The Strategist's Final Words and the Chaos in Xu Province
The question lingered in my mind as I walked through the ruined streets of Luoyang: What are the other warlords doing at a time like this?
“This one is Xu Huang. I humbly request to serve under the Inspector of Yan Province.”
“You’ve come at the perfect time. Truly, you’ve come well!”
Cao Cao dismounted from his horse himself and clasped Xu Huang’s hand firmly.
“Man Chong and Ziyue both called you one of the greatest heroes under heaven. I look forward to your future exploits.”
“It is an honor that you would accept the surrender of a defeated general. From this day forward, I shall devote myself to you with the loyalty of a dog or horse.”
In the end, Xu Huang broke free from the White Wave Bandits under Yang Feng and Han Xian and joined Cao Cao’s army.
It was thanks to the persuasion of his old friend Man Chong, and the realization he gained after I spoke to him in Hongnong. In the end, this must have been fate.
Even the independent warlords were gradually submitting to Cao Cao one by one, strengthening his forces. But as always, the real problem was the money required to rebuild the capital.
Money was always important, and where that money came from was even more critical.
“Sigh… Even with all my modern knowledge, nothing comes to mind for this one.”
I muttered to myself as I passed by one particular tent. From inside came the constant sound of women laughing.
“Ah, Young Master!”
“What is this place?”
When the soldiers saw me and saluted, I asked them.
“Young Master, this is where the wives and daughters of Luoyang’s officials and powerful clans gather. The Inspector of Yan Province’s honored wife has been hosting them daily. They do embroidery or compose poetry together.”
So it was like a ladies’ salon.
If Cao Cao was currently the most powerful man in Luoyang, then among the women, the authority of his principal wife, Lady Ding, would be greater than even the Emperor’s favored consorts. I had seen it myself while living in the same household. She possessed overwhelming charisma and the strength to command the wives of every high official.
“Truly a pitiful fate. To think we must rely on embroidery just to survive.”
“Hush, don’t say such things. We can’t just sit idly by like baby birds with our mouths open, can we?”
“Still, the Inspector’s wife has rather peculiar tastes. Instead of simply providing aid, she has us embroider and then assigns value to our work accordingly.”
As I drew closer to the tent, I overheard the gossip flowing freely in Lady Ding’s absence.
So she had gathered the wives and daughters of high officials and made them do cross-stitch, then provided support based on the value of their work? That was exactly like Lady Ding. No matter what she did, there was never anything for free. Everything came with a price and corresponding compensation.
But in the end, all of it was still coming out of the Cao family’s own stores.
These women—wives and daughters of generals, colonels, and chancellors—were now nothing more than empty shells. They had followed the Emperor to this ruined city called Luoyang, barely clinging to life.
And now, under the name of Cao Cao’s wife, she had created this salon to support them. In doing so, she might gain influence, but it was still a matter of money.
In many ways, the Cao family had taken on the burden of the imperial family and all these high officials alone. Their power grew, but so did the bleeding of their resources. At this rate, even the military funds would be diverted into political capital to expand their central influence. It could make them a lone target in the competition against the other regional warlords.
In that sense, staying in Luoyang any longer was one of the worst possible moves. Eventually, we would have to relocate the capital to a safer location that was easy to defend and allowed us to establish a proper sphere of influence.
I was walking while lost in these thoughts when a voice called out.
“Young Master Ziyue.”
“Hm?”
I turned my head to see Wei Hong approaching with a bright smile. Behind her, merchants from the Wei Merchant Group were pulling a cart loaded with grain and vegetables.
“Ah, Leader Wei.”
“Perfect timing. I was just on my way to the inn where your wife is staying.”
“You came to see Sohui?”
“That lady truly is like a fairy from the immortal realm. She could stay comfortably in the inn, yet she insists on coming out to help the people.”
I had thought it strange that the large cauldron had been moved outside the inn these past few days. So she was running a relief kitchen?
“She gave us several pieces of calligraphy written by Master Cai Bojie and asked us to exchange them for grain. She said she wanted to help the starving people around Luoyang.”
“Good heavens…”
“We may be merchants, but we never spare expense when it comes to doing good.”
Wei Hong said this with a smile and walked with me toward the inn where Cai Yan was staying. There, under the protection of soldiers, she was indeed distributing food to the common people struggling to survive day by day in the ruined city.
