The Magnate of Gangdong (4)
Liu Yao, Inspector of Yangzhou.
The emotions that gripped him the first time he laid eyes on Cao Cao were, frankly, beyond all describing.
…And in a way, that was only natural.
After all, Cao Cao had once killed his brother.
…Liu Dai.
Liu Dai, courtesy name Gongshan — the man who had served as Inspector of Yanzhou before Cao Cao ever arrived. He was none other than the blood brother of Liu Yao, Inspector of Yangzhou.
Their relationship as boys had never been a truly bitter one, so under ordinary circumstances it would hardly have been strange for Liu Yao to come charging out, howling for vengeance.
But long years of service as Inspector of Yangzhou had honed his mind into a coolly logical instrument, and that mind forced him to think the matter through once more.
Why exactly had Liu Dai, Inspector of Yanzhou, met his death at Cao Cao's hands?
The reason was simple. He had invited Cao Cao to a banquet, tried to do her harm, and been cut down by her counterstroke instead.
In other words, the one who had transgressed first was his own brother — so to come screaming for revenge would have done nothing but drag the family name through the mud.
What was more, Liu Yao's house was a Liu clan, the very surname that proclaimed descent from the imperial blood. Ordinarily, the Emperor ought to have dealt stern punishment to Cao Cao for defying the authority of the throne; instead, far from punishing the crime, she bestowed upon Cao Cao the office of Governor of Yanzhou — a full rank above the Inspectorship Liu Dai had held.
It said everything about how the most exalted person under heaven, sovereign of the Liu clan herself, regarded the affair.
Under such circumstances, for Liu Yao to run wild vowing to kill Cao Cao would have been nothing more than a private act of derangement.
Brother, forgive me. Even so — the living must be allowed to live, must they not?
It was not that the brothers had snarled at each other like dogs, but neither were they especially close. They had simply kept one another at arm's length, each wary that a man sharing the blood of Liu might one day rise as a rival.
For members of the same house to kill and be killed by one another — such was the destiny of those born closest to the seat of power.
Had not Empress Dowager He, mother of the reigning Emperor, purged rival after rival without number?
And there was one further reason, a decisive one, that he had resolved never to cross Cao Cao…
"Time is short, so answer me only this."
"……"
…Because the woman called Cao Cao had looked, in and of herself, to be anything but a foe to take lightly.
In the lands of Gangdong, failing to read your opponent's caliber was a mistake that led straight to death.
Having survived years in that merciless country, Liu Yao could see it at a glance — the poise with which she sat her mount, a breathing rhythm unsettled by not so much as a hair's breadth, and the raw, formidable aura pouring from that slender frame. The woman before him was a warrior who could lop off the heads of a few dozen soldiers as casually as drawing breath.
"……"
Worse still, two commanders stood nearby with eyes glinting in a way that boded nothing good. What on earth had given his own brother the confidence to believe he could lay hands on this woman? At the sight of those bodyguards — who looked as though they could fold a grown man in two with their bare hands — a thin film of cold sweat broke out on Liu Yao's skin.
He had never had any intention of opposing her to begin with, and this encounter hardened that resolve into something absolute. Liu Yao answered Cao Cao's question with perfect composure.
"…I have been a loyal subject of the Han, and I will remain one."
"Hm. Well — one's deeds will make that plain soon enough."
By the time Taishi Ci, beholding this extraordinary exchange, had settled into an expression of sheer helplessness, Cao Cao put another question to him.
"Have you any troops left who could fight at my side?"
"Their numbers are few, but if you give the command, they will follow it gladly."
"You mean they will not simply stand in the rear and watch?"
At an answer offered without a flicker of hesitation, Cao Cao let out a short, amused breath.
"Not bad."
"……"
"Then stay close, and watch."
With that, Cao Cao wheeled about and began to move, unhurried.
What followed was slaughter.
By some means no one could fathom, Cao Cao flushed out the Shanyue lurking in every hollow of the mountains almost at once, and the tribesmen who came charging in, greedy to kill one more enemy, were beaten back with almost contemptuous ease.
When Liu Yao himself had faced them, the Shanyue had been phantoms — whether they had soared into the sky or sunk into the earth, not so much as the tip of a nose ever showed. Then, the instant he let his guard down, they would come hurtling out in brazen surprise attacks and scrape his nerves raw.
Cao Cao, however, reduced every terrain advantage the Shanyue possessed to empty air, twisting their beloved ambushes back upon them and piling up an immense tally of victories.
"Barbarians, it seems, will be barbarians."
Swish—!
