Three

by Atsushi Nakajima

When Li Ling lost consciousness in the chaotic battle and woke up in the Chanyu's tent, two choices came to his mind. To take his own life and avoid shame, or to temporarily submit to the enemy and escape when an opportunity arose. Li Ling decided to choose the latter.

The Chanyu personally untied Li Ling's ropes, and his subsequent treatment was extremely courteous. The Chanyu was the younger brother of the previous Chanyu, a middle-aged man with a sturdy build and large eyes. He had fought against the Han with several generations of Chanyus, and he said that he had never encountered such a formidable enemy as Li Ling, praising Li Ling's excellent fighting by invoking the name of his grandfather, Li Guang. Li Guang's name was still passed down even in the land of the Hu, and Li Ling received generous treatment because he was the descendant of a strong man, and he himself was also strong.

Even during meals, it was the custom of the Xiongnu for the strong to take the best food, and for the elderly and weak to be given the leftovers. Here, the strong were never disgraced. As a surrendered general, Li Ling was given a yurt and dozens of attendants, and was treated like a guest.

A strange life began for Li Ling. His home was a felt tent yurt, his food was mutton, his drinks were dairy products, kumis, animal milk, and fermented milk wine. His clothes were sewn from wolf, sheep, and bear skins, and their lives were limited to pastoralism, hunting, and raiding. Even the vast plateau had boundaries formed by rivers, lakes, and mountains, and apart from the Chanyu's direct territory, it was divided into the domains of various kings and nobles. There were villages, but they did not settle permanently, moving to follow water and grass according to the seasons.

Li Ling was not given land, and he constantly followed the Chanyu along with other generals under the Chanyu. He thought of aiming for the Chanyu's head if there was an opportunity, but such an opportunity did not come easily. Even if he killed the Chanyu, escaping with his head would be very difficult. If he killed the Chanyu in the land of the Hu, the Xiongnu would hide the dishonor, so the Han would not know. Li Ling patiently waited for that seemingly impossible opportunity.

Under the Chanyu's tent, there were several Han defectors besides Li Ling. One of them, a man named Wei Lü, was not a soldier but had been granted the title of Dingling King and was highly favored by the Chanyu. His father was a Hu person, but Wei Lü was born and raised in the Han capital. He had served Emperor Wu but fled back to the Xiongnu, fearing the incident involving Li Yannian from the previous year. Being of Hu blood, he quickly adapted to the Hu customs, possessed considerable talent, and constantly participated in strategizing as a close confidant of the Chanyu. Li Ling rarely conversed with Wei Lü or the other Han defectors. He felt there was no one with whom he could share the plans in his mind.

One day, the Chanyu summoned Li Ling and asked for his advice on military strategy. Since it concerned the war against the Donghu, Li Ling readily offered his opinions. However, when the Chanyu next sought his counsel on tactics against the Han army, Li Ling clearly showed an unpleasant expression and refused to speak. The Chanyu did not force him to respond. Some time later, he was asked to go south as a general in the army attacking Dai and Shang Commandery, but Li Ling adamantly refused, stating he could not participate in a war against the Han. After that, the Chanyu never made such a request again. His treatment remained unchanged; it seemed he treated scholars simply for the sake of treating scholars. Li Ling felt that this Chanyu was a manly individual.

The Chanyu's eldest son, the Left Worthy Prince, began to show a peculiar fondness for Li Ling. It was less fondness and more akin to respect. He was a rough but brave and earnest young man, just past twenty, whose admiration for strength was very pure and intense. He first came to Li Ling and asked him to teach him horsemanship and archery. Although he himself was as skilled as Li Ling in horsemanship and archery, and far surpassed Li Ling in the art of riding bareback, Li Ling decided to teach him only archery. The Left Worthy Prince became an eager disciple, and when Li Ling spoke of the archery skills of his grandfather, Li Guang, his eyes sparkled, and he listened intently.

The two often went hunting. With only a few attendants, they galloped across vast plains, shooting foxes, wolves, gazelles, and pheasants. Once, as dusk approached and their arrows were running out, the two found themselves surrounded by a pack of wolves. They spurred their horses and galloped at full speed through the wolves to escape. At that moment, a wolf that had leaped onto Li Ling's horse's hindquarters was skillfully cut down by the Left Wise King, who was behind him. Later, upon inspection, both their horses were found to be torn and bloody from wolf bites.

