大唐双龙传 [Da Tang Shuang Long Zhuan] by Huang Yi

[Neneroi]

I hadn't visited in a while, and what do I find? We are already near the end of book 21! YAY! Thanks foxs!

How many books in total?

[Fox Tail]

Thank You for constant update Foxs

[HPC7595]

Thanks foxs

[Jayariyin]

Thanks, foxs.

[wangxiaohu]

I hadn't visited in a while, and what do I find? We are already near the end of book 21! YAY! Thanks foxs!

How many books in total?

I believe it's 60 something.. maybe 63..

[foxs]

Ysabel, Xiaohu, DongBin, Tail, HPC, Jaya, you are welcome. Neneroi, welcome. Xiaohu is correct, 63.

---

With great difficulty Xu Ziling composed himself; nodding, he said, “We are brothers! Go ahead!”

Gui Xiliang looked a bit embarrassed; after muttering to himself irresolutely for a moment, he said, “Why do you think Xiao Zhong want me to support me to become Bangzhu? To be honest, I am very aware of my own capacity. Becoming a Hall Master is already quite remarkable; but Bangzhu? Ay!”

Xu Ziling spoke indifferently, “In your heart, do you want to become Bangzhu?”

Smiling wryly, Gui Xiliang replied, “People always look to high places, water will flow to lower places; if you ask whether I want to or not, of course I do! But if name and reality don’t match, it would be the same as doing arduous and thankless job.”

Xu Ziling said, “If you want it, then you can do it. What you lack right now is confidence. With Kou Zhong supporting you wholeheartedly, what are you afraid of? He can’t possibly harm you. You ought to know how he conducts himself. When we were little and fought with others, he never tried to sneak away first, he always stayed to the very end.”

Distressed, Gui Xiliang said, “I become Bangzhu, what benefit will it be to him? Even if I become Bangzhu, there is no way I would be able to order old men like Shao Lingzhou and Shen Beichang around. Mai Yunfei will definitely set himself against me. Something that has a name but no reality like this, why would I want to become Bangzhu?”

Xu Ziling replied indifferently, “Then why didn’t you tell Xiao Zhong frankly like you told me just now? If you did, you wouldn’t have to be distressed over this matter!”

Gui Xiliang sighed and said, “Xiao Zhong thinks so highly of me like this, how could I disappoint him? Not to mention Shao Lingzhou already cut off my way back; I don’t have any choice but to continue in spite of adversity. Ay! Am I contradicting myself?”

Xu Ziling spoke softly, “Achieving and preserving power and position has never been an easy thing. Xiao Zhong now is no longer Xiao Zhong of the past. He has a way to help you become Zhuhua Bang’s Bangzhu whose name and reality match, so much so that he can put several capable people inside the Gang to help you; in turn, you support him in his great undertaking to contend for supremacy over the world. Just think! Aren’t even old fox like Li Zitong and Shao Lingzhou like toys that he plays with in the palm of his hand? You may listen to Xiao Rong’s opinion more; his cool-headedness and wisdom is enough to make up for your deficiency.”

And then he pulled his shoulders in an embrace and said, “It’s late! Take an early rest, after reaching Jiangdu tomorrow, we might encounter a lot of unexpectedly things, which will require a lot of effort on our part to deal with it.”

※ ※ ※

Kou Zhong hurriedly came to the main gate to welcome Liu Heita; he laughed and said, “I did not know how I was going to get in touch with Liu Dage, unexpectedly honored guest already graced us by your presence.”

Liu Heita laughed aloud, he pulled Kou Zhong’s arm as they stepped into the main hall, and amiably said, “It’s not that you are looking for me, but I am looking for you. Currently, who in the world did not hear Kou Zhong’s name and be filled with admiration?”

After being sat properly and had everybody else leave the hall, Liu Heita said, “Xia Wang [King of Xia] originally wanted to send someone else as an envoy to you, but I insisted on personally take this trip to avoid becoming estranged with my good brother. If we meet in the battlefield later on, it will be bad thing indeed!”

Kou Zhong shook his head and said, “Liu Dage need not worry, brother is brother, how could we exchange good wine and good food with soldiers and sabers to treat each other? Come! Let’s drink a cup first, to wish our brotherly love to endure forever.”

