Crouching Dragon (1)
Tao Qian, ruler of Xuzhou, received peculiar news from a messenger.
"You say Jeong Reung has been summoning the powerful families of the provinces to Chang'an?"
"Yes, my lord! On closer investigation, we confirmed that in Xuzhou, his people were headed for Yangdu County!"
"Yangdu County..."
Tao Qian slowly combed through his memory. Once he had recalled where Yangdu County lay, he turned to Chen Gui, who was waiting in attendance nearby, and asked, "Is Yangdu County not one of the counties under Langya State?"
"It is."
Chen Gui, who had entered office in answer to Tao Qian's summons, calmly concurred.
Tao Qian questioned the messenger once more. "Summoning powerful families from every corner of the provinces — does that mean he dispatched agents in numbers?"
"Yes, my lord! His people were seen heading not only here but toward other provinces as well!"
At the explanation, Tao Qian's face clouded with vexation. "Hm... I cannot fathom what he is thinking, to act in such a manner."
"Would his intent not be to swell the ranks of talent under his command?"
Chen Gui, attending at his lord's side, spoke up. "After all, it is people who hold true devotion to their own land."
"..."
The opinion was sound. Human beings, by nature, strive their utmost to protect what is theirs — and Tao Qian knew all too well what unfolds between those who would seize and those who would defend.
"If he settles the provincial magnates near Chang'an, they will throw themselves desperately into the city's restoration," Chen Gui continued, his eloquence living up to his distinguished name. "And as a bonus, he gains a loyal faction bound to him — judged as the work of the General-in-Chief, I would call it no poor plan."
"I see. So every move was deliberate."
Having heard Chen Gui out, Tao Qian conceded the point. "Then what am I to do? Must I see to it that they cannot leave?"
"That would be no sound strategy."
"Why not?"
He could hardly be unaware that if these families were left alone, they would end up enemies one day. When Tao Qian fixed him with a puzzled look that said as much, Chen Gui delivered his opinion without ceremony.
"My lord, do you intend to put every powerful family that leaves Xuzhou to the sword?"
"..."
Tao Qian could barely conceal his shock. Yet even under the glaring eyes of the man who ruled Xuzhou, Chen Gui continued with perfect composure.
"To hold by force those who wish to depart, conflict is inevitable."
"...True enough."
"It is not that I am blind to your concerns, my lord — but what would you do if matters went awry?" Chen Gui pressed on. "Once word spreads that you persecute the gentry, no one will ever answer your summons again."
"It runs that deep, then?"
"It does."
With that, Chen Gui lowered his voice. "...And the consequences will not end there."
"There is more?"
"The magnates will live in dread of you, and at every opening, rebellion will flare across your lands."
Having laid out his counsel, Chen Gui asked, "Do you mean to walk the road of Bai Qi, my lord?"
"..."
Tao Qian held his silence.
Bai Qi — the man said to have beheaded a full four hundred and fifty thousand prisoners of war, whom history remembers as a butcher. Chen Gui was asking his lord whether he meant to become one.
"Recall what became of Bai Qi in the end — and what became, at the last, of that Hegemon-King of Western Chu."
"..."
Chen Gui bowed low, hands clasped in deference.
Tao Qian kept his silence a while longer, then spoke. "I shall follow your counsel."
"The honor is more than I deserve."
Scarcely had Chen Gui finished speaking before Tao Qian pressed on. "Even so, I cannot simply stand by while the enemy's strength swells."
So saying, Tao Qian raised his voice. "Guards!"
"You called, my lord!"
A soldier waiting outside the chamber dropped to one knee and saluted with clasped fists.
"Depart this instant for the powerful family Jeong Reung's people are bound for, and see to it that we recruit them first!"
"By your command!"
The soldier answered crisply, sprang to his feet, and withdrew.
Tao Qian watched him go, then asked Chen Gui, "Do you remember the name of the family in Yangdu County?"
"If memory serves, it was..."
Chen Gui mulled it over for a moment before continuing slowly. "It was the Zhuge family."
