Several months after a single arrow at the camp-gate had lulled a battle, a fragment of jade seal upon a table in Shouchun (壽春) was coldly staining one man’s dream.

Yuan Shu (袁術) laid a single writing upon the table of his inner chamber at Shouchun. Upon its first line was written: “The fortune (氣數) of Han has set; the star of the Yuan clan has risen to the middle of heaven. Lord Yuan (袁公) is raised up as Emperor (皇帝).” The jade seal in Yuan Shu’s hand flashed quietly under the lamp.

Yuan Shu called his Chief Clerk, Yang Dajiang (楊大將). “The sky of Han has already set. That this jade seal has entered my hand — is this not the will of Heaven? From today, I shall ascend the seat of Emperor under the name of Zhong (仲氏).” Yang Dajiang bowed his head low and remonstrated in a low voice. “My Lord. The four-hundred-year sky of Han has not yet fully set. If the name is now inflated, every blade under heaven will gather beneath Your Lordship’s name.”

Yuan Shu laughed and waved his hand. “Do not fear. The shade of my name is larger than the blades of all under heaven.” That single word laid itself coldly upon the table of Shouchun.

In those few days, a supply of soldiers and a set of imperial robes (帝服) were stacked inside the storehouses of Shouchun. Yuan Shu called his own style Zhongjia (仲家). It was usurpation (僭稱). He had taken the name of the court and laid it upon his own name.

That news reached the ear of Cao Cao at Xudu. Cao Cao laughed loudly. “Yuan Shu has laid his own neck upon the ground with his own hand. At this seat where I hold the name of the Son of Heaven, it shall be my first merit to take the head of this usurper.” Xun Yu continued in a low voice. “My Lord. Let an edict descend upon every lord under heaven. A single line: strike the usurpation of Shouchun.”

The news reached the ear of Sun Ce at Jiangdong as well. Sun Ce laughed low before Zhou Yu. “Yuan Shu kept my father’s jade seal inside his bosom, and now has laid his own dream upon the surface of that jade. This dream will swallow him. At this hour, we must sever the bond with Shouchun.” Zhou Yu answered in a low voice. “Elder brother. Today, send a writing to Yuan Shu. Set down plainly upon it a single line of severance. After that, we will hold the land of Jiangdong and wait for the edict of Xudu.”

That night, Sun Ce wrote a letter of severance. Upon its first line was laid: “Sun Ce of Jiangdong is a subject of Han, not a subject of a usurpation. From today, the sky of Shouchun and the sky of Jiangdong shall be two different skies.” A messenger mounted a horse and rode toward Shouchun. From the very table upon which the jade seal had been pledged, a letter of severance was returning this night.

Meanwhile, the news reached the ear of Liu Bei at Xuzhou. Liu Bei bowed his head deeply. “A body born as a subject of Han cannot be laid beneath the name of a usurpation. When the edict of Xudu descends, the blade of Xuzhou will move toward Shouchun.” Guan Yu bowed his head low. Zhang Fei drank a cup of wine and said, “Elder brother. This night is a right night.”

Inside the inner chamber at Shouchun, Yuan Shu’s wife, Lady Feng, stood at the door and watched her husband turn the jade seal over in his hands without looking up. She did not step in. A lady who has seen her husband fall in love with a dream larger than the roof of her house rarely steps through the door in the same hour. She returned to her own room and, for that evening, did not light the lamp. Some evenings, the dark of a chamber is the only honest answer a household can return to a husband’s new proclamation.

Elsewhere, the lords of the land received the news of the usurpation at different hours. Yuan Shao at Jizhou read the report and laid it aside without speaking. Liu Biao at Jingzhou laughed once and wrote no reply. Lü Bu at Xuzhou, who a season earlier had lulled two battles with a single arrow, read the news and drank a cup; then he set the cup down and did not lift it again that night. Each of these men understood that the dream of Shouchun had now grown large enough to draw every blade under heaven toward a single table. Each man also knew that when such a drawing begins, no shade — not even one as proud as the one Yuan Shu had just pulled over his head — can hold against the count of those blades.

The fifty-ninth evening of Book 2 deepened quietly above the table of Shouchun. The three characters Chamhomong (僭號夢, the dream of the usurped name) were planted as a seed: the breath on which a fragment of jade seal, a set of imperial robes, and a letter of severance lay at one seat. The pledge of Day 55’s Chabyeongsae (借兵璽) had, this evening, become the first stain of a dream of usurpation, spreading across the surface of the table.

—

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 36초 비추면 기사 전문(사진 포함)이 폰에 저장되어 인터넷 없이도 읽을 수 있습니다.

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