The First Sentence from That Famous Mars Survival Novel (2)
I wore a pitch-black frock coat with sleeves shortened just enough to avoid being cumbersome while riding a horse in the fashion of this era, and kept my hair cropped short beneath a helmet fitted with a faceguard. The style was quite unusual compared to the dress of the time, but against the countless eccentricities of this era's powerful men, short hair and odd clothing barely counted as a flaw. I wasn't stealing other men's wives or embezzling taxes to fill my own coffers. Honestly, "the Duke who dresses strangely" was the sort of complaint no one could easily raise. Of course, when meeting my superiors I had to change into proper court robes… though the only person I could truly call a superior was His Majesty the Emperor. I still showed basic courtesy to the imperial clan, but the title of Duke was originally an honorary post granted to the Emperor's tutor. A Duke who could effectively govern an entire province was, in every sense, second only to the Emperor himself.
"Y-Your Grace…"
"Guide me. Ziahui, you will explain everything about that damned duel-trial business."
"Yes… well… most sailors have violent tempers, and with traders from all over the empire gathering at Laling Port, quarrels break out constantly. At first we tried to handle everything through the magistrate's office, but many people found it too troublesome to drag minor disputes over a few coins all the way to court…"
"So they settled them with fists instead?"
"…I am ashamed."
"And you couldn't stop that mess."
"…But…"
"But what? Do you have anything to say for yourself?"
"I requested additional personnel to stop the… mess, but Your Grace rejected it. In the end, when I could no longer manage every trial and submitted my resignation asking for a more capable successor, the one who rejected it while saying they still expected great things from me was also Your Grace."
…Was that how it went? Hmm. It seemed the root cause of this duel-trial crisis was my decision to hire fewer administrative officials in order to expand the research institute. I had judged Dong Zhuo's antics more dangerous than internal friction and ignored the already-overworked administrators to secure more researchers for mass-producing barbed wire. I remembered this woman as quite capable. If Laling Commandery was in this state, what about the other counties…? Hmm. I had come here to settle one matter and now felt like the pile of problems was only growing taller.
"The barbed-wire technique is finished, so from next year we can expand the administrative staff… Just endure until the end of this year. As for the duel trials… try to suppress them as much as possible. I'm sorry I didn't understand your difficulties sooner. As an apology, I'll find you a good match."
"…Yes."
The door to the clinic run as a hobby by the medic from the 4th Battalion opened, and Ziahui entered first to announce my arrival. When the door opened again, I saw a pretty boy standing awkwardly on the white marble floor, frozen in place. Farther inside, another tall boy sitting on a patient's cot turned to look at me, his face hardening. Liu Ziahui glanced between the two boys and me, her mind clearly racing to calculate how to clean up this mess.
"What the—?!"
"You came claiming to deliver a marriage proposal, yet you're brawling instead. Was the proposal just an excuse?"
They were clearly children. They might have been around the same age as His Majesty the Emperor, and their well-fed frames suggested they came from decent families, but honestly, boys in their early to mid-teens all looked much the same.
"I am Gongsun Zan, Duke of Yan."
No matter how much of a "Ghost of the Streets" Yuan Shu was, he had still received a proper education from a prestigious house. He would never have sent two mere children as his actual working envoys. Especially when proposing a marriage alliance—he would surely have attached at least one eloquent elder from the Yuan clan. That meant these two were bait. What political gain could Yuan Shu obtain if these brats offended me? Or was the goal to provoke me into dealing with them harshly?
Sun Ce's father was the Marquis of Duting, Sun Jian. I had never heard the name in my previous life, so he was probably just an ordinary minor officer. Yet among the generals currently serving Yuan Shu, he was the only one whose reputation had reached even my ears. If the son of such a fierce warrior saw blood, he would naturally be blinded by vengeance and charge straight into the plains… charge into the plains? To strike at Yan from Jingzhou and Yuzhou, they would have to pass through Cao Cao's Yanzhou. Yuan Shu and Cao Cao maintained a distance somewhere between friends and acquaintances. Considering public opinion, they could not invade Cao Cao's territory without justification. Even if they tried a naval landing by crossing the Yangtze and sailing along the Yellow Sea, the warships of Jingzhou—designed for river fighting—would be no match for the ocean-going vessels of Liaodong.
So Yuan Shu had no way to attack Yan directly… Unless war itself was the objective? Start a war and join hands with Dong Zhuo? Dong Zhuo already lacked proper farmland—would he really accept the jungles of the south and increase his expenses even further? I had no idea. That madman Yuan Shu was impossible to read. Dong Zhuo at least knew how to make plans, and warlord schemes were all fairly predictable, but that honey-wine-swilling young master—there was no telling what went on in his head.
Sun Bofu and Zhou Gongjin… I had never heard either name before, so they were probably nothing special. I felt no premonition that these two trembling boys would one day become great men. In short, they looked like nothing more than disposable pawns.
"If you've heard someone's name, isn't it polite to introduce yourself?"
"I-I… I am Sun Ce. My father is the Marquis of Duting, Sun Jian… and my courtesy name is Bofu."
"I am Zhou Yu. My father is Zhou Yi, Magistrate of Luoyang, and my courtesy name is Gongjin."
Both were shaking far worse than the Prince of Bohai had when I first met him. Their eyes trembled as though in an earthquake, and despite the chilly spring night they were sweating like it was midsummer noon. They claimed the fight started because they were badmouthing me at the bathhouse… Well, even the Emperor gets cursed behind his back when he's not around, so I personally thought a little gossip about a neighboring duke was nothing to get worked up over. Personally, that is.