After such a day, at night, as they slurped their day's catch from a pot in their tent, blowing on it, Li Ling sometimes felt a sense of friendship for the young prince illuminated by the firelight.

In the autumn of the third year of Tianhan, the Xiongnu attacked Yanmen again. In preparation for this retaliation, in the fourth year, the following year, the Han emperor gave Li Guangli, the General of Ershi, sixty thousand cavalry and seventy thousand infantry, and sent him towards Shuofang. Additionally, Lu Bode, the Commandant of Strong Crossbows, was ordered to lead ten thousand foot soldiers to support his army. Furthermore, Gongsun Ao, the General of Yin, dispatched ten thousand cavalry and thirty thousand infantry to Yanmen, and Han Shuo, the General of Guerrilla Warfare, sent thirty thousand infantry to Wuyuan. This was a large-scale northern expedition unprecedented in recent years.

Upon receiving this news, the Chanyu immediately moved all women, elderly, children, livestock, and property to the north of Yuwu River. He personally led one hundred thousand elite cavalry to meet Li Guangli's and Lu Bode's armies on the great southern plains. The battles lasted for over ten days, and the Han army was finally forced to retreat. The young Left Wise King, who was a disciple of Li Ling, led a separate unit eastward and thoroughly defeated Gongsun Ao. Han Shuo's army, which formed the left flank of the Han forces, also failed to achieve any results and had to withdraw its troops. The northern expedition ended in complete failure.

Li Ling, as usual, did not appear on the front lines in the battle against the Han and had retreated to the north of the river. He was startled to realize that he was concerned about the Left Wise King's achievements. Of course, overall, he wished for the success of the Han army and the defeat of the Xiongnu, but it seemed he desperately did not want the Left Wise King alone to lose. Li Ling realized this and severely reproached himself.

When Gongsun Ao returned to the capital and was imprisoned for having no achievements due to losing many soldiers, he made a strange excuse. According to enemy captives, the Xiongnu army was strong because General Li, who had defected from Han, constantly trained soldiers and taught military strategies. Although this did not excuse his army's defeat, and General Yin's crime was not forgiven, Emperor Wu, upon hearing this, became furious with Li Ling. Li Ling's family, who had previously been pardoned and returned home, were again imprisoned, and this time, everyone from his elderly mother to his wife, children, and younger brother were killed. As is common among frivolous people, it is recorded that at that time, all the literati and officials in Longxi were ashamed of having produced the Li family.

This news reached Li Ling's ears about half a year later. It came from the mouth of a Han soldier who had been abducted from the frontier. When he heard it, Li Ling stood up, grabbed the man by the collar, and violently shook him while reconfirming the truth of the matter. When he learned that it was indeed true, he gritted his teeth and unconsciously put force into both hands. The man struggled and let out a groan of agony. Li Ling's hands had unconsciously tightened around the man's throat. When he released his hands, the man fell to the ground with a thud. Without even looking at him, Li Ling rushed out of the tent.

He walked through the fields in a daze. Intense anger swirled in his head. His heart burned at the thought of his elderly mother and young children, but not a single tear fell. Perhaps such strong anger dries up tears.

The current situation is not limited to this. How has our family been treated by Han until now? He recalled the end of his grandfather, Li Guang. Li Ling's father, Danghu, died a few months before he was born, making him what is called a posthumous child, and it was this famous grandfather who educated and trained him until his boyhood. The renowned general Li Guang, despite achieving great feats in several northern expeditions, was obstructed by corrupt officials close to the emperor and received no rewards whatsoever. While his subordinate generals successively gained peerages, the incorruptible general alone was not enfeoffed and had to content himself with unchanging poverty. Finally, he clashed with the Grand General Wei Qing. Wei Qing had a sympathetic regard for this old general, but a military clerk under his command, abusing his authority, humiliated Li Guang. The enraged old renowned general, right then and there, took his own life. Li Ling still clearly remembers himself as a boy, crying out loud upon hearing of his grandfather's death.