“We’ll need to make more congee. Bring the dried vegetables and mushrooms, and don’t forget the salt.”
“Yes, Madam.”
“My lady!”
“Ah!”
Cai Yan had been stirring the pot when she spotted the Wei Merchant Group’s cart and came running. Of course, she saw me first and greeted me warmly before welcoming Leader Wei as well.
“What are you doing all this for?”
“It felt too uncomfortable to live in comfort by myself. Since there is surplus food anyway, I thought it better to share it with those in need.”
“Truly, that heart of yours…”
I called over the senior military officer among the soldiers helping Cai Yan and handed him a bundle of wuzhuan coins.
“Even so, my wife is doing good work. Make sure you all help her properly so there are no problems.”
“Of course, Advisor. You need not even ask.”
He used the coins to maintain order among the long lines of vagrants and continued assisting Cai Yan. The merchants from the Wei group helped as well. Meanwhile, I entered the inn with Wei Hong.
“I actually have quite a lot to report to you, Young Master.”
“What is it?”
“Did you know that Master Zhicai of Yan Province has passed away?”
“…!”
The unexpected news made the back of my neck sting. When I had last seen him, his health hadn’t looked good. So it had finally come to that.
“He breathed his last in his home a few days ago. I reported it to our lord just moments ago, and he was deeply saddened.”
In the end, Xi Zhicai—one of Cao Cao’s earliest strategists—had died.
“For your information, the reason our lord brought his entire family here was the final piece of advice left by Master Xi.”
It seemed Wei Hong had a great deal she wanted to tell me. Since the Wei Merchant Group also functioned as an intelligence organization, they immediately reported information gathered from across the land to Cao Cao. Afterward, they shared whatever was permitted with his clan members and strategists.
“When you infiltrated Chang’an and made contact with General Dong, Master Xi, despite his illness, urged our lord: ‘Immediately bring all the elite troops of Yan Province, along with your father, Grand Tutor Cao, your wife, and your children to Luoyang to receive His Majesty.’”
Afterward, the other strategists had agreed that they must embrace the fleeing Emperor, but Xi Zhicai had been the only one who insisted on moving Cao Song, Lady Ding, and even Cao Ang. It had been the dying counsel of a strategist who thought more than anyone about the justification of supporting the Emperor and the future of the Cao family.
“Just before he died, Master Xi also mentioned you, Young Master Ziyue. He said that if you succeeded, it would be an achievement that transcended the clan and benefited the entire realm.”
“When I return to Yan Province, I must visit Master Zhicai’s grave to pay my respects.”
“Please do. We have been taking good care of his tomb, as he had no family.”
After hearing about Xi Zhicai, it occurred to me to ask about the other warlords as well.
“Is there any other news?”
“The situation in Xu Province has become quite interesting.”
“What happened there?”
I was genuinely curious about Xu Province. After Tao Qian had guarded Cao Song’s assets following Zhang Kai’s betrayal, he had stolen them. In his rage, Cao Cao had taken an equivalent amount of wealth from Xu Province’s people and was using them as labor for construction projects in Yan Province and Sili.
“Tao Qian will not live much longer.”
“Isn’t that man already past sixty? His time has come. So who will be the next Inspector of Xu Province?”
“Young Master, have you perhaps heard the name Liu Bei, Xuande?”
“!!!”
Finally, Liu Bei was being mentioned. While serving in Cao Cao’s army, I had occasionally heard stories about Liu Bei from Cao Cao himself.
“You mean that Liu Xuande from You Province, an imperial descendant who has Guan Yu and Zhang Fei—two of the greatest warriors under heaven—by his side?”
“Correct. That Liu Xuande is currently in Xu Province.”
“Could you tell me the details…?”
It was important for me to understand how Liu Bei and the other warlords had moved while I was with Cao Cao’s forces. Especially in this timeline where the ‘massacre of the Cao Song clan’ and the ‘Xu Province Massacre’ had not occurred, I needed to know how Liu Bei was acting and how history was flowing.
“Originally, Lord Liu Xuande fought alongside our lord during the Yellow Turban Rebellion. However, he fell out of favor with the Ten Attendants and could not receive proper recognition for his merits. He remained on the frontier of You Province, serving under General of the Left Gongsun Zan.”
