Hometown 2

After entering Hedong Commandery, we were no longer pursued. This was not ordinary.

Although the Yellow River serves as a natural border, Hedong Commandery, where Han forces could attack immediately after crossing the river, was Wei’s frontline border region just like Hongnong.

Naturally, Wei forces were stationed there to guard against Han, and measures were taken to increase the people’s ideological hostility.

Nevertheless, the people of Hedong Commandery provided us with food and clothes to change into, even with soldiers right beside them.

That was the affection for those from the same hometown. It was an expression of love and respect towards the unparalleled divine general born in Hedong Commandery.

The soldiers also just watched silently, unable to treat the people roughly. Of course, this was because they were mindful of us flashing our sharp weapons beside them.

However, we couldn’t let our guard down yet. The Governor of Hedong was Cao Yan. He had participated in the battle for Jingzhou as Xu Huang’s lieutenant, and afterwards continued to act together with Xu Huang, fighting on the Yellow River front helping Xu Huang during the Wei-Wu alliance as well.

Unlike Xu Huang who returned to Wancheng after Cao Ren’s death, Cao Yan remained in Hedong, becoming the Governor of Hedong.

‘Cao Yan… the one who dissuaded Xu Huang at Zhaoyang? Right. He was the one who later even rose to Minister of Works. I remember. He’s not an opponent to be taken lightly. We should move thinking we’ll have to fight one more battle.’

I didn’t expect from the beginning that we would pass through without any difficulties just because Hedong Commandery was Guan Yu’s birthplace. Wei wouldn’t be unaware of Hedong Commandery’s importance, would they entrust it to an ordinary person?

Knowing this, the reason I chose to return through Hedong instead of Hongnong wasn’t just because it was Guan Yu’s hometown.

‘But Hedong Commandery is flat land. It’s good for utilizing our cavalry which is our main force.’

What I worried about most was blocking the route from Luoyang to Hedong Commandery, but fortunately that was needless anxiety.

‘Still, it’s strange. Our speed wasn’t so fast that they couldn’t prepare, yet a talent like Cao Yan shows this kind of response.’

Did I overestimate Cao Yan as a person too much? The situation was falling into place more smoothly than expected.

Still, in case Cao Yan was preparing a decisive blow, I sent scouts to check the movements of Anyi County, the administrative center of Hedong Commandery. And the information brought back by the scouts resolved the doubts about why Cao Yan left us alone.

It wasn’t that Cao Yan intended to leave us alone, but that he had no choice but to leave us alone.

Guanzhong had moved.

I had forgotten for a moment. Pang Tong is in Guanzhong. Someone like him would have noticed something was amiss in Luoyang before news from Jingzhou arrived, and immediately taken action.

They would have tried to block the path from Hedong Commandery and Hongnong Commandery to Guanzhong via Luoyang somehow, but it’s not like they built a barrier along the entire border, how could they completely cut off people’s steps?

Noticing that Sima Yi in Luoyang had moved, Pang Tong immediately raised an army.

He sent Zhao Yun to Wuguan, went to Hongnong himself, and sent my father, Zhang Fei, to march on Hedong.

“Father…”

Father attacked Puban, and Cao Yan took Hedong’s army to defend Puban. In other words, Anyi County, the administrative center of Hedong Commandery, was now essentially empty.

“It’ll be tough, but we need to hurry. If we occupy Anyi County like this, it will be a great help to Father as well.”

Occupying Anyi County was almost the same as a bloodless capture. After securing Anyi County, I had Wei Yan take cavalry and go to support Father along the route returning from Puban County.

Cao Yan, upon hearing news that we had occupied Anyi County, was highly likely to give up resistance and try to cross over to Hongnong. If we blocked the route before then, we could achieve the feat of capturing Cao Yan.

Thinking of achieving merit, Wei Yan quickly gathered his troops and departed. Shortly after, we also left Anyi County and followed behind.

Now that Guanzhong’s army had come out, we no longer needed to worry about Sima Yi or Jian Yong from Bingzhou coming down to attack. But the problem was Guan Yu’s condition. His state showed no signs of improvement, only continuing to worsen.

Considering Guan Yu’s condition, I wondered if it might be better to just stay in Anyi County, but Guan Yu’s assertion was firm.

