Rally (2)
The local officials who'd joined the Coalition Army were probably scheming loudly enough to be heard beyond Luoyang. The local officials put on welcoming faces but were busy whispering among themselves.
He won't make me the vanguard, will he?
Isn't there a way to rack up merit while dodging every real risk?
Wouldn't it be nice if that young crown prince of Chen Kingdom volunteered for all the dangerous roles.
These men were no loyal patriots.
They were warlords who merely claimed to be loyal patriots.
The great cause was gone, loyalty had vanished. What the local officials turned warlords wanted was simply the absolute power Dong Zhuo had seized.
"I am wanting and unwise, yet I stand in my father the King's stead to join this alliance. I ask the local officials assembled here to lend their support to this young and inexperienced heir."
A woman with lustrous blonde hair flowing down.
A black-haired beauty with a face as delicate as a doll's.
And as I looked over the many local officials, I offered pleasantries I didn't mean at all.
"Of course, Your Highness, how could it be otherwise!"
"The Crown Prince is the hero who defended the south against countless rebels! For such a hero to lead a great army and join the righteous cause is worth the strength of Heaven's own hosts!"
The stiff atmosphere, thick with suspicion and wariness, turned cordial. Local officials who'd been hesitating to step forward now paid their respects and showed goodwill.
Men who approached with honest favor.
Men who talked flattery to shove the danger onto me.
And men who just wanted to twist the situation to their personal advantage.
A gathering of the warlords who represent the Central Plains.
It was only natural for a crowd this motley to exist, each with their own hidden agenda.
"My father the King bestowed upon me the Shangfang Sword and the Ceremonial Axes. He also commanded that I may strike down any cowardly wretch who soils and undermines the coalition's cause, regardless of rank."
Thud.
I laid a silver treasure-sword on the table.
Shangfang Sword.
The sovereign's treasure-sword, granted to the commander charged with suppressing rebels.
I would cut off the heads of the small-minded men who meant to claim fame and advantage from a safe rear position.
The local officials who caught the sharp gleam of the Shangfang Sword each reacted in his own way. A rare few appeared ready to commit to the fight, but most showed their displeasure at being threatened by a young upstart barely old enough to be their son.
"Truly, such spirit befits a hero. We are a righteous army that raised troops to rescue the Han Imperial House and the Imperial Court from the grasp of a traitorous enemy of the state. How could we not be prepared to face death for the nation?"
The woman with flowing blonde hair defused the situation in a graceful voice.
To dissolve the crisis of division while steering the local officials' opinions, most likely.
"The Crown Prince is the descendant of the great Emperor Guangwu and a hero whose name shakes the age. If such a man assumes the post of Alliance Leader, representing the righteous armies of Guandong, the rebels of Luoyang will surely lose heart."
Alliance Leader.
The supreme commander who leads the Coalition Army, who also represents the feudal lords of the Central Plains.
In the original history, Yuan Shao was appointed Alliance Leader of the Anti-Dong Zhuo Coalition Army through the local officials' support. But when the Crown Prince of Chen Kingdom arrived leading a great army, history diverged.
"I accept the position of Alliance Leader. Let the Governor of Bohai serve as Deputy Alliance Leader, and let the Colonel of Valiant Cavalry serve as General Who Displays Martial Might."
"Yes, we humbly obey the Alliance Leader's command."
Yuan Shao to Deputy Alliance Leader,
Cao Cao to General Who Displays Martial Might, serving as military adviser.
I also assigned the Transport Commandant role—which, in the original timeline, Yuan Shu the Rear General had held—to Zhang Miao, Governor of Chenliu, and Zhang Chao, Governor of Guangling. Brothers who valued honor and loyalty wouldn't disgrace themselves by cutting the supply lines out of petty jealousy or spite.
"General Who Defeats the Barbarians, Sun Jian. You will serve as the coalition's vanguard."
"I obey the command."
By changing history, I prepare against future calamities.
But for personnel placed in the right roles, I chose not to change history.
Sun Jian, precisely.
I appointed the Tiger of Jiangdong as vanguard commander, just as in the original history.
"Alliance Leader, you have not yet called my name...!"
And as Alliance Leader, I assigned appropriate roles and offices to the Central Plains local officials. All except Yuan Shu the Rear General, whose very existence was useless deadweight.
Yuan Shu.
Where the hell do I put him.
I can't trust him at the front,
and I trust him even less if I push him to the rear.
It felt like being the senior officer stuck giving some role to a famously incompetent junior. An even bigger headache because the man was useless deadweight who wore his arrogance like armor.
"For now, I'll organize the Rear General's forces as a reserve. You will stand by until further orders."
"Tch...! Understood."
For Yuan Shu, who'd wanted to preserve his troops and supplies intact for some later scheme, it was an order worth cheering over. Local officials who'd been given roles and duties looked at Yuan Shu with plain envy.
But it was also an insult.
It meant I was treating him as a useless encumbrance.
This scion of a prestigious clan had a rash, arrogant temperament utterly incapable of controlling his own emotions. As if to prove it, the feelings surfaced visibly across his pretty face.
"Let us rearrange the seating according to the offices the Alliance Leader has assigned."
Yuan Shao spoke with a clap of her hands.
Her attendants moved at once.
"Alliance Leader, please take the seat of honor at the very center."
"Prepare a place, too. Not the very first seat, but close enough to speak directly from where I'm sitting."
"Of course. We'll place a new seat among the governors' ranks then."
"Thank you."
