The Gentry of Jing Province (8)
By the time I arrived at the banquet venue, the gentry had already come out to the front of the mansion in person to meet me.
A man who appeared to be their leader stepped forward, wearing the warmest, most grandfatherly of smiles, and greeted me.
"Welcome, General-in-Chief."
"Mm."
I brushed off the greeting with a careless nod and studied the gentryman standing before me — the man who had brought Jiangling County, where the Grand Administrator of Nangun kept his seat, entirely under his own grasp.
I racked my brain for a brief moment over what this fellow's name had been. Was it Liu Du?
He was hardly a famous figure, but among those who knew their history, the name was a familiar one.
Wuling Commandery, Changsha Commandery, Guiyang Commandery, Lingling Commandery — these four regions were collectively known as Jingnan, and in the original history, Liu Du had been...
...Where exactly had he served again? The memory wouldn't come.
At any rate, Liu Du was a man who had been appointed Grand Administrator of one of those four commanderies. He was the figure who appeared after the Battle of Red Cliffs, when Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu waged their duel of wits to seize the Four Commanderies of Jingnan.
And naturally, since no one could hope to withstand those two's armies, his forces were crushed in one humiliating rout after another, and Nangun of Jing Province was handed straight over to Liu Bei. That was where the war of pride began — Sun Quan demanding Jingzhou be surrendered, and Liu Bei refusing to give up a single inch of it.
But why was he serving as Grand Administrator of Nangun in this world? Had Liu Biao shuffled his posting at some point down the line?
Utterly ignorant of my thoughts, Liu Du simply kept smiling at me.
Then the sly-faced man spoke up.
"We have prepared a most sumptuous banquet in your honor today, General-in-Chief."
"Is that so?"
I met the boastful Liu Du's eyes and smiled right back at him. Just as he said, it would no doubt be sumptuous. The only problem was how quickly that sumptuous feast would curdle into something else entirely.
"Then I shall look forward to it."
"Yes."
Just what manner of scheme lay hidden behind the face of the man before me? I would find out soon enough.
The scale of the banquet was certainly nothing small. They had plainly been meticulous from the venue onward — the building was enormous, the servants attending the gentry were beyond counting, and the dishes laid across the tables were extravagantly fine. Seeing them absorb an outlay of this size, it seemed they had well and truly steeled their resolve.
I gave the room one leisurely circuit, chose a suitable seat, and sat myself down in it.
The moment I settled into a completely arbitrary seat, Liu Du, who had been guiding me, put on a flustered expression.
"...General-in-Chief."
"What is it?"
"Forgive my presumption, but might it please you to enjoy the banquet from the seat of honor we have prepared separately...?"
"No, this is fine."
I said it in a perfectly level voice.
"I find this seat to my liking."
"..."
Sit in the seat of honor, knowing full well what tricks they might have planted there? Not a chance. As I had mentioned before, the gentry's play was most likely poisoning. I had no expert knowledge of the subject, so I couldn't say where they might have sprinkled their toxin — but that worry, at least, was no longer mine to carry.
I flicked a sidelong glance at the white-haired woman beside me.
Hua Tuo, courtesy name Yuanhua.
In truth, Hua Tuo's original name was Hua Fu, but those around her used "Hua Tuo" out of respect, and so that name had become the famous one. Even a thousand years and more from now, hers would be the first face to come to mind whenever anyone spoke of China's Divine Physician. Even in my own time, whenever someone displayed a preternatural knack for fixing things, didn't people jokingly call them Hua Tuo?
With a person like that at my side, even if something went wrong, the odds of my actually dying were vanishingly small.
I recalled what she had told me on the road here. If she gave a separate signal, I was not to touch that food. In other words, unless Hua Tuo moved first, I was free to eat everything the gentry served without a care in the world.
When I showed no sign of rising from my seat, Liu Du stole a nervous glance around before offering his courtesies.
"If that is your wish, General-in-Chief, then we shall oblige."
"Good."
I answered with a small nod.
"Bring the food out. It has been a long road here, and my stomach is starting to complain."
"It shall be served at once."
At Liu Du's glance toward the nearby staff, the servants attending him hurriedly brought the dishes out. They had gone and brought an entire chicken, whole.
I turned my gaze toward Hua Tuo, and meeting my eyes, she gave a slight, composed bow — a gesture of courtesy that said all was well.
So it was fine, then.
I thrust out my chopsticks at once and set about picking the chicken apart.
The instant I put the food they had served into my mouth without a flicker of hesitation, Liu Du flinched — just barely, just for a heartbeat. It was the kind of movement no one would notice without watching for it, but I caught it all the same.
However startled he was, what good did it do to let it show? How did he expect to pull anything off like that?
Nearly everyone inside this banquet hall stood opposed to me. Not only the gentry sharing my table and pretending to enjoy the festivities, but the hard-faced generals posted at their backs under the pretext of guarding them as well. One look at those menacing visages and I could tell they had earned their keep by the blade.
...Not that it was especially important information, but a few of the gentry and generals were women. They didn't look old, exactly, but neither were they beauties by any stretch.
The rest of my guards — all but Seo Yeo, Lü Bu, and Hua Tuo — had moved off as a group to watch the building's exterior. Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, with their headlong, no-detours personalities, were ill-suited to the headache of political maneuvering, but Liu Bei would lead the two of them well while keeping watch over our surroundings, so I had no concerns there.
