Jing Province, Nanyang Commandery (2)
Li Feng, entrusted by Yuan Shu with the defense of Wan, had recently received troubling reports about the movements of Liu Biao's army.
Liu Biao had marched out with a massive force under the pretext of military exercises near Xiangyang Castle.
Fearing that they might invade Nanyang Commandery, Li Feng kept a vigilant, burning-eyed watch.
Yuan Shu himself had departed at the head of a great army to strike Cao Cao, which meant the garrison remaining in Wan was dangerously thin.
But the defender of a fortress always holds the advantage over the attacker — a truth every commander knew, and so Li Feng tightened the surroundings and hardened the city's defenses all the more.
And his expectations proved correct.
"So they really did come after all!"
Just as Sun Jian had once done in his assault on Xiangyang Castle, Liu Biao's army came down the waterways and crashed upon Wancheng's gates in the blink of an eye.
Watching them approach, Li Feng exhaled a long breath, then turned to the commander at his side.
"Sun Ce! Surely you're not going to avoid battle even now?!"
At the warning edge in Li Feng's question, Sun Ce stepped forward with a look of displeasure.
"Fine. I'll fight. Happy?"
Li Feng raised his voice at the half-hearted response.
"What is with that listless attitude! Do you truly intend to fight or not!"
"Do I intend to fight?"
With that, Sun Ce cast a cold, expressionless gaze over Liu Biao's troops, idly tapping the pommel of his sword.
"Honestly? I couldn't say."
"……"
The unexpected answer silenced Li Feng.
The Sun Ce standing before him now was nothing like the one who had once raged furiously at the mere mention of Liu Biao's name.
Sensing that change, Li Feng felt a sudden chill of foreboding — impossible to name, yet unmistakably the kind of instinct only a man seasoned by years on the battlefield could feel.
He considered pulling Sun Ce from the battle entirely, but a siege was upon them. With every man precious, he could hardly afford to exclude the whole Sun family over a little sulkiness.
A single soldier mattered more than ever right now, so Li Feng forced himself to ignore the small, nagging unease. Yes — far better to keep her in plain sight and under watch than to simply cast her aside.
Resolving to keep a closer eye on Sun Ce's camp until Yuan Shu returned, Li Feng surveyed Liu Biao's positions from atop the walls.
"……"
The sight stirred that same uneasy premonition again.
One could call him paranoid, but in Li Feng's experience, instincts of this kind on the battlefield were never to be ignored. Liu Biao's army seemed to have some other objective beyond merely seizing this city — and what that objective was, Li Feng could not begin to guess. It was maddening.
After much deliberation, he finally reached a decision.
"Sun Ce."
"What now."
The reply came curt and graceless.
Fuming inwardly at the insolent attitude, Li Feng delivered his warning.
"Mind your manners. Every single thing you do from this moment will be reported to my lord — without the slightest error or omission."
"Ooh, how terrifying."
Sun Ce gave a faint snort at the half-growled threat.
"But what matters right now is defending this place, isn't it? You have time to waste on a staring contest with me?"
"……"
Li Feng ground his teeth.
He couldn't fathom what she was thinking, but ever since Sun Jian had taken his grievous wound, Sun Ce had clashed repeatedly — great and small — with Yuan Shu's officers. Sun Jian had at least shown them respect; Sun Ce didn't even bother with that. It was only a small mercy that she still observed courtesy toward her own lord, Yuan Shu.
Their positions demanded cooperation, not another contest of wills, so Li Feng suppressed his fury as best he could and spoke.
"…I'll attach some troops to you. Go out and observe Liu Biao's movements."
"And if I spot anything suspicious, I report it?"
"Exactly."
Sun Ce grasped his meaning at once, as if she had read it straight from his mind, and Li Feng nodded. Whatever her temperament, this young tiger's ability was beyond dispute.
She asked, curious.
"Shall I lead the troops myself?"
"No. You stay here and assist me."
Li Feng shut that door immediately.
Handing command of soldiers to this woman now — who knew what might happen? As he'd just warned her, it was better to keep her at his side under watch, so she couldn't entertain any schemes. Surely even a Sun family commander wouldn't dare defy orders under such scrutiny.
