Xiangyang Castle (7)
After Liu Biao's death, every general holed up in Xiangyang Castle had laid down their arms, and even Huang Zu, who had been holding Fancheng, bowed his head at last.
Which left exactly one person still waiting to learn how I would treat her.
I looked at Gan Ning — addressing me in careful, respectful formality — and began.
"Before we get down to business, there are a few things I'm curious about first."
"Ask away."
Gan Ning replied in a calm, level voice, a markedly different attitude from Huang Zu, who had been speaking with me only moments before.
I put my question to her.
"I hear that before you served under Huang Zu, you ran the waterways between Yi Province and Jing Province as a river pirate. Is that true?"
"…Yes."
Gan Ning admitted outright that she had been a bandit.
…
I studied her and sank into thought.
Gan Ning, courtesy name Xingba. There was no question she was an outstanding commander, one fit to stand toe to toe with even Zhang Liao herself — but if exactly one thing about her gnawed at me, it was her character.
As it happened, there was one anecdote that summed up precisely the kind of person she was.
To compress it: a young boy working in her kitchen caused some trouble and, fearing what would come of it, fled to Lu Meng — and Lu Meng, deciding that harming a child was still beyond the pale, sheltered the boy.
So Gan Ning sweet-talked Lu Meng's mother, extracted a promise from Lu Meng that the child would not be harmed, and had the boy brought back to her.
And what became of the child Gan Ning brought back?
He was bound tight to a tree and killed by an arrow loosed from Gan Ning's own bow.
There is, admittedly, a follow-up — Lu Meng, livid, nearly came to blows with her before the two later made peace — but let's let that pass.
The records never specify what wrong the boy committed. But someone who kills even a child without a flicker of mercy has, clearly, no compassion to speak of.
Though I confess I am curious about one thing.
What offense could have been so grave that she broke her word to Lu Meng and shot the boy dead with an arrow the moment he was handed back?
Here was a figure whose slaughter of a child sat printed, bold as brass, in the official histories.
And if memory served, there were plenty of other accounts of her stirring up one mess after another and regularly grinding on Sun Quan's nerves, besides.
If Zhang Fei's personality ever underwent a dark evolution, the result would look exactly like Gan Ning.
For like Zhang Fei, Gan Ning too was recorded as treating those who had earned her regard with warmth and every courtesy.
Should I take Gan Ning in — or shouldn't I?
After a short deliberation, I opened my mouth again.
"Why did you give up piracy and place yourself under Liu Biao?"
At my question, Gan Ning shrugged.
"Well… I'd grown tired of the bandit life, and I wanted to make a big name for myself. That's about the size of it."
A genuinely honest answer. At the very least, it confirmed beyond doubt that Gan Ning was frank and hearty by nature.
"That's a remarkably unguarded reply. Have you some hidden card you're counting on?"
"And where would I find such a thing?"
As if to prove she had never once known fear, even in the original history, Gan Ning declared in a proud, ringing voice:
"I simply answer the General-in-Chief's questions with honesty."
So this was the mettle it took to hurl a hundred men at an army of hundreds of thousands.
Truly worthy of being the subject of the idiom itself — laughing and joking nonchalantly.
"Then it's time for the most important question of all."
Having taken the rough measure of her character, I met her reddish-brown eyes.
"Do you still intend to milk innocent people for all they're worth, from here on out?"
How she answered this one question would decide her fate.
Given a personality that didn't so much as blink at death, she would no doubt answer honestly — just as she herself had claimed.
I waited, and Gan Ning opened her mouth with no sign of hesitation whatsoever.
"As I said before, I'm done running wild like a common thug."
…
"My one and only goal now is to win battle honors so towering that later generations will tell stories of them. That is all."
"Hmm…"
It wasn't the flawless, perfect-score answer I'd been hoping for — but it left just enough room to work with.
I settled the matter without fanfare and gave a nod.
"If I tell you to surrender, will you?"
"I'm a stray with nowhere left to go. If the General-in-Chief will have me, I will do my utmost to prove my worth."
Gan Ning's expression as she spoke was composure itself.
"Good. Then I accept your pledge of allegiance."
"I will spare no effort in your service."
"But one thing above all, you will carve into your memory."
I delivered the warning in a voice that said she had better not forget.
"If you ever take pleasure in wanton slaughter of the common people, there will be no next time."
…
Sun Quan had embraced Gan Ning despite her many flaws only because talented people were scarce. I had no such excuse — and no such need.
It was only natural.
Just look at how many distinguished commanders already served under me.
