Those Who Tremble with Anxiety
Sun Quan grimaced, his mouth bitter. It was not some foul dish that had ruined his appetite, but the report Lü Meng had sent only days before.
Most humbly, this subordinate's illness has grown grave, and I fear I must take leave to recover. Circumstances being what they are, I beg Your Lordship's understanding. I shall explain the matter in full when I have the honor of presenting myself before you.
Lü Meng was the general who had succeeded Zhou Yu and Lu Su in turn as Grand Commander of Eastern Wu — the same man who, only a short while ago, had swaggered out of Jianye swearing he would take Jingzhou.
Sun Quan was concerned for him, of course. But he could not keep the scowl from his face.
Liu Bei, he had heard, had seized Western Shu and then toppled Hanzhong as well. Watching that man grow so startlingly powerful in only a few years left Sun Quan more wary by the day.
True, he had reclaimed three commanderies of Jingzhou from Liu Bei. But if things continued like this, would his own power not sink to the weakest of the Three Kingdoms? That anxiety had been gnawing at him of late without rest.
So when Lü Meng proposed a scheme to seize Jingzhou outright, Sun Quan had listened with eager ears. And now, so soon after, came news like this?
Whatever the case, I must hear him out. A man like him may well be plotting something.
He faced Lü Meng in person, who had returned to Jianye.
"This subordinate, Lü Meng, presents himself before My Lord."
Lü Meng's complexion did not look half so bad as a man supposedly stricken with illness.
"Commander Lü Meng. I heard you were unwell. Are you all right?"
"I am ashamed to have caused Your Lordship concern. You need not worry greatly over this subordinate's health."
"Is that so? That is fortunate. But then — Jingzhou. What of Jingzhou?"
"That is precisely what I have come to explain. My falling ill and returning here is itself the scheme."
Puzzlement crossed Sun Quan's face.
"Oh? Explain yourself more carefully."
As Lü Meng laid out his plan, the puzzlement faded and a smile returned.
The scheme was this.
Lü Meng had departed as commander of the Jingzhou front, only to find Guan Yu's defenses far from easy to crack. Wary of a Wu surprise attack, Guan Yu had fortified his positions with thorough care.
Cornered, one stratagem had risen in Lü Meng's mind: to make use of illness itself.
"I deliberately spread word in every direction that I was sick. By now Guan Yu will believe I have returned to Jianye with a grave illness."
Sun Quan slapped his knee with his palm.
"Ah! Now I see it. Lull Guan Yu into complacency, then strike at the opening."
"Exactly so. Guan Yu is planning a northern campaign. With me gone, he will lower his guard and march north."
It was a thoroughly plausible operation. And Sun Quan's astonishment did not end there.
"I am also arranging to collude in secret with Mi Fang of Jingzhou."
"Mi Fang? Mi Fang has followed Liu Bei for years. Would he truly collude with us?"
Mi Fang was a man Sun Quan knew well enough.
He had trailed Liu Bei since the days in Xu Province — a senior figure in Liu Bei's army. Setting ability aside, he held the post of Grand Administrator of Nan Commandery; by seniority alone he ranked as the second man of Jingzhou, a figure of real weight.
"From what I have learned, he and Guan Yu have long been on poor terms. It is worth sounding him out. Of course I will not rush — I will proceed step by step."
"Good. If someone answers from within, the work will go far more smoothly."
One concern remained, however.
"The scheme is excellent. But as things stand, does that not leave the command of the Jingzhou front effectively vacant?"
"I have already thought of that as well. Lu Xun. He is the right man to succeed me. His talent is exceptional, yet his renown is still thin — entrusting the post to him will only deepen Guan Yu's complacency."
"Very well. I shall appoint Lu Xun Right Protector-General to stand in your place."
"My thanks, My Lord. I swear I shall place Jingzhou in Your Lordship's hands."
When the conversation with Lü Meng ended, Sun Quan's face looked considerably lighter.
But he had not set his mind fully at ease. Somewhere in a corner of his heart, an unease still stirred — a sense that something would go wrong.
