The Thunder That Broke the Wine Cup
The drinking party was truly explosive.
Liu Bei suddenly bowed deeply to me, and Guan Yu flew into a rage at the sight. Then, when his own lord and elder sworn brother bowed to a mere nephew of Cao Cao, Zhang Fei immediately stepped forward to offer thanks and receive wine on Cao Cao’s behalf.
Either way, it was a contest of pride between Cao Cao and Liu Bei, each refusing to acknowledge the other as an equal.
“Yunchang, Yide. You two really haven’t changed at all, have you?”
“You seem the same as ever yourself, Brother Yuanyang.”
“I’m confident my martial skills have improved since then. Shall we test that?”
This time sparks flew between Xiahou Dun and Guan Yu. And it was Liu Bei who stepped in to mediate.
“Aigoo, why are all of you so full of hot blood? Today, Minister of Works Cao has invited us three sworn brothers as guests. We are here as guest generals.”
He had created this whole mess by bowing to me so casually, yet now he was calmly cleaning it up himself.
“Brother Mengde, please be generous and overlook this. My younger brothers still cannot distinguish between the battlefield and ordinary times, so their blood runs too hot.”
He apologized to Cao Cao so naturally that what could Cao Cao possibly do?
“Hahaha! It feels like I’m seeing the same old faces from back then! What is there to apologize for between us?”
Cao Cao simply laughed it off loudly. Then, as if nothing had happened, he and Liu Bei shared another cup of wine and let the incident pass as a minor mishap.
One thing was certain.
If Liu Bei’s little performance had been intentional… it was truly masterful.
He had brought the hot-blooded warriors Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, along with a large contingent of the Xu Province army and local nobles who followed him. Then, with his own words and actions, he smoothed everything over. It was as if he were saying, ‘I may be a guest general, but I am not without my own power.’
“When it comes to hot blood, who could compare to you, Xuande? I still cannot forget the time you beat that Inspector to a pulp.”
“At that time… I was still young and foolish.”
Cao Cao naturally changed the subject and began telling stories of Liu Bei’s past.
“Xuande, to me it feels like it was only yesterday. When we fought the Yellow Turbans together, you were not someone who deserved to be stuck as a mere county magistrate in the countryside.”
“Wasn’t all the merit from that time achieved by you, Brother Mengde?”
“And not long after that, when I was serving as Governor of Dong Commandery, you came to me in the middle of the night covered in blood. You had beaten the Inspector and thrown away your magistrate’s seal, begging me to help you.”
“The man who came as the Inspector had insulted me and my brothers terribly. He said that a nobody who had only achieved a small merit as a rural county magistrate had no right to bear the imperial Liu surname.”
So that was the story behind Liu Bei beating the Inspector. Listening to it, I realized that even beyond Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, Liu Bei himself possessed the spirit of a true hero.
The moment he heard those words, he had beaten the very official sent to inspect him, then rushed straight to Cao Cao covered in blood. It was exactly the kind of thing a righteous hero would do.
The relationship between Liu Bei and Cao Cao was far deeper and richer with stories than what I knew from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Thanks to that, I was able to listen with genuine fascination.
“I was so full of vigor back then, yet now I spend all my energy trying to control these even more hot-blooded younger brothers of mine.”
Liu Bei once again brought up Guan Yu and Zhang Fei. Of course, after receiving a scolding from him, the two had already apologized and were now sitting quietly in front of the wine table.
The drinking party continued like this for some time.
Cao Cao and Liu Bei chatted like old friends who had not seen each other in years, laughing heartily as they reminisced. At that moment, a light rain began to fall beyond the pavilion.
“Aigoo, why is it raining like this…”
“Listening to the sound of rain while drinking with an old friend is quite charming in its own way.”
“I do not possess Brother Mengde’s talent for elegant speech. All I can do is drink with you.”
The atmosphere was slowly turning into that.
What was that? The famous scene of evaluating heroes.
“Xuande, you have been tossed about by bad luck all this time, but if you join hands with me, Mengde, you could shake the entire world.”
“Haha, that is far too much. How can you evaluate me so highly?”
“Because I have never seen a man like you before.”
“What about Yuan Shao of Hebei?”
“Let him pacify his own territory of Hebei before he speaks such words.”
That was exactly what I had once said to Cao Cao—back when Yuan Shao had suggested moving the Emperor to Wucheng and making it the capital.
“His younger cousin, Yuan Shu, is also a warlord who cannot be ignored.”
“That bastard has never beaten me once. If not for the prestige of the Yuan family’s four generations of three dukes, he would have died long ago.”
“Recently, I hear that Sun Ce, the son of the late Lord Sun Wen, has broken away from Yuan Shu and is building power throughout the Jiangdong region.”
At that moment, Cao Cao glanced at me.
