Persuasion
Hyah! Hyah!
I spurred my horse alongside the three sisters—Yu Bi, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei—racing toward where Lu Zhi was waiting. When the soldiers spotted us from a distance and leveled their bows, Yu Bi cried out at the top of her lungs.
"Ah—! Master, it is I! Please, do not loose your arrows!"
"...?"
Recognizing Yu Bi's voice, Lu Zhi immediately ordered the archers to stand down. Moments later, Wang Yun, Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, Sun Jian, and the rest came crowding over.
"Lord Yu? Why were you inside Dong Zhuo's camp?"
Yuan Shao, startled by Yu Bi's appearance, stepped toward her—only to freeze in place the instant Lu Zhi shot him a sharp look.
"What is the meaning of this?"
"Ah—... We followed Lord Do Yeop to search for His Majesty the Prince of Chenliu. Along the way we were discovered by Dong Zhuo's forces, and that is how we ended up here."
"Do Yeop... That brat from before? Don't tell me you're still wagging your tail after my disciple?"
Lu Zhi made no secret of how little he appreciated running into me again. Fair enough—his favorability toward me had already been rock-bottom, and with my Charm nineteen points lower than last time, I probably looked less appealing than a cockroach.
"Haha! Benchu, don't tell me some shop boy stole your woman!"
Yuan Shu laughed like this was the best news he'd heard all day. Yuan Shao, for his part, seemed so shaken that Yu Bi had been with me that his ears flushed scarlet and he couldn't manage a single word.
"Enough. Why did Dong Zhuo let you go?"
"Ah—... He did not let us go, exactly. We came to deliver a message. Lord Do Yeop will explain in my stead."
Yu Bi handed me the floor. I laid out Dong Zhuo's demands at once. Needless to say, not a single person here was prepared to accept them.
"That insolent—! Who does he think he is, daring to hold the Son of Heaven hostage at his own whim!"
I had never seen Lu Zhi lose his composure like this. Then again, he had been shoved aside by Dong Zhuo during the Yellow Turban Rebellion—no wonder the old grudge still burned.
"General Lu, there is nothing to deliberate. Let this Yuan Shu take the van—we strike at once and reclaim the Emperor!"
"That's impossible. Dong Zhuo's cavalry alone number over a thousand. And if a fight breaks out inside the camp, His Majesty's life will be in danger."
"Who the hell are you to interrupt?"
Yuan Shu exploded the moment someone of my station dared cut into the elders' conversation. Sun Jian looked equally puzzled.
"Why is this guy even here? You don't have any connection to Dong Zhuo."
"Ah—well, you see—"
"He is the groom who tends His Majesty the Prince of Chenliu's horses."
"...?"
Someone spoke up before I could invent an excuse. I turned—and there was Wang Yun.
Right. He was the one who had planted me in Yu Hyeop's palace in the first place.
"How does the Governor of Henan know that?"
"Not long ago he came to my house begging for work, so I arranged an introduction. I hear his skill with horses is exceptional—His Majesty is quite satisfied with him."
For a man with such a loyal reputation, he lied without the slightest hesitation. Yuan Shao looked faintly suspicious, but even he didn't dare pick apart Wang Yun's word.
Wang Yun spoke again.
"Go back to Dong Zhuo and tell him this: if he does not release the Emperor and His Majesty the Prince of Chenliu, he will not take a single step from that camp."
"Haa... You know as well as I do he isn't the sort of man who listens to that. Besides, he already beheaded Zhang Yang and avenged the General-in-Chief—there's no clean pretext to attack him."
"Silence! That is not for you to decide. Detaining the Son of Heaven and threatening the ministers of the court—what is that if not treason?"
"It is treason, yes. But you people have less than a quarter of that traitor's forces. His ordinary soldiers can swing spears from horseback at a full gallop. Sun Jian—you've seen what they're capable of, haven't you?"
"What did you just say, you little shit? You think this Sun Jian is afraid of the likes of them?!"
I had tried to bolster my argument by appealing to the one man among them who had actually fought in Liang Province. The only real defeat of the great Sun Jian's career had come while suppressing the rebellion of Han Sui and Bian Zhang—but dredging up that humiliation only made him glare at me like he wanted me dead. He offered not a shred of agreement.
"It may feel like swallowing your pride right now, but think of the long game. Dong Zhuo's forces have limits. Secure the Emperor's safe return to the palace first, then raise cavalry of your own and face him properly."
