King Cheng, later First Emperor of Ch'in, ascends the throne of the strongest of the seven contending kingdoms at the age of thirteen. Premier Lu Pu Wei, actual sire of the King, and Lao Ai, the Queen Mother's paramour, are rival powers behind the throne. After his coronation, King Cheng eliminates both factions and plans to conquer the other six kingdoms. His ambition is greatly facilitated by the help of able aliens, including Li Sze, Liao and the irrigation expert Cheng Kuo, who comes to Ch'in to help him weld the kingdoms into one domain, hoping to save the people from incessant war and chaos.
Act IV: Turtles In An Urn
Scene I
Scene: The home of Li Mu, famous general of the Kingdom of Chao and also Count of Wu An.
Time: Nineteenth year in the reign of King Cheng of Ch'in or the eighth year in the reign of King Tsien of Chao (228 B. C.).
Dramatis Personae: Gen. Fu T'i: Aide to Li Mu.
Li Mu's wife: She is around 50 years of age with gray hair and a benign look. But her eyes sometimes reveal flashes of penetration, seeming to expose both hidden wisdom and the steely side of her character.
Yen Niang: A beautiful girl given to Li Mu by the King of Chao.
Gen. Li Mu: Count of Wu An.
Kuo Kai: An official of Chao and a traitor.
Chao Tsung: A general of Chao.
Eunuch Chao Chung: Disguised as an old woman and servitor of Li Mu's wife.
Stage Setting: Li Mu's study. There is a low desk against the window at upstage right. On the desk are a pile of books made of wooden slabs and fastened together by strings, a vase, a set of writing brushes and a bowl holding black varnish to be used as ink. At the other side of the room, against the wall, there is a rack with bars to hold the eight kinds of weapon: saber, spear, sword, halberd, hatchet, ax, hook and fork. Another rack holds an old suit of armor with bronze scales and bronze heart-protecting mirrors, a saddle studded with precious stones and a few silk scrolls. In the center of the room a thick mat covers the floor. Straw cushions are placed on the mat and on the wall are a giant bow and a leather quiver holding a number of arrows. There is a door at upstage left leading to an inner chamber and another at downstage right leading to the hall.
The Curtain Rises
Eunuch Chao in old woman's disguise is cleaning the room. Enter Fu T'i led by a man servant.
OLD WOMAN: Ah! General Fu! Has our master come back?
FU T'I: (Nods.) He returned before daybreak.
OLD WOMAN: Then why isn't he here yet?
FU T'I: He went straight to court to discuss some important matters with His Majesty the King. But he'll be home soon.
OLD WOMAN: I must report this to madam at once. (Exit Old Woman.)
FU T'I (Looking around, to man servant.) My! My! No one would believe this is the home of a count, a world renowned general! An ordinary man's study would look more lavish.
SERVANT: It's all because our madam has such a kind heart. She never collects rents from the tenant farmers of the vassalage unless there is an unusually good harvest.
FU T'I: (Sighs.) Saints! Both of them! When General Li gets his annual remuneration, he never fails to throw a grand feast for all his men. He lives like an ordinary soldier and looks after his men as a father looks after his children. Every one of us is willing to die for him!
SERVANT: Saint and savior of Chao! Several times he has saved Chao by defeating the Ch'in army. (A pause.) How is the situation at the front?
FU T'I: (Hesitates a little.) I am afraid not very good. (Then smiles.) But with Gen. Li leading the army we never can be defeated. People say the mere mention of Li Mu's name has the enemy quivering with fear. (Both laugh.) I had better go back to the old general. I'm a bit worried about him. I heard him raise his voice several times during the conference with His Majesty. (Exit Fu T'i followed by the servant. Enter Madam Li and Yen Niang.)
YEN: Madam, it has been more than a year since our master's last home leave. An ordinary man would have come home first.
MADAM LI: (With a faint smile.) But he is not an ordinary man and I'm proud of him. (Moves about, arranging things in the room.)
YEN: (Puts hands over her heart. Aside.) How I wish I could also openly say 'I'm proud of him'! (Taking out a handkerchief, she wipes her eyes.)
MADAM LI: (Turns her head just in time to see Yen wiping her tears.) Yen Niang, aren't you feeling well?
YEN: (Hurriedly puts away the handkerchief.) Some dust has gotten in my eye.
MADAM LI: (Goes to Yen.) You don't have to lie to me. I have often seen you shedding stealthy tears and letting your food be taken away untouched. What's the matter with you?
YEN: Maybe I'm just a little homesick.
MADAM LI: Then why did you refuse to go back to Yen when the master offered to free you? (Yen loses self control and bursts into tears.)
MADAM LI: (Taking Yen in her arms.) Poor, poor child! Cry to your heart's content. You may feel better afterward. It's better than pining away in silence.
YEN: (Greatly moved, kneels down.) Madam, you are so kind. You are not like those ordinary wives who treat their husbands' concubines like slaves.
MADAM LI: (Smiles good-naturedly.) Being the wife of an uncommon man, I have to be slightly different from ordinary women. Now will you tell me what's your real trouble?
YEN: Madam... Madam ... but I don't know how to put it into words.
MADAM LI: Try, try your best to tell me. Maybe I can help you. Now, let's sit down here. You will feel more at ease this way. (Both sit on the cushions.)
YEN: I can only illustrate my feelings in allegory.
MADAM LI: All right, go ahead.
YEN: (Looking out through the window with upturned face, letting the sunshine fall full upon it.) The sun rises from the east. It embraces the moon in its warm rays. The sun sets in the west. It casts the moon a parting glance. The sun rises and sets and the moon waxes and wanes. In the brightness of the sun and the moon, the little star just fades away.
MADAM LI: (Comprehending.) You are complaining that you are being neglected .by the master.
YEN: (Bowing her head.) I dare not complain, Madam. It's my lot. When I was twelve, I was captured by your army and sent to the court as a slave to work in the palace brewery. I thought I would never leave that dungeon. Then three years later I was given by the King together with five others to the master as a reward for his military achievements. I looked at my master, a paragon of strength and righteousness. I secretly congratulated myself. But when we were presented to him, he didn't even look at us. With a wave of hand, he asked the eunuch who brought us here to set us free and marry us off.
MADAM LI: You were the only one who chose to stay.
YEN: Madam, after one has seen the ocean, rivers and brooks are just water; after one has seen the clouds of Wu Mountain, other clouds are just vapor; after I have seen the master, other men are dwarfs. I would rather be his slave than the wife of a common man.
MADAM LI: (Smiling.) It's strange. Instead of feeling jealous, I feel very much pleased to hear my husband being so highly praised by his concubine.
YEN: It is because, Madam, you are so sure of his love.
MADAM LI: (Shaking her head.) His first love is Chao and the people of Chao. His mind is always preoccupied by affairs of state. Maybe that's why he has been neglecting you, or (smiling wittingly), maybe because he is too old. (Yen blushes deeply.) I'll ask him to go to your chamber tonight.
YEN: Oh! Madam! (Getting up abruptly and running off to the inner room.)
