Xuanzang

“ Pei Ming indulged in a protracted reverie, after which, he gave a smile. "I've thought of something," he cried, "but I wonder what you'll think about it, Master Secundus! You don't, I expect, only require these things; you'll need others too, I presume. But this isn't the place for them; so let's move on at once another couple of lis, when we'll get to the 'Water Spirit' monastery."
"Is the 'Water Spirit' monastery in this neighbourhood?" Pao-yü eagerly inquired, upon hearing his proposal. "Yes, that would be better; let's press forward." ”

“ Seeing as Xuande was from a poor family, his uncle would often supplement their income. When he was fifteen, his mother sent him away for school. His teachers included Zheng Xuan and Lu Zhi, and he made friends with fellow classmates, such as Gongsun Zan. By the time that Liu Yan had posted his conscription notice, Xuande was already 28 years of age. When he saw the announcement that day, his heart became heavy and he let out a long sigh. Right afterward, a man said sternly, "An able bodied man not lifting a finger for his country! ”

“ Xuande offered his thanks, at which point, the emissary pulled out a personal letter and handed it to Xuande. After Xuande finished reading it, he said, "Allow me to discuss this letter with my men." After the banquet had ended, the emissary was put up at the inn for the night. Xuande discussed the matter into the night with his men. Zhang Fei said, "Lü Bu is lacking in morals anyway. Why not just kill him?" Xuande said, "He came to us when he was weak; it wouldn't be right for me to kill him." Zhang Fei said, "Being a good person is hard!" Xuande did not follow his advice. ”

“ Xuande exclaimed, "The heavens have blessed us!" The three men went out of the compound to receive the visitors. As it turns out, the two visitors were big-time merchants from Zhongshan: one of them named Zhang Shiping, and one of them named Su Shuang. Each year, they traveled north to sell horses, but had to turn back this time because of the bandit rebels. Xuande invited the two of them to come in, and arranged a full banquet in their honor. He then proceeded to explain how he planned to fight the bandit rebels and pacify the citizenry. ”

“ With this reply, he touched his horse with his whip. While advancing on their way, he turned round. "The nun in this 'Water Spirit' monastery," he shouted to Pei Ming, "frequently comes on a visit to our house, so that when we now get there and ask her for the loan of a censer, she's certain to let us have it."
"Not to mention that that's a place where our family burns incense," Pei Ming answered, "she could not dare to raise any objections, to any appeal from us for a loan, were she even in a temple quite unknown to us. ”

“ On this day, he led out his soldiers, yelling, "Liu Bei, you country bumpkin! How dare you invade my lands!" Xuande said, "I am acting in accordance with a decree from the son of heaven to go after those who are disloyal to the emperor. Your flagrant challenge of imperial authority is a crime that cannot even be atoned by death!" Ji Ling was outraged. Raising his trident, he charged on his horse toward Liu Bei. Lord Guan shouted at him, "Such a low life as you should not try to flaunt his superiority!" He rode out on his horse and engaged Ji Ling in combat. ”

“ Xuande rushed to stop him, saying, "The royal court naturally has the support of the people; how can you be so rash?" The soldiers surrounded Lu Zhi and departed. Lord Guan said, "Palace guard Lu has already been arrested, and someone else will be leading the army. If we go with them, we will not have anyone that we can count on for support. It would be better to return to Zhuo Commandery. Xuande followed his suggestion, and headed his troops north. ”

“ Europeans who have experienced the biting winds of Peking, the damp heat of Canton, or the gray skies of Chengtu find in the bright days and cool breezes of Yunnan some mitigation of their exile to this remote corner of the empire. The city itself is not very attractive in spite of its many trees, for it seems a network of narrow lanes, only broken here and there by a temple enclosure or a stretch of waste land, the whole shut in by sound thirty-foot high walls ”

“ When he heard that Liu Bei had petitioned the emperor to occupy his prefectures and counties, he angrily said, "Liu Bei! You're a guy who made his living by weaving straw sandals. Now that you have control over a large commandery, you want to rub elbows with the nobles. I was planning on launching an attack against you, but you beat me to the punch! What an outrage!" He then had his general, Ji Ling, raise an army of 100,000 men and march toward Xuzhou. The two armies met up at Xuyi. Xuande was outnumbered, so he pitched camp with the mountains to his back and a river to his front. ”