What was the end of Li Ling's uncle, Li Gan, like? He resented Wei Qing for his father's miserable death and went to the Grand General's residence to humiliate him. The General of Agile Cavalry Huo Qubing, who was the Grand General's nephew, was enraged by this and shot Li Gan dead during a hunt at Gan Quan Palace. Emperor Wu, knowing this, covered for the General of Agile Cavalry by announcing that Li Gan had died from touching a deer's antlers.

In Li Ling's case, it was simpler than Sima Qian's. All that mattered to him was the rage within. Aside from the regret that he should have, against all odds, executed his plan to escape the barbarian lands with the Chanyu's head a little sooner, the only problem was how to express that rage. He recalled the man's words from earlier, "His Majesty was furious to hear that General Li, while in the barbarian lands, was training troops and preparing for Han." It finally dawned on him. Of course, he himself had no such recollection, but there was another Han general who had surrendered, named Li Xu. He was originally a man who guarded Xihou City as the Commander of the Frontier Outposts, but ever since he surrendered to the Xiongnu, he had constantly advised the barbarian army on strategy and trained their soldiers. In fact, in the army six months ago, he had fought against the Han army under the Chanyu. This must be it, Li Ling thought. It must have been a mistake, confusing him with Li Xu, as they were both General Li.

That evening, he went alone to Li Xu's tent. Without exchanging a word, he struck Li Xu down with a single stab.

The next morning, Li Ling appeared before the Chanyu and explained the situation. The Chanyu said there was no need to worry. However, because his mother, the Grand Empress, was a bit troublesome—it seemed that despite her considerable age, the Chanyu's mother had an illicit relationship with Li Xu. The Chanyu was aware of this. According to Xiongnu custom, when a father died, the eldest son inherited all of his deceased father's wives and concubines, but his birth mother was not included among them. The respect for one's birth mother was special even for them, who were patriarchal—he added that Li Ling should hide in the north for a while longer, and he would send for him when things had cooled down. Following these words, Li Ling temporarily took his attendants and hid at the foot of Mount Douxian in the northwest.

Soon after, the problematic Da-eul-ssi died of illness, and when Li Ling was summoned back to the Chanyu's court, he seemed like a changed man. He, who had never involved himself in military strategies against Han, now voluntarily offered to consult on them. Seeing this change, the Chanyu was greatly pleased and appointed Li Ling as the Right Commander King, deciding to have him marry one of his daughters. This offer had been made before, but Li Ling had always refused. However, this time, he accepted the proposal without hesitation.

Just then, there was an army departing south from the area of Jiuquan and Zhangye, and Li Ling personally requested to join it. However, as he proceeded southwest, passing by the foot of Mount Junji, his heart grew heavy. Remembering the subordinates with whom he had once fought in this land, and walking on the sand where their bones were buried and their blood had soaked, he lost the courage to fight against the Han soldiers when he considered his current situation. Citing illness, he returned his horse north alone.

The following year, the first year of Taishi, Chiehou Chanyu died, and the Left Wise King, who was close to Li Ling, succeeded him. His name was Hulusugu Chanyu.

Li Ling, the Right Worthy King of the Xiongnu, still had an unsettled heart. Though the resentment of his mother, wife, and child being exterminated had seeped into his bones, it was clear from recent experience that he could not lead troops himself to fight against Han. He had sworn never to set foot on Han land again, but he lacked confidence, even with his friendship with the new Chanyu, that he could truly live as a Xiongnu. Disliking to think, whenever he felt irritated, he would always ride his swift horse alone and gallop out into the vast plains. Under the autumn blue sky, with the sound of hooves echoing, he would race madly across grasslands and hills. After riding for dozens of li, both horse and rider finally exhausted, he would seek a small stream on the plateau, descend to its bank, and let his horse drink. Then he would lie on his back on the grass, immersed in a pleasant fatigue, and gaze up at the height and breadth of the clear sky. Ah, I am but a particle between heaven and earth, what is the difference between Han and Hu, he suddenly felt. After resting for a while, he would mount his horse again and gallop recklessly. Tired from riding all day, he would finally return to his camp at dusk. Fatigue was his only salvation.