"I will not hear another word of this!"
"..."
Wang Yun dismissed me as not worth listening to. Lu Zhi shook his head as well—and even Yuan Shao insisted they had to attack Dong Zhuo at once.
"Lady Yu Bi? Was there some contradiction in what I said? I think I've explained clearly enough why we can't attack Dong Zhuo."
"Ah—... I also believe Lord Do Yeop is correct. And yet... somehow, it simply does not sound persuasive."
"..."
What the hell was that supposed to mean? If I was right, I was right—what did "not persuasive" have to do with anything?
"That man is correct."
"...?"
Then, out of nowhere, someone actually took my side. Everyone turned to see who—and wait.
Cao Cao?
"Mengde! Where in blazes have you been, showing up only now?!"
Yuan Shao barked at Cao Cao for sauntering in so late. Cao Cao, for his part, answered through a sleepy yawn.
"Haaawn... Started drinking at midday and completely lost track of myself. Woke up sandwiched between ten courtesans in a pleasure house. Then I heard something had gone wrong at the palace, so I came running."
Behind him stood what looked like his prized personal guard of the Cao and Xiahou clans. They, too, looked as if they had just rolled out of bed—no armor, just swords and spears in hand—and there was not a trace of the so-called Peerless Warriors of Wei among them.
"Anyway, that guy's right. Trying to catch an arrow already in flight only gets your own hand cut. Feign fear of Dong Zhuo for now, pull back, and let him return to the palace with the Emperor. We can figure out the rest after that."
"Nonsense! Hand the Emperor over to that man and then what? Once he digs into the palace and digs in defensively, reclaiming His Majesty will be even harder!"
"Benchu, has the workload finally fried your brain? We have the Bing Province troops, remember? All he trusts are the cavalry he dragged from Liang—show him we have the same, and he'll tuck his tail and run."
"Mm... Mengde has the right of it."
Lu Zhi backed Cao Cao and set about persuading Yuan Shao. And that, frankly, pissed me off.
"Master Lu? When I said the exact same thing a moment ago, you wouldn't even pretend to listen."
"When did you say the same thing? Spouting that kind of empty nonsense—you expected me to sit there and take it?"
"The wording was a little different, but the substance was identical. Why the double standard between me and Cao Cao?"
"And what reason would I have to look kindly on you?"
"..."
So that was it. Cao Cao might look like a few screws were loose, but he was still a brilliant minister of a peaceful age, with glittering achievements to his name. Me? A failure in peace and a failure in chaos—even when I was right, it grated on their ears. This wouldn't do. I needed to track down Xu Shao immediately and get a new Yuedanping evaluation—
"Strange, though. There's no way you didn't know the General-in-Chief was entering the palace today. And you spent the whole afternoon drinking?"
"...?"
That was Sun Jian. While everyone else was waving it off with a that's just Cao Cao for you, he alone was thinking something different. Cao Cao answered him.
"Gonglu, are you still dragging this guy around? I told you—consorting with country bumpkins only drags your own worth down."
"Ha! If Sun Jian hadn't gathered troops in time, we'd still be standing outside the palace sucking our thumbs. He's a hundred times better than someone who sits around drinking while the General-in-Chief enters the palace!"
"Sun Jian is right. Mengde—what exactly were you thinking?"
Even Yuan Shao sided with Sun Jian. And so did I.
The sharpest mind among us, and Cao Cao hadn't harbored so much as a flicker of suspicion about He Jin entering the palace? That didn't add up.
"I have no idea what any of you are talking about."
"Then explain it. No matter how cornered Zhang Yang was, the situation wasn't so desperate that he had to murder the General-in-Chief—unless he already knew our side intended to cut them down."
It was a chilling conspiracy theory. According to Yuan Shao, someone had leaked internal information from our side—and that was why Zhang Yang had been forced into such an extreme choice.
"You're seriously suspecting me? Framing a man without evidence isn't like you, Benchu. Anyway, looks like this is over, so I'll be going. Ugh—still feel like throwing up. Ptooey!"
Cao Cao made his brief appearance and vanished just as quickly. After a short exchange, Lu Zhi and Wang Yun decided to withdraw as well.
Yuan Shao kept staring after Cao Cao long after he was gone. And maybe it was because I knew Cao Cao better than even his closest friend Yuan Shao did—
But I couldn't shake the feeling that he might have orchestrated this entire situation himself.