“Sun Jian’s son is only twenty-two, yet he leads an army that shakes the entire Yang Province?”
Cao Cao mentioned Sun Ce while pointing directly at me.
“My nephew Zire will be stronger than that boy. I acknowledge Sun Jian, but that young son of his still has yet to prove anything.”
Whoa, suddenly my evaluation had jumped to the level of Sun Ce?
Well, it was certainly nice to hear, and even Liu Bei’s eyes sparkled as he looked at me. I couldn’t help but feel a surge of pride in my shoulders.
“Then what about Liu Jingsheng and Liu Jiyu, who are also descendants of the imperial Liu clan and rule Jing Province and Yi Province respectively?”
“They are petty men who did not lift a finger even when the Emperor escaped from Chang’an. Among all those who bear the imperial Liu surname, only you possess the bearing of a true hero. That is why I acknowledge you. The heroes of the world are none other than myself and Yu—”
It was at that exact moment.
CRACKLE—BOOM!
The rain had been falling for a while, but suddenly lightning flashed and thunder roared a beat later.
Crack!
“…Huh?”
The wine cup Liu Bei had been holding shattered.
It wasn’t made of clay or porcelain. It was a metal cup so incredibly sturdy that Cao Cao had once used it as a throwing weapon during the surprise attack in Puyang. Yet now, the metal cup in Liu Bei’s hand had broken apart starting from the handle.
Liu Bei was gripping the broken ring of the cup tightly, his hand trembling.
Did he really just crush it with raw strength?
“…The thunder was so loud that I could not hear properly. Please forgive me.”
“Hahaha, it’s fine. By the way, your wine cup… why is it broken? I’ve used it for a long time. Did it have a crack in it?”
“It seems so.”
“Anyway, Xuande, what I was trying to say earlier is that the heroes of the world are none other than myself and… that…”
CRACKLE—BOOOOOOM!
Thunder roared once more, cutting off Cao Cao’s words again.
“Oh dear, oh dear, Brother Mengde. At this rate, I fear lightning might strike this very pavilion.”
“This damned weather is acting strange. There’s no helping it. Let us move inside to the main hall.”
“No, no. In truth, I have already drunk quite a lot. If I drink any more, I won’t be able to get up tomorrow. You know how weak I am when it comes to alcohol.”
“Hehehe, what a man you are.”
With those words, Liu Bei subtly slipped away from the drinking party. Both Guan Yu and Zhang Fei silently attended to him, bowed to Cao Cao, and left together.
“Aman, I don’t know about Xuande, but those two martial brothers of his… no matter how I look at them, I just can’t warm up to them.”
“Still, if we can control them, they are warriors with the strongest martial prowess under heaven. You know that, right? Among them, I have personally acknowledged that Yunchang is stronger than Lu Bu.”
“Damn it. How am I supposed to get along with bastards like that in the future?”
Even though Xiahou Dun grumbled, he decided to follow Cao Cao’s orders. He helped support Cao Cao as they prepared to leave.
“How about it, Xiahou Dun? Shall we go to my wife’s quarters and have another drink? We’ll bring Zire too.”
“Yeah, let’s drink.”
“We should call Zisu as well. Zire, come along.”
When Cao Cao invited Xiahou Dun, I took a moment to examine the spot where the Liu Bei trio had been sitting.
And just as Cao Cao had shown favor to Liu Bei, I intended to take just as much from Liu Bei in return.
“Wait, why has someone from Brother Mengde’s family suddenly come to my house carrying a spear?”
After the hero-evaluation gathering that day, I rode my horse straight to Liu Bei’s residence, spear in hand.
The glares from Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were still sharp as blades.
“This humble soldier Cao Zire wishes to learn martial arts from the three heroes of the world.”
“Hehe, a humble soldier? Your fame has already spread throughout Sili and Xuchang. At such a young age, you are a general acknowledged by Brother Mengde himself, are you not?”
“Until now, I too was intoxicated by my small military achievements. But now that true heroes stand before me, I wish to further refine my lacking skills. Please accept me as your student.”
“Coming all the way here to ask us to teach you martial arts… Hmm… We do owe you a great debt for saving our family, but…”
I had decided to absorb everything the Liu-Guan-Zhang trio possessed, like a dry cotton ball soaking up water.
“I have heard that Uncle Liu once lived as a wandering hero across You Province and commanded a cavalry force of thousands riding white horses in the north.”
In history, that nickname belonged to Gongsun Zan, but before their falling out, Liu Bei had indeed been a great commander who led northern cavalry.
“Moreover, your two sworn brothers are the renowned Lord Guan Yunchang, who is said to be stronger than Lu Bu, and Lord Zhang Yide, the greatest warrior of Yan Province. If I can learn from them, my lacking martial prowess will surely rise to another level.”
