Gods 063: Sweet Dreams
What looked like an easy victory for the Zhou turns into a bit of a nightmare.
Transcript
Welcome to the Chinese Lore Podcast, where I retell classic Chinese stories in English. This is episode 63 of Investiture of the Gods.
Last time, Jiang Ziya and company were finally able to get their Eastern expedition back on track after the Shang commander who was standing in their way was tamed by one of their uppity Buddhist acquaintances from the West, who was like, yeah I just came to collect this guy; I don’t really want to hang out with you all. Anyway, the Zhou army now resumed its march and soon arrived outside Sishui Pass, the first major enemy checkpoint on the border between the Zhou and the Shang.
The commander of Sishui Pass was Han (2) Rong (2), who had made a habit of being the messenger of bad news, as he had to be the one to send word to the Shang capital after every Shang army sent to pacify the Zhou was obliterated. And now, he got word that, oh yeah, the latest Shang army also failed and the enemy was now knocking on his doorstep.
Han Rong went up to the city wall with his officers to have a look, and all he saw in the Zhou camp were red flags, which confused him because different parts of the army usually had different color flags. Remember, this was a deliberate ploy by Jiang Ziya. Han Rong now sent an urgent dispatch to the Shang capital to request help and redoubled his defenses.
Meanwhile, in the Zhou camp, Jiang Ziya was sitting in his tent when his vanguard general, lotus boy Nezha, asked, “Our army is sitting at the foot of the enemy’s walls. We should seek a quick battle. So why are you holding the army in place instead?”
Jiang Ziya explained, “We must not rush it. I’m going to divide our forces into three armies. One will go take Sweet Dreams Pass, and another will go take Green Dragon Pass. We must have two commanders lead those forces, and they must be talented and virtuous heroes of the times. So I know only General Flying Tiger and Hong (2) Jin (3) are up to the task.
The two generals stepped forth when their names were mentioned, and Jiang Ziya asked them to draw lots to see who would go attack which pass. Flying Tiger drew Green Dragon Pass, and Hong Jin got Sweet Dreams Pass. Jiang Ziya then gave them adornments of red flowers and each was put in charge of 100,000 men and a number of officers.
We’ll follow Hong Jin first as he marched to Sweet Dreams Pass. After traversing some mountains and rivers, they arrived at their destination. After the army pitched camp, Hong Jin assembled his officers and said, “Our army has traveled a long way. We’re fatigued. Let’s rest today. Tomorrow, who will go attack first?”
The officer Ji (4) Kang (1) immediately volunteered, so the next day he rode out and demanded battle. The Shang commander in charge of Sweet Dreams Pass was Hu (2) Sheng (1). He asked which of his guys would go answer the call, and one of them promptly stepped up. This guy went out, traded insults with Ji Kang and went at it. After 50 exchanges, Ji Kang uttered an incantation, and a gust of black smoke emanated from his head. From this smoke emerged the head of a dog and it appeared to lunge and take a bite at his foe. The Shang officer was not expecting this, so he panicked, and Ji Kang cut him down and brought his head back to camp.
Inside Sweet Dreams Pass, the commander Hu Sheng was disturbed by the news of the loss of one of his officers. The next day, another Zhou officer was outside demanding battle. This turned out to be Su (1) Quanzhong (2,1), the son of the Marquis Su Hu and brother of the current Shang queen Daji.
Hu Sheng sent another of his officers out to fight Su Quanzhong, and they traded the usual barb and then started trading blows. After 40 exchanges, Su Quanzhong gained the upper hand as he let out a loud roar and skewered his foe before chopping off his head and returning to camp in victory.
When word of this got back to Hu Sheng inside the pass, he lamented to his brother Hu Lei (2), “We’ve lost two officers in a row. Heaven’s will is plain to see. The whole realm will belong to the Zhou. Why don’t we submit to them so that we are in accordance with the will of heaven.”
“Brother, you’re mistaken!” Hu Lei said. “Our family has received the country’s benevolence for generations. Thanks to his highness, we enjoy high rank and wealth. Right now, in its hour of need, how can we entertain such cowardly thoughts instead of helping our lord shoulder his worries and repay the country?! As the saying goes, ‘When the lord is troubled, his officials are ashamed.’ It’s only right to repay the state with our lives. You must not speak such improper words again! Watch me succeed tomorrow.”
