Chapter 25: Prince Gao (I)
The Gao Yanben mentioned by Monk Bai was a descendant of the Marquis of Shanchan of the Southwestern Yi. Meng Quan explained that Prince Gao was a descendant of Emperor Gao Shengtai of Great China, whose father was General Dingyuan of the Tongshi Palace, Gao Mingqing. His original surname was not Gao, but Duan. His mother, Lady Duan, was the illegitimate daughter of the cousin of the Dali Emperor, Duan Zhengyan. Although the Duan family was no longer related to the Li imperial family, they nonetheless shared the surname Duan. Prince Gao's birth coincided with the 30th anniversary of Gao Shengtai's return of power to Emperor Wen'an. As a token of loyalty to the Duan family, Marquis Gao Liangcheng of Yue changed his newborn nephew's surname from Gao to Duan.
Prince Gao's original name was Gao Zhenzhong, but he changed it to Duan Chengming. Later, he became Prince of Yao'an in Tongshi Prefecture and changed his surname back to Gao, a name unrelated to his family's Gao family name. From the age of eleven, Gao Zhenzhong studied martial arts with Gao Chun, a descendant of Gao Yongneng, the military commander of Fuyan Road (and a native of Qingjiancheng, Suide Army). Gao Zhenzhong spent nine years in Jinzhou training with Gao Chun, during which time he took the surname Gao, following his master's initiative. In the Xinsi year of the Shaoxing reign, Gao Zhenzhong returned to the Dali Kingdom and was granted the title of Yanben. For a time, he refused to change back to his original name. This change was said to commemorate his master, Gao Chun, who died in battle that same year. Gao Zhenzhong's master, Gao Chun, was an officer under Liu Qi at the time and had accompanied Liu Qi's general Yuan Qi against the Jin army in the Zaojiao Forest. Gao Zhenzhong had also visited the capital and was granted the rank of Wu Jielang. Monk Bai's request that Meng Xiao seek out Gao Zhenzhong wasn't to secure his protection under the Gao family. Monk Bai wanted to use Gao Zhenzhong's status and financial resources to help his disciple obtain the qualifications to serve the Jing Dynasty.
I asked, "What is the relationship between Gao Zhenzhong and his adoptive father (Zhao Du)?"
Meng Quan said, "I don't know. However, on this trip to Shu, I ended up meeting my cousin Meng Xiao in Yao'an. Before I left the capital, Doctor Zhao specifically instructed me to go see Prince Gao on his behalf. He said he hadn't seen this friend for fourteen years."
In February of the Gengyin year, Meng Xiao traveled from Luzhou to Rongzhou, took the Shendu Road from Yibin County, and after arriving in Zhaotong, he headed west to Dayao. The Prince's Mansion was not in Dayao, but at the foot of Gaotuo Mountain. Meng Xiao led his servant to the foot of Gaotuo Mountain, but found that Gao Zhenzhong was not at home. The two waited for three days until a handsome young man came to receive them. This young man claimed to be the instructor of the White Deer Department of Weichu Prefecture, and his name was Yao Jinmao. He was in charge of the miscellaneous affairs of the Prince's Mansion. Jinmao had long arms and a strong body. He wore a round-necked, right-fronted, narrow-sleeved, tight-fitting indigo four-futon shirt, and a black gauze on his head. He looked like a military instructor, but also like a wolfhound. Meng Xiao followed him into the Prince's Mansion and saw that the mansion had five courtyards and two gates on the south side. The main hall of the mansion was built according to the four hexagrams and three divisions of the "Kun" palace. The arches, beams, and pillars inside and outside were all decorated with gold and red. Following the golden mastiff to the west rear of the mansion, Meng Xiao saw a building with a tall, straight-cut roof and deep eaves. He reached the second floor and saw two lattice doors with vertical lattices. The inner door concealed a pedestal bed, which appeared to be occupied. Assuming the prince had not yet risen, Meng Xiao stopped before the outer door.
The golden mastiff said, "Master is waiting for you," and Meng Xiao walked through the first door. This room was the living room, with seats on both sides and a window on the west wall. The prince sat on the east side. This was Meng Xiao's first meeting with Gao Zhenzhong.
