The Jia-Wu Tai Sui: General Zhang Ci

A tall tree under the noon sun

Jia is the first stem, a tall tree that grows toward the light no matter how poor the soil. Wu is the horse racing under the noon sun. Wood feeds fire, so the tree gives the horse staying power, and the horse runs toward the sky the tree reaches for.

General Zhang Ci guards this year. People born in Jia-Wu years often hate waiting and are the first to act. In a tough moment, they lift everyone's spirits and give the hesitant the courage to move.

Built for the field

He wears a sturdy, plain helmet, the choice of someone who has been on a real battlefield. His face is strong, with thick brows and big eyes that never hesitate.

His right hand points a sword forward, ready to go. His other hand holds a staff. He wears colorful armor and a bright yellow cloak.

Thirty riders in the night

According to legend, he was Zhang Ci, a commander at a remote frontier fort in the Three Kingdoms era, far from the great power struggles, guarding farmers, herders and traders who had no one else.

His soldiers loved him because of one rule: he never ordered anyone to do what he would not do himself. He took the most dangerous watch every ten days and rode first on every urgent chase. His red-brown horse had been with him ten years. A tiny shift of his leg was all it needed.

One year, enemy cavalry burned a huge load of supplies on the supply road, and the fort was thrown into panic. Zhang Ci took only thirty riders, circled around at night, and struck from an angle no one expected. A much larger enemy force scattered, and the road reopened.

Riding doesn't lie

Afterward he said, "Riding is the one thing you can't fake. If your feet aren't steady, you fall. So I'd rather do it than sit there calculating."

Heaven named him the Tai Sui of the Jia-Wu year. A sword pointed ahead and a bold heart: that is his gift to everyone born in the Year of the Horse.