The Luan Builds Her Nest
"Oh? Two of them, you say?"
Liu Bei, who had been listening in silence, spoke with a touch of theatrical exaggeration. The smile spreading over his face seemed to rejoice in his niece's growth, though a glint of mischief ran through it as well.
Well. I could see why he found it so interesting.
In truth, his proclamation at this council was a kind of showmanship, meant to display his resolve before the generals, pile up justification, and lift their morale. He would already have worked out, with Pang Tong and Fa Zheng, a scheme for seizing Yi Province—through that famous triad of Pang Tong's superior, middle, and inferior plans. What I meant to offer was, in the end, Pang Tong's own words borrowed wholesale, only seasoned to Liu Bei's temperament.
"I would hear the superior plan first."
"Under the pretext of returning to Jing Province, draw in Liu Zhang's generals from the posts round about, seize them, and rebuke the Lord of Yi for his want of virtue. If you then take their troops and horses and drive on Chengdu, the generals beneath him will be unable to resist."
"A fine plan indeed. And what, then, is the inferior one?"
I drew a breath and answered.
"The inferior plan is to form a small detached column and strike Chengdu by surprise."
"Hm? That is the inferior plan?"
Liu Bei made no effort to hide his puzzlement and cocked his head. Even so, the look he turned on Pang Tong showed that what I had said stood at odds with the plan Pang Tong had set forth.
In fact, the proposal I had called inferior was the very one Pang Tong had offered as superior. Liu Bei had refused that superior plan and chosen the middle. Because I knew why he had set the one aside for the other, I had placed Pang Tong's superior plan at the bottom.
Pang Tong, finding my answer strange as well, asked.
"Might I hear why you call that the inferior plan?"
"Because it is like running to arrive the sooner, only to trip over your own feet."
"I would hear it in full."
The indulgent uncle watching his niece show off a party trick was gone. A cool-eyed lord wanted my answer, and I gave it in earnest, in the formal address of court.
"My lord, in the accomplishing of the great enterprise, your greatest strength is nothing other than your virtue. Though your forces have ever stood weaker than Cao the Bandit's, the realm takes you for his fated rival precisely because, until now, you have walked a road opposite to his."
"...Indeed."
"Should such a Lord of Jing take Chengdu with a detached raid, you might gain Yi Province swiftly and swell your strength for the moment. But it would scar the virtuous work you have built across decades, and that is no different from the folly of clutching a petty gain and losing the great."
Liu Bei heard me out, then let go a sigh as though he were truly struck.
"Astonishing. Your discernment is remarkable indeed. What say you, Military Advisor? Is our niece's wit not extraordinary?"
"Yes, my lord. She has an eye that weighs a plan of a hundred years—something I had failed to measure."
"Hahaha! Is that so? Hmm. My nieces and nephews are so outstanding that, though I have always envied my brothers their gifts of command and of arms, what I envy most now is the excellence of their children."
"Your two young lords are gifted as well. Young Lord Liu Feng's martial skill goes without saying, and this time Young Lord Liu Shan has shown a courage worthy of one who carries your blood. Is it not said that when a plant will prove fine, two leaves are enough to tell?"
A promising tree is known from its first leaves. With apologies to Liu Bei, Liu Shan would never be the man his father was. Nor would Liu Feng. Not because either of them fell far short as a man. Set apart and judged alone, both stood well above the common run; Liu Shan even had learning enough for Zhuge Liang to acknowledge. Only the shadow laid over them was too vast, and too dark.
Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei. Born to heroes whose fame would run on for thousands of years, their abilities could not help but be undervalued. If I handled matters well enough, perhaps in this world Zhang Fei would be the exception. People already called us, now and then, tiger father and tiger daughter. If I truly used what I knew of the future, and the strength of this body, to unify the realm, a new classical phrase might be coined—one for a daughter who surpassed her father.
Xiaozhi had chimed in that Liu Bei's sons were outstanding too, a piece of flattery resting, after a fashion, on objective ground. Liu Feng and Liu Shan had not yet shown their faults, so the judgment was not false.
"Shi Yuan, Xiaozhi. My niece is young, I grant, but with talent such as this, would it not be well to bestow an office?"
"Confucius himself sought instruction from Xiang Tuo, a boy of seven. How should age be a stumbling block to the granting of office?"