Hu Sheng was silenced by his brother’s conviction, so they both just went back to their tents for the night. The next day, Hu Lei rode out and challenged the Zhou army for combat. On the Zhou side, the general Nangong Kuo went out to face him. The two raised their sabers and started hacking at each other for a good 30 or 40 bouts. But then, Nangong Kuo feigned an opening, lured Hu Lei into taking a big swing, and while Hu Lei was off balance as their horses passed each other, Nangong Kuo reached over and pulled Hu Lei off his saddle. Nangong Kuo then rode back to his camp and presented his prisoner.
When Hu Lei was taken into the command tent, he refused to kneel. The Zhou commander Hong Jin demanded that he show some respect, but Hu Lei cursed, “You traitor! Instead of thinking about how you can repay your country, you are helping the wicked cause harm. You’re truly a dog! It kills me that I can’t eat your flesh!”
Hong Jin was irate and was like, oh yeah? You know what else kills you? Me! He barked for the guards to take Hu Lei outside for execution. So the guards hustled him out and did the job with one swing of the blade. Hong Jin now presented Nangong Kuo with wine to celebrate his victory, but as they drank, a guard came in and siad, “Hu Lei is outside challenging for battle again.”
Hong Jin flew into a rage and told his men, “Execute this guy! How dare he make such a muddled report?!”
As the guard was being tied up, he protested his innocence. So Hong Jin had him brought back in and asked, “You gave an erroneous report and deserve to die. Why are you claiming your innocence?”
“Sir, how would I dare to make an erroneous report?!” the guard pleaded. “Hu Lei really IS outside.”
Nangong Kuo now said, “Let me go out and take a look.”
So he rode out and sure enough, there was Hu Lei, demanding battle. Nangong Kuo cursed, “You sorcerer! How dare you use your wicked magic to trick me?! Don’t you go anywhere!”
And so Nangong Kuo charged and they fought again. But before they reached 30 exchanges, Nangong Kuo again captured Hu Lei alive and brought him back to camp. Hong Jin was elated, but also confounded as to what trick Hu Lei had just pulled on him. As he and his officer corps were debating, the commotion had reached the tent of his wife, Princess Long (2) Ji (2). She came to the command tent to ask what’s up. Hong Jin filled her in, and she took a look at Hu Lei.
“Oh this is some piddly magic,” she chuckled. “It’s not hard to counter.”
She now told the men to part Hu Lei’s hair down the middle, and then she pushed a three-and-a-half inch long magic needle into his scalp. That prevented him from using his magic to escape, and this time, when Hu Lei’s head hit the ground, he was dead for real.
Inside Sweet Dreams Pass, Hu Sheng got word that his brother had been killed not once but twice, and he was stunned. “My brother refused to listen to me and brought his doom upon himself. There’s no way the Shang’s officials and officers can fend off the nobles of the land.”
And so, Hu Sheng quickly wrote a letter of surrender and sent it to the Zhou camp. In the Zhou camp, Hong Jin was having a celebratory drink with his officers when he got word that a messenger had arrived from the enemy. The messenger came in and presented the letter, which said:
“A letter of surrender from Hu Sheng, commander of Sweet Dreams Pass, and his officers: We have served the Shang for years, but King Zhou is acting unjustly and tyrannically. He has been abandoned by heaven and men, and heaven has commanded the Martial King to bring him to justice. When your army arrived here, we didn’t know any better and dared to resist. But your troops are fierce and have killed our officers and soldiers. We no longer dare to resist. We regret our actions and have changed our ways. We hereby submit our surrender. We hope you will allow us to make amends and follow a new path. We would be eternally grateful.”
After reading the letter, Hong Jin rewarded the messenger handsomely and told him, “I won’t bother writing a reply. Tomorrow, we will enter the pass to put the civilians’ minds at ease.”
So the messenger went back and relayed this to Hu Sheng, and Hu Sheng promptly told his men to replace the flags on the city walls with the colors of the Zhou, prepare the records of the city’s population and wealth, and get ready to hand it over to Hong Jin the next day.
In the midst of all this prep work, however, word came that a female Daoist dressed in red was outside, asking to see Hu Sheng. Hu Sheng invited her in. This woman had a vicious appearance and wore a fire-and-water belt around her robe. She came into the main hall and paid her respects. Hu Sheng returned the courtesy and asked what she was doing there.
“I am Mother Fiery Spirit,” she said. “Your brother Hu Lei was my disciple. Because he died at Hong Jin’s hand, I have come to avenge him. You’re his blood brother, and yet you have discarded your brotherly bond and the obligation to your lord to submit to the enemy!”
