An Unexpected Visit (6)
Come to think of it, shipping the Liu Bei sisters straight out of the city after all the hardships they must have endured on the road here felt a bit heartless. They would have had no money to speak of, so they had surely slept under the open sky for quite a long stretch—and then, the very moment they reached Luoyang, soldiers had seized them and thrown them into a cell. Their stay behind bars hadn't lasted more than a few hours, granted, but a jail is the sort of place that drains the spirit right out of you no matter how briefly you sit in it.
The memory of how scruffy Liu Bei's party had looked while choosing their horse tugged at something in me. It wasn't raggedness worn on the sleeve, but a strangely threadbare look all the same, and that peculiar in-between state prodded my sympathy all the more. So before sending them on their way, I told the sisters where they could lodge and rest up properly, and paid their bill myself.
At that, Liu Bei stepped forward as their representative to thank me, and though Guan Yu and Zhang Fei said nothing, they too looked grateful for the kindness. Watching the sworn sisters of the Peach Garden Oath like that, I could tell my little scheme to put them in my debt had landed. These were people who would never lightly forget a favor received, so the "take the money and run" outcome everyone dreads was never going to happen.
And so the next day came around. I stood before the three sisters—rested, refreshed, and looking considerably more presentable than before—and spoke in a level tone.
"Now then, time you were truly on your way."
I had given them a horse, money, and a long rest for their weary bodies; now it was the Liu Bei sisters' turn to honor their end of the bargain.
"Believe me, I'd rather have you rest a few more days, but this is a pressing matter."
Jia Xu had filled me in earlier: there was precious little time left to save Liu Yu. No one could say how long Liu Yu could hold out against Gongsun Zan, nor how long Gongsun Zan would bother keeping him alive once he had him in hand. Worst case, who was to say the two wouldn't clash outside the walls, get thoroughly mauled, and see Liu Yu captured in a single day? And Gongsun Zan might well lop off Liu Yu's head the instant he laid hands on him, as if to say, you got exactly what you deserved.
Liu Bei raised no particular objection to any of this, answering with a respectful bow.
"I will be sure to repay the General-in-Chief's kindness."
"Good. Then bring him back safe and sound."
Mounted on Dilu, Liu Bei dipped her head in farewell and slowly receded toward the city gate.
From here on, the balance of the realm would flow in directions even I couldn't foresee. If the Inspector of Youzhou fell to Gongsun Zan, then Gongsun Zan would swallow You Province whole. And how the contest of wits that followed would play out, I had no way of knowing. Yuan Shao might prevail as in the original history—or, failing that, a Gongsun Zan with a far vaster power base might carry the day.
If—and I mean truly if—Gongsun Zan won, the map of the world would shift so drastically that the history I remembered would cease to be a reliable guide. I could still consult it as a reference, but blind faith in it was no longer an option.
Even so, I wasn't particularly worried. Naturally—just look at the caliber of talent arrayed in our camp. A contest of strength? We had Lü Bu, Zhang Liao, Gao Shun, and more standing in ranks. A contest of minds? Jia Xu covered the scheming and Xun You the stratagems. Luck played a heavier hand there, admittedly, but we also had Zhang Jue and her sorcery, and on top of that Seo Yeo—a tactical nuke with plenty of conditions attached, but one that guaranteed victory the moment she was deployed. Short of an unprecedented catastrophe like the recent coalition, where the entire realm came marching at me at once, I could smash to smithereens any faction that dared bare its teeth.
Still, before pushing things through with raw force, it was better to win over whoever could be won. This country was already as weakened as it could get from long years of corruption and rebellion. War, in the end, was the worst possible choice—a matter of carving flesh from one's own body to eat. The fact remained that this was an age of chaos, a time when warlords nursed their separate ambitions and carved out domains of their own. Even so—wouldn't it be better to turn every person who could become an ally into exactly that?
"Pass through."
The gate guards had evidently been briefed in advance, for they parted to let the three sisters by the moment they appeared. Riding Dilu through the gate, Liu Bei picked out one conspicuous figure among them—arms and regalia that announced a commander at a glance.
She tossed a mischievous remark at the guard captain, who was wearing his sternest face.
"No arrest this time?"
"...Ahem."
The captain only cleared his throat, looking sheepish. Fair enough—it had been he himself who recognized the three sisters and had them seized.
The soldier whose service at the Battle of Hulao Pass had been recognized in its own right and carried him up to this lofty post stole a sideways glance.
"I was merely faithful to my duty."
Any soldier who had taken part in the Battle of Hulao Pass would carry the sight of that day to his grave. It was like witnessing with one's own eyes a legendary battle handed down only in stories. Because the captain had seen that spectacle firsthand, he had been able to identify the sisters on sight and bind them without delay.