Gao Zhenzhong was a stout man with a soft, youthful voice, devoid of any real accent. Furthermore, Gao Zhenzhong's words lacked intonation, his face devoid of expression. The words he uttered, when joined together, resembled a thin line of water, devoid of flavor and color. That day, after leaving the Prince's Mansion, Meng Xiao, on his way back, wondered what "road" his master had been talking about. It was simply a way for him to live in this impoverished state. His master was being pretentious.
When Meng Xiao returned to the inn, the servant came out to greet him and asked, "Who is the Prince?"
Meng Xiao said, "Like a pig."
The servant asked, "What?"
Meng Xiao said, "He's tall and fat, and has a lot of long hair on his head."
The servant said, "You're kidding!"
The next day, Meng Xiao went to the Prince's Mansion again, and he brought his servant with him. Still in that hall with windows on the west wall, in order to find their connection, the two talked a little more, all about the early experiences of Meng Xiao's master, Bai Heshang. However, the servant's impression of the Prince was different from Meng Xiao's. After leaving the palace that day, the servant said, "The Prince is fat, but he must have been a handsome man in the past. The Prince has something to say, but he can't say it."
Meng Xiao said, "What's there to be unspeakable?"
The servant said, "During the day, the palace is governed by the rituals of master and servant, father and son, and monarch and subject. You and he also follow the rituals of host and guest. What you're saying to him isn't just words, it's courtesy. Saying anything else would be disrespectful. How could a prince like him speak to a butcher and comprador like that?"
Meng Xiao asked: "What should we do?"
The servant said, "You didn't notice that he invited you twice, and both meetings took place in his living quarters."
At midnight that evening, without the invitation of the prince and without the golden mastiff to lead the way, Meng Xiao climbed over the wall of the garden on the east side of the prince's mansion and sneaked into the tall building with a ridgepole shape.
Gao Zhenzhong sat on the west side of the hall, with the dark cypress trees of Gaotuo Mountain behind him. Seeing Meng Xiao approach, Gao Zhenzhong was horrified and said, "You are also a descendant of the King of Shu, how can you be so rude?" Meng Xiao said, "My ancestor Meng Yiju fled here in the past, and today I have fled here too. My ancestor and I were both destined to die in Shu. It's a coincidence." I suspect there are hands orchestrating my actions, like a chess game. These hands are both my master and someone else, but I have never seen their shoulders or face. Today I want to find out what they look like.
Gao Zhenzhong said, "Oh, it's just that the intelligence office under the Privy Council is more informed. If there is more, it's God's will."
Meng Xiao sat down and said, "Why don't you tell me what it wants me to do, Prince?"
Gao Zhenzhong said, "I don't know. All I can tell you is the past. I know why you came. An old friend asked me to tell you about the past, but I didn't because I was afraid you wouldn't like it."
Meng Xiao said, "The past is more real than the future. I will listen respectfully to the prince's words."
Gao Zhenzhong said: "No matter what I say, you will think I am lying to you."
Meng Xiao said, "I dare not."
Gao Zhenzhong said, "This story begins in the 17th year of the Shaoxing reign of the Song Dynasty. In that year, the Duan clan's sons were fighting among themselves and rebelling against each other. Duan Zhengyan became a monk and abdicated the throne to Duan Zhengxing. My great-uncle Gao Mingliang's son, Gao Liangcheng, was appointed Prime Minister. Duan Zhengxing's Empress Gao was also from my clan. The Gao family died young without children, and this was due to the struggle for the throne among the Duan clan's sons."