MADAM LI: (Eyeing Yen as she runs off. Shaking her head.) How could I blame her? Everyone in Chao loves and worships him. (Getting up.) He is like a demigod to us. (She smooths her hair and dress.) A paragon of strength and righteousness! (She walks to the rack holding the armor and saddle, and fondles the jewels on the saddle.) A gift from the King for his fifteen years of military service at the northern frontier. When he was there, no barbarians dared graze their cattle south of the Great Wall. I'm so proud of him! Ah! This armor! It belonged·to that Ch'in general. What's his name? (Inclining her head as she tries to think.) Huan Yi? Yes, General Huan Yi, that's his name. Poor fellow, he had to throwaway his armor in order to run faster. (Smiles.) None of his hundred thousand soldiers ever returned to Ch'in. ... (Ovation is heard from offstage.)
VOICES: Hurrah for General Li!
Savior of Chao!
Welcome home, General Li!
SERVANT: (Rushing in from downstage entrance.) Madam, the master has arrived, but he is besieged by people at the gate. He ... he ... he can't get in.
MADAM LI: Don't get excited. The master's homecoming is always like that. (A pause.) You must be quite new here.
SERVANT: (Embarrassed.) Yes, Madam, only six months. (Yen Niang re-enters with a red flower pinned in her hair. Offstage a voice shouts above the din.)
VOICE: Make way for the general. Madame is expecting him.
CHORUS: Make way for the general! Make way! (The din subsides. The sound of a galloping horse is heard, then that of heavy boots. People on the stage stand at attention. General Li appears at the downstage doorway. He is tall and strongly built. Yellow dust and sand still cling to his face, his helmet and his armor.)
MADAM LI: (Walking to him as if in a dream, she touches his armor, then his hand.) Am I in one of my dreams?
GENERAL LI: (Holding her hands in his.) No, Madam, I am really back, though I cannot stay very long. (A pause.) How is your health? (They walk to the center of the room.)
MADAM LI: Neither very good nor very bad. Losing appetite. Otherwise I am all right. How have you been?
GENERAL LI: Just look at me. I still can finish a calf per meal. (Yen Niang comes up and curtsies to General Li.)
GENERAL LI: (Nods his head in acknowledgement. To Madam.) I thought you had already chosen a good mate for her, as I made you do the last time I was home. (Yen rushes off in tears.)
MADAM LI: (Disapprovingly.) I don't quite understand, General, she is such a pretty maid and you don't seem to like her.
GENERAL LI: It's because I don't want to do her any further wrong.
MADAM LI: You haven't done her any wrong (with a witty smile), that is, as far as I know.
GENERAL LI: (Ignoring his wife's jest.) I've done her a great deal of wrong. I invaded her country, made her a captive, then a slave; I've wronged her enough. The very sight of her reminds me of my great error. Now that we are being invaded by Ch'in, we have no face to ask the king of Yen to help us.
MADAM LI: How could you blame yourself? You invaded Yen by the king's order.
GENERAL LI: I could have stopped ... Madam, we are like a pack of foolish dogs—the allies and the neutral Chi—going for each other's throat at the smallest conflict of interest, or over some minor friction or petty jealousy, while the hyena Ch'in sits quietly watching. Now that each of us has retreated to his kennel wounded, the hyena comes to attack us one at a time! It KILLS! It LAUGHS! (Imitates the laughter of a hyena. The sound is so demoniac that Madam Li shudders. She drops onto the cushion behind her.)
GENERAL LI: (Putting his hand on his wife's shoulder.) I'm sorry to have scared you like that. But my heart aches to see that not a single soldier from our allies, not to say Chi, has come to our rescue (Sighs.) despite all the urgent messages we have sent them.
MADAM LI: Why ... Why did they refuse to help us?
GENERAL LI: Actually they are afraid of the ruthless and powerful Ch'in, but they all gave the same excuse: our king is not the rightful heir. (Madam Li sighs.) I still don't know why our late King suddenly decided to depose Crown Prince Chiao Someone must have traduced him. Someone must have traduced him! I wish I knew who that villain was! I would like to put my hands on his neck! (A servant comes in.)
SERVANT: (Bows.) Master, Ta Fu Kuo Kai calls.
GENERAL LI: (Frowns deeply.) Tell him I've no time to see him.
SERVANT: Yes, Master. (Exits.)
MADAM LI: Who is Kuo Kai?
GENERAL LI: (Between his teeth.) A turtle's egg! An intimate of both the late King and the present. He's responsible for the exile of our famous old general Lien Po. People said he accepted bribes from the kingdom of Wei and tra ... (Coming to sudden comprehension.) He might have something to do with the deposing of Crown Prince Chia ... I'm sure he had a hand in it.
MADAM LI: I'm glad you refused to see him. (A maid comes in through the door at upstage left.)
MAID: (Curtsies.) Master, your bath is ready.
GENERAL LI: (Sighs.) What's the use of taking a bath! It can't wash away the dirt and sand upon my heart! (Sits down at the desk.)
MADAM LI: General, you really need a bath badly.
GENERAL LI: (Seriously.) I want to talk to you first.
MADAM LI: (To the maid.) Keep the bathwater warm. Master will bathe later.
MAID: (Curtsies.) Yes, Madam. (Exits.)
GENERAL LI: Madam, I have to go back to the front right away.
MADAM LI: (Startled.) Not right away!
GENERAL LI: Yes, right away.
MADAM LI: (Sadly.) Why?
GENERAL LI: Because we are fighting against great odds and the battle is at its hottest. I shouldn't have left the front in the first place.
MADAM LI: (With a slight chill in her tone.) Then why did you?
GENERAL LI: The King summoned me and my second in command, Sze-Ma Shang.
MADAM LI: Why?
GENERAL LI: He didn't give any sound reason. (A pause.) I could have refused this kind of unreasonable order but I chose to come back—to tell him and the whole court that (Opening his eyes wide.) we are losing the war!
MADAM LI: (Standing up nervously.) No, no, we'll not lose! We have you at the head of our army. We'll never lose the war!
GENERAL LI: (Sighs.) You are just as foolish as the other people of Chao. You expect me to work miracles. It's time all of you realize that I'm only a human being. I cannot stop the enemy's sharp weapons from piercing through our soldier's panoplies. All Ch'in soldiers are equipped with iron weapons. Iron weapons! IRON WEAPONS! (He takes an arrow tucked in his belt and throws it at the desk. The arrow cuts through the hardwood top and stands there ... Then he takes another arrow from the quiver on the wall and throws it at the same target. The arrow slips off to the floor.) See the difference? (Madam Li sadly nods her head.)
GENERAL LI: (With a sweep of his hand toward the rack of weapons.) All these weapons should have been dumped in the junk pile long ago! (Suddenly he sees that someone is standing at the downstage doorway. Angrily.) Who's there? (Kuo Kai comes in and bows to the general. Madam Li hurriedly leaves through the upstage door.)
KUO KAI: Kuo Kai, Ta Fu Kuo Kai. (Bows again.)
GENERAL LI: (Displeased.) What do you want?
KUO KAI: (Feigning concern over the general. Gravely.) Your reputation and even your life are at stake, general. I had to force my way in to give you this warning before it's too late.
GENERAL LI: (Annoyed.) What do you mean?
KUO KAI: (Acting mysteriously, he takes a quick look about the room, then tiptoes to close both doors. In a confidential tone.) Someone has reported to the King that you are plotting a coup d'etat in favor of the deposed Crown Prince Chiao It even was said that you have concluded secret peace with that Ch'in general Wang Chien. Luckily the King confided in me. I immediately rushed here to warn you.
