The Emperor (1)
Having finished boarding near the Yellow River, I watched the soldiers stow our baggage.
There wasn't much of it. The journey hadn't taken long to begin with, and our supplies had been packed light from the very start, measured out precisely to see us through to our arrival date.
Of course, one miscalculation and we'd have a catastrophe on our hands — the entire army starving at once….
But then, consider the strategists serving our faction these days: Sima Yi, Pang Tong, Jia Xu, Zhou Yu — and on top of them, Zhuge Liang, whose genius for logistics and domestic administration outstripped anyone's. A dream lineup that anyone who knew their Three Kingdoms would nod along to. Even in a game, a roster like this wouldn't come easy.
In any case, thanks to those strategists' efforts, we had brought exactly as much as we needed and not a grain more.
"You insolent wretches! Do you even know who I am, daring to treat me like this?!"
……
And there was one rather noisy piece of baggage, too.
I turned my gaze on the man bellowing at the top of his lungs, his own predicament apparently forgotten — an ambitious soul who had once usurped the imperial throne. Yuan Shu, the man who had styled himself Dangtugo, "the High One on the Road," had lost every force he ever commanded and was now being escorted to the capital as a prisoner.
"Lowborn scum who should never have so much as glimpsed my face, leaving me to rot like this!"
There was no denying that Yuan Shu looked a sorry sight. Days locked in a cell had left him unwashed and half-starved, gaunt as a winter branch. For a man who had wallowed in every luxury life could offer, it had to be exquisite torment.
Not that torment wasn't exactly what I'd intended.
Unless a person had known some frugality along the way, a man of Yuan Shu's exalted breeding simply could not endure without luxury. An ordinary life — cooking your own meals, washing your own clothes, taking home a modest wage. Picture someone who'd been waited on hand and foot from the cradle trying to make a life like that work. How long would he last?
It wasn't a question of ability. Would a noble educated in everything from childhood truly lack the skills? If it genuinely came down to survival, he could find work that put his mind to use and live out his days in comfort. No — this was purely a matter of mindset. However fine it looked to everyone else, the highborn feel a crushing wretchedness at being stripped of their privileges and made to live like ordinary people. Call it being raised too soft, I suppose. In the end, some of them can't bear it and take their own lives….
"Prisoner or not, is this any way to treat me?!"
Apparently my own method of tormenting Yuan Shu had hit its mark, because he screamed as though he might cough up blood. That he still had this much energy after so long in a cell was honestly impressive — or else he was desperate enough to shout like that despite his condition. Having lost even the handsome looks he'd once been known for, Yuan Shu mid-bellow was quite an ugly sight.
"Hey."
…?
I addressed the adjutant in charge of the prisoners. He had been glaring at Yuan Shu in open disgust, but at my call he answered with crisp courtesy.
"Is something the matter, sir?"
"Sooner or later, bring that man a cup of the honeyed water he's so fond of."
The adjutant's face clouded with puzzlement.
"What would we do if he tried to end his own life, carrying on like that?"
"Ah… I see."
The adjutant nodded. True to someone who had earned a fairly high post, he seemed to catch my meaning. Raising his fist in a salute, he replied,
"I will tighten the watch further in case of any contingencies."
Ready to respond swiftly if Yuan Shu did attempt suicide, in other words. I nodded in satisfaction.
"Keep up the good work."
Yuan Shu could not be allowed to die just yet. Die he might, one day — but only after paying for his crimes. How many had thrown away their lives for the sake of Yuan Shu's ambition? As things stood, his situation was best understood as mirroring Dong Zhuo's.
"You there! Are you even listening to me?! Grant me the treatment befitting my station at once—"
Still, that was far too loud. It was at least some small mercy that we were near Henei Commandery.
"…Why are you staring at me like that?"
Sima Yi, feeling my gaze just then, asked flatly.
"No reason."
"Don't tell me you're staring just because we happen to be near Henei… are you?"
……
How did she know? I'd only glanced over because Henei was her hometown, without a thought in my head.
"Honestly, you fixate on the oddest things."
When I held my silence, Sima Yi heaved a deep sigh.
"It's starting to get cold, so let's hurry."
"Got it."
