Aftermath (1)
The coalition army had been forced to retreat without so much as crossing Hulao Pass!
The news struck the realm like a bolt from the blue, and the handful of warlords who had sat out the alliance each reacted in their own distinct way.
"What is there to be so startled about? Tally up every factor, and a defeat for Jeong Reung's army was simply never in the cards."
Some had clearly expected this all along and went straight back to their own work,
"He was outnumbered several times over, and he still held them off...? What in the world is this man?"
while others wore expressions of genuine astonishment, as though the possibility had never once crossed their minds.
Granted, they had failed to cross Hulao Pass, but the coalition had achieved its original purpose of checking Jeong Reung's power — so while they might grumble at the wasted effort, none of them were truly downcast.
Back at their home bases, the warlords set about replenishing their lost soldiers, putting their domestic affairs in order, and keeping a wary eye on the movements of the warlords around them.
And so, once the great typhoon known as the Anti-Jeong Reung Coalition had passed, there arrived the age of warlords carving up the realm — an age in which every man began, little by little, to bare his ambitions.
"What utterly insolent wretches!"
The Imperial Palace, where the Emperor made her residence. Seated upon the throne, Her Majesty was in such a state of agitation she looked ready to leap right out of it.
"Your Majesty, please, compose yourse—"
"Silence! The one who ought to be raging even harder than We are right now is you!"
I couldn't hide my bewilderment at the sight of the Emperor acting like a small child — a rare sight, these days.
"When did We ever issue a decree ordering you to be subjugated?! Surely another emperor has not appeared in the realm without Our knowledge?!"
"Um... no, that hasn't happened."
Admittedly, there was one new emperor who would eventually pop up out of nowhere once the board had all but settled — but that lay in the far, far distant future.
Considering the Imperial Seal, lost during the Ten Attendants' Rebellion, had still never been recovered, the sensible conclusion was that someone had already made off with it in secret.
And after wandering from hand to hand, that seal would end up in that man's possession. He might well have it already.
"If not that, then did We go mad, command you subjugated, and then clean forget the whole thing?!"
"Uh... that hasn't happened either."
Our dear Emperor was still at an age with a great deal of growing left to do.
She had been driven to the brink mentally by a string of affairs in the past, but that, too, had been steadily improving since.
Reaching her and caring for her right before she broke entirely had mattered enormously. So that was why she leaned on me like this?
"Then you mean to tell Us those wretches are fabricating imperial decrees and wielding them however they please!"
"That is correct."
"Do you know what history calls such men?!"
Ah.
"Traitors, traitors! Every last one of them is a traitor to the throne!"
Good grief.
In a realm ruled by a sovereign, the Emperor had just spoken aloud the single word her subjects feared most.
Treason was the charge invoked most often whenever the extermination of a family's three generations was pronounced.
She looked ready to declare every warlord under heaven a traitor that very instant.
I bowed my head and chose my words carefully.
"Your Majesty. Your fury is entirely understandable, but might I suggest we await the proper moment?"
"Hh, hmm... And why is that?"
Having recovered a measure of composure at my words, the Emperor asked for my reasoning.
"If you were to declare every warlord who marched with the coalition a traitor now, the eyes of the realm would turn upon me yet again."
"..."
"And then they would insist that the true traitor is the scoundrel crouching behind the Son of Heaven and monopolizing the affairs of state."
...was what Jia Xu had told me to say.
As though she had foreseen this exact situation, Jia Xu had walked me through precisely how to behave, point by point.
Having a brilliant mind on hand truly did make everything easier.
A traitor's brand. Not a bad weapon, that. To be branded a traitor was to turn every single soul belonging to that state against you.
Naturally, no private individual could shoulder the consequences of making an enemy of an entire nation, so everyone would have no choice but to mind their step.
But that only held true when the central government was strong.
In circumstances like these, the word "traitor" amounted to nothing more than a pretext for waging war.
So this was why they said controlling the Son of Heaven was such a boon. Whenever you felt like attacking, you simply declared "You're a traitor" and marched in.
In an age where justification mattered above all else, the ability to choose your moment of attack at will was an enormous advantage.
And conversely, if you were the one attacked, you could serve up a counter of your own: "I say — why are you attacking the very place where the Son of Heaven resides? That makes you the traitor, doesn't it?"
Except that, with me currently saddled with the framing of "just another Dong Zhuo," the effect was marginal.
Listening to myself, I felt like a broken record chirping nothing but "traitor" — but what could I do? No word in the language was more reliable.
"If we act rashly, the storm is more likely to blow back against us instead."
Following the script Jia Xu had handed me, I coaxed the Emperor along, slowly and steadily.
"I humbly beseech Your Majesty to reconsider your judgment."
"..."
At some point the Emperor had sunk deep into thought, and now she heaved out a long sigh.
"Very well. Not one word of it is wrong. We shall do as you say."
"I am grateful."
"Do not take this to mean We have forgiven them."
