The Yellow Turban Rebellion (4)
Having lost the city walls and the gates, the Yellow Turban army was now waging street warfare within the city itself.
Their last stand, in every sense of the word.
All that remained for the imperial army was to sweep away the stragglers, take the head of their leader Zhang Jue, and declare to the world that the Yellow Turban Rebellion was over.
But the strength of an army that had resisted to its dying breath was nothing to sneer at.
"Now we show our conviction to this incompetent court! For our brothers and sisters!"
"WAAAAGH—!!"
The Yellow Turbans, burning the last of their strength, threw the imperial soldiers into a desperate struggle. Even with weapons buried in their bodies and death closing in, they swung their blades until the very end, dragging their killers along with them. Wounded men sprawled on the ground clung to the soldiers' ankles, refusing to let them pass. Driven by the madness of taking at least one more enemy down with them, they only grew more dangerous — and the imperial casualties kept climbing.
Without capable commanders like Lü Bu, the Battle of Julu would surely have ended in defeat. If the Yellow Turbans had been given more time, the whole country might truly have been turned upside down.
But their plans had been exposed early by an informer within their ranks, forcing Zhang Jue to launch the rebellion far ahead of schedule.
"There you are."
"Lü Bu?"
Lü Bu, who had gone up onto the wall and turned it into a slaughterhouse, came strolling over to me.
"The wall's completely done for?"
"Yep. Turns out there were a few other kids fighting pretty well besides me. I gave things a good shake and left the rest to them."
For that Lü Bu to call someone a good fighter — that was genuinely rare. Whoever it was, we were bound to cross paths someday.
"Do you know the names of the ones you said fought well?"
At my question, Lü Bu tilted her head, thinking for a moment.
"What were they called again... Guan Yu and Zhang Fei? Probably that."
"...Really."
This was the final battle of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, so it was hardly strange that Liu Bei was here. Which meant Cao Cao and Yuan Shao and Sun Jian were all lurking somewhere in this city too.
Frankly, I didn't much care to meet any of them.
"Let's move, and fast! Everyone's scrambling around shouting that they're the one who'll catch Zhang Jue!"
A contest over credit, huh? I wasn't exactly itching to join.
But looking into those bright, sparkling eyes of hers, I couldn't quite bring myself to brush it off with a flat 'not interested.'
"Fine, sure."
"Great! Then let's hurry to the government office!"
I shook my head at Lü Bu's suggestion.
"No need to go there."
"Huh? Why not?"
"Zhang Liao's probably already there."
"Oh... right."
Zhang Liao had been the first to punch through the force holding the gates and enter the city. Leading the soldiers I'd brought from Bing Province, she'd have reached the government office ages ago.
Which left only Seo Yeo and Lü Bu at my side.
"So what do we do?"
"We search the places no one would ever think to look. He might be somewhere completely unexpected."
For reasons I couldn't quite name, I didn't believe for a second that Zhang Jue would be at the government office. Having actually met the man, I'd say his way of thinking was... unusual. If he was hiding anywhere, it would be somewhere that caught everyone off guard.
Lü Bu looked at me curiously.
"And where would that be?"
"Hmm..."
I turned my head toward the direction where houses clustered together.
"An ordinary house?"
──────────
"Well, we said we'd look..."
Entering the residential district with the Sky Piercer Halberd slung over her shoulder, Lü Bu groaned.
"There are way too many houses!"
"Julu is a major city."
A city means a lot of people, and a lot of people means a lot of houses. Add one 'great' to the front of that, and you get something absolutely staggering. With houses stretching to the four corners of the earth, how were we supposed to find a man in hiding? This must be what it feels like to be told to find a needle in a desert.
"Don't worry. We'll find him eventually."
The city was already sealed off. Unless Zhang Jue could literally work magic, slipping out unnoticed was impossible. Seek, and eventually you would find.
At my breezy confidence, Lü Bu pouted.
"Aren't you being a little too relaxed about this?"
"You worried someone's going to steal your credit?"
"Th-that's not it!"
I was chuckling and ruffling the hair of a red-faced Lü Bu when a young girl came up to me.
"Are you the one who came from Bing Province?"
"Hm? That's me, but..."
I couldn't hide my bewilderment at this stranger who had appeared without so much as a footstep. Her face was plain, yet beautiful all the same — and my guard rose of its own accord.
One thing I had become certain of since being born into this world: a beautiful woman was one hundred percent guaranteed to be something. And when a woman like that came looking for me as though she'd been waiting the moment I stepped into the residential district, the odds only got better.
"There's no need to be so wary. I'm merely inviting you to our home."
"Really?"
"Yes. We've even prepared a small gift."
If they were offering gifts, there was no reason to refuse. I nodded to the girl, who waited for my answer with a soft smile.
