The morning after the single bout at Shenting (神亭) had been laid beneath the sky of Jiangdong, Sun Ce’s war-robe began to pass in order before the gates of the six commanderies (六郡).

The six commanderies of Jiangdong were Danyang (丹陽), Wujun (吳郡), Kuaiji (會稽), Yuzhang (豫章), Lujiang (廬江), and Jiujiang (九江). Each commandery lay beneath the name of one general. At Danyang, Liu Yao (劉繇); at Wujun, Yan Baihu (嚴白虎); at Kuaiji, Wang Lang (王朗); at Yuzhang, Hua Xin (華歆); at Lujiang, Liu Xun (劉勳); and at Jiujiang, the shadow of Yuan Shu (袁術) lay across one seat.

Sun Ce first struck Liu Yao at Danyang. He opened the granaries of Niuzhu (牛渚) and took weapons and a whole granary of grain. Liu Yao fled southward, moving to Yuzhang. Upon the gate of Danyang, Sun Ce’s name was hung for the first time.

Next, he struck Yan Baihu at Wujun. Yan Baihu was large of frame but without strategy, and knelt easily beneath a single stroke of Sun Ce’s blade. Yan Baihu’s younger brother, Yan Yu (嚴輿), rode out to request a peace. Upon Yan Yu’s horse, one blade flashed. In a single breath Sun Ce’s hand caught and reversed that blade, and Yan Yu’s head fell from the horse. Hearing the news, Yan Baihu abandoned the city and fled toward Yuhang (餘杭). Upon the gate of Wujun, Sun Ce’s name was hung for the second time.

Wang Lang of Kuaiji drew up his array before the gates of Kuaiji. A subordinate of Wang Lang’s camp, Yu Fan (虞翻), laid a low remonstrance. “My Lord. Sun Ce’s power is already growing. Do not fight; surrender.” Wang Lang did not listen. The two armies met upon an open field. After several days of battle, Wang Lang’s army broke, and Wang Lang fled toward the sea. Yu Fan came out before Sun Ce of his own will and submitted (歸附). Upon the gate of Kuaiji, Sun Ce’s name was hung for the third time.

Hua Xin of Yuzhang did not take up his blade. When Sun Ce’s army arrived before the gate of Yuzhang, Hua Xin opened the gate, came out of his own will, and offered up his seal (印). Upon the gate of Yuzhang, Sun Ce’s name was hung for the fourth time. Sun Ce received Hua Xin with deepest courtesy. The learning and the virtue of Hua Xin became one pillar of the court of Jiangdong.

Meanwhile, Liu Xun of Lujiang and the shadow of Yuan Shu at Jiujiang, watching Sun Ce with suspicion, did not move. Sun Ce set these two commanderies aside for a later time. These two would, one day, be laid together beneath a single blade.

Sun Ce ascended the tower of Wujun and looked toward the sky of Jiangdong. Zhou Yu stood at his side. Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong stood behind him. Taishi Ci stood a step back. Sun Ce spoke low. “Gongjin. Today, the names of four commanderies have been hung upon our side. The remaining two will be the work of a little later. The first map of the six commanderies of Jiangdong is gathered this morning upon a single sheet.”

Zhou Yu laughed low. “Elder brother. Beside the four names laid upon this map today, one day another, still greater name will be hung. To Jingzhou (荊州), to the north of the Yangzi (揚子江), even to the shade of Xudu (許都) itself, the edge of this map will move.” Sun Ce nodded with a smile. Beneath the low laughter of the two young men, the six commanderies of Jiangdong were breathing quietly into order.

That evening, beneath the gate of Wujun, an old fisherman entered the city carrying a single net. Inside the net a large carp lay. Sun Ce returned the carp to the fisherman and laid a small pouch of copper coins above it. The fisherman bowed his head low and spoke. “General Sun’s name will be hung even inside the small gates of Jiangdong.” Sun Ce smiled and clapped the fisherman’s shoulder lightly.

Later, in a smaller alley of Wujun, a girl of perhaps eleven stood at the corner of a wall and watched the new general’s soldiers ride past. She had never seen so many horses in one line. She did not wave; she did not run. She only counted them quietly: “one hundred, two hundred, three hundred,” until her grandmother pulled her back inside. In the hour before sleep, she told her grandmother that the number of horses she had seen that afternoon was larger than the number of fishing boats she had ever counted upon the river of her town. Her grandmother said nothing. A town just transferred between names has no answer for a child’s small arithmetic.

Inside the main hall, Sun Ce sealed the first proclamation of his new seat. The proclamation named four commanderies and counted their granaries, ferries, and registered households. Zhang Zhao held the brush; Zhang Hong folded the sheet; Zhou Yu watched both without speaking. A young lordship just hung upon four gates in a single season rarely wastes the hour just after upon speech. The small red seal of Sun Ce settled into the corner of the sheet, and the sheet was folded away into a drawer. Somewhere behind him, Taishi Ci opened a window; the evening air moved into the hall, and the lamp flames leaned east.

The fifty-seventh night of Book 2 deepened quietly above the gates of the four commanderies of Jiangdong. The three characters Gangdongryuk (江東六, the six commanderies of Jiangdong) were planted as a seed: the breath on which the names of four commanderies, the shadows of two, and the low greeting of one fisherman lay at one seat. The single hem of Day 56’s Paewangpo (霸王袍) had, this night, been hung upon the gates of four commanderies for the first time.

—

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.

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