Chapter 17
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Translator: volt
Chapter Title: The Prince's Archery Lesson and the March Home
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Archery—bowmanship, that is—is one of the traditional rites.
Fundamentally speaking, it's just hunting: shooting arrows to hit and kill prey.
But in movies set in Joseon Korea, you'll often see the king practicing archery.
So it's seen as a basic accomplishment for those of high status.
This place is no different.
"So you're asking me to teach you archery?"
"Yes! ...That's right!"
The Prince of Chenliu's words mixed formal respect with childish familiarity.
"Your Highness."
The gaze from behind me stung sharply.
The young eunuch attending the prince couldn't hide his discomfort.
Was it because I'd unwittingly broken etiquette?
Because the prince was speaking respectfully to me?
Or because the Bing Province soldiers gathered around the tent, unarmed but radiating a murderous aura?
"General Lü Bu. His Highness says your archery skills are extraordinary. Is that true?"
"It is."
My counterpart was a eunuch.
I didn't mean to slight him, but I knew my rank outstripped his.
"His Highness hopes General Lü will teach him."
"Me...?"
"To put it more precisely..."
"Show me once!"
The prince's eyes sparkled as he handed me his bow.
"One more time!"
"One more time means..."
He was probably referring to that moment when I pierced the carriage with my spear tip.
"It was just an ordinary feat."
"Coincidence, you mean?"
"Not coincidence."
Disappointment flickered across the prince's face.
"Just ordinary..."
"Ah, ordinary..."
"..."
He must have thought my archery was mere luck.
'I can't let that slide.'
They call it luck because it's archery, but if it were a billiards hall—
—Oh, dude. Lucky shot? Buyin' jjajangmyeon tonight?
—it'd be the same insult.
Bad word.
That's why its implications hit even harder.
Was that archery display really just luck?
'There's a limit to humility.'
The Bing Province way seemed best after all.
"Your Highness, General Lü is..."
"Will you give me the bow?"
As I reached out, the prince carefully handed it over.
"Fine bow. Well-maintained too. A bit large for Your Highness's practice, though..."
The bow itself was top-quality, but ill-suited to the Prince of Chenliu's size.
"Doesn't look like you've shot it often. Does it have a story?"
There were traces of handling, but the prince's hands bore no blisters.
"It was my brother's bow."
"..."
My grip nearly tightened involuntarily.
One could call it "passed down," but the prince's eyes held no fond memories of it.
Literally inherited.
From whom, then?
"Your Highness."
I nocked an arrow and drew the string toward the horizon.
"Whenever I shoot, this thought always crosses my mind."
"What thought...?"
"This arrow always hits."
"...?"
"See that crow over there?"
The dark night might make it hard to spot.
Even a child's eyes would squint in vain against the thick gloom.
"No need to see it. Listen for the sound, or watch the arrow's fletching."
"Ah, you mean that one?"
The prince stepped beside me and pointed ahead.
The eunuch paled at his casual approach, but the prince stared wide-eyed at my target crow.
Should I step back to ease the eunuch's worry? Lower the bow?
A flick sideways, and it'd look like regicide.
"Something's landed there, pecking at food!"
Only the prince spotted my crow and laughed.
Far off, but a faint red gleam pierced the dark, outlining its shape.
"Oh dear, Your Highness...!"
The eunuch stamped in panic.
Like a parent watching a child fall into the lion's den—praying, holding back from provoking the beast, face ashen.
I'm not eating anyone, why so flustered?
Then—
"...!"
The prince's guards.
Bing Province troops encircling them.
Hands on weapons, a powder keg.
'Damn it.'
Even a practice bow becomes lethal in an adult's— a warrior's—hands.
One way out.
'End it quick.'
Naturally, swiftly, under the guise of a mere demonstration.
"Your Highness. Watch closely. Three, two, one."
Twang—
I raised the bow skyward right after loosing.
Not for show—just signaling I'd clear the weapon from the prince.
"Wow—!"
The prince clapped and cheered.
"Hit the neck dead-on! Amazing, General!"
"..."
Respectful speech again.
The prince looked up at me with shining eyes.
Short stature, not even to my waist.
Not malnourished from Bing Province's frontier, so he was growing well.
