Preparations (4)
In the original history, Yang Fu was one of the men who utterly crushed the resurgence of Ma Chao — who, after his defeat to Cao Cao at the Battle of Tong Pass, had somehow managed to rise again on the strength of the Qiang tribes.
When Ma Chao made his comeback, every commandery and county except Jicheng rallied to his banner, and even Zhang Lu sent a host of ten thousand to support his assault on the city.
Then, after Jicheng fell and its governor, Wei Kang, was slain, a furious Yang Fu plotted vengeance in Wei Kang's name, drawing his cousin Jiang Xu and men of his homeland — Jiang Yin, Zhao Ang, and others — into the conspiracy.
The wife of Zhao Ang who enters that tale was the rather well-known Wang Yi.
She, too, joined Yang Fu's plot, deceiving Ma Chao's wife all the while she courted the woman's favor.
More than that, Wang Yi kept faith with the state at the cost of forsaking her own child, and at Qishan she performed the remarkable feat of holding off Ma Chao's assault for thirty full days, producing nine stratagems in succession.
And when Ma Chao marched out to strike down Jiang Xu, who had raised the banner of revolt against him at Licheng, Yang Fu put to death the wife and children Ma Chao had left behind within the city walls.
In the furious offensive Ma Chao launched upon losing his family, Yang Fu lost seven younger cousins and took five wounds upon his body — yet after a ferocious struggle he drove Ma Chao back in defeat, stripped him of all influence in Liang Province, and sent him fleeing to Zhang Lu in Hanzhong.
The tale is far too long to tell in full, so I have pared it down — but in a word, it was Yang Fu who snapped the wings of Ma Chao's bid to rise again in Liang Province.
When Ma Chao, heartsick over his slaughtered family, wasted away in the land of Shu and died with a final plea to look after Ma Dai, Yang Fu had a hand in that ending as well.
His ability, then, was beyond all doubt. Truth be told, I had been quietly waiting for the chance to recruit him.
"...Yang Fu, was it? Tell me — what do you seek by entering my service?"
At my question, Yang Fu seemed to tense; he hesitated a moment before answering.
"Because you, General Han Yeong, cut down that brutal warlord Dong Zhuo and brought peace to Yong Province!!"
It was a different reason from Zheng Tai's, who had asked to enter my service before him.
Zheng Tai had sought his post out of high regard for me as the only man who, while the court ministers cowered in fear, stood alone against Ding Yuan and gave shelter to Liu Xie, the Prince of Fufeng.
Yang Fu, by contrast, asked to serve under me not for the Prince of Fufeng's sake, but because I had executed Dong Zhuo.
And what reason could there possibly be to refuse, when talent walks in on its own two feet?
"...Very well. You're accepted."
"Thank you, General!! I will devote myself wholly to the work!!"
Yang Fu dropped to his knees and bowed until his forehead brushed the floor, visibly overcome with gratitude.
From what I remember, Yang Fu is supposed to be stern and cold-blooded — perhaps he's still too young for it, because I see no trace of that man here.
This time, a man who looked every inch a soldier stepped forward and offered his greeting.
"I am called Su Ze — my courtesy name is Wenshi."
Beyond him, whether thanks to the recommendation of Fa Zheng — a fellow native of Fufeng Commandery — or to the fact that I stood as protector of Liu Xie, the Prince of Fufeng, Su Ze, an officer possessed of both political acumen and command ability, had also volunteered into my command.
Su Ze had helped Hao Zhao — famed for repelling Zhuge Liang's ferocious assaults — pacify the Qiang and the other frontier tribes; he was a general of exceptional talent at leading armies, and no less distinguished in the civil governance of a state.
A man of dignity and unbending integrity, loyal unto death, with a natural flair for administration besides.
He was no household name on the level of the great figures of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, but with civil and military officials of genuine standing in the official records entering my service, my pool of talent had been considerably deepened.
Zheng Tai took charge of internal affairs alongside Fa Yan, while Yang Fu assisted me in my own work, taking over duties that Fa Zheng — who had to shoulder military strategy as well — could no longer manage alone.
And though Su Ze was a general, his talents extended to civil administration too; with him aboard, the workload no longer felt crushing.
