Aftermath (2)
At the festival held in honor of the valiant officers and men who had crushed Dong Zhuo's army, soldiers and commoners alike laughed, clamored, and rejoiced.
"Haha!! Drink up! Drink up!!"
"Did you see the faces on those bastards when they walked into the ambush? Haha!! I nearly busted a gut!!!"
The soldiers traded accounts of their own exploits, laughing and bellowing, stoking the mood higher and higher. Those with children regaled them with tales of battlefield glory and basked in the admiration in their eyes, while others swung their weapons in mock strikes, playing at war.
...It's peaceful.
Watching the scene from a distance, I sipped at warm wine in a corner—just the thing to melt the chill from my bones.
When the soldiers were enjoying themselves like this, it was best to simply leave them be. If I wandered any closer, they would only tense up and lose their ease.
Until the day I came of age, there had been no laughter on the people's faces—nothing but worry and dread.
Even those who survived the barbarians sweeping down from the north and the bandits rampaging in broad daylight were left at a loss, with no idea how they would manage to feed themselves. With Beigong Boyu and the other warlords raising their banners against the Han, conflict flared without end, and the land looked like nothing so much as barren waste, without a crop left to harvest.
By day they were hunted by bandits; by night they shivered through the killing cold. Such was the land of Xiliang.
The moment I came of age, I went to my father Han Sui with a proposal—to extend a helping hand first to the people right before our eyes—and this was the scene that effort had built. Money that might have bought luxury went into investment instead, and every idle hour was spent puzzling out how to make the people's lives better.
And this was the result.
...A lovely sight.
Watching soldiers and commoners laugh with one heart, I felt a quiet swell of pride, as though all the hardship of these years had finally been repaid in full.
Even with Dong Zhuo taken, harsher trials were bound to come knocking.
Zhongyuan Zhulu — "Chasing the Deer of the Central Plains"
From the image of hunters pursuing the deer across the Central Plains: an idiom for contending over the imperial throne—or for the struggle to seize power itself.
Even with Dong Zhuo broken beyond all recovery, countless thieves across the realm still hungered for the throne and the reins of power. Dwelling on such things, the road ahead might only grow harder—so I carved this beautiful scene deep into my eyes to keep.
"Heyy!! What's the star of the day doing all the way back here!!"
Ma Chao came sidling up to me as I watched the revelers with a faint smile, slinging an arm around my shoulders. She had evidently been drinking deeply to drown her frustration over letting Dong Zhuo slip through her fingers.
Unlike me—whose cups with the others were only now beginning to catch up—her face was already flushed glowing red. The wine had loosened her eyes into a hazy glaze and left her mouth hanging open in a slack, goofy grin.
Behind her trailed Fa Zheng and Pang De, two of the few women in our military camp, close to Ma Chao in both age and bond. Whether the drink had burned her shyness away or not, she pressed her body flush against mine—and her ample chest bore down squarely against my face.
...Huh. This is nice, actually?
It felt like being handed a medal; all my labors washed away in an instant.
"...Hey. I heard you went and met another woman...?"
Strength crept into the arm draped over my shoulders. Yet that very force only pressed her tighter against me, treating me to softness in abundance rather than any suffocation.
...Wait, how does she know? I haven't told a soul about meeting Jia Xu yet.
Had she set someone to shadowing me?
"...Argh, you shameless womanizer!! Why do women keep swarming to you?! How do you think the rest of us feel, watching you all day long? Huh?!"
Seizing on her drunkenness, Ma Chao began venting every grievance piled up inside her, erupting over and over as she rambled from one complaint to the next.
Not that branding me a womanizer was anything but a gross distortion. In a world where every brilliant talent I tried to recruit happened to be a woman, what choice did I have?
Oblivious to my heart's protests, Ma Chao pinched my cheek.
"It's because of you! Huh?! I'm so anxious I can't take my eyes off you!!"
Her tongue tripped over itself with drink, her tone climbing higher and higher. And even in mid-rant, she would glance at my face now and then and break into a snickering grin, as if something about it were endlessly funny.
...She's cute.
To be honest, I was hardly so dense as to have missed it. I had noticed Ma Chao's feelings for me long ago.
I had simply shelved my answer—there was far too much yet to be done.
"General Ma Chao. You are far too drunk. Kindly stop tormenting our lord and get up off him."
Pang De stepped over to where Ma Chao had glued herself to me and tried to peel her away.
"No!! I have to give him a proper warning before more women come sniffing around!!"
Ma Chao dug in, refusing to let go, and Pang De pulled harder to break her grip. The two were soon locked in a contest of strength. In our recent sparring, Ma Chao had proven marginally superior in skill, but in raw power the two of them looked about even.
...Surely their clothes won't tear... right?
Pang De's face had grown a little flushed too, heat rising in her cheeks, and that left me uneasy in some vague, nameless way.
Unlike the two grumbling away in front of me, Fa Zheng calmly kept tipping back her cup from start to finish, making no move to intervene.
