The New Strategist

"Oh my. You've done something, haven't you, my lord? I can see your soul with my own eyes."

Jia Xu's eyes sparkled. Their Soul Eyes met, and a strange light flickered in her gaze.

"Yeah. Once you've slept with me, it'll become even clearer. Your body will change."

At the mention of sleeping together, the usually sly Jia Xu flushed red and buried her face in her tea.

"Heh heh heh. My lord — first, allow me to offer my formal greetings as your vassal."

Full of confidence, she cupped her fists and bowed deeply at a perfect ninety degrees. I stepped forward and pulled her into my arms. She straightened, wrapped her arms around me in turn, and settled me onto her lap. The look in her eyes had already shifted into something unmistakably a woman's.

"My lord. I am your wife, am I not?"

"You are. I can't announce it publicly, but within the family, Jia Xu is my wife."

Affection radiated from the hand that stroked my hair. She seemed genuinely content with that answer, unbothered by the lack of formal ceremony.

"Once the three of us hold a proper wedding, I will treat the other wives with the utmost respect, my lord."

Hmm. Is that so?

Would I need to establish a hierarchy the moment the wedding rites were complete? It was something to think about.

"Alright. And if you want to know more about me, go find Wang Yeon. Her record books will tell you far more about me than I could explain right now."

"Ah. Understood, my lord."

I purchased an iced Americano without hesitation, pulled it from Subspace, and handed it to her. Even watching me produce a cup of coffee with ice floating in it from thin air, she didn't flinch.

"Tea from the Western Regions? Not quite. Either way, it's a drink with a strong awakening effect. The downside is that if you drink it in the evening, you won't be able to sleep."

"Ah... of course. That tea earlier was obtained through your power as well, wasn't it, my lord?"

I nodded.

"But aren't you surprised?"

"There are exceptional Taoists in this world. It's well known that the female Taoist Nan Hua Lao Xian can summon wondrous objects. Heh heh."

Just what kind of world is this?

Jwa Ja vanishing with a talisman had been strange enough — and now Nan Hua Lao Xian could summon items from other realms?

While I was lost in thought, Jia Xu took the coffee from me, figured out the straw on her own, and took a long sip. She nodded in approval.

"Bitter and cool. I like this better than that sweet tea from earlier. The aroma is lovely, too."

I pulled a light yet extraordinarily sturdy rapier from thin air and handed it to her.

"This is a weapon. Since you're a scholar, I figured you wouldn't need anything heavy. Do you like it?"

Her eyes lit up as she accepted the rapier and drew the blade from its scabbard. She ran her fingers along the flat of the steel, flexed it, and marveled.

"This is... an extraordinary weapon. A treasure — no, beyond that. Can you purchase things like this without limit?"

"No. It costs gold. Gold."

Only then did understanding dawn, and she nodded.

"Of course. Without a price, it wouldn't make sense. Arm fifty thousand soldiers with weapons like this and you could sweep the entire Han Dynasty clean."

She sheathed the blade and set it on the table. She seemed intrigued, but not particularly attached to it.

"Is there some other weapon ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠you'd prefer?"

"Not a weapon — do you have a fan, by any chance?"

I smirked. The image of Zhuge Liang striding out with his crane-feather fan in the old animations floated through my mind.

An iron fan — iron in name only, the material something else entirely. It looked light enough. I bought a C-rank awakener's iron fan, drew the white-faced metal fan from Subspace with a snap, and handed it over. She unfurled it and beamed.

"Oh. Sturdy. One good strike with this and even a grown man's bones would turn to powder."

That remark brought the collapsible baton to mind. Kim's Forge didn't stock them, but A-Mart carried self-defense batons. I bought one. Three Bronze — about three hundred thousand won. The listing even boasted of a lightweight alloy that packed serious force.

"This one's a bit weaker, but it'll serve well for self-defense."

I pulled both purchased batons from Subspace, snapped one open, and handed it to her. Jia Xu gave it a few experimental swings.

"Weaker than the fan, but this would still break bone. Remarkable."

It occurred to me that once I had my own territory, public order could be handled with batons like these.

"Yeah. Those are pretty cheap. Keep both of them — they're yours."

Two collapsible batons, the iron fan, and the rapier — all given to her as gifts.

"Thank you, my lord."

The fragrant Chaehyang filled the air. She held me close, a smile that wouldn't leave her face.

Knock, knock.

"Who is it?"

"It's Mimi, Master. The Madam requests that you come to the main house for the meal."

"Alright."

"Heh heh heh. Shall we go, my lord?"

She rose with me still in her arms, and I nodded.