The Emperor's obsidian eyes — that black peculiar to the imperial bloodline — glittered as she spoke with grave solemnity.
"Sooner or later, they will pay the price for this."
Her grudges ran long. Frighteningly so.
"There is little We cannot forgive, but any hand raised against you We shall never, ever let pass."
"..."
Wait. So attacking me angers her more than them forging imperial decrees?
Not that I hadn't seen it coming, but this little Emperor's point of view was a touch skewed as well.
"As of late, at your urging, We have been striving diligently to attend to the governance of the realm."
"The honor is far beyond my deserving."
"And yet should you vanish from Our side one day, We suspect We would lose all heart and let everything fall to ruin."
There she goes again, landing a direct hit.
Having spoken those burning-cheek words, the Emperor wore an utterly composed expression.
"Keep these words ever in your memory."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"That nothing in this world matters more to Us than you."
"...I am grateful."
Somehow, I had a feeling the Emperor had me wrapped around her little finger after all.
When the battle with the coalition ended and I returned to Luoyang, I found myself besieged by a mountain of work.
Everything had already been sifted and sorted down below; all that remained was for me to stamp my approval. Right. Today, I was not a man but a stamp-pressing machine.
...Not literally, of course. Merely a figure of speech.
I was paging through the documents, groaning as I tried to grind their contents into my woefully inadequate brain, when Seo Hwang arrived bearing a most unexpected piece of news.
"They say Yuan Shu has sent a gift, as a gesture of reconciliation."
A reconciliation gift?
From Yuan Shu, of all people?
"What manner of gift?"
At my puzzled expression, Seo Hwang's face turned faintly troubled.
"Well, about the gift... it's, um..."
One look told me something was wrong with this gift.
Of course there was. That Yuan Shu would never send anything so considerate as an ordinary present.
"I'll inspect it myself. Let's go."
"Understood."
When I rose from my seat and said so, Seo Hwang apparently judged there was no harm in it, nodding and falling in behind me.
"So where is this gift?"
"Yuan Shu's envoy is waiting directly in front of the government office."
And since we were in the government office, that meant he was standing right outside the door.
Just as Seo Hwang had said — no sooner had I pushed the door open and stepped out than Yuan Shu's envoy came into view, waiting upon my arrival.
Word must have traveled fast, because a crowd of generals residing in Luoyang had already drifted over to watch the spectacle.
Draped at a glance in robes of staggering splendor, the envoy seemed less a man than a walking proclamation of Yuan Shu's wealth.
As I drew near, he bowed with elaborate courtesy and spoke.
"By command of the General of the Rear, I have come to present a gift to the General-in-Chief."
"Right. I'm somewhat pressed for time, so let us proceed with all haste."
At my proposal that we dispense with the mutual flattery and get straight to business, the envoy's movements stiffened for just a moment.
The man had been ever so slightly offended just now. Only natural, given how coldly I'd spoken.
But Yuan Shu had no grounds to complain about such treatment.
"Then, as the General-in-Chief wishes, I shall present the gift first. Ho there! Bring it forth!"
Bring it forth? Not carry it in — bring it forth? Was it alive?
The instant the envoy shouted, a man from the rear led a horse forward, straight toward me.
Apparently, that horse was Yuan Shu's so-called gift.
Well, then. Let's have a look.
Even a cursory once-over revealed a powerfully built brown horse that plainly announced itself a fine steed, and I couldn't spot a single thing about it worth objecting to.
Then why on earth had Seo Hwang given me that dazed, evasive non-answer?
The envoy continued, chest puffed with pride.
"This horse is a mount of the very finest bloodline, hand-picked and rigorously vetted by Lord Yuan Shu himself. Surely it shall delight the General-in-Chief's—"
"Hey."
At that moment, Lü Bu strode forward, her crimson twin-tails streaming behind her.
Scowling in open displeasure as she cut the exchange short, she drew an immediate scolding from Yuan Shu's envoy.
"You there! How dare you! Can you not see I am speaking with the General-in-Chief—"
"You're loud, so shut it and answer the question."
Whoa. Why had her speech suddenly turned so foul?
Judging by the way Lü Bu was talking, something had seriously set her off.
Was there something wrong with that horse?
"You think we're idiots or something?"
"..."
Under the force of Lü Bu's verbal broadside, the envoy's mouth clamped shut.
Making no attempt to hide my shock, my eyes went wide.
"Lü Bu?"
"You can chew me out later. Quiet, for now."
What was this? It was extraordinarily rare for Lü Bu — who showed only her soft side to me — to come out this hard-edged.
A face I never saw except when my very life hung in the balance.
Lü Bu fixed the envoy with a murderous glare from her blood-red eyes.
"That's Dilu, isn't it. Is he picking a fight with us to our faces?"
Ah.
So that's why she was so furious.
Say what you would about Yuan Shu, the man knew how to provoke with breathtaking genius.