"...Hweeeeh."
Before long, the wine climbed to the very crown of Ma Chao's head; with a limp little whine she surrendered her whole weight and toppled over.
"...I will take her to her quarters. Please rest easy, my lord."
Pang De hoisted up Ma Chao, who had collapsed into my lap, and made to carry her back to her lodgings.
"Pang De."
"Yes?"
I stopped her as she turned to withdraw from the banquet with Ma Chao in her arms.
"You've worked every bit as hard. Capturing Hua Xiong was a great contribution to this victory."
Among our commanders—leaving Ma Chao aside—Pang De was far and away the only one who could have handled Hua Xiong with room to spare. Brother Yan Xing or Uncle Ma Teng might have held their own against him, but she alone was the one I could trust to cut him down without fail. And she had slain other enemy officers besides, swelling her merit further still.
Yet I had never offered her a proper word of praise in private—so I resolved to give her one now, late as it was.
"...It is only what is due from a general who serves you, my lord."
Pang De accepted the compliment with placid detachment and carried Ma Chao back to her assigned quarters.
Dependable as ever.
Thorough and meticulous in all things, serving her lord with complete devotion—she was, in every sense, the very model of an exemplary general, offering her loyalty without a trace of arrogance. She might have stepped straight out of some office, a flawless secretary devoted to her work.
"My lord. Take a closer look at General Pang De's ear."
"...Huh?"
Fa Zheng had appeared at my side before I knew it. I glanced toward Pang De's ear as she suggested—and it was burning scarlet.
"She's embarrassed. General Pang De, it turns out, is a shyer soul than anyone would ever guess."
Fa Zheng smiled in amusement as she delivered her calm assessment of the retreating Pang De. It seemed the two had grown unexpectedly close.
"You've been through so much as well, Fa Zheng. Is your body holding up?"
"Quite well, my lord. With the medicinal herbs you send me each time, the fatigue never has a chance to pile up."
Knowing how briefly history had permitted Fa Zheng to live, I looked after her with particular care. Though, I confess, I also lived in constant dread of whether my own conduct might one day land me on her list.
"By the way, my lord... do you perhaps find me a burden?"
There was a faint hurt in the way she asked it, and I froze for a moment.
...How did she know?
Had my behavior been that obvious?
I knew Fa Zheng's character—outspoken, and merciless in holding grudges—so unlike the other generals, whom I teased and bantered with freely, I did tend to tread a little carefully around her. It wasn't as if I was discriminating against her.
I watched her complexion as we spoke, attentive in case she felt uncomfortable. That was all it was.
"...I have been a bit careful with you, I'll admit. You're the one and only strategist our army has. If it made you feel awkward, I'm sorry."
"There is no need for such care, my lord. I would be grateful if you treated me as comfortably as you do the other generals."
With that silken voice and beaming smile, a peculiar pressure radiated from Fa Zheng's face, and I found myself nodding along without meaning to.
When your strategist insists, you comply. What power did I have?
After that, Fa Zheng and I passed the cup back and forth, talking over the days to come.
"My lord, what are you thinking about?"
Cheng Gongying, Han Sui's faithful subordinate, regarded his lord with a worried look—Han Sui, who was not joining the festivities on so joyful a day. He was gazing off at some distant point, a wistful expression on his face.
"Is some trouble weighing on you, perhaps...?"
"...No, nothing of the sort. I was just thinking of my son."
"You mean the young master?"
"You've watched him grow as well. He's become quite the man, hasn't he?"
"...Yes. He has grown into a most remarkable man."
The Han Yeong of Cheng Gongying's memory had come of age in Xiliang, a land where the law of the strong devouring the weak held sway—no easy place for a commander to rise to greatness. Yet now, most everyone followed Han Yeong's word.
Not only Yan Xing, ever at his side as his guardian, and Ma Chao, his childhood friend, but even Pang De and Fa Zheng, who had entered his service. The core members of Han Sui's forces today obeyed Han Yeong over Han Sui himself. Did not even Cheng Gongying faithfully carry out his orders?
He might have no particular mastery of arms, but as a lord he possessed exceptional gifts. Han Sui looked upon his son with admiration—a son who recruited strategists able to place talent exactly where it belonged, and who kept outstanding generals at his side beyond Ma Chao alone. Had he not even consulted a woman named Jia Xu, seeking ways to broaden their territory while sparing their soldiers' lives?
So different from his own pitiable self, once so blinded by honor and power that he lost his wife. The memory of holding her in his arms was still vivid—and yet his son had grown into a lord endowed with a masterful gift for winning and wielding men.
And so he had agonized. Was keeping himself at the head of their forces truly the right path for his son? Was he not becoming nothing more than a foolish father blocking his son's road?
"...I have decided."
"Decided what, my lord?"
At Han Sui's stunning declaration, Cheng Gongying jolted, struck dumb, unable to close his mouth.
In contrast, the face of Han Sui, who had made his decision, was resolute beyond all doubt.