chinese story - 9

　Sima Yan said, “How beautiful it is to bring good people into prominence！ But why did
you write a memorial recommending certain people and then burn the draft so that no one knew
？”
　　the dying man answered, “I bowed before the officials in open court, but I did not
beseech the kindness of the private attendants.”
　　So Yang Hu died, and Sima Yan wailed for him and then returned to his palace. He
conferred on the dead leader the posthumous rank of Imperial Guardian and Lord of Juping.
The traders closed their shops out of respect to his memory, and all the frontier camps were
filled with wailing. The people of Xiangyang, recalling that he loved to wander on the Xian
Hills, built there a temple to him and set up a stone and sacrificed regularly at the four
seasons. The passers-by were moved to tears when they read Yang Hu's name on the tablet, so
that it came to be called “The Stone of Tears”。
　　[hip, hip, hip] I saw the fragments of a shattered stone One spring time on the
hillside, when, alone, I walked to GREet the sun. The pines distilled Big drops of dew
unceasing； sadness filled My heart. I knew this was the Stone of Tears, The stone of memory
of long-past years. [yip, yip, yip]
　　On the strength of Yang Hu's recommendation, Du Yu was made Commander of Jingzhou, and
the title of General Who Guards the South was conferred upon him. He was a man of GREat
experience, untiring in study and devoted to the Zuo Volume, the book of commentaries
composed by Zuo Qiuming upon the Spring and Autumn Annals. In hours of leisure, a copy of
Zuo Volume was never out of his hand； and when he went abroad, an attendant rode in front
with the beloved book. He was said to be “Zuo mad”。
　　Du Yu went to Xiangyang and began by being kind to the people and caring for his
soldiers. By this time Wu had lost by death both Ding Feng and Lu Kang.
　　the conduct of the Ruler of Wu waxed worse and worse. He used to give GREat banquets
whereat intoxication was universal. He appointed Rectors of Feasts to observe all the faults
committed by guests, and after these banquets all offenders were punished, some by flaying
the face, others by gouging out the eyes. Everyone went in terror of these Rectors.