Liu Bei was, how should I put it... she carried a faintly shadowed air about her, the sort that would make her devastatingly effective at political struggles where everyone hid their true face.
She'd be rather hurt if she heard me say that to her face, wouldn't she? Best to keep that opinion to myself.
A banquet was, to be fair, being held in this hall. But the mood had sunk so low that calling it a banquet felt generous. Then again, it had never been thrown for the sake of laughter and camaraderie in the first place, so perhaps that was only natural.
The gentry who stood against me must have felt like they were walking on thin ice. And small wonder — with Seo Yeo and Lü Bu flanking me and watching every move around us like an iron wall, chills were the only reasonable reaction.
A few of them tried valiantly to liven the air with conversation, but it was all for nothing. Of course, woven into those efforts was the attempt to lure my guard captains away from my side.
"To behold the Peerless Under Heaven with my own eyes, after knowing her only by rumor — it is an honor! Why not share a cup of wine with me..."
"Get lost."
"..."
Look at that decisiveness. I nearly mistook her for a squash — a decisive one, at that.
Lü Bu had been wound tight as a bowstring ever since I passed along the news that every gentryman in this hall was an enemy. At her blade-flat reply, the gentryman who had offered the toast flinched hard enough to shake.
While he stood frozen, Lü Bu opened her mouth again.
"Did you not hear me say get lost?"
"Hieek!"
Meeting the murderous glint in Lü Bu's eyes, the gentryman bolted, scampering off in pure terror.
"..."
With Lü Bu reacting like that, the other gentry didn't even dare dream of approaching Seo Yeo. For an instant, I could plainly see the goosebumps crawling up the backs of their necks. Confronted with those two up close, something must have told them things had gone very wrong.
Unsurprisingly, the banquet's atmosphere sank lower still, and as time drained away without any notable incident, I sank into brief thought.
Was their plan simply to let today slide by? Banquets this lavish typically ran for days on end, so there was nothing strange about it.
"We really cannot have the mood like this."
At that, Liu Du — the man I took for the gentry's representative — stepped forward in person.
"If it has come to this, then I suppose I must bring out my secret-weapon wine."
What manner of wine could it be, to be dangled before us like that?
Confirming that every eye in the hall had turned to him, Liu Du addressed me.
"General-in-Chief, have you by chance heard of Dukang Wine?"
Now that was a familiar name for a wine.
I nodded.
"I know it."
I had drunk it myself, after all. Ma Teng had gotten his hands on some in the past, and I had tried exactly one bottle. Even for someone like me, who hardly touched alcohol, it was a flavor that slid down without the slightest effort.
Reading my reaction, Liu Du flashed me a grin.
"How fortunate, then! As it happens, I have that very wine in my possession!"
"..."
"To lift the mood — and as a small tribute — I would present that wine to you, General-in-Chief. What say you?"
Something about this stank.
He wasn't planning to pass off some other swill as Dukang Wine, was he?
The feeling nagged at me, but I gave him leave all the same.
"Do as you wish."
"Yes! What are you idlers standing around for! Bring the wine out, and quickly!"
No sooner had the words left Liu Du's mouth than the servants sprang into motion, briskly fetching a wine vessel and cups.
Examining the cups, I remarked:
"Fine craftsmanship, too. Isn't this glass?"
Glass in the Three Kingdoms era could only be obtained through trade, which made it fabulously precious. The two cups set before me were both glossy and gleaming, looking utterly brand-new. Perhaps they had been made for drinking something like grape wine.
"Haha! That is right! As expected of the General-in-Chief — what a discerning eye you have!"
Liu Du, plainly delighted, could not hold back his laughter.
"Now then, allow me to pour the first cup! Down it in one!"
With that, Liu Du tipped the wine into the glass cup set before me. One breath of its aroma and I knew — this was Dukang Wine beyond any doubt. I knew it well; I had drunk it before.
A luxurious cup. A rare and precious wine. Delicious fare to accompany it.
All very fine.
All very fine, except...
...there was one very important problem with it.
I looked Liu Du dead in the eye as I spoke.
"I appreciate the consideration, but you will drink first."
"...As you command."
"..."
A flicker of panic crossed Liu Du's face, but when I held my silence with a perfectly calm expression, he tipped back the cup before him and drained it in one go.
What was this? He was drinking far too freely.
Hadn't he poisoned the Dukang Wine?
Liu Du spoke, watching my face carefully all the while.
"How is it? Do you find yourself able to trust me now?"
"...Hmm."
I reached out and swirled the cup gently. The Dukang Wine within sloshed this way and that, showing off its crystalline clarity.
...The aroma was fine, and the color was fine.
Was it really not poisoned?
Just as I was sinking into doubt, a familiar voice suddenly sounded in my ear.
"General-in-Chief."
"..."
That refined voice belonged, without question, to Hua Tuo. The moment my gaze found her, she gave the smallest, gentlest shake of her head.
"...I see."
I nodded slowly and turned my eyes back to the man before me.
"Hey."
"Y-yes?"
Perhaps he had sensed that something was wrong, for Liu Du's voice wavered for just a moment. Paying it no mind, I smiled and held out the cup in my hand to him.
"Come now — why don't you have a drink from this one as well?"
"..."
And with that, cold sweat suddenly began pouring down Liu Du's forehead.
Bingo.
You didn't poison the wine — you coated the cup, didn't you?