San kuo; or, Romance of the three kingdoms (volume 1 of 2)Luo, Guanzhong
History
San kuo; or, Romance of the three kingdoms (volume 1 of 2)
Luo, Guanzhong
China -- History -- Three kingdoms, 220-265 -- Fiction
Sun Chʻüan was endowed with a square jaw and a large mouth; he had blue
eyes and a dark brown beard. Formerly, when Liu Yüan had gone to Wu to
visit the Sun family, he said of the family of brothers, “I have looked
well at them all and they are all clever and perspicacious, but none of
them have the very ultimate degree of good fortune. Only the second has
the look of a deep thinker. His face is remarkable, and his build
unusual, and he has the look of one who will come to great honour. But
none of them will attain to the blessing of a great age.”
History says that when Sun Chʻüan succeeded to his brother and his
brother’s might, there was still some reorganization to be done. Soon
Chou Yü had arrived. The young ruler received him very graciously and
said, “I need have no anxiety now that you have come.”
It will be remembered that Chou Yü had been sent to hold Pachʻiu. When
he heard that his chief had been wounded by an arrow he thought it well
to return to see how he was. But Sun Tsʻê had died before Chou Yü could
arrive. He hurried to be present at the funeral.
When he went to wail at the coffin of his late chief, Wu Fu-jên, the
dead man’s mother, came out to deliver her son’s last injunctions. When
she had told him the last charge he bowed to the earth, saying, “I
shall exert the puny powers I have in your service as long as I live.”
Shortly after Sun Chʻüan came in, and, after receiving Chou Yü’s
obeisance, said, “I trust you will not forget my brother’s charge to
you.”
Chou bowed saying, “I would willingly suffer any form of death for
you.”
“How best can I maintain this grave charge which I have inherited from
my father and brother?”
“He who wins men, prospers; he who loses them, fails. Your present plan
should be to seek men of high aims and farseeing views and you can
establish yourself firmly.”
“My brother bade me consult Chang Chao for internal administration, and
yourself on external matters,” said Chʻüan.
“Chang Chao is wise and understanding and equal to such a task. I am
devoid of talent and fear to take such responsibility, but I venture to
recommend to you as a helper one Lu Su, named Tzŭ-ching, a man of
Tungchʻuan. This man’s bosom hides strategy and his breast conceals
tactics. He lost his father in early life and has been a perfectly
filial son to his mother. His family is rich and renowned for charity
to the needy. When I was stationed at Chʻao-chʻang I led some hundreds
of men across the Linhuai. We were short of grain. Hearing that the Lu
family had two granaries there, each holding three thousand measures, I
went to ask for help. Lu Su pointed to one granary and said, ‘Take that
as a gift.’ Such was his generosity!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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