Someone informed Li Ling that Sima Qian had defended him and lightened his punishment. Li Ling felt no particular gratitude or pity. He and Sima Qian only knew each other by sight and were not particularly close. Rather, he had found Sima Qian to be a noisy person, always arguing. The current Li Ling had no room to truly feel the misfortunes of others; he was desperately fighting his own suffering. While he didn't consider it unnecessary meddling, it was true that he didn't feel particularly sorry either.

At first, Li Ling could only see the customs of the Hu people as barbaric and comical, but gradually, as he considered them against the actual climate and natural features of the land, he began to understand that they were neither barbaric nor unreasonable. Without thick leather Hu clothing, one could not endure the northern winter, and without a meat diet, one could not accumulate enough energy to withstand the cold. Not building fixed houses was also a necessity stemming from their way of life, and it was wrong to dismiss it as inherently inferior. If one tried to maintain Han customs, life in the natural environment of the Hu land could not be sustained for even a single day.

Li Ling remembered the words once spoken by the previous Chanyu, Qiehou. The Han people, he said, would immediately call their country a land of propriety and condemn the actions of the Xiongnu as akin to beasts. But the Chanyu said, "What is this propriety the Han people speak of? Is it not mere ostentation, decorating ugly things with a beautiful facade? Who is worse at loving profit and envying others, the Han or the Hu? Who is worse at indulging in lust and coveting wealth? If you strip away the surface, there should be no essential difference. It's just that the Han people know how to hide it, and we do not." When this was said, citing examples of civil strife and the purging of meritorious officials since the early Han dynasty, Li Ling was almost speechless. Indeed, as a military man, he had often questioned the cumbersome rituals for ritual's sake. He sometimes felt that the crude honesty of Hu customs was far more preferable than the insidious nature of the Han people hidden behind a veneer of fine words. Li Ling gradually came to think that dismissing the customs of the various Chinese states as correct and Hu customs as base was too much of a Han prejudice. For example, he had unconditionally believed that humans needed a courtesy name in addition to their given name, but upon reflection, there was no reason why a courtesy name was absolutely necessary.

His wife was a very meek woman. Even now, she would timidly approach her husband and could barely speak. However, the son born to them showed no fear of his father and would toddle and crawl onto Li Ling's lap. Gazing at the child's face, Li Ling suddenly recalled the image of the child he had left behind in Chang'an several years ago, who had ultimately been killed along with his mother and grandmother, and he unconsciously became disheartened.

Even before Li Ling surrendered to the Xiongnu, exactly one year prior, Su Wu, a Zhonglangjiang of the Han, had been detained in the land of the Hu.

Su Wu was originally dispatched as an envoy of peace for prisoner exchange. However, because his deputy inadvertently became involved in an internal conflict among the Xiongnu, the entire delegation was captured. The Chanyu did not intend to kill them but threatened them with death to force their surrender. Yet, Su Wu alone refused to surrender and, preferring death to disgrace, took up his own sword and pierced his chest.

The Xiongnu's treatment for the unconscious Su Wu was extremely peculiar. It was a crude method: digging a hole in the ground, lighting a fire, laying the injured person on it, and stepping on their back to draw blood. This treatment is recorded in the Book of Han. Fortunately, Su Wu regained consciousness half a day later. The Chanyu was completely captivated by him. A few weeks later, when Su Wu's body had recovered, his close retainer, Wei Lü, again urged him to surrender. Wei Lü reported that Su Wu had received harsh insults and, disgraced, had withdrawn his hand.

Subsequently, the stories of Su Wu being imprisoned in an underground cell, surviving hunger by eating felt mixed with snow, and being banished to the shores of the North Sea, where he was not allowed to return until the sheep produced milk, are too famous to be detailed here. In any case, by the time Li Ling was forced to decide to spend his remaining troubled life among the Xiongnu, Su Wu was already alone, herding sheep by the shores of the North Sea.