After the toast, Kou Zhong asked, “How’s the war situation in the north? Has Li Mi surrendered to Li Shimin?”

His countenance changed, Liu Heita asked, “Is there such matter?”

After Kou Zhong gave his analysis, Liu Heita’s countenance turned grave; he mused, “Li Shimin is indeed a man with far-reaching foresight. Under Li Mi’s command, battle-hardened generals are like the cloud, strategic experts as thick as rain. Just this group of talents is enough to give current Li Clan’s power a dramatic increase, so that they will be even more difficult to deal with.”

Kou Zhong said, “Perhaps Li Mi would rather die than surrender. Ay! But Li Mi did indeed have rendered exceptional merit, perhaps he really could not bear it anymore and surrender to Li Shimin, to avoid being destroyed altogether. This possibility is not small.”

Liu Heita remained silent.

Kou Zhong went on, “I hear Xu Yuanlang was beaten by you, Liu Dage, that everything was broken and in disorder. I wonder when are you going to penetrate his lair in Rencheng?”

“How could it be that simple?” Liu Heita calmly said, “Xu Yuanlang is fighting hard to recover his lost territory. The most hateful thing is that he asks for help from Gao Kaidao and Yuwen Huaji. Yuwen Huaji was defeated by Li Mi and then you, one after another; presently he is powerless to defend himself, so he might ignore this request. But Gao Kaidao has the Tujue people backing him up; himself was incomparably brave, his great general Zhang Jinshu is an expert in using cavalry, they are not to be underestimated.”

Kou Zhong repeatedly recited the names Gao Kaidao and Zhang Jinshu, in his heart, to commit them into his memory. Suddenly he asked, “There is one thing I really don’t understand: why did you guys pick this time to cross sword with Xu Yuanlang?”

Liu Heita shrugged his shoulders and said, “The reason is very simple: because Xu Yuanlang has always been attaching himself to Li Mi. Now that his supporter is down, we do not have misgivings anymore. I almost forget to thank you for this. Come! Let Liu Dage toast you a cup.”

‘Ding!’

Wine cups clinked against each other, the fine wine was drowned into their belly.

Kou Zhong sighed and said, “Now I understand the meaning of ‘pulling one hair and the whole body moves’. Much less Li Mi is certainly more than just a strand of hair.”

Liu Heita said, “This Xu Yuanlang is the most spineless man. On one hand, he is asking for help from Gao Kaidao and Yuwen Huaji, on the other hand he is surreptitiously exchanging flirting glances with Wang Shichong; hence the situation is not entirely beneficial to us.”

“Is there something that Xiaodi can do to help?” Kou Zhong muttered irresolutely.

Liu Heita cheerfully said, “As long as you are willing to do business, then it will be all right. As for the other matters, without me telling you, you might make an attempt to have a firm grasp on Wang Shichong or Du Fuwei. This will bring us great benefit.”

Smiling wryly, Kou Zhong said, “Liu Dage is very straightforward. In the end, you and your Xia Wang basically do not need to fear that my Shao Shuai Army, which, alone, does not have much power, would play any trick on you.”

Liu Heita calmly said, “Although currently you are one of the few people that I think highly of, but under present circumstances, it is still difficult for you to accomplish anything. Right now I do not have any doubt that it will be very difficult for me to persuade you to realign your allegiance to Dou Ye, but you must never be a hardheaded hero. Once the city of Jiangdu fell, or perhaps Wang Shichong is coming to the east, in your most critical moment, you must never forget that I, Liu Heita, am your brother, who have been through trials and tribulations, life and death situation together with you. You only need to send me a letter, I will definitely help you with all my strength. At that time we will crisscross the world side by side; won’t that be delightful?”

Kou Zhong sighed and said, “Thinking about it is indeed delightful. Liu Dage is certainly a political adviser with extraordinary charm. But I do not know whether I ought to look forward to the coming of that kind of days. Anyway, back to the topic, what business brought Liu Dage here to see me?”

Liu Heita did not mince his word, “We give you warhorses and weapons, you supply us with produce and rice grain; benefiting both sides without bringing any harm.”

Kou Zhong laughed involuntarily and said, “After all, your Dou Daye wishes that I can hold on for a few more days, right? Such a good offer, how can I, Kou Zhong, refuse?”