A boy of about ten.
Prince or not, still a child.
"Your Highness."
I stepped back two paces from the Prince of Chenliu, knelt on one knee, and offered the bow with both hands.
"Fine bow, but too large for Your Highness's practice."
"..."
Disappointment crossed the prince's face.
Emotions plain on his face—he thought I was refusing.
"Instead, Your Highness needs a bow that fits."
"One that fits me?"
"Weapons should suit the body, like clothes."
I emphasized "weapons."
Whether he grasped it or not, the point was I'd said it.
"It's late. Next time, in brighter light."
"...Understood!"
The prince grinned broadly, clutching the bow with both hands.
"It's a promise, General Lü!!"
After the prince left with his eunuchs and guards.
"Close call, right?"
"Very."
"As expected."
I immediately summoned Zhang Liao and asked his read on the situation. His matched mine.
"If things escalated, the guards would've swung at you, General."
"Like walking thin ice. Every moment."
The prince's visit.
He just wanted to see my archery, but light body, heavy steps.
"The bow's owner hadn't set it aside even a year ago."
"..."
"The current emperor's, from his prince days."
The emperor and prince were half-brothers.
Age gap under six, per our intel.
"If he were the emperor's son, it'd be simpler."
"Then we'd be sharing drinks now. Currying favor with the heir."
"Tricky. Two empress dowagers already at each other's throats. Siding with a half-brother prince looks bad."
"..."
Power struggles turn on trifles.
Anywhere with people—clubs, local sports leagues—factions form, nitpick actions.
The palace no different.
Worse, even.
"No choice but to decide."
"General."
"Embarrassing to say myself, but one question."
Awkward, shy even.
"Will you die with me?"
"...Depends on the path you choose to die on, doesn't it?"
"Hah."
I'd mustered courage, set the mood—then his words deflated it.
"Well, I taught you well."
"General. Will you follow Governor Ding Yuan to the slaughter?"
"...Go on."
"Governor Ding Yuan uses you—uses the Bing Province Army."
Zhang Liao swept the cloth from the tent table.
"As leverage to swing his spear at the court if needed."
Beneath: an ink-drawn map on wood.
"If strife erupts with other warlords."
Mengjin Port and Luoyang.
"He'd seize command, use us to eliminate their troops."
Arrows on the diagram pointed from our camp to rival warlords' garrisons around Luoyang.
"He boasts of hobnobbing with court officials from his Guard General post, treating Bing Province Army like limbs."
Guesswork?
No.
"Soldiers under him already do it. Purging eunuch remnants as pretext."
The thousand Bing Province troops who entered Luoyang with Ding Yuan moved like occupiers.
"General. Whose army is the Bing Province Army?"
"This nation's."
"As a soldier—as your student—I dare advise."
Zhang Liao clasped fists, bowed.
"Whoever you fight, if no shame to yourself, I'll gladly stake this life beside you."
"...Tch."
A boil rose inside.
Not discomfort—just unaccustomed.
Something from books, movies.
"...No helping it. This way, seven thousand innocents die because of me. Branded rebels."
I stepped outside the tent.
"Bing Province Army."
Outside: Hou Cheng and cavalry captains, plus camp guards—all armed, arrayed.
"You've felt it too—this differs from Bing Province. I felt it keenly."
Along the path soldiers cleared, a platform awaited.
Torches blazed left and right, but night air chilled.
"Good intentions won't survive Luoyang. Bing Province logic fails here."
Approaching summer, yet.
"Luoyang's colder than we thought. Not even entered, and this chill."
Tonight's air cut skin-deep.
"Those like Li Su who left Bing Province spoke of it: naively virtuous is a sin."
Reality's cruel.
"Must we abandon virtue for gain?"
Cruel, so question it.
"Father said: live kindly, rightly."
My pre-reincarnation father, this land's father who raised me.
"Harm no one, he said. But."
The father who raised me, my mentor said.
"As you felt in Bing Province, pure kindness invites exploitation."
Just kind? Played for fools.
"Bing Province Army, hear me."
"""Yes—!!"""
Cheers echoed across camp.
"We serve no one's tool, raise no spears for one man's ambition."
Eyes wavered.