"Then let's go. Lead the way."
Lü Bu tilted her head.
"You're trusting talk that shady?"
"It's a little too sloppy to be a trap..."
Falling in behind the girl, I answered her question.
"And even if it is a trap, there's no real reason to come after me."
It was true that I'd brought an army, but compared to the full imperial force, it was a drop in the bucket. Even if an ambush succeeded, the payoff would be negligible — so why target me?
"Mm... I guess?"
Hearing me out, Lü Bu nodded along, satisfied.
"......"
"Say something, will you?"
Perhaps Seo Yeo's unbroken silence had gotten on her nerves, but Lü Bu started prodding her as we walked.
"Seriously, do you only talk to him? You just ignore everyone else."
"......"
"Hey!"
"......"
"Seo Yeo!"
"......"
"You're being so weird about this! Just say one thing to me!"
Stung by Seo Yeo's blanket policy of ignoring her, Lü Bu shot me a look with smoldering eyes. I shrugged and spoke up.
"Seo Yeo?"
"Yes."
"AAAGH!!!"
Seo Yeo answered me instantly, and Lü Bu stamped her feet in frustration.
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The place the girl led me to was an utterly unremarkable house, the kind you could find in any town. In a street where nothing distinguished it from its neighbors, the girl gave me a small bow.
"You might lose your way, so from here on, please follow me closely."
The house didn't look nearly big enough to get lost in. The question flickered through my mind — but once I stepped inside, I understood exactly what she'd meant.
The moment she crossed the threshold, Lü Bu's face scrunched up.
"I feel like I'm floating. What's wrong with this house?"
At her reaction, the girl ahead of us spoke without turning around.
"We made some small adjustments, to turn away anyone who wasn't invited."
"Whoa. You do realize you just got a whole lot shadier, right?"
The girl only smiled, calm and unruffled.
"We've arrived."
Apparently having reached our destination, the girl turned to face me.
"No 'you have to go in alone' nonsense or anything?"
"No. Simply do as you please."
Opening the closed door, the girl bowed her head.
"May your conversation be a good one."
When the door swung open, a familiar figure appeared from within. A long, loose robe wrapped snugly around the body. A peculiar hat. A plain yellow mask with no pattern whatsoever, its eye-holes the only openings.
"Eh?"
At the sight she'd glimpsed once before, Lü Bu gave a distinctly unhelpful reaction.
The man responsible for throwing the whole world into an uproar was sitting right in front of us.
"I have been waiting for you."
Zhang Jue, the Great Good Master.
The leader of the Yellow Turbans had come to greet us himself.
I looked around the room, checking whether anyone else was hiding there. Apart from Zhang Jue and the three of us, the room was empty.
The single greatest opportunity for merit, delivered straight into our hands — and Lü Bu's face only soured at how easily it had come.
"...Do we even call this an opportunity?"
At her words, Zhang Jue showed no flicker of surprise. He simply sat, calm as still water.
Lü Bu rolled her eyes toward me. What do we do? they asked.
I was every bit as flustered as she was, and couldn't find my bearings. We stood there without moving a muscle, until at last Zhang Jue addressed me from his seat.
"Should you not be about the task you came to do?"
Attitude befitting a man inviting me to take his head. I let out a low hum.
"Hmmm... don't tell me the gift you mentioned is..."
"Yes. My head."
What a staggering gift it was.
"The head of the rebel leader who plunged the world into chaos — surely that would be no small offering?"
"Well, you're not wrong."
With an expression I couldn't read behind the mask, Zhang Jue spoke of his own worth in flat, matter-of-fact tones. All I had to do was walk over and take the head of a man who wouldn't even resist, then go home.
But one question had been gnawing at me since the moment I walked in, and I couldn't hold it back any longer.
"Why are you so good to me?"
"......"
Counting this moment, I had met Zhang Jue only twice — and both times, he'd been inexplicably kind to me. The first time, with a staggering host of a hundred and fifty thousand men at his back, he'd declared he would not make an enemy of me. This time, he was all but offering his own head so I could claim the greatest honor of the war, calmly walking himself to his own death.
When he didn't answer, I added a warning.
"If you won't tell me, I'm not moving a single step from this spot."
After a long silence, Zhang Jue opened his mouth slowly.
"...A world where people can live as people."
"Huh?"
"You once said you wished to build such a world. Did you not?"
How could he possibly know that? I'd said those words long, long ago, alone with my mother, laying out my ambitions. No one but her had ever heard them.
My eyes went wide as I stared at Zhang Jue.
"I have always been able, faintly, to read the heavens."
Was that what it had been — the way he gazed up at the sky just before we parted that first time?
I nodded slowly, recalling the man who had seemed, back then, almost to glimpse the future.
