Many Things Seized in Battle
I heard Cao Ang calling my name and rushed toward the sound.
“W-wait! Your hand keeps touching my….”
“Then I’d have to let you go. Can you promise you won’t fall off the horse?”
“…Hngh!”
“If you fall, that soft little body of yours will tumble across the gravel, getting scraped and bruised all over….”
“Hiiik!”
At those words, Yuan Shu’s daughter trembled in terror and instead clung tightly to my arm.
She really was quite adorable.
When I reached the place where Cao Ang’s voice had come from, the ground was littered with overturned carriages and countless corpses.
“Ah!”
“This was exactly where I was heading.”
I lifted her down from the horse.
She kept squirming, which was starting to get annoying.
“Yue Jin!”
“Yes, Military Colonel.”
“Tie this girl up for a bit. She’s flailing too much.”
“L-let me go….”
In that instant, Yue Jin swiftly subdued her, bound her with rope, and pressed down on her shoulders.
Even with a face full of fear, she kept scanning the devastated area, clearly searching for something.
Srrrng—
The moment I drew my sword, her movements froze.
“Ziyou, how did things go on your end? And who is this woman?”
“The Princess of Zhong.”
“W-what? Then this young lady is….”
“How did things go on your side?”
“This is… truly embarrassing. I let one man escape! He was on horseback and incredibly fast. I nearly had him, but he crossed the river and I couldn’t follow.”
“Just one man? I think I can guess who.”
I approached her, planted my sword in the ground, and sat down to meet her eyes.
She was still shivering with fear, tears threatening to spill at any moment. I spoke softly.
“Answer only the questions I ask, and I promise I will spare your life.”
“H-huuu….”
“You split into two carriages earlier. One carried you. Who was in the other?”
“That was….”
“Wasn’t it your older brother? Yuan Yao.”
At that moment, her eyes widened again.
I already understood the situation and simply shrugged at Cao Ang.
“Zisu, it seems the one you let escape was Yuan Shu’s son, Yuan Yao.”
“What? Oh no! I’ve made a terrible mistake. I let the traitor’s son get away.”
He was a good man, but Cao Ang always seemed to fall just short at the very end.
Brave, yet not cold enough. Quick, but lacking in endurance.
“Well, it can’t be helped. Even if we missed the prince, at least we caught the princess. That’s something.”
“Still… she is Yuan Shu’s daughter. If His Majesty the Emperor decrees the extermination of the traitor’s three clans, then this young lady….”
“That’s for the Chancellor to decide. By the way, did you capture anyone else?”
“Just that one over there.”
Cao Ang, who had been sighing heavily over missing Yuan Shu’s son, pointed to the detained man.
A man in his early thirties with a mustache, tied to a tree and struggling, shouted,
“Release me at once! You’ve got the wrong person!”
“Wrong? In what way? Weren’t you helping the traitor’s son escape from the traitor’s den?”
As I approached, his eyes widened and he cried out.
“I am a merchant! I was simply paid to help someone flee. I knew nothing else!”
Looking at the man who claimed to be a merchant, something occurred to me.
“A merchant, you say?”
“Y-yes.”
“You were heading south from Shuchun?”
“That’s right!”
At that moment, a thought struck me and I burst into laughter.
“Ziyou, even if you didn’t catch a pheasant, you’ve caught a duck. No, this fellow might actually be the bigger catch.”
“What do you mean? Do you know him?”
“Not yet. But I’m about to find out.”
I raised my sword and pointed it at the merchant’s throat.
“W-why are you doing this? Spare me!”
“From now on, answer my questions with only ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ If you say anything else, I’ll cut something off and ask again.”
“…!”
This man reminded me of someone very specific.
“You’re a merchant from Shuchun, correct?”
“That’s… I mean, yes!”
“You originally established yourself in the Huainan region?”
“Yes.”
“You’re no ordinary merchant. Do you own a trading company?”
“Yes.”
He answered surprisingly obediently.
“That company is based in Yangzhou in Jiangnan, dealing mainly in water buffalo horns and dried seafood?”
“Yes.”
“I see. It seems you are exactly the man I thought you were.”
“Ziyou, who exactly is this man?”
I answered Cao Ang’s question.
