Liu Biao (7)
Standing atop the city wall, Liu Biao watched the General-in-Chief's army begin the slow work of drawing an encirclement around Xiangyang Castle.
He put the question to Kuai Liang, who stood nearby. "What is the state of affairs at Fancheng?"
"I am told, my lord, that Fancheng, held by General Huang Zu, is even now being ringed by a siege line, just as Xiangyang is here."
"Hmm."
Right arm folded across his chest, Liu Biao stroked his beard with his free left hand.
So this was the man who had driven out Dong Zhuo. He had grasped with uncomfortable precision that to take Xiangyang Castle, the link between Fancheng and Xiangyang would have to be severed first.
And yet one thing nagged at him.
"The encirclement is forming slowly."
For the moment, the General-in-Chief's host, having done no more than complete the ring, spent its days endlessly reinforcing the interior of its camp.
Given how long the General-in-Chief had been here, it would not have been strange for the siege engines to have long since been finished and the assault begun.
To Liu Biao's doubtful question, Kuai Yue gave his answer. "It would appear they intend a long war."
"I see."
Liu Biao nodded.
What would happen once that ring was closed? If Kuai Yue's read held, the enemy would be free to press the siege for as many days as it pleased — and bound to it would come a cordon so tight that not so much as a single insect could slip through.
Should it come to that, the only future left to him was to wither away, slowly.
The whole of Xiangyang Commandery had already fallen into the General-in-Chief's grasp; no relief would ever reach these walls.
"How are they provisioning their grain?" Liu Biao asked.
As he himself had remarked before, Xiliang and Bing Province were stubborn ground for farming, and Sili Province, faithful to its role as the capital, produced nowhere near enough to feed such a host.
Keeping soldiers of that number fed would demand a staggering quantity of grain — more than Sili's output alone could ever bear.
Kuai Yue answered in a voice that made the matter sound like no trouble at all. "I hear they are paying merchants to purchase their provisions."
Why is a capital called a capital? It is the administrative heart that governs a nation's every affair, great and small, and a region where all manner of culture and commerce has flourished. That, and that alone, is what makes a capital.
Poor yields, a shortage of army grain? Then one simply bought it with coin.
Purchase the food that sold for next to nothing across the realm, carry it to the capital, and sell it dear. With the state itself presiding over the transactions, there was no fear of being unreasonably cheated, and so the merchants sold their grain to the army without the slightest reluctance.
To plunder merchants was to trade the future away for the profit before one's eyes; no force short of the truly witless ever preyed upon them.
Liu Biao's voice carried a note of distaste. "Tch. I bear merchants no ill will, but at times like these, they grate on me."
The merchants who roamed this vast world buying and selling were the engine that kept a nation alive — the blood vessels, one might say, that joined every part of the body to every other. And so Liu Biao had never thought ill of them.
Yes. Save, of course, for occasions like this one — when they fed an enemy.
"And what is it we must do now?"
Kuai Yue bowed respectfully at the waist before answering. "The walls have been raised high and the moats dug deep; soldiers and supplies have been gathered in one place until the defenses stand firm. All that remains is to act in concert with whatever relief army comes from without."
"Good. Then that is what we shall do."
Liu Biao assented, his expression flat.
It was by Kuai Yue's counsel that he had refused to march an army out against Sun Ce's vanguard, even as it carved through Jing Province. Ever since he learned that the stratagem which had brought down the Tiger of Jiangdong had come from Kuai Yue, Liu Biao had cherished the man.
He looked out once more at the General-in-Chief's host, which had not so much as begun to assemble its siege engines.
...Whatever scheme he is pondering, I will never hand over this Jing Province.
His eyes sank into darkness with the thought.
Ye County.
One of the many counties that made up Nanyang Commandery in Jing Province, it lay within easy reach of Yingchuan Commandery in Yuzhou — and a few steps beyond that stood Chenliu Commandery, the de facto border between Yuzhou and Yanzhou. Push a little further up from Chenliu and one came to Kuangting, where Cao Cao had shattered Yuan Shu's host. Jing Province and Yanzhou were neighbors, close enough to be called next-door lands.
And at this very moment, someone was stationed in Ye County, keeping an unblinking watch on every movement around it.
Liu Bei, Xuande.