GENERAL LI: (Unperturbed.) Nonsense, the King won't believe it.
KUO KAI: (Feigning anxiety.) The trouble is that His Majesty does believe it. (Intending to have a long talk.) May I sit down?
GENERAL LI: (Against his will.) Please.
KUO KAI: Aren't you going to sit down too, general?
GENERAL LI: No.
KUO KAI: (Sheepishly.) Then I had better stand too.
GENERAL LI: As you please. Now tell me who traduced me?
KUO KAI: I don't know. (After some thinking.) It must be someone who is after your post.
GENERAL LI: (Laughs outright.) I shall be glad to be relieved of my post.
KUO KAI: But, general, it's not so simple as that. You are accused of insurgency. Your life is in danger.
GENERAL LI: I'm not afraid. No one can produce any evidence against me.
KUO KAI: Do you remember when the late King decided to change his heir and you were strongly against it?
GENERAL LI: So what? Anyone with a right mind would have opposed it.
KUO KAI: You even called the present Queen Mother a prostitute.
GENERAL LI: (Opening his eyes wide with anger.) She was. Wasn't she?
KUO KAI: Yes, but that villain who traduced you used this incident as a proof of your disloyalty to the present King.
GENERAL LI: (Getting really angry.) I'm loyal to Chao and the people of Chao! Only a traitor would accuse me of disloyalty!
KUO KAI: No use getting angry, general. Time is pressing. Take my advice and leave the country.
GENERAL LI: I'll not leave. I can't betray the trust of my people. If I leave, within three months all people of Chao will be slaves of Ch'in.
KUO KAI: But what can you do except wait for the doom to come? Both the Queen Mother and the King are against you. They won't let you go back to the front again. Your best bet is to be relieved of all your duties.
GENERAL LI: Come what may, I would rather die than run away.
KUO KAI: You are not running away, general. You are only leaving these ungrateful people. I'm sure sovereigns of other kingdoms will be more than glad to have you, a universal1y renowned general! (He steals a furtive glance at General Li who is deep in thought. With a sheepish grin.) However, I'd advise you to go to Ch'in because other kingdoms are more or less in alliance with Chao.
GENERAL LI: (Angrily pointing to the door.) Get out of here at once!
KUO KAI: (His face red.) What ingratitude! (With a sweep of his sleeve to indicate displeasure, he makes for the door. But there he stops short. He steals a furtive glance at General Li, who is sitting at the desk deep in thought. Aside.) What if he should report to the King what I've just said. That'll make me a traitor. I must see the King at once. (Exit Kuo in a hurry. Enter Yen Niang in negligee and slippers. She is about to speak, then notes the general's mood and decides to remain silent.)
GENERAL LI: (Finally noticing her presence.) What are you standing there for? (Before Yen has a chance to answer, he goes on.) Go and ask your mistress to come here. I want to talk to her.
YEN: (Softly.) Yes, Master. (Exit Yen Niang.)
GENERAL LI: (Pacing the floor.) How am I going to tell her? I must break this bad news to her gently. (Enter Madam Li.)
MADAM LI: (Gravely.) General, you are in serious trouble.
GENERAL LI: (Surprised.) How do you know?
MADAM LI: Because you've antagonized a deadly snake and let it go without killing it.
GENERAL LI: You mean Kuo Kai?
MADAM LI: (Nods.) I couldn't help overhearing your shouting at him and from my room I saw him leaving the house with a face brimming with hatred. (Li Mu sighs deeply.) General, you are loved and worshipped by the people of Chao but you have failed them.
GENERAL LI: What do you mean I have failed the people of Chao?
MADAM LI: Yes, you've failed them by not getting rid of that traitor Kuo Kai. You knew very well what sort of a person he was after he plotted the old general Lien Po's exile. Yet you have suffered the disgrace of standing in the same court with him all these years.
GENERAL LI: (Puts his hands on his wife's shoulder, speaking good-naturedly.) My good wife, you have wrongly accused me. (Raising his right hand.) Although I've killed more than a thousand on the battlefield with my own hands, I've never killed a single person elsewhere. I abide by the law. Besides, I was away fighting most of the time.
MADAM LI: (Throwing herself into the arms of her husband who holds her tenderly.) How naive, how stupid I am! Please forgive me.
GENERAL LI: I like you better for that. In fact, I didn't expect that much gumption in you.
MADAM LI: Your praise only makes me more ashamed of myself. I've no talent, no looks, yet I married the best man of Chao.
GENERAL LI: You have a beautiful heart. That's what really counts. I've seen two of the most renowned beauties of the seven kingdoms: the dowager queen of the Kingdom of Ch'in and the dowager queen of our country, but they have the ugliest hearts. (Contemptuously.) They are she-devils in human skins!
MADAM LI: (Smiles.) General, you are biased.
GENERAL LI: No, I'm not. (Giving her a slight hug.)
MADAM LI: (Gently disengages herself from her husband's embrace.) I still can't get over that snake Kuo Kai. After all the infamous and underhanded things he has done, something in what he said or did will give him away some day.
GENERAL LI: (Thinking hard. Suddenly jumps up.) I've got it! I've got it! (Shouts.) Prepare my bath! (To Madam Li.) I'm going to see the King right away.
MADAM LI: (Also excited.) What is it? Please tell me.
GENERAL LI : Just now Kuo Kai tried to persuade me to run away to Ch'in. As we are at war with Ch'in, no one but a traitor would have suggested it.
MADAM LI: (Clapping her hands.) That's right. Please hurry. (As the general turns to go, she calls after him.) Ah! I almost forgot to ask you why you sent for me.
GENERAL LI: ( Walking toward the exit.) Kuo Kai said someone has accused me of treason to the King. (Noticing the worried expression on his wife's face.) Don't worry. I can clear myself as soon as I see the King. (Exit General Li. Madam Li sits on a cushion, deep in thought. Sometimes she smiles and sometimes she knits her brows. A crescendo of galloping horses is heard. Madam Li stands up abruptly and looks disturbed. After a while a servant rushes in.)
SERVANT: (Panting.) Madam, the house is besieged! Gen. Chao Tsung and his soldiers are surrounding our house. (Madam Li's face turns pale. Servants and maids come running in. Upon seeing their mistress, they kneel down, trembling. Though none of them speaks a word, Madam Li knows they are beseeching her guidance.)
MADAM LI: (Calmly.) Don't get alarmed. Go back to your work. The master will know what to do. (Exit all except Yen Niang and the old woman servant.)
MADAM LI: (To Yen, tenderly.) Yen Niang, are you afraid?
YEN: (Gravely.) I'm not afraid. (A pause.) But I'm terribly worried ... for the master.
MADAM LI: (Heaving a sigh.) I am too. Please go and tell him. (But Gen. Li Mu has already appeared at the upstage doorway, bathed and changed, his face serene and eyes steady.)
MADAM LI: General, our house is besieged.
GENERAL LI: (Calmly.) Yes, I know.
MADAM LI: On the battlefield, you have often broken the enemy lines single-handed. Please go and don't worry about us.
GENERAL LI: (Taking Madam's hand.) My good wife, I have to be very frank with you. It's better for me that I die now. (Yen Niang bursts into tears.)