In an age without social media, news, or newspapers, reputation mattered several times more than in the modern world. Being called a coward and doing nothing about it was the same as dragging one's own honor through the mud.
"So, you think I'm a coward?"
Of course, a duke could afford to ignore some insults, and I had half a mind to just give these brats a couple of knocks on the head and be done with it. But since they had come as envoys from Governor Yuan Shu of Jingzhou, their insulting me was a clear diplomatic breach. It was too serious to dismiss as childish nonsense.
"W-well…"
"Do I look like a coward to you? I've never once run from an enemy out of fear."
"We're sorry! Sun Ce was deeply grieved by the failure of the campaign against Dong Zhuo and, in a fit of childish anger, insulted Your Grace in public, damaging your honor! He even struck a commoner who pointed out his mistake, disturbing the peace! This was not done on Yuan Gonglu's orders or out of the people's resentment—it came purely from a defeated general's son's wounded pride! Please, we beg that this discourtesy does not become a rift between two great heroes! No matter what punishment Your Grace imposes, we will accept it humbly!"
—Thud!
The pretty boy, Zhou Yu, dropped to his knees the moment I finished speaking, pressing his forehead to the floor alongside Sun Ce and reciting their crimes. It was a model apology, containing who they were, what they had done wrong, whom they had harmed, how deeply they repented, and how they intended to take responsibility. After finishing, he even slammed his head hard enough to draw blood from his forehead. If I pressed any harder now, I would look like a petty, narrow-minded man who took children's foolish words seriously—or worse, a heartless lord cruelly punishing mere youths. A fifteen-year-old could not have come up with such a perfectly worded apology on the spot. That meant this was all part of that honey-wine-swilling young master's plan. Among Yuan Shu's strategists, who was clever enough to devise something this cunning? Yan Xiang? It was maddening not being able to guess what that fool was thinking.
"Tch. Get up. You're the first person I've met who would crack his own skull just to apologize."
"…Does that mean you accept our apology?"
"If I don't, it'll look like I'm advertising to the world that Gongsun Zan is a small-minded man. I'll consider this matter settled in my loss. Answer me one thing. Was this the plan that honey-wine-swilling young master Yuan Shu came up with?"
"No, it was not."
"Hmm?"
"Governor Yuan Shu is a small-minded man. Honestly… without the prestige of his family name, he is nothing more than a street ruffian with the courage of an ordinary man. That is who Yuan Shu truly is."
"That's rather harsh. Are you sure it's wise to slander your own lord like that? You're even using his given name."
"My true lord is this friend's father, the Marquis Sun Wentai. Compared to Your Grace, a man like Yuan Shu—who fails to provide promised supplies and refuses to reward merit—is beneath contempt."
"Gongjin! No—Yu! …Your Grace, that was a slip of the tongue."
"No! Bofu, I'm sorry, but I must speak. Your Grace, I spent a single day in Laling Port and saw the faces of the people. I saw a marketplace with no thugs, even though the soldiers do not carry blades. I witnessed with my own eyes and heard with my own ears that every rumor Yuan Shu dismissed as nonsense was true."
"Yu! Please stop!"
"I saw soldiers patrolling in armor so heavy even Jingzhou's generals would struggle to wear it, and officers riding horses that even Jingzhou's finest cavalry could scarcely obtain! Your Grace, I heard that in your youth you were called the Xiao He of Liaodong! I have read every military treatise you compiled during your time as Colonel of the Western Garden. Sun Tzu, Wu Qi, the Six Secret Teachings, and the Three Strategies all agree with Your Grace's writings that vigilance and logistics are the most important virtues of an army. Yet Yuan Shu, jealous of the Marquis of Duting who achieved greater merit than his own men, cut off the very supplies he should have provided. He is nothing but a petty man. This marriage proposal was also a sincere declaration of intent to form a marriage alliance with the Prince of Bohai, the next emperor. No matter how young I am, I am not a fool who cannot distinguish between gentlemen and scoundrels!"
—Thud!
Zhou Yu poured out his words like a machine gun and slammed his forehead into the expensive marble floor once more, drawing another trickle of blood.
"Your Grace! Please forgive my friend just this once for his childish slip of the tongue. If you do, I, Zhou Yu, swear to repay this kindness until the day I die."
"Hah."
It was amusing. The same went for His Majesty the Emperor, the Prince of Bohai, our Yun-i, Zhang Fei, and these two brats before me. At their age I had been wasting time in PC bangs playing space wars in StarCraft, yet these kids were already spouting such bold words.
"Heh."
Was it because only the precocious could survive in chaotic times, or was it simply that every young person I had met so far possessed such firm convictions from an early age?
"Kahahaha!"
I didn't know which was the correct answer, but I couldn't bring myself to dislike brats this bold.
"Very well. I'll let this incident slide, you brats."
After all, I had always liked—and still liked—children with dreams.
"However, since you mocked Gongsun Zan as a coward, you'll have to take one honey-fist each as payment."
They say flowers bloom even in alleyways. Even in this ruined Central Plains, there were still talents to be found. Left alone, they would have been forgotten in the chaos, but now that they had caught my eye, that would not happen. It felt like my workload kept increasing, but if the next generation consisted of brats like these, I still had plenty of time.