The Magnates of Jiangdong (1)
Having resolved to confess everything to me, Ze Rong poured out information with the fervor of a man determined to empty his very soul. After all, if he got clever and ended up thrown back into a cell, he was the one who would pay the price — and there were far too many terrifying people around who would make his time behind bars utterly miserable. In other words, Ze Rong had no way back. And so he spilled everything he knew, buying himself even a few more days.
The first thing he did was loudly declare that he would hand over his entire hoard, and with that he led me deep into a remote mountain.
"Wh-what do you think?! I daresay this is a very considerable amount!"
"...It certainly is a lot."
I let out a small gasp at the mountains of gold and silver piled high before my eyes. Ceramics, silk, gold... even at a glance, it was a veritable banquet of goods that were anything but ordinary. Looks like he'd stripped out every last thing worth so much as a coin. Well, what else would you expect from a bandit who had devoted years of his life to nothing but plunder? He'd squirreled away quite a fortune for himself.
I gazed upon the scene for a while longer before speaking.
"So this is all of it?"
"...I beg your pardon?"
Ze Rong asked back as if he hadn't heard me right, and I answered his confusion with a touch of kindness.
"In all my years of subjugating bandits, I've learned a thing or two."
...
"Men like you never keep all of your wealth in one place. That's what I learned."
"Th-that's...!"
At my words, Ze Rong showed a brief flicker of an urge to deny it, then promptly and calmly conceded.
"...You're quite right! How brilliantly perceptive of you, my lord!"
Perceptive, my ass. Anyone could see that if I hadn't brought it up, he would have slithered clean over the garden wall like a snake, playing dumb the whole way. Ze Rong was still not quite himself, but then again, it would be stranger still if a man who had lived his entire life in vileness snapped back to normal after a single day of torture. More likely, he simply hadn't come to grips with the fact that his fate was sealed, one way or another. That was the only thing on my mind at the moment.
...
Just as he'd said, he had divided his wealth into separate caches — and even so, the amount was staggering. How many people had this bandit plundered and killed over the years? Every time I laid eyes on something like this, I was reminded of just how cheaply human life was treated in this day and age.
Just then, Lü Bu drew close and whispered to me.
"Jeong Reung. This guy keeps trying to pull something clever, doesn't he?"
"So you sensed it too."
"Heh. Of course I did. Who do you take me for?"
At that, Lü Bu puffed up with pride.
"So what will you do? Shall I toss him back into the dungeon?"
"No. Let him be for now."
I spoke as I watched Ze Rong.
"First, we shake out everything there is to shake out."
"Mmm... All right. Got it."
Lü Bu — who had been fully poised to drag Ze Rong straight back to his cell the instant I gave the word — calmly reined in her bloodlust. I'd have to remember to ask her to rough him up extra later. I had no intention of letting him off in the first place, but after this business, whatever scrap of goodwill existed between us had been spent down to the last coin.
"What are you doing? Why aren't you moving?"
"Hk—! Y-yes, of course, my lord!"
Kicked in the backside, Ze Rong scurried off with a thoroughly groveling look on his face.
How long did we spend making the rounds of the area around Moling with Ze Rong in tow? Having completely emptied out the fortune he had amassed over a lifetime of banditry, I nodded in satisfaction. Stripping corrupt officials and bandits of their ill-gotten gains turned out to be enormously enjoyable. Was this how the righteous outlaws of actual history had felt?
"Good work. This is the last of it, then."
"Yes... it is an honor, my lord..."
The expression on Ze Rong's face — now stripped of everything he owned — could not be called good, even as the emptiest flattery. And yet he was smiling for all he was worth, driven by the desperate resolve to cling to his own neck. These past few days hadn't treated him so badly, after all, so perhaps a little sprout of hope for survival had taken root in him.
...You do know you're going to die, right?
Her Majesty the Empress was grinding her teeth over him this fiercely — did he truly believe he'd come out of this in one piece? Well, as someone or other once said, despair cuts deepest when there's a long fall from hope to reach it. So I kept my mouth shut.
"Now, then. It's time for you to tell me about your partners in crime."
"I will answer any and all questions!"
We were merely having what might well be our final conversation. He didn't seem to realize that yet, though.
I drew out the bamboo slip Pang Tong had handed me a few days earlier and spoke in a calm voice.
"Recite every name and place of residence you can remember."
"Y-yes, my lord! As far as the information I possess..."
With no way to refuse my question, Ze Rong followed my instructions at once. I cross-checked every last detail against the record, then slowly nodded.
"Good. Your part is done now."
"...I beg your pardon?"
Leaving behind the bewildered Ze Rong, I called out a certain name.