At that moment, Zhang Fei, having heard those words, grabbed the spear hanging on the wall.
“Interesting. You must have prepared yourself to be seriously injured, right?”
Guan Yu also picked up his massive crescent blade.
“From the first time I saw you, I knew you were no ordinary person. Since you have come seeking instruction… then it is only right that we teach you.”
From now on, I would learn martial arts from Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, and horsemanship from Liu Bei.
I didn’t know how long they would remain with Cao Cao, but one thing was certain: I would absorb every ounce of their martial prowess, their commanding ability over cavalry, and the survival instincts they had honed on the battlefield.
Whether that power would later be used against them as enemies or alongside them as allies… that would be decided by fate.
“Cao Zire respectfully requests instruction from Uncle Liu and his two sworn brothers!”
And so I began learning every ability possessed by the Liu-Guan-Zhang trio.
The period of learning was long, and time flowed on. Even the reign title of Jian’an was becoming familiar.
Thud—
“Let us stop here for today.”
I finished today’s sparring session with Guan Yu.
From Liu Bei I learned horsemanship and formation riding. From Zhang Fei I learned how to charge and then fight multiple enemies at once. And from Guan Yu, I learned the spearmanship and swordsmanship required to face a single powerful opponent one-on-one.
Moreover, Guan Yu was an exceptionally skilled teacher.
Whether he had sensed my sincerity or not, he taught me everything he possessed without holding back. As we spent time together like this, I naturally grew closer to the Liu-Guan-Zhang trio.
“Zire.”
“Yes, Uncle Yunchang.”
“You have become incomparably stronger than when I first met you. You have reached a level that even I, Guan Yunchang, can acknowledge.”
Soon, the name Cao Zire—acknowledged by Guan Yu—would spread across the Central Plains.
“Thank you for such high praise.”
Guan Yu still had his sharp gaze and had not built particularly good relationships with those around Xuchang, but at least toward me, he had become a generous teacher.
After receiving another great lesson that day, I was suddenly summoned by Cao Cao and entered his private quarters.
“Uncle, it is Zire.”
“Come in.”
When I opened the door, Cao Cao’s quarters were filled with numerous strategists and generals.
Xun Yu, Xun You, Cheng Yu, and Guo Jia were all present.
On the military side, Xu Chu, Dian Wei, and Cao Ang were also there.
“You seem to have trained properly again today. You look more and more like a true man every day. I’m proud just watching you.”
“You flatter me, Uncle.”
“Now, come sit beside me.”
As soon as I sat down next to Cao Cao, Xun Yu continued speaking.
“Then I shall resume. Currently, the northern part of Jing Province is occupied by Zhang Ji, one of the former subordinates of Li Jue. He established his base in the Wancheng area. It has been less than a year since he died while attacking Liu Biao’s territory in an attempt to seize it.”
Wait… who? Zhang Ji?
And Wancheng?
“Therefore, I believe this is the perfect opportunity to occupy the Wancheng region and create a buffer zone between Liu Biao and Sili.”
“Yes. Our army has been well trained, and the generals are probably itching for a fight.”
“My lord, the general in Wancheng is originally Zhang Ji’s nephew. He is said to be exceptionally skilled in cavalry tactics throughout the Xiliang region.”
“Since he served under Dong Zhuo, he can’t be completely incompetent. But right now, no one can stop the momentum of our army, no matter who they are.”
Cao Cao pointed at ‘Wancheng’ in the northern part of Jing Province on the map as the target.
“For this campaign, I will lead it personally together with my son Zisu, Zire, Dian Wei, and Xu Chu. Let us all go together.”
“Yes, my lord!”
“Especially you, Xu Chu. You have trained the militia from Runan that you brought with you very well. Take the vanguard and fight to your heart’s content.”
“Of course, my lord!”
By now, Xu Chu had become a loyal subordinate of Cao Cao. He had offered all the troops he once led to Cao Cao, and they had been forged into an elite force.
“Ah, and Xiahou Yuan and Cao Shun from Yan Province said they would send elite troops. They will be coming down together with my nephew Cao Anmin and… what was his name again? Right, Yu Jin! They will be joining us.”
Cao Cao’s personal campaign would include Dian Wei, Xu Chu, Cao Ang, Cao Anmin, myself, and Yu Jin… The roster of names alone was truly impressive.
“Zisu, Zire. It has been a long time since I personally led you two into battle, hasn’t it?”
“We will fight with all our strength, Father.”
Watching Cao Ang make his vow, I spoke up as well.
“Uncle, I will go out and resolve everything so that no one suffers any harm.”
“Hahaha, look at this boy’s determination! I will be leading the army myself. Who could possibly get hurt?”
You will. And quite severely at that…
That’s why I’ll stop it this time too. Just like I did in Xu Province and Puyang.