Liu Heita stretched out his big hand to shake Kou Zhong’s. He said in low voice, “Be careful! Remember the saying: as long as the green mountain remains, no need to worry there won’t be any firewood. I am off! I will send someone to contact you later.”

Kou Zhong was stunned, “You are not going to spend the night to chat with me?” he asked.

Liu Heita helplessly replied, “I am actually in the situation where I could not spare myself to meet this appointment. How come I did not see Xiao Ling?’

Kou Zhong walked with him to the main gate, he said, “He went south. Come! Let me send you off outside the city.”

Liu Heita’s countenance went dark; he said, “Did he go to Baling to look for your virtuous sister?”

Kou Zhong felt as if his heart was pierced by an awl or steel needle; after hesitating for half a day, he nodded and simply replied, “Yes!”

[Ysabelkid]

Thanks foxs

[wangxiaohu]

This thread is 3,5 years old, while foxs has satisfactorily translated 1/3 of the 63 books, hence, we are looking forward for another 7 years of this magnificent story.
Foxs, looking past these years, we were very, very lucky to be able to read your works, and we cannot stop thanking and praising over your translation quality, perseverance and determination.
Hope Laotianye grants you health and happiness, always.
Thank you foxs.

[9Dragons]

I really enjoyed Gui Xiliang and Xu Ziling's exchange about the Bangzhu's position. It really elevated Xu Ziling's maturity and problem solving abilities. Gui Xiliang is currently unfit for the leadership role, but he can step up reining in this once in a rare opportunity to climb up the ranks.

With support up and down the organization, everything is already presented on a silver platter. At least he is sensible enough to recognize that the road will be arduous. Even for a minor character, I find the situation quite interesting.

[HPC7595]

Thanks foxs

[akolaw]

I really enjoyed Gui Xiliang and Xu Ziling's exchange about the Bangzhu's position. It really elevated Xu Ziling's maturity and problem solving abilities. Gui Xiliang is currently unfit for the leadership role, but he can step up reining in this once in a rare opportunity to climb up the ranks.

With support up and down the organization, everything is already presented on a silver platter. At least he is sensible enough to recognize that the road will be arduous. Even for a minor character, I find the situation quite interesting.

Da Tang have a lot of characters and many of them have their own stories and not a faceless name, they are knit together as a web and we meet them from time to time and learn about their progress.

Another great novel they build a large web is Zhu Shan (the legend of jian xia from mountain of Zhu), but the author gave too much detail on the sub stories which blur the main plot, I prefer the many sub stories, and the leave blank/liu ba in da Tang.

[LuDongBin]

Thks foxs.

[徐中銳]

Foxs, looking past these years, we were very, very lucky to be able to read your works, and we cannot stop thanking and praising over your translation quality, perseverance and determination.
Hope Laotianye grants you health and happiness, always.
Thank you foxs.

By your vindication, he's not an axis of weevil.

[Jayariyin]

Thanks, foxs.

[foxs]

Ysabel, HPC, DongBin, Jaya, you are welcome. Xiaohu, thanks for the well wishes. Kowloon, good observation. Akolaw, thanks for sharing. Xu Xiong, what's weevil?

---

Book 21 Chapter 10 – Back in Yangzhou

The ship arrived at Yangzhou.

From his vantage point at the port side of the ship, Xu Ziling surveyed the big commercial port overlooking the sea in the mist of the dawn; his heart was filled with myriads of emotion. It was as if a prodigal son who left his village, after going through ten thousand crags and torrents, and disaster after disaster, finally returned to his starting point.

The strange thing was that when the last time he was in Yangzhou to see the muddleheaded ruler, Emperor Yang, he did not have the same feeling.

It was the wounding-the-spirit, breaking-the-soul feeling of sea voyage, when they let Susu made the choice that would affect the rest of her life.

Xu Ziling felt a stab of pain in his heart.

Standing beside him, Xing Rong sighed and said, “Sowing one, reaping two. Speaking about commercial trade of the whole nation, our Yangzhou has always been at the top of the list, otherwise our Zhuhua Bang would not be the other big gang besides Baling Bang. Therefore, after moving around everywhere, our zongduo [lit. helms, i.e. the headquarter] has always moved back here. Shao Lingzhou put himself under debt from Li Zitong, this will have its own cause and effects.”