I nodded. Having come as far as Henei, Luoyang was right on our doorstep. The long campaign was finally at its end.
I had been away from Luoyang for quite some time, yet little had changed.
"Bringing in prisoners again, I see."
"What did that one do wrong, I wonder."
Just as when I'd hauled in the Jing Province magnates, the citizens eyed Yuan Shu confined in his carriage and tossed out a remark apiece. The only difference from that time was that the man being escorted now wasn't the sort to take zoo-monkey treatment lying down.
"Silence! Though We have been reduced to this state, We are not one whom the likes of you may whisper about!"
True to form, Yuan Shu did not disappoint my expectations, shrieking with bloodshot eyes. Had his time in the cell done nothing but sharpen his tongue? The citizens feigned astonishment at his flailing, desperate attempts to defend the last shred of his pride.
"Oh dear, our prisoner seems awfully cross."
"…Wait, did he say 'We'? Don't tell me that's the one who claimed to be Emperor?"
Confronted with Yuan Shu's shameless antics, the citizens twisted their faces as though they'd seen something they wished they hadn't.
"Ugh, talk about bad luck rubbing off. Never thought I'd live to see the likes of him."
"Get tangled up with that and our necks might fly off too. Back to work, everyone."
The sharp-witted citizens of Luoyang melted away from the scene in short order. He had become one of those things you simply do not associate with anymore. Perhaps because this was the very heart of the Emperor's influence, the people didn't bother hating the false emperor — they ignored him, uniformly and completely.
One by one the citizens slipped quietly out of sight, until at last the streets of Luoyang stood utterly empty in the middle of a bright day. When I paused in wonder, the adjutant asked,
"…Shall we keep moving?"
"Yes."
They say nothing terrifies a social animal so much as indifference. Having realized he was being ignored, Yuan Shu wore an expression beyond all describing.
Everything after that proceeded as usual. The soldiers were given leave to rest in the barracks, and Yuan Shu was tossed unceremoniously into a suitable solitary cell.
…And now came the moment I dreaded most.
Making for the imperial palace, I walked with practiced ease. Ordinarily I might feel a flicker of nerves, but never this trembling. Honestly, I had taken far too many women into my embrace. Six of them. Six. It might somehow slide for now, but sooner or later the truth was bound to come out. And when that day came, just how was I supposed to behave?
"Hold her hands in yours. Gaze into her eyes. And never stop whispering words of affection."
"……"
"That is all a woman wants. Simple, no?"
I found myself recalling the conversation Cao Cao and I had shared in Shuchun. There had been no fault in her argument. …Whether any of it was actually simple was another matter entirely.
"Her Majesty awaits you."
"Right."
The official attending the Emperor bowed respectfully at the waist, just as before. I took a single deep breath and stepped into the audience chamber.
……
The moment I entered, I felt the Emperor's gaze settle on me, her expression unreadable. Why was she looking at me like that? It was genuinely unnerving. Had any other officials been present, they would surely have sensed something strange in the scene — Her Majesty had always welcomed me the instant she laid eyes on me, utterly indifferent to whoever might be watching.
……
"…Your Majesty."
Unable to bear that oppressive stare a moment longer, I spoke first.
"Is something the matter?"
Fortunately, the Emperor did not seem too displeased, for she answered my call. …Though her voice was so level it was almost frightening.
Dropping to one knee, I addressed the Emperor seated on her throne with all due formality.
"These are the spoils taken from the traitor who dared, in his presumption, to usurp the imperial throne."
……
The Heirloom Seal of the Realm. The object that had symbolized the Emperor's authority until this very day, and would for hundreds of years to come, now revealed itself. It was the moment the Heirloom Seal — carved, so it was said, from the precious Jade Disc of He — displayed its beautiful majesty. I held the white seal, tinged throughout with a curious green, out toward the Emperor.
"I hereby present this Heirloom Seal to its rightful owner, Your Majesty the Emp—"
"General-in-Chief."
The Emperor cut me off mid-word, in that same flat voice as before.
"Never mind that thing. Don't you have something else you ought to be saying?"
……
Excuse me — "that thing"? The seal would weep if it could hear her. Feeling the Emperor's placid gaze resting on me, I broke into a faint sweat.