CHAPTER XXXII.
Ch‘ichou Taken: Yüan Shang Strives:
The Chang River Cut: Hsu Yu’s Scheme.
Yüan Shang was puffed up with pride after his victory over Shih Huan and, without deigning to wait the arrival of his brothers, he marched out to Liyang to meet the army of Ts‘ao Ts‘ao. Chang Liao came out to challenge him, and Yüan Shang, accepting the challenge rode out with spear set. But he only lasted to the third bout when he had to give way. Chang Liao smote with full force and Shang, quite broken, fled pell mell to Ch‘ichou. His defeat was a heavy shock to his father, who had a severe fit of hemorrhage at the news and swooned.
The Lady Liu, his wife, got him to bed as quickly as possible, but he did not rally and she soon saw it was necessary to prepare for the end. So she sent for Shên P‘ei and Fêng Chi that the succession might be settled. They came and stood by the sick man’s bed, but by this time he could no longer speak; he only made motions with his hands. When his wife put the formal question, whether Shang was to succeed, he nodded his head. Shên P‘ei at the bedside wrote out the dying man’s testament. Presently he uttered a loud moan, a fresh fit of bleeding followed and he passed away.
Born of a line of nobles famous for generations,
He himself in his youth was wayward always and headstrong,
Vainly he called to his side captains skilled and courageous,
Gathered beneath his banner countless legions of soldiers,
For he was timid at heart, a lambkin dressed as a tiger,
Merely a cowardly chicken, phoenix-feathered but spurless.
Pitiful was the fate of his house; for when he departed
Brother with brother strove and quarrels arose in the household.
Shên P‘ei and some others set about themourning ceremonies for the dead man. His wife, the Lady Liu, put to death five of his favourite concubines, and such was the bitterness of her jealousy that, not content with this, she shaved off the hair and slashed the faces of their poor corpses lest their spirits should meet and rejoin her late husband in the land of shades beneath the Nine Springs. Her son followed up this piece of cruelty by slaying all the relatives of the unhappy concubines lest they should avenge their death.
Shên P‘ei and Fêng Chi declared Yüan Shang successor with the titles of Minister of War and General Governor of the four
