Stirrings (8)
Gongsun Zan, having peeled off a portion of his troops and handed them to Guan Jing to hold back Yuan Shao's pursuers, hurriedly withdrew the rest of his army north. He then crossed a narrow bridge and made camp on the far bank of the river, and Yuan Shao, watching him dig in on the opposite side, answered in kind by solidifying her own formation at the water's edge.
Yuan Shao had already made short work of the rearguard that had been clinging to her ankles, while Gongsun Zan had folded his army together with the reinforcements Tian Yu and the others had brought up. And so, with the narrow span known as Jieqiao wedged between them, the two powers settled into a grinding, continuous exchange of battle.
The number of soldiers each side had brought to the field was staggering, but the bridge caught between them was far too narrow for all those men to actually fight. Packed shoulder to shoulder on a precarious strip where one wrong step meant a slip, the soldiers threw their whole strength into shoving one another back. Here a man went down beneath an arrow loosed from afar; there another breathed his last on a sharp spearhead. The fighting was so ferocious that some, misplacing their footing, plunged straight into the deep river below.
"Show that Yuan bitch exactly what we're made of!"
Gongsun Zan bellowed himself hoarse, driving his elite soldiers onward to crush Yuan Shao's army.
"They are the bandits who sought to plunder Jizhou and trample it underfoot! For the sake of your families, you must never give a single step!"
Yuan Shao, for her part, kept invoking Gongsun Zan's brutality as she fanned her soldiers' morale higher and higher.
"Well now, this is a proper headache of a situation!"
Wen Chou, one of the famed fierce generals of Jizhou, swung the halberd in her hand and caved in the skull of the soldier in front of her. Left to her own inclinations, she would have loved nothing more than to bore in alone and collapse their formation, but their resistance was simply too fierce. Even if she did carve her way into their midst, she would not last long; after that she would be facing an encirclement many layers deep, meeting her end without ever breaking free. Though perhaps Lü Bu—the one they called Peerless Under Heaven—might have managed it!
"Ugh, the more I think about it, the more it stings! Even if I lost, I'd have loved to cross blades with her just once!"
"...What on earth are you going on about now?"
Yan Liang, fighting on at Wen Chou's side, gave her an odd look. The Gongsun Zan soldier facing her took Yan Liang's spear straight through the face and toppled backward in a spray of blood.
Wen Chou spoke up, sounding thoroughly cheerful about it.
"I'm talking about the Battle of Hulao Pass! I've always wondered just how strong the Peerless Under Heaven really is!"
Yan Liang shook her head at the sight of Wen Chou, utterly consumed by the heat of battle.
"Not a chance, not a chance. Keep that up and you'll die."
"And how would you know, never having faced her!"
Wen Chou kept the conversation going even as she cut down Gongsun Zan's soldiers one after another.
"If the rumors are true, the two of us couldn't handle her even attacking together."
So saying, Yan Liang ran yet another Gongsun Zan soldier through.
Match for Ten Thousand.
A title meaning one whom no gathering of men could ever hope to withstand—a name all the world bestowed with reverence and awe in equal measure. From the Hegemon-King of Chu, whose strength was said to uproot mountains and whose spirit towered over the age, every warrior to earn that title had shared one thing in common: they were all so obscenely strong that you had to wonder whether they were even human at all.
Yan Liang clicked her tongue.
"When you run into one of those monsters, you scheme your way into luring them into a trap. Trade blows with them head-on, and your head comes off your shoulders in a single stroke."
"Haha! Your trouble is that you're far too timid for your own good!"
Wen Chou laughed heartily and waved the warning away.
"Good grief."
Yan Liang let out a long sigh. She couldn't help worrying, just a little, that one day this recklessness of Wen Chou's would get her killed on some battlefield.
No sooner had Wen Chou and Yan Liang felled their foes than Gongsun Zan's soldiers rushed to fill the empty places and press their counterattack. Watching the countless enemy troops seething and swarming across the bridge, Yan Liang's brow creased. Just how much longer, she found herself wondering, was this interminable slog supposed to go on?
On my way back to my residence, I received a report that Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zan were locked in a full-blown fight at Jieqiao. Just as I had predicted, Gongsun Zan had his opening stolen by Qu Yi in the very first engagement and was thoroughly demolished by Yuan Shao's army.
Once his prized White Horse Volunteers and cavalry had taken no small damage, he reportedly left a chunk of his army behind in the rear and bolted in a panic—he must have been absolutely livid. Having spent those troops as throwaway pawns, Gongsun Zan fled north and settled into a standoff with Yuan Shao across Jieqiao.
Given how long it took a report to reach me, the two sides must have clashed several times over by now; both armies were probably winded and panting, running on fumes. Even so, it was hard to say whether they were truly spent, so I decided to let a little more time pass before dispatching an imperial envoy to mediate between them.
