Jin Yong: Sword Of The Yueh Maiden

Feng Li put the sword back into the box and put the box next to the feet of the king. Kou Chiang said "Swordmen of the great kingdom, you are invited to the next hall for a feast and be awarded for the contest." The eight swordmen in blue bowed and left the hall. Kou Chiang waved his hand, all the swordmen, servants and ministers left, except for Feng Li.

Kou looked at the sword and the blood on the ground and said "What you do think?"

Feng Li said "Not all the Wu soldiers are as good as these eight. Not all swords wielded by them are as sharp as this one. But from this small example, we can see the rest. The most terrifying aspect is their technique of group fighting, they used the methods of Sun Tzu. I believe that they currently have no match in the world."

Kou Chiang said "Fu Chai sent these eight just to give me this sword. What does he have in mind?"

Feng Li said "He wants us to know the difficulty of vengeance."

Kou Chiang became angry. He took up the sword and made a backhand stroke. The stroke cut up the half of the back of his chair. He shouted "Even if the difficulty is one thousand, ten thousand times greater, Kou Chiang will not retreat from his goal! One day, I will capture Fu Chai, king of Wu and cut off his heead with his sword." Another stroke of the sword cut the chair into half.

Feng Li bowed and said "Congratualations, Your Majesty."

Kou said in surprise "After seeing the ability of the Wu swordmen, what's there to congratulate about?"

Feng Li said "As long as You Majesty have the determination, anything can be accomplished. Concerning this difficulty, I must discuss it with Minister Wen."

Kou Chiang said "Good, summon Minister Wen." Feng Li left the palace and ordered the palace servant to summon Minister Wen Chung. In a while, Wen Chung arrived on a speedy horse, then the two walked back into the palace

. Feng Li was originally a native of Wan, in the Kingdom of Chuh. He was not a man concerned with the details of etiquette. Often, he did things beyond the expectations of other people. People of his homeland called him "Feng the Crazy". When Wen Chung came to be the magistrate of Wan, he heard of the Feng Li's reputation. He sent subordinates to summon Feng. The subordinates said "That Feng is the famous crazy man of this land. Nothing he does makes any sense." Wen Chung smiled "When a man try to do something different, other people always say that he is mad. When he has a superior opinion, the common of wit will call him stupid. How can you understand Master Feng?" So Wen Chung went to visit Feng himself, but Feng avoided him. Feng expected that Wen would not give up so easily, so he borrowed some proper clothes from his brother. When Wen came back, Feng was ready. The two talked and found that they had much in common.

They both felt the kingdoms were weak. The kingdom of Chuh was large, but chaotic. The only kingdoms which could rise to command the rest were located at southeast. Wen Chung resigned his position and went to the kingdom of Wu with Feng Li. At the time. the king of Wu's favorite was Wu Tzu-Shi. The two lived in the capital for a few month and saw that Wu Tzu-Shi was indeed a wise man. They were not necessarily better than him.

After some discussion, they decided that although Yueh was a smaller kingdom, but they could put their talents to use there. Kou Chiang received them warmly and gave them both high positions.

Then Kou Chiang ignored the advise of Wen Chung and made war with Wu. His army was defeated by the shore of Chiang Tang River. Kou Chiang was surrounded at Kuai Chi Mountain and almost died along with his kingdom, but he listened to the advise of Feng Li and Wen Chung and bribed the Prime Minister of Wu. Fu Chai then listened to the Prime Minister instead of the wiser Wu Tzu-Shi and agreed to a peace treaty. Kou Chiang lived in Wu as a hostage for a few years, but he was released later. Then Kou Chiang slept only on beds made of thorny branches and tasted the bitter juice of beef gall bladders to remind himself of the humiliations he suffered. He used Wen Chung's Nine Methods to subvert Wu and strengthen Yueh.

The Nine Methods were. One, pay respect to the gods and spirits. Two, give Fu Chai vast amount of money so he will feel secure as well as becoming soft in luxury. Three, borrow food from Wu and return seeds which will not grow, causing famine in Wu. Four, give Fu Chai beautiful women such as Si Shi and Cheng Dang, so Fu Chai would be paying more attention to the beautiful women rather than the affairs of the state. Five, give Fu Chai engineers so he started building expensive palaces which drained the economy of the country. Six, bribe the ministers of Wu. Seven, distance Fu Chai from his wise ministers. The wise Wu Tzu-Shi was eventually forced to committ suicide as punishment of a false charge of treason. Eight, hoard food so the kingdom of Yueh will have great reserve available. Nine, make weapons, train soldier and wait for the chance. Eight methods have succeeded, but the ninth had run into great difficulty.

Everyone could tell that the eight warriors of Wu were better than anyone Yueh could produce. Feng Li told Wen Chung the results of the contest. Wen Chung frowned "Brother Feng, the sharpness of their swords is a major problem, also the way their swordmen worked together in groups in accordance to Sun Tzu's Art of War." Feng Li said "Yes, decades ago, when Sun Tzu helped the king of Wu. They destroyed Chuh, the most powerful kingdom in the world at the time. In his book, it's said "If I concentrate my forces and the enemy's forces is fragmented into ten parts then I can use my unified one to attack his ten fragments. Then I will outnumber my enemy and the battle will be over." Wu used this principle to achieve local superiority against our swordmen."

When they talk they arrived in front of Kou Chiang. Kou Chiang was staring at the gift sword. After a long while, Kou Chiang lifted up his head and said "Minister Wen. Years ago, Wu had the husband-wife team of swordsmiths, Keng Chiang and Mo Shei. Yueh had O-Yeh Tzu. Now, all three have died. Wu still have great swordsmiths, yet we have no one to succeed O-Yeh Tzu."

Wen Chung said "I have heard that O-Yeh Tzu had two students. One is named Fong Hu-Tzu, The other is called Hsieh Chu. Fong Hu-Tzu is in the kingdom of Chuh. Hsieh is still in Yueh."

Kou became glad and said "Summon him. And order someone to go to Chuh with gold so we can get Fong Hu-Tzu here as well."

The next morning, Wen Chung reported that he already sent someone to Chuh. Meanwhile, Hsieh Chu was already here. Kou Chiang grant Hsieh an audience and asked "Your master O-Yeh Tzu once followed my father's ordder and forged five swords. How do you grade those five swords?"

Hsieh said "I have heard my master said that he forged five swords for the king. Three large swords and two small swords. They are Trembling Reed, Pure Edge, Defeater of Evil, Fish Intestine and the Great Tower. Now, the Trembling Reed is in Chuh. Defeater of Evil and Fish Intestine are in Wu. Your Majesty still have Pure Edge and Great Tower."

Years ago, the Prince Ho Lu of Wu heard of the swords and asked Kou Chiang's father for some of the swords. Kou Chiang's father feared the might of Wu and gave Holu Trembling Reed, Defeater of Evil and Fish Intestine. Using Fish Intestine, Ho Lu assassinated his cousin the king and took the throne. Trembling Reed fell into a river and was acquired by the king of Chuh. King of Chin heard of this and asked for it. Even after a few wars, the king of Chuh still refused to give it up.

Hsieh said "My master said, of the five swords, Defeater of Evil is of the highest grade. Pure Edge and Trembling Reed are next. Fish Intestine is lower and Great Tower ranks last. When Great Tower was forged, the alloy was not pure, so it was only a sharp sword and not a truly precious sword."