"Starting today, all three of you will live in the main house. I've accepted you as my true family."

"Yes."

The meal proceeded in quiet. Jo Un and Jang Bi were still too young — there was a great deal of information that couldn't be shared with them yet. If only they were ten, like Jang Saeng.

Then Jia Xu and Wang Yeon slipped away. Jang Mi and Seop Yeong exchanged talk of martial arts and headed out to the courtyard. Finally, Jang Hwa led Jang Saeng, Jo Un, and Jang Bi out after Seop Yeong.

"Hmm. Quiet. Rinrin — clean up."

"Yes, Master."

I wiped my mouth and walked toward the inner chambers where Wang Yeon and Jia Xu had gone.

"Writing like this... how is this possible?"

"Yes, Sister Munhwa. Husband taught me the script he used in his previous life. It's the writing of future Joseon."

"Ah... the future script of the eastern barbarians. It's simple. And for our great clans and scholar-gentry, far too dangerous a script. Precisely because it is so easy."

Huh.

Jia Xu was making the same argument the Neo-Confucian scholars of Joseon once had. If writing was easy, the common people could learn it readily — and once they could, their demands would only multiply. The government itself might not suffer for it, but the middle nobility would lose their ability to feed off the people's backs. Information was power. Government policy was, ultimately, information. Those who monopolized it between the court and the peasantry, skimming the honey for themselves — of course Hangul would terrify them.

Not even ten minutes had passed, and she was already holding Wang Yeon's notebook, reading it. Her pupils trembled without pause — she had truly mastered Hangul. Even with the extra diacritics for tone marks making it more complex than modern Hangul, she had absorbed it in under ten minutes.

Holy hell. What is her IQ?

I was dying to know her Intelligence stat. Unfortunately, I couldn't use the in-game system for another thirty-one days.

Ninety-five? Then what the hell are Guo Jia, Sima Yi, and Zhuge Liang sitting at? Zhou Yu, too.

If the game had been built on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Zhuge Liang would be a clean one hundred. And if they'd undervalued Jia Xu, ninety-five seemed about right.

"The future? A parallel dimension... oh-ho..."

Jia Xu glanced at me as she read that section, then nodded. I didn't consider myself particularly brilliant, so I figured she'd just solved whatever questions she'd been holding.

If the plan was built on future knowledge, she must have found it convincing.

"The ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Yellow Turban Rebellion of 184... the Way of Great Peace. Zhang Jiao? Dong Zhuo? The campaign against Dong Zhuo?"

She seemed to be reading from the Yellow Turban Rebellion through to the campaign against Dong Zhuo — then suddenly snapped the notebook shut. Her face grew grave as she sank deep into thought, pacing Wang Yeon's room and muttering something I couldn't catch. Wang Yeon and I could only pull out chairs at the table and watch her in silence.

"The year 170... 170..."

Then she stopped mid-stride. Slowly, she turned her head toward us — and the look in her eyes...

How can a gaze be that sharp?

It was razor-keen. The same piercing stare that had seemed to cut straight through me earlier, fully restored.

"My lord. We must go to Xiangyang at once. Not a moment to waste. Yeon's plan is sound. Passing through Bing Province, Sili, Yan Province, and Nanyang will let us recruit talent along the way."

"Huh? Why?"

Jia Xu rolled the notebook tight, stepped close, and pointed to a single passage.

"Dong Zhuo?"

"Yes. Dong Zhuo. I have seen him with my own eyes. He is by no means incompetent. His brutality may grow worse over time, but he is neither as useless nor as reckless as this describes."

So the information was wrong?

"Then the intel—?"

"Yes. You said it was based on a novel, did you not? Setting aside the events that have already unfolded here, more than half of it must be filtered out. If it is true that Dong Zhuo seizes Luoyang, then going in half-prepared will accomplish nothing."

"But Sister — the record says Dong Zhuo was defeated by the coalition. That much is fact."

"My lord has already been born into this world and begun to act. History has already changed. If the greater current does not shift — and yet Dong Zhuo still seizes power while the history diverges — what then?"

What ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was she saying? That Dong Zhuo takes power, and history turns out wrong? I thought it through carefully. What if Dong Zhuo never fell?

A chill ran down my spine.

If Dong Zhuo consolidated power and the coalition suffered a crushing defeat, the age of warlords would never come.

"Seizing Luoyang means bringing every official and every brilliant strategist in the capital under his command. Yeon. My lord. If the campaign against Dong Zhuo is delayed by even a single year, a Dong Zhuo who has fully secured Luoyang is no different from a man who holds the entire Han Empire in his grip."