"Whatever you say."
Whether or not Sun Ce saw through his intentions, she answered only with listless indifference.
Resolving to report this insolent attitude to his lord without fail, Li Feng set about organizing the troops.
In truth, the very idea of entrusting soldiers to a Sun family officer made him uneasy, but apart from them there was no one in Wancheng fit for so critical a task. Every capable officer had been dragged along when Yuan Shu personally marched out not long ago.
…Times like these make me resent my lord a little.
He could at least have left behind one more officer Li Feng could trust with an important commission.
Years had passed since the Yuans and the Sun family began their cooperation, yet Li Feng could never quite shake the feeling of sleeping beside an enemy.
Still — thank the heavens Sun Ce has no reason to join hands with Liu Biao's army.
She herself had just said she couldn't say, but the fury buried deep within those rust-red eyes could not be entirely hidden.
It was exceedingly rare for a commander who led men into battle to escape the field with his life and die comfortably in old age. But who can simply choose not to bear a grudge? She surely understood it with her head — but never with her heart. A grudge over lost family was not something so easily dismissed. No, Sun Ce would never join hands with Liu Biao's army.
Turning, Sun Ce addressed the veteran commander who attended her nearby.
"Old Uncle Huang Gai. You heard all that? If those bastards show the slightest suspicious move, report to me immediately."
The old general — whom no one could call young even as flattery — laughed heartily and thumped his chest with a resounding boom.
"Fear nothing! If a messenger gets captured on the way, I'll bellow the report with my own two lungs if I have to!"
"With those lungs of yours, that's hardly a far-fetched plan."
Sun Ce let out a genuine chuckle at Huang Gai's good humor.
And so Huang Gai marched out of the city at the head of a detachment — and before long, Liu Biao's army began its slow advance. Li Feng watched them come with grave, unblinking eyes.
Barely after leading his men out on his crucial mission, Huang Gai caught something suspicious in Liu Biao's movements.
A scout came to report.
"General. A portion of the soldiers from Liu Biao's main camp has been sighted heading toward Fengqiu County."
"The main camp, you say. So they're reinforcements being sent to the ones besieging Wan."
Huang Gai asked again.
"A portion — how large, exactly?"
"…Nearly half their number, sir."
"……Hahaha!"
Hearing the scout's report, Huang Gai held a brief silence — then abruptly began to laugh.
"I see. So that's how it is."
Just as the young mistress had said it would be.
Huang Gai had been given a separate instruction on how to act in exactly this situation, and now he spoke.
"This is no concern of ours. See that no one does anything rash."
"…? Understood, sir."
The scout could not conceal his puzzlement at the order, but he was hardly in a position to question his general, and followed it without protest.
Watching the scout step out of the tent, Huang Gai sank into thought.
"…Hm."
Even the young mistress likely couldn't say yet what this movement meant. When he had asked whether she meant to defect to Liu Biao, she had only smiled faintly and said she had it all in hand.
Even to himself, the notion was absurd. The one burning hotter than anyone with rage against Liu Biao was the young mistress herself — and yet he had presumed to doubt her.
Still, Huang Gai sensed that of late the young mistress had matured, a layer deeper than before. Her fiery temper remained, yet he could tell the edge of it had dulled somewhat. Where, he wondered, had that change begun?
He remembered her keeping vigil at their lord's sickbed. On ordinary days, from dawn until dusk, she would sit alone in his chamber. The young mistress always wore a mischievous face, yet she also held a deep tenderness for those close to her — and that was why the Sun family's officers could follow her with trusting hearts.
"Well, well. It seems we owe a very great debt indeed."
Recalling the physician who had come and gone like the wind, Huang Gai scratched at his beard, whiter than it had ever been.
He didn't know what thoughts the young mistress harbored now. He was a soldier, and a soldier's duty was simple: to offer his loyalty to the one he served.
Because Huang Gai did exactly as Sun Ce instructed and took no countermeasure at all, Liu Biao's army sealed off the road from Yanzhou into Nanyang Commandery.
Yuan Shu, routed by Cao Cao, had fled at last, abandoning his home base entirely.
And so Nanyang Commandery, under Li Feng's defense, was left isolated and alone.