The world ‘sowing’ [yang] referred to Yangzhou, the word ‘reaping’ [or ‘benefitting’, yi] referred to Yizhou, namely, the Shu County in Sichuan.

Yangzhou, Jiangdu, and the likes were like the Luoyang of the Central Plains, which was the hub of the water and land transport connecting all parts of the country, especially the waterway aspect, since it was at the intersection of the Canal and the Yangtze River, as well as at the coast of Yangtze River leading to the sea, hence it’s geographical superiority could be inferred.

As for the land route, from Yangzhou to the east was Shandong, to the west Sichuan, to the south extended to Huguang’s [i.e. Hubei and Hunan provinces] relay stations along the major route.

All these factors combined, Yangzhou became the strategic hub of sea, land, and river transports, the center of distribution connecting the water and land routes of the north and the south. Since the Sui Dynasty, large number of rice, salt, cloth and silk passed by this area on their way north to supply the Central Plains, as well as Ji Shan regions [Hebei and Shaanxi]. Yangzhou was also reckoned to be first or second best metropolitan in the nation. The principal commodity were precious stones, salt distribution, wood, brocade, copperware, and so on.

When Emperor Yang was murdered by the rebel army headed by Yuwen Huaji, Du Fuwei’s Jiang Huai Army was one step too late, so he could only watch when Li Zitong took this most important big city in the south. It was like one move difference in the game of chess.

Such a large river like Yangtze River, which was the convergence of the waterways in the world, no one had the capability to completely seal it off for a long period of time. To heavily besiege Yangzhou was definitely not an easy matter. The reason Du Fuwei was willing to cooperate with Shen Faxing was simply because he wanted to draw support from Shen Faxing’s navy fleet with its rich naval battle experience, plus the backbone of Shen Faxing’s navy was Hai Sha Bang’s huge fleet of warships.

Hai Sha Bang’s Gang Leader was originally the ‘Dragon King’ Han Gaitian. But when they mounted a sneak attack to the newly established Shuang Long Bang’s base camp in Changshu, he was heavily injured by Xu Ziling, and his internal injury could not recover completely, until finally he had to give way to the Beautiful Mermaid You Qiuyan, with the ‘Fat Assassin’ You Gui and the ‘Roaming General’ Ling Zhigao as the Left and Right Deputy Gang Leader, respectively. They reorganized the Gang, and recovered the Gang’s power somewhat.

Jiangdu Yangzhou was ‘governmental city’, with two layers of city walls forming the entire city, linked up by undulating hills.

‘Governmental city’ was the seat of the imperial palace, also the seat of the Zongguan Mansion and other governmental offices, concentrated in one location, much like the Imperial City of Luoyang, which was located on elevated ground; easily guarded, hard to attack. In those days, were it not for Yuwen Huaji revolted from within the nest, he might not necessarily be able to murder Emperor Yang, who was under the full protection of the Dugu Clan.

Under the ‘governmental city’, the commercial and residential area extended outside the second wall built around the main city wall. This rectangular city was inhabited by close to two hundred thousand people, with most residents live in the southern crown of the city.

The main street was lined with willow trees every a thousand paces, the red clouds were reflected on the two layers of city wall. The inner city spanned eleven li from north to south, and seven li from east to west, the perimeter was about forty li.

Xu Ziling and Kou Zhong’s struggling and challenging, but precious childhood years were spent in the approximately 80-li perimeter outer city. Reminiscing about the past, all kinds of memory flooded back into his mind; how could he not be overcome by emotions?

Noticing that Xu Ziling’s eyes were gleaming with odd expression, Gui Xiliang, standing on his other side, thought that Xu Ziling felt strange because he did not see the troops and horses besieging the city; thereupon he explained, “This past year or so the war has been stop-and-go; three sides of Jiangdu face river and ocean, the harbor is deep and wide, besieging the city is easier said than done. Plus in the other big city Zhongli, Li Zitong has massive military force, which from time to time raided the besieging enemy via the waterway. Therefore, each time Du Fuwei and Shen Lun finished their turn in besieging the city, they must retreat and regroup to restore their strength; otherwise, how could Li Zitong hold on until today?”