Only when a commander's thinking shifted from this is starting to wear me down to I can't do this anymore! would the fighting actually stop. Whether or not that held true for Yuan Shao, Gongsun Zan was certainly the sort who had to be driven all the way to the brink before he would quit. And if the envoy hurried there only to have his mediation refused, the Battle of Jieqiao could drag on even longer than it had in the original history. Variables like that were nothing to be welcomed, so the man would simply have to travel at a safe, unhurried pace.
Decision made, I gave a satisfied nod.
By now even sitting still had become a chore, and just as I moved to lie down, a faint commotion stirred outside.
"……?"
It was no crashing, banging ruckus, but it was more than enough to suggest something was afoot. As I looked toward it in puzzlement, I saw the door to my room swing slowly open.
"Master."
Diaochan, stepping into my room, addressed me with that title that still sat unfamiliar on her tongue. I pushed myself upright from my half-lying position and asked her,
"What is it?"
"Someone has come who wishes an audience with you, Master."
"A guest?"
For Diaochan to come find me while I was resting could only mean the visitor was someone rather important. It would be no exaggeration to say that she now presided over every affair of my household, great and small alike.
"Hmm..."
The moment I fell into thought, Diaochan went perfectly still, betraying no reaction at all as she waited in silence for my answer. I let my gaze drift toward the window for a moment.
The hour when the sun ebbs low and the world soaks in vermilion. A truly magnificent sunset, I thought—and yet it looked like a scene meant to be brought to a close. I opened my mouth.
"Bring them here."
"Yes, Master."
It was a form of address that set my chest tingling every time I heard it. A contented little smile settled on my face.
"...Master?"
It was then that Seo Yeo, standing guard at my side and watching me, murmured the word outright. Hearing such an unexpected utterance from Seo Yeo's lips, I started and turned to look at her.
"...What is it? Why?"
At my question, Seo Yeo gave the smallest shake of her head.
"It is nothing."
Perhaps she had noticed I hadn't reacted badly, because a faint smile surfaced on her face.
"Master."
Somehow, I had the feeling I would be hearing that word for the rest of my life. Not that I minded—it suited me fine. After all, compared to a stiff title like 'my lord,' a word like 'Master'—one that fed every romantic instinct a man possessed—was clearly the better option, wasn't it?
After a brief wait, footsteps sounded beyond the door, and a young woman who could still be called a girl stepped into my room. She fidgeted the moment she entered, unable to get a single word out, and I took my time studying her appearance.
Silver-blue hair, fine as silk thread, spilling down in lovely, graceful waves. Silver-blue eyes, clear and pristine, like cut diamonds. A beauty that stood out even in a world crowded with beautiful women.
When I narrowed my eyes a touch and let my gaze turn ardent, the girl standing before me flushed scarlet and angled her face away.
It was a face I knew I had seen before. Now, where was it...? Silver-blue... silver-blue...
Ah.
Emerging from my brief musing, I smacked my knee and spoke.
"It's Ma Chao, isn't it?"
"...Yes."
Pleased, it seemed, that I had recognized her, the girl brightened even as she stayed bashful.
"It's been far too long. Welcome back."
Her coming-of-age ceremony could not have been long past; Ma Chao still carried all the fresh greenness of youth about her. Ma Chao, Mengqi—the child Ma Teng had promised would come later, once she'd had a little more time to prepare.
"I take it you finished all your mental preparation, then?"
"Th-that is..."
At my playful question, Ma Chao's face went red all over again, and she began edging backward, unmistakably scouting a route of retreat.
"On second thought, perhaps a little more preparation..."
"Not a chance. The moment you walked through that door, it was already decided."
And just where did you think you were running off to?
I rose quickly from my seat and caught Ma Chao by the shoulders.
"No sense standing there awkwardly—sit down for now. Let's take our time and talk things through until night falls, you and I."
"Slowly... until night falls...?"
Whatever image those words conjured in her head, Ma Chao nodded along. Once I saw her seated, I smiled and lowered myself into the exact spot I had just vacated. Falling into an easy, familiar posture, I struck up the conversation.
"So. What have you been up to all this time?"
"I've been in Xiliang, teaching the dissident bastards some manners."
…….
No turn signal—she just cuts straight in, huh.
Ma Chao had just blurted out words you would never credit to a beautiful girl fresh from her coming-of-age ceremony. Where, exactly, had the fidgeting, blushing girl from a moment ago gone? I had only meant it as a light question.
"They were spewing complaints about the General-in-Chief—this and that, grumbling without end. The gall of those bastards, not even knowing their own place, daring to speak of you..."
As she recited this with a cold expression, Ma Chao's tone hardened like stone.
"So I dealt with them."
Dealt with them... how, exactly?
Somehow I felt I was better off not asking, so I clamped my mouth firmly shut. In the meantime, Ma Chao had turned her eyes back to me, her mood bright and sunny once more.
A difference in outlook, born of the era? I still couldn't get used to it.