Jiaozhou (3)
Would he defy the White Horse Oath and crown himself king? That was the question the letter posed—and Shi Xie's response to it was one I genuinely had not seen coming.
He had sent me every last blood relative who could one day succeed him, all of them as hostages. In other words, it was an open declaration that no matter what happened, he would never build a Shi dynasty in Jiaozhou.
"...If that isn't nerve, I don't know what is."
The words slipped out of me the moment I confirmed who made up the envoy party: Shi Zhi, Shi Xie's second son; Shi Hui, his third; and Shi Yi, his own brother.
That man Shi Xie—when it came to the art of not starting wars, he was in a class all his own. Call it a masterful demonstration of how leaving him alone paid far better than attacking him.
Suddenly I understood why Sun Quan of the original history—a man whose appetite for land was every bit as first-rate—could never bring himself to lay a hand on Shi Xie, and could only stare from afar, drooling.
Shi Xie had almost certainly foreseen the future that would follow his death. He knew that if he worked earnestly at improving relations, there would be no war at least as long as he drew breath.
But after he left this world? What would happen if, once he was gone, a member of his own family inherited the rule of Jiaozhou? To the Han court, it would amount to an unacknowledged man seizing territory, and they would naturally move to crush him—the charge being treason, rebellion against the state.
And the family of a rebel was exterminated to the root as a matter of course—three generations, wiped out. His brothers and children, along with every other member of the Shi clan, would be erased from this world.
From where Shi Xie stood, then, unless he was confident he could smash the Han armies and found an independent state, there was simply no path open to him other than bowing his head all the way to the ground. Besides, judging by how the man conducted himself, he seemed content to live in ease as the master of a single province—not to reign as king of a nation...
The real question was how to treat the Shi family members he had sent. Simple enough: press a suitable official post into each of their hands and scatter them to the four winds.
Did he think that because they were hostages, I would simply let them idle away their days? Not a chance. The idea of anyone lounging about on unearned leisure—something even I couldn't afford at the moment—was intolerable, if only out of sheer envy.
I watched the Shi family bow and steal anxious glances in my direction, then spoke.
"Is this truly your will?"
"It is."
The answer came so quickly on the heels of my question that it nearly overtook it—Shi Yi, Shi Xie's own younger brother, replying in a deferential voice. Rather than placing one of his still-young children at the head of the delegation, Shi Xie had apparently chosen his brother to speak for it.
"Our loyalty to the Han will not change, now or ever."
Shi Yi did not disappoint his brother's expectations; before me he showed not a tremor of nerves. Then again, when I did a little digging, I found that this same Shi Yi had once defied Dong Zhuo to his face, back when Dong Zhuo held the reins of power—and when an enraged Dong Zhuo moved to have him seized and killed, he had bolted for his homeland with remarkable speed. I found that rather impressive. Beneath the mild, composed exterior was plainly a man who could act without hesitation the moment action was called for.
"Hm..."
Hearing Shi Yi's answer, I let a silence stretch. How long did that peculiar quiet hold—the kind that would have wrung cold sweat from anyone in the Shi family's position? Having kept my silence quite deliberately, I finally turned my head toward someone else.
"Shi Hui, was it?"
"...Yes."
"And what do you think?"
I addressed the man who looked to be quite young.
Shi Hui. In the original history, the man who succeeded Shi Xie to become the ruler of Jiaozhou—and the lord who rose in revolt against Sun Quan as the latter stripped away his rights. The entire Shi clan in Jiaozhou had indeed rallied behind him and launched a rebellion on a grand scale. Only to swallow, whole and unquestioning, the lie that their lives would be spared, and surrender without a fight. Hilarious, really.
Riding a wave of momentum into revolt was all well and good, but had he thought it over afterward and concluded that victory was impossible? If only he'd been a little better at managing his temper from the very start...
Sun Quan had already gorged himself on so much of what belonged to Shi Xie that even after swallowing Jiaozhou whole, the odds were good he'd have left the Shi family to languish in some quiet corner. The eldest son, Shi Xin—sent to Sun Quan as a hostage—got off with nothing worse than demotion to commoner status while the rest of his family lost their heads.
