Liu Biao (8)
The two armies facing each other across the border of Jing Province had pitched their fortified camps a mere fifty li apart — some twenty kilometers. It was a perilously short distance: a single moment of carelessness, and a surprise attack could come at any time.
Cao Cao's movements, impossible to read, drew a grumble out of Zhang Fei, displeasure written plainly across her face.
"Seriously, why's she camped this close? It's putting everyone on edge."
With the armor bestowed by the General-in-Chief worn beneath her clothes and the Serpent Spear slung over her shoulder, Zhang Fei turned to Guan Yu standing nearby.
"Sister Yunchang. No matter how I look at it, something about this feels off, doesn't it?"
"Hm…."
"Think about it. The second we show even the tiniest gap, she'll come charging in with her cavalry."
Guan Yu, evidently no less wary of Cao Cao, looked troubled. Just as Zhang Fei said, if Cao Cao set her mind to it, she could storm the camp at dawn, set it ablaze, and plunge everything into chaos.
"Lady Xuande has given her orders — and has the General-in-Chief not done the same?"
Guan Yu, after holding her silence a moment, spoke slowly.
"We hold this ground firm and strike back only when they come. That is all."
"Mmmmngh…."
"There is no need for such worry."
So saying, Guan Yu looked Zhang Fei squarely in the eye. Zhang Fei's crimson gaze met Guan Yu's azure one.
"Do you truly think a single ambush would see us collapse so feebly?"
Xun You, marching with the army as its staff strategist, was no fool either; she had anticipated a surprise attack from Cao Cao. Stakes had been driven into the ground at points all around the camp's perimeter, and the sentries posted at far tighter intervals, all in preparation for any sneak assault Cao Cao's forces might attempt.
As the old adage went, the defender held the advantage in any battle. So long as vigilance never slackened and no opening was offered, even if the enemy forced their way in, the effort would avail them nothing. Cao Cao's host was indeed strong, but the soldiers under their command now were every bit its equal — and in that case, the outcome of any battle would hinge on the commanders' ability alone.
Guan Yu voiced her thought.
"If they come at us with raw strength, that is precisely what I would hope for."
"Hm… You think so?"
To Zhang Fei, whose face had gone oddly uncertain, Guan Yu said, a faint note of mischief creeping into her voice.
"What's this, Yide? Lost your confidence?"
……
Zhang Fei's eyes went wide, and her mouth fell slightly open. The stern second sister… joking with her?
Confronted with a situation she had never once experienced, Zhang Fei pinched her own cheek as hard as she could with her free hand — and the hot sting blooming across her face wrung a cry right out of her.
"Ow!"
"Ow, ow… So it wasn't a dream."
At this utterly unprompted display, Guan Yu asked in disbelief.
"…What on earth are you doing?"
"Hm? Nothing at all."
So saying, Zhang Fei shot glance after glance up at the sky, then muttered under her breath.
"…I bet the sun rises in the west tomorrow."
It was a very small voice — but to Guan Yu's ears, which far surpassed the limits of any ordinary human, it carried perfectly.
That attitude, as though Zhang Fei were the one being teased, moved Guan Yu's hand before she knew it.
Thwack!
"GYAAAH!"
The instant Guan Yu's knuckles cracked down atop Zhang Fei's head, a scream incomparably louder than the last rang out across the camp.
Watching the spectacle from a short distance away, Xun You ventured, her voice faintly dazed.
"Um… your younger sisters do have rather… distinctive personalities, don't they…?"
……
Liu Bei could not hide her embarrassment.
For days on end, Liu Bei's army and Cao Cao's stood locked in their standoff. Following the General-in-Chief's orders, Liu Bei had done nothing but fortify her defenses and watch Cao Cao's every move — until the day a messenger arrived from Cao Cao, and surprise flickered across her face.
"…She wishes to meet with me alone?"
"She does. The Governor of Yanzhou says she wishes to meet General Liu Bei, just the two of you."
Guan Yu and Zhang Fei both reacted at once to the messenger's words.
"Lady Xuande. This is far too dangerous a proposal to accept. Refuse it."
"That's right! A private meeting, my foot — what's the plan if Cao Cao shows up dragging soldiers along behind her?"
Faced with her sworn sisters' alarm, Liu Bei deliberated a moment before speaking.
"…What exactly are the conditions?"
"Sister Xuande!"
At Zhang Fei's cry, Xuande gave a faint smile.
"It's all right. I only asked because I was curious."
"…Sounds like a lie to me."
……
"Then why aren't you denying it?"
Liu Bei hurriedly pressed on.
"Just give us the conditions, quickly, please."
"…Of course."
Cao Cao's messenger explained, wearing a slightly odd expression.
"The conditions the Governor has set are simple."
The messenger went on.
"You are to come lightly armed, mounted on horseback, to the midpoint between the two camps as they face one another."
……
"Those are the conditions the Governor has set."
Liu Bei asked the question anyone would.
"And the Governor herself — will she come under the same conditions?"
"She will."
Quite bold of her.
