The Tiger General (On Hold Due To Lack of Good Sources)

Chapter 1

Many years before, Yan had been a simple hermit’s son. He was nothing special in his small town, just another young man that was versed in fine arts and swordsmanship. He was handsome, with jet black hair and eyes, with slightly tanned skin and a well placed face. He was a kind person who always thought of others before himself and who had a tolerant disposition. He wasn’t originally interested in fighting wars or becoming famous, but the goings on in the outside world was intriguing to the young literate. At 17, he had the down to earth thinking that a full grown adult had, which is why adults adored him so much.

            Yan was originally an orphan. He’d been adopted by the wandering Hermit, Zhou Shuang, as an infant. Zhou Shuang would seem normal to a passerby, but those who knew him, including Yan himself, considered the aging man a little crazy. At 48, he was still quite an active member of society. He grew crops by the cartfuls and went back and forth between his isolated home and the town. He had a slight obsession with order and was often seen arguing with an invisible person going to and from his home on the dirt road between the two, leading the horse with a firm hand.

            The Zhou family house was located about five minutes out of town. It was fairly large with a massive acreage that was used for planting crops, which was the two man family’s source of income aside from selling scrolls that were copies of works by famous authors. The house itself was nothing fancy. It was a modest farm house that was lined with bookshelves and cases full of curios that Shuang had collected on his travels across China. In a far corner was Shuang’s old armor that his father had given him, polished and glistening beside it was a set of beautiful swords. Yan had found himself admiring those blades for an hour or better at times. In the far room, there sat a small charcoal brazier and table that made up the kitchen. Then, there was a room with a larger table and had cushions that made up a living room area.

            Yan had several friends in the town. Huo Fa was the daughter of a fat old merchant; she was also the town’s residential tomboy and often dressed like a boy. Her features could easily have been that of a male actor who played women’s roles, which is how she got away with dressing like she did. She had shoulder length black hair that she kept pulled up and dark brown eyes.  She was a skilled archer and poet, despite being a girl, and worked helping Yan and Shuang write out scrolls to sell to passers-by that went through the village.

            Next was Guo Jianxi, a loud, brusque, intimidating man that was kinder than he truly looked. He had unruly facial hair and small, beady, black eyes that were always sparkling. He was huge, quite tall and heavily muscled. He worked doing all of the building and heavy lifting around town and performed his duties with ease. His looks made him the one people wouldn’t mess with, but those who really knew him could tell you he wouldn’t hurt a fly unless he had to.

Ba Dan was from the capital. A quiet, reserved, and literate young man, he was taken aback by the country bumpkins of the small rural village at first. After meeting Yan and his motley crew, however, his opinions changed. Ba Dan was a man with pronounced features: a shapely nose with well shaped eyes that seemed to always consider the world, his hair was jet black, yet his head looked slightly large on his thin neck, but it was normally always covered with his hanfu[1], so nobody really noticed unless he took it off. He wasn’t very strong or large, but his skill with a bow and arrow had kept him alive.

Last but not least there was De Pan, the quiet carpenter. He was large like Guo Jianxi, but was as harmless and quiet as a mouse. He lived close to Yan, so the two talked (Yan did most of the talking) whenever they met. De Pan loved horses, so whenever he wasn’t working on his carpentry, he was at the local stables looking after the horses. His family couldn’t afford one, so those were the next best thing. Whenever an army regiment rode through on their way somewhere, De Pan simply watched to gawk at their horses.