MADAM LI: (Voice trembling with emotion.) No ... (She is so choked with emotion that she can't go on.)
GENERAL LI: If I die now it will save me the heartbreak of witnessing the inevitable.
MADAM LI: What is it?
GENERAL LI: Our defeat! The destruction of Chao!
MADAM LI: With you leading the army, that'll never happen.
GENERAL LI: (Bitterly.) I'm like a lamp without oil, yet my people expect me to burn and give forth light! (A pause. Sadly.) I'm trying my best, but, madam, the wick will soon be burnt out.
MADAM LI: (All in tears but composed.) General, please make an effort to save yourself for our country. With you at the front, at least we can gain time to get help from neighboring countries.
GENERAL LI: (Sighs deeply.) I'll try, but I doubt very much we can get any help. (Footsteps are heard approaching from offstage. Enter Gen. Chao Tsung and some soldiers.)
CHAO TSUNG: Li Mu, you are under arrest.
GENERAL LI: What's the charge against me?
CHAO TSUNG: Treason!
GENERAL LI: (Flaring into great anger.) How dare you smear my name!
CHAO TSUNG: I'm merely carrying out His Majesty's order. (Opening a silk scroll in his hand.) Here is the royal edict.
GENERAL LI: I'm going to see the King right away! (Pushing Chao Tsung aside.) Get out of my way! (Chao Tsung raises his left hand as a signal. An arrow darts out from an unseen archer hidden in the dark. It strikes Li Mu in the heart. He immediately pulls it out. Blood gushes forth. Li closes his eyes and sways a little, then opens his eyes wide and stares at the arrow in his hand.)
GENERAL LI: (All bitterness.) An IRON arrow! IRON arrow! IRON arrow! How badly we need IRON arrows at the front! (Shouts with tears in his eyes.) It's Heaven's will that Chao will be vanquished! I've done my part! (Blood trickles from one corner of his mouth. Li Mu falls dead. Yen Niang throws herself on Gen. Li's body and cries out in agony.)
MADAM LI: (With dry but burning eyes. Pointing to Chao Tsung.) You beast! Why did you do this? You know full well that the general is innocent.
CHAO TSUNG: (Beginning to feel regret.) Had I refused, the King might suspect me, too.
MADAM LI: (Sarcastically.) Afraid of getting involved! (With a bitter smile.) With the general gone, Chao's days are numbered. When the Ch'in soldiers are here, none of you can survive the calamity! NONE! (Chao Tsung bows his head.) Tell me who traduced our general to the King. CHAO TSUNG: Kuo Kai.
MADAM LI: (Opening her eyes wide.) Did you say Kuo Kai?
CHAO TSUNG: Yes, Kuo Kai.
MADAM LI: He is a traitor! Just a while ago he came here trying to persuade our general to escape to Ch'in!
CHAO TSUNG: (Alarmed.) Is that true?
MADAM LI: (Stamping her foot.) Go and report· to the King at once! Have that traitor arrested before he runs away! (Hurriedly exit Chao Tsung and his soldiers.
Madam Li takes a dagger from her breast pocket and stabs herself. Yen Niang shrieks and runs to hold Madam Li in her arms.)
MADAM LI: (Smiles faintly.) Yen Niang, my poor child! I'm sorry I have to leave you alone, but I've no choice. (Madam Li succumbs. The dagger slips from her fingers. Yen picks it up and is about to stab herself but a pair of hands grab hers.)
OLD WOMAN: Yen Niang, you are too young and too beautiful to die. I'll accompany you to Yen, to your own country. (Taking the dagger from Yen's hand.)
YEN: (Sadly.) I've no one there to go back to.
OLD WOMAN: You can stay in the palace of Yen's Crown Prince Tan. I know him personally.
YEN: (Jumping up.) Who are you?
OLD WOMAN: I'm Eunuch Chao in disguise.
YEN: Eunuch Chao?
OLD WOMAN: I'll tell you all about myself later. First I must have the general and madam properly buried. I'm going to buy the coffins.
YEN: Let me have that dagger. Every decent woman should carry a dagger to protect herself and her chastity.
EUNUCH CHAO: Only if you promise not to ...
YEN: Don't worry! What right do I have to die for him. I'm only his concubine in name. Even if I die, I'll still be a lonely ghost. (Fresh tears gush out.)
EUNUCH CHAO: There, there! You're at it again. (Giving Yen the dagger. Exit Eunuch Chao.)
YEN: (Kneels down beside Gen. Li's body and prays.) The ocean may dry and rocks may rot; my body may decay and bones turn to clay, but my ... my… my respect for you will forever stay.
CURTAIN
Scene II
Time: Three months after Scene I.
Scene: An opening at the foot of a hill in Sha Chiu in the Kingdom of Chao.
Stage Setting: Backdrop shows a hilly view with a narrow path leading to the opening. On top of one of the hills the yellow-tiled roof and red walls of a palace can be seen. In the opening are tree stumps of different sizes and heights.
Dramatis Personae: A professor and his students.
Yen Niang
Eunuch Chao (Still disguised as an old woman.)
King Cheng
Li Sze
Gen. Wang Chien Chao Kao
Ch'in's soldiers.
The Curtain Rises
The professor is seen sitting on the highest tree stump surrounded by his students, who also are sitting on tree stumps. They are using the place as an open-air classroom.
PROFESSOR: I heard the town crier this morning. Our capital Han Tan may fall soon. This is going to be our last class meeting. Everyone knows that this city is sure to be Ch'in's next target.
STUDENT A: Professor, what has made Ch'in so strong?
PROFESSOR: Ch'in acquires its strength and wealth by adopting totalitarian measures advocated by the school of legalists.
STUDENT B: What is the school of legalists?
PROFESSOR: Like the Moists, the legalists value society above the individual. But unlike the Moists, who consider human nature as originally good, the legalists claim that human nature is originally evil, and that if it is unchecked, it inevitably will lead to greed and conflict. It therefore should be held in check by law statecraft and power. In short, the legalists are realists and totalitarians. They advocate efficiency and do not hesitate to resort to any means to achieve it.
STUDENT C: A Ch'in merchant once told me that in his country no one goes hungry or unsheltered.
PROFESSOR: That may be true but their living standard is very low. The people of Ch'in live like semi-barbarians. They eat very crude food and some even dwell in caves. In return for this meager subsistence, the people of Ch'in have to forsake freedom and individuality and accept strict regimentation.
STUDENT C: The whole trouble with us is that our country is full of selfish individuals. I've no doubt that our country will be better off if legalism is practiced here. (Heatedly.) I believe it's the only way to save this chaotic world. (Positively.) Legalism is the irresisible wave of the fu. .. (At this juncture, a number of defeated and leaderless soldiers, with ragged peasant clothing over their battered armor, straggle onto the stage.).
SOLDIERS: (Shouting.) Bookworms! Han Tan has fallen and the King has been captured. The enemy is at our heels! Run for your life! (The scholars jump up at these evil tidings.)
STUDENTS: (To professor.) What shall we do? Where shall we go?
PROFESSOR: It's no use running away. If you run, you'll find yourselves forever running, for Ch'in's aim is world domination.
SOLDIERS: (Sitting on the stumps.) How about joining us? We are going to Tai. The former Crown Prince Chia has been made King of Tai by his loyal followers.