Hu Sheng was taken aback and hurriedly kneeled and said, “Master, I didn’t know who you were. Pardon me for not welcoming you. It’s not that I want to serve the enemy, but my forces are meek and my talent and knowledge are feeble. I am not qualified for this post. Besides, everyone in the realm is thinking about submitting to the Zhou. Even if I manage to hold on to this spot for now, it will belong to the Zhou eventually. So I had no choice but to surrender so as to spare my soldiers and civilians. It’s not because I’m a coward.”
Mother Fiery Spirit replied, “Fine. But now that I’m here, I will help you get revenge for sure. Put the Shang’s colors back up on your city walls. I’ll deal with the enemy.”
Well, Hu Sheng was not going to argue with a Daoist named Fiery Spirit who’s hellbent on revenge, so he did as she instructed and put the Shang flags back up.
Meanwhile, Hong Jin was preparing to enter the pass the next day when his scouts reported that uhh, change of plans apparently.
“How dare that scoundrel go back on his word?!” Hong Jin fumed. “When I capture him tomorrow, I’ll cut him to pieces!”
Inside the pass, Mother Fiery Spirit asked Hu Sheng how many troops he had, and he told her about 20,000.
“Select 3,000 and assign them to me,” she said. “I will train them for a special purpose.”
Hu Sheng did as instructed, and Mother Fiery Spirit ordered the 3,000 soldiers to dress in red, let their hair down, go barefoot, and wear a red paper gourd on their backs. On the bottom of their feet, she wrote a charm that said “Wind and Fire.” Each soldier carried a cutlass in one hand and a pennant in the other. And then she put them through the paces.
The next morning, the Zhou commander Hong Jin sent the officer Su Quanzhong to the foot of the pass to demand battle, but he was greeted by the closed-for-business sign, so he had no choice but to go back to camp and tell Hong Jin. Hong Jin was fuming, but there was nothing he could do.
Seven days passed, and Mother Fiery Spirit had finished training her special forces. Now, she told Hu Sheng to take down the battle-avoidance sign. With the sound of an explosive, the pass gates swung open, and the Shang troops poured out. Behind them came Mother Fiery Spirit, riding on a golden-eyed camel and accompanied by her special forces.
She now ordered Hu Sheng to go demand battle. So Hu Sheng rode out and asked to speak with Hong Jin. Hong Jin came out with his officers and as soon as he saw Hu Sheng, he cursed aloud, “You villain! You went back on your word. You’re truly a dog! How dare you trick me?!”
Hong Jin now galloped toward Hu Sheng with saber raised. Before Hu Sheng could respond, Mother Fiery Spirit rode out on her camel, wielding twin swords and shouting, “Hong Jin! Don’t you go anywhere! Here I come!”
“Who are you?” Hong Jin asked as he saw this female Daoist approach like a flame.
“I am Mother Fiery Spirit. How dare you kill my disciple Hu Lei?! I have come to avenge him. Dismount and receive you death right now! If you piss me off, you’re going to doom your entire army of 100,000.”
She now made straight for Hong Jin, and he raised his saber to counter. After a few exchanges, Hong Jin pulled his flag door magic again. But Mother Fiery Spirit now unwrapped the cloth that had covered the coronet on her head, and a towering beam of golden light shot out, forming a protective cage around her so that Hong Jin couldn’t see her, but she could see him.
Mother Fiery Spirit now took a swing at Hong Jin, and he couldn’t dodge in time as her sword cut through his chain mail. Hong Jin let out a cry of pain and fled. Mother Fiery Spirit now directed her 3,000 Fire Dragon Troops to charge into the Zhou camp. Hong Jin had fled back into his camp, but his troops could not keep out the enemy. All hell broke loose as the Zhou soldiers trampled each other.
Amid this chaos, Princess Long Ji heard the commotion and hurriedly rode out to the center of the camp, just in time to see her husband Hong Jin fleeing while leaning on his saddle. She was just about to utter an incantation to call for rain to put out the fire, but a golden light shot toward her. Before she could figure out what this was, Mother Fiery Spirit’s sword was already coming down on her. It slashed her across the chest, and Princess Long Ji let out a cry and fled toward the Northwest.
Mother Fiery Spirit gave chase for a good 20 miles before calling it a day, and an elated Hu Sheng welcomed her back into the pass. Hong Jin, meanwhile, lost about 10,000 men in this defeat, and both he and his wife were wounded. They finally managed to gather their scattered forces and pitch camp. They applied some fast-healing magic ointment to their wounds, and then Hong Jin sent word to Jiang Ziya to request backup.
