[Lightscreen]
[Some people say that Yue Fei and Han Shizhong were the Northern Song dynasty's final flicker of light. The last desperate struggle of a century-old regime unwilling to die.
Of course, we all know that this flicker was successfully snuffed out by Zhao Gou.
A similar story played out in the Jin state as well. The man's name was Wanyan Chen Heshang.
After the Mongols destroyed Song and Jin and founded the Yuan dynasty, zaju drama flourished. Many historical plays appeared at the time. The most typical examples were works that built upon Song-era dramatized versions of the Three Kingdoms.
From that foundation came many famous pieces.
For example: The Lord Guan Single-Blade Banquet, Zhou Yu Visits Lu Su, Liu Xuande's Drunken Flight from Yellow Crane Tower, Guan Yunchang Slays Four Bandits With One Blade, Zhuge Liang Resigns in Anger at Zhang Fei.
There were also plenty of more wildly imaginative adaptations that audiences loved.
Such as Dong Zhuo Plays with Diaochan, Lord Guan Beheads Diaochan Beneath the Moon, The Marquis of Shouting Pavilion Furiously Slays Guan Ping, and so on.
These eventually became part of the foundation for one of the great early Ming masterpieces, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, written by Luo Guanzhong.
Alright, that is drifting a bit far. Returning to the point: Three Kingdoms was not the only historical theme for Yuan drama. There was also a play called Moon Worship Pavilion, whose background was the Mongol-Jin war.
Within that play, one elite Jin unit is mentioned more than once:
"Three thousand loyal and filial soldiers, each one brave, each one first to charge."
"Those steppe devils are laughable. How could they stand against our three thousand loyal soldiers?"
That loyal army was the Jin dynasty's final moment of resurgence.]
"Early Ming? Luo Guanzhong?"
The Ming Emperor suddenly stood up.
He had become extremely sensitive to anything related to the Ming.
Whatever this strange screen might be, spirit trick or demon illusion, he cared deeply whether it spoke truth.
If it proved real, the Ming would need to prepare in advance for the raiders who would come across the seas a hundred years later.
If it proved false, he would personally split the thing apart and burn it as firewood to cook tomorrow's porridge.
So he began racking his brain, trying to drag that faintly familiar name out of memory.
"No. I need to send someone to investigate right now…"
Zhu Yuanzhang was never a patient man. When thinking failed, he immediately prepared to summon people to check the name's background.
Then the Empress spoke softly.
"Shi Nai'an."
"Hm?" The Emperor turned back.
The Empress did not tease him and explained calmly,
"When I saw Moon Worship Pavilion, I remembered that the zaju was written by Guan Hanqing. He structured it in four acts and a wedge, telling the story of the noble lady Wang Ruilan and the poor scholar Jiang Shilong falling in love. I used to reread it often."
The Emperor's expression softened.
He had never cared much for love stories. Tales of Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei's loyalty suited his taste far better.
Still, he had heard the story from his wife before. That noble lady resembled his own Empress. And as for humble origins, his had been lower than that poor scholar's.
But in terms of achievements, restoring the realm was far beyond anything that scholar could dream of.
So Zhu Yuanzhang's expression softened even more. Though he already suspected the surname involved, he still pretended ignorance and asked,
"And what does that have to do with Shi Nai'an?"
"After the remnants of Yuan fled north and I entered Yingtian Prefecture, I once received a newly revised version of Moon Worship Pavilion. It was excellent. The person who gave it to me said it had been written by Master Nai'an."
The Empress continued,
"I asked around at the time. I learned that Master Nai'an had died of illness three years earlier. It was said that while alive, he wrote The Liangshan Chronicle based on The Legacy of Emperor Xuanhe of Song."
"But his student refused to show it to others. That student's name was Luo Guanzhong."
The Ming Emperor immediately slapped his thigh in realization.
"I remember now. This Shi Nai'an, could he be Shi Zi'an, the former Jinshi who served under Zhang Shicheng and passed the examinations during the Yuan?"
"Little sister, you truly are my female Zhuge Liang!"
The Empress smiled as she listened to her husband's loud praise, not exposing his obvious delight, only adding gently,
"Master Nai'an and Luo Guanzhong were likely afraid their past service to Zhang Shicheng would be held against them, so they withdrew to write in seclusion. If Your Majesty wishes to summon them…"
The Emperor waved his hand boldly.
"Zhang Shicheng surrendered to the Yuan out of fear of defeat. After I crushed him, all it took was Li Shouji to curse him twice and he cried, starved himself, then hanged himself."
"A weakling like that is not even worth my attention. Why would I punish his former followers?"
"Do not worry. I may not perform three visits to a thatched cottage, but I do know how to treat men of talent with proper courtesy."
"Since when did the strategist ever resign in anger at me?"
Zhang Fei scratched his head, clearly bothered.
"I do not even know where Yellow Crane Tower is. How could I have drunkenly fled from it?"
Liu Bei was also gloomy. Those play titles sounded ridiculous at first glance.
Lu Su, however, let a faint smile curl at his lips and said sincerely,
"I would truly like to see how Zhou Gongjin pays a visit to me."
"Forget those!" Zhang Fei shouted.
"This 'Lord Guan' and 'Marquis of Shouting Pavilion' must both be Second Brother."
"How could Second Brother ever kill Ping'er? And who is this Diaochan?"
"What kind of adaptation is that? That is just nonsense!"
"Maybe the strategist being called a sorcerer also comes from this sort of nonsense!"
Zhuge Liang, however, was not particularly angry.
Ever since learning that later generations would sometimes portray him as a mystic trickster, he had already prepared himself.
Now he simply pondered calmly.
"Diaochan… I wonder how Lady Du is doing."
When Lu Bu was besieged at Xiapi, his officer Qin Yilu had been promised a beautiful imperial kinswoman as wife by Yuan Shu. For the sake of preserving some dignity for the Han house, General Guan Yunzhang had requested to marry her himself in order to protect her.
But after the city fell, Cao Cao broke his word and sent people first, taking her as his own concubine.
Zhuge Liang had not witnessed the matter personally. His lord had told it to him in idle conversation, always sighing at the unpredictability of fate.
Hearing the strategist sigh now, Zhang Fei raised an eyebrow and also sighed.
"That Qin Yilu really was a pitiful fellow."
The reason was simple.
After Lady Du became Cao Cao's concubine, her original husband Qin Yilu also surrendered to Cao Cao.
Later, when Liu Bei conspired with Dong Cheng to eliminate the traitor Cao and killed Che Zhou to seize Xiapi, Zhang Fei passed through Zhi County on the way to Xiaopei.
There he saw Qin Yilu, whose wife had been taken from him, still loyally serving Cao Cao as county magistrate.
So Zhang Fei provoked him.
"Another man takes your wife, and you still serve as his official? What kind of humiliation is that? Come rebel with me instead."
Qin Yilu agreed immediately.
But not long after leaving the city, he regretted it.
Zhang Fei feared he might defect back to Cao Cao and cause trouble later, so he killed him.
Old memories drifted through the mind like autumn winds across the Central Plains.
Hearing the strategist's sigh, Zhang Fei finally understood.
"Strategist, do you think Lady Du might be this Diaochan?"
Zhuge Liang shook his head softly.
"I do not know… I only recalled the rumors that Lu Bu turned against Dong Zhuo after an affair with one of Dong Zhuo's concubines. Perhaps that is where the adaptation began."
"It may even be like the Western Xia princess who tried to assassinate Genghis Khan. A woman seeking to restore her state, using herself to sow division."
Zhang Fei fell silent.