Wu Jin Zang. Pang Bei

in such a precarious situation, the king still refused to criticize himself. The king was scarcely informed as he was not in the forbidden palace.

      At three quarters past the noon, the royal guard army started killing. The petitioners fled in panic, three of whom were immediately killed.

      I gazed afar at the imperial palace on the Qixia Mountain, but my vision was blocked out by range upon range of hills. I strained my eyes to look at the distance. It seemed that I saw a cluster of weak flames at the moment. I did not know that someone was burning himself then. Father was at the point of death. Students of the imperial college cried for justice. Someone bled and burned himself. But I could only hide on this mountain watching.

      My mother said that Father’s imprisonment boded ill rather than well, but the Lin’s lineage should not end. As my parents’ only son, I should survive to perpetuate my family. I bathed and fasted to welcome the day of my capping ceremony, which turned out to be my day of suffering. Capping ceremony and learning rites means you would be a son of man, an official, an upright man, and then govern other people. My path of life would be changed by the misfortune. On this day of capping ceremony marking the start of my adulthood, I became a castaway due to misfortune. Would the petitioning students return to the imperial college? I would no longer be able to return. A traveling bag replaced my schoolbag. I had nothing but the traveling bag which kept my company while I fled for life. It would be difficult for me to return to the marquis’ mansion where I used to live an extravagant life, as that residence would no longer be my home. My mother would stay there, waiting for the king’s judgment. If Father could not escape death, my mother would go with him.

      Was this cowardly king going to murder my whole family? Father’s alleged crime was scheming to rebel and collusion with the dynasty in the Central Plain. I swore to heaven and earth. Father was absolutely not a traitor, absolutely free from any ambition to defect. Once Father secretly told the king that he was planning to lead the army north to cross the river and recover fourteen prefectures south of the Huaihe River. He also made a secret suggestion that the king might announce General Lin had led the army to defect on the date of attack, to show that the king’s loyalty to the Central Plain. “If the scheme succeeds, the territory will be recovered and the state will benefit; if the scheme failed, kill my whole family to show that you do not plan to attack.” Father would choose to bear the stigma of treason and did not hesitate to pledge his family, which showed his unquestioning and self-sacrificing loyalty to the king. But the king, afraid of being punished by the Central Plain, only sought temporary ease and peace. In the Han Dynasty, when the Qidan people entered the south, the Central Plain was chaotic, and Han Xizai also also strongly advocated that they should recover the north in its time of turmoil. But Emperor Yuanzong did not attempt to make progress and finally incurred the ruin of ceding territory and river. Father proposed this scheme of pretended defection, only to be denounced by the king as being preposterous. Thus, Southern Tang let slip another golden opportunity. (Fortunately, the king was too fatuous and cowardly to accept Father’s proposal. Otherwise should there be a disaster of family extermination, I would not have lived till now, and Father’s illustrious name would have been damaged as a result. Not self-seeking and sacrificing one’s family to save the state are indeed a feat inspiring awe and reverence, but such actions are also deprivations of humanity! Such exploits can well be spared of considering normal human relations! I once harbored secret grudge against Father because of this, and such grudge has been with me for many years.)

      It was said that the Central Plain did act rashly to invade Southern Tang because of Tiger Lin, namely my father General Lin. Whenever I think of Father after I had memory, I would think of that tattoo of fierce tiger on his body. It was said that Tiger Lin was the only brave general in Jiangnan, and thus was regarded by all those in and off the court as the key to the survival of the state. Father was the best of generals, but was not fortunate enough to meet a wise king, as the king was content with temporary ease and comfort by sacrificing his own respect. In a precarious time when the state was in a turmoil and people lived in fear, Southern Tang still sued for peace with gold and silk, only to drag out an ignoble existence. Those flattering pivotal officials were in fact lazy and incompetent cats. But who could predict that evil would arise in the the king’s heart to murder his loyal subject.

      It was a tyrant who removed his right-hand men while reigning a state. This sentimental, fatuous and cowardly king was actually a headstrong person. It was in the sixth year of the Kaibao Period that Pan You, a domestic history drafter, was forced to kill himself for sending in a frank piece of advice, and Li Ping, Minister of Agriculture, was also hanged in prison. Of the officials in power, the scholars of my generation and myself were especially attracted by Pan You. Handsome and upright, Pan You once sent in seven pieces of advice in a row, speaking outright of current malpractices. His cautionary and alarming remarks are among rare writings in the world, “The king, who governth the world for heaven, should prioritize people’s livelihood; if the court wants to serve the people, officials must be well managed. Since your ascension to the throne, you have been working hard to protect crafty and evil persons, tolerate flatterers and cheaters, and gather vile characters in the court. As a result, people are scared like winter cicadas and tongue-tied when they meet. The country is declining like the day is close to night. By now, the country’s boundary has been ruined, robbers rise up in swarms, the state is shrouded in sorrows. Ordinary people are pathetic, while the officials are still muddleheaded and busy amusing themselves. In view of such national affairs, one cannot help but cry bitterly. In the past, when Jie, Zhou and Sun Hao ruined their state and family, they incurred the disaster by themselves, but still became laughing stocks; now your majesty takes in evil people to ruin the state, and goes far beyond the sin of Jie, Zhou and Sun Hao. I, a commoner and low scholar, have been favored by the state. But I cannot work with treacherous officials or serve a king leading the state to annihilation. If your majesty is offended by my remarks, please have me killed to let the world know!”

      The royal guards in orange riding horses and carrying sword and spears, attending the officer of imperial palace services, ran directly towards the Lin’s mansion. Father was brushing his horse in the stable beside the ball court. The black and white horse jumped and leaped all of a sudden, shaking its manes and neighing loudly. I heard hurried clops outside the wall, and I saw the door guard opened the central gate at the gatehouse in a hurry.

      “This is an edict bringing Lin Renzhao to justice.”

      Father knelt on the ground according to rites.

      The messenger announced the edict in a high-pitched voice.

      “Recently, a comet has passed across the moon; the Mars has encroached upon the Big Dipper. Such phenomena mean that a subject is instigating a social upheaval, which will surely incur disasters of war. At the sight of such warnings from the natural phenomena, I feel very worried and apprehensive. As the order is given by the heaven, people do not have to fear. It is reported that Lin Renzhao has recently been stationed in Hongzhou, attempting to declare himself king of Jiangxi; as a commander of the army for long, he is seeking to collude with the enemy and defect from our state. Information has been obtained through espionage that Bianliang has prepared a luxury mansion for him, with a painting of his as the pledge, which has been witnessed by an envoy. Such treason is too serious to be tolerated! Remove his official titles, namely Commander of Brilliant Army, Commander-in-Chief of Our Army, Military Governor of Ningguo Army, Inspector, Grand Commandant and Privy Counselor, Chief of Southern Capital, and Marquis Collecting Tax from 1000 Households. By the king himself!” (The editor’s note: After seizing the State of Wu, the founding king of Southern Tang settled in Jinling as capital. First, Yangzhou, the capital of the former State of Wu, was set as the eastern capital. At that time, the Yangtze River did not enter the sea in Yangzhou. By the period of the middle king, fourteen prefectures north of the Yangtze River were ceded, and Yangzhou was handed to the Later Zhou Dynasty in the Central Plain. Southern Tang set up a southern capital in Hongzhou, today’s Nanchang of Jiangxi Province.)

      Father, astonished, raised his head slowly. Father’s strong-built figure was even rare among military officers. I saw his figure trembling. Father directly looked at more across the crowd, with only exhaustion and despair in his facial expression. Father looked at me ponderously.

      “I’ll go inside quickly to bid farewell to