Inwardly Xu Ziling admired Kou Zhong: the reason Du and Shen, two armies were unwilling to siege the city together was because they were suspicious of each other, and Kou Zhong was able to grasp this critical conflict between the two, thereupon he would be able to calmly set up a driving-a-wedge-between-them stratagem. But Xu Ziling did not know that it was Xu Xingzhi who first thought about this crucial point, and not Kou Zhong at all.

Although the pier outside the city could not be compared to its former glory where thousands of ships were docking side by side, their sails and masts covering the sky, but there were at least a hundred ships, big and small, moored along the coast. It appeared that they were taking advantage of this brief period of peace to do business.

Their ship slowly docked. The welcoming committee consisted of Luo Feng and about a dozen Gang members, as well as a small group of troops and sergeants of Li Zitong’s army.

Just by looking at this kind of welcome, it was thus clear that Li Zitong and Shao Lingzhou hardly attached any importance to Gui Xiliang.

Xu Ziling stepped back so that he would not be too conspicuous.

Luo Qifei moved over to his side and said, “Looks like we have a little bit of trouble.”

Xu Ziling nodded and said, “We have to change according to the situation.”

The ship finally cast its anchor, Luo Feng was the first to come aboard, with a slightly helpless intonation he said to Gui Xiliang, “Da Wang’s [The King] order, all ships arriving at Jiangdu must be inspected, both the passengers and the goods. After everything is verified properly, you may enter the city.”

Gui Xiliang’s countenance changed, he said, “Even we, Zhuhua Bang men are not exempt? On this trip I was on mission for Da Wang himself!”

Luo Feng reached out to grab his shoulder and said, “Be patient a bit! We all know what is going on inside.”

His gaze fell on Xu Ziling, disguised as the ‘Scarface Hero’, and the others, seventeen people in all; he asked, “Are these honored guests brothers from Shao Shuai Army?”

Xu Ziling cupped his fist and replied in hoarse voice, “Xiaodi is the ‘Feng Dao’ [wind saber] Ling Feng of Shandong. I came here to see Luo Tangzhu [hall master/leader], indeed under Shao Shuai’s order to wait on Gui Tangzhu.”

Naturally Luo Feng has never heard that in the Wulin world of Shandong there existed such figure; inwardly he was apprehensive, but on the surface he put on a your-name-has-been-known-to-me-for-a-long-time appearance, and said, “The inspection process should ne reasonable and fair, it is not to deliberately make things difficult for you, I hope Ling Xiong will show understanding, otherwise how could we cooperate with Shao Shuai?”

Turning his head around, he signaled the Li Army troops waiting on the shore to come aboard to inspect the ship.

Xu Ziling sighed inwardly, knowing that the trouble has just begun.

※ ※ ※

Returning to Yangzhou was like returning to a far away, yet forever unforgettable dream. Whether it was inside or outside the city, everywhere he looked, there were traces of the shocking-the-eye, astonishing-the-heart fire of war, collapsed and damaged city walls, charred and abandoned siege equipment in all kinds of shape and sizes, sunken warships, and bloodstain on the streets, which had turned black, the ruins of houses after the fire, crumbling walls and scattered roof tiles everywhere.

But the people were accustomed to this kind of sight; except for the migrant workers who were working on mending the walls, for others, life went on as usual.

Due to lack of warhorses, everybody entering the city must rely on their legs; they walked slowly while carefully observing the desolation of the trauma of war.

The Zhuhua Bang’s headquarters was back on its former site, at the foot of a hillock right next to the inner city wall, but the building was of new construction, the scale was more magnificent than the previous one, the complex was composed of seven compounds, each has its own separate wall, connected to each other by gateways and passageways; four of those buildings housed the Wind, Clear, Rain, and Dew, four Halls.

Before reaching the headquarters, Luo Feng and Gui Xiliang moved to the front of the line, while constantly conversing with each other in low voices. Xu Ziling and Xing Rong brought up the rear. When they were passing the most famous red-light district in Yangzhou, the Willow Lane, Xing Rong whispered in Xu Ziling’s ear, “Madame Yuling reopened the House of Heavenly Fragrance, and nowadays it has become Yangzhou’s most famous pleasure house, and the Two Principals of Heavenly Fragrance are the most famous talented ladies of the south; it won’t be easy for anybody to see them, so let me take you out tonight.”