What could Cao Cao be angling for, throwing out a proposal like this?
Under the worried gazes of Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, Liu Bei made her decision.
"I accept."
"Very well. I shall convey your answer to the Governor."
At Liu Bei's reply, the messenger bowed and withdrew.
The instant the messenger was gone, the first to react was Zhang Fei.
"…Haah. I had a feeling it would come to this."
She'd seen it coming ever since Liu Bei started dodging the question, she said, heaving a deep sigh.
"Sister Xuande, you've got a surprisingly reckless streak, you know?"
"I know, right?"
"Yep."
Zhang Fei nodded, and Guan Yu, who had been watching from beside them, spoke up as well.
"Lady Xuande has always been one to carry a thing through to the very end, once her mind was set."
……
"I shall keep the army ready to move at a moment's notice, so go and return with your heart at ease."
The care woven through those words drew a soft smile to the corners of Liu Bei's eyes.
"Thank you."
The private meeting came together quickly after that. Scarcely had Liu Bei accepted the proposal before Cao Cao sent word suggesting they meet the very next day.
Liu Bei, agreeing to this, sat atop Dilu and turned slightly in the saddle.
"If anything looks even a little dangerous, you come running straight back! I'll show them what for!"
Zhang Fei, the Serpent Spear slung over her shoulder, waved her free hand in a frenzy at Liu Bei's turned back.
Xun Yu smiled a quiet, serene smile, much as Liu Bei did.
"I'll be off, then."
"Yes."
Guan Yu, the Green Dragon Crescent Blade planted upright in the earth beside her, answered with quiet simplicity.
As Liu Bei took the reins firmly in hand, Dilu snorted once and set off at a slow, steady walk. Mounted on Dilu, the twenty-odd kilometers passed without the least effort, the distance melting away in no time.
Liu Bei looked straight ahead. Out on the open grassland, where not a single building stood, a lone woman was waiting for her. Hair as beautiful as though silver had been melted down and spun into strands.
"So you've come."
Cao Cao greeted her, silver eyes gleaming to match that hair. When Liu Bei drew rein before her, Cao Cao flashed a grin.
"Honestly, I never thought you'd take me up on my offer."
"And I never truly believed you'd come alone."
Just as Liu Bei said, Cao Cao faced her entirely alone, with only two blades tucked at her waist — unmistakably fine swords.
"Oh, come now. I flatter myself I have some talent for the martial arts."
As she said it, Cao Cao struck a deliberately smug pose.
"Watching you fight at Hulao Pass gave me a fair idea as much."
"A fair idea of what, may I ask?"
Cao Cao answered.
"Your sisters would be beyond me — but the likes of you, alone, I could manage."
……
Even for Cao Cao, there was nothing here that demanded she bow her head; that was why she had sought a private meeting with Liu Bei. It meant she had thought everything through. And yet the way she said it felt almost like… a provocation.
It would be a lie to say Liu Bei felt no displeasure — but she was hardly so naive as to parade the feeling openly.
"Truly befitting the granddaughter of Lord Cao Teng, whom all men held in reverence."
Liu Bei said, a smile curving her lips.
"I could never hope to catch up to you, Governor Cao."
"…Hm."
At Liu Bei's praise, Cao Cao made an unreadable sound.
So that's how it is. You really are remarkable. Not to be compared with the likes of me, hmm?
…If those words sounded like mockery to Cao Cao, it was certainly not merely her imagination at work.
"If we keep this up, we'll be at it all day."
She had sensed it from their first meeting, but this woman truly was not to be underestimated, Cao Cao thought, and opened her mouth.
"Let us come to the point. I intend to withdraw from this place."
"Do you truly mean it?"
Liu Bei exclaimed in surprise.
"I do."
Cao Cao nodded and went on.
"The moment I marched out, it seems Tao Qian came attacking with a great army in tow."
……
"Not the scale of the incursions they made so often before — a genuine grand army."
Cao Cao let out a soft little laugh.
"A pity, isn't it? I meant to honor my obligations, but the circumstances around me refuse to permit it."
Not a trace of regret showed on Cao Cao's face as she said it.
Then Cao Cao drew a single sheet of paper from within her robes.
……?
Just as suspicion stirred in Liu Bei at the gesture, Cao Cao unfolded the neatly creased paper and said:
"Let's see now… In this letter the General-in-Chief was kind enough to write me, it says, most clearly…"
Cao Cao pronounced the words General-in-Chief with slow, deliberate relish.
"Ah, here it is. 'I shall send a secret letter to set Tao Qian in motion — you may use that as your pretext to withdraw.' Is that it?"
And with that, Cao Cao waved the letter gaily back and forth, smiling from beginning to end.
"Making me toil like this — what a wicked man he is, wouldn't you say?"
……
Liu Bei's gaze stole briefly toward the letter — and she could tell at once that the handwriting on it belonged to the General-in-Chief. To anyone watching, Cao Cao looked for all the world as though she were showing the letter off. For an instant, Liu Bei's brow twitched.