Operation Begins
Outside, the rain of arrows still hammered against the hull, yet Zhuge Liang and Lu Su maintained the air of men watching a fire from across the river.
"Master Zhuge. Have another cup of tea."
Though Lu Su carried the image of a civil official, he was surprisingly skilled in the martial arts and possessed formidable courage. The anecdote of him shooting arrows clean through the shields of pursuing enemies was fairly well known.
"Ah, how long must we endure this!"
Wu Fan, by contrast, was still making a complete spectacle of himself.
"Um… standing like that is actually more dangerous. You'll be safer if you just sit still."
"Ah…"
Worried he might bolt in panic or simply topple over on his own, I sat him down for the time being.
Then the boat began to list slowly to one side. So many arrows had embedded themselves in the hull that the vessel could barely bear their weight.
"Wh-what? The boat's tipping!"
"Oh? The table's about to tip over."
I caught the sliding table with one hand and grabbed Wu Fan's collar with the other to keep him from falling.
"Good heavens. Cao Cao's army must have an enormous stock of arrows."
"Hahaha. It's going even better than expected. Borrowing these ships from Grand Commander Zhou was well worth it."
"Well then, time to turn the boats around. All ships, reverse course!"
When Lu Su called out to the men outside, Wu Fan brightened with relief.
"Yes! That's it! Let's head back!"
But they were not turning back the way he hoped. The ships pivoted half a circle in place and began collecting arrows on the opposite side.
"What! Lord Lu Su! Weren't we going back?!"
"If we sail with the boats listing like this, we'll have an accident. We need to balance them out."
"These people are unbelievable!"
Cao Cao's forces were so vast that the volume of arrows they loosed was staggering. The other side of each ship was blanketed in arrows in an instant. Once the opposite flanks were studded as well, the listing vessels began to right themselves.
Every so often an arrow punched through the makeshift defenses and buried itself in the cabin wall, its tip peeking through to startle Wu Fan again and again.
After some time more, deciding we had harvested enough arrows, we began the return to our main camp — complete, of course, with the arrows so generously provided by Cao Cao's army.
"Huff, huff. Finally… finally we're going back…"
In one corner of the cabin, a deathly pale Wu Fan was muttering to himself.
Once we were out of range, we stepped out onto the deck to take in the view. I sipped my tea and surveyed the arrows bristling from the ships. Mm — stuck in the scarecrows and straw bales as they were, the quality should be fine.
"The river at night has a magnificent charm. I should have brought a cask of grain wine."
"I've heard Master Zhuge's skill on the guqin is excellent. This would have been the perfect occasion for it."
"Lord Wu Fan, you can come out now. It's safe here."
"…Ugh. You're all out of your minds…"
The arrows would have lodged in the scarecrows and cloth screens set up outside. Even after we pulled them free for recovery, the quality would remain good.
Back at the main camp, we cheered at the sight of the scarecrows and straw bales bristling with arrows.
"My word! There must be a good hundred thousand arrows here!"
"A resounding success. The ships look like porcupines. Hahaha."
"I-if you'd meant to obtain arrows, you could have at least given me a hint beforehand…"
Cao Cao's mood might have turned bitter, but we cheerfully gathered up the arrows.
"Come, come — go and say it properly. Like a man."
While the soldiers were collecting the arrows, Lu Su and Wu Fan, who had been whispering about something off to the side, approached me.
"You've come this far only to back out? Go on. Didn't you say you would fulfill a scholar's duty?"
"…I said I understand, so — ah, stop pushing me."
With Lu Su shoving him from behind, Wu Fan came toward me with obvious reluctance.
"Lord Wu Fan says he has something to say to Lord Jin Cheong."
Hm. What could this be?
"Well… that is… I've come to apologize to Lord Jin Cheong."
Oh. An apology.
"The truth is… I heard of your exploits in the recent battle. That you beheaded an enemy general and fought with great distinction. Without knowing any of that, I believe I spoke far too harshly of you."
Wu Fan, who had been mumbling at first, gradually found a firmer, more deliberate tone.
"In particular, what just happened aboard those ships was a profound lesson for me. I sat safely inside the cabin, but I felt in my bones that the officers and soldiers stake their lives on battlefields where arrows fall like rain. For doubting and belittling Lord Jin Cheong's valor, I offer my apology. Please accept it."
With that, Wu Fan bowed deeply at the waist.
It could not have been easy to apologize first — and to a girl so much younger than himself, no less. Realizing the resolve it had taken him, I bowed in return.
"I am the one who should apologize for speaking out of turn and treating you with discourtesy, Lord Wu Fan. Please be generous enough to accept it."
"No, no. I was the one who started it."
With the mutual apologies, the awkward air between us eased.
"In any case, this boat outing gave me a great deal of enlightenment. Though I was thoroughly startled at first."
"Then, Lord Wu Fan — when shall we go for another boat ride?"
"Ah, no! I must decline that! Honestly, Lord Lu Su, you went too far. You could have given me some warning beforehand. Do you have any idea how frightened I was?"