True to his frank nature, Pang Tong endorsed my appointment without hesitation, freely allowing that I had a point of excellence beyond his own. Had the author of the plan I contradicted to his face been Fa Zheng, the man would have nursed a grudge. Of course, in that case I would never have produced it. One who wishes to be revered must first know how to revere others. Pang Tong, who lived that principle, had a breadth of spirit unlike ordinary men. Fa Zheng, still ranking beneath him, merely added his voice to the argument.
The moment my commission was settled, I offered a second request.
"Uncle, please assign me to Military Advisor Pang's command."
"To Shi Yuan?"
"According to the Huainanzi, the flying dragon bears the fenghuang, and the fenghuang bears the luan. The world calls Military Advisor Pang a fenghuang, and I take the luan's own character for my name. Is that not a bond of its own? I wish for the chance to broaden my sight beneath him."
"So you are versed not only in strategy and arms, but in learning as well. Since it has come to this—Shi Yuan, what say you to teaching our Lan yourself?"
"I? The General Who Subdues the Caitiffs is here. How should I step forward?"
"I will speak to Yide myself. And were it you, Yide would welcome you with both hands raised. Why so modest?"
Pang Tong considered a moment, then accepted the proposal with good grace.
"Very well. I, too, felt my own lack in Miss Zhang's words. Let us teach one another where we fall short, and grow together."
"Good. Excellent! Then I appoint Lan Army-Marching Major beneath you."
An Army-Marching Major was a general's aide, a staff officer of sorts. Behind the appointment lay Liu Bei's intent that I take instruction at Pang Tong's side—he who held, as Zhuge Liang did, the office of Military Advisor and General of the Household.
I had repeated Pang Tong's plans and threaded them with contradiction for no reason but to catch his interest. If he found me intriguing, he might keep me near. I had worried the ploy might turn against me, but in the end it had worked out. A relief.
"My thanks, my lord!"
"Yes. Ah—but Lan, what do you think of falling back to Baidi and taking Yi Province slowly, beginning from Jing Province?"
That was the course Pang Tong had named the inferior plan.
"It does not bear considering. Yi Province, as I saw it on the way here, is a fortress heaven itself bestowed. Withdraw to Jing and give Liu Zhang time to prepare, and the conquest will take far too long. Cao the Bandit will not wait for us."
"Hahaha. A foolish question, and a wise answer."
Liu Bei laughed, then turned my last words over again. Cao the Bandit does not wait. To a Liu Bei forever hunted by Cao Cao, the line must have struck all the harder.
Whether those words moved him, I could not say. The next day he acted at once. Following Pang Tong's plan, he let it be known that Jing Province was in peril and he must return, and he made ready as though he truly meant to leave.
No—Liu Bei did prepare to depart Jiameng Pass. Only his destination was not Jing Province.
Yang Huai and Gao Pei, who did not know that, were delighted that Liu Bei—a thorn caught in the throat—was withdrawing of his own accord, and they came out beaming to see him off. Pang Tong had judged the two to be Liu Zhang's famed generals; for all that, they were remarkably simple men. As a matter of course, they met their end at the hands of a Liu Bei who had bared his ambition to swallow Yi Province. His handling of the matter was lightning itself.
He cut down Yang Huai and Gao Pei, absorbed their soldiers where they stood, and posted men at Jiameng Pass and Baishui until his rear was secure. Then, as if nothing remained to restrain him, Liu Bei began the advance on Chengdu.
But to gain one thing is sometimes to lose another.
Zhang Song, failing to read the intent behind Liu Bei's false pretext of a return to Jing Province, acted too soon in his anxiety—and was executed by Liu Zhang on the denunciation of his own elder brother, Zhang Su. At last awake to Liu Bei's true heart, Liu Zhang belatedly barred the road of his descent and mustered officers and men. It was a measure he could not avoid if he hoped not to be robbed before his very eyes, yet even that served Liu Bei as justification. Liu Bei cast the frame upon him: support had been given grudgingly, and now the road home itself was to be shut, so it was Liu Zhang who had first abandoned benevolence and righteousness—the true betrayer. Liu Zhang answered with argument of his own and prepared for war.
In the end the two powers crossed a river from which there was no return. The war for Yi Province had begun.