"Of course, it is far from perfect. I cannot know when or where anything will come, or in what form. Most of the time, I must interpret its meaning myself."
The heavens, apparently, were a remarkably fussy creature. Was that why the imperial army had been able to win?
"But from time to time, when I look upon a person, I see something."
Zhang Jue looked directly at me.
"A scene carved into fate itself, revealing what kind of person stands before me."
A resolute gesture.
"I remember."
Eyes filled with conviction.
"Every word you spoke that day."
"......"
He knew, Zhang Jue said, what I had said — that I wanted to make a place where people could live without fear.
"If a single life of mine can help a man like that — how could I not rejoice?"
So that was it. Roundabout as ever, it came down to this: he wanted to help me, and was giving me his head to do it.
"I believe I have explained enough. Do now what must be done."
With those words, Zhang Jue lowered his head and waited for me to act.
"......"
Sring.
The sound of a blade sliding free of its sheath.
I drew my sword and approached Zhang Jue, neck bared and waiting. Even when I stood directly in front of him, he did not lift his head.
"One last question."
"......"
"Do you truly want to help people?"
The final question. As though sensing it was his last moment on earth, Zhang Jue opened his mouth slowly.
"...Yes."
I turned to look at Lü Bu and Seo Yeo. Both watched me in silence, as if to say the choice was entirely mine.
I snorted a laugh.
"Then I won't kill you."
CLANG!
I dropped the sword from my hand and knelt on one knee, bringing myself level with Zhang Jue. He raised his head and stared at me in astonishment.
"What... what are you saying, all of a sudden—"
"You told me once that the Han was crumbling, didn't you?"
"......"
"You were right. It probably will fall."
The question I hadn't been able to answer when we first met.
The Yellow Turban Rebellion is only the beginning. A popular uprising born of the court's rot will torment that court without end, and a court with no strength to resolve it will keep widening the powers of its warlords. Those warlords, each a seat of independent authority, will swell and swell, and with every step the court's influence will fade further into nothing. Then, when the Ten Attendants' Rebellion plunges the capital into chaos, they will seize it as their pretext, break away across the land, and the age of warlords carving up the realm will begin.
In the end, the Han will be torn to shreds.
The Later Han era. The Three Kingdoms era. The Sixteen Kingdoms era. The Northern and Southern Dynasties era.
Four hundred years of endless war.
Four hundred years.
"Soon an age will come where strength is everything. And when it does — what becomes of the people who have none?"
China's dark age. Countless people will die. They will be stripped of everything they own and brutalized by senseless violence. They will despair, and rage, and in the end give up on absolutely everything.
"I'm not anyone so remarkable."
I'm no peerless warrior, and I'm no brilliant strategist who can conjure victories on the battlefield. I'm just an ordinary man, everywhere and nowhere, who aches for the unfortunate and sheds tears over them.
"If I take your head, I'll certainly gain something."
Take Zhang Jue's head and return, and the top honor of this war would be mine beyond doubt. In this history, the Yellow Turban army had grown far stronger than it ever was in the original, and the imperial army's losses had swollen accordingly — so the court had naturally set an enormous bounty on Zhang Jue's head, promising lavish treasure and high office. Beyond the staggering rewards and promotions, we miserable souls who'd been toiling away in a backwater like Bing Province might even carve out a place for ourselves in the imperial palace.
"But that isn't what I want."
I want a peaceful world. And I know exactly what kind of man I am.
I can do nothing alone. Dependent as I am on everyone around me, I've gone and started dreaming a dream far too grand for my station.
"All I want is to laze around and eat well for the rest of my life."
Somewhere quiet, doing no work at all, cackling away without a single worry about tomorrow — that's the life I want. For it, I'd gladly bow my head and put myself beneath another man's command. Though whether someone as useless as me would be any help at all, I couldn't say.
"But in a world like this, what good would it do if I alone lived that way?"
It's not some distant tragedy beyond my sight. People are dying in agony right in front of me. If I ate and lived in comfort until the day I died while all that went on, it would gnaw at me for the rest of my life.
"So? I'm nothing special, am I? This is the man you'd die for?"
"......"
"If you really mean to help people, then live — and help the sick and the suffering while you do."
In this age, he was one of a precious few truly gifted physicians. He could save countless lives.
"It was your brother who led me here, wasn't it? I'll help you both — so let's get out of here together."
Whether it was Zhang Bao or Zhang Liang, I couldn't say.
Zhang Jue answered me with a trembling voice.
"If it is discovered that you spared me... you will not be safe either."
"Never gave that a moment's thought."
If I'd worried about consequences, I'd have sent Seo Yeo straight back to the slums the day I brought her home.
"Let's go now."
I would hear no argument. At the firmness in my voice, Zhang Jue slowly nodded.
"...Yes."