In any case, it was precisely because I dimly remembered the original history that I had picked Shi Hui out and aimed the question at him. If anyone in the Shi family was likely to cause trouble, it was him and no one else.
Singled out so pointedly, Shi Hui held his silence for a moment.
Guards in full armor stood rigid at their posts, staring straight ahead without the slightest lapse. Seo Yeo watched the Shi family with an expression that gave nothing away, while Lü Bu, wearing her usual air of boredom, waited for this whole affair to be over. To any observer it was unmistakably pressure being applied to the Shi family—but what of it? A little intimidation beat being foolishly underestimated and inviting an unnecessary incident.
Shi Hui was not so oblivious a man that he wouldn't know how to conduct himself in a situation like this.
"...As my uncle has said, our devotion to the Han will never fade."
"I see."
No telling how things would stand down the road, but for the moment, the pecking order seemed firmly settled. Gazing into Shi Hui's unreadable eyes, I turned my mind to my plans for what came next.
...He saw straight through every last thought in my head?
So thought Shi Hui as he made his way toward Yangzhou at his father's command.
If you asked the people of this world to name the figure whose authority towered highest, whom would most of them choose? Some would point to the Emperor residing in Luoyang, but anyone with a properly working head already knew the true answer.
The General-in-Chief. A man born on the frontier of Bing Province, who now held greater power in his grasp than anyone alive. Should he set his mind to it, Shi Hui judged, deposing the Emperor and founding a new state would be no great undertaking.
Having observed the General-in-Chief with his own eyes, if only briefly, Shi Hui could tell: even if the man turned his back on the Han, talents who would gladly follow him existed in droves.
...They said not one of the battles he had personally commanded had ever ended in defeat.
Was that his own ability? Or the ability of the officers who followed him, ready to lay down their lives for him? It made no difference which. The fact remained that no battle fought to date could be called a defeat for the General-in-Chief.
"And what do you think?"
It was the question the General-in-Chief had put to him in a level, unhurried voice. To anyone watching, it might have seemed like nothing more than a question—but Shi Hui had caught exactly what intent lay behind it.
"Father! Do you truly mean to send us away as hostages?!"
"..."
For no one had opposed Shi Xie's decision to send his own flesh and blood to the General-in-Chief more fiercely than Shi Hui himself.
"A warning from the General-in-Chief or no—to send your entire household to him as hostages?"
"It is not too late even now! Rescind this order, I beg you!"
"...My son."
Shi Xie, who had met his son's outburst with silence, spoke in a calm voice.
"Do we truly believe ourselves kings now?"
Zhu Fu, the previous Inspector of Jiaozhi, had died earlier than in the original history, and Shi Xie, who succeeded him, had governed the land for several years. His benevolent rule had won him the overwhelming devotion of the region's people—but that devotion extended no further than Jiaozhi itself. And had the General-in-Chief not already provided living proof that merely holding a province made one no match for him?
"Have you forgotten what became of Liu Jingsheng—Liu Biao, that is—once hailed among the Eight Gentlemen of Jiangxia?"
"..."
"This is the only way I can save your lives."
Jing Province, the wealthiest land in all the realm alongside Jizhou. And what had become of Liu Biao, who seized that province, drowned in arrogance, and carried on like an emperor? The man himself had descended into madness, cutting down the innocent until he died at the hands of one of his own generals, while his household was dragged out under collective punishment—every last one of them beheaded or made a slave. Could anyone be certain such an end would never come for his own family?
Shi Xie could only shake his head.
"If you cannot bring yourself to believe it, then go and confirm it with your own two eyes."
His third son's gaze still brimming with resentment despite all his persuasion, Shi Xie continued.
"And then you, too, will come to understand why I made this choice."
Shi Hui had answered his father's counsel with a sullen expression.
"...And yet you yourself have never once seen the General-in-Chief in person, have you, Father?"
"Haha."
Shi Xie had smiled, gentle as ever.
"This old father of yours may know nothing else, but he has piled up a lifetime's worth of experience."
"..."
"Go with your uncle and your brothers, and see for yourself what this Han is truly like."
And now, at last, Shi Hui understood why his father had made that choice.