“ Xu Chu said, "Give me 50,000 crack troops, and I'll bring back the heads of both Liu Bei and Lü Bu as a gift to Your Excellency." Xun Yu said, "Your Excellency, General Xun is brave, but is not thinking strategically. We've only recently established our capital at Xu. We shouldn't prematurely cause a ruckus by using the military. I have a plan that I call 'two tigers fight each other over food.' Right now, Liu Bei is in charge of Xuzhou and is awaiting instructions from the emperor. You could petition the emperor to officially appoint Bei as the governor of Xuzhou. ”

“ They heard the shouts and screams of battle, and also saw the fires lighting up the skies. They hastily led their troops into the area, but when they arrived, the bandit rebels had already fled in defeat. Xuande visited with Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun, and told them of Lu Zhi's plans. Song said, "Zhang Liang and Zhang Bao are all but finished; you must head for Guangzong, and go after Zhang Jue. Xuande, you should travel night and day so that you can render assistance." ”

“ Xuande invited the man to sit with them, and inquired as to his name. The man said, "My surname is Guan, my given name is Yu, my style name was Shouchang, [39] but then I changed it to Yunchang. [40] I am from Xieliang in the Hedong Commandery. Because there was a man from a wealthy family who was acting like a big shot and bullying everybody, I ended up killing him. I had to become a fugitive, and have been living the life of an itinerant mercenary for the past five or six years. When I heard that this area was recruiting soldiers to go smash bandit rebels, I came especially to join up." ”

“ As soon as he saw Madame Wang awake, his spirits were crushed. All alone he hastily made his way into the Ta Kuan garden. Here his attention was attracted by the ruddy sun, shining in the zenith, the shade of the trees extending far and wide, the song of the cicadas, filling the ear; and by a perfect stillness, not even broken by the echo of a human voice. But the instant he got near the trellis, with the cinnamon roses, the sound of sobs fell on his ear. Doubts and surmises crept into Pao-yü's mind, so halting at once, he listened with intentness. ”

“ Zan sighed, saying, "If that is the case, one might say that these two heroes have been neglected! Dong Zhuo is now causing unrest, and all of the nobles are on their way to take him down. You should abandon this lowly post, come with me to punish this bandit rebel, and help the House of Han; what do you think?" Xuande said, "I would like to go." Zhang Fei said, "If you had let me kill that scoundrel the last time, this wouldn't have happened." Yunchang said, "What's done is done; we should gather up our things and go." ”

“ And I am also not sure that that makes any difference as long as the idea is buried in the heart of the Chinese people. A tradition often means as much to a race as a fact. And the tradition certainly is well established that Shantung is the birthplace of all Chinese history. So that is one of the deeply rooted spiritual facts that makes Shantung sacred to the Chinese.
The second spiritual gold mine is that one of its cities, Chufu, is the birthplace and the last resting-place of the sage Confucius. And China is literally impregnated with Confusian philosophy and Confucian sayings. ”

“ Bu went along with this suggestion, and made his way toward Xuzhou.
3 有人報知玄德。玄德曰:「布乃當今英勇之士,可出迎之。」糜竺曰:「呂布乃虎狼之徒,不可收留;收則傷人矣。」玄德曰:「前者非布襲兗州,怎解此郡之禍?今彼窮而投我,豈有他心?」張飛曰:「哥哥心腸忒好。雖然如此,也要準備。」 Someone reported this to Xuande. Xuande said, "Bu is a brave warrior; we should go out to greet him." Mi Zhu said, "Lü Bu is like a vicious tiger; we cannot take him in. If we do, he will bring harm to our people." Xuande said, "Previously, had it not been for Bu attacking Yanzhou, how could we have averted a disaster for this commandery? He has now been weakened and is seeking refuge from us ”

“ About 1600 B.C. we come at last into the realm of history. Of the Shang dynasty, which now followed, we have knowledge both from later texts and from excavations and the documents they have brought to light. The Shang civilization, an evident off-shoot of the Lung-shan culture (Tai, Yao, and Tunguses) , but also with elements of the Hsia culture (with Tibetan and Mongol and/or Turkish elements) , was beyond doubt a high civilization. Of the origin of the Shang State we have no details, nor do we know how the Hsia culture passed into the Shang culture. ”

