The Gentry of Jingzhou (15)
The moon was climbing slowly toward its highest seat in the sky. Mounted on our horses, we tore down the streets without a moment's hesitation. It was long past the hour when ordinary folk would have gone to bed, and not a soul stirred abroad.
Even anyone roused from sleep would have had the sense to stay indoors. My prediction proved correct: hoofprints from horses galloping hard through the streets were stamped in a dizzying trail toward the south gate. And most tellingly of all, the city gate that should have been barred for curfew stood wide open.
Why on earth didn't they close it? Shut or not, they could always reopen it — but the difference between doing that and leaving it open was enormous. They had left their trail so brazenly that I couldn't help wondering whether I was the one being played for a fool.
Were they baiting me on purpose? I wasn't about to ride into an ambush and end up with my skull caved in like Sun Jian... was I? A sliver of doubt nagged at me, but I spurred my horse onward all the same.
Thankfully, the gentry had not — as I'd feared — hidden an ambush along the road to the harbor. Or more precisely, it would be fairer to say they couldn't have. The harbor to the south lay remarkably close to Jiangling Castle; once out the south gate, it was no more than a few minutes' hard ride away. In a situation where every second counted, where would they have found the leisure to stage an ambush? Truth be told, I doubted they even had the troops to spare.
...Hmm. Looks like they've slipped away after all. So I thought, gazing at the harbor as it slowly came into view. The bandits had already held me up for quite a while, after all. Even so, I had come because it seemed better to confirm things with my own eyes than to give up on mere conjecture.
Setting foot in the harbor, where only stillness hung, I made straight for the pier. Boats sat quietly at anchor, waiting for their owners. Traces remained, so they had certainly come this way — but there was no hide nor hair of a single soul...
"Ah, Boss! About time you showed up?"
...There she was? But what are YOU doing here? I fixed the figure before me with a bewildered look.
Auburn eyes the exact color of Sun Ce's hair turned toward me.
"From the looks of it, you chased these fellows down. Am I right?"
Gan Ning had her subordinates drag forward the people bound tight in rope. Those faces — neither ugly nor handsome, just thoroughly unremarkable — were unmistakably the gentry I'd seen at the banquet hall only moments before. I took my time checking each unconscious face, then asked her.
"That's them, all right... but how in the world did you find this place?"
"Huh? I just picked out a nice small boat and rowed on over?"
Gan Ning had spoken to me with formal politeness back when she first entered my service, but somewhere in that short stretch of time her heart had evidently shifted — she now addressed me with easy familiarity.
"Then I swam over quiet as anything and — bam! — snagged these guys!"
Gan Ning said that much and snickered. An ex-pirate to the bone, this was clearly not a trick she'd tried only once or twice.
"Um... who was it again?"
Gan Ning scratched at her somewhat tousled chestnut hair as she spoke.
"Our side's strategist told me to handle it this way."
"..."
"Said there'd definitely be some making a break for it by water, and ordered me to take every last one of them alive."
Now who could have issued Gan Ning an order like that? Jia Xu? Xun You? Zhou Yu? Or failing those, the pint-sized strategists who spent every waking hour snarling at one another?
I deliberated for a moment, then asked.
"What did she look like?"
"Eh, she was just kinda white all over."
Then it was Zhuge Liang. That figured. Right before I left Xiangyang Castle, Zhuge Liang had said this to me:
"General-in-Chief. Might I ask you to delay your originally planned time of arrival by just one day?"
"And why is that?"
White feather fan in hand, Zhuge Liang lifted it slightly to her lips as she spoke.
"To bring about a somewhat more perfect situation, my lord."
I nodded and accepted her counsel.
"That much is no trouble at all. Is that all you require?"
"Yes. By my calculations, it will be perfect."
"Then by all means."
And with that, the reason Zhuge Liang had asked for an extra day stood revealed.
The Hanshui River at Xiangyang and the Yangtze at Jiangling did indeed connect — but the waterway between them called for a bit of a winding detour. Simply by pushing my arrival back a single day, a perfect situation had come together, exactly as she had promised.
I turned to Gan Ning.
"Good work. I'll see to it you're rewarded separately later."
"Now that's what I call deep pockets!"
Gan Ning grinned, her voice bright with good cheer.
With the gentry successfully captured thanks to Gan Ning, I returned to Jiangling Castle with my companions. The prisoners were left aboard the boat, but I had given Gan Ning orders to keep watch over them, so there was little fear of a secret escape.
