Chapter 30: Oath of the Peach Garden

  With two swords in hand, Liu Ze jumped off the high platform, one sword slashing towards the python's head. Indeed, it was a worthy divine sword, for an ordinary blade could not even scratch the giant python, yet the Longyuan Sword beheaded it with one slash. Liu Ze turned around, and the Tai'a Sword beheaded the white python as well.

  Guan Yu jumped down from the python's body and repeatedly praised: "Good sword! Good sword!"

  The black python had its head cut off, but its body still tightly wrapped around Zhang Fei. Zhang Fei struggled for a while but couldn't break free and shouted: "You guys are just talking, pull me out first!"

  Liu Ze and Guan Yu exchanged a smile, then went forward and dragged Zhang Fei out.

  Zhang Fei kicked the black python a few times with all his might, cursing: "Damn it! You almost strangled me to death. Today I must drag you back and cook you for dinner!"

  Liu Ze looked at the two treasured swords in his hand and handed them over to Guan Yu and Zhang Fei. "Today, we relied entirely on Brother Guan and Third Brother to capture the giant python, and only then were we able to obtain these two treasured swords. It just so happens that there is one for each of you, try them out and see if they fit your hands."

  Guan Yu smiled slightly and said, "Brother Liu, no need to be polite. Since ancient times, the world's precious treasures have been possessed by those with virtue. You are a noble of the imperial family, so you can match up to this valuable treasure. Moreover, if we talk about military weapons, I, Guan Yu, have never liked swords and prefer broadswords."

  Zhang Fei also burst out laughing and said: "These two swords, big brother, you'd better keep them for yourself. They're so short, I wouldn't be able to wield them properly."

  Liu Ze knew that they were all unwilling to compete with him, so he said: "Alright, next time I will definitely get two handy weapons for Guan brother and Third Brother."

  "Big brother, look! There are words on this stone wall!" Zhang Fei had already jumped up onto the high platform and saw that there were words on the stone wall, loudly shouting.

  Just now, Liu Ze took the sword and was worried about Guan Yu and Zhang Fei's safety, so he didn't look at the stone wall at all, and didn't know if there were any words or not. Hearing Zhang Fei shouting, Liu Ze and Guan Yu also went forward to see what happened.

  The words on the wall were all in seal script, while the popular script of the time was clerical script. Neither Guan Yu nor Zhang Fei could recognize them. Zhang Fei shouted: "What kind of writing is this? It's twisted and turned, it's really awkward."

  Liu Ze also followed Lu Zhi to learn calligraphy, and he was quite familiar with seal script. He looked carefully for a long time before finally lifting his head and letting out a long sigh, saying: "I never thought that this would be the burial site of Guigu Zi!"

  "Who is Guiguzi? What a strange name!" Zhang Fei didn't read much and didn't know who Guiguzi was. Guan Yu, on the other hand, had read extensively about the Spring and Autumn period and knew his historical figures well. He looked slightly surprised and said: "Isn't he the founder of the School of Vertical and Horizontal Alliances from 500 years ago, the teacher of Su Qin, Zhang Yi, Sun Bin, and Pang Juan?"

  Liu Ze nodded and said, "That's right, it is indeed this person. Guiguzi's surname is Wang, his name is Xuan, and he is also known as Xuānwēizǐ. He has extensive knowledge and the ability to see through things. Just by cultivating four exceptional talents like Su Qin, Zhang Yi, Sun Bin, and Pang Juan, it can be seen that he is a master of his craft. Guiguzi's learning consists of four aspects: Firstly, spiritual studies: astrology, divination, and fortune-telling, which are extremely accurate; Secondly, military strategy: the Six Secret Teachings and the Three Strategies, with endless variations, making formations and marching troops unpredictable even to ghosts and spirits; Thirdly, traveling and studying: extensive knowledge, clear understanding of principles, and eloquence that can convince thousands of people; Fourthly, transcending worldly affairs: cultivating oneself, nurturing one's nature, eliminating diseases, and prolonging life, with profound and subtle learning. Any one of these four aspects is enough to astonish the world."

