A Capable Minister in Peace, a Cunning Hero in Chaos (6)
Guo Jia's prediction—that if both sides simply waited, they would arrive at an amicable understanding—proved anything but wrong. Barely a week after the two camps had established their encampments and begun eyeing each other across the field, a certain unit arrived in the vicinity of Beihai.
"Whoa, the armor's one thing, but even the weapons they're carrying are gleaming. What unit is that?"
"Vicious-looking bunch. They could beat a few men to a pulp without even drawing steel."
At the sight of the ominous force that had appeared near Beihai, both armies wasted no time voicing their impressions. Perhaps in the name of mobility, the mysterious unit was mounted to the last man—a force of cavalry and nothing else.
Xiahou Dun, who happened to be scanning the surroundings at just that moment, turned to Cao Cao beside her.
"Mengde. What's with that unit? Don't tell me they're enemies?"
"...No."
Cao Cao, who had once served in office at Luoyang, recognized their dress at a single glance.
"The Imperial Guard."
"...The Imperial Guard?"
Hearing the name, Xiahou Dun cocked her head slightly.
"The Imperial Guard? You mean the imperial bodyguard corps, right?"
"You know it well."
It was a unit that invariably earned mention whenever the finest fighting forces under heaven were tallied. Elite soldiers who embodied the authority of the central government—the final bulwark standing between the throne and its traitors. The intensity of their training was beyond comparison with any ordinary regiment, and the strength they brought to a battlefield was enough to shake it to its roots.
The General-in-Chief. As the office of the supreme commander who led the Imperial Guard came to mind, undisguised admiration spread across Xiahou Dun's face.
"Wow. I know security around here is terrible, but they've gone and attached part of the Imperial Guard as an escort."
To be fair, Cao Cao had already swept through the enormous bandit horde that had been turning Qingzhou into a wasteland, but that horde had numbered a staggering several hundred thousand, and its remnants still prowled the region. The General-in-Chief had evidently dispatched the Imperial Guard with exactly that in mind.
...Or perhaps—just perhaps—he had deliberately passed over every other unit and attached the Imperial Guard itself as escort, precisely so that everyone would understand whose will this was.
Watching it all unfold, Xiahou Dun muttered under her breath.
"Looks like the situation our strategist predicted has come to find us after all."
"What did I tell you?" The genius strategist Guo Jia answered, her voice brimming with confidence.
Then the figure being escorted amid the Imperial Guard revealed himself—and every last person fell silent.
"Governor of Yanzhou Cao Mengde and Chancellor of Beihai Kong Wenju! Attend the command of Her Majesty—!!"
The official, clad in light armor for his own protection, thundered into the open air with a voice that rang like a temple bell.
"Wow. That is one loud voice."
The silver-haired girl accompanying Cao Cao's campaign poked her head out at that.
"So it takes lungs like that to become an imperial envoy?"
"...They can hear you, my lady. Kindly restrain yourself."
"Why? It's a compliment."
Faced with Cao Hong's genuinely baffled 'what's the problem?', Xiahou Yuan heaved a long sigh.
The girl was plainly about the same age as her lord, so where did all this childishness come from? She was stingy with her money on top of it, and Xiahou Yuan worried that if she carried on like this, some strange character would one day set her sights on her.
The one saving grace was that she spared no support whatsoever for Cao Cao, her own flesh and blood.
Cao Cao had owed a great deal to two people when she first raised her banner at Chenliu: her father, Cao Song, and her younger cousin, Cao Hong.
Her father had left her a vast fortune when he departed for Xuzhou, and on top of that came the backing of a cousin whose name echoed across the realm as a woman of astronomical wealth. That was how Cao Cao had managed to raise so many soldiers at Chenliu.
The scale of Cao Hong's fortune rivaled even that of Cao Cao's main family—the family reputed to have purchased a seat among the Three Excellencies with cold, hard coin.
'...I knew she was rich, but I never dreamed she had that much money.'
'Heheh! Figured it out at last? I'm seriously good at making money!'
Coming from Cao Cao—a woman whom almost nothing could faze—such rare astonishment meant her cousin's talent for multiplying money deserved genuine recognition.
Cao Cao's main family had seen its entire fortune go up in flames when bandits attacked them in Xuzhou, which left Cao Hong as the only member of the clan who could still be called wealthy.
Just then, Cao Cao, who had been quietly observing the proceedings, spoke in an even voice.
"Enough chatter. See to your preparations. We cannot keep the imperial envoy waiting."
"Right."
The envoy who had arrived bearing the throne's command wore a forbidding, granite-hard face. One glance was enough to tell he was upright and unyielding to the bone. Long experience had taught Cao Cao that once a man like that took exception to you, life became thoroughly exhausting.
When the envoy carrying the imperial command appeared without warning, both formations erupted into an uproar. But the tumult was brief. Having taken the measure of the situation, Cao Cao and Kong Rong restored order among their men and went out to receive the envoy with composed dignity.