“I know that much.”
“What comes next is important. General of the Left Gongsun Zan attacked and killed Inspector of You Province Liu Yu, who was also an imperial descendant. Lord Liu Xuande was furious at the murder of a fellow member of the Liu clan and broke with Gongsun Zan.”
Ah! So history had flowed in that direction.
Instead of Liu Bei going down to help Xu Province, Gongsun Zan—whom he had served—had killed Inspector Liu Yu and seized You Province. Enraged, Liu Bei had declared their relationship severed and left.
“General of the Left Gongsun Zan asked Inspector of Qing Province Kong Rong to capture Liu Xuande, but he escaped and went down to Xu Province, where he has taken shelter under Inspector Tao Qian. He is already handling many affairs in Xiapi in Tao Qian’s stead.”
“Interesting…”
“But the real problem starts now.”
“Please continue.”
“Tao Qian had two sons, but they never entered official service. There was much debate about who would succeed him as Inspector of Xu Province after his death. That was when Liu Bei, who had broken with Gongsun Zan in You Province, arrived.”
It seemed that in this world, Liu Bei was a man with exceptionally sharp instincts.
“And that is when division arose within Tao Qian’s family in Xu Province. Tao Qian’s eldest son, Tao Shang, who had never entered service, strongly opposed the position of Inspector passing to Liu Xuande. To block our lord’s army, he invited Lu Bu and his forces—who had been defeated at Puyang—as guest generals.”
“Pffft!”
I spat out the tea I had been drinking. It seemed like history was flowing similarly yet strangely differently.
In a situation where Tao Qian had not yet died, Xu Province had already become a hollowed-out land with its population cut in half. Now it had become a battlefield between the Liu Bei faction—those who had cut ties with Gongsun Zan, become Tao Qian’s subordinates, and were aiming to become the next Inspector—and the Tao Shang faction, led by Tao Qian’s own son, who refused to watch Xu Province be taken from him and had summoned the tiger known as Lu Bu.
Once Tao Qian died, it looked like Liu Bei and Lu Bu would somehow split the province and turn Xu into a complete mess.
If Liu Bei won, that would be the end for Lu Bu. But if Lu Bu won and the original history repeated itself with Liu Bei seeking shelter under Cao Cao, one thing was certain.
Could the Cao family truly embrace Liu Bei completely? Especially now, without the massacre and with Grand Tutor Cao Song still alive, making the Cao clan the unblemished pillars of the Han Dynasty?
“Did my uncle simply let that happen?”
“Between conquering Xu Province and receiving the Emperor, he chose to follow the dying wish of Master Zhicai and selected the latter.”
Ah, that’s right. The ‘military funds’ that had been mentioned repeatedly… Cao Cao’s forces lacked the money to maintain a two-front war of conquering Xu Province and escorting the Emperor from Luoyang.
“Our merchant group continues to expand our distribution network and provide military funding, but it is true that we are gradually being pushed back by the merchant groups in Hebei and Huainan.”
“So in the end, the biggest problems are the Yuan clan in Hebei and the Yuan clan in Huainan, correct?”
“Exactly. Currently, General of the Left Yuan Shu of Huainan is constantly pushing north, eyeing Xu Province and Yuzhou.”
Yuan Shu… No matter which version of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms I read, that pathetic man drunk on the imperial seal had always been a nuisance. But seeing it in this original history, he was an even bigger headache than I imagined.
He had built an army large enough for him to lead personally, but more than that, he used his financial power to manipulate groups like Gongsun Zan and the White Wave Bandits from behind the scenes. He was constantly plotting and interfering. A truly annoying existence.
“The biggest problem will be the ‘Zhang Ziyi Merchant Group,’ which controls the distribution networks in Huainan and Jiangdong.”
“Zhang Ziyi… You mean the great merchant Zhang Jian is providing funds to Yuan Shu and helping him grow stronger?”
“Correct. If not for that man, we could have secured the commercial rights in the Huainan region, giving our lord far more room to maneuver…”
So that was it.
Beyond simple military clashes between warlords, the Cao faction—which now held the Emperor—had to defeat the delusional warlords across the realm one by one, seize their lands and wealth, and continuously grow their own power with those resources.
“Hearing all this makes the future path very clear.”
With the information I had received from Wei Hong, I began thinking about our next moves.