How Did It Come to This? (2)
...She said she wanted to talk — so how far, exactly, did she intend to take me?
Cao Cao, who had sought me out without warning, had proposed a conversation — and then begun leading me off somewhere. The sudden interest of such a heavyweight had put me on my guard, but curiosity over what she meant to say won out, and I followed in her wake.
Cao Cao was the most capable figure in the world of the Three Kingdoms — in gaming terms, the sort whose stat hexagon bulges at every vertex. Some rate her martial prowess as a touch on the low side, yet the official history tells another story: when dozens of mutinous soldiers stormed the tent, out came the sword, and down went every last mutineer — strength beyond the human norm. Such feats simply went unmentioned, overshadowed by the martial brilliance of the other generals.
And she was, one could say, a far more three-dimensional character than Lu Bu. Unlike Liu Bei — drawn as a benevolent lord proclaiming devotion to the people and the righteous cause while quietly cracking skulls from behind — Cao Cao was a complex figure in whom a humane side and the cold ruthlessness of a sovereign crossed and recrossed. That duality was one wellspring of her popularity. She may be counted as one half of the notorious "Zhuo-Cao" duo blamed for toppling the Han, yet her genius for recognizing and elevating talent was impossible to deny.
The state of Wei, raised on Cao Cao's exceptional military genius, grew into such a colossus that Shu and Wu had to pool their strength just to stand against it.
Having been mulling over the Cao Cao of the original timeline, I cocked my head toward her and asked.
"By the way, where are we headed, if I may ask?"
"Somewhere we can talk in comfort."
...But this direction leads toward the city districts, doesn't it?
Cao Cao's current post at court was Colonel of the Vanguard, but she would surely keep a residence of her own apart from it. Her father, Cao Song, was a man of considerable wealth, so even in Luoyang, where land came dear, he would have seen to a proper house for the family.
...The back of my head is starting to prickle.
From the two generals — sisters, by the look of those matching faces — sharp glances kept raining down on the back of my skull, and inwardly, it made me squirm. They were women, so naturally I hadn't placed them at first sight, but between the weapons they carried and their station guarding Cao Cao's flank, I could make a fair guess at who they were.
"Are those two generals your bodyguards?"
"Yes, my cousins. They keep watch at my side as my personal guard."
So it really is the Xiahou siblings. Ah — right, sisters, in this world.
Four kinsmen generals had held Cao Cao's trust from the very day she raised her banner: Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan, Cao Ren, and Cao Hong. In the Romance, Xiahou Dun looms large, her valor in the spotlight; in the official history, it is the reverse. Historically, Xiahou Dun was less a warrior-general than a glorified quartermaster, while Cao Hong and Xiahou Yuan kept much the same image in history and Romance alike.
Xiahou Yuan was a field commander of such caliber that she was entrusted with overall command in the Hanzhong campaign. As for Cao Hong, the difference, if any, lay here: Zhang He — a genuine warrior — had traded some thirty blows with Ma Chao before breaking away, while Cao Hong, never once noted for martial prowess, held out for fifty and pocketed a buff to that dueling résumé.
Honestly, the one I'd most wanted to see was Cao Ren.
The undisputed finest warrior among Cao Cao's kin. In the Romance, a punching bag who stacks a fresh defeat with every sortie; in the official history, the greatest general of Cao Cao's army, lauded as one sent down from Heaven itself. Not that I could ever extend an offer of commission, with her being Cao Cao's own kin.
"We've arrived."
While I'd been turning her faction over in my head this way and that, we had somehow arrived at Cao Cao's residence. Smaller than the mansion of Wang Yun the Minister over the Masses, inevitably — but measured against the homes I knew back in Liang Province, it was spacious and imposing enough in its own right. Well, it was a mansion in Luoyang, the capital. Of course it was.
"Leave the guards here. I'd like to speak with you alone."
"...Understood."
I did hesitate for a breath — but I had committed none of Dong Zhuo's atrocities, and I judged Cao Cao had no reason to kill me, so for now, I accepted.
The Cao Cao of this era still holds loyalty toward the Han. She can be trusted — probably.
When I flicked a glance at Yan Xing, he stepped aside beside the door, following my lead despite the question plain in his eyes.
"You two wait out here as well."
At Cao Cao's word, Xiahou Dun and Xiahou Yuan took up their post in front of the door.
"Well then, come in."
Cao Cao ushered me into her room. Inside, shelves of books and ornaments of no small worth lined the chamber, and a sword hung upon the wall.
"Oh, and you're the first man ever to set foot in my room, I'll have you know."
Cao Cao said it with a mischievous smile.
"..."
I had no idea how I was meant to respond to that.
"Hehe, no need to wear that tortured look. It was only a joke to loosen you up — you seemed to be carrying a little too much tension..."
Her whole bearing was that of a big sister from the neighborhood, teasing with easy familiarity.
Well, the mood isn't hostile.
With the atmosphere relatively light, I set down a measure of my tension and took the seat across from her. When I'd laid eyes on her before, the darkness had blurred the impression; seen this close, Cao Cao, too, was strikingly beautiful.
Do all the famous ones simply turn beautiful the moment they become women?