The conquest of Jingzhou.
It had been one of his goals for a long time.
Yet even before the campaign could properly begin, he had run into opposition from his ministers, who argued the chances were too slim. Only a bare handful — Lü Meng among them — had supported the plan, and so the operation had creaked from the start.
It was the same at Red Cliffs. These so-called ministers oppose everything before they even try. Now Lu Su is dead as well, and the subordinates I can trust seem fewer by the day.
Having forced the matter through against his ministers' objections, even after hearing Lü Meng's plan he still felt a nameless restlessness. Was there nothing that might soothe it?
Ah — of course. I should consult Wu Fan. How could I have forgotten him?
On that impulse, Sun Quan decided to see Wu Fan.
Wu Fan was one of the most renowned diviners in Jiangdong.
Whenever an ill omen appeared, Sun Quan would ask him to cast a reading and seek his counsel.
His art was skilled, and he offered apt help whenever it was needed. Sun Quan ran through the prophecies Wu Fan had struck true, one by one.
A few years ago, when I meant to strike Huang Zu at Jiangxia, he opposed me, saying the time was not yet ripe. That prophecy proved right.
Beyond that, Wu Fan had correctly foretold the moment to capture Huang Zu, Liu Bei's entry into Shu, and more. Sun Quan expected a true reading this time as well.
"Set your mind at ease, My Lord. This time you will surely take Guan Yu."
"Is that so? That is most fortunate. That arrogant Guan Yu has long stuck in my craw — now I may settle the grudge."
"Yes. Guan Yu's fate will not outlast this year. Jingzhou, too, shall fall into Your Lordship's grasp."
Hearing the answer he had hoped for, Sun Quan laughed heartily.
After laughing a while, he composed himself and spoke casually.
"Master Wu Fan's predictions have always come true. I have asked you the secret of it many times, yet you have never given me a clear answer. Might you tell me that secret today?"
"I am most sorry, My Lord. My divination is a means of conveying Heaven's will — I beg you to understand that even to Your Lordship I cannot freely speak of it."
"Hmm. And when might you be able to share that secret? The more people who know it, the easier our work would become."
"I understand Your Lordship's feelings. Yet I ask you also to consider my position."
"Do you think I ask for my own sake alone? This, too, is for the sake of the state."
"Even so, this method is not something just anyone can practice…"
Sun Quan had always held Wu Fan's skill in high regard, yet inwardly resented the man for never freely revealing the secret. He had asked once more this time, and as always Wu Fan would not budge. Would it not be better for both of them if he simply told him?
Having at last soothed Sun Quan out of his difficult requests, Wu Fan was left alone and let out a sigh.
Then a sudden, unpleasant feeling rose in him, and he cast the reading once more.
The hexagram says it clearly enough. Guan Yu dies, and Jingzhou becomes ours. So what is this foreboding?
The reading was not wrong. It spoke of Guan Yu's death and the conquest of Jingzhou. And yet — just one thing — an anxiety he himself could not name was mixed into it.
What did it mean?
Something to do with Guan Yu? Or Jingzhou? Lü Meng? Sun Quan?
He turned it over and over, but no answer came. He even wondered if it concerned himself, and still he was lost in fog.
In all the years he had cast readings, he had never seen something so uncertain and yet so ominous.
In any case, taking Guan Yu and gaining Jingzhou seems certain. All I can do is pray it comes to pass. Lü Meng and Lord Lu Xun at the front will handle it well.
Rather than keep fretting over an answer that would not come, Wu Fan chose to trust the generals who would actually carry out the work.
The unease of Sun Quan and Wu Fan had little effect on the progress of the Jingzhou campaign.
First, Sun Quan ordered Lu Xun to take Lü Meng's place. Arriving at Lukou, the point facing Jingzhou, Lu Xun sent Guan Yu letter after letter. Their contents, roughly speaking, lowered himself and elevated Guan Yu.
Receiving the letters, Guan Yu saw that Lu Xun was a newly appointed commander who humbled himself with such courtesy, and naturally let down his guard.