  Zhang Fei pointed at the words on the wall and said: "Are these words not the teachings of Guiguzi?"

  Liu Ze nodded and said, "That's right. The lifelong learning of Guiguzi is all engraved here, known as the 'Tian Yan Secret Volume'. What it contains is vast and profound, with endless subtleties."

  Zhang Fei jumped up excitedly. "Haha, big brother, you've really made it! With the true transmission of Guigu Zi, who can be your opponent in this world?"

  Liu Ze shook his head and said, "Although Guiguzi had engraved all his life's learning on the stone wall, after five hundred years, the constant dripping of water had worn away a large section of the characters, making them indistinct. Now only this passage explaining the profound meaning of Taiji yin-yang and the study of battle formations can still be vaguely made out."

  Zhang Fei looked up and saw that the water was still dripping down from above, and the large patch of writing in the middle had been eroded by the flowing water, making it difficult to discern. Zhang Fei heavily punched the stone wall and said with regret: "This Ghost Valley Old Dao, why did he have to carve the words here, where they would be easily washed away? Alas!"

  Liu Ze felt a little regret, but soon let it go, patted his shoulder and said: "It's the will of heaven, why force it? Today we got two divine swords and some knowledge from Guixian Xianshi, that's already a great gain, be content!"

  Liu Ze was about to bid farewell to Guan Yu, but Guan Yu was admiring the stone pedestal with the sword inserted in it.

  "What's so good about a broken stone?" Zhang Fei muttered as he walked over.

  Guan Yu raised his head and said, "In my opinion, this is no ordinary stone. It's extremely heavy. I'm confident in my own strength to move a thousand catties, and similarly sized stones can be easily moved, but this stone can't be budged at all."

  Liu Ze also took a look and indeed the stone was too heavy, saying: "This stone must have some hidden meaning, but now there is no tool to cut it open and take a closer look. Let's go back and gather some people with tools to come over and examine it again."

  Guan Yu nodded and the three of them left the cave together.

  The outside is already bright, standing on the top of Taihang Mountain, looking far into the east, a red sun rises from the East China Sea, and under the mountain, there is a peach forest with lush fruit. Last night's journey was only for the purple light, but unexpectedly, this place turned out to be a paradise on earth.

  Liu Ze's heart stirred, and he said: "The world is on the verge of great chaos. A great man must wield a three-foot sword to achieve unparalleled merit. This land of Peach Garden is not as good as us becoming sworn brothers of different surnames, sharing life and death, and together achieving wealth and honor. In this chaotic world, let's build some achievements. What do you two think?"

  Guan Yu and Zhang Fei exclaimed in unison, "Good!" The three of them walked straight into the Peach Garden. Inside the garden, there was actually a temple dedicated to the Yellow Emperor Xuantu, with incense and candles ready.

  Liu Bei was overjoyed and said to Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, "There is actually a temple of the Yellow Emperor here. You and I are all descendants of Yan and Huang, it seems that heaven wants us three brothers to take an oath together here."

  They then lit incense and candles, and the three of them knelt down in front of the statue of the Yellow Emperor, saying: "We think of Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei, who although were not of the same surname, once they became sworn brothers, they worked together with one heart, rescued each other from difficulties, repaid their country, and brought peace to the common people. They did not wish to be born on the same year, month, and day, but wished to die on the same year, month, and day. Heaven and earth are witnesses to this oath, if we betray our righteousness and forget our kindness, heaven and man will punish us together!"

  After swearing, Liu Ze said: "Elder brother Guan is four years older than me, so he should be considered as the elder brother."

  Guan Yu firmly declined, saying: "Brother Liu is a noble imperial relative, how could Guan dare to overstep? Younger brother wishes to respect elder brother's title and command, and assist elder brother in dominating the world." In history, Liu, Guan, and Zhang formed an oath of brotherhood in the Peach Garden, and indeed Guan Yu was one year older than Liu Bei. However, after Liu Bei became a member of the imperial family, Guan Yu did not dare to overstep, so he treated Liu Bei as his elder brother. At this point, Liu Ze declined repeatedly but eventually sat in the eldest brother's seat, with Guan Yu next and Zhang Fei third.

