Page:Romance of the Three Kingdoms - tr. Brewitt-Taylor - Volume 1.djvu/96



his is what Kʻuai Liang said, “Sun Chien is now gone and his sons are but youths. Seize this moment of weakness to break into Chiangtung and it is yours in one beat of the drum. If you return the corpse and make peace, you give them time to grow powerful and evil will ensue to this district.”

“How can I leave Huang Tsu in their hands?” said the Prefect.

“Why not sacrifice this blundering warrior for a district?”

“But he is my dear friend and to abandon him is wrong.”

So Huan K‘ai was allowed to return to his own side with the understanding that Sun Chien’s dead body should be given in exchange. Sun Ts‘ê freed his prisoner, brought away his father’s coffin and the fighting ceased. Sun Chien was interred in the border of Chüa and when the ceremonies were over Sun Ts‘ê led his army home again.

In his district Sun Ts‘ê set himself to the task of ruling well. He invited to his side men of wisdom and valour and so bore himself that all the best and bravest of the country gathered about him.

But this part of his story will not be told here. Tung Cho at the capital, when he heard of the death of the turbulent prefect, said, “An evil that pressed hard upon my heart has been removed.” He asked what sons he had left and when they told him the eldest was but seventeen he dismissed all anxiety from his thoughts.

From this time forward his arrogance and domineering spirit waxed worse and worse. He styled himself Shang Fu or “Imperial Rector,” a name full of honour, and in all his behaviour aped imperial state. He created his younger brother a marquis and made him Generalissimo of the Left. A nephew was placed in command of the Palace guards and everyone of his clan, young or old, was ennobled. At some distance from the capital he laid out a city, an exact replica of Ch‘angan, with its palaces, granaries, treasuries and magazines, and employed a quarter of a million people to build it. Here he accumulated supplies sufficient for twenty years. He selected eight hundred of the most beautiful maidens and sent them to dwell in his new city. The stores of wealth in every form were incalculable.