The Coalition Army (1)
Spurred on by the call to arms that Cao Cao and Qiao Mao had joined hands to scatter across the realm, warlords from every corner of the land answered the summons — marshaling their armies and marching east toward Guandong to crush the traitor and set the imperial house of Han to rights. Nor was it the feudal lords alone. The leaders of volunteer militias rose up as well, hearts burning with loyalty to the state, jostling one another for the chance to join the coalition.
Our own army had long since finished its preparations for the east and was holding in reserve for the moment. We had known the coalition would be formed well before it was, and every precaution had been taken in advance — the men and mounts drilled to a razor's edge. The result was a host so fierce that its equal could scarcely be found under heaven.
Cavalry was the backbone of our forces, and under the training of Xu Rong and Xu Huang we had steadily built up ample strength in anti-cavalry tactics to counter the horsemen of Bing Province, along with siege warfare in readiness for Hulao Pass. Grain, too, had been stockpiled in abundance for a prolonged campaign of marching and battle.
Indeed, one reason I was bringing fewer soldiers east in the first place was to keep our consumption of rations to an absolute minimum — unlike us, the main force operating out of the west would enjoy smooth, unbroken supply lines. And even if we did find ourselves short on grain, a request made through Liu Xie would let us draw provisions from the Central Plains.
The plan was for me to advance into Guandong alongside Liu Xie — the coalition's spiritual anchor and its very justification — the moment she completed her own preparations and mounted the imperial carriage.
"Then, Father. I leave everything that follows in your hands."
"You needn't waste a worry on me. Put your own safety above all else."
My father fretted over me, anxious at the thought of his son moving in concert with the other warlords. Having once held office in Luoyang, he knew all too well how the celebrated scholars and gentlemen of the Central Plains looked down on — outright scorned — anyone from the frontier provinces.
And since the very Clear Stream dignitaries who had sneered at me and thrown their weight behind Ding Yuan now formed the core of the coalition, I had more or less foreseen that our opinions would collide before long.
Not that those stiff-necked fools would ever readily admit to being in the wrong.
Frankly, I hadn't the slightest desire to win them over. The reason I was going was to carry Liu Xie with me and lend legitimacy to the anti-Ding Yuan coalition's cause — and to join an alliance gathered in the name of the greater good, planting my name firmly in the minds of the Central Plains' countless talents.
We had deliberately staggered the departure dates of the main army and the detachment that would link up with the coalition. The fifty thousand of our main host under my father and my uncle would garrison Chang'an, then march on Hangu Pass the instant the coalition began moving in earnest. Our detachment, by contrast, numbered some fifteen thousand — among them the Luoyang-born soldiers who had surrendered alongside Xu Rong, for they had a separate role yet to play.
Our influence in the provinces was still modest, so on paper our host looked no different from the armies the other warlords would lead east — but its roots were of an entirely different stock from the ragtag mobs of pale-faced bookworms who knew neither battle nor strategy. There were the Xiliang cavalry, who needed no introduction, and the iron-hard infantry and nimble archers tempered under Xu Rong's and Xu Huang's command since Dong Zhuo's death. The soldiers of the Central Plains had done little more than clash with the odd band of Yellow Turban remnants — even their battlefield experience belonged to another species altogether.
There was one more reason I kept our numbers lean: to deny the warlords any pretext for seizing on a large contingent and pressuring us into spearheading every fight. I had no intention of taking losses for the sake of a country those bastards had done nothing for. Going by the original history, they were certain to look after their own hides first, so coming out the loser was not on my agenda. I would earn my merits when the moment was right, deal with Ding Yuan and Lü Bu, and claim Sili Province — the capital region — for my own.
"Jia Xu. I'm leaving the rest to you."
"Of course, my lord. Just leave it all to me."
I had also handed Jia Xu a secret order of her own: to keep the army on the move while her swiftest scouts kept watch on Luoyang's every movement. If Luoyang were to go up in flames, we would have to move without a moment's delay.
