Nanyang Commandery of Jing Province (5)
Thanks to Sun Ce, I had taken Nanyang Commandery of Jing Province without spilling a single drop of blood, and after making one full lap of the surroundings, I reached my conclusion. Yuan Shu, that bastard, had absolutely demolished the region.
The city center had fared somewhat better, but step just a little beyond it and you found starving, half-clothed civilians huddled along the streets. Even in that state, they flinched back with terror written across their faces the instant they laid eyes on soldiers — enough to make me wonder just what in the world had been done to these people.
Then again, this was the same man who, in the original history, had eaten his own faction alive through tyrannical misrule. Here, too, he had exercised his talents to their fullest and blasted everything to smithereens.
Normally, when you capture a city, you expect to find military supplies stockpiled by its defenders, in proportion to the city's size, no? Yet Wancheng — a city that boasted an enormous population — had precious little left behind. Judging by the state of its people, there must once have been a truly massive stockpile; presumably Yuan Shu had hauled nearly all of it off for his grand offensive against Cao Cao. And since Yuan Shu had gone on to lose that campaign, Cao Cao must have looted every last scrap of it.
"To cripple a city this size so completely it can't even function..."
Sima Yi, who had been surveying the area at my side, spoke in a flustered voice.
"Don't tell me he did it to concentrate manpower on domestic administration...?"
...Yeah, that's not it.
The city had been wrecked so thoroughly that Sima Yi had tumbled headlong into suspicion — perhaps Yuan Shu had deployed the Scorched-Earth Tactics. Eliminating every resource the enemy might find useful as you withdrew — that was what scorched earth meant. Burning the grain, fouling the wells, tearing down houses and forcibly relocating the populace; in essence, a strategy whose whole creed was like hell you're getting any of this, I'll smash it all first. By that logic, you could even call the Great Fire of Chang'an — Dong Zhuo's torching of the city — a form of scorched-earth warfare. Not that Dong Zhuo hadn't gone absurdly far beyond the pale.
People of genius, you see, have a curious tendency: when they witness something their own reason cannot accept, they tumble straight into a trap of denial. Something along the lines of, If that man had any brains at all, he could never do something so idiotic.
I opened my mouth to Sima Yi, who had sunk deep into her swamp of thought.
"Yuan Shu has always been like this."
"...Is that really so?"
"It is."
I jerked my chin toward something in the distance.
"You'll understand the moment you see that."
"...Good heavens."
Sima Yi's eyes went round as saucers at the place I had pointed. Amid a Wancheng on the verge of total collapse, one building stood out above all the rest. Gazing up at a structure of dazzling, resplendent scale that seemed to have spared no luxury known to man, Sima Yi could not hide her shock. That, I figured, was where the Honey Water Emperor had been residing. Faced with a building that could not possibly exist had scorched-earth tactics truly been waged, Sima Yi's expression shifted to one of dawning realization.
"To think I would live to see, with my own two eyes, the fool I had only ever read about as a child..."
Though, come to think of it, Sima Yi is still a child herself right now, isn't she? Having thought so, I said, "The world really is a wide place, huh?"
"It certainly is."
Having succeeded in shredding Yuan Shu's reputation for the day, I turned to the aide standing nearby.
"Keep a tight rein on the soldiers, just in case."
"Yes, sir."
"If any man so much as touches the civilians, you have my leave to take his head on the spot."
"I shall carry out your orders."
The aide bowed to me, then departed to spread the word. Mounted on horseback, he rode circuits around the area, bellowing at the top of his lungs:
—By order of the General-in-Chief! Any soldier caught laying hands on the civilians will be judged in violation of military law and beheaded on the spot!
—Understood!
Quite the set of lungs on him. Having watched the aide deliver his proclamation, I turned my head back and took in the state of Wancheng — indistinguishable from a ruin — with a sigh. Chang'an, the city Dong Zhuo had set ablaze, wasn't even fully restored yet, and now Yuan Shu had gone and tossed me a Wancheng torn up from the very foundations. Dong Zhuo's infamy was simply so towering that people failed to notice, but Yuan Shu was, in truth, no different a creature at all. And yet for all that, the man was maddeningly brilliant at exactly one thing — running away. It was almost funny.
Yuan Shu, you wretch — governance is the one thing you must never be allowed to do.
I found myself wondering whether Cao Cao had caught Yuan Shu by now. If not, the man had likely fled all the way to Shuchun in Yang Province. Since I was in no position to chase him down into Jiangdong at present, Yuan Shu had — cockroach that he was — scrounged up a way to survive. Though before long he would overplay his hand and bury that hard-won escape route all over again. I'd deal with Yuan Shu when the time came.