"Sima Yi."
"Finally finished?"
The violet-haired Little Strategist revealed herself from nearby the instant I called.
"Y-you...!"
The moment he laid eyes on Sima Yi, Ze Rong went ghost-pale as some very unpleasant memories came flooding back — but that was no concern of mine.
"What in the world is the meaning of this?! Why is that woman showing up here of all places...!"
"Didn't I tell you before?"
I explained calmly to Ze Rong, who was shrieking so hard he'd forgotten his manners entirely.
"I said you could rest easy only for as long as you were spilling your information."
...
"If you hadn't realized it, it's just as well that you know now."
"...You dirty son of a—!"
THWACK!
"Gwahk!"
The moment Ze Rong realized he'd been played and tried to spit out his curse, Sima Yi smashed her scabbard into him.
"Barking more useless nonsense again, I see. Why don't you keep it down?"
"Nnggh...!"
Sima Yi strode up to Ze Rong, who was doubled over clutching his belly and groaning, and spoke in an icy voice.
"...Hm? He's sturdier than he looks."
Watching her display of skill, Lü Bu's eyes went wide with mild astonishment. Under normal circumstances she would have been the first to burst out and clobber Ze Rong herself — but I had warned her, firmly, not to kill him by accident, and while she was still weighing her strength, Sima Yi had stepped in first.
...
As for Seo Yeo, she functioned something like a point-defense system; unless someone came charging at us first, she simply would not move. Of course, if the lunatic did rush her, one thing was certain: he would be folded neatly — and quite prettily — in half.
...But wouldn't that kill him, though?
Perhaps a certain bat-man from somewhere could walk that off.
Sima Yi turned to me and asked.
"So can I really take him with me now?"
"Do as you like."
At my nod, the corners of her mouth curved up slightly, plainly pleased.
"Then let's continue the conversation we couldn't finish last time soon, shall we? Next up was the legs, if I recall?"
"L-Lord Grand General! Save me! Save m—!"
Before he could even finish his desperate plea to me, a soldier's blow to the back of his head knocked Ze Rong out cold.
"We'll be taking him now."
"Right."
I watched Ze Rong being dragged away unconscious and thought to myself: honestly, what possessed him to attempt an assassination in the first place? If he'd lived an honest life, I might have thrown a shield over him — but not this time.
...Not that I'm sure he'd have survived even with a shield from me. Her Majesty is the sort to remember a single unkind word spoken about me, hold onto it, and hunt her revenge down to the very end — what mercy would she spare for the man who tried to kill me? Even if she commuted his death sentence at my request, she would surely arrange for him to die behind the scenes one way or another.
And then he'd end up buried somewhere in the Yellow River or the Yangtze. Now that I mention it, doesn't that sound exactly like a mafia outfit? A chill ran right down my spine.
Once the last of Ze Rong had vanished from view, I turned my mind to the work ahead. It was truly regrettable, but I still had far too much left to deal with in the Jiangdong region. Her Majesty's imperial command to capture Ze Rong alive was complete — so what was the next most urgent matter?
Right. There it is.
I thought of the silver-haired woman who was, even now, mopping up the Shanyue remnants in the south of Jiangdong. From what I'd heard, Cao Cao had joined hands with the powerful local clans of Jiangdong and was utterly demolishing the Shanyue. While I faced Yan Baihu's main host in the north, she had faithfully done her part and held the south. Without her efforts, far greater numbers of Shanyue would surely have flooded toward Yan Baihu. That was Cao Cao for you — with her brilliant command, she had drawn the eyes of every Shanyue tribe in the south squarely onto herself.
It would be a lie to say I hadn't worried at all... but she had won every single battle, sweeping my concerns away in a single stroke.
"Hmmm..."
Come to think of it, it had been quite a while since I'd last seen her face. I'd given her command of a separate detachment precisely because she was so capable — I never expected to be apart this long. If I didn't show my face soon, heaven only knew when or where a displeased Cao Cao might start stirring up trouble.
Honestly...
Her ability is splendid; it's that borderline-psychotic personality of hers that's the problem.
After a moment's deliberation, I summoned a soldier and had writing materials prepared, then set about composing the letter myself, carefully picking out words I knew would delight Cao Cao. Something along the lines of, "We have been apart far too long — let us meet again," ought to do nicely.
"...My lord."
"Hm?"
Just as I was busily scribbling away, Liu Bei came up beside me and spoke.
"Forgive me if this is forward of me to ask, but... will you have time this evening?"
"Uh... well, yes, I would, but..."
What was this, all of a sudden?
Don't tell me this was an invitation of... that kind.
Met with my dazed expression, Liu Bei simply smiled.