STUDENT C: What's the use of going to Tai? A country not much bigger than a town! If Chao with three hundred thousand soldiers could not defend herself against Ch'in, what could small Tai do with her handful of militiamen! (Throwing away his books.) I'm going to stay and learn a trade. I heard the King of Ch'in dislikes scholars.
SOLDIERS AND SOME STUDENTS: Traitor! Traitor! Kill him! (All rush toward C, who runs behind the professor and mounts the highest tree stump.)
STUDENT C: (In a steady and clear voice.) Kill me if you want, but first answer a few of my questions. (The surging men check their steps.) If our Gen. Li Mu still lived, would he allow the Ch'in soldiers to march in on us like that?
CHORUS: No!
STUDENT C: Who killed our beloved general? (All bow their heads in grief. Some even dab their eyes with sleeves. Answering his own question.) They are the Dowager Queen, that ex-prostitute, and the King, that profligate good for-nothing who unseated our rightful Crown Prince Chia! (Some in the crowd stamp their feet and some bite their lips. Student C, sensing the sentiments of the crowd, goes on talking for he is greatly influenced by spies from Ch'in.)
STUDENT C: My second question is: How many of our feudal lords harbor fugitives as their retainers and how many retainers do they usually keep?
SOME SOLDIERS: All keep retainers. Some keep thousands!
STUDENT C: Well, are those retainers doing any work to justify their keep?
NEARLY EVERYONE: They do nothing but loaf and bully.
STUDENT C: Shall we defend a system under which we suffer oppression, serfdom and discrimination!
CHORUS: NO!
STUDENT C: Then, why don't we stay and wait? Any change will be for the better.
SOME SOLDIERS: It's all right for you people to wait. You have your homes here but we fellows have lost ours.
STUDENT C: (Looking around while seeking a solution, sees the palace on the hilltop. With a wry smile.) I've an excellent place for you to stay, spacious and luxurious. There you can live like kings!
SOME SOLDIERS: (Excited.) Where?
Where? Tell us! Tell us!
SOME SOLDIERS: (Skeptical.) Are you joking?
STUDENT C: (Without answering them, pointing to the tree stumps.) What are these?
SOME SOLDIERS: Tree stumps, of course.
STUDENT C: Where did all the trees go? (The soldiers shake their heads but the students look toward the palace on the hilltop.)
STUDENT C: (Pointing to the palace.) The wood has gone into building that palace on the hill there. (All the soldiers look at the palace and begin to comprehend what C is driving at.)
SOLDIERS: But that palace is guarded.
STUDENT C: Don't you have weapons with you?
SOLDIERS: (In a chorus.) Yes! (They draw their swords.)
STUDENT C: What are you waiting for?
SOLDIERS: (Shouting a war cry.) KILL! KILL! KILL! (All soldiers climb the hill and disappear.)
STUDENT C: (To his fellow students.) Let's climb the other hill and watch the fight.
STUDENTS: Good! Let's go! (Exit all the students. The professor, who has kept silent all the while, shakes his head and sighs.)
PROFESSOR: Hai! Nowadays the young and foolhardy are so cocksure, while the old and experienced are full of doubts. (Shaking his head continuously as he leaves the stage. Enter Yen Niang and Eunuch Chao, the latter still disguised as an old woman.)
YEN: (Exhausted, she sits on a stump.) Oh! My feet are swollen and bleeding!
EUNUCH CHAO: (Also sits down.) If you had listened to me, we would have already reached the Kingdom of Yen.
YEN: I thought it was only proper for me to stay near their graves for 49 days as would befit a married daughter. No one thought that our soldiers would have fallen back like a receding tide. (Eunuch Chao shakes his head and heaves a long sigh. Faint sound of war drums is heard from a distance.)
EUNUCH CHAO: (Stands up abruptly.) Listen! The enemy troops are coming! (Tugging at Yen.) We must leave right away! YEN: Please go on without me. I'm too exhausted to move.
EUNUCH CHAO: Don't give up. I'll get you some food and water first. (Hurriedly exit Eunuch Chao. Yen Niang is left alone on the stage. The sound of the war drums becomes louder. Also heard in mounting volume is the sound of marching soldiers. Yen Niang tries to get up but moans with pain, slumps back to the stump and buries her face in her hands and begins to cry. Enter a group of Ch'in soldiers. Yen Niang struggles up and starts to run but her feet hurt so badly that she falls to the ground. A few soldiers catch her, cut the sash around her waist and rip off her clothes. The captain whips the sex-hungry men but the latter take no heed.)
CAPTAIN: (Shouting.) Are you tired of living? Beware! His Majesty is leading the army himself. Remember his rules! (Neither his warning nor his whipping can check the men. In desperation he pulls out his sword and thrusts it into one of them. The victim shrieks loudly and dies. This frightens the rest of them and the mad attack stops. Enter King Cheng, Gen. Wang Chien, Li Sze, Chao Kao, all clad in armor, and soldiers.)
KING CHENG: (Seeing the dead soldier, angrily.) What's going on here?
CAPTAIN: (Pointing at the offending soldiers.) They fought over that woman. (Points to Yen.) I had to kill one of them to stop the criminal assault. (Yen Niang stands there trembling. Her thin underwear reveals her fully developed body and her satin-black hair falls all the way to her waist in startling contrast to her ivory skin. The King contemplates her hungrily for a long while. Then collects himself and turns to the soldiers.)
KING CHENG: You swine! (To the captain.) Arrest the offenders and chop off their heads! (To Gen. Wang Chien.) Gen. Wang, please supervise the execution. (The offenders are manacled and led away.)
KING CHENG: (Pointing to Yen.) Bring that girl here. (Soldiers push Yen before the King.)
SOLDIERS: (To Yen.) Kneel! Kneel before His Majesty the King of Great Ch'in. (Yen pulls herself to her full height and holds her head high. She stares at King Cheng with the fire of hatred blazing in her eyes.)
KING CHENG: (Stops the advancing soldiers, who intend to force her to kneel. He looks at her closely.) I've seen you somewhere before. (After a pause, with some doubt.) Haven't I? (Yen still glares at him. The King smiles.) I like you. I like your courage. (King Cheng tries to push back the long hair from her face. At this juncture Yen pulls a dagger from concealment in her underwear but before she has a chance to move the soldiers knock her down and take away the dagger.)
KING CHENG: (Laughs.) Ha! Ha! A little chick tries to kill a tiger! Ha! Ha! But I like you even more for that. (To Chao Kao.) Take her to my camp and get her prepared to receive me.
LI SZE: (Grabs Chao Kao's sleeve. To the King, in a subdued voice.) Your Majesty, remember your own orders!
KING CHENG: (Annoyed but keeping his temper after some thought.) You are right. Thank you for reminding me. (To Chao Kao.) Put some clothing on her.
CHAO KAO: Your Majesty, there is no clothing for women in the army.
KING CHENG: Borrow some from the local people. No, better pay for it. (Warning Chao before he leaves.) Be very courteous. (Exit Chao Kao. Enter Gen. Wang Chien.)
WANG CHIEN: . (Bows to the King.) Your Majesty, all the offenders have been executed.
KING CHENG: Good. (After a pause.) Gen. Wang, you take the command from now on. I'm returning to the capital right away with (Eyeing Yen Niang, still lying on the ground.) all the captives.
