Ye Province (8)
The midpoint between Yingchuan Commandery of Ye Province and the lands of Chen State.
The Grand General's army under Zhang Liao and the army of Chen State under Yu Chong faced each other across a single tent.
Seo Hwang swept her gaze once down the length of the Prince of Chen's army, then nodded.
"They certainly field far more elite troops than your average power."
These were no conscripts—peasants handed weapons for no purpose but to pad their numbers—but true elites, forged through long training and tempered on countless battlefields. From that alone, one could gauge how much of himself Yu Chong had poured into his military. The Han court, festering with corruption from top to bottom, had been plagued by one revolt after another even before the Yellow Turbans rose in rebellion; Yu Chong had evidently braced for just such a contingency, and his foresight had proven dead accurate. While other members of the imperial clan withered and died in the chaos of the age, had he not survived in fine form and carved out a power base all his own? Seen in that light, he was plainly a different breed from the royals who did nothing but preen on the strength of their bloodline alone.
"If it came to a clash with them, what outcome would you anticipate?"
Whenever the two of them were left alone, a strange heaviness settled over the air. Seo Hwang tossed out the question to break past it.
Even faced with the question, Gao Shun remained as unreadable as ever, and opened her mouth slowly.
"...We win."
An answer without a moment's deliberation. Hearing it, Seo Hwang asked, a note of interest creeping into her voice.
"Is there a reason you believe that?"
It was not a question thrown out of genuine curiosity, in hopes of an answer. It was simply talk meant to dispel the awkward silence. And yet Gao Shun's reply was an unexpected one.
"However desperate the situation, winning the battle is a commander's duty."
"......"
"Seated in this post, that is the only answer I have to give."
In other words, even without an overwhelming advantage in numbers, she would have offered the very same reply. One might call it planless spirit-mongering, but Seo Hwang knew full well that was not what Gao Shun had meant. She was far too capable a commander to mistake courage for recklessness.
"Still... there would be losses. That much can't be helped."
Just as Seo Hwang scratched her head, Gao Shun, her eyes fixed on the Prince of Chen's personal guard, delivered her assessment.
"Soldiers resolved to die are not an opponent any unit handles with ease."
Do-or-die resolve.
A term for fighting with every ounce of one's strength, death already accepted. Their numbers were pitifully few, yet she could feel it hanging over the Prince's guard—that unmistakable aura of a do-or-die unit that did not fear dying itself. And what if elite soldiers who had marched through every kind of battlefield held their ground with that same resolve? The scale of the losses was impossible to reckon, but one thing was certain: a great deal of blood would flow.
"I see."
Hearing that explanation, Seo Hwang pulled an awkward face, thinking what a remarkably consistent woman she was. By all accounts, Gao Shun had originally taken the field as a common soldier, and the lord's eye for seeing through to a person like that and raising her up struck Seo Hwang as truly extraordinary. Had the man himself been there to hear it, he would no doubt have shaken his head and said, That's because I'm from the future—but regrettably, that man was at this very moment stuck in Luoyang, unable to budge an inch.
"......"
While the two of them traded that stilted small talk, Zhang Liao stood waiting for Yu Chong near the tent.
"Hmm... What preparation could possibly be taking him this long?"
"I-I really couldn't say."
At those words, Gong Ju couldn't help but steal a careful glance around. Zhang Liao herself showed no sign of displeasure, but the soldiers attending her wore their irritation far too plainly.
...She's not the type to wage a war of nerves over something like this. What on earth is going on?
Yu Chong, for all that he occupied the seat of a vassal king, had little taste for parading his authority. A true king's dignity, he liked to say, was not something you adorned yourself with—it flowed naturally from your deeds. Gong Ju couldn't say precisely what that meant, but the Prince of Chen was a man who kept rigorously to his own code of conduct. Gong Ju had scarcely begun to fret over it when a stir broke out in Yu Chong's camp, and a figure emerged.
—Hiihihing!!
An enormous man announcing his grandeur from atop a white horse fit for a king.
"......?"
At that magnificent entrance, every gaze in the vicinity snapped to a single point.
"Y-Your Highness! What in the world, so suddenly—!"
"Are we not late enough already! That's enough! This much preparation is plenty!"
A voice like a tolling bell, bearing not a hint of old age. Leaving behind the minister gaping in bewilderment at his side, Yu Chong seized the reins in a powerful grip.
