Chapter Thirty-two: Xu Gongming's Rise to Fame

  As the year draws to a close, the wealthy are busy indulging in feasts and wine, those with power are busy bullying men and oppressing women, the penniless are worried about having no rice to cook, while the homeless can only lament selling their bodies to who knows who.

  The whole Shangdang County, if you say who had the most prosperous and moist days this year, it's not County Governor Zhang Yang, nor is it the richest man Zhang Baiwan, but rather the big boss of Zui Xian Lou, Zhao Xing, the owner of Wo Hu Zhuang.

  Why? Because sometimes even Zhang Yang and Zhang Baiwan have to look at Zhao Xing's face. Want to drink top-grade Changhe? Sorry, sold out! County guard? No county guard either, there are still a few jars of fragrant Changhe left, don't mention the people lining up behind!

  Li Jin thought that the county guard's housekeeper was not to be trifled with, despite his small stature. Who dares to be arrogant? At night, let "a gust of wind" come and invite you home! No matter how arrogant the newcomer is, as soon as they hear this, they immediately lose their momentum.

  What a joke, even "a gust of wind" can be taken down by Sleeping Tiger Villa, who would dare to provoke them and ask for trouble? I heard that the master of "A Gust of Wind", Guo Changzi, was caught by Guan Yu, who had passed out at Drunken Immortal Pavilion back then, and is now the number one general of Sleeping Tiger Villa, treated like a chicken, grabbed and beaten, scared to death, and hasn't dared to show his face recently!

  Ever since Guan Yu received the "one array of wind", his mighty name immediately spread throughout Changzi County, and as travelers and wine guests passed by, it was transmitted further and further, and more and more divine. In the end, it was all transmitted that Guan Yu let out a loud roar, hundreds of mountain bandits were frightened to death, and they all fell off their horses!

  The reason why the villagers are so spread out is also because they have been plagued by mountain bandits and horse thieves, and as soon as someone who dares to resist appears, they all take Guan Yu as their spiritual support and dependence.

  It was indeed the case that "the speaker had no intention, but the listener had a mind", as Guan Yu's reputation spread throughout Shangdang County, it greatly stimulated the gatekeeper of the county governor's mansion (this small official was in charge of the gate of the county governor's mansion). Who is this person? It turned out to be Xu Huang (courtesy name Gongming) from Yangxian!

  According to historical records: Xu Huang was a minor official in the county government in his early years. He followed Yang Feng to suppress the Yellow Turban Rebellion and was appointed as a cavalry captain. After Yang Feng was defeated by Cao Cao, he defected to Cao Cao's side and made many contributions, participating in several major battles such as Guandu, Red Cliffs, conquest of the northwest, and conquest of Hanzhong. In the Battle of Fancheng, Xu Huang led reinforcements for Cao Ren and defeated Guan Yu, earning praise from Cao Cao for his strict military discipline, saying he had "the style of Zhou Yafu". Who is Zhou Yafu? Go read about Emperor Wu of Han!

  Here is the translation:

  The story goes like this: On that day, the county governor's mansion set up a banquet to welcome the new year and invited all the officials of the county government to attend. As the gatekeeper, Xu Huan also went with pleasure. A group of civil and military officials clinked their cups together, getting more and more excited as they drank. At this time, a minor official who loved drinking grumbled: "Governor Zhang is so stingy! He finally invites us to dinner, but serves us the second-rate wine from the Drunken Immortal Pavilion instead of bringing out a few jars of top-grade Changhe wine!"

  "Zhang Gongcao's words are wrong. It's not that I, Zhang, can't bear to share the good wine with everyone, it's just that the top-grade Changhe Daqu was sold out in December, and the Xu family winery has no stock left. So we can only serve this strong fragrant Changhe, although the alcohol content is a bit lower, the taste is not bad!" Zhang Yang said helplessly.

  "I heard that in Li's village, someone spread the rumor that the red-faced man who captured 'One Whirlwind' and his farmhands drank Long River Daqu every day!" Meanwhile, Zhang Gongcao was secretly fanning the flames and stirring up trouble.

  "Zhang Gongcao, is this really true?" Xu Huan suddenly asked.

  "It's true! I have a distant relative who came to work at the Sleeping Tiger Manor, trying to get a job as a handyman. He saw those servants drinking the best Long River Daqu." Zhang Gongcao said affirmatively.

  "What! This Tiger Mansion is so ungrateful, having wine but not selling it to the county governor's mansion. Does he really think that just because he has one or two rough men in his household, he can look down on others?" Xu Huan was furious and jumped up from his seat.