“Let’s go… My younger brother has come out to welcome this elder brother, how could I stay still?”

It was all we could do to barely dissuade Guan Yu from getting on a horse. And though it might be reckless, this might be better.

No matter how great a physician Wei Zhen was, inheriting Zhang Zhongjing’s medical lineage, there were clear limits to the treatments possible in this era.

Rather than having him rest in one place like this, perhaps mental therapy to further strengthen Guan Yu’s will to live and put his mind at ease would have its own effect.

Carrying the belief that the comfort of his hometown and the sense of security from reuniting with Father would help Guan Yu’s recovery, we arrived before Xie County.

§

There are such moments in life.

Moments when you suddenly realize something without evidence. And such intuitions are rarely wrong.

Guan Yu was feeling such an intuition now.

‘The time allowed to me ends here.’

The fact he had already intuited when his shoulder was pierced by Guan Qujian’s spear and Xiahou Shang’s arrow lodged in his side.

Guan Yu foresaw his own death.

Rather, Guan Yu found it harder to believe that he was still breathing, thinking, and moving his body. When he first lost consciousness, Guan Yu thought this might be his final stop.

‘It’s thanks to Master Wei and Ran.’

The reason he was still alive until now was because Zhang Ran had sutured his wounds to stop the bleeding, and Wei Zhen had fully utilized his medical skills to barely hold onto his lifespan.

If not others, at least Guan Yu himself could tell.

If others had hastily tried to stop the wounds by carelessly cauterizing with fire in a hurry, the situation would have worsened even more.

But the treatment by the two hadn’t fully put Guan Yu’s body back on a normal track either. It had just barely allowed him to cling to life.

Realizing that the time given to him was not much, Guan Yu headed for Xie County despite the dissuasion of those around him.

There were countless lingering attachments he couldn’t accomplish, and regrets left as stains at the end.

The lingering attachment of not being able to present Luoyang to Liu Bei.

The regret of recklessly attempting to capture Luoyang.

The lingering attachment of not being able to witness the unification of the world with his own eyes.

The regret that perhaps his attempt might become a burden on his brothers’ dream.

Cutting off all sorts of attachments and thousand regrets, Guan Yu embraced those remaining by his side.

Because time is too precious to be obsessed with the past and suffer from it.

And before Guan Yu’s eyes, having shed his obsession with the past, the end of the past and the beginning of life unfolded.

“Xie County…”

The place where he was born, where he grew up.

His hometown.

“It’s changed a lot.”

Getting down from the carriage and walking on his own two feet, Guan Yu took in the scenery of Xie County that had changed from the image in his memories.

Had the turmoil that took away so much even taken away the appearance of his hometown?

At twenty years old. The hometown he had to leave as soon as he came of age now had a somewhat unfamiliar appearance after decades had passed.

It’s only natural. They say even rivers and mountains change in ten years, how could it remain the same after 40 years have passed?

Guan Yu himself had also changed. His hair that was jet black when he left his hometown had now turned white, and the beard he had just started growing then had also turned white and grown long.

Deep furrows etched on his face, and the youthful spirit that seemed like it could destroy the world was gone, replaced by the reality of barely being able to take steps. Guan Yu himself knew well that he couldn’t apply the standards of the past only to his hometown’s scenery.

Nevertheless, unable to do anything about the emptiness in his heart, Guan Yu quickened his pace.

Hoping for something remaining to evoke old memories, nostalgia came to Guan Yu hurrying his steps in the form of a sound.

“Teacher! It’s you, Teacher!”

It was a middle-aged man who didn’t seem much younger than Guan Yu. Guan Ping and subordinates following to guard Guan Yu quickly stepped forward to block him.

But Guan Yu immediately waved his hand to send them back.

Guan Yu carefully examined the middle-aged man’s face. Though his face had changed with age, traces of childhood that hadn’t quite disappeared entered Guan Yu’s eyes.

Before leaving his hometown. Guan Yu had tried his hand at various things. As there were so few people who knew letters, Guan Yu who knew letters also worked as a teacher at a village school.

Among the children he taught, there was a child who resembled the middle-aged man before him.

“Yes… I remember. You’re Shehu.”

“Yes! Teacher, you remember!”

“Are you the only one? Where are the other hometown people?”