Cao Cao swept the Yitian Sword through the empty air, and the blood clinging to its blade scattered across the earth, leaving a long dark streak in its wake.
Examining her blade for nicks, Cao Cao murmured:
"To think the commander herself would end up swinging a sword."
"…Our apologies. We were… wanting…"
"Enough. I am not blaming you."
Cao Cao said in a level voice to Dian Wei and Xu Chu, whose faces were the very picture of shame.
Who could possibly have imagined they would play dead, then lunge? The Shanyue's fearlessness of death did not mean they knew nothing but the wild frontal charge. They were a people who could turn as sly and underhanded as the moment demanded.
"Those who live battle as their daily bread truly are a different breed from mere bandits."
Had Cao Cao allowed a single ambush through, the field might have turned ugly indeed. But that never came to pass.
"It has been some time since I moved my body like this. Not bad at all."
Cao Cao possessed, just as Liu Yao had expected, martial prowess of the highest order.
And those bronze-skinned Nanman — what in the world were they? He had heard the news that the General-in-Chief had subdued the Nanman after seizing Yi Province, but had he truly absorbed them wholesale into his own host?
"Southern barbarians! What business have you in this place?! Return to your own lands this instant!"
"We live much the same lives you do — who's calling whom a barbarian?"
Clang—!
The woman with the striking scarlet hair met the Shanyue officer with blindingly nimble movements.
"Ahh! Sis! A few of them are bolting your way!"
"Oh? Moo! Let's go—!"
MOOOO—!
CRUNCH!
Gahk!
The Shanyue who had rushed the blonde-haired Nanman were caught by the enormous red-furred bull and pounded utterly into paste.
Thwip-thwip-thwip—!
Gahk!
"Ar- arrows?! Where in blazes are they coming from?!"
And then there was Taishi Ci — the very woman who had once served under him — felling enemies several arrows at a draw.
To think he had cast aside so outstanding a commander for no better reason than her lack of renown, and welcomed into his camp instead a mere bandit who could just as easily drive a blade into his own allies.
…My eye for talent, it seems, is not what it should be.
Loosing a silent sigh, Liu Yao gazed across the field at the countless Shanyue dead strewn about him, and thought: he had been right, after all, never to stand against them.
Even afterward, as he campaigned in Cao Cao's train against the Shanyue, Liu Yao kept hearing news that astonished him.
"To lure every last Shanyue tribe of Gangdong into a single place and exterminate them there…"
Having lived long in Gangdong and known the true depths of their strength, Liu Yao had judged it an act of suicide — yet the General-in-Chief shattered his expectations, won the battle, and then wrung a surrender out of Yan Baihu on top of it.
…Both of them are frighteningly capable.
Having witnessed their power with his own eyes, Liu Yao could finally understand why the Han — an empire that had seemed one breath from collapse — had risen to its feet again.
"It appears they intend to throw themselves into the development of Gangdong…"
It was not a bad plan. This land truly was rich with promise.
Clear days were many, the temperature mild, the sunlight abundant. Even the rains fell at just the right intervals — was it not ideal ground for living things to flourish?
And yet…
Khhk!
The cough tore out of Liu Yao without warning, right as he was setting his thoughts in order. He looked frail enough to crumple where he stood.
"M- my lord! Are you all right?!"
"I am fine. Step back."
"But, my lord—"
"I said step back."
"…Yes, my lord."
The aide, who had hurried over in concern, quietly withdrew at that iron tone.
Blood, is it.
Liu Yao slowly turned over the hand that had covered his mouth, and thought:
Tch. I won't last much longer.
For all that he had fancied himself careful of his health, this region was far harsher to live in than he had ever imagined.
For the Han people who had fled the chaos of the heartland and migrated south to Gangdong, the greatest reaper of life was not war.
It was disease.
That murderer harvested its lives with perfect equality — child, adult, and elder alike. Now that merciless, pitiless thing had simply come to collect him as well.
Liu Yao, who had only just reached his fortieth year — the age, the old saying went, when a man is free of doubts — gazed out at the stiff, straggling grass.
Even the lowliest blade of grass seemed to snarl that this was its land, and men had best beware. How utterly absurd.
Bing Province, Xiliang, Yi Province, the Nanman. And Gangdong.
Truthfully, he would have found it deeply satisfying to see this godforsaken earth plowed under and made new — but his thread of life was not long enough for him to behold that sight with his own eyes, and it was a regret he could do nothing about.
"I do wonder how the General-in-Chief means to develop this land."
Feeling the copper tang of blood rising in his throat, Liu Yao gave a dry, rattling chuckle.