Chapter - 479 Three Golden Needles (8)

(Some background information: the three countries of the Three Kingdom Period were Wu, Shu and Wei. Wei was controlled by Cao Cao and Wu by Sun Quan. When Shu's Liu Bei attacked Wu in retaliation for the killing of Guan Yu, Lu Xun defended Wu. He managed to destroy Liu Bei's 700,000 strong army with his 50,000 troops. Liu Bei did not listen to his advisor Zhuge Liang's advice. This Zhuge Liang of Xiangyang was mentioned in earlier chapters by Guo Jing.)

Mr. Chen kept sighing as he touched the stone tablet, then after a while he said, "The Benefactor told us to meet here, is it also to admire Grand Elder Yang's character?"

Mr. Sun said, "I heard the Benefactor mention before that when Yang Hu was alive there was a sentence that he always remembered."

Mr. Chen asked, "What was that? Say it slowly, I must memorize this. If the Benefactor admired it, this sentence must be something great."

Mr. Sun said, "After Lu Kang died, the Lord of the Wu Kingdom said that Yang Hu treated the Wu Kingdom sincerely and saved many Wu Kingdom citizens, but he was serving the traitors of the Imperial Court, so Yang Hu sighed, 'Tian Xia Bu Ru Yi Si, Shi Chang Ju Qi Ba' (easy matters are often complicated). The Benefactor praised these words."

Mr. Chen never expected it to be such a sentence and was slightly disappointed and sighed, then suddenly said loudly, "Brother Sun, Yang Hu – this name sounds the same…"

Mr. Sun said, "Hush! Someone's here."

Huang Rong was slightly surprised, and then she heard someone running round the mountain. Then she thought, "Sounds the same as 'Yang Hu' but uses different characters? Could it be 'Yang Guo'? No, no way. Even if Guo'er's martial arts have improved, it can't have reached such an unimaginable level. This person couldn't be saying that it sounds the same but uses different characters."

After a short while, the person ascending the mountain clapped lightly trice and Mr. Sun returned three claps. That person walked to the Dropping Tears Tablet and said, "Brothers Sun and Chen, the Benefactor tells you not to wait for him; here are two invitations from the Benefactor, please help him deliver them. Brother Sun, this invitation is for Old Master Zhao of Henan's Xingyang Mansion on Crows Mountain; Brother Chen, this invitation is for the deaf-mute Head Camel of Hu Nan's Changde Mansion. Please tell them that they are requested to meet here within ten days." Mr. Chen and Mr. Sun respectfully agreed, they took the invitations and placed them in their inner pockets.

When Huang Rong heard this, she was greatly surprised. Old Master Zhao of Xingyang was working for the Imperial Court, his Thirty-two Long Punches and Eighteen Rod Stances were the special skills of his family and were passed from generation to generation within his family. He was a nobleman and never bothered about Jianghu affairs. The Head Camel of Crows Mountain was a famous elder in Wulin, his martial arts were very good, but because he was a deaf-mute, he seldom mixed with outsiders. For this Heroes' Summit at Xiangyang, Guo Jing and Huang Rong knew these two people liked seclusion and would not attend the meet, but they still respected their reputation and sent them invitations. Obviously they replied and declined. Could it be that this so-called 'Benefactor' has such a great influence on them and is able to draw them out of seclusion and hurry them here based on his invitation alone?

Then Huang Rong thought again, "The Heroes Meet would start tomorrow and this person is summoning all the experts in Jianghu to Xiangyang, what is his motive? Could he actually be helping the Mongols? That'd be unfavorable for us." Then she felt that although Old Master Zhao and Deaf-Mute Head Camel were loners, they were not traitors. This 'Benefactor' secretly helped Xiang'er kill Nimoxing, so he must not be one of them.

As she was talking to herself, she heard the three people talking softly but she could not hear clearly as she was too far away, then she heard Mr. Chen say, "Benefactor has never entrusted us with such an important assignment, this assignment will… it would be a grand event… our present… " She missed several words in between. Mr. Sun said, "OK! Let's do it. Rest assured we will not mess up the Benefactor's plans." When he said that, the three people descended the mountain.

Huang Rong could not guess the origin of that 'Benefactor' but she did not want to blow things up by capturing the three people to ask about the matter. When they were gone far, she went into the temple and looked around but did not see anything amiss. When the enemy attacked the area, all the worshippers and caretakers at the temple fled into the city so there was no one there. When she went back, it was already dawn.

When she was near the city's west gate, two horses charged along the road and she had to leap aside to avoid them. She saw two big and strong men riding the horses. The two horses went to the intersection and separated, with one heading west and the other heading south. She heard one of them say, "You must remember to tell Fat Zhang that he must bring the musical instruments and the show's costumes himself. And don't forget to bring decorations experts." The other laughed, "Don't nag at me, if you're late by one day in inviting Master Chuan Chai, even if the Benefactor forgives you, we won't." The first man laughed, "Hey, that's alright. If I'm late by one day, cut off my head to feed the pigs." The two men saluted each other and rode off.

As Huang Rong entered the city, she mumbled to herself, "I heard Fat Zhang is a tyrant, even chivalrous outlaws respected him, and how could this 'Benefactor' get him here with one word? They talked about flags and drums, what could they be used for?" Suddenly she thought of something and said, "Yes, yes! It must be so."

She went into the Government Office and asked Guo Jing, "Brother Jing, did we miss out any invitations?"

Guo Jing curiously said, "How could we have missed anything? We checked for many days, it couldn't have happened."

Huang Rong said, "I think so too; we must have offended a great hero who's not that famous, so he sent invitations to those who obviously won't come. From the way it looks, it must be a great man who's dissatisfied with us, so he also wants to host another Heroes' Summit to compete with us."

Guo Jing happily said, "This hero has the same motives as us, nothing could be better. We will invite him to chair the Heroes' Summit and get him to command the heroes to defend against the Mongolians; it's alright for the both of us to listen to him."

Huang Rong frowned and said, "But from what I hear of him, he might not be here to defend the city. He sent invitations to Xingyang's Old Master Zhao, Deaf-Mute Head Camel of Crows Mountain and Hankou's Fat Zhang and others."

Guo Jing was surprised and happy; he clapped and said, "If this man can invite such great people here, Xiangyang would be strengthened. Rong'er, we must definitely meet such a man."

Huang Rong became quiet. She knew that the beggars from Jiangnan would arrive soon, so Guo Jing and Huang Rong went forth to welcome them. On that day heroes from all around Jianghu arrived and Huang Rong was so busy entertaining the guests that she almost had no time to breathe and of course forgot the events of the previous night.

The next day was the banquet for the 'Heroes' Summit, and the heroes sat around four hundred-odd tables, with Xiangyang's Commander General Lu Wende and Defense Official General Wang Jian offering toasts to the heroes. The people in the banquet hall talked about the Mongols' cruelty and how they invaded Song territory and killed its citizens. All the heroes expressed their indignation and their will to fight the invaders. That night everyone unanimously elected Guo Jing to chair the Meet and they swore to kill the invaders.