Judging by that madman Ding Yuan's conduct, there was every chance he would loot the city's treasures and bolt for Bing Province. And with Xu Rong — a man of rare military talent in the field, at sieges, and beyond — and Yan Xing, counted among the top three of our current roster of generals, I doubted we would ever find ourselves in true danger. Set Lü Bu aside as beyond all comparison; even then, apart from the Eight Elite Cavalrymen Zhang Liao and Gao Shun, there was no commander alive who could stand against Yan Xing.
Riding with the detachment bound for the coalition would be Ma Chao, Xu Huang, and Pang De as its generals, with Fa Zheng and Zheng Tai attached as strategists. Yong Province would rest on my father's shoulders, with Su Ze and Yang Fu entrusted to its civil administration. The proud former-warlord generals, Ma Wan and Cheng Yi among them, would follow my father's orders without a murmur.
"General."
Diaochan, head maid to Her Highness, approached me and spoke.
"Her Highness has mounted the imperial carriage. You are free to depart whenever you see fit."
"Understood. My thanks."
With the word that all was ready, I stepped out before the soldiers and raised my voice in a great shout.
"We march to cast out the traitor Ding Yuan, who has thrown the peace of the imperial house into disarray and wreaked tyranny upon the people!! The entire army moves out—!!"
Short as it was — I had never cared for long speeches — the address fired the men at once, and they roared a single thunderous cry toward the road ahead. They, too, nursed a burning grievance: they had driven Ding Yuan's army to the very brink of rout before being forced to withdraw against every fiber of their being.
The moment Liu Xie boarded the carriage, we marched out for Chenliu Commandery in Yan Province, the coalition's rallying point. Summer was giving way to autumn, and the wind that met us was cool and bracing — fine weather indeed for a long march.
"...So I finally get my shot at payback."
Glancing at Ma Chao as she marched beside me, I saw a face lifted by some wild exaltation, jade-green eyes smoldering with a fighting spirit that refused to die down. Since her defeat at Lü Bu's hands in Luoyang — and the comforting that had put the fire back in her belly — she had steeled herself with training that pared her down to the bone, though not quite to the point of driving herself ragged. In both her eyes now burned a single, unshakable resolve: this time, whatever it took, she would break the Unrivaled Under Heaven and wash the disgrace away.
"Just watch, Han Yeong. This time — this time for certain — I'll smash Lü Bu with these two hands of mine."
She had even commissioned a new spear from one of the finer smiths of Liang Province, and she crowed it loud and long: she would fell the Unrivaled Under Heaven for all the world to see. It was a fine sight, all that overflowing spirit...
...But would there truly come a moment for Ma Chao to take the stage?
Anyone who had read the Three Kingdoms knew perfectly well who stood against Lü Bu at Hulao Pass. The three Liu-Guan-Zhang brothers.
...Or no — in this world, perhaps the Peach Sisters.
With so many storied commanders already appearing as women, the Liu-Guan-Zhang trio — practically the protagonists of the tale — turning out as men? Unthinkable.
Well, my chest did feel rather magnificent.
Because Ma Chao had been born earlier than her original-history self, her joining the coalition meant that, if things went as expected, three of the Five Tiger Generals would gather under one banner. A shame Zhao Yun and Huang Zhong were still missing — but for a childhood Shu devotee who'd first met the Three Kingdoms through the Romance, my chest had swelled to truly magnificent proportions. Pang De and Fa Zheng, who had never had the slightest connection to the original anti-Dong Zhuo coalition, were coming along as well. Even if Lü Bu came charging in, I had a feeling we wouldn't lose.
Then again — I do wonder who'll end up playing Hua Xiong's part.
Hua Xiong had already fallen to Pang De at Didao, so I found myself genuinely curious who would inherit the role. The likeliest candidate was Zhang Liao... which, if it came to pass, would mean an upgraded Hua Xiong — a superior model — striding onto the battlefield from the very first engagement.