My first destination was Liu Bei, who had been holding the perimeter around the banquet hall. From what I'd glimpsed from afar, her side had been pressing the enemy hard on the strength of Guan Yu and Zhang Fei's exploits — how were things faring now? The truth was, right before leaving Jiangling Castle, I had sent Lü Bu over there. Anxious for my safety, Lü Bu had shown every sign of refusing to be parted from my side, but after I pleaded again and again, she heaved a sigh and threw herself into the battle.
If even Guan Yu and Zhang Fei together couldn't finish these men off, what chance did they stand against Lü Bu? Well — no need to even ask. In the short time I'd been gone, the three Match-for-Ten-Thousand warriors had utterly shattered an enemy force several times their own number.
Just then, voices drifted over from nearby.
"General! Our lines are collapsing!"
"I know that! We must devise a countermeasure, and quickly—!"
What's this? The enemy commander was closer than I'd expected. Had his formation collapsed and forced him to fall back?
It was unquestionably a fine opportunity — but what should I do with these men? Throw myself into the fray alongside Seo Yeo?
Just as I sank into that brief deliberation, a familiar woman abruptly revealed herself, still astride her horse.
"So. You are the officer who commands these troops."
"Wh-when did you get here?!"
The enemy commander's face went rigid with shock — and Guan Yu, without a flicker of hesitation, took his head with a single stroke.
A friendly soldier watching from nearby let out a great shout.
"General Guan has slain the enemy commander!"
"Wh-what did you say?!"
The enemy ranks, realizing their commander had fallen, shuddered with panic.
"R-run for it!!"
"Retreat! RETREAT!!"
An army whose morale had long been crumbling now understood that nothing remained for them, and the rout began.
...Hold on. Why are they running this way?
It went without saying that Seo Yeo was not one to calmly permit their approach. Dismounting from Ochyma, she spoke in a voice calm as still water.
"My lord. Behind me."
"Right."
As ever, I settled into the familiar position at Seo Yeo's back. She glanced at me once, then began carving apart every enemy who dared draw near.
"Guh-hurk!"
"Aaagh!"
It was a human blender, plain and simple. Every time something flashed, enemy soldiers dropped like flies. One poor wretch, having stumbled straight into a second calamity, shrieked at the top of his lungs.
"AAAAAAGH! What the hell is with THIS one now?!"
He wailed with such raw, gut-wrenching despair that, watching him, I felt a momentary pang of sympathy for the enemy.
Then one quick-witted soldier bellowed to the men around him.
"Don't go anywhere near her! Get close and you're dead — no exceptions!"
He had caught on that Seo Yeo, guarding me, never strayed beyond a fixed radius. At that cry, the enemy split neatly to either side — like the sea parting before Moses — and bolted.
Honestly, it was like watching a movie.
Just then, from far across the field, Lü Bu's voice thundered.
"GET LOST RIGHT NOW──!!"
It was a voice brimming with spectacular rage. What on earth now?
"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU'RE AIMING AT──?!"
Ahh. She had apparently gotten it into her head that the enemy was making a coordinated rush on me.
Lü Bu drove Red Hare through the fleeing ranks, trampling men left and right as she whirled the Sky Piercer Halberd in merciless arcs, and the carnage was so appalling that some of the runners gave up on escaping altogether.
...Truly a terrifying sight.
With the gentry who had bared their fangs at me fully dealt with, I turned to the serious business of cleaning up. Those who had abandoned flight and surrendered to me were set to clearing away the corpses and scrubbing the blood-soaked corners of Jiangling Castle.
It was thoroughly entertaining to watch the scowls drain from their faces the instant they stepped through the mansion gates. They scrubbed for all they were worth, cold sweat pouring down, and judging by the sight, I doubted any of them would dare harbor crooked thoughts for a good long while.
"My lord."
"Hm?"
Guan Yu, who had come up to me, held out a spear and a box.
"I know not his name, but this is the head of the enemy general who led their forces."
"..."
"Please accept it."
...I don't need it, though.
I understood perfectly well what Guan Yu intended by offering this. She meant to dedicate the honor of the deed to me, presumably. Honestly, it was astonishing that the proud Guan Yu would yield credit for her own exploit to another — but accepting an actual severed head was still a bit much. What would I even do with the thing? Unless I planned to salt it down and hang it in my room as a decoration, I was going to have to talk her around carefully.
"...As for that gift, I shall accept the sentiment alone. Take it back."
"Understood."
Guan Yu rose from her place with her usual icy composure, entirely unruffled. I watched her, then spoke.
"My thanks."
"...This much is only what is proper."
That imperious streak of hers still slipped out now and then, I see. I gave a wry smile — and Guan Yu, uncharacteristically, let her gaze flick away from mine.