It's true — every time another administrator of real ability joins, I can breathe a little easier. What I still lacked was a tireless workhorse to take my place... no — more capable civil officials, plain and simple.
With two more civil officials and one military officer recruited, the work of governance flowed smoothly on.
Then, a few days later, I summoned Zheng Tai to a private meeting to talk over the state of the realm.
Jia Xu and Fa Zheng were seated at my side.
Zheng Tai was my subordinate now, so I no longer addressed him as "Teacher"; I called him casually by name and spoke with the easy informality of a superior.
"Zheng Tai. I ask because we need more hands for governance — among your friends, is there any scholar of real ability?"
"My friends Xun You, courtesy name Gongda, and Hua Xin, courtesy name Ziyu."
Asked about talent, Zheng Tai named those two men, exactly as I had expected.
"As far as I know, no man alive surpasses Gongda in commanding armies and pacifying the provinces, while Ziyu possesses exceptional gifts for ordering the state and overseeing its officials."
Considering the achievements Xun You and Hua Xin would go on to accomplish, and the offices they would one day rise to, his words were sound.
To be sure, in both the official history and the Romance, Hua Xin is branded a villain for the scene in which he drags the Empress out by force — but going by the records, he was originally an incorruptibly honest official and a loyal subject of Han, one who showed no joy even when Cao Pi usurped the throne and made himself Emperor.
The Romance dwelled on his ugly side — seizing the Empress Dowager by the hair and hauling her away — but had he truly lacked ability, he would never have served as Grand Commandant and Minister over the Masses, the highest posts of the Three Excellencies.
"And where are those two men now?"
"Regrettably, they cannot be appointed just yet. Unlike me, who resigned from He Jin's command, Gongda and Ziyu remain in the capital out of concern for His Majesty."
"I see."
As for Xun You, I had more or less seen it coming, given the plot to assassinate Dong Zhuo. But never did I imagine Hua Xin would remain in Luoyang as well...
In the original history, Xun You had plotted Dong Zhuo's assassination together with Zheng Tai; here, perhaps because the man seizing power had changed to Ding Yuan, he seemed to be scheming with Hua Xin instead.
"How do you think affairs will unfold from here?"
"A great event is about to occur."
Jia Xu at my side declared it in a tone of utter certainty, and naturally I had a fair idea what she meant.
"Because of Ding Yuan?"
"Yes. Precisely so."
The one who confirmed my answer was Fa Zheng.
"Ding Yuan keeps the Emperor at his side and commits every atrocity imaginable in Luoyang, and Zhang Yan of the Black Mountain Bandits and Guo Tai of the White Wave Bandits, who work hand in glove with him, lend their strength to his cruelty. It is pretext enough for the warlords to go to war."
At Fa Zheng's words, I nodded, the current of the original history playing through my mind.
Ding Yuan had raised himself to the title of Grand General and, persecuting the court just as Dong Zhuo once had, laid hold of enormous power; the wealth he wrung from the people went to feed his luxury and debauchery.
Having once been made to step back, he had muscled his way back into power by brute force, and the atrocities he committed while drunk on authority were more than enough to rouse the shared fury of the realm's warlords.
Come to think of it, according to a recent report, Wang Kuang, the Administrator of Henei, had marched his army out to attack Ding Yuan.
In the Romance, Wang Kuang joined the anti-Dong Zhuo coalition and marched with it, but in the official history he struck first, attacking Dong Zhuo while the latter held power.
And since Ding Yuan was behaving exactly as Dong Zhuo had in the original history, it seemed Wang Kuang had moved first against him.
...He hasn't the faintest chance of winning.
It was an easy prediction, one that didn't even require asking my strategists for their opinion.
Wang Kuang would be utterly smashed by Ding Yuan, then pull his army back and retreat.
Thinking so, I bided my time, building up my administration and my war preparations.
Just as Han Yeong had foreseen, the army of Wang Kuang, Administrator of Henei, was ruthlessly crushed by the forces led by Zhang Yan — another Flying General of Ding Yuan's army.