CURTAIN
Scene III
Time: 20th year in the reign of King Cheng of Ch'in (227 B. C.).
Scene: The audience hall in Hsien Yang Palace.
Stage Setting: Same as Act III but more lavishly decorated.
Dramatis Personae:- King Cheng Premier Wang Wan.
Yu Liao.
Li Sze.
Chao Kao.
Gen. Meng Tien. Gen. Wang Chien.
Gen. Wang Peng: A young general, son of Wang Chien.
Tun Joh: Ch'in's master spy, sent to the Kingdom of Chi, now home for consultations.
Yen Niang: She was captured by the Ch'in army during its invasion of Chao. Now she is a favorite of King Cheng. me this evening.
Ching Keh: A famous swordsman sent by the Crown Prince Tan of Yen to assassinate King Cheng.
Ch'in Wu Yang: Imperial physician.
Hsia Wu Chi: Imperial physician.
Pong Yung: Imperial chronicler.
Other officials, eunuchs, and guards.
The Curtain Rises
The court of Ch'in is seen in secret session. Only few high ranking officials are present; even the King is not attended by his usual suite. Court etiquette is not observed. A huge relief map carved on a wooden slab is brought in by four eunuchs and laid on the ground in front of the dais.
KING: (To the porters.) Close the doors and leave. Tell the guards not to admit anyone without my permission.
EUNUCHS: Yes, Your Majesty. (Exit the eunuchs. Li Sze comes forward and starts an agitator behind a range of high mountains on the relief map. The sound of a piston movement is heard and in a few seconds streams of liquid gush from the mountains and fill the riverbeds on the map. As the piston agitation continues, the liquid flows in close resemblance to real rivers.)
KING: (Stands up, shouts like a child.) Marvelous! Marvelous!
LI SZE: (Smiles.) Before long, Your Majesty, (His hand sweeps over the map.) all the land on this map will be Ch'in domain. (All laugh.)
KING: Li Sze, who is the craftsman?
LI SZE: The one who carved the map?
KING: No, the one who invented the gadget inside the map.
LI SZE: A man named Lu Chiao
KING: I want him to fix a gadget on every door of my tomb in the mountain of Li, so that any intruder will be shot to death by poisonous arrows.
LI SZE: (Reluctantly.) Yes, Your Majesty.
KING: (Sitting down, still enchanted by the map.) What's that silvery fluid?
LI SZE: It's mercury. It'll never dry up.
KING: Very clever! Very clever indeed! (Pointing to the map.) I want a map like this carved on the floor of my tomb, and the ceiling shall be inlaid with the rarest jewels in the shapes of sun, moon and stars. (His eyes stare into the space and his hand grips tightly the handle of his sword.) I shall continue my rule of the earth after I die. Death will not take away my power. (He takes a sweeping glance at the officials in front of him.) And I want nine chairs around the map (grimly) for my nine ministers. (The officials fidget uncomfortably.)
CHAO KAO: (Knowing that the King is in one of his spells, tries to break it.) Your Majesty, you may not have to die. You may live FOREVER.
KING: (The ghastly expression on his face fades.) How? How? No mortal can escape death.
CHAO KAO: I know a·necromancer named Hsu Sheh. He told me that there are three fairy islands in Po Hai where the elixir of life can be found.
KING: (Overjoyed.) Good! Bring him to CHAO KAO: Yes, Your Majesty.
MENG TIEN: Your Majesty, please don't believe in those necromancers. They are all swindlers.
KING: Don't worry, Gen. Meng Tien. If that necromancer-Chao Kao, what's his name?
CHAO KAO: Hsu Sheh. He also calls himself Hsu Fu.
KING: (To Meng Tien.) If that Hsu Sheh cannot get me the elixir of life, he'll have to give me his head.
LI SZE: Your Majesty, forgive me for intruding. It's already approaching noon and we haven't started our discussions.
KING: That's right. Li Sze, you haven't told me why you wanted this special meeting.
LI SZE: Your Majesty, our master spy Tun Joh has come back from the Kingdom of Chi. He told me that a secret envoy from Crown Prince Tan of Yen was in Chi very recently, trying to talk King Chien into joining the alliance against us.
KING: (Standing up nervously.) What shall we do?
LI SZE: Don't worry, Your Majesty. Tun Joh has already countered Crown Prince Tan's plot through Chi's premier Hou Shun . Upon Hou Shun's suggestion, King Chien of Chi has refused to enter the alliance. (The King utters a sigh of relief and sits down.) Besides, he even agreed to pay us a state visit.
KING: (Again stands up in excitement.) Wonderful! Wonderful! How did Tun Joh do it? How did he do it?
LI SZE: (Smiles.) I'll ask the hero himself to give Your Majesty a first-hand report right now.
KING: (Surprised.) Is he here?
LI SZE: Right here in the waiting room, waiting for Your Majesty's permission to come in.
KING: Chao Kao, go and get him, quick! (Exit Chao Kao. Sits down. Between his teeth.) That double-dealer Chi Tan. The nerve he has! (To his officials.) Do you know that the same Crown Prince Tan has sent a goodwill mission here?
ALL OFFICIALS: Here? In Hsien Yang?
KING: Yes. It arrived here yesterday, headed by a man named Ching Keh.
LI SZE: How come I didn't even know!
WANG PENG: (Laughs.) You and your spy network! You don't even know what's happening inside our own capital!
WANG CHIEN: Shut up! (To Li Sze.) Please forgive my son.
LI SZE: There is truth in what the young general has said. I must be more alert from now on. (To the King.) Your Majesty, there is something phony behind that goodwill mission from Yen. Please refuse to grant it an audience.
KING: But Li Sze, Crown Prince Tan is offering me something which I find hard to refuse.
LI SZE: What is it, Your Majesty? KING: The land of Tu Kang and...
LI SZE: It's obviously a trick! Tu Kang is the most fertile, nay, the only fertile land in the whole kingdom of Yen. It's just like offering us its granary.
KING: It's not that piece of land I care about. It's something else he is offering me -the head of Fan Yu Chi.
WANG PENG: Fan Yu Chi?
KING: Wang Peng, you are too young to know him. Fan Yu Chi is actually our ex-general Huan Yi. After having been defeated by Chao's general Li Mu, he sought asylum in Yen under a false name. I have placed a high price on his head.
MENG TIEN: I suggest that Your Majesty grant an audience to that Yen envoy right away. When he comes here, we shall prick him with sharp questions. If he cannot give satisfactory answers, we'll arrest him or kill him on the spot and then declare war on Yen.
KING: Good! Wang Peng, you go and inform the envoy from Yen that I want to receive him right away. Only him; none of his entourage will be allowed. (Wang Peng bows and exits. To Wang Wan.) Mr. Premier, please summon all officials. I'll give him a formal reception. (Wang Wan bows and exits. Chao Kao comes in with Tun Joh. The latter upon seeing the relief map opens his eyes wide with admiration. Both bow to the King. Smiles.) Tun Joh, you've done well for Ch'in and for me. I want to hear your detailed report on how you have countered Crown Prince Tan's plot.
TUN JOH: (Bows again.) Your Majesty, I dare not claim all the credit. Chi's own premier Hou Shun contributed the major part to my success.
WANG WAN: How did you get Hou Shun to work for us?