[徐中銳]

Xu Xiong, what's weevil?

Let it pass. Either we're all evil, or I'm joshing the menagerie.

[Ysabelkid]

Thanks foxs

[wangxiaohu]

Thanks foxs... Bloody fight next update?

[paonakata]

Sorry foxs, my dad had some health problems (pneumonia) and was in and out of the hospital the last couple weeks, but he’s recovering really well now so I finally found time to catch up on everything I missed!

Paona, are you trying to butter me up?

Xiaohu said what I was gonna say, but waaay better

This thread is 3,5 years old, while foxs has satisfactorily translated 1/3 of the 63 books, hence, we are looking forward for another 7 years of this magnificent story.
Foxs, looking past these years, we were very, very lucky to be able to read your works, and we cannot stop thanking and praising over your translation quality, perseverance and determination.
Hope Laotianye grants you health and happiness, always.
Thank you foxs.

Speaking of which, foxs, I’ve noticed lately we’ve been getting a lot of gibberish text polluting the original chinese source text, what’s the reason for this?--bad scanning technology or the writer was tripping on drugs?

[paonakata]

Interesting to note that there's some variance between how our story here is playing out and history:

<< https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Zit...u_and_Zhejiang >>
Struggle for modern Jiangsu and Zhejiang
Li Zitong's activities for the next several years were not clear, other than that he continued to occupy Hailing. After Emperor Yang was killed in the spring of 618 at Jiangdu (江都, in modern Yangzhou, Jiangsu) in a coup led by the general Yuwen Huaji, Yuwen then left Jiangdu and Li contended for control of the lower Yangtze River region against Du Fuwei, Shen Faxing the King of Liang, and the former Sui general Chen Leng (陳稜). In the fall of 619, Li put Jiangdu, then controlled by Chen, under siege. Chen sought help from Shen and Du; Du led forces to relieve Chen personally while Shen sent his son Shen Guan (沈綸). Accepting the suggestion of his official Mao Wenshen (毛文深), Li tricked Du and Shen Guan into battling each other by launching an attack on Du with soldiers that pretended to be Shen's troops. Neither was then able to assist Chen, and Li soon captured Jiangdu. He claimed the title of Emperor of Wu once he did so.

<< https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Du_Fuw...Yangtze_region >>
Meanwhile, Du was contending for the control of the region with Chen Leng, who took over Jiangdu after Yuwen's departure; Li Zitong, then at Hailing (海陵, in modern Taizhou, Jiangsu); and Shen Faxing, then at Piling (毗陵, in modern Changzhou, Jiangsu) and who claimed the title of Prince of Liang. In fall 619, Li was sieging Chen at Jiangling, and Chen sought help from both Shen and Du. Shen sent his son Shen Guan (沈綸) with an army to assist Chen, along with Du. However, Li tricked Shen Guan and Du into attacking each other, and neither was able to assist Chen. Li was able to capture Jiangdu, and then defeated Shen Guan in battle. Both Shen Guan and Du withdrew, and Li took over the Jiangdu region. Li declared himself the Emperor of Wu. With Yang Tong's regime having fallen earlier that year when Yang Tong's official Wang Shichong forced Yang Tong to yield the throne to him, ending Sui and establishing a new state of Zheng, Du decided to submit to Tang Dynasty. Emperor Gaozu of Tang commissioned Du as the commandant of He Prefecture (i.e., Liyang) and the commander of the forces south of the Huai River. He also continued to have Du hold the title of Prince of Chu.

<< https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shen_Faxing >>
Meanwhile, rivaling Shen for the control of the region were the agrarian leader Du Fuwei at Liyang (歷陽, in modern Chaohu, Anhui); the Sui official Chen Leng (陳稜) at Jiangdu; and the agrarian leader Li Zitong at Hailing (海陵, in modern Taizhou, Jiangsu). In the fall of 619, Li was besieging Chen at Jiangling and Chen sought help from both Shen and Du. Shen sent his son Shen Guan (沈綸) with an army to assist Chen, along with Du. However, Li tricked Shen Guan and Du into attacking each other, and neither was able to assist Chen. Li was able to capture Jiangdu, and then defeated Shen Guan in battle. Both Shen Guan and Du withdrew, and Li took over the Jiangdu region.