Inside the gate of Jizhou (冀州) beyond the Yellow River (黃河), Guan Yu’s (關羽) step and Liu Bei’s (劉備) step were laid together again at one seat.

Guan Yu arrived before the gate of Jizhou with the cart of the two elder-sisters (兄嫂). Sun Qian (孫乾) was waiting outside. “General Guan. I have waited long. Lord Liu is at a side residence inside the walled city.” Guan Yu bowed his head low.

Liu Bei stood before the door of the side residence. Guan Yu dismounted the Red Hare (赤兎馬) and knelt on both knees. His Green-Dragon Crescent Blade was laid at his side. Liu Bei knelt with him, on both knees upon the ground. Their foreheads touched beside each other’s shoulders.

Liu Bei let slip a low word. “Yunchang. I have waited long.” Guan Yu answered low. “Elder brother. I opened five passes, and today I have reached this seat. The third line of the three covenants has opened today.”

Liu Bei took Guan Yu’s hand with both of his own. “Yunchang. The grain of your Green-Dragon Crescent Blade was shown in the two blades of Baima (白馬) and Yanjin (延津); I already knew this. From today, our grain shall be tied into a single grain again.”

At that seat, Zhang Fei (張飛) was not present. Zhang Fei was in seclusion (隱居) at Mount Mang (芒碭山). Through Sun Qian’s arrangement, Liu Bei sent a single envoy to bring Zhang Fei to Jizhou.

Meanwhile, at the great table of Jizhou’s main camp, Yuan Shao (袁紹) looked upon Liu Bei’s face. “Xuande. Today your younger brother has entered inside the grain of Jizhou. From today, Guan Yunchang’s single blade will move beneath my grain.” Liu Bei bowed his head. “Lord Benchu (本初). That grain is not yet decided today. Today is the day on which the grain of two brothers has reached each other again.”

Yuan Shao smiled a low smile. “Xuande. I understand. Only, know that a seat at which the grain of the days ahead becomes plain lies near.”

That evening, in the back courtyard of the side residence, Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Sun Qian sat together low. Liu Bei continued quietly. “Yunchang. Lord Benchu’s is a grain that delays decision long. Rather than being tied beneath his grain today, let us stay here only a season, and after Zhang Fei has been laid with us again at one seat, let us move a single step toward Jingzhou (荊州) of Liu Biao (劉表).”

Guan Yu nodded deeply. Sun Qian bowed his head low. The grain of the three men was tied again at one seat.

A few days later, Zhang Fei arrived from Mount Mang, inside the gate of Jizhou. The grain of the three brothers was laid again at one seat. The grain of the Peach Garden’s (桃園) oath rose again upon the back courtyard of the side residence at Jizhou.

Inside the courtyard that evening, the three men sat at a low round table with three cups of wine between them. No one poured the cups tonight for ceremony; Sun Qian had set them out as a small quiet thing. Zhang Fei reached his cup first, as he usually did; Guan Yu reached second, as he usually did; Liu Bei reached last, as he usually did. The order was the same as at the Peach Garden seven years before. None of the three remarked on it. An order kept between three men for seven years rarely needs remarking. The cups were lifted together, in a silence wider than any toast.

Outside the walled city of Jizhou, along a dry road southeastward, Tian Feng stood at a low parapet and watched the stars over the southern sky. A week earlier he had laid a second scroll upon Yuan Shao’s desk urging patience; the scroll remained unread. Tonight, Tian Feng understood that Liu Bei’s presence at Jizhou was a grain his lord would not hold long. He also understood that the great campaign upon the plain of Guandu was drawing near, and that his lord’s seven hundred thousand strong grain would be tested against a grain far smaller and far more patient. He could see in that understanding a thin cold at the edge of the stars; he did not flinch from it. Tian Feng spoke to no one of what he saw. A counselor whose remonstrance has been set aside twice rarely speaks of what he reads in the stars; he only watches, and lets his own lips remain shut. A thin wind crossed the parapet and carried a small leaf from the courtyard garden over the low wall. Tian Feng pulled his sleeves closer. In the coming months, he would be arrested by his own lord for remonstrance. He did not yet know this. But his sleeves drew closer a grain, and he descended quietly from the parapet.

The eighty-eighth morning of Book 3 was opening quietly upon the back courtyard of the side residence at Jizhou. The three characters Gijuhoe (冀州會, the reunion at Jizhou) were planted as a seed: the breath on which Guan Yu’s two knees, Liu Bei’s two hands, Zhang Fei’s belated single step, and the grain of the Peach Garden’s oath rising again lay at one seat. The single step of Day 87’s Cheonli-bo (千里步) had reached, this morning, the back courtyard of Jizhou.

—

WIA Code 스캐너로 비추면 인터넷 없이 발행 사실과 위·변조 여부를 확인할 수 있습니다.
휴대폰 기본 카메라로 찍으면 스캐너 안내 페이지가 열립니다 — 기사 바로 열기

움직이는 코드는 스트림입니다 — WIA Code 스캐너로 약 43초 비추면 기사 전문(사진 포함)이 폰에 저장되어 인터넷 없이도 읽을 수 있습니다.

⇓ Stream.mp4 다운로드