Though only of a collateral branch, the black-haired woman carried the blood of the imperial house, and she led her forces in a state of thorough vigilance over the surrounding country.
Inside a tent within the fortified camp, Liu Bei closed her eyes for a moment and let the conversation she had shared with the General-in-Chief play back through her mind.
"Liu Bei, I will attach a portion of soldiers to you. Watch the approaches to Yuzhou, and see whether Cao Cao's relief force shows itself."
"I shall follow your command."
The General-in-Chief, who had trusted her enough to place troops in her hands, had said it evenly. "If you sight Cao Cao's forces, do not attack first. Observe how matters stand for the time being."
"May I ask the reason?"
At her question, the General-in-Chief paused, visibly searching his memory. "Now, what was it Liang said..."
The grave formality he wore in official settings had vanished without a trace, and Liu Bei smiled to herself. "Ah — right."
After a moment's thought, as though something had come back to him, he continued. "It is to test whether Cao Cao is a traitor to the throne, no different from Liu Biao."
"Then what you mean is..."
"If she is wary of my power growing — if Cao Cao nurses ambitions of unifying the realm — she will attack you."
His heavy tone restored, the General-in-Chief said it as though it were nothing at all. "And if it comes to that, I will have no reason to hold back either. Meet the attack and crush Cao Cao."
The voice of a man whose mind was already made up. It was resolute.
Thinking it a pleasant voice to hear, Liu Bei asked, "And if Cao Cao does not attack us? What are we to do then?"
"That, too, is simple."
As though he had already prepared for every eventuality, the plan of action flowed from his lips. "Hold your position until they show some unusual movement."
"..."
"They may request a parley, or they may simply pull their army back without a word."
With that, the General-in-Chief shrugged. "Well, if it comes to that, there is no need to chase after them."
"Yes, my lord."
Liu Bei had asked nothing more and quietly obeyed the General-in-Chief's orders. Prying into every last detail was a fine way to make oneself disliked.
She knew full well that he was not a man who would take offense at such things — and yet, for her own part, she did not care to leave even the smallest opening for it.
It was not as though she had never earned anyone's dislike in her life. And yet the thought of being disliked by the General-in-Chief made her chest twinge, faintly.
"Sister Xuande! They've shown up!"
Just as she was following that thread of thought, Zhang Fei came bounding into the tent.
Liu Bei eyed her frantic sister. "What's shown up?"
"You know! That person! The—!"
"Cao Cao?"
"That's the one!"
Zhang Fei's head bobbed up and down furiously.
Guilelessness was a fine quality, but Zhang Fei sometimes carried hers a step or two past the point of reason.
Liu Bei gave her a wry smile and rose from her seat. "Well then, shall we go and have a look?"
"I'm coming too!"
Liu Bei set off, and Zhang Fei stuck close at her heels.
A short while later, having made her way to the main gate of the camp, Liu Bei found Guan Yu there, watching Cao Cao's army with the same wariness she herself felt.
"You have come."
"There's the trouble, Yunchang — you are far too strict."
"...Lady Xuande."
At an attitude so stiff one would never take them for sworn sisters, Liu Bei let her displeasure show in her voice. "You needn't fawn the way Yide does, but could you not be just a little warmer?"
"Hold on, Sister Xuande. What is that supposed to mean?"
Feeling as though she had just been insulted by proxy, Zhang Fei demanded an answer.
Liu Bei let out a small sigh. "If only half of Yide's warmth would find its way to Yunchang..."
"That's so mean!"
True to Liu Bei's expectations, Zhang Fei delivered an entertaining reaction.
Guan Yu, looking distinctly put upon, asked in her calm voice, "What are we to do now?"
At the question, Liu Bei turned her gaze briefly toward Cao Cao's army.
As if to prove they were the ones who had shattered Yuan Shu's once-vast host at a single stroke, Cao Cao's soldiers held their formations in immaculate order.
What would come of clashing with an army like that? The General-in-Chief had been generous with the troops he had given her, and yet, somehow, Liu Bei could not make herself certain of victory.
"...We wait," Liu Bei said simply.
Just as the General-in-Chief had instructed. Serving beneath him, standing at his side, her place was simply to follow his orders.
Even if it meant sitting down to speak with a person she found it uncomfortable to face.