In the end Guan Yu relaxed his vigilance and defenses against Wu and drove his main force northward — to take Xiangyang and Fancheng.
Through spies who tracked Guan Yu's every move, Lu Xun continued to flatter him while preparing, unseen, to shift his army toward Jingzhou.
The battle for Jingzhou had begun.
Mi Fang, left behind in Jingzhou, was living through anxious days. Even after Guan Yu — with whom he had never gotten along — marched off on his northern campaign, the unease would not lift.
With that thorn in his eye gone, one might have expected some relief. So why this fretting?
The answer lay in an incident that had erupted just before Guan Yu's departure.
Mi Fang and Shi Ren had originally been slated to serve as the vanguard of the northern army. But before the march, their blunder had burned a store of military supplies.
Furious, Guan Yu had rebuked them harshly and stripped them of the vanguard command.
Thus he left Mi Fang and Shi Ren in Jingzhou to manage the supply lines, and led the army north himself.
Even so, Mi Fang could not rest easy. Supply duty carried heavy responsibility of its own — and worse, he feared Guan Yu might later hold him to account for the fire. The worry was endless.
Guan Yu had been entrusted by Liu Bei with the Jiajieyue — the authority to decide life and death over those under his command. That meant he held the power to invoke that warrant and have Mi Fang executed.
Then something drove a spike into that very fear: Eastern Wu made secret contact.
A man claiming to be a spy sent by Lü Meng of Wu had come to him in secret and tried to buy him over — promising a high post if he would answer their call from within.
Outwardly he had snorted and refused. But a voice in a corner of his heart kept crying out that he should take the offer.
Was it better to cling to Wu and claim a seat for himself than to live in dread of Guan Yu's wrath?
Wu would surely approach him again. What should he do then?
While he was turning it over, a figure appeared — someone who had been turning up before his eyes rather often of late.
"Lord Mi Fang. Good day to you."
"…Ah, Lord Ma Su. Out on patrol again today?"
Ma Su smiled brightly as he spoke.
"Yes. One must keep an eye on the people's hearts. Still fretting over that matter, are you?"
By "that matter" he meant the burning of the military stores.
"Well… how could I not?"
"Do not worry overmuch. There is a saying — a thousand considerations, one miss. Even the ablest man, handling many affairs, is bound to make one mistake. If you achieve some great merit, will General Guan Yu not forgive you generously?"
"I hope so, but…"
Mi Fang let the sentence trail off. Ma Su, oblivious to what lay in his heart, chattered on at his side. He was a man of many words — one who said pleasant things and yet, somehow, left a strange taste behind. A peculiar talent.
And somehow each remark felt as if it were prodding at his secret. Which, in truth, it rather was.
"I present myself before the Grand Administrator of Nan Commandery."
Behind him, a man named Gou Fu bowed respectfully with several soldiers in tow. He held the rank of Duwei, and Ma Su kept him at his side like an aide.
He was still young and of low rank, yet his ability seemed considerable. Above all, when the fire broke out he had moved so swiftly that the damage had been much reduced. He had not been able to spare them Guan Yu's reprimand, but still.
After the conquest of Yizhou, three men had returned to Jingzhou: Ma Su, Gou Fu, and Xu Shu.
Xu Shu looked busy with administrative and civil duties, but Ma Su and Gou Fu, claiming to be on patrol, crossed paths with Mi Fang often enough.
That Gou Fu — they said Jin Cheong recommended him from Yizhou.
Come to think of it, all three were connected to Jin Cheong. She had been close to Xu Shu since the Xinye days, and he had heard she was on friendly terms with Ma Su as well. And the third she had recommended herself.
Once, by chance, he had overheard a conversation between Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang. Liu Bei's words from that day came back to him.
Jin Cheong. That child has a peculiar insight. The sort of talent who foresees what others cannot, and sees through what others fail to pierce.
Mi Fang was uneasy. He had heard Jin Cheong was already as far as Xiangyong. Did she somehow know what he was contemplating here?
The more he thought, the more his head ached.