Governor of Yanzhou, Cao Cao. Chancellor of Beihai, Kong Rong. As though they had rehearsed it, the two bowed in perfect courtesy before the envoy—simple propriety, owed to the man who spoke with the throne's voice.
Just as Cao Cao had surmised, the stern-faced envoy nodded at their impeccable bearing, finding nothing to fault.
"I shall dispense with the preliminaries and proceed directly to the matter at hand!"
Escorted by the elite soldiers sworn to the throne's protection, the envoy unfurled the edict he had carried against his chest.
"Kong Wenju! From this moment forth, you are to lay down the title of Chancellor of Beihai, return to Luoyang, and attend upon the imperial court!"
"I shall obey Her Majesty's command."
Kong Rong, descendant of Confucius, honored the Empress's command without a hair's breadth of hesitation. The sight of him calmly laying down an office equal in authority to any governorship stood in the starkest contrast to Liu Biao, once hailed among the Eight Gentlemen of Jiangxia, who had never managed to relinquish his power.
Hearing Kong Rong's reply, the envoy swung about at once and shouted toward Cao Cao.
"And Cao Mengde!"
"Yes."
"Since the day the Yellow Turbans first rose in rebellion, you have struggled tirelessly for the sake of the Han and rendered merits beyond count. In the highest esteem of your service, Cao Mengde is hereby appointed General of Agile Cavalry!"
"..."
A ripple of astonishment ran through the onlookers at the envoy's proclamation.
General of Agile Cavalry. If the General-in-Chief, who held supreme command over the military power of Han, ranked first among all military offices, then the General of Agile Cavalry stood at the staggering height of second. Not one of the Generals of the Four Directions, who ranked fifth through eighth, nor even the third- and fourth-ranked General of Chariots and Cavalry or General of the Guards. Short of the first-ranked General-in-Chief himself, no soul in the empire could issue her an order. The court had installed Cao Cao in the office that stood at the head of the seven generals serving beneath the General-in-Chief.
And still the envoy was not finished.
"Furthermore, Cao Mengde is named provisional Commander! You shall devote your every strength to quelling the turmoil of Yanzhou, together with Xuzhou and Qingzhou besides!"
In that single instant, Cao Cao had acquired, alongside her new generalship, the immense authority to govern three provinces. It was an appointment so far beyond precedent that the followers of Cao Cao and Kong Rong alike could only stare in open shock.
"..."
Kong Rong, having confirmed the imperial seal stamped upon the document in the envoy's hands, shut his eyes and held his silence. There, pressed large and unmistakable into the parchment, sat the impression of the Heirloom Seal of the Realm—proof that the edict was no forgery, and that Her Majesty the Empress had sanctioned its contents with her own hand.
"That concludes the decree! See to it that you commit no disloyal act against Her Majesty's command!"
With that final proclamation, the envoy took his leave. And once even the Imperial Guard escorting him had melted from view, Cao Hong came barreling toward her cousin.
"S-Sis! I didn't mishear any of that, did I?!"
"...No, you didn't."
"Yahoo! I always knew you'd make it big someday!"
While Cao Hong bounced in place, utterly failing to contain her delight, Xiahou Dun tossed a question at the strategist standing nearby.
"...Hey, Genius Strategist. Did you see this one coming too?"
"Nope."
Guo Jia answered with complete honesty, a faintly sheepish look on her face.
"At the very most, I figured the Generals of the Four Directions would be her ceiling. I never dreamed she'd climb several rungs past that."
"Which just means the court plays in a bigger league than anyone guessed."
General of Agile Cavalry, General of Chariots and Cavalry, General of the Guards. Of the seven generals who served the General-in-Chief, these three formed his innermost circle—the Three Generals. And what, then, was the court saying by placing Cao Cao at the very summit of even those three?
"Cao Mengde."
While the surroundings were still in an uproar, Kong Rong rose to his feet.
"It would appear Her Majesty still trusts in the sincerity of your loyalty."
"..."
"In that case, I shall oppose you no longer."
The foremost Confucian scholar loyal to the throne addressed Cao Cao in a level voice.
"The transfer of authority will proceed before long. Govern Beihai as you see fit."
And with those words, Kong Rong fixed her with a look that promised he would be watching her still.
"...We'll see."
Cao Cao murmured the words as she gazed after Kong Rong's retreating back.
"This trust isn't coming from the Empress. It's coming from someone else entirely."
The current Empress was not a soul who trusted anyone with ease. One need only observe that not a single talent had ever risen to high office on the strength of her favor.
...Yes. Save for exactly one.
"Pushed this far, I suppose I have no choice but to live up to the expectations."
And why else would the word 'provisional' have been so deliberately attached to her title of Commander? It was an endearingly impatient summons: finish the cleanup, then hurry to his side at once.