Page:Romance of the Three Kingdoms - tr. Brewitt-Taylor - Volume 1.djvu/120

 success to the capital and was rewarded with the title of Commander, “Warden of the East.”

At his headquarters in Yenchow Ts‘ao Ts‘ao welcomed wise counsellors and bold warriors, and many gathered around him. Two clever men, uncle and nephew, came at the same time, both Yingchow men, named Hsün Yü and Hsün Yu. The uncle had once been in the service of Yüan Shao. Ts‘ao Ts‘ao rejoiced when he had won the elder Hsün to his side saying he was his teacher. The nephew was famed for his ability and had been in the court service but had abandoned that career and retired to his village.

The uncle said to Ts‘ao Ts‘ao, “There is a certain wise man of Yenchow somewhere, but I do not know in whose service he is.”

“Who is he?”

“Ch‘êng Yü; he belongs to the eastern district.”

“Yes; I have heard of him,” said Ts‘ao. So a messenger was sent to his native place to enquire. He was away in the hills engaged in study, but he came at Tsʻao Ts‘ao’s invitation.

“I shall prove unworthy of your recommendation,” said he to his friend Hsün, “for I am rough and ignorant. But have you forgotten a fellow villager of yours, Kuo Chia? He is really able. Why not spread the net to catch him ?”

“I had nearly forgotten,” said Hsün Yü suddenly. So he told his master of this man, who was at once invited. Kuo, discussing the world at large with his master, spoke in high terms of one Liu Yeh; and when he had arrived he was the means of inviting two more, Man Ch‘ung and Lü Ch‘ien, who were already known to Ts‘ao Ts‘ao by reputation. These two brought to their new master’s notice the name of Mao Chieh, who also came and was given office. Then a famous leader, with his troop of some hundreds, arrived to offer service. This was Yü Chin of T‘aishan, an expert horseman and archer, and skilled beyond his fellows in every form of military exercise. He was made an army inspector.

Then another day Hsiahou Tun brought a really fine, handsome fellow to present to Ts‘ao Ts‘ao.

“Who is he,” asked Ts‘ao.

“He is from Ch‘ên-liu and is named Tien Wei. He is the boldest of the bold, the strongest of the strong. He was one of Chang Mo’s men, but quarrelled with his tent companions and killed a lot of them with his fists. Then he fled to the mountains where I found him. I was out shooting and saw him follow a tiger across a stream. I persuaded him to join my troop and I recommend him.”

“I see he is no ordinary man,” said Ts‘ao. “He is handsome and straight and looks very powerful and bold.”

“He is. He killed a man once to avenge a friend and carried his head through the whole market place. Hundreds saw him,