"Duan Zhengxing is the younger brother of Princess Zhaoqing and the brother-in-law of my uncle Gao Liangcheng. He succeeded to the throne with the support of my uncle Gao Liangcheng, so he appointed my uncle as "Duke of the Protectorate". At that time, the Gao family was in internal strife. This internal strife has never ceased since the ancestor of the Gao family, Shanchan Hou, established the Great China. My uncle Gao Mingliang inherited Chuxiong, and my great uncle Shengxiang's line divided and ruled eastern Yunnan. In the past, 37 tribes of Wuman rebelled in eastern Yunnan. Duan Zhengyan sent Prime Minister Gao Taiming to suppress the rebellion, and my grandfather Gao Mingqing was stationed in Shanchan. Not long after, the 37 tribes of Wuman rebelled again and captured Shanchan. My grandfather Gao Mingqing died in the battle, and the Shengxiang line in eastern Yunnan still ruled. Guarding Shanchan. They were the Lord of Baiya, the King of Shanchan, and Gao Guanyin. They were at odds with my father and my uncle Gao Liangcheng, and there were also conflicts among my uncle's descendants. Within the Duan clan, there were princes supported by my uncle, and there were princes not supported by Diandong. After my uncle Gao Liangcheng became prime minister, he went to suppress the thirty-seven Wuman tribes. His nephew Gao Zhenshou usurped the position, but my uncle abdicated. My father's descendants wanted to rule Shanchan, but they were inevitably harmed by the internal strife of the Gao clan. In the seventeenth year of Shaoxing, Duan Zhengyan abdicated, and the thirty-seven Wuman were ready to make a move. To avoid the harm of the prime minister's power struggle and avoid forming an alliance with the side clans, my father Gao Yuchengsheng sent me to Jinzhou to learn martial arts.
Meng Xiao said: "I didn't understand."
Gao Zhenzhong said: "My master Gao Chun was born into a family of heroes in Xizhou. He was a descendant of Gao Yongneng, the military commander of Fuyan Road. Gao Yongneng died in battle in the Renxu year of Yuanfeng. His son Gao Shiliang became the governor of Zhongzhou, and his grandson Gao Qingyi moved to Jizhou. Gao Qingyi first served as an official in Liao Dynasty, and then surrendered to Jin Dynasty. In the Dingsi year of Shaoxing in Song Dynasty, Gao Qingyi was caught up in the factional struggle between Wanyan Zongpan and Zonghan and was falsely killed. The Gao family of Yu County lost power, and my master's father Gao Dun returned to Jinzhou (Ankang) with his wife and children. Gao Dun went to Deshun. He joined the army, made military achievements in Shunchang, and was promoted to a military school. The following year, he followed Liu Qi to assist the Duke of Zhongwu in the Northern Expedition and died in battle at Zhegao. My master, Gao Chun, was an only child, born in the Jiyou year of Jianyan. He lost his father at the age of twelve. In the Guihai year of Shaoxing, his mother also passed away. So, he and a few old servants were left in the family house in Hanyin County, Ankang County, Jinzhou. The Gao family has produced many brave generals. My master was a good rider and archer. At that time, he was a famous warrior in Ankang County. My father heard about the deeds of the Gao family when he entered the Song capital to pay tribute. ，so he sent me to Hanyin County to join his teacher. My master accepted me because of my grandfather Gao Mingqing. If I were not Gao Mingqing's grandson, my master would certainly not have accepted me. Even if I were Gao Shengtai's descendant, he might not have accepted me. This is because Gao Shengtai deposed the emperor and established himself as the emperor, and Gao Mingqing sacrificed his life for the country. In short, he agreed to be my master because someone in my family died in battle. However, in the eleven years I followed him, I didn't learn anything except riding a horse. I don't like to learn martial arts, just as a dry chicken doesn't like to go into the water, and a rabbit can't climb a tree. I am not good at strategy, and I don't want to learn poetry. There is no need for that. If one day I lead the army back to Shanchan, it will definitely not be because of my martial arts prowess. If I can become the marquis of Shanchan, or the prime minister, it will be because the thirty-seven Wuman tribes are no match for the children of Dayao Yucheng. My brother Gao Chengguang and I have known this since we could talk. It is for this reason that we have not attacked Shanchan so far. It is also for this reason that we have formed an alliance with Chuxiong so far. Do you understand?"
Meng Xiao said, "I understand."
Gao Zhenzhong said, the first day I arrived at the Gao family, I asked my master, look at you, what can you teach me? He picked up his gun and went to the cypress forest to practice martial arts. I chased him to the cypress forest and said to him, you can't teach me anything, return the twelve boxes of gold and silver my father gave you, I want to go to Jinzhou to have fun. He wielded the gun like a wolf and a tiger. The wind and the soil entangled the gun, pulling off the cypress branches one by one. The cypress leaves stuck into my head, and the sand and dirt blinded my eyes. I didn't dare to talk to him anymore, went back and covered my head with the quilt, and huddled in the corner of the Gao family with the ants and cockroaches. The next day, he still ignored me, as if my grandfather was not Gao Mingqing and my father was not Yu Chengsheng.