“Some left saying they would seek office like you, Teacher, and not a few were conscripted. Ah, but quite a few people are still here too.”

The scenery had changed, but people remained.

Hometown. It is a place with a gravitational pull that makes people return.

Just as Guan Yu returned after traveling the world, other people also returned to find their hometown.

Guan Yu sat down right there. And he said to Shehu who had come to find him:

“Call everyone. I’ve returned to my hometown after a long time, shouldn’t we have a feast?”

Even hearing rumors that Guan Yu was coming, people were scared and hid when actually facing the large army. In the end, Guan Yu was a Han person, and Xie County was still Wei territory, so there was worry about how Guan Yu might act even if it was his hometown.

However, when Shehu came forward to tell what he had seen and persuade people to gather, before long laughter and voices rang out incessantly in Xie County.

At the feast held in the village square, Guan Yu threw off formalities and sat on the bare ground to converse, and the hometown people who remembered him gathered around such a Guan Yu to offer drinks.

It was as if Xie County alone was a separate world apart from the rest.

As if forgetting his pain, Guan Yu’s face was full of smiles. The people welcoming the return of their hometown person who had risen to Grand General were the same.

A little later, Guan Yu sat his son Guan Ping beside him and began boasting about his child. People burst into laughter while agreeing.

Watching that scene from a step away, Wei Zhen spoke to Zhang Ran.

“Shouldn’t you stop him? Drinking is not good for his condition.”

“Why don’t you stop him yourself, Master Wei?”

Wei Zhen had a strong personality, so he had strongly pointed out what could and couldn’t be done even to Guan Yu, like he did with other patients.

But when Zhang Ran asked back seeing him not doing so this time, he answered with a troubled expression:

“How could I stop him?”

“I feel the same.”

The feast that started in the late afternoon continued even when night fell.

People who brought out all the secret alcohol they had been hiding at home as if they had been waiting for this day either got drunk and went home or just collapsed right there.

Yet Guan Yu, despite his poor physical condition, didn’t refuse any of the drinks offered by people and drank them all while still sitting upright.

As the atmosphere of the end of the feast was gradually spreading, one person approached Guan Yu. With a physique not at all inferior to Guan Yu, unlike the people of Xie County he was wearing armor and his body was covered in bloodstains.

He plopped down in front of Guan Yu and suddenly stretched out his arm.

“Give me a bowl too.”

“…Alright.”

Guan Yu scooped alcohol from the jar beside him and handed it to the uninvited guest.

“It’s a penalty drink.”

“Hmph.”

“You’re late, aren’t you?”

“What do you mean late? I came right on time.”

Though mixing in complaints as he spoke, the uninvited guest who received the bowl drained the alcohol in one gulp. And before Guan Yu could speak, he scooped alcohol from the jar and held it out to Guan Yu in return.

“It’s a penalty drink.”

“A penalty drink?”

When Guan Yu asked back as if saying what do you mean, the uninvited guest said:

“A penalty drink for leaving first.”

“That’s not a penalty drink, it should be called a parting drink.”

“It’s right to call it a penalty drink for breaking the oath to die together.”

At the words of the uninvited guest, Zhang Fei, Guan Yu received the cup with a bitter smile.

Before drinking, Guan Yu looked at the face of his younger brother sitting across from him.

The guy who was dignified even when confessing his sins to his elder brothers after losing Xuzhou was showing tears.

“You tell him in my place.”

“We will surely meet again… tell him yourself then.”

“Alright. I understand. I’ll do that. But don’t come too quickly saying you miss this elder brother too much. It would be better to be as late as possible. You should at least see Ran get married.”

“Hmph, at that rate I’ll never see you.”

At Zhang Fei’s words, Guan Yu laughed heartily and enjoyed himself.

With Zhang Fei being the one watching over his final moments, Guan Yu cut off the last piece of lingering attachment he had not yet completely let go of.

“I’ll go ahead.”

Guan Yu, who drank all the alcohol in the cup like Zhang Fei, quietly put the cup down on the ground.

And Guan Yu’s movements stopped.

By now, the noisy sounds of the feast had disappeared from Xie County, and only low sobbing echoed mournfully.

224 AD.

Guan Yu’s age 60.

The age when Liu Bei ascended to the throne and achieved his childhood dream.

Guan Yu returned to his starting point and put a period on his long life.