When Lu Su offered the joke, Wu Fan waved both hands in pure horror.
"Hahahahaha!"
"Well now. These people — hahahaha!"
As Lu Su and Zhuge Liang burst into laughter, Wu Fan laughed along with them.
And so the midnight boat outing drew to a close amid a round of shared laughter.
Even after the boat-outing incident, neither army made any clear move, and the standoff continued. The days that followed were dull if one chose to call them dull, tense if one chose to call them tense — until a change occurred. It was not a change from without. It arose from within.
In the tent now were myself, Zhuge Liang, and Lu Su. Lu Su let out a long, heavy sigh. He was the sort who always lifted the mood and never so much as blinked at Cao Cao's proclamations, yet at this moment his face was full of worry. His gloom seemed to cast a heavy atmosphere over the entire tent.
"What can Grand Commander Zhou be thinking? General Huang Gai is a loyal servant who has served three generations of the Sun family — a pillar among pillars. However much they disagreed, what need was there to flog him before everyone like that?"
Barely two hours earlier, an incident had shaken the entire Jiangdong navy.
The confrontation between Zhou Yu and Huang Gai.
It had erupted during the strategy council just prior. Huang Gai had opposed Zhou Yu's plan, and Zhou Yu, in a fury, had Huang Gai flogged and humiliated. Huang Gai might be a founding elder and meritorious retainer, but real authority rested with the Grand Commander; he had no grounds to defy Zhou Yu's orders.
Huang Gai was said to be laid up in his own tent now.
"Master Kongming. The Grand Commander holds you in the highest esteem. Is there no way to mediate between the two of them? If they fall out, it will affect the morale of the entire Eastern Wu army."
Zhuge Liang merely covered his mouth with his white feather fan and offered no particular reply.
"Master, I am asking you like this…"
Then Zhuge Liang lowered the fan and spoke.
"Lord Lu Su. This is nothing to worry over so greatly. Set your concerns aside."
"Pardon? Nothing to worry over? This is…"
A faint smile touched Zhuge Liang's lips as he spoke in a near whisper.
"This is, in truth, a performance staged by General Huang Gai and Grand Commander Zhou. A stratagem, as it were, to end the war."
At those words Lu Su's eyes flew wide. Then he calmly propped his chin on his hand and sank into deep thought.
"I see. So that was it. No wonder it felt strange… Still — to deceive everyone so completely…"
After muttering to himself for a while, Lu Su rose from his seat.
"Well, however it stands, I ought to look in on General Huang Gai. He'll be hurt, so I should pay a sick call at least."
With that he left the tent — but his steps were lighter than before, his usual vigor restored.
He said nothing, yet I could read his thoughts. To deceive the enemy, first deceive your own side. For now he meant to play along with Zhou Yu and Huang Gai's act, pretending to know nothing.
"Incidentally, Duwei Jin."
"Yes, Military Advisor."
"Did you already know this was a performance? You didn't look the least bit surprised."
"Ha, hahaha… Of course not. I was thoroughly astonished. I'm simply not very expressive…"
Zhuge Liang wore a smile at the corners of his mouth, but interest glinted in his eyes.
"Is that truly so? Are you not, by chance, acting yourself right now?"
"Haha… Truly not. I genuinely had no idea."
Ah. So that's how it looked. In truth I had known all along, so my only thought had been something like, Ah, so it begins.
Zhuge Liang probed a few more times with casual questions, and I kept deflecting as if I truly knew nothing. There was no need for me to stand out here. All that mattered was ensuring the operation succeeded — and then catching Cao Cao.
In any case, the plan proceeded smoothly under Zhou Yu and Huang Gai's direction. I stayed on in the Wu camp, feigning complete ignorance.
From time to time I visited Pan Zhang's market, or shared a cup of tea and conversation with Gan Ning or Ling Tong.
Both of them treated me well enough, but there was no sign of the two of them growing any closer. More precisely, Ling Tong radiated a chill every time he so much as laid eyes on Gan Ning. Fortunately, it never went further than that.
In the naval camp where Cao Cao was stationed, inside the largest tent at its center, Cao Cao was hearing news that made his ears prick up.
"Huang Gai of Wu has sent a secret envoy? The same Huang Gai who has served the Sun clan since Sun Jian's day?"
His closest strategist, Cheng Yu, answered.
"Yes. So it is said."
"That Huang Gai, sending a secret envoy? Whatever for? Very well — let us meet him and hear what he has to say."
"Yes."
A short while later, a man dressed as a fisherman walked before him. At first the shabby fisherman's garb made Cao Cao wonder what kind of messenger this was supposed to be, but then he reflected that such a disguise made sense if the man needed to avoid other eyes.
"This humble one is Kan Ze, come to deliver General Huang Gai's words."
The impeccable manners, so at odds with the costume, left little doubt that he was indeed an envoy.
"For what purpose has this Huang Gai sent a secret messenger?"
Kan Ze spoke. The story Cao Cao heard surpassed anything he had imagined.