Gan Ning's abilities were certainly worth a long look, but that didn't oblige me to tolerate her sowing discord within my own ranks.
…Then again, the Gan Ning of the original world and the Gan Ning of this one might not share a temperament.
Lü Bu, after all — a woman who by all rights of the original history should have stabbed me in the back long ago — was still lying obediently at my side.
"Have no fear."
Whether my meaning had actually reached her, I couldn't say, but Gan Ning flashed a grin as she answered.
"I can't vouch for the rest, but repaying a debt of gratitude is one thing I never fail at."
…
"The grace the General-in-Chief has shown in taking in a nobody of the riverways — I will repay it, without fail."
"Good."
I nodded toward Zhang Fei, who stood at Gan Ning's side, and she — catching my meaning at once — swept the Serpent Spear in her hands.
The ropes binding Gan Ning dropped to the ground, and suddenly a free woman, she looked distinctly bemused.
"Hold on, there are perfectly ordinary ways to untie someone. Why did it have to be that grisly weapon of all things…?"
"Shut it, you pirate bitch. If it weren't for the General-in-Chief's orders, you'd already be a corpse."
Zhang Fei glared at Gan Ning, displeasure plain on her face.
"I'll be watching your every move, so don't even dream of trying anything."
"…Well. Looks like I'd best mind my step around here after all."
Despite Zhang Fei's open hostility, Gan Ning brushed it off as though it were nothing.
One thing was certain: toward anyone she had acknowledged, this was a woman without a single grudge.
Liu Biao may have been a lost cause on the battlefield, but as an administrator he had plainly been capable — the supplies piled up across Jing Province were abundant.
It wasn't for nothing that Jia Xu had rated him competent in peacetime and useless in an age of chaos.
If only the man hadn't been swallowed whole by that hunger for power of his, he could have lived out an untroubled life.
I would have to take care not to become a Liu Biao myself.
History was crowded with people who ran a brilliant early act and then went completely off the rails in their final years.
Here I was grumbling that even General-in-Chief was a burden too heavy — but who could say I wouldn't rot into something monstrous the instant I let my guard slip?
At the mildest end of the scale, take Sun Quan — Sun Ce's little sister, just then passing by—
"Is there something you need of me?"
…
Sun Ce had sensed my gaze on her with almost ghostly acuity and come over to speak.
They say a thief's own feet go numb beneath him.
Stung by a completely unearned prickle of guilt, I felt for all the world like a criminal caught red-handed and answered in a voice a shade smaller than usual.
"…It's nothing."
"…?"
Sun Ce tilted her head, visibly puzzled by my reaction.
Before she could say another word, I spoke first.
"It's just that you've been darting back and forth all over the place for a while now. That's all."
"Ah, so that's what you meant."
Sun Ce accepted the explanation at once.
Just as I'd observed, she had spent the last little while busily shuttling to and fro through the government offices — and with me settled into a convenient spot to rest a moment, it was a scene impossible to miss.
"Gongjin — Zhou Yu, that is — says she has matters to sort through and asked me to lend a hand for a bit."
"Matters to sort through?"
"Yes."
When I echoed the words, Sun Ce nodded and went on.
"She went over the soldiers who had surrendered of late and decided it would be best to raise separate units — the navy above all — and ever since she's been sunk deep in her own thoughts over it."
…
"And this is only my personal opinion, but Gongjin has a bit of a workaholic streak. It's mildly exhausting."
Judging by that thoroughly unguarded manner of speaking, the two of them were clearly very close.
"Of course, a formal report will go up to the General-in-Chief before anything is actually implemented."
"I see."
I received it evenly, then carried the conversation on.
"Tell her I'm inclined to approve, so she needn't worry — she should simply give the matter her full attention."
"Understood."
Sun Ce offered a single courteous bow and withdrew.
Certainly, before long — just as Zhou Yu had mentioned — the army would need a sweeping reorganization.
And small wonder: the host of Jing Province soldiers who had surrendered to me was enormous.
However many soldiers you fielded, if every unit pulled its own way, the whole amounted to nothing better than an unruly mob.
To begin with, the river bandits who had come over alongside Gan Ning ought to be drawn off into a force of their own entirely.
I could hardly picture soldiers of pirate stock mingling amicably with ordinary troops.
But if I handed every troublemaker in the ranks over to Gan Ning, she would surely lick them into shape on her own.
After all, what criminals fear most is a criminal tougher than themselves.
…Truly, the greater my power grew, the longer the list of work grew with it.
But there was nothing for it — the work couldn't be left to fester — so with a long sigh, I rose from my seat.