Truthfully, when he first spotted the three of them trying to climb over the city wall during his watch, he had braced himself to die there—resolved that even if this one life fell on that very spot, Luoyang would not be passed easily. That mission-swollen resolve had simply never been put to the test.
"More than that, I confess I found it surprising that you submitted to us so peacefully."
Their skill was such that they could stand toe to toe with General Lü Bu, Peerless Under Heaven herself. He had fully expected them, given the chance to close the distance, to flash those wicked weapons and cut him down with a single stroke. Yet contrary to every expectation, the three sisters had offered no resistance whatsoever as they were bound.
Liu Bei answered his question with a smile.
"Because that was our intention from the very start."
"...I cannot begin to understand it."
The captain shook his head at the impenetrable answer.
"Plenty of travelers are waiting, so hurry along, if you please. Let us hope we never meet as enemies next time."
"Yes. We shall take our leave, then."
The captain flapped his hand in a shooing gesture, and Liu Bei rode out of Luoyang with a warm smile.
Not far beyond the city walls, Zhang Fei, trailing along behind her, spoke up.
"...So, Sister Xuande. What do we do now?"
"What do we do? Do not tell me you intend to simply disregard the kindness the General-in-Chief has bestowed upon us."
At Guan Yu's expressionless stare, Zhang Fei jerked upright in alarm and scrambled to deny it. If she showed so much as a hint of agreement here, something that made a knuckle-rap look like a love tap would come flying at her head!
"N-no! It's not that! We definitely have to bring Liu Yu back first, that's all!"
"Address him as the Inspector of Youzhou, not Liu Yu."
"Anyway!"
Glare though she did, Guan Yu had settled into a posture that said she would at least hear her out, and Zhang Fei breathed an inward sigh of relief. Even Sister Guan Yu, who always strove to look composed, occasionally flared up over the oddest things, just as she did herself. Was that what they meant by sisters taking after one another...?
"What I'm asking is—once we've rescued this Inspector of Youzhou person, what then?"
"..."
"Are we just going to drift aimlessly again?"
"...Mm."
At Zhang Fei's question, Liu Bei sank slowly into thought.
"Come to think of it, we never asked about that in the first place."
As though she had only just remembered it, an exclamation mark practically popped up over Zhang Fei's head. She switched tack and tried Liu Bei again from a different angle.
"How was the coalition, anyway? Did anyone catch your eye, Sister Xuande?"
"..."
Liu Bei called to mind the figures who had gathered for council in the coalition camp. The most striking of them all had been the coalition's leader, eyes blinded by greed. Then there were the warlords who tossed away the lives of powerless commoners as if they were nothing, so long as their own interests were served. The silver-haired girl who watched her with a look that made her uneasy at every council; the golden-haired woman who was first to lock horns with the leader and storm out of her seat.
Liu Bei shook her head at Zhang Fei's question.
"Regrettably, no."
"Hmph. Knew it."
Zhang Fei gave a derisive snort.
"I called it all from the first moment I laid eyes on those coalition types."
There had certainly been heroes among them fully capable of commanding the realm. And yet... not one of those heroes, so far as Liu Bei could tell, dreamed the same dream she did.
This was a miserable age of endless war, where countless lives were snuffed out by the day. In an era where fighting broke out practically every other day, who suffered most of all? The common people, none other. A nation could exist only because of its people—its ordinary folk. Yet most of the figures in that coalition never understood this, and the few who did chose to willfully ignore it, placing their own ambitions first. The moment a nation turns its back on its people, its fall is assured—so why did they oppress them so? Wasn't this very Han dynasty reeling on its foundations because of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, a revolt raised by the people themselves?
Liu Bei could not stand by and watch the misfortune of the powerless. That was why she had resolved to show them through action—what the power of the very people they so scorned was truly capable of.
"...If the coalition was like that, what about the General-in-Chief?"
Zhang Fei asked. To her question, Liu Bei smiled and tossed it right back.
"What about you, Yide?"
"...Uh, I..."
Zhang Fei trailed off, as if calling up the streets of Luoyang she had walked only moments ago. At last, having finished thinking it through, she spoke with an awkward look on her face.
"Right now... I don't really feel like fighting them."
The people there lived out their days in peace, laughing with genuine happiness. Even for Zhang Fei, who had wandered the whole realm and seen every city there was to see, it was a sight she had never once witnessed. It left her with some strange, floaty feeling—not that it was a bad feeling by any means.
"What about you, Yunchang?"
Watching her, Liu Bei turned the question to Guan Yu this time. Guan Yu answered evenly, her gruff expression unchanged.
"I am of the same mind as Yide."
Liu Bei smiled and said,
"Then isn't it decided?"