When the letter reached Jiang Ziya, he was greatly alarmed and said, “I must go in person!” So he told Nezha’s father, Li (3) Jing (4), “You will oversee matters at camp temporarily while I’m away. Do not violate my rules, and do not fight with the forces in Sishui Pass. Just keep up a tight defense and don’t make any rash moves that would hurt our morale. Punish anyone who breaks the rules accordingly. We will take the pass once I get back.”
Jiang Ziya then took Nezha and Wei (4) Hu (4), along with 3,000 troops, and hit the road. After a few days, they arrived outside Sweet Dreams Pass and pitched camp, but they did not see Hong Jin’s camp. A good while after camp was set up, Hong Jin and Princess Long Ji arrived to report what happened.
Jiang Ziya lectured Hong Jin, “As a top commander ordered to lead a distant campaign, you should act as the situation dictates. Why did you advance recklessly and bring this catastrophic defeat upon yourself?”
“We had success at first,” Hong Jin said. “But then a female Daoist named Mother Fiery Spirit showed up. She has a golden light that protects her and prevents me from seeing her while she could see me. And she also had 3,000 Fire Dragon Soldiers, and they swarmed us like a fiery mountain that could not be stopped. All our soldiers who saw them fled, and that’s why we lost.”
This had Jiang Ziya wondering what kind of sorcery he was facing. Meanwhile, inside Sweet Dreams Pass, Mother Fiery Spirit had gotten word that Zhou reinforcements had arrived, with Jiang Ziya at their head.
“Since he’s here, it’ll make my trip worthwhile,” she said. “I must face him; only then will I be satisfied.”
So she hopped on her camel and led her Fire Dragon Soldiers out to the Zhou camp to demand to speak with Jiang Ziya. Jiang Ziya and his officers came out.
“Is that Jiang Ziya over there?” Mother Fiery Spirt shouted.
“I am indeed, my Daoist friend,” Jiang Ziya replied. “Since you follow the Dao, you must understand the will of heaven. Right now King Zhou is wicked and all under heaven despise him. All the nobles of the land are gathering at Mengjin (4,1) to wage war on the Shang. Why are you helping evil and going against heaven? Have you given no thought to the consequences of offending heaven? And I’m not acting out of self-interest. I’m here on my master’s command to punish the wicked on heaven’s behalf. So why must you try to go against heaven? Why don’t you listen to me and surrender. I will exercise compassion and will not mistreat your people.”
Mother Fiery Spirit chuckled. “You’re just spewing lies to fool the ignorant peasants. You were just an old fisherman. Out of greed, you are stirring up trouble and deceiving the people to make yourself look good. How dare you say you’re acting in accordance with heaven? How deep is your cultivation of the Dao that you’d dare to boast thus?”
And so she charged toward Jiang Ziya, and he pulled out his sword to defend himself. Nezha and Wei Hu also darted out to jon the fight. After a fierce battle against the three of them, Fiery Spirit turned and rode away. As she did so, she unleashed her bright golden light that veiled her from view. While Jiang Ziya was trying to find her, he suddenly felt her sword running across his chest. He wasn’t wearing armor, so the blade cut into his flesh and his clothes were stained with blood.
As Jiang Ziya turned and fled, Fiery Spirit directed her Fire Dragon Soldiers forward. They stormed into the Zhou camp and set it ablaze. As the flames roared, all the soldiers fell into chaos. The ground was littered with the corpses of the slain, and the air was fetid with the stench of burning flesh.
Meanwhile, Mother Fiery Spirit kept up a hot pursuit on Jiang Ziya. As she got near, she pulled out a throwing mallet and chucked it at Jiang Ziya. It struck him squarely in the back, knocking him off his ride.
Mother Fiery Spirit now dismounted to go cut off his head, but just then, she heard someone approaching while singing. She looked up and saw that it was the Chan Daoist Master Grand Completion. Now, Fiery Spirit recognized Grand Completion, so she shouted, “You shouldn’t have come!”
“I have been waiting here for you on my master’s command,” Grand Completion replied.
A furious Fiery Spirit raised her sword and attacked, and Grand Completion countered. After a few exchanges, Fiery Spirit again went to her golden light, but Grand Completion was conveniently wearing his Haze-Sweeping Shirt, and it simply absorbed all her light.
“How dare you foil my magic?! I’ll have it out with you!” Fiery Spirit yelled as she raised her sword to attack again.