In Yan Province, the heart of the Central Plains, the regional officials convened to discuss countermeasures against Ding Yuan's army, which pressed its menacing advance with the Emperor in tow.
"Ding Yuan!! That Heaven-cursed rebel!!"
"To persecute His Majesty with no fear of Heaven whatsoever!!"
Governor of Yan Province Liu Dai and Administrator of Dong Commandery Qiao Mao gnashed their teeth, outraged by Ding Yuan's atrocities.
They, too, belonged to the Clear Stream faction — men who had thrown their weight behind Ding Yuan over Han Yeong — yet now they flayed him with scathing denunciations.
But for all their torrents of abuse, not one of them thought to raise an army in his own territory and stand against Ding Yuan himself.
They feared that if they marched out first, the other warlords would reap all the benefit while they alone took the losses — so they did all their fighting with their mouths, never moving to take the field in person.
Zhang Miao, Administrator of Chenliu, had watched the officials' sordid posturing in silence; now he turned to a close friend of his — the one who had landed a telling blow against the cruel Ding Yuan — and asked his counsel.
"What do you think we ought to do, Mengde?"
The woman with hair of deep night-sky blue — the one who had schemed to have Liu Xie's seat of appointment relocated to Fufeng Commandery and thereby knocked Ding Yuan's plans off course — opened her mouth with an air of indifference.
"Mengzhuo. You have seen it for yourself. As things stand, no warlord alive could take on Ding Yuan's strength alone."
Until only recently, Han Yeong and Gongsun Zan had been named as Ding Yuan's chief rivals.
But once Ding Yuan seized Luoyang and the rest of the Sili region, the picture changed.
Ding Yuan, his pride deeply wounded by a defeat at Han Yeong's hands that was as good as official, had gone further than merely gathering the bandit hosts of Zhang Yan and Guo Tai — he attempted periodic conscriptions as well, swelling his military strength enormously.
The result was an army approaching several hundred thousand strong at the very least.
Of course, that figure had been puffed up with Black Mountain Bandits — a rabble who, measured against a regular army, had never so much as undergone proper training.
But in sheer numbers of soldiers, no warlord under heaven could match him.
If there were an exception, it would be Han Yeong alone — and even he, ever wary of the foreign tribes that repeatedly encroached upon Liang Province, could not commit his full strength to a single showdown with Ding Yuan.
"Then is there truly no way?"
"No. There is one."
At Cao Cao's words, Zhang Miao brightened and asked, as though he had been waiting for just this.
"And what would that be?"
"We found a coalition army."
"A coalition?"
"Ding Yuan, who wields the strongest force in the realm at present, is regarded with hostility by warlords in every corner of the land."
That one man should knead the government of Han like clay in his hands was a source of dread to many.
"If we forge a decree in His Majesty's name and send proclamations to every province, calling for the overthrow of the shameless Ding Yuan who holds the Emperor hostage, the warlords will answer the call. We need only bind them into a coalition."
"F-forging His Majesty's edict?! That is far too dangerous!!"
"I have no intention of bearing that risk on my own shoulders, you know. We'll have someone else do it."
Hers was the post of Colonel of the Vanguard, not a regional governorship, and Cao Cao judged that her own word alone would carry little weight.
So she set about persuading Liu Dai and Qiao Mao — still prattling away up front — with a few deft strokes of her silver tongue.
While subtly exalting the two men who had been denouncing Ding Yuan, she laid out a means of barring the tyrant's path, urging that this was a deed only the two of them could accomplish.
Neither of them was any happier than she about Ding Yuan's expanding power, and so they tumbled into Cao Cao's scheme without resistance.
Before long, Qiao Mao was scattering proclamations to the warlords of the realm, just as Cao Cao had instructed.
Beginning with Yuan Shao, who had entrenched herself in Ji Province: Tao Qian of Xu Province, Liu Biao of Jing Province, and more besides.
Proclamations demanding the punishment of Ding Yuan flew to every warlord and regional official whose name rang across the realm and who wielded real influence.
"As for this place — allow me to send the proclamation myself."
There was exactly one destination Cao Cao kept for her own hand: to Yong and Liang Provinces, the proclamation went out with a letter written in her own script enclosed.