The Race for Power (1)
The summer evening was just like any other. The drinking party was just like any other. The liquor was the same, the snacks were the same, the conversation was the same, and the drinking companion was the same. It was just another ordinary day.
And the next day, Jian Shi of the Ten Eunuchs could not rise from his bed.
No one investigated the cause of his death.
It was simply the way things went on one perfectly ordinary early summer day.
Soon after, the Prince of Bohai, Liu Xie, who had lost her greatest political patron, naturally dropped out of the race for the throne. Regardless of whether they belonged to the Clean Stream faction or the Dirty Stream faction, everyone agreed that Liu Bian would be the next emperor.
“Brother… I’m scared.”
“Xie’er, it’s alright. Everything will be fine. Both Uncle and the Ten Eunuchs said that if you stabilize the north as Prince of Bohai, there will be no need to touch you. With Lord Liu Yu and the former Colonel of the Left in You Province, not a single hair on your head will be harmed.”
The two children who had once been rival claimants to the throne surprisingly did not dislike each other. From the beginning, Liu Xie had known she could never become emperor. Liu Bian had never received proper imperial education, and to him, Liu Xie was one of the few peers in the imperial family he could speak with comfortably. Their long, pointed ears—proof of imperial blood—gave them a sense of kinship, and the fact that she was a few years younger than him stirred protective instincts even in the timid young Liu Bian.
Liu Bian had begged his uncle He Jin to spare Liu Xie, and He Jin was not so ruthless as to purge her as well.
“If you can’t trust me, then trust the merchant from Liaodong. Uncle himself declared that man is a loyal subject of Han. His sword is pointed at our enemies, so he will never harm a member of the imperial clan like you.”
“Brother…”
“It’s alright. Everything will be okay.”
The two children held each other tightly, steadying their trembling bodies. Soon, the Ten Eunuchs led by Guo Sheng came to attend them.
---
“The Inspector of You Province is calling for me?”
“Yes, sir. The former General of the Household, Dong Zhuo, is causing a ruckus, demanding to see you.”
That guy? Me? Why? There’s no reason for him to look for me, is there?
“Tsk… Understood. Looks like I’ll have to set foot in the Central Plains after a long time.”
In Liaodong I might live like a king, but from a wider perspective I was merely the Inspector of a border province. When the Inspector himself called, there wasn’t much I could do but go.
The auditors and censors who came to Luoyang were immediately snatched up by my not-so-friendly acquaintances and put to work as salarymen in the salt fields, but I couldn’t just make an official messenger from the Inspector of You Province disappear without a trace.
I filled my leather canteen with water, packed plenty of dried tofu and jerky, and turned my horse toward the Bohai Bay. My escorts were former subordinate Jeon Hae, who had served as my adjutant since the Battle of Changli, along with ten armored cavalrymen.
Selective breeding had only just begun, but thanks to the sheer number of horses brought in by the northern nomads, roughly one in ten was already usable as a proper warhorse. The stallions were reserved for breeding while the mares were pressed into military service. As a result, the overall equipment level of my cavalry had improved considerably compared to the days of Changli. Breaking through bandits or wild beasts on the way to You Province didn’t seem particularly difficult.
“Will it take about two days?”
“Probably, sir.”
“What a pain.”
I had done some work improving the main roads, but they were still little more than dirt tracks worn naturally by travelers across the vast plains. I didn’t know how to make asphalt, nor did I remember the exact methods the ancient Romans used for their roads. Unless I recruited an engineer with road-building expertise later, there was nothing I could do for now.
Riding a horse myself wasn’t too bad, but I heard the poor regular infantry who had to march or ride in carts between fortresses found it quite miserable.
“Hmm…”
Did Rome even exist in this era? Maybe I should casually ask my merchant friends. Would they know? Or not? I wasn’t sure. I should make a mental note anyway.
As always, I captured the naturally spawned bandits, hung them from trees to let them experience the mysteries of the human body, inspected the fortress line to confirm supplies were arriving properly, and did my best to eradicate the military’s long-standing tradition of skim-the-cream corruption.
If Liaodong had reached the level of a mid-tier developed country from the 20th century, this kind of corruption might not have been catastrophic. But with infrastructure that was only advanced by 2nd or 3rd century standards, such corruption could easily decide the rise and fall of the state.
Besides, it pissed me off when these bastards lined their own pockets while I refused to take any bribes. Of course, my main sources of income were the farmland owned by the Gongsun family, the land I received as reward for taking Jang Gak’s head, and the dividends from the salt fields. Still, people tend to be generous with themselves and stingy with others.
No, more importantly, I was trying my best to pay my men as generously as possible. Their salaries were about thirty percent higher than what regular soldiers in Luoyang received when I had looked into it during my time as Colonel of the Left. By the standards of this era, that was practically a large corporation salary.
“Sir, mounted bandits ahead. Quite a few of them, by the looks of it.”
“What?”
I lifted my head from my wandering thoughts and saw a group of cavalry attacking a fortress. No unit banners, no standardized weapons… Yep, definitely bandits.
“Wait a second. Isn’t that the fortress where our Xianbei friends are staying?”
I halted my horse just as it was about to break into a trot and checked the banner flying above the fortress again.
“The Tan banner… Correct. It’s not one of our directly controlled fortresses.”
“Fuck… Why the hell are these horse-riding bastards attacking their own fortress? It’s an allied garrison! Boys! Raise your spears and charge! If we mess this up, everything we’ve built so far goes down the drain!”