To handle the cleanup, I rode to Wancheng's administrative seat — the seat of governance for Nanyang Commandery. Well, it was Yuan Shu's domain, after all; even the seat of governance announced itself unmistakably. Crumbling old buildings and lavishly erected new ones crowded together within a single city — a jarring, discordant tableau. I stared for a moment at the structure, a monument to corruption if ever there was one, then set foot inside. There was no earthly way I could know my way around an interior this absurdly vast, so I simply settled myself into whichever room looked reasonably clean.
"Liu Bei."
"Yes."
"Take my bugok and go through these buildings one by one. I want a full accounting of how much wealth they hold."
"You may count on me."
Perhaps because this was official business, Liu Bei answered in a stiff, formal tone.
"Tell the soldiers a reward will be paid out separately. Make it clear that nothing is to be pocketed on the side."
"Perish the thought."
A smile playing at the corners of her mouth, Liu Bei bowed and withdrew. Guan Yu and Zhang Fei stole a quick glance my way; the moment I nodded, they bowed in turn and followed Liu Bei out. With the Peach Sisters gone from the room, all that remained were my bodyguards Seo Yeo and Lü Bu, and the surrendered officers of the Sun clan.
"Now then — shall we have that serious talk?"
"I am merely grateful for the honor."
So replied Sun Ce, the woman with auburn hair falling to her waist, in a voice as pleasant as a song. I tilted my head slightly.
"Might as well ask about that first, then."
The peerless beauty of a general — known in the original history as Son Rang — calmly awaited my words. I watched her for a moment, then spoke.
"Is Sun Jian alive?"
"..."
Sun Ce held her silence at my question. Her lips flickered open and shut repeatedly, as if wrestling with something, before she continued slowly.
"Thanks to your grace, General-in-Chief... my father is recuperating safely at our family home."
"That is a relief to hear."
Truth be told, I had roughly suspected Sun Jian was alive ever since Sun Ce surrendered to me. If he weren't, what reason would the Little Conqueror ever have had to shoulder the stigma of betrayal and defect to my side? Dispatching Hua Tuo through my connections, then, had not been a gesture without meaning. Hua Tuo — who had come calling shortly after Zhang Jue sent a letter ahead — accepted my proposal without so much as a moment's deliberation. There had been something in her bearing oddly detached from the mortal world, which had worried me a little, but thankfully that was nothing more than my own prejudice. I'd have to summon her separately later and thank her properly.
Information acquired, I opened my mouth again.
"In that case, withdraw for now and go tend to your father."
"...?"
Asked a single question and then immediately told to withdraw, Sun Ce could not hide her bewilderment.
"You said we would have a serious talk... was that truly all?"
"That was all."
Honestly, I had no further topics to keep Sun Ce for. It wasn't as though I intended to interrogate her about how she'd been treated under Yuan Shu, nor was there anything else I was burning to know. Besides, she and I had only properly met for the first time today — leaning in too hard at a first meeting would have been poor form. And with the air as awkward as it was, relaxed conversation was doubly out of the question. So I resolved to send her on her way.
Looking at the hesitating Sun Ce, I said flatly:
"You look like something is weighing on your mind."
"..."
Sun Ce did not deny it.
"If you're curious about something, ask. I have nothing but free time at the moment anyway."
For all my talk of handling the aftermath myself, the reality was that most of it got handed off to the talents beneath me. Keep feeding exceptionally capable people into the pipeline... and trust them with the work. Was that not the very virtue of a great ruler? If Sima Yi ever heard me say it, she would surely fix me with a look of grave suspicion — though even she could hardly deny the logic.
"Then may I ask just one thing?"
At my invitation to ask whatever she liked, Sun Ce opened her mouth straightaway.
"Go ahead," I said, as though it were nothing.
Permission granted, Sun Ce deliberated over something one more time, then slowly put her question forward.
"...I find myself wondering why you helped us."
"Ah — that."
She was asking why I had extended my hand to people who had, until recently, been my enemies. A perfectly natural question, I thought, and tilted my head slightly.
"Because I wanted you on my side."
"..."
"Believe me or don't — that is your prerogative. I would simply like you to know that this is genuinely what I intend."
I spoke while meeting the eyes of the silent Sun Ce.
"Well? Does that answer suffice?"
"Yes. Thank you."
Even as she said it, something resolute stirred in Sun Ce's gaze, which met mine squarely and without wavering.
"We will take our leave now."
"Go on, then."
With impeccable courtesy, Sun Ce bowed to me and strode briskly from the room.