Cai Yong's arrival had not come as a surprise to Wang Yan.
The man had arrived in the autumn of the second year of Zhongping (185 CE), while his name spread throughout Han territory in the spring of the third year of Zhongping. From then on, people gradually began coming to Liaodong to study.
Most noteworthy among them were the renowned scholars Bing Yuan and Guan Ning, who came to study and seek refuge. Together with the famed Hua Xin, these two were known as "One Dragon," meaning that the three of them combined made a single dragon, renowned in the Eastern Han literary world. Hua Xin was the dragon's head, Bing Yuan its belly, and Guan Ning its tail.
Hua Xin and Guan Ning were both highly accomplished. They had been fellow disciples of such great contemporary scholars as Lu Zhi and Zheng Xuan. Guan Ning even had an idiom associated with him: "cutting the mat to sever ties." It was said that Guan Ning and Hua Xin had been studying when a high-ranking noble passed by. Hua Xin went to watch the spectacle, but Guan Ning had no interest. He cut their shared mat in two and said, "You are not my friend."
Bing Yuan was naturally no lesser figure. He belonged to Cao Pi's circle and was greatly relied upon. Had Bing Yuan not died so early, once Cao Pi came to power, an old retainer from his days as heir apparent like him would naturally have soared to prominence.
Besides those three, there was also the renowned scholar Wang Lie. Hearing that Liaodong was a land of peace and that the great scholar Cai Yong resided there, he too came to study and escape calamity. His teacher was Chen Shi, another exceptionally formidable scholar of his