WanYan AguDa

WanYan AguDa is a Jurchen warrior and the second son of the chief HeLiBu. His encounter with Xiao Feng begins in the snowbound northern wilderness, where their first exchange depends on gesture rather than shared language. AguDa’s welcome soon becomes practical assistance: he helps Xiao Feng find shelter and supplies, while Xiao Feng’s concern for A'Zi gives their new friendship an immediate purpose. In a setting shaped by conflict between Jurchen and Khitan, AguDa’s regard for a capable and generous stranger outweighs ethnic enmity.

Identity and Background

AguDa belongs to a Jurchen tribe east of the Liao Empire and north of Korea. He is HeLiBu’s second son; his father has eleven sons, described as capable heroes. AguDa is himself regarded as intelligent and skilled, and his father and fellow tribesmen hold him in high esteem. The narrative introduces him through action before supplying these family and social details: he is first seen as a hunter, and only later does Xiao Feng learn his name and lineage.

His people and Xiao Feng’s Khitan people are at war, a fact that makes the welcome AguDa offers consequential. The Jurchens nevertheless admire heroic ability, and AguDa’s praise helps shape the tribe’s response to Xiao Feng. The distinction between public hostility and personal judgment runs through their association: political enemies can recognize one another as companions when conduct earns respect.

Meeting Xiao Feng

The two men meet after Xiao Feng, lost in a heavy snowstorm, encounters AguDa hunting a tiger. With an iron fork, AguDa brings the animal down. Xiao Feng responds with gestures of praise, and AguDa identifies himself by pointing to his nose and giving his name. Xiao Feng answers in kind, then indicates that he is Khitan; AguDa identifies himself as Jurchen. Their introduction is brief, direct, and conducted across the language barrier through names, gestures, and recognition of each other’s prowess.

Xiao Feng is not alone: he is trying to obtain ginseng for A'Zi, whose severe injuries leave her unable to travel independently. Once AguDa understands that Xiao Feng is seeking medicine and has lost his way, he offers to lead him to the tribe, where ginseng is readily available. Xiao Feng takes A'Zi with one arm and carries the dead tiger with the other; AguDa follows him. Familiar with the terrain, AguDa guides them through the blizzard. They travel for two days, and on the afternoon of the third reach the encampment, where numerous skin tents stand on a mountainside.

Aid and Welcome Among the Jurchens

At the tribe’s chief’s tent, AguDa presents Xiao Feng to the people and recounts, through gesture, the tiger encounter. The tribesmen gather around Xiao Feng in admiration. A Han salesman, Xu Zhuocheng, can speak Jurchen and becomes an interpreter, allowing Xiao Feng to learn that the black-bearded chief is HeLiBu and that AguDa is his second son. Xu also explains that the Jurchens and Khitans are at war. Yet because AguDa has praised Xiao Feng and the tribe admires heroes, the Jurchens do not hold Xiao Feng’s Khitan identity against him; they receive him as an honored guest.

AguDa gives up his own tent for Xiao Feng and A'Zi. Xiao Feng initially tries to refuse, but accepts when AguDa persists. The tribe holds a welcoming feast, serving meat from the two tigers. Xiao Feng has gone more than half a month without wine, yet drinks more than ten bags of the Jurchen liquor without any change in complexion. The tribe’s astonishment at his endurance reinforces the admiration already kindled by AguDa’s account of the hunt. The welcome is thus built through shared hospitality as well as the display of strength.

Care for A'Zi and Xiao Feng’s Loyalty

AguDa’s help continues beyond the first encounter. As spring arrives, A'Zi consumes valuable ginseng every day and gradually improves, though her limbs remain weak and Xiao Feng continues to care for her. AguDa invites Xiao Feng to join a hunting party in the North Mountains, explaining that bear meat and fat are useful and that bear gall is considered effective for injuries. Xiao Feng agrees once he sees that A'Zi’s condition has improved enough for him to leave camp without worry. This invitation connects the tribe’s hunting knowledge with Xiao Feng’s continuing effort to nurse A'Zi.

Later, after Xiao Feng releases a Khitan captive and returns to the Jurchen camp, AguDa meets him with a dozen tribesmen. AguDa had become concerned when Xiao Feng did not return and feared that the red-robed man might have used a trick; he had brought the group to assist. Xiao Feng explains that he let the man go. AguDa admires his decision, seeing that Xiao Feng places human ties above material advantage and acts with generosity. The episode deepens their regard for one another: AguDa does not merely welcome Xiao Feng as a powerful guest but respects the values behind his choices.

When Xiao Feng and AguDa later discuss the cause of A'Zi’s injuries, AguDa proposes a Jurchen remedy made from tiger tendon, tiger bones, and bear gall. Xiao Feng prepares the mixture and gives it to her. He then goes alone into the remote mountains to hunt bears, finding one on the second day and bringing its gall back to camp for A'Zi. The medicine and the hunting that supplies it are concrete extensions of AguDa’s earlier support: his knowledge helps Xiao Feng keep pursuing a recovery that is slow and demanding.

Narrative Significance

AguDa’s role is defined less by political authority than by the chain of aid he initiates. He meets Xiao Feng in the wilderness, guides him to safety, secures a welcome for a Khitan among Jurchens, and contributes knowledge and resources to A'Zi’s care. Each act turns an initial recognition between hunters into a durable bond of trust. Their relationship offers a counterpoint to the warfare between their peoples: hostility remains part of the larger political world, but it does not prevent respect and assistance between individuals.

AguDa also helps bring Xiao Feng’s character into view. The tribe first hears of his extraordinary strength, but AguDa’s later admiration concerns a different quality: Xiao Feng releases a man who might have been useful as a captive, choosing human feeling over advantage. In this way, the friendship does not rest solely on feats of strength. It is sustained by practical loyalty, hospitality, and an ethical judgment that crosses the boundary between Jurchen and Khitan.