[Day 79] The Yuan Remnants Step Northward
March · *The Woman Beneath the Moonlight* | about 3 min read
Several days after the drop of warmed wine beneath the green plums had settled upon the table, a piece of news from Jianghuai (江淮) arrived at the table of Cao Cao (曹操) in Xudu (許都).
The first line of the dispatch read: “The remnants of the Yuan (袁氏) clan in Huainan have gathered under the leadership of Yuan Yin (袁胤) and have begun moving northward toward Yuan Shao (袁紹) of Jizhou.” The remnants numbered several thousand — not a large force. Yet the moment they joined Yuan Shao, the strength of the north would thicken layer by layer.
Cao Cao summoned three counselors — Xun Yu (荀彧), Guo Jia (郭嘉), and Cheng Yu (程昱) — to a single seat. He spoke in a low voice. “Today the Yuan remnants have begun their northward march. If that step reaches Yuan Shao, the power of the north will grow heavier. A general must be sent out to cut this movement midway. Who is fitted for the task?”
Guo Jia offered a quiet smile. “My Lord. An unexpected name may be raised here: Liu Xuande (劉玄德). Rather than letting Liu Xuande rest within Xudu, sending him out to show the edge of his blade suits today’s situation better.”
Xun Yu laid down a soft remonstrance. “My Lord. Be careful. Liu Xuande is a man who does not long remain inside Xudu. If you send him outside, he may not return.”
Cao Cao laughed low. “Wenruo. If Liu Xuande does not return, that too will be a decision of its own making. We cannot forever hold his body inside Xudu. Let us entrust today’s move to him.” Xun Yu swallowed a long breath.
The next morning, Cao Cao called Liu Bei (劉備) to his seat and spoke in a low voice. “Xuande. They say the Yuan remnants are moving northward. Take your twenty thousand foot soldiers toward Xuzhou (徐州) and cut this step midway.”
Liu Bei bowed his head. His two eyes sank deep. A low word slipped from his mouth. “General Cao. I shall gladly receive today’s command. Together with my younger brothers Guan Yu (關羽) and Zhang Fei (張飛), I shall move toward Xuzhou.” A quiet relief (安堵) rose within his eyes.
Cao Cao smiled faintly. “Xuande. Please return to Xudu when the task is done.” Liu Bei answered softly. “General Cao. It is a charge you have entrusted.”
That night, inside Xudu, Dong Cheng (董承) came quietly to Liu Bei’s house. The inner corner of a hem was spread again inside the chamber. Liu Bei spoke low. “Minister Dong. Tomorrow morning, this body moves toward Xuzhou. Please guard the inside of Xudu.” Dong Cheng bowed his head deeply.
Outside, in the courtyard of Liu Bei’s residence, Guan Yu stood beside a lamp and cleaned the edge of the Green-Dragon Crescent Blade (靑龍偃月刀). He did not speak. A younger brother whose elder brother has just been entrusted a road leading outside Xudu rarely speaks in the hour before the morning of that road. Zhang Fei sat on a low stool beside him and tightened the binding of the Serpent Spear’s haft. None of the three brothers slept much that night. The saddles were laid ready at the side of the courtyard by the fourth watch. By the fifth watch, Liu Bei was already upright, washing his face in cold water. The cold water did not wake him further; his eyes had been fully awake since the third watch.
At Xudu’s north gate the next morning, the twenty thousand foot soldiers drew up in line. The east wind carried the smoke of the morning kitchens across the banners. A servant of Cao Cao’s household handed a small pouch of travel tea to Liu Bei’s groom, who tucked it into the saddle flap. The servant did not know that the tea inside it would never again be drunk from any kettle of Xudu. Some pouches of tea, once handed to a departing groom, pass beyond the edge of the household they were packed in.
The seventy-ninth night of Book 3 deepened quietly before the twenty thousand foot soldiers at the gate of Xudu. The three characters Sulbukbo (術北步, the Yuan remnants’ northward step) were planted as a seed: the breath on which the Yuan remnants, the movement of twenty thousand foot soldiers, Dong Cheng’s hem, and the quiet relief in Liu Bei’s two eyes all rested at one seat. A single drop of Day 78’s Cheongmaeju (靑梅酒) had, this night, moved within the northward step of twenty thousand soldiers toward Xuzhou.
—
“✒️ A Word from the Commentator — Dr. Yeon Samheum
There is a night on which a person’s body finds it hard to rest for long within the frame of another person. When a step outside is handed to him, a quiet relief rises within his two eyes. Upon your own night today, is there perhaps such a quiet relief in a step outside that has been handed to you? Might you look, once more and quietly, into the texture of that relief?
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