At first there had been friction, but ever since the salt business got on track, relations with the northern horse tribes had improved dramatically. Some nearby tribes even called me Big Brother, and I had turned several northern fortresses over to them as symbols of friendship.
But now one of those fortresses was being attacked by our own side? In the worst case, it could be seen as betrayal. In an era where social infrastructure was limited to blood ties, regional ties, and school ties, becoming enemies with the only faction capable of leading exchanges with the northern Central Plains people was far from desirable.
“Halt! Halt!”
— Piiiiiing!
I fired a signal arrow into the sky and galloped forward, shouting at the top of my lungs for the fighting to stop. Ten heavy warhorses thundered across the earth, and the imperial troops soon spotted us.
“We are the Liaodong Army! Cease combat immediately!”
“…?! Lord Inspector, it’s dangerous!”
— Swish!
An arrow flew past, narrowly missing me.
“…?”
“Don’t spout nonsense! You expect me to believe that the Human Butcher Gongsun Zan is on friendly terms with the horse tribes?”
A muscular body already beginning to accumulate fat, scars covering every inch of skin, and eyes brimming with killing intent. The former General of the Household, the warlord of Xiliang, the man who had divided Luoyang’s power three ways—Dong Zhuo.
Why was this guy here…? Wasn’t he supposed to be with the Inspector of You Province? More importantly, why the hell was the Xiliang warlord causing trouble all the way out here?
“General Dong, have you forgotten my voice?”
“Huh? Brother Gongsun? It really is Brother Gongsun?!”
“Who the hell is your brother?”
“Kahaha! Well, weren’t we comrades who once fought on the same battlefield? Then you’re my brother! Comrade, brother! The words even sound similar!”
What a crazy bastard. I didn’t exactly dislike this kind of personality. Honestly, it was pretty entertaining. It must be hell for his subordinates, but when it came to drinking buddies, this type was the best. If you drank with him and traded a few jokes, he’d supposedly gift you something like a golden AK. Of course, in the old days I would have had to secretly slit his throat right after receiving it, but it had still been fun in its own way.
“The Inspector of You Province personally asked me to do this, and since I am also a scholar, I was attempting to civilize them through the relay station. General Dong, why did you attack the relay station? Did the empire’s storehouse look that appetizing to you?”
“Umm… Hmm… Kahaha! My apologies! Only a few of my younger brothers have died so far, so can’t we just pretend this never happened?”
“…Shouldn’t you be saying that to the Tan clan friends over there instead of me? As a friend of the Xianbei people and a loyal subject of the Han imperial family, I am merely trying to mediate this unnecessary conflict.”
Yes, stop fighting and just cooperate. Your Xiliang bunch has headaches because of the Xianbei too, don’t you? As a warlord who needs to focus his strength in Luoyang from now on, don’t waste energy because your back itches and instead pour everything into Luoyang—
“Kaha! Brother Gongsun, I thought you were just cracking pumpkin seeds back in Luoyang, but it seems you’ve been harboring some rather cute thoughts?”
“What nonsense are you talking about?”
“While blood rains in Luoyang, you plan to quietly break away with Liaodong and devour it all by yourself, right?”
“Goddammit, I’ve been found out.”
My hand moved to my waist. In any case, Dong Zhuo’s side had struck the Xianbei first. No one could blame me if he died here. As for the Dong Zhuo faction… well, I’d just have to bring out the main force and clash with them once. My Xianbei and Maek friends weren’t the type of bastards who would sit quietly while their great elder fought against a warlord.
Clashing with the entire Central Plains would be impossible, but against the Dong Zhuo faction, it was worth a try.
“Hmm… Something like ‘killed in battle while fighting the Tan cavalry’ should be appropriate, right?”
“Whoa, whoa~ Brother, this Dong Zhongying is not a narrow-minded man like that honey-tongued Yuan Shu. I’m not as black-hearted as that little brat Yuan Benchu, and I’m certainly not as picky as Wang Yun.”
“What exactly are you trying to say?”
“Forget Liaodong—take all of You Province. Since you’re going to eat, you might as well eat big.”
“Then what does General Dong plan to eat?”
“Everything except You Province. Yangzhou is too barren, and Bingzhou is no different from Yangzhou. To match my stature, I should also take Yongzhou and the Capital Province, don’t you think?”
…This guy was surprisingly forward-thinking. But… there was a possibility.
“A truly vicious thought.”
“Kak! The Han Dynasty is finished anyway. Have you heard that eunuch Jian Shi is dead?”
“?”
“They say he died in his sleep as if poisoned. No one is investigating, but even this Dong Zhongying’s eyes cannot be fooled.”
Jian Shi, the protector of Prince of Bohai Liu Xie, was dead. That could only mean the next emperor had already been decided.
“Then hasn’t General Dong’s plan become nothing but scraps of paper?”
“Hardly. That cute little Yuan Benchu is cooking up his own schemes, and the Grand General is busy plotting a third party purge. The real chaos hasn’t even begun yet. As for the next emperor? No one knows for sure yet. I can guarantee that.”
…I really should have read the Romance of the Three Kingdoms in my previous life. Weren’t He Jin and Yuan Shao supposed to be on the same boat? I wasn’t sure. It looked like I needed to plant a few more eyes in Luoyang.
But why was this guy acting so chummy with me? That, I also didn’t know.