But now, Grand Completion pulled out his Sky-Churning Seal and sent it into the air. And Fiery Spirit unfortunately was not wearing her seal-avoidance skirt. The seal came crashing down on Fiery Spirit’s head, cracking her skull and spilling her brains. Grand Completion now retrieved his seal and Fiery Spirit’s coronet. He then went to fetch water from a nearby stream and took out a pill from his gourd. He now lifted up Jiang Ziya and put his head on his knees, put the pill in his mouth and washed it down with some water.
Two hours later, Jiang Ziya blinked and woke up and went, ouch!
“Daoist brother, if not for you, I would be dead,” he said.
Grand Completion told him, “I’ve been waiting here for you on our master’s command. You were destined to endure this danger.”
He then helped Jiang Ziya back onto his ride and said, “Take care of yourself.”
“I shall never forget this!” Jiang Ziya said.
“I’m off to return this coronet to the Jie sect,” Grand Completion told him.
So they bid each other goodbye and Jiang Ziya made his way back toward Sweet Dreams Pass. As he was traveling, however, a sudden wind whipped up, so wild that it could uproot trees and churn the waves.
“So strange!” Jiang Ziya remarked. “This wind is like a tiger!”
Before he finished saying the word tiger, he indeed saw a tiger striding this way. Seated atop the tiger was none other than Shen Gongbao, Jiang Ziya’s former Chan sect colleague turned adversary.
“Ah crap! How did I run into this villain?” Jiang Ziya lamented. “What should I do? Let me hide.”
And so he pulled over and took shelter inside some woods. But Shen Gongbao had already seen him and shouted, “Jiang Ziya, no need to hide. I saw you!”
So Jiang Ziya had no choice but to come out, bow, and said, “Daoist brother, where are you going?”
“I came specifically to face you,” Shen Gongbao chuckled. “Jiang Ziya, today’s meeting is not like when you had Immortal of the South Pole getting your back. Today it’s just the two of us! You won’t be able to flee!”
“But brother, there’s no bad blood between us,” Jiang Ziya said. “What has made you so angry with me?”
“Do you not remember when we were on Kunlun Mountain? You had Immortal of the South Pole backing you, so you paid me no attention at all. I called out to you a bunch of times and you ignored me. And then, you teamed up with South Pole to humiliate me and even told White Crane Acolyte to carry off my head, hoping to kill me. That’s the bad blood. How can you deny it? You are now a commander, leading a campaign against the Shang. But you’re going to die here today before you even set foot on Shang soil.”
As he spoke, Shen Gongbao raised his sword and attacked. Jiang Ziya hurriedly parried his blow and said, “Brother, you’re such an unfeeling villain. You and I had the same master and were friends for 40 years. How can you not feel even a little bit of a bond with me? When I went to Kunlun Mountain, you used sorcery to trick me. So South Pole told White Crane Acolyte to cause you some trouble. I was the one who begged them to spare you. Yet, instead of repaying me, you’re treating me like a villain. You’re too dishonorable!”
Shen Gongbao was furious and scoffed, “You two were in cahoots to harm me. And now you’re trying to talk me into sparing your life.”
As he cursed, Shen Gongbao took another swing, which now riled up Jiang Ziya. “Shen Gongbao,” he shouted, “I was yielding to you, not afraid of you. I was worried that posterity will remember me as an uncompassionate and dishonorable man like you. How dare you keep bullying me?!”
And so Jiang Ziya now raised his sword to attack. But he was still feeling the aches from his injury and was no match for Shen Gongbao. So he turned his ride around and fled toward the East, and Shen Gongbao spurred his tiger to take to the air and follow. As he closed the distance between them, Shen Gongbao took out a Sky-Breaking Pearl and shot it at Jiang Ziya’s back. It struck its mark, and Jiang Ziya tumbled out of his saddle and rolled to a stop on the ground.
Shen Gongbao now pulled up, hopped off his tiger, and prepared to inflict some harm on Jiang Ziya’s body. But suddenly, he heard someone shouting, “Shen Gongbao, don’t be rude! I’m here; I’m here!”
Shen Gongbao looked up in amazement and then turned and fled. To see who it was that gave him such a fright, tune in to the next episode of the Chinese Lore Podcast. Thanks for listening!
Music in This Episode
- “Sao Meo” by Doug Maxwell / Zac Zinger
- “Ravines” by Elphnt (from YouTube audio library)
- “The Quiet Aftermath by Sir Cubworth (from YouTube audio library)