The Sanguo Yanyi - Chapter 26
Monday, October 5, 2009 at 5:02AM The Sanguo Yanyi - Chapter 26:
Yuan Shao Loses Another Leader;
Guan Yu Abandons Rank And Wealth.
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WARNING! HEH, THAT WORD COULD ALMOST BE A CHINESE WORD. WAR NING. I WONDER IF HE WAS GAN NING'S HOTHEADED COUSIN...
Anyways, now that I've got my daily digression out of the way...it's Chapter 26, or as Yuan Shao might have called it, "HOLY SHIT! GUAN YU IS KILLING OFF ALL MY MOST POWERFUL GENERALS ONE BY ONE!"
That's pretty much what's going down, up in the northern regions of the Han Empire. Cao Cao, if you remember, obtained Guan Yu's services at the beginning of last chapter, and now, finds himself coming within half a mile of...guess who...his sworn brother and sworn lord, Liu Bei.
Of course, Guan Yu will not stay with Cao Cao now that he knows Liu Bei is still alive. But he has vowed that he will not leave Cao Cao's service until he has rendered worthy service to Cao Cao.
Enter Wen Chou. Well, not really "enter", per se. Technically, he appeared earlier in the novel, figuring prominently at the Battle of River Pan between his master, Yuan Shao, and Gongsun Zan. But he's back, older and presumably yet more terrible a warrior on the field of battle. Above all others who served him, Yuan Shao esteems Yan Liang and Wen Chou. Yan Liang is dead now, and Wen Chou, perhaps a Sworn Brother and at the very least a good friend of Yan Liang, is emotionally distraught and looking for revenge on Guan Yu.
Liu Bei, having almost lost his head because of Guan Yu's slaying of Yan Liang, is set to accompany Wen Chou in order to discover news of his somewhat estranged Brother.
As I've mentioned previously, the writer(s) of this particular version of the novel seems intent on making Guan Yu seem larger-than-life. Indeed, over the centuries, not only folklore but also official, one might say Imperial, decrees have elevated Guan Yu from revered General to nobility, Kingship, and then, during the Ming Dynasty, finally deityhood. To this day, Guan Yu is worshipped in many parts of China as well as here in the States. So perhaps it's understandable that Guan Yu, under those circumstances, is allowed to pretty much one-hit two of the most feared military commanders of their day.
The heads of Yan Liang and Wen Chou, of course, would have been mighty gifts to any of the warlords of the day, and Cao Cao certainly would not have truly been able to deny the validity of such a gift for long. But Guan Yu, ever holding himself to the highest of standards, does not think such deeds worthy enough to be considered payment in full for the debt he feels he owes Cao Cao. And so, though he leaves Cao Cao's service, escorting his Sisters-in-Law back to Liu Bei, he still has that little debt he owes Cao Cao hanging over his head....
Remember that. It will be important in about 14 or 15 chapters...
Gong Du and Liu Pi are a couple of interesting characters in this chapter. They're Yellow-Scarves, and thus far in the novel, the Yellow Scarves have been portrayed at greedy, brutal peasants...the consummate lynch mob in army uniform. But Gong Du and Liu Pi actually...wait for it...act with INTEGRITY in this chapter...throwing a battle to Guan Yu so that he may leave Cao Cao and go back to Liu Bei. Their motivation for doing this and thus acting completely against the Yellow Scarf grain, is not really known. Perhaps, as they were allied with Yuan Shao, they did this merely to weaken Cao Cao. Considering that both these men later joined Liu Bei, and that furthermore, Sun Qian was at this time among their number, it seems more likely that they actually were doing this to help Liu Bei. Interesting. Yellow Scarves with some integrity. I like it. Oh, by the way, I've read a few places that Xu Huang was also a Yellow Scarf in the beginning of his career. It kinda seems at this point in the novel as if the Yellow Scarves are developing as their own distinct class of warrior. More on that later...
Anyways, enjoy this, the twenty sixth chapter in the Sanguo Yanyi audiobook. Thanks for listening!
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