“The head of the Wei Trading Company once told me there is a great merchant in the Jiangdong and Huainan regions known as Zhang Jian, courtesy name Ziyì. He is called Master Ziyì, and he has been providing massive support to Yuan Shu from behind the scenes.”
At that moment, the mustached man’s eyes widened dramatically before he stared at me intently.
“Then… this man is the sponsor of Yuan Shu’s army?”
“We’ll have to ask.”
“Haha… hahahaha….”
He laughed with a hollow expression, then looked at me and said,
“I think I know who you are as well. Being called Ziyou and Zisu, you must be the sons of Chancellor Cao Mengde. And you in particular are the one known as the ‘Cavalry Commander of the Thousand-Li Steed,’ Lord Cao Ziyou, are you not?”
The groveling merchant from before was gone. Now that his identity was exposed, Zhang Jian laughed boldly and attempted to negotiate with me.
“That’s right. I am Zhang Ziyì, the one who supported Yuan Shu’s army. I gambled everything in the biggest wager of my life and lost all my fortune like a fool.”
“If you had given even half of that wealth to my uncle Mengde, it would have increased tenfold.”
“Can we start that now?”
“You’re talking nonsense. What can a ruined merchant who has already lost everything possibly offer?”
“Even if I have no wealth left, I still have things in my head that the Chancellor would want to buy. If you spare my life, I will tell you everything.”
I patted Cao Ang on the shoulder.
“Consider this your catch. We’ve captured Yuan Shu’s strategist and sponsor.”
“Uh… well….”
“The one who desperately ran away will be dealt with by Uncle Ziliàn and Uncle Miaozai in the south anyway.”
With those comforting words, I decided to take Zhang Jian back to the main camp.
Of course, I also brought Yuan Shu’s terrified, bound daughter, lifting her back onto the horse.
“So this is the man you brought back?”
“Yes, Father.”
“Hmmm~”
Cao Cao looked at the kneeling, bound Zhang Jian and spread his fingers.
“How many fingers do you see?”
“Five, is it not?”
“These five are the reasons I should spare your life. Tell me five things.”
“Just one will be enough for the Chancellor to spare me.”
“What an interesting fellow. Speak.”
“In the past, it was Yuan Shu who targeted your late father, the Grand Tutor, and his treasures.”
“!”
Wow. This was truly an enormous revelation.
“This humble one knows all the details.”
“If you want to live… keep talking.”
“Chancellor, there was once a famous assassin named Zhang Kaiyang under Yuan Shu. When provisions ran low, he assassinated the powerful clan leader Luo Jun of Kuaiji in Yangzhou, seized his wealth, and offered it up. He also raided countless other clans and merchant groups, gathering riches until he reached this point.”
“And our family was caught up in that thievery. You played a part in it too, didn’t you!”
“This humble one merely received goods brought from Xuzhou that Zhang Kaiyang claimed were his final haul, then sold them to purchase provisions, iron, and salt.”
“And what of Zhang Kaiyang himself?”
“After your family was attacked, he returned to Shuchun, drank with Yuan Shu, and suddenly died from a chronic case of asthma.”
Insane. Asthma, he says.
In other words, after the anti-Dong Zhuo coalition, Yuan Shu built his power in Huainan by slaughtering every local clan and merchant group, amassing wealth through robbery. For one final grand heist, he dared to target Cao Cao’s family and their treasures. Once everything was handled, he silenced Zhang Kai… or rather, Zhang Kaiyang, with a quick blade.
“Hahaha! Hahahahaha!”
Cao Cao laughed as if it were absurd and placed a hand on Zhang Jian’s shoulder.
“You think that single story is enough to save your life?”
“Chancellor, I am a merchant. You have already seized nearly all of Huainan. If you take Shuchun as well, I can reestablish my base here and devote all my profits to you. I will provide support equal to that of the Wei Trading Company.”
As Cao Cao pondered those words, Jia Xu suddenly stepped forward.
“Wenhe, you’ve come at the perfect time. You must have heard the story. Tell me, should I spare this man?”
“Sparing him would bring great benefit.”
“Oh? And why is that?”
“If you execute him, Lord Zisu will have let Yuan Yao—the traitor Yuan Shu’s heir—escape, only to capture a mere low-ranking soldier. However, if you spare this man and gain control over the merchant networks and logistics of Huainan, you will have captured ‘the strategist and famed great merchant behind Yuan Shu.’ This will also greatly aid you in future pacification of Jiangdong and Jiangnan.”