For all the transformed generals and civil officials I'd seen by now, I had yet to encounter a single one who was plain — or even merely average.
"By the way, how old are you, General Who Pacifies the West?"
"I've not yet reached my capping year. Eighteen this year."
At my words, Cao Cao's eyes widened a touch, surprise flickering across her face.
"Leading an entire faction at so tender an age — remarkable. So the talk of a prodigy out of Liang Province was no idle boast after all."
"No — it was an exaggeration. I'm hardly that remarkable a person."
"How modest of you."
It wasn't modesty in the least. Even with two rounds of life behind me, I was nowhere near Cao Cao's league. If anything, I was the one scrambling to borrow the strengths of the warlords around me — the woman before me foremost among them. Cao Cao drew devotion with her genius for raising up talent regardless of rank or birth; Liu Bei endeared herself to the multitude through her governance and care for the people's livelihoods.
And Sun Quan, founding sovereign of the state of Wu...
...Let me just resolve not to spend my twilight years turning into a Sun Quan, and leave it at that.
If there was anything worth emulating, I'd have better luck mining Sun Ce's virtues instead. After all, the old joke — Wei fans trash Liu Bei, Shu fans trash Cao Cao, and Wu fans trash Sun Quan — didn't come from nowhere.
"Then I'm the elder here, General. You wouldn't mind if I spoke a little more freely?"
Cao Cao was asking leave to drop the formalities. She had likely addressed me with such courtesy because I was, after all, the master of my own faction.
"Please, go ahead."
"Good. Then I'll speak freely. Han Yeong."
...She's dropped the honorifics and gone straight to my name.
True to her silver tongue, her speech flowed without a seam, and nothing in her manner hesitated. The night was deepening; there was no more room for idle chatter. It was time — past time — to reach the heart of the matter.
"What was the reason you wished to speak with me?"
"...Aww, don't be so stiff! You can call me 'big sis,' you know. 'Big Sis Aman,' for instance."
Unlike me, itching to get down to business, Cao Cao kept swerving toward pleasantries — unless that was what she wanted all along. Then again, "Aman" was Cao Cao's childhood name; hardly a fitting way to address one's elder.
Oddly friendly, this one.
"...Please answer the question."
"No fun at all. Straight to business, are we? This is the part where two people take their time and get to know each other, little by little~"
Sighing as if the evening had been ruined, Cao Cao bent to my wishes and came to the point. Whether it was my imagination or not, her gaze had gone a shade sharper. A bonus I could have done without.
"Han Yeong. You met with Wang Yun, intending to use his connections to carve out a foothold in the central court. Am I wrong?"
How on earth does she know that?
As wariness thickened in my eyes, Cao Cao waved her hands, heading off the very conclusion I was leaping toward.
"Ah — no, I haven't planted anyone on you, nothing of the sort. I'm a guest at Minister Wang's residence, you see. I happened to be calling on Wang Yun when the matter chanced its way into my ears."
"That's called eavesdropping, is it not?"
"Well, perhaps it is. But I didn't plant a spy on you, did I?"
Good grief, the sheer nerve...
I gave up on the rebuttal. There was no out-talking Cao Cao — this was the brilliant soldier and strategist who had personally penned a volume called the Mengde's New Book, even in the Romance.
"But you did look rather stranded when the Intendant of Henan declared he would side with Ding Yuan — a man of his own home province, no less."
"...Yes."
Denial was pointless anyway, with her having overheard the whole exchange.
"Then — how about I help you?"
"...Help me with what, exactly?"
"The connections you want."
Huh?
"For all I look like this, your big sis here happens to be quite close with one of the true power brokers of the Clear Stream Faction. I'll introduce you."
Cao Cao watched me with a broad, easy grin. Faced with that, only one response was available to me.
...And why, exactly, would you help me?
We had known each other not even a week; her offer to help was simply baffling. But it seemed it wasn't charity — she promptly named her terms.
"In exchange, you answer my questions. If I'm satisfied with your answers, I'll make the introduction. How about it?"
I wrestled with it briefly, then accepted. If it meant keeping watch on Ding Yuan — who was expanding his power with suspiciously swift strides — and shoring up our army's footing, the deliberation was a short one.
After all, bullying people with naked force would only tread the same road as Dong Zhuo...
"If it's something I can answer... then I accept."
I meant to sidestep anything truly lethal and answer the rest in good faith.
"Then I have my first question."
"And that would be?"
Cao Cao asked with an expression utterly unlike anything she'd worn before — sober, grave. The oppressive presence, so at odds with her earlier playfulness, coaxed a bead of cold sweat from my brow. She spoke, her expression grave as ever.
"...Do you have any thoughts of marriage? A woman you carry in your heart, perhaps?"
"..."
The question was so far beyond anything I had imagined that my voice simply snagged in my throat. I was dumbfounded.
Don't tell me she goes after married women in this world too... no, wait — married men? Is she a married-man killer?
Cornered by a question from the great lecher whose tastes were more firmly set than anyone else's in the Three Kingdoms, all I could do was stand there, flustered. True to her name as the Hero of Chaos, she defied any ordinary yardstick — and there was no telling where her words, or her intentions, would dart next.