"The age of warlords never arrives?"

She nodded, then pointed to the section on the relocation of the capital to Chang'an.

"My lord. I am from Wuwei Commandery. My family was humble — a freeloader hanging around Luoyang, hoping for a recommendation to office. But if a man from a neighboring region like Dong Zhuo seized power... then these plans — the relocation to Chang'an, the Emperor's escape — would almost certainly have come from my own head. Now that I am here, the outcome of the campaign against Dong Zhuo has become even more unpredictable."

"Ah—!"

Jia Xu had left a great deal unsaid, but I understood. Next to her name in the records, I had written that she was the most cunning strategist of all — she would have read that, too. Given a mind of her caliber, she would know her own nature better than anyone. Picking out which of the listed events she herself would have orchestrated was well within her reach.

"But saying the age of warlords never comes... Dong Zhuo's tyranny could still provoke—"

"Tyranny? Heh heh heh. History is written by the victors, my lord. I told you from the start that Dong Zhuo is not so reckless a man. One of the two who convened that coalition — Cao Cao or Yuan Shao — shook the board. Because Dong Zhuo's regime was beginning to look stable."

Huh?

Thinking it over again — a man ambitious enough to seize Luoyang wouldn't be that stupid.

"They shake the board and achieve nothing? Luoyang holds firm? Then Dong Zhuo only tightens his grip on the Han even further."

"Ah..."

"Sister, then why must we leave so quickly?"

Wang Yeon stepped closer, curiosity plain on her face.

"Enter Shu!! Our goal is to become the Grand Administrator of at least one commandery in Yizhou before the campaign against Dong Zhuo begins. If that campaign fails, we bow our heads and gradually take Yizhou for ourselves. And even if the campaign succeeds, we must still hurry — because Cao Cao might win at the Battle of Red Cliffs."

Jia Xu's finger rested on the section listing the names of generals.

Don't tell me our talent recruitment is the problem...

"Zhuge Liang?"

She nodded.

"I don't know how the Battle of Red Cliffs will unfold, but for a Cao Cao at the height of his power to halt his advance, it would have to be a catastrophic defeat. Wouldn't you agree?"

Both in the animations and in actual history, it had been an enormous war.

"Whether Zhuge Liang was truly the central figure or not, once my lord intervenes and the placement of talent falls into chaos, the moment Cao Cao seizes real power he will devour every region but Sichuan in a single sweep. At that point, my schemes would be useless... Hmm. Zhou Yu — especially once Yeon has already kidnapped Zhou Yu, all the more so. And now that we've also taken Guo Jia, supposedly Cao Cao's foremost strategist, Yuan Shao might end up filling that role—"

"Kidnapped??"

I stared at Wang Yeon in shock. She offered an awkward smile.

"Husband. I was going to surprise you, but... there are children named Guo Jia and Zhou Yu in the annex. We took them from their homes in Luoyang and Yingchuan. Raise them from childhood and they'll think of themselves as Wangs — or Lees."

Aigoo.

For the first time in my five-year-old life, I rubbed my temples. If I hadn't heard Jia Xu's analysis, I might never have realized — but picturing Sun Ce without Zhou Yu, Cao Cao without Guo Jia... the Sun Ce side of the board simply wouldn't hold together.

"The Jiangdong region will become a land without a master."

I sighed, and Jia Xu nodded. Without a solid power base in Jiangdong, Cao Cao's forces — weak as they were at naval warfare — would still pick the region apart piece by piece in no time.

"Since it's come to this, we should send agents into Jiangdong and drag every talented person we can find into Shu... My lord. If we simply hold the defensive, by our children's generation the population will have grown. The terrain is harsh — and that is precisely why it must be Shu. At the very least, in our children's time, the Central Plains will lie beneath the Yi clan of Balhae. With Shu in hand, and with those bloodlines, it is a grand strategy that cannot fail."

"But Sister, even with equal populations — if Jing Province is sealed off and Hanzhong is sealed off, how do we break out into the Central Plains?"

"We will have the bloodlines, and we can study my lord's weapons. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠All we need to do is cross the Jando. We raise a specialized mountain corps of a hundred thousand — both to defend the plank roads and to fight in the highlands. With troops hardened in the mountains, we punch through as far as Hanzhong and Jiangling, then flood in with follow-up forces. Jing Province will fall easily. By the time we push north, we will already have surpassed the Central Plains in population and production. Drag them into a war of attrition. Turn the vast Jing Province into another Yizhou, and — heh heh heh — it's over. Far too easy an ending."

The smell of blood.

From Jia Xu's words rose a thick, copper reek — the blood of millions dying.