In Motion (5)
Camped within sight of Yijing Tower, I received some startling news one day.
"A letter has arrived saying the gates of Yijing Tower will open before long, and that we are to move in support?"
"Yes."
"......"
This came completely out of left field.
Could this be what Zhang Jue had once called the 'wind'? I couldn't for the life of me see why this situation would be called a wind, but prophecies were always couched in vague, roundabout language, so I didn't think it strange.
Look at how movies and novels portray prophecy—it's nothing but metaphor piled on rhetorical flourish.
'The god has spoken: when sun and moon press together, the light shall fade upon the wilderness.'
'...And can you tell me what that prophecy means?'
'No idea.'
'......'
Perhaps you had to be a decent poet before the heavens granted you the gift of prophecy.
Then again, it would rather kill the mystique if a transcendent being spelled out the exact time and place, wouldn't it?
'The god has spoken: at XX o'clock, on the XX day of XX month in the year XXX, XX shall XX the XX at XX...'
'Y-yes... I've... got it...'
...At that point you could hardly call it a god. More like a mother-in-law who meddles in every last little detail of your life.
Having wandered down that tangent for a moment, I pulled my thoughts back and asked what I was curious about regarding the mysterious letter.
"Who sent it?"
"Unknown."
Yuan Shao, to whom I had delegated most of the authority over the assault on Yijing Tower, explained in her measured, deliberate voice.
"The one who delivered the letter, likewise, remembers nothing at all—as though possessed by something."
"......"
And now a mystic strolls onto the stage.
Judging by Yuan Shao's account that the messenger had seemed to be in some kind of trance, whoever brought me that letter was most likely someone who dealt in uncanny, supernatural arts.
"No matter how I look at it, it's suspicious!"
At that moment Lü Bu, who had been listening in nearby, bellowed.
"What if they're just pretending to open the gates so they can stab us in the back? You know, that one trick—gong-something-or-other!"
"...You mean the Empty Fort Strategy?"
"Yeah! That one!"
The Empty Fort Strategy. A ruse in which you fling the gates wide open, lure the enemy inside the walls, and spring a surprise attack.
It was a scheme that worked best on the deeply suspicious—and in actual history, both Cao Cao and Sima Yi, possessors of cunning that bowed to no one, had famously swallowed it whole. Cao Cao was fooled by Zhao Yun; Sima Yi by Zhuge Liang. If anything, you might say they tripped over their own cleverness.
Then again, the original Lü Bu had always had one hell of a personality, so there was nothing odd about her floating this theory.
"Hmm... It's probably fine, you know?"
Sima Yi said in a calm voice after hearing Lü Bu out.
"A fortress stocked to hold out for years to come has no reason to throw away the advantage of sitting on the defense."
"......"
"Even if the gambit succeeded, with our numbers we'd make good the losses in no time. If it failed, it would simply be the end of them."
The violet-haired strategist turned her gaze on me.
"Would Gongsun Zan have any reason to run a ploy that is needlessly dangerous and pays back so little?"
"Fair point."
In other words: enormous risk, pitiful return—so this was no Empty Fort Strategy.
Not that it would have mattered much even if it were. An ambush only works when the two sides are at least roughly evenly matched; for a force like ours, which had never once been pushed back in a head-on clash of raw strength, losing to such a trick would have been absurd.
"......"
"...What's with that look on your face?"
"Nothing at all."
I brushed off Sima Yi's question. It was only a touch surreal, watching the Sima Yi who had famously fallen for the Empty Fort Strategy in the original history see straight through it this time.
Well, back then her opponent had been Zhuge Liang. The woman who had always relied on solid, dependable stratagems had, for the first time, thrown out a wild gamble—no one could have seen it coming. That was less a case of Sima Yi being dull and more one of Zhuge Liang being simply extraordinary.
"What about you two? Does the letter strike you as a trap?"
I turned my head and asked the other Little Strategists standing nearby.
"Far too crude to be a trap."
"I-I don't think it's a trap either."
Zhuge Liang delivered a merciless verdict, while Pang Tong timidly offered her own opinion.
"Good."
Then there was only one decision left to make.
I gave a single nod and issued the order straight away.
"Settle the troops and prepare for the battle to come. We will answer the inside man's call."
"We shall follow your command."
Yuan Shao accepted my order with courtly deference.