Cao Cao nodded at Jia Xu’s smooth, river-like words.
“Then I suppose I’ll spare him.”
“Thank you, Chancellor.”
“However, you will remain in prison until Shuchun is captured. Once everything is over, you will go to the capital and speak many things with your own mouth.”
“Yes, I shall do so, Chancellor!”
Zhang Jian sighed in relief at having survived and began darting his eyes around.
It seemed the merchant’s mind was already calculating how to make a comeback and whom to align himself with.
“Ziyou.”
“Yes, Uncle.”
“I see you’ve brought back a young girl as well?”
“She is said to be the Princess of Zhong.”
“Is that so?”
Cao Cao gave me a strange look, staring intently.
When our eyes met, he instead smiled with amusement and spoke in a sly, teasing voice.
“Hehehehe, so even on the battlefield, love can bloom, eh?”
“It just happened to turn out this way. The older women we brought with her are Yuan Shu’s maids and this princess’s wet nurse and nanny.”
“I see. Killing women like that would only dull our blades. What meaning would there be? Let them stay together until Shuchun falls.”
“Uncle, about Yuan Shu’s daughter….”
“Hehe, hehehehehehe!”
Suddenly Cao Cao slapped my shoulder and nodded.
“Cherish her and love her well until we return to the capital. I know exactly what you’re thinking.”
“Uncle, what do you mean by my thoughts?”
Cao Cao leaned close and whispered in my ear.
“You’re thinking of taking in the bloodline of the traitor Yuan Shu, aren’t you?”
“!!!”
“I know everything. But I will take care of it all, so don’t worry. Didn’t you once tell me about the desires in your heart? Then I must grant them. After all you’ve done for me, how could I not?”
I recalled Guo Jia telling Cao Cao, “If one speaks their desires to their lord and shares them, the lord will help make them reality.”
It seemed Cao Cao had decided to help me because of that.
I let out a sigh of relief.
After bowing to Cao Cao, I headed toward the prisoner camp within the army.
“Ah, Military Colonel! What brings you here?”
“Step aside. I’ve come to take one of the women inside.”
“But Colonel, aren’t the women inside prisoners? Surely you don’t mean….”
“I have the Chancellor’s permission. Open it.”
“Understood… sir.”
Since I was the one who had captured the beauty, and there had already been whispering around the prison, the guards immediately understood when I said I was taking her out.
‘It’s definitely ‘that,’ right? The Military Colonel is truly amazing.’
‘To capture such a beauty in the middle of battle… I’m so jealous I could die!’
‘Sigh~ When will this damn war end? I want to go home and see my wife.’
The weary soldiers’ murmurs seemed to reach all the way here.
Creak—
Inside the detained prisoners’ barracks, Yuan Shu’s daughter jumped in fright.
“H-hiiik!”
Our Princess of Zhong looked at me as if she had seen a ghost, her face frozen in terror.
“The old women who came with you—the head court lady or whatever she was, along with the wet nurse and nanny—are receiving treatment in the military camp. It seems they won’t die.”
“Then… what will happen to me?”
At first she had tried to maintain her dignity by calling herself the Princess of Zhong, but now she was alone, thrown into enemy territory surrounded by over a hundred thousand soldiers.
“Yuan Shu and his entire family will be exterminated to the third degree. That is only natural for a traitor. However, I have pleaded with my uncle, Chancellor Cao, and he says I may spare you.”
At that moment, her two eyes fixed on me.
“In other words, the only one who can save you here is me. Once this war ends, I intend to take you to the capital. The choice is yours.”
Yuan Shu’s daughter bit her thumbnail anxiously, then asked cautiously.
“What about the wet nurse and nanny around me?”
“If I take you in, I will have them assigned to you.”
“Can they all survive?”
“I have no reason to kill the nanny or wet nurse, even if I don’t know about your other family.”
“In that case….”
Yuan Shu’s daughter quietly straightened her clothes and approached me with a trembling body.
Then she prostrated herself fully, offering a deep bow that signified complete submission.
“Officer in charge of prisoners! At this very moment, I am taking this young lady out and bringing her to my tent!”