The small hours before dawn, when everyone had finished the day's work and gone to their beds — a time to let weary bodies rest and slowly ready themselves for the morning soon to break. And in that pre-dawn stillness, a lone soldier was racing through the streets of Luoyang.
Clad in light armor, the woman put her agility to full use, darting this way and that between the buildings with astonishing grace.
"Ugh, damn it... this place gives me the creeps."
"...!"
The soldier, who had kept strictly to spots beyond the reach of human eyes, hastily concealed herself the moment she spotted guards patrolling the streets of Luoyang. She wore armor that unmistakably marked her as part of the same faction — yet her conduct, skulking and hiding like that, was far too suspicious for anyone wearing it.
Oblivious to her, the guard trudged along, muttering aloud. "If they'd ordered me to patrol this alone, I'd have pissed myself for sure."
"...What the hell kind of thing is that to say out of nowhere?"
His patrol partner chided him, but the guard would not let up. "What? Just look at this bleak, godforsaken atmosphere. You're telling me you're not scared?"
"..."
The partner could not bring himself to deny it. There was, admittedly, something about Luoyang before dawn — when not even a lantern showed itself — that prodded at mankind's most primal fears.
Perhaps gooseflesh had risen, for the guard deftly rubbed his arms, spear still in hand. "Ugh. Shift change can't come soon enough. Got any good stories?"
"Nope."
"Then make one up... hm?"
Just as the guard was about to spout more shameless nonsense, his head snapped abruptly toward the spot where the soldier lay hidden.
"...!"
Her breath caught hard in her throat at his sudden movement.
"What, you see something?" his partner asked.
"Not exactly. It just feels like someone's there."
"...Don't say creepy things."
Even as he said it, the partner swept the length of the alley with his torch. "There's no one there."
"...Must be my imagination?"
The guard pulled a sheepish face and started walking again. "So, seriously, no stories? I'm scared over here."
"...You really are scared, aren't you?"
And once the guards had passed out of sight, the soldier who had swiftly vaulted a wall to hide herself emerged once more. No — by now, soldier hardly described her appearance. A woman dressed in the plainest, most ordinary clothes to be found anywhere slowly took a step—
Thwip!
"Kgh—?!"
An arrow had torn through her leg without warning, and the woman let out a pained groan.
"Wow. You're pretty tough, huh. Not a single scream in that state."
"?!"
At the admiring voice behind her, the woman whirled around. There stood a child who looked as though she had not yet even come of age.
Why is that girl here right now? The one who never strays from the General-in-Chief's side?
Setting the question aside for the moment, the woman opened her mouth in the most tearfully wavering voice she could manage. "Wh-why did you suddenly shoot—"
"That's quite enough acting."
The girl with the striking purple hair cut her off. "Your behavior has been oddly suspicious lately, you see, so I've been keeping a close eye on you."
Soldiers flanking her, the girl smiled sweetly. "And then, lo and behold — sneaking out of your unit in the dead of night?"
"..."
"So of course I'd wonder what you were up to. Wouldn't anyone?"
"That's..."
"You know this man, don't you?"
At the girl's signal, a soldier dragged forward a man who lay unconscious, beaten half to death. The moment the woman laid eyes on him, the blood drained from her face. Small wonder — he was her contact, the man she met within Luoyang to pass along intelligence.
The girl's voice turned glacial. "Was playing spy fun?"
The woman began to tremble beyond all control.
"As for who sent you — we'll find that out nice and slowly, later on."
"N-now, wait—!"
The purple-haired girl — Sima Yi — gave her command as though there were nothing left worth seeing. "Lock these two up."
"Understood."
The adjutant the General-in-Chief had personally assigned to watch over Sima Yi's safety answered with perfect courtesy.
...There truly isn't a single ordinary soul anywhere near the General-in-Chief.
The girl with the violet eyes had been personally flushing out malcontents, and she showed not the slightest reluctance at the sight of their blood. She was, by all appearances, about the same age as the daughter the woman had carried and borne from her own body — how could a child so young wear such chilling cruelty?
Sima Yi muttered curtly, "Can't even keep his own soldiers in line... Honestly, what would he do without me?"
The adjutant of the General-in-Chief's personal bugok could do nothing but break out in a cold sweat.