear me speak. My order was given at 9:00 a.m. Twelve o'clock passed. One o'clock passed. But the lords outside the gate had not yet come in. I began to have doubts. I told the orderly to go out and ask the lords, ‘Since you want to see me, come in on the double! Do you expect me to come out and see you?’
“I was going to say something more when the gates of the camp were suddenly thrown wide open. I saw all the world's kings and lords all shortened by one half! I was shocked and the color left my face. I thought to myself, ‘Why do these heroes have only half a body each?’ When I looked closely, I saw they were using their knees as feet and crawling step-by-step up the stairs. Before my tent and to the right, several people wearing crowns and pearled robes knelt face down, and to the left knelt still others.
“I was just about to reproach them and say, ‘Why did it take you so long to come in after I called?’ when my aides reported, ‘Your Majesty, when all the lords now at the foot of the steps received Your Majesty's orders, they assembled for a conference in front of your tent. They didn't dare walk through the gate standing up. They didn't dare merely salute
with folded hands, nor did they dare appear disorderly. They discussed it among themselves, then fell prostrate on the ground and didn't move. They talked it over—they were sad and anxious, worried and depressed, frantic and bewildered. Finally they decided on a “knee-walking method”; only then did they dare come to meet you.’
“When I heard this I had a bit of compassion and called out, ‘You lords of all the earth, raise up your heads!' Who do you think dared to move his head or legs? I only heard a rumbling from the ground. It wasn't the sound of a bell or drum or gold-ringed reed whistle. When I listened carefully, it turned out that the lords were still saying, ‘Ten thousand years!’ They continued to kowtow and did not dare lift their heads. Thinking back on it, that was a great year for Hsiang Yü.”
Monkey made a sound like a flower falling on an empty stairway and said, “Your Majesty, you must be exhausted, have a little green bean broth. Wait a bit and then go on with the story.” Just as Hsiang Yü stopped speaking, the drum in the guard tower was sounded three times. Monkey said, “It's the third watch.”
Hsiang Yü said, “Beautiful Lady, your heart-sickness hasn't yet passed. Allow me to continue the story.
“After this, the Lord of P'ei
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was disrespectful and put me off a bit, but I ignored him and entered the Land-within-the-Passes. I saw a man ten miles off, conspicuous in a crown studded with pearls and jade, like the sun, moon, and stars. He wore an elegant robe with mountains, dragons and water weeds embroidered upon it and rode a rich chariot painted green and blue and carved with phoenixes among coiled dragons. His retinue of officials carrying silver and gold seals and draped in yellow robes with purple sashes numbered several thousand. They marched in a serpentine column that stretched into the far distance. When they saw me through the pines, the man in front quickly removed his sun-moon-star jade and pearl crown and put on a commoner's hempen cap. He took off his mountain-dragon-water weed embroidered robe and put on a somber green and white robe. He got down from the green and blue dragon and phoenix chariot and clasped his hands behind his back. The officials carrying silver and gold seals and wearing yellow robes and purple sashes all changed into grass sandals and wooden belts and painted their faces red. They fell to their knees and prostrated themselves on the ground, wishing they could go several thousand or ten thousand feet into the ground.
“When they were thus properly dressed, I galloped up to them on my dark dappled horse. On all sides I heard ‘Ten thousand years to our Lord! Ten thousand years to our Lord!’ I glanced out of the corner of my eyes and the leader again said, ‘Ten thousand years to our Lord—I am King Tzu-ying of Ch'in
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and am come to surrender to you.’
“In those days I was quick-tempered and my arm was swift. One swipe of my sword—'whoosh!'—made them all, king and official, young and old, headless ghosts. Those were good times.
“I shouted, ‘Ghost of the First Emperor of Ch'in, you should have expected this day!'”
As it happened that Monkey's mind was intent on seeking the First Emperor of Ch'in, he pretended to collapse when Hsiang Yü came out with the name and said, “Your Majesty, don't say any more. I want to sleep.”
When Hsiang Yü heard Beautiful Lady Yü say she wished to sleep, what could he do but agree? He forthwith shut his mouth. They heard the guard tower drum beat “thump…thump…thump…thump…thump”—in the fifth watch. Monkey said, “Your Majesty, the last part of the story was really long. We missed the drum for the fourth watch.”
Monkey laid down on the couch, and Hsiang Yü, too, laid down and shared the pillow. Monkey said to Hsiang Yü, “I can't sleep, Your Majesty.”
Hsiang Yü said, “Since Beautiful Lady can't sleep, I'll tell more of the story.”
Monkey said, “It's all right for you to tell stories, but this time don't say such shameless words.”
Hsiang Yü said, “What do you mean, ‘shameless words'?”
Monkey said, “There's no shame in talking about others, but talking about oneself is shameless. Let me ask you, where is the First Emperor of Ch'in now?”
Hsiang Yü said, “Ah, the First Emperor was also quite a man. Except for one thing—where other men were complacent, he was foolish.”
Monkey said, “He conquered six states and built the Great Wall. He must have been an intelligent man.”
Hsiang Yü said, “Beautiful Lady, one must distinguish intelligent foolishness from foolish intelligence. The First Emperor's intelligence is foolish intelligence. His Primal Celestial Excellency saw that the Emperor
was intensely oblivious and didn't belong in the World of the Ancients, so he sent him to the World of Oblivion.”
Monkey caught the words “World of Oblivion” but they didn't mean anything to him. He quickly asked, “How far is the World of Oblivion from here?”
Hsiang Yü said, “The World of the Future lies in between.”
Monkey said, “Since it's a World of Oblivion separated from us by a World of the Future, who knows that he's in the World of Oblivion?”
Hsiang Yü said, “Beautiful Lady, you don't understand. In a place called Fish-mist Village stands the Jade Gate with two doors. Inside the gate is a hidden path that leads to the World of the Future. In the World of the Future there is another hidden path that leads to the World of Oblivion.
“Some time ago there was a man called New Being, also known as Newly Retired Scholar. He was really brave! One day he pushed open the Jade Gate and went to the World of Oblivion, found his father, and returned home. When he came back his hair and beard were completely white. After one visit, that Newly Retired Scholar shouldn't have made a second one, but he wasn't satisfied. So three years later he again went through the Jade Gate, this time to look for his father-in-law. Great Yü, the Dark Emperor, was furious. He didn't wait for him to return, but ordered someone to put seals on the Jade Gate. When the Newly Retired Scholar came back from the World of Oblivion, and found the Jade Gate sealed, he shouted the whole day, but no one answered.
“To the east no one received him, to the west no one cared about him. It's hard to be a man in the middle. Happily, the Newly Retired Scholar was good-natured. He's lived in the World of the Future for more than ten years now and still hasn't come home.”
Monkey exclaimed, “Your Majesty, this Jade Gate is truly a wonder. I want to go see it tomorrow!”
King Hsiang said, “That's no trouble. It's only a few steps from here to Fish-mist Village.”
As he was speaking, they heard the cock crow three times. Eight green silk windows turned fish-belly white as the sun slowly rose above the eastern mountains—the dawn was exhilarating. Four of Beautiful Lady Yü's maids were walking outside the window. Footsteps could be heard but no voices. Monkey yelled, “P'ing-hsiang! I want to get up.”