To Li Ling, Su Wu was a friend of twenty years. They had once served as imperial attendants at the same time. Although Su Wu was stubborn, there was no doubt that he was a rare man of integrity. After Su Wu departed for the north in the first year of Tianhan, when his elderly mother soon died of illness, Li Ling accompanied her funeral procession to Yangling. It was just before Li Ling's northern expedition that he heard rumors that Su Wu's wife, realizing her husband's return was unlikely, had remarried into another family. At that time, Li Ling was deeply angered by his friend's wife's fickleness.

However, after he surrendered to the Xiongnu, he no longer wished to meet Su Wu. He was rather pleased that Su Wu's distant location in the north spared them from an encounter. Especially after his family was killed and he lost the desire to return to Han, he wanted to avoid meeting this "shepherd who upheld Han's integrity."

Several years after Hulusugu Chanyu succeeded his father, rumors spread that Su Wu's whereabouts were unknown. Hulusugu Chanyu, remembering the existence of this indomitable Han envoy whom his father Chanyu had failed to make surrender, asked Li Ling to ascertain Su Wu's well-being and, if he was alive, to again urge him to surrender. This was because he knew Li Ling was Su Wu's friend. Reluctantly, Li Ling headed north.

They journeyed north along the Gugu River, then pushed further northwest into the forest region from its confluence with the Ju River. After several days of travel along the riverbanks, where snow still lingered, the blue waters of the North Sea finally came into view beyond the forest and plains. A Dingling guide, a resident of the area, led Li Ling's party to a miserable log cabin. Startled by the unusual human voices, the cabin's inhabitant emerged with a bow and arrow in hand. In the face of the bearded, bear-like mountain man, whose head was covered with fur, Li Ling recognized the features of the former Imperial Stable Supervisor, Su Ziqing. However, it took some time for Su Wu to recognize this high-ranking official in Xiongnu attire as the former Cavalry Commandant, Li Shaoqing. Su Wu, for his part, had no idea that Li Ling was serving the Xiongnu.

Emotion swirled within Li Ling, instantly overwhelming whatever had made him avoid meeting Su Wu until now. At first, neither of them could utter many words.

Li Ling's attendants set up several yurts around them, and the desolate area suddenly became lively. The food and drink they had prepared were quickly brought into the small shelters, and at night, rare sounds of joyous laughter startled the forest birds and beasts. Their stay lasted several days.

It was naturally painful for Li Ling to explain the circumstances that led him to wear barbarian clothes. However, he recounted only the facts, without any tone of apology. Su Wu's casual description of his life over several years seemed utterly miserable. A few years prior, the Xiongnu King Yu had happened to pass through while hunting and, sympathizing with Su Wu, provided him with clothes and food for three years. But since King Yu's death, Su Wu had been reduced to digging up wild rats from the frozen ground to stave off hunger. The rumor of his unknown fate apparently arose when his herd of livestock was attacked by thieves, leaving not a single animal. Li Ling only informed Su Wu of his mother's death but could not bring himself to tell him that his wife had abandoned their child and gone to another family.

Li Ling wondered what the man before him lived for. Was he still hoping for the day he would return to Han? From Su Wu's words, it seemed he no longer held such expectations. If so, why was he enduring these harsh days? If he offered to surrender to the Chanyu, he would undoubtedly be given an important position. However, it was clear to Li Ling that Su Wu would never do such a thing. What puzzled him was why Su Wu didn't simply end his own life sooner.

Li Ling himself couldn't end his hopeless life with his own hands because of the numerous favors and obligations that had taken root in this land without him realizing it, and dying now would not establish righteousness for the Han. Su Wu, on the other hand, was different. He had no family in this land. From the perspective of loyalty to the Han dynasty, there seemed to be no particular difference between enduring hunger in the wilderness while maintaining his integrity indefinitely and immediately burning that integrity and taking his own life. It is hard to believe that Su Wu, who immediately stabbed himself in the chest when captured, would suddenly fear death now. Li Ling recalled Su Wu's stubbornness in his youth. The Chanyu tried to lure Su Wu from extreme destitution with the bait of glory. To be lured by the bait or to take one's own life due to inability to endure hardship would both mean losing to the Chanyu. Perhaps Su Wu thought this way. Su Wu's appearance, as if he were in a contest of will against fate, did not seem comical to Li Ling. If there was a will that could calmly laugh off unimaginable difficulties and loneliness, one would have to say that such a will was truly magnificent. Li Ling was astonished to see how Su Wu's old stubbornness had grown into such immense patience.