By then, his family had long fallen on hard times. In the mornings, there was no one to comb my hair or dress me, no one to feed me. At noon, there was no milk fan or snacks, and even the food wasn't enough to fill me up. There wasn't a wooden tub in the room, and he never helped me bathe. All he gave me every day, besides gruel and leftovers, were chicken and duck bones. I'd go catching frogs in the ditch and fight with the neighborhood kids over a piece of malt candy. It's unimaginable, right? Even I wouldn't imagine it today, and my father certainly wouldn't have imagined that the Gao family, a family of fierce generals, originally meant to achieve glory on the battlefield, would actually take in apprentices just to make a living. But I didn't come here to learn martial arts. I couldn't stand his harshness, nor could I endure the Gao family's poverty, so I decided to run away. I couldn't escape from Hanyin back to Dayao, but I could pretend to run away, to teach him a lesson, so I wouldn't have to endure his anger again in the future.
I stole back my clothes, some copper coins, and his "Dujian Order"—a wooden plaque. After arriving in Ankang County, I ate a hearty meal and then checked into an inn, where I used the plaque. The innkeeper asked if I was Dujian Gao's son. I said yes, and he promised me free food and lodging. But after just one night, my master captured me and took me back. I'd expected the innkeeper to betray me. I'd also anticipated my master taking me back to the Gao family in Hanyin County. But I didn't expect him to beat me after returning. He probably didn't expect his first fight to be with a twelve-year-old child. That day, in a rage, he struck me without restraint, breaking my bones. For the next ten days, I was confined to my bed. I knew I was doomed. I'd rather be reborn than stay here, enduring his beatings and wrath.
That day, I climbed out of bed, found a branch in the yard, and cut my neck, hoping to drain my blood. The blood in my neck wasn't enough, so I slit my wrists. Just as I was about to die, my master discovered me. He took me to see a doctor, who revived me. For the next ten days, he bound my hands and feet and had servants feed me. If I needed to go to the bathroom, the servants would collect water in a can. He remained silent, never saying a word. If I spoke, he would either shout at me or gag me. When I was able to get out of bed, my legs still swollen, he brought me a crude bow and told me to shoot the chickens and ducks on the ground. I drove the chickens and ducks into the fence, threw the bow and arrow on the ground, and came to him, forcing him to hit me. Instead, he took me into the woodshed and made me stand in the corner.
He first picked up an axe, then a sickle, and finally a tattered sewing box. He pulled out a needle and thread from the box, threaded the needle, and asked me to hold out my hands. He sewed my hands into two fists and told me that within three days, I must agree to learn martial arts. Otherwise, if the stitches were removed too late, my hands would fester. If my hands fester, not only would I not be able to learn martial arts, I wouldn't even be able to lift a spoon or chopsticks. He's so naive, don't you think? I dared to shed blood, and I'm afraid I can't lift a spoon or chopsticks? I spit in his face and mentioned my grandfather's name again. He ignored me, closed the door, and left, leaving me alone in the woodshed to suffer.
For the next three days, I curled up without food or water, and didn't close my eyes. The pain in my hands, hunger, anger, and unwillingness clamped me like a pair of pliers. The dust in the woodshed was dazzling, and the sound of the hammer hitting the ground was deafening. During my imprisonment, chickens and ducks came to call at the door, cats were in heat over the courtyard wall, and mice came in groups to steal his rice. The two maids stood up for me while washing clothes and sweeping the floor, saying that I was not a human being. Until the third night, the master entered the woodshed. There were two dark holes under his eyebrows, like a ghost. He leaned down and peeked through the holes. He looked at me with those two holes and asked, "Have you thought it through?"
I spit in his face and said my grandfather's name again. He grabbed my hand and sniffed it, then grabbed my neck and asked, "Are you worthy of being Gao Mingqing's grandson?"
I said, "Let me introduce you to me today."
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