  "Xu Menting, please calm down!" Zhang Gongcao said in a gloomy tone, "Don't let that red-faced man hear you. I've heard rumors from the countryside that this person is extremely brave and fierce, can split tigers and leopards with his bare hands, has the courage of ten thousand men, and it's best not to provoke him, or he'll come knocking on our door, adding another layer of humiliation!"

  "I, Xu Gongming, started practicing martial arts at the age of three and achieved great success in my skills by eighteen. To this day, no one has been able to match me with my two large axes! If not for that unreasonable Sleeping Tiger Villa, I wouldn't be willing to compete with that reckless Guan Yu for fame and prestige. Zhang Gongcao is so afraid of this person, let's see me go capture him and have Sleeping Tiger Villa send over some good wine in exchange for his return!" With that, Xu Huan strode off, seemingly intent on going to find Guan Yu for a duel.

  As Xu Huan left, Zhang Gongcao smiled slyly at County Governor Zhang Yang, "County Governor, sir, Xu Gongming's trip to Wotou Manor will surely lead to a fight, which gives us an excuse to intervene in Wotou Manor. Please make preparations, sir, so we can seize the bandits' horses, take over the winery, and get rid of Xu Gongming at the same time!"

  Zhang Yang also smiled wryly and said: "It's still relying on everyone's concerted efforts, if things go well, each of you present will have a good deal!"

  One heart wants to find Guan Yu's bad luck, Xu Huan who has already left would have been furious if he had heard these words from the crowd, afraid that he would be so angry that smoke would come out of his seven orifices and fire would spout from his eight orifices, picking up his axe to chop people! Unfortunately, he didn't hear it, so he was doomed to be unlucky.

  On the twenty-eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, in the morning, everywhere in Wohu Village was already bustling with preparations for the New Year. However, Zhao Xing, sitting upright in his study, furrowed his brow, recalling some key techniques from his past life's small high furnace steelmaking. He felt that there were many omissions and could only idly use a charcoal pen to scribble on Caihou paper, hoping for some inspiration and insight.

  Li Tiezhu, the self-proclaimed messenger, rushed in and whispered a few words into Zhao Xing's ear. After listening, Zhao Xing's eyes rolled around, with an eerie expression, he said to Guan Yu who was examining the various single-handed weapon diagrams provided by Zhao Xing: "Brother Guan, someone outside is looking for you, do you want to see them or not?"

  "Who is this stranger?" Guan Yu furrowed his brow, and he couldn't help but feel a little surprised in his heart, thinking that he had no grudges with anyone.

  Someone came to report at the gate, saying that he was Yang County's Xu Huan, currently the head of the county government's front hall, and wanted to challenge you one-on-one! Zhao Xing excitedly said by his side.

  "I wonder if Guo Chang wants me to win or lose?" Guan Yu looked at Zhao Xing with a hint of a smile.

  "Brother Guan, you asked me this, of course I hope you can capture him cleanly and give the county government a big slap in the face! Zhang Yang that old rascal has some ideas, don't think I don't know, recently he's been going to the Drunken Immortal Building every three or five days to stir up trouble, sending people to our village to investigate, clearly he's got his eye on the Xu family wine shop and my newly acquired several hundred fine horses!" Zhao Xing said hatefully, actually these situations were all analyzed by Li Jin after recently sending someone to report back.

  Since he was put in charge of the guard regiment, this young master was excited and thoughtful, and actually thought of using the guard regiment to collect and spy on information in Changzi County, for which he was also encouraged and praised by Zhao Xing.

  "Since Guo Chang is not afraid of the county governor's power, I will do my best to take down Xu Gongming. This Xu Gongming, I've heard, is three years younger than me, and is a fair and honest person. Since he took office as the gatekeeper, he has never accepted bribes from anyone. Those who tried to bribe him were scared off by the board axe in his hand. When common people came to see the county governor, he would let them all in at once, which made Zhang Yang miserable and think of replacing him. If Guo Chang can win this man over, it will not be a loss for a good general!" said Guan Yu.

  "It's indeed a case of great minds thinking alike!" Zhao Xing couldn't help but praise in his heart. It seems that even Old Guan thinks highly of this person, and he can't let him run away no matter what.

  "Go and summon Wen and Mr. Hu to the arena, we'll go meet this Xu Gongming who wields a big axe first!" Zhao Xing instructed Li Tiezhu.