  The three of them sheathed their swords and returned to the campsite. The bonfires around the campsite had all gone out, and the companions were lying about, some sitting and some reclining, fast asleep, with some snoring loudly, rising and falling in a chaotic rhythm. It seemed that after being surrounded by the pack of wolves for an entire night, no one had been able to get any rest, and when the wolf pack retreated at dawn, everyone was exhausted, and they fell asleep right where they were.

  Liu Ze said to Zhang Fei: "The wind and cold dew are heavy on the mountain top, everyone is sleeping on the ground like this, it's easy to catch a cold, hurry up and get everyone up."

  "Hey! Stop sleeping! Get up! All of you get up!"

  The crowd was awakened by his shout and quickly got up, seeing that they had returned, they were overjoyed. Liu Ze briefly told them about the events of last night and also asked everyone to pay their respects to Guan Yu. Everyone came forward to pay their respects, addressing him as "Second Master", from then on Zhang Fei was also referred to as "Third Master" by the people.

  Liu Ze brought several fellow craftsmen who were skilled in stoneworking and returned with Guan Yu and Zhang Fei to the mountain cave.

  When the stonemason cut open that stone, it turned out to be a large piece of Xuan Tie inside. Such high-quality Xuan Tie is rarely seen even by the stonemasons who open stones, and they say it's a hundred years before one can see it again.

  Liu Ze carefully held the meteorite for half a day, and this piece of dark iron was shining with an otherworldly luster, completely different from ordinary iron blocks. Liu Ze even suspected that this piece of dark iron came from a fallen star. Unburned meteors fell to the ground, bringing extraterrestrial matter to Earth, some meteorites contain more than 80% iron, known as meteoric iron, and also contain other rare metals. Many famous ancient weapons were forged with meteoric iron.

  Thinking of this, Liu Ze had a plan and ordered someone to transport the piece of xuan iron back to Feng Huang Valley and hand it over to Guan Hai. He also attached a drawing, asking Guan Hai to find the best blacksmith to forge according to the drawing.

  Liu Ze naturally wanted to use this piece of mysterious iron to forge weapons for the two brothers, but he didn't immediately tell them, wanting to give them a surprise later. Then he packed up his things and headed towards Upper Ai.

  The next morning, Liu Ze took Guan Yu and Zhang Fei to the county office to meet the county magistrate. In the Qin dynasty, the counties were first established, and the officials of the counties with a population of 10,000 households were called "Ling", while those with less than 10,000 households were called "Chang". During the Han dynasty, the old system was followed, and the counties in remote areas like Shangyi had fewer than 10,000 households, so the county officials could only be called "County Magistrates". The County Magistrate of Shangyi County was surnamed Lü. When he heard that someone outside wanted to see him and brought a gift list, it turned out to be ten pieces of Shu brocade, which made his heart bloom with joy. Looking at the person who sent the gift, it was actually Liu Ze, a descendant of the King of Zhongshan Jing, and a subordinate of Lu Zhi, the Taishou of Jiujiang, he didn't dare to neglect him, so he hurriedly welcomed him out of the county office.

  Upon entering the hall, they exchanged a few pleasantries before Liu Ze got straight to the point and asked County Magistrate Lü if he could buy several barren mountains north of the Peach River, about ten miles outside of Shang'ai. The northern bank of the Peach River was a desolate and remote area, consisting entirely of rocky mountains that were unsuitable for farming. Most of the population of Shang'ai County lived on the southern bank, while the northern bank was almost uninhabited. County Magistrate Lü was perplexed and asked Liu Ze what he wanted to buy these barren mountains and wild ridges for. Liu Ze replied that he wanted to find a type of black stone in this area.

  County Magistrate Lü shook his head and said, "I have been in office for many years, but I have seen bluestone, whitestone, and yellowstone. However, I have never seen a black stone before. What does it look like? What is its use?"