In Luoyang, Ding Yuan — who had whiled away his days in pleasure and extravagance, drinking deep of the delights that power could buy — was thrown into shock by the breathless report of a courier who came racing in.
"WHAT?! A coalition army?!"
"Yes, my lord!! Countless warlords — Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu chief among them — have answered the proclamation penned by Qiao Mao, Governor of Dong Commandery!! Their cause: the punishment of the traitor Ding Yuan, who clutches the affairs of state in his fist!!"
"T-traitor?!"
Crash!!
Seizing a priceless ornament from the table, Ding Yuan hurled it against the wall in a paroxysm of rage.
"...The nerve of those Luoyang gentlemen—!!"
To him, the news was a thunderbolt from a cloudless sky. After all, it had been none other than Zhang Yang and Ding Yuan himself who had scattered the Clear Stream faction — the very men whose opinions had opposed him — to every corner of the realm.
Ding Yuan hastily convened an emergency council to answer the rebellion, and before him gathered the commanders who now truly held the army's reins — Zhang Yan, Guo Tai, and the rest of the military men.
"What are your orders, Your Excellency?"
"If I may — ought we not dispatch General Lü Bu?"
"Hmmm..."
Ding Yuan was no great hand at strategy himself, and so Zhang Yang's counsel — lean on Lü Bu — wrung a long, low groan of deliberation from him. For a man who had sought to harness her even as her influence and the realm's dependence on her swelled by the day, the prospect sat exceedingly ill; and Lü Bu, for her part, had lately grown only more rebellious toward him.
Would it not be better to place Zhang Liao under her command instead? And if not that...
Turning the question over — whether it might be wiser to send Zhang Liao out in her place — Ding Yuan sank deep into thought.
At that moment, the man who led the Black Mountain Bandits bellowed out with bold bravado.
"Hold a moment — I'll go myself!!"
"Ohh, General Zhang Yan!!"
At the sight of Zhang Yan — the man whose record included the crushing of Wang Kuang's army — admiration spilled from Ding Yuan's lips.
"I command a great host numbering in the hundreds of thousands, and Bing Province holds more still. A coalition of ragtag rabble will never defeat me!!"
Zhang Yan of the Black Mountain Bandits wore a ferocious, overwhelming air, befitting the man they called the Flying General.
But he had no intention of fighting for Ding Yuan's sake.
I'll not rot away under that old man. I'll heap up merit upon merit, crush that vile old fossil beneath the weight of them — and the next Grand General will be me.
When he had driven back Wang Kuang's army, the corrupt ministers of the court had scrambled to bind themselves to him and build a political faction on his back. Earn glory a second time, and that influence would swell all the further. Rank and power far beyond his humble birth had already been lavished upon him — and still it was not enough.
Zhang Yan meant to win the war against the coalition, cultivate that political strength into something formidable, and drive Ding Yuan from his seat.
And so Zhang Yan, his black designs tucked neatly behind the bluster, marched out at the head of the Black Mountain host to hold Sishui Pass — and as he went, Zhang Yang drew close to Ding Yuan and spoke.
"Grand General. The households of the Yuan clan are in Luoyang as we speak. There is every chance they will conspire with the enemy — they must be cut down at once."
"...Well said. Not one soul of a traitor's brood shall be left breathing."
Murder pooled in Ding Yuan's eyes, gleaming cold as drawn steel, and his rage-mad talons reached for the illustrious house that had produced Three Excellencies across four generations.
And his cruelty would not end with the brutal slaughter of the Yuan clan of Runan. Some time before, wary that the gentlemen of Luoyang might spirit the Son of Heaven out of the capital as Cao Cao had once slipped away, Ding Yuan had transferred the palace where Liu Bian dwelt to a place no one but himself could enter — holding the Emperor under lock and key.