Moreover, Su Wu does not anticipate that his actions will be known to Han. Not only does he not expect to be welcomed back to Han, but he also does not expect anyone to convey to Han, let alone to the Xiongnu Chanyu, that he is struggling in a desolate land. On his last day, when he will die alone, unseen by anyone, he intends to reflect on himself, laugh off his fate to the very end, and die content. He believes there is no problem even if no one knows of his deeds. Li Ling, who once aimed for the head of the previous Chanyu, feared that if he failed to achieve his goal, his efforts would be meaningless and unheard of in Han, and thus he ultimately could not find an opportunity to carry out his plan. Standing before Su Wu, who did not care about being unknown to others, he secretly felt a cold sweat.

After the initial emotion subsided, and as two or three days passed, Li Ling found himself unable to prevent a certain obsession from forming within him. No matter what he spoke of, the contrast between his past and Su Wu's kept bothering him. He didn't explicitly think of Su Wu as a righteous man and himself as a traitor, but in the face of Su Wu's severity, forged over many years by the silence of forests, fields, and water, he couldn't help but feel that his anguish, which had been his only defense for his actions, was overwhelmingly rendered meaningless. Furthermore, perhaps it was his imagination, but as the days passed, he began to sense in Su Wu's attitude toward him something akin to a rich man's attitude toward a poor man, or someone who, knowing their superiority, tries to be magnanimous toward the other. He couldn't quite pinpoint it, but sometimes such a feeling would surface unexpectedly. Li Ling, the Right Commander King, clad in luxurious sable fur, feared nothing more than the faint hint of pity that occasionally appeared in the eyes of Su Wu, who was dressed in a satin robe.

After staying for about ten days, Li Ling bid farewell to his old friend and sadly departed southward. He had left behind ample food and clothing in the log cabin in the forest.

Li Ling never opened his mouth about the Chanyu's recommendation to surrender. He thought there was no need to disgrace Su Wu and himself with such a recommendation now, when Su Wu's answer was already clear. Even after returning south, Su Wu's presence never left his mind for a single day. When he thought about it from a distance, Su Wu's figure seemed to stand before him even more sternly.

Li Ling himself did not justify his own act of surrendering to the Xiongnu, but he believed that any heartless critic would acknowledge that it "could not be helped" when considering his service to his homeland and what his homeland had given him in return. However, here was a man who, no matter how "unavoidable" the circumstances seemed, would never allow himself to yield to them.

The suffering of hunger and cold, the pain of loneliness, the indifference of his homeland, and the almost certain fact that his hardships would remain unknown to anyone, were not, for this man, unavoidable circumstances that would compel him to abandon his lifelong integrity.

Su Wu's existence was a sublime lesson for Li Ling, and at the same time, an irritating nightmare. Occasionally, he would send people to inquire about Su Wu's well-being and send him food, cattle, sheep, and carpets. The desire to meet Su Wu and the desire to avoid him were constantly battling within him.

Several years later, Li Ling visited the log cabin by the North Sea again. On the way, he met guards protecting the northern border amidst the clouds, and from them, he heard that recently, all the governors and officials on the Han frontier were wearing white clothes. The people all wearing white clothes must mean mourning for the Son of Heaven. Li Ling learned of Emperor Wu's death.

Upon arriving at the North Sea and informing Su Wu of this, he turned south and wailed. His lamentation continued for several days, to the point where he eventually vomited blood. Watching him, Li Ling gradually grew somber. He, of course, never doubted the sincerity of Su Wu's grief. He couldn't help but be moved by such pure and intense sorrow. Yet, not a single tear welled up in his own eyes.

Although Su Wu's family was not massacred like Li Ling's, his elder brother caused a minor incident during the Emperor's procession, and his younger brother failed to apprehend a criminal. Both were held responsible and forced to commit suicide. By any measure, it cannot be said that he received favorable treatment from the Han court. Knowing this, and witnessing Su Wu's pure anguish before him, Li Ling realized for the first time that beneath what he had previously considered mere stubbornness lay an unparalleled, pure love for the Han homeland. It was not something imposed from outside, like righteousness or integrity, but a most intimate, natural affection that constantly welled up, impossible to suppress.