"...My lord."
"Hm?"
Just then Guan Yu, who had been vigilantly watching our surroundings with a stern expression, addressed me.
"I ask only to set my mind at ease—you have no intention of taking the field yourself, do you?"
"What?!"
Zhang Fei, who had been standing there with a blank look, waiting for time to pass, jolted upright in alarm.
"Absolutely not! If you're setting one foot on that battlefield, you'll have to put me down first—BAM!"
"I wasn't asking you."
Leaving behind Zhang Fei—who, with a fist planted squarely on her head, once again let out something like a chick's dying words—Guan Yu looked me dead in the eye.
"......"
"......"
Whoa. The looks on the faces around me were anything but friendly.
The moment I announced I was taking the field, I risked being thrown into forced confinement on the spot. They wouldn't stoop to tying me up with rope, but short of that, I could think of plenty of inventive ways to pen me in.
In the worst case, all Seo Yeo would have to do was wrap me in a bear hug and simply hold on, and I wouldn't be able to budge an inch. I knew she was strong, but I genuinely could not move. Was this how characters in wuxia novels felt, shackled to a thousand-pound weight?
...Come to think of it, that's not so different from being tied up with rope after all. The only difference was that a far softer, warmer girl did the binding in place of the rope.
It went without saying that I didn't even need to bring Seo Yeo into it—anyone with a modicum of strength could bind me in earnest, and there would be no escaping. Seo Yeo, who granted my every wish, refused exactly one thing: anything concerning my personal safety...
Under the stares of every soul in the council chamber, I answered evenly.
"I won't move so much as an inch from this spot, so rest easy."
"...I see."
Hearing my firm answer, Guan Yu's expression eased noticeably, as if a weight had lifted. Behind all that stern bearing, she truly did look after everything that needed looking after. However blunt her exterior, she was a kind woman with a deep well of warmth.
The date written in the letter wasn't far off at all. Apparently someone inside Yijing Tower who opposed Gongsun Zan had finished laying the groundwork long ago. Well, the sooner the fortress fell, the better for me, so I let it pass without a second thought.
And so the day of the great undertaking arrived. Every unit, its battle preparations complete, lit up with fierce anticipation—and then,
Grrrrrind──
The gates of Yijing Tower—gates we had assumed would not move for at least several years—truly began to open.
"...CHARGE──!!"
The moment that colossal gate, worthy of twelve-meter ramparts, swung wide, the generals of Yuan Shao's force—Yan Liang and Wen Chou foremost among them—gave the order as one.
WAAAAAH──!!
Our soldiers, who had been biding their time as they closed the distance, hurled themselves forward with a roar the instant the command fell.
"I'll be the first one inside──!!"
"B-Bofu?!"
...Sun Ce, living up to her Little Conqueror name, was shooting out ahead of everyone. Zhou Yu chased after her wearing a look of pure horror, and it looked utterly exhausting.
"BWAHAHA!! Not this time—I can't very well lose to my own daughter!!"
"Father──!!"
Like daughter, like father, I suppose. Even Sun Jian charged, unable to contain his boiling blood. It was a godsend that Hua Tuo and Zhang Jue had come along, just in case. Those two could drag Sun Jian back from death's door by force even if he returned bristling with a full load of arrows, like the time he attacked Liu Biao.
Sun Quan fidgeted helplessly at the sight of her entire family running wild, but true to her duty as my adjutant, she never left her post.
Since I couldn't move from where I sat, the army itself had been split clean in two. But our numbers were so vast that even halved, the force looked more than capable of swallowing Yijing Tower whole.
Gongsun Zan's army, which should have formed up in defense the instant the gates opened, was inexplicably thrown into confusion and failed to mount anything resembling real resistance.
"Choose! Surrender, or there is only death!"
"S-Surrender! I surrender!"
They simply quaked with preemptive terror, throwing down their weapons again and again. Soldiers, officers—even the generals were no exception. With their chain of command seemingly collapsed outright, I tilted my head.
"...What on earth happened inside Yijing Tower?"
Had Gongsun Zan, who should have been directing his soldiers from atop that towering keep, up and dropped dead? It had been barely two months since Gongsun Zan resurfaced and resumed his activities—and now the fortress had fallen in a way too absurd for words. All I could do was wear a question mark on my face.