TUN JOH: I offered his excellency some tributes for which he has a great weakness.
WANG CHIEN: I know. He likes thoroughbred Da Liang mares.
TUN JOH: (Smiles.) No, thoroughbred Han Tan girls. (All laugh.) And owe it to one of those girls, who came to inform me, in the depth of the night and at the risk of her life, that King Chien of Chi had promised the Yen envoy to join the alliance against us.
KING: He promised!
TUN JOH: Yes, so I rushed to Hou Shun's residence. It was almost midnight and the Chi premier refused to see me. I bribed his doorkeeper and asked him to tell his master that the matter I wanted to discuss concerned the life or death of thousands of people.
KING: (Worried.) Did he see you?
TUN JOH: Yes, otherwise it would have been too late, because the Yen envoy was ready to leave the next morning. But when I saw Hou Shun, my heart skipped a beat. His face was heavy with frost; he didn't even ask me to sit down. "What do you want?" he asked me without moving his lips. I said, "I heard that Crown Prince Tan of Yen has sent a secret envoy here." "I've long suspected that you are a spy," he said, "and I've already guessed what you came here to see me for. Yes, the Yen envoy has been here and our King has promised to join the alliance against Ch'in." He paused a while and looked at me, then from his sleeve he took out a thick roll of documents which he threw at me. "Take a look!" I did and my heart almost jumped out of my throat. It was a set of Yu Liao's war plans complete with maps and all! (The King stands up, his whole body shaking with anger. He stares at Yu Liao.)
KING: Yu Liao, did you, by any chance, leak out the plans?
YU LIAO: No, Your Majesty, after Chao Kao made the clean copies I destroyed the original. Two complete sets of those documents have been kept in Your Majesty's private archives ever since.
KING: Chao Kao, tell the guards to arrest the keeper of the secret archives and I want you to see if anything is missing.
MENG TlEN: Your Majesty, Chao Kao himself is under suspicion.
KING: Chao Kao has been my bosom friend since childhood. I've no reason to doubt his loyalty.
MENG TlEN: At least he should be brought to trial.
KING: (Displeased.) I'm used to having him around. I can't spare him. (Meng Tien still wants to argue but the King stops him with a sweep of his sleeve.) Chao Kao, go ahead with your errand. (Chao Kao bows, but before he leaves, he gives Gen. Meng Tien a look brimming with hatred. To Li Sze.) It's a very serious matter that top secret documents were stolen from my private archives.
LI SZE: (Shamefacedly.) I confess that I've emphasized infiltration of other countries and neglected security measures of our own. I shall tighten things up from now on.
KING: (Sits. To Tun Joh.) Please go on with your report.
TUN JOH: Premier Hou Shun stared at me coldly and said, "These documents are from your King's secret archives. He is planning to conquer all the land under the sky. We shall soon be at war with your country. Pack your things and leave or be thrown out." I took another casual look at the documents and said, "Your Excellency, our archives are crammed to the ceiling with such documents and maps, offered by self-styled strategists during the past hundred years. For example, Su-Ch'in, before he became the overall premier of the allies, came to Ch'in first, wrote to our King Hwei ten letters offering his plans to make Ch'in an empire. He waited in Ch'in several months without getting any reply from King Hwei. He spent all his money and had to sell his carriage in order to get back home. He hated Ch'in so much that he turned around to persuade the six other kingdoms to line up against us. His letters are still in our imperial archives. I'm sure our King Cheng will not mind sending Your Excellency all such letters for your perusal, for they are utterly useless to us." Hou Chun's frosty face began to thaw. "Still you cannot deny that your king IS aiming at world domination," he said. I laughed. "Coincidently," I said, "rumor runs rampant in Hsien Yang that His Majesty, the mighty king of Chi is aiming at world domination." The frost on Hou Shun's face disappeared. "Nonsense!" he said and asked me to sit down. I analyzed for him the consequences of war between two major powers and hinted that Chi, after having maintained its policy of nonalignment for nearly forty years, might find its soldiers lacking in combat experience.
KING CHENG: (Laughs.) I've bet their soldiers don't even know how to butcher dogs! (All the officials join in the merriment. Stops laughing.) Tell me, how did you get King Chien to agree to pay us a state visit.
TUN JOH: I also worked through Hou Shun. I knew he hated feudal lords of Chi like snakes. I directed our conversation toward how the feudal lords are encroaching on public properties, collecting private taxes and keeping retainers. As a result, the state becomes poorer and weaker while the feudal lords become richer and stronger. By then Hou Shun's face was burning with anger. I took that opportune moment to persuade him to adopt the legalist system and told him how a hundred years ago our country, Ch'in, stripped the feudal lords of power and wealth overnight. I suggested that King Chien come to Ch'in to see for himself how legalism works. When I left the Chi premier's house at daybreak, I was back in his good graces again. Two days later he told me that King Chien had agreed to pay us a state visit.
KING: (Clapping his thigh.) Well done! Well done! Ten thousand taels of silver for your wonderful work! (Looking about.) Chao Kao! Chao Kao! Where is that damned eunuch?
LI SZE: Doesn't your Majesty remember? He was sent to check the secret archives. KING: Tun Joh, you may go now. I'll send the reward to your home.
TUN JOH: (Bows.) Thank you, Your Majesty. (As Tun Joh passes the relief map, he stops and contemplates it.)
TUN JOH: Marvelous! Marvelous! The most accurate relief map I've ever seen. (A pause.) Your Majesty, if you are not tired, I've other good news to report.
KING: I never get tired of hearing good news.
TUN JOH: While I was on my way back, I made a detour to Wei's capital, Da Liang. Sure enough, an envoy from Crown Prince ran had been there, but to my great joy I learned that King Chia of Wei had threatened to leave the alliance if Chi should join it.
KING: (Clapping his thigh.) That's real good news! But why did King Chia of Wei react like that?
TUN JOH: Because of the age-long feud between Chi and Wei over the dam Chi built along the Yellow River. (His finger traces the dam on the map.) Since Chi built this dam, Wei has had endless floods, so she had to build a dam herself, here. (Points at the map.) Pincered by these two dams at its lower reaches, the Yellow River runs wild, causing severe damage to land along its banks. It even threatens to change its course. While in Wei, I took a walk along the Yellow River dam and an idea occurred to me. If we destroy, during the flood season, part of the dam here (pointing at the map) and part of the dam along the Hun
Kou River, Wei's capital Da Liang will be washed away. As Wei's wealth is concentrated in Da Liang, King Chia will be forced to surrender within three months.
KING: (Overjoyed.) Tun Joh, you are the rarest treasure Ch'in has ever had. Five tbousand more taels of silver will be added to your reward. Chao ... (At this juncture Chao Kao comes in.)
CHAO KAO: (Bows.) Yes, Your Majesty.
KING: Send one thousand five hundred taels of silver to Mr. Tun Joh this evening.
CHAO KAO: Yes, Your Majesty.
KING: (To Tun Joh.) You may go now. (Tun Joh bows and leaves.)
KING: (To his officials.) All of you may take a rest while waiting for the Yen envoy. I'm going to have my dress changed. (The King leaves the dais while talking to Chao Kao.)
KING: Chao Kao, did you find anything missing in the secret archives.