Li Ling confronted the fundamental difference between himself and his friend, and was inevitably driven to dark doubts about himself.

Upon returning south from Su Wu's place, an envoy from Han had just arrived. They were peace envoys, reporting Emperor Wu's death and Emperor Zhao's ascension, and seeking to establish future friendly relations. Among these envoys were Li Ling's old friends, Ren Lizheng of Longxi and two others.

In February of that year, Emperor Wu passed away, and the eight-year-old Crown Prince Fuling ascended the throne. By imperial decree, Huo Guang, the Imperial Attendant and Chariot Commander, was appointed Grand Marshal and General-in-Chief to assist in governing. Huo Guang had always been close to Li Ling, and Shangguan Jie, who became the Left General, was also an old friend of Li Ling's. A discussion arose between these two about recalling Li Ling. This was why Li Ling's old friends were chosen as the envoys this time.

After the envoy's ostensible business before the Chanyu was concluded, a grand banquet was held. Usually, Wei Lü would serve as the host, but this time, since Li Ling's friend had come, he too was drawn into the banquet. Ren Lizheng saw Li Ling, but in front of the high officials of the Xiongnu, he could not say, "Return to Han." He gazed at Li Ling across the seats, making eye contact and stroking his sword pommel, implicitly trying to convey his intention. Li Ling saw this and largely understood what the other party wanted to convey. However, he did not know how to respond.

After the official banquet ended, only Li Ling, Wei Lü, and others remained, entertaining the Han envoy with beef, wine, and board games. At that time, Ren Lizheng said to Li Ling, "In Han, a great amnesty has been issued, and all people are enjoying the benevolent rule of peace. The new emperor is still young, so your old friends Huo Zimeng and Shangguan Shaoshu are assisting the emperor and managing the affairs of the realm." Lizheng regarded Wei Lü completely as a Xiongnu, and indeed he was, but in front of him, he clearly hesitated to persuade Li Ling. He merely mentioned the names of Huo Guang and Shangguan Jie to attract Li Ling's heart. Li Ling remained silent and did not answer. After staring intently at Lizheng for a while, he stroked his own hair. His hair was also tied in a topknot, no longer in the Chinese style. After a while, Wei Lü left his seat to change clothes. For the first time, Lizheng called Li Ling by name. "Shaoxing, how great must your suffering have been for so many years. Huo Zimeng and Shangguan Shaoshu send their regards." To Li Ling's distant words asking about the well-being of the two, Lizheng repeatedly said, "Shaoxing, please return. Wealth and honor are not worth mentioning, are they? Please return without saying anything." Li Ling, who had just returned from Su Wu's side, could not help but be moved by his friend's earnest words. However, without even thinking about it, it was already something that could not be undone. "Returning is easy. But would it not just be to suffer humiliation again?" Wei Lü returned in the middle of his words. The two fell silent.

As the gathering dispersed and it was time to part, Ren Lizheng casually approached Li Ling and quietly asked if he still intended to return. Li Ling shook his head. "A man of honor cannot be disgraced again." His words lacked strength, but it wasn't because he feared Wei Lü might overhear.

Five years later, in the summer of the sixth year of Emperor Zhao's Shiyuan era, Su Wu, who was thought to have died quietly in the north, coincidentally returned to Han. The famous story that Su Wu's silk letter was found attached to the leg of a wild goose caught by the Han emperor in the Shanglin Garden was, of course, a fabrication to convince the Chanyu, who claimed Su Wu was dead. Nineteen years prior, a man named Chang Hui, who had accompanied Su Wu to the land of the Hu, encountered a Han envoy and informed him of Su Wu's survival, instructing him to use this lie to rescue Wu. Immediately, an envoy was dispatched to the North Sea, and Su Wu was brought before the Chanyu's court. Li Ling's heart was stirred. Regardless of whether Su Wu could return to Han, his greatness remained unchanged, and thus Li Ling's heartache should also remain unchanged. However, the thought that Heaven had indeed been watching deeply struck Li Ling. It seemed as if Heaven wasn't watching, yet it was. He was filled with solemn dread. Even now, he had no intention of blaming his past, but the fact that a man like Su Wu was here, and had accomplished something so grand that it made Li Ling feel ashamed of his own past, which had not been impossible, and that the traces of this were now being celebrated throughout the world, was unbearable for Li Ling. Li Ling greatly feared that the effeminate feeling of tearing at his chest might be envy.