“ Behind followed Pao-ch'ai and Tai-yü, and at the sight of the way in which lady Feng dealt with her, they both clapped their hands, and exclaimed, laughing, "What piece of luck that this gust of wind has come, and dragged away this old matron!" while Pao-yü nodded his head to and fro and soliloquised with a sigh: "One can neither know whence originates this score; for she will choose the weak one to maltreat; nor can one see what girl has given her offence that she has come to be put in her black books!" ”

“ Xuande said, "What kind of a person do you take me for? The great sage said, 'From of old, death has been the lot of all men; but if people have no faith in a person, there is no standing for that person.' I will either be allowed to borrow the troops or not. Either way, I will be there with you."
12 孔融應允;教糜竺先回徐州去報,融便收拾起程。太史慈拜謝曰:「慈奉母命前來相助,今幸無虞。有揚州刺史劉繇,與慈同郡,有書來喚,不敢不去,容圖再見。」融以金帛相酬,慈不肯受而歸。其母見之,喜曰:「我喜汝有以報北海也!」遂遣慈往揚州去了。 Kong Rong gave his consent. He instructed Mi Zhu to go on ahead of him and report back to Xuzhou. ”

“ If these people do not obtain posts, it will stir up resentment among them. For the time being, we should instruct the relevant officials to register them for some minor positions. That way, it will not be too late if we need to deal with them later on." Because of this, Xuande was made magistrate of Anxi county, which was under the jurisdiction of the Zhongshan government seat. [12] A date was set for him to take up his post. Xuande led his troops back home and released them from service. He only brought a retinue of a little more than twenty men to Anxi, which included Guan and Zhang. ”

“ Pao-yü thereupon smilingly added:
I come into the world and, in the cold, I pick out some red snow. I leave the dusty sphere and speed to pluck the fragrant purple clouds. I bring a jagged branch, but who in pity sings my shoulders thin? On my clothes still sticketh the moss from yon Buddhistic court. As soon as Tai-yü had done writing, Hsiang-yün and the rest of the company began to discuss the merits of the verses; but they then saw several servant-maids rush in, shouting: "Our venerable mistress has come." ”

“ After that, all they could see were paper men and straw horses falling to the ground in great numbers. The wind and thunder stopped in an instant, and sand no longer flew all over the place. Zhang Bao saw that his magic spell had been broken and hurried to recall his troops. With Lord Guan on the left, and Zhang Fei on the right, both armies came out of hiding, while Xuande and Zhu Jun brought up the rear. The bandit rebel army suffered a major defeat. Xuande saw the general of the earth banners, and raced his horse in that direction. ”

“ Ti-tsang Wang then came to Hsiang Shan, and was so astonished at her virtue that he inquired of the local t’u-ti as to what had brought about this wonderful result. “With the exception of Ju Lai, in all the west no one equals her in dignity and perfection. She is the Queen of the three thousand P’u-sa’s and of all the beings on earth who have skin and blood. We regard her as our sovereign in all things. Therefore, on the nineteenth day of the eleventh moon we will enthrone her, that the whole world may profit by her beneficence.” ”

“ He had great ambition, and was particularly adept at forging relationships with men of outstanding ability. He grew to a height of eight chi. [20] His ears drooped down to his shoulders, and his hands went past his knees. He could see his ears with his own eyes. He had a striking face, like one of the jade ornaments which adorn so many hats, [21] with lips that were red and plump. He was the descendant of Liu Sheng, Prince Jing of Zhongshan, and he was also a distant descendant of Emperor Jing of Han. His surname was Liu, and his given name was Bei; his style name was Xuande. ”

“ Zhu said, "Cao's army only left because Lü Bu had attacked Yanzhou. They have stopped fighting for now, because of the famine. However, they will be back again next spring for sure. Your Excellency, you have tried twice to yield your position to Liu Xuande. At that time, you were still healthy, so Xuande was unwilling to accept your offer. Now that your illness has become dire, it is the perfect time to offer your position to him. ”