CHAO KAO: Yes, I found only one set of Mr. Yu Liao's plans; the other set is missing. (The King's face darkens. Yu Liao comes forward.)
YULIAO: (Bows to the King.) Your Majesty, may I have one-month leave of absence?
KING: I'm afraid I cannot grant your re quest. Why do you want to leave?
YU LIAO: I want to get my parents out of Da Liang ... before ...
KING: (Smiles dryly.) I had forgotten that you are from Da Liang. (After some thinking.) All right, you may go.
YU LIAO: (Joyfully.) Thank you, Your Majesty.
KING: When are you going to leave?
YU LIAO: As soon as I have my luggage packed.
KING: It seems you are in a great hurry.
YU LIAO: Your Majesty, the flood season is near.
KING: (Putting on his best performance.) You have done a great service to my country apd to me. I want your parents to see that you have not served
Ch'in in vain. (To Czao Kao.) Send two thousand taels of gold to Mr. Yu Liao's house.
CHAO KAO: Yes, Your Majesty.
KING: And one urn of the choicest wine from my private cellar. Exchange toasts with him before he sets off on his journey.
YU LIAO: (Overjoyed.) Thank you, Your, Majesty.
KING: (To Chao Kao.) Make sure that you pick the choicest wine.
CHAO KAO: (With a knowing glint in his eye.) Yes, Your Majesty. (Exit King and Chao Kao. The officials also file out. A few eunuchs come in to clean up the hall and take away the relief map. Music is heard. Premier Wang Wan enters with civil officials and Gen. Meng Tien with military officials. Re-enter the King and his suite, among them his favorite concubine Yen Niang. The King sits on the throne and the officials bow to him. A eunuch enters.)
EUNUCH: (Kneels.) Your Majesty, Ching Keh, the envoy from Crown Prince Tan of Yen, is waiting to present his gifts. He begs to be allowed to enter with one aide.
KING: Did the guards search them?
EUNUCH: Yes, both of them.
KING: All right, let them in.
EUNUCH: (Gets up and goes to the gate.) Usher in the envoy from Yen and his aide.
VOICES: Usher in the envoy from Yen and his aide. Usher in the envoy from Yen and his aide.
KING: Wang Wan, Li Sze, get ready to prick that envoy with questions, the more embarrassing the better.
WANG AND LI: Yes, Your Majesty.
KING: Where is the imperial chronicler?
PONG YUNG: (Bows.) Your Majesty's humble servant Pong Yung is at your service.
KING: Get ready to record today's event. Don't miss anything.
PONG YUNG: Yes, Your Majesty. I'll do it faithfully. (Taking out a stylus from his sleeve. The music changes. The Yen envoy, Ching Keh, is led in by a eunuch, followed by Ch'in Wu Yang. Ching Keh holds a wooden box containing the head of Gen. Fan Yu Chi, followed by Ch'in Wu Yang who holds the map of Tu Kang in a brocade box. Ch'in Wu Yang trembles visibly. Ching Keh stands before the dais and bows to the King" while Ch'in Wu Yang, overcome with fear, kneels down, dropping the map box. In the silence of the court, the chattering of his teeth can be heard. As everyone's attention is drawn to Ch'in Wu Yang, nobody notices the perturbed look on Ching Keh's face as he casts a quick, furtive glance at the open box, where the map is half showing Ching quickly composes himself)
CHING KEH: (Smiling shamefacedly.) Please excuse him, Your Majesty. He is a country boy from the barbarian north. Never before in his life has he seen a King. He is awe-stricken by Your Majesty. (He bows again, deeply, and takes the opportunity to push the map back into its box. He hands it to Ch'in Wu Yang as the latter slowly gets to his feet.)
KING: (Instead of feeling annoyed, enjoys the sight of the trembling youth before him. Laughs.) Ha! Ha! ha! Ha!... It really shows your country his serious shortage of good personnel.
CHING KEH: (Suppressing his anger and forcing a smile) Yes, Your Majesty, Yen IS such a small and barren country. (A pause.) Please allow me to proceed with the presentation.
KING: Wait! I want to ask you a few questions first.
CHING KEH: Yes, Your Majesty.
KING: How is the health of the Crown Prince?
CHING KEH: Not very good, Your Majesty.
KING: I heard that his hair has turned completely white and he looks older than his aged father.
CHING KEH: Yes, Your Majesty. His been worrying that Your Majesty might not forgive him for leaving your country without permission.
KING: (With a wry smile.) I don't think your King likes this heir apparent of his. The Crown Prince has spent half of his life as royal hostage, first in Chao, then here.
CHING KEH: That's the tragedy of being the Crown Prince of a small and weak country.
KING: Apparently the Crown Prince did not like the way we treated him while he was here. I was told that since he escaped, he has been thinking of nothing but how to get even with me.
CHING KEH: Your Majesty, even if the Crown Prince failed to enjoy your hospitality, he would not dare' do anything against you. It'll be just like pitting an egg against a rock.
LI SZE: Honorable envoy, you are drawing a wrong picture of your vigorous Crown Prince. From very reliable sources we have learned that he is trying to reunite the old allies and the neutral. Chi against us. (Ch'in Wu Yang again trembles violently but Ching Keh's look steadies him.)
CHING KEH: (Calmly.) Your' Majesty, Your Excellencies, to be very honest and frank, our Crown Prince did try to line up with Chi and Wei for, self-preservation. Unfortunately, he failed. As the saying goes:
"If you cannot command, you'd better obey." That's why I'm here to offer Your Majesty Yen's only piece of fertile land. It is tantamount to offering Yen as Your Majesty's vassal.
KING: (Nods.) I like honesty. Envoy of Yen, please proceed with your presentation. First, the head of Fang Yu Chi. (A eunuch descends the dais and takes the box from Ching Keh. As soon as the box leaves Ching Keh's hand, he takes the map box from the still trembling Ch'in Wu Yang. The eunuch holds the head box above his head and kneels down before the King. The King opens the lid and looks at the head.) This is Huan Yi's' head, no doubt. I can recognize it, even in decay. (To the eunuch.) Hang it on the city wall. Let everyone see the consequence of disloyalty. (The officials fidget uncomfortably while the eunuch exits with the head. To Ching Keh.) Now the map. (Ching Keh, about to mount the dais, is stopped by officials.)
OFFICIALS: No one is allowed to mount the dais without His Majesty's permission.
CHING KEH: But there are some details on the map that have to be explained. KING: Search him again. (Some officers search Ching Keh).
OFFICERS: Your Majesty, the Yen envoy carries no weapon. (The King beckons to Ching Keh, who mounts the dais. He kneels before the King, opens the box, takes out the map, and unrolls it. Something glistens and drops from the scroll. The dagger leaps into Ching Keh's hand. With the other hand he seizes the sleeve of the King and aims the dagger at the King's heart. The King pushes at Ching Keh with his free hand. Being a man of considerable strength, the King succeeds in freeing himself from Ching Keh's hand. He jumps up and runs toward a pillar. Ching Keh throws the dagger at him. It misses the King by only a few inches and hits the pillar. The King tries to draw his sword but cannot get it out of its scabbard. Ching Keh westles with the King and tries to get the sword. Hsia Wu Chi, the impedal physician, throws his herb bag at Ching Keh. It hits him in the eyes. Finally the King gets out his sword and strikes Ching Keh in the left leg, inflict