  "A black stone is buried deep in the mountains, its texture lighter than ordinary stones. When placed in fire, it can burn red. There are several kilns in Quyang, but because charcoal is too expensive, they thought of using black stone as a substitute. It's said that there's such a thing in Guixian Mountain, but I don't know if it's true or false, so I came to try it out."

  "This county is remote and rarely heard of, never having heard that there are stones that can be burned red in fire. Mr. Liu wants to try it out, no harm done. In the north of Taohua, at the foot of the mountain, you can dig casually."

  In view of the heavy gift of ten bolts of Shu brocade, County Magistrate Lü readily agreed to let Liu Ze go to Peach North to open up the mountain and dig for coal, without even asking him for a single coin. Liu Ze insisted on not occupying it for free, and finally bought ten barren mountains at the price of one hundred taels of gold per mountain.

  Holding the deeds to ten mountains, the three men left the county office. Zhang Fei complained: "Big brother, you really are something! The county magistrate agreed to let you excavate for free, but you insisted on spending money - one thousand taels of gold to buy ten useless barren mountains and wild ridges that aren't even good for growing anything!"

  "Third brother, big brother must have a deeper meaning in this move, you can't speak rashly." Guan Yu advised him.

  Liu Ze smiled and said, "What you see now is a barren mountain with no value, not worth a single coin. But within half a year, as long as we can dig out coal, this mountain will be worth hundreds or thousands of times more than the 1,000 taels of gold. Even if someone offers 100,000 taels of gold, I may not necessarily sell it. If we were to dig coal here without any land deed, I'm afraid that once the government gives an order, they would confiscate this mountain and in the end, it would be like pouring water into a bamboo basket - all our efforts would be for nothing. This is why I insist on buying the land and getting a deed."

  "Big brother is meticulous and thorough in handling matters, little brother admires." Guan Yu nodded in agreement.

  Zhang Fei was still unconvinced and muttered: "If you can't dig up the coal, let's see how you'll get out of this."

  Liu Ze smiled and ignored him.

  In the county town of Shang'ai, Liu Ze prepared to recruit dozens of coal miners. Since the autumn harvest had not yet arrived and Liu Ze's wages were high, many laborers rushed to sign up. Liu Ze selected more than 60 robust men from among them, equipped with digging tools, ropes, baskets, axes, saws, etc., and immediately set off northward.

  Crossing the Peach River, the villages became sparse. Continuing north for over ten miles, we arrived at the mountain purchased by Liu Ze. These ten peaks were connected, stretching for a hundred miles, all rocky with little vegetation.

  "What is the name of this mountain?"

  The workers hired from the north bank of Peach Blossom River replied, "This mountain has no inhabitants, so it remains nameless to this day. The local villagers simply call them the North Wild Mountains."

  Liu Ze sank into thought for a moment, then said: "The sunny side of this mountain has springs that never stop flowing; let's call it Yangquan Mountain." Later, when coal was mined all over the world, the name Yangquan became known to everyone.

  Liu Ze knew that coal mining was not an easy task, and even in modern times, accidents such as gas explosions, water inrushes, and roof collapses still occur frequently. Every year, a large number of people die in coal mine safety accidents, making the coal industry's accidental death rate the highest among all industries. In ancient times, coal mining was also a high-risk occupation. For this trip to Yangquan, Liu Ze made sufficient preparations, reading a large amount of ancient literature on coal mining. What interested him most was the Ming Dynasty's "Tiangong Kaiwu", which detailed how to find coal, dig wells, mine coal, and ventilate and drain water, making it an encyclopedia of ancient coal mining techniques.

  But the difficulty of excavation was beyond Liu Ze's expectation. The rock in Yangquan Mountain was extremely hard, and using primitive tools such as axes, chisels, hoes, and shovels, they had been digging for over ten days, but only advanced a little more than one zhang (about 3.3 meters). Liu Ze was worried and helpless, personally supervising the excavation site every day, directing the workers on how to dig, but without modern machinery, relying solely on primitive tools to excavate such hard rock layers, the efficiency can be imagined.