Li Ling hosted a farewell banquet. With his friends, his heart was filled with countless things he wanted to say. However, ultimately, it all came down to where his ambition lay when he surrendered to the Hu. Before he could fulfill that ambition, his family in his homeland was destroyed, and he no longer had any way to return. Thinking that speaking of it would sound like a complaint, he did not mention it at all. Instead, as the banquet grew lively, he couldn't bear it any longer, stood up, and began to dance and sing.

「Crossing ten thousand li of roads, traversing deserts. For you, I confront the Xiongnu. The path ends, arrows and blades shatter, warriors perish, and names vanish. My aged mother has already passed away, and though I wish to repay her kindness, where can I return to...」

As he sang, his voice trembled, and tears streamed down his cheeks. He chastised himself for being so effeminate, but there was nothing he could do.

Su Wu returned to his homeland after nineteen years.

After that, Sima Qian continued writing. He passed from this world, but lived on as a character in his book. In his real life, he never spoke again, but borrowing the words of Lu Zhonglian, his thoughts were passionately expressed. He gouged out his own eyes like Wu Zixu, rebuked King Qin like Lin Xiangru, and shed tears sending off Jing Ke like Crown Prince Dan. He spoke of Qu Yuan's sorrow from Chu, and when he extensively quoted Qu Yuan's feelings as he was about to throw himself into the Miluo River, Sima Qian couldn't help but feel as if the passage was his own work.

Fourteen years after starting the manuscript, and eight years after enduring the pain of castration. Around the time the Witchcraft Incident occurred in the capital and the tragedy of the deposed Crown Prince unfolded, this work, passed down from father to son, was completed as a comprehensive history largely according to its initial conception. Several more years passed with repeated additions and revisions. The Records of the Grand Historian grew into a monumental work of 130 volumes, totaling 526,500 characters, and was completed around the time Emperor Wu's demise was approaching.

As he laid down his pen for the last time on "Biography 70, Postface of the Grand Historian," Sima Qian leaned against his desk, lost in a vague reverie. A deep sigh escaped from the depths of his belly, and his eyes were directed towards the dense foliage of the pagoda tree in the garden, though he wasn't actually seeing anything. With hollow ears, he seemed to be listening to the sound of a single cicada coming from somewhere in the garden. There should have been joy, yet a vague, deflated loneliness enveloped his heart, and anxiety took precedence.

I had been on edge until I submitted the completed work to the authorities and reported it before my father's grave, but once that was done, a terrible sense of exhaustion suddenly overwhelmed me. Like a shaman from whom a spirit has departed, my body and mind collapsed in weariness, and though I was only just past sixty, I suddenly aged as if ten years had passed. The death of Emperor Wu and the ascension of Emperor Zhao seemed to hold no meaning for the former Grand Historian Sima Qian anymore.

No accurate records remain about Li Ling after he parted ways with Su Wu. It is only known that he died in the land of the Hu in the first year of Yuanping.

His close friend, Chanyu Hulusugu, had already died earlier, and it was now the era of his son, Chanyu Huyanzhi. It is not difficult to imagine that an internal conflict arose between the Left Worthy Prince and the Right Guli King regarding his ascension, and Li Ling was unwillingly caught up in that struggle.

The "Book of Han," Xiongnu Biographies, records that Li Ling's son was born in the land of the Hu, established himself as Wuji Duwei, confronted the Chanyu, and failed in opposing Chanyu Huhanye. This occurred in the second year of Wufeng during Emperor Xuan's reign, exactly eighteen years after Li Ling's death. He was only referred to as Li Ling's son, and his name was not preserved.