"Let's ride! As if I'd let needless ceremony make me late!"
—Hiiing!!
The horse beneath him cried out once, as if in answer, and surged forward. As it accelerated and finally broke into a headlong gallop, Zhang Liao couldn't help but tilt her head.
"At that speed, he won't be able to stop here...?"
Yu Chong was hardly a man ignorant of the fact that reining in a horse so abruptly could end in disaster. Then why come charging in at that pace? Zhang Liao's question answered itself before long.
"Hrrup!"
THUD—!
Yu Chong had vaulted sideways off the back of the galloping horse and touched down in a pose that was, admittedly, a touch strange. Anyone falling from such a height would normally roll with the impact to spare their body—but the hulking, muscle-bound old man simply bore the shock on his own two legs as though it were nothing. A stance calculated to show everyone watching exactly how indestructible his body was. Had Jeong Reung witnessed it, he would have marveled at a hero landing straight out of an action film and applauded like a seal in the privacy of his own skull.
"......"
It was an entrance striking enough to leave a deep impression even on those untouched by modern amusements—and so Zhang Liao and Gong Ju, waiting by the tent, held their silence.
"Hahaha! It seems my expectations were not misplaced!"
Apparently satisfied with the reactions around him, Yu Chong rose to his feet with a hearty laugh.
"Well? Did that look impressive, or what?"
"...Ah, yes. A most memorable entrance."
Zhang Liao, having collected herself, conceded the point evenly, and Yu Chong nodded.
"Good. Then it's time we set about the business at hand."
Cloak settling over his shoulders, Yu Chong shifted with a clatter of the heavy armor he wore.
"Words I've been waiting to hear, Prince of Chen."
Zhang Liao, the heavy crescent blade in her grip, returned the smile with a cool, easy expression of her own.
"......"
As the eyes of two fierce generals who had spent their lives on battlefields crossed in midair, Gong Ju broke into a fresh cold sweat. ...He had already handed over the seal of the Inspector of Ye Province—so why on earth was he still sitting here? It was one of those moments when the warm faces of his family grew achingly dear.
A few days after Zhang Liao departed for Ye Province, I—letter in hand—was passing the time near Luoyang's East Gate.
"...Um, Jeong Reung?"
"Hm?"
"Why'd you come all the way out here?"
The moment I stepped outside, Lü Bu had trailed after me as naturally as breathing, and now she voiced her puzzlement. Even as she asked, the sight of her cradling Yeo Hwa—snugly swaddled against her chest—was, to any observer, the very picture of a practiced mother.
"Thought I'd get a bit of a walk in."
I answered Lü Bu's question with a smile and dipped my head toward the bundle in her arms.
"How about it, Seo Hui? You're enjoying this too, aren't you?"
"......"
Seo Hui answered by fixing me with a pair of bright, keen eyes. I watched her a moment, then nodded.
"See? She loves it."
At that, Lü Bu looked utterly baffled.
"...She didn't react at all, though?"
"Oh, come now. A father and daughter understand each other with a single look."
"......"
Lost for words, Lü Bu could only shake her head.
"Understand each other with a single look..."
Seo Yeo, who had been listening to the exchange, murmured the words back in a voice that sounded, of all things, wistful. Come on, I said that as a joke—surely she doesn't actually believe it.
When I stepped out of the building, the Peach Sisters—who had quietly fallen in behind me, each leading her escort troops—reacted in her own distinct way.
"Flattery."
"......"
Guan Yu was having her face poked and prodded every which way by her daughter, Guan Ping. That she kept her expression blank through it all was honestly impressive.
"I feel like my body's gotten all sluggish lately..."
"My, that does sound difficult."
Zhang Fei had been muttering to herself, head bobbing this way and that, until she met Liu Bei's sweetly smiling face and began to tremble like a leaf. Her unconscious gift for needling people was truly first-rate.
"......"
The ones actually dying in all this, naturally, were the soldiers and officers inspecting the East Gate. From where they stood, every star in the heavens had gathered in a single spot—of course they were terrified. One fumble in their duties, and wouldn't the very gates of hell swing open? Especially with temperaments like Lü Bu's and Zhang Fei's... It was a small mercy, truly, that my presence at their side had gentled them somewhat. Still, I felt guilty for making them sweat over nothing. I'd just take a quick look at the people Zhang Jue had mentioned in her letter, then hurry straight home.