A seat for Liu Bei.
In the original history, Liu Bei had raised troops together with Cao Cao in Pei Kingdom, and thanks to Cao Cao's trust, a seat had been arranged—a low seat, but a seat nonetheless—despite her humble station.
But a low seat would've been pointless.
I seated Liu Bei among the governors—the middle seats.
The striking white-haired beauty with long, sharply pointed ears took her place. Seated far above her station, Liu Bei looked as flustered as a rabbit caught by thunder.
"I heard from the General Who Displays Martial Might that you are descended from Prince Jing of Zhongshan... Is that true?"
"Yes, it is."
A middle-aged man seated across from her asked Liu Bei.
Inspector of Yan Province, Liu Dai.
Liu Dai was a kinsman of the Han Imperial House and a longtime feudal lord with deep tradition, so sitting alongside a country girl who was barely a cadet branch of a cadet branch clearly stuck in his craw. As though speaking for himself, he pulled a face like he'd bit a bug and coughed dryly.
"Prince Jing of Zhongshan? So remote a cadet branch it's practically out of sight."
"Hoho! Even if she guards the Alliance Leader, this is extravagant treatment. That a lowly cadet branch should intrude upon a gathering of scholar-officials and local gentry who uphold tradition and pedigree."
The local officials who'd joined the coalition were all of renowned scholar-official and gentry stock.
Clans of founding merit lined the hall.
And it was filled with eminent houses that had produced high ministers generation after generation.
To the eyes of the scholar-officials and local gentry, steeped in aristocratic pride and a sense of chosenness, a descendant of Prince Jing of Zhongshan could only be an eyesore. They radiated jealousy and contempt, especially at the fact that she sat among them.
"I've heard there are types who strut about calling themselves righteous militia captains who put down the Yellow Turbans, who don't know their place and behave with barefaced arrogance... Chaos may have dashed reason and principle to the dirt, but how can some cadet branch of unknown root stand in the same rank with us loyal patriots? Truly lamentable."
Yuan Shu.
The youth with long, pristine blonde hair twisted his face into an ugly mask of disgust.
The other local officials were no different.
Yuan Shu's followers were especially vocal in their condemnation.
"Shut your mouths, you sons of bitches!!"
Miserable bastards.
I let them run their mouths from the seat of honor, and they just kept talking.
I raised the Ceremonial Axes.
And brought the sharp, heavy axe-blade down on the table.
* * *
CRAAACK——!!!
A thunderous crash, as if lightning had struck from a clear sky.
At the same instant Liu Seong-hwi rose from his seat, the Ceremonial Axes still in his grip.
"Liu Bei, General of a Separate Division, raised a volunteer army in Zhuo Prefecture to protect the Han Imperial House and the Imperial Court. What, by contrast, were you lot doing when the Yellow Turban forces ran amok? Shivering like pathetic cowards and waiting for the chaos to end, I'd wager. And you, Yuan Shu—do you not owe your present influence solely to having been born into a renowned house of Four Generations of Three Dukes?"
Thud. Thud.
He strode forward, the Ceremonial Axes in one hand.
The closer Liu Seong-hwi came, the more Yuan Shu and the other local officials turned pale and trembled all over.
His eyes blazed with intensity.
He looked ready to smash a skull open with the sharp axe right then and there.
Standing well over eight and a half chi, Liu Seong-hwi's build overwhelmed Yuan Shu—who was nothing but a slender scion—and then some. When Liu Seong-hwi thrust the Ceremonial Axes forward, Yuan Shu let out a single shriek and collapsed on the spot.
"I-I am of an eminent house of Four Generations of Three Dukes...! The legitimate line of the Runan Yuan Clan! Descendant of Emperor Guangwu or not, if you execute a feudal lord who joined the coalition, the whole realm will not stand for it!"
"I could also just turn my forty thousand troops around and go home. If this coalition falls apart as a result, where do you think Dong Zhuo's spears and swords will point first? Obviously Nanyang Prefecture, closest to Luoyang—you, you stupid idiot, with your power base in Nanyang Prefecture of Jing Province, will be the first target of Dong Zhuo's army."
If the Anti-Dong Zhuo Coalition Army collapsed without achieving anything, Dong Zhuo's forces would annihilate Yuan Shu's army in Nanyang Prefecture first, as an example. The same went for the local officials of Yu Province, which bordered Luoyang.
I hold the power over whether you live or die.
Because if I decide to withdraw the army, you have no choice but to die at Dong Zhuo's hands.
Liu Seong-hwi raised the Ceremonial Axes and aimed them at the local officials who followed Yuan Shu. The officials, catching the meaning, nodded their heads vigorously to signal obedience.
"Starting tomorrow, I will lead the entire army to retake Luoyang. Your job is to obey. If you genuinely wish to serve the Han Imperial House and the Imperial Court—if you have even a sliver of such feeling—you'd best fall in line quietly."
It wasn't a simple warning.
Killing intent spilled from the hand gripping the Ceremonial Axes.
Deputy Alliance Leader Yuan Shao and General Who Displays Martial Might Cao Cao, who'd been watching, felt a crushing pressure settle over them. The descendant of Emperor Guangwu who had repelled countless foreign enemies in the south resembled a bird of prey poised to strike.
"Are you all right, Elder Sister?"
"Huh... huh? Ah, yes. Of course. All this fuss over me... Thank you."
I held out my other hand.
The beauty with the sharp-tipped ears looked startled but expressed her gratitude.