"Our spears move for loyalty and righteousness."
We came to the capital not for power-lust or court infiltration.
"Defy the late father's words? Unfilial. Disobey father, how speak of loyalty, righteousness?!"
Before all, I clenched fist, thrust to sky.
"Better return where filial piety thrives! To our land of righteousness and brotherhood—Bing Province!"
Withdraw.
No light decision.
"Capital unrest ended. No need for seven thousand Bing Province troops here."
Necessary for someone, but not for "bandit suppression."
"Court handles its own."
Avoid entanglement.
If entangled, steel resolve.
"But if someone must stay for Bing Province's sake."
I thumped my chest.
"I'll remain, secure support for you and your families."
"General!"
Hou Cheng dismounted, knelt.
"I'll stay with you too!"
No, wait—
Thud, thud, thud!
"..."
Cavalry captains first, then soldiers knelt unbidden.
Unsolicited, heads bowed—something boiled within.
"Bing Province Army, rise."
All stood, fists clenched.
"We call ourselves Bing Province Army, but our hearts converge as one. Hou Cheng, what?"
"Righteousness and brotherhood."
"Right."
Once like wuxia novels at enlistment—now certain.
"Anywhere under heaven, with righteousness and brotherhood in heart, wielding spears—we're comrades-in-arms."
If none here, I'd show what it means.
"Bing Province Army, hear me."
Words alone ring hollow—need practical plan.
"Split forces. One returns across Yellow River, patrols Bing Province, sweeps bandits. The other stays, clears Mengjin bandits."
"Bandit suppression"—apt pretext.
"No need for many in Luoyang. Came seven thousand; no need to leave that many."
One thousand already in Luoyang.
"Hou Cheng. A Bing Province soldier must fell how many bandits per man and return alive?"
"One soldier fells ten bandits, returns safe—to claim Bing Province soldier!"
"Simple math then."
Whoosh.
Wind blew.
Dawn neared; I thrust the banner pole skyward.
"From now, only seven hundred stay! Rest, pack now!"
Seven hundred suffices.
Not excess, not short.
"I'll stay in Luoyang! Go defend Bing Province—our home!"
Since I stay.
"General."
Cavalry captain approached platform.
"Obey orders, but two issues."
"Yes."
From him, practical concerns.
"Who selects the seven hundred?"
"You."
"..."
"Hou Cheng commands withdrawal. You and Zhang Liao select Mengjin's seven hundred. But clearly."
I drew thumb across throat.
"Men ready to be branded traitors, die unjustly in court infighting—unable to return home."
"Skill-wise..."
"Ha!"
I raised voice.
"Seven thousand Bing Province elites—how split elites further?!"
Never.
Not to avoid quarrels over "Why him over me? He's weaker!" bruising pride.
Absolutely not.
"Trust you to pick well."
"Understood."
The captain nodded firmly.
"Next question—or rather, fact..."
"Not like you to hesitate. Spit it out."
"...This."
The cavalry captain asked.
"Does it align with Governor Ding Yuan?"
"..."
"...General. We share your will. However—"
"I know. Well."
Some advise, some speak harsh truths.
"Consult Governor Ding Yuan, eh. Reject if no consensus?"
"...He's in Luoyang now. In emergency, you're our superior. General. Your orders."
"Good."
He declared loyalties; rest follows my lead.
"Last dawn—!"
I swung banner, drew eyes.
"Urgent dispatch!"
No one's seen or heard—but I had.
"Black Mountain Bandits rampage Bing Province! Cowardly thieves! Heard we crossed Yellow River for Luoyang, now massing against Jinyang Fortress!!"
May or may not happen—but they must prepare as if.
"Song Xian and Wei Xu defend, but our lingering risks it!"
Bing Province's?
Or Bing Province Army's.
"After breakfast, all but Mengjin's seven hundred cross Yellow River to Bing Province! To Governor Ding Yuan...!"
This is.
"Emergency—no time for messengers! Our brothers bleed against bandits now!"
Subordinate to commander.
"Save Bing Province first! Move!"
Utmost defiance.
"I'll tell Governor Ding Yuan myself!!"
So-called.
Preemptive action. fait accompli.
"All responsibility—mine—!!"