Burning Battlefield (1)
The Vertical and Horizontal Alliances
The Vertical Alliance Strategy argued that the six states of the Central Plains must unite as equals to oppose the Qin Dynasty. The Horizontal Alliance Strategy, its polar opposite, exploited the resulting discord to dissolve the coalition itself.
Director of the Palace Gentlemen Li Ru explained this episode from the Warring States Period and proposed a scheme to scatter the rebels of Guandong once and for all.
"The Vertical Alliance Strategy—that the six states should unite and destroy Qin—was certainly sound. And yet, in the end, the strategy failed, and Qin achieved the great enterprise of unifying the realm. This was because the State of Qi rejected the alliance and sided with Qin."
The states of the Central Plains, led by Chu and Zhao, mobilized fully, seized Hangu Pass, and threatened the Qin capital of Xianyang—but Qi never moved.
Instead, Qi shamelessly threatened the five other states whose territories were practically undefended. Nearly all of their main forces had been committed to the war, leaving their homelands empty.
"The State of Qi, blinded by short-term gain, expanded its territory by invading those five states... only to be annihilated later by the Qin Dynasty, which declared a Unification War under Qin Shi Huang's reign."
"Indeed, the King of Qi was a fool. Did he not commit the worst possible error, standing idly by before a future threat just to seize a momentary advantage?"
Governor of Ji Province, Han Fu.
Inspector of Xu Province, Tao Qian.
To Dong Zhuo's forces, Han Fu's army and Tao Qian's army were the State of Qi reborn.
Sishui Pass had fallen and the imperial capital, Luoyang, was under threat. Dong Zhuo sensed the moment had come to use Han Fu and Tao Qian to destroy the rebels of Guandong.
"We issued an edict appointing Han Fu to the Three Dukes and naming Tao Qian Governor of Xu Province and General Who Stabilizes the East, enfeoffing both as lords of the Central Plains. By now, Han Fu's and Tao Qian's armies will have completely halted the flow of provisions and supplies to the Coalition Army."
"Well done. It has unfolded exactly as you planned."
Foster discord, induce division.
Once Han Fu and Tao Qian cut the supply lines, the rebels of Guandong would devour each other in civil strife.
The coalition's collapse was virtually a foregone conclusion.
Commander Hua Xiong had fallen in battle and even Sishui Pass had been taken, placing them in a desperate crisis. But the moment Han Fu and Tao Qian accepted the offer, Dong Zhuo burst into a broad grin, visibly flooded with relief.
"Then how shall we deal with those bastards from Bing Province?"
"Sir...?"
Those bastards from Bing Province—
He had to mean Lü Bu's army.
Dong Zhuo twisted his fierce face into an openly disgusted scowl.
"Intelligence arrived from the spies I planted secretly within Lü Bu's forces. Apparently, she's been in frequent contact with Liu Seong-hwi, the ringleader of the rebels. As if it weren't enough that the cur who invaded Sili Province should have his head hacked off without question, she commits the bizarre lunacy of shooting arrows with him and building familiarity."
"Elder, you sent spies into Lü Bu's army?!"
Sent spies and monitored her every move.
Li Ru reacted with visible shock at Dong Zhuo's unexpected remark.
"Why so startled? She is the Venomous Woman who murdered her foster father for glory and riches. A traitor guilty of impiety and disloyalty—what's stopping her from doing it again? Her Peerless Under Heaven might and the Bing Province Cavalry are certainly formidable assets, but I have no intention of keeping those Bing Province wenches close at hand."
Lü Bu and the officers of Bing Province origin were nothing more than surrendered generals.
No one treats surrendered generals with genuine respect.
Furthermore, Lü Bu had committed the atrocity of butchering Ding Yuan, the lord to whom she'd sworn loyalty and the man who was her foster father. How could anyone trust a Venomous Woman guilty of such a heaven-offending crime with absolute conviction?
She was a Venomous Woman who would one day level her sharp spear and sword at him, too.
That was why Dong Zhuo did not truly trust Lü Bu. He merely exploited her overwhelming martial strength, renowned as Peerless Under Heaven.
"Li Ru, what is your opinion?"
"Under no circumstances must we cast Lü Bu aside! Every lord of Guandong fears her Peerless Under Heaven might. That is precisely why, despite their string of victories, they dare not make a move on Luoyang and the front has settled into a lull."
"Of course. Why would I discard brave commanders? I merely meant... that I cannot trust with my whole heart a turncoat who murdered her own lord and surrendered."
"..."
A butcher's knife.
A slaughterhouse blade, suited only for vulgar work, would suffice.
Butcher the animals and discard the knife once its edge grows dull.
To Dong Zhuo, Lü Bu was nothing more than the crude knife of a petty butcher.
"The time has come. Burn Luoyang to the ground."
"...Yes."
General of Chariots and Cavalry Dong Min and General of the Household Niu Fu had already mobilized all the troops under their command and finished preparations to set the imperial capital of glory and wealth ablaze.
They doused the palaces in oil.
They stacked massive piles of firewood against every government office and storehouse.
They even plundered the royal tombs of past emperors and lords, sweeping up every rare piece of gold, silver, and treasure.
A single spark would unleash a vicious firestorm.
Dong Zhuo planned Scorched Earth Tactics to deliver the final blow to the rebels of Guandong. The target of those tactics was the very capital that symbolized two centuries of brilliant Later Han history.
"Once the rebels witness Luoyang reduced to ashes, surely they will have no choice but to turn their horses around."
"Elder, is it safe to keep the Fire Stratagem from Lü Bu?"
"I already arranged to dispatch a messenger ordering her to abandon the Luoyang front and withdraw to Chang'an City once the stratagem begins. Hasn't that Venomous Woman always strutted about pretending to be an officer who honors the martial path, despite having murdered her own foster father? If I hadn't sent Lü Bu elsewhere, she would have opposed the Scorched Earth Tactics to the bitter end. What a tiresome wench."
"..."
Even after committing an atrocity, she still claims to honor the martial path.
What a contradictory, double-faced wench.
She killed her foster father.
And then surrendered to her foster father's nemesis, no less.
Her naive, innocent dream of standing tall as a hero of the age would never come true. The filthy stain of a heretic and villain who murdered her foster father would remain her lifelong disgrace.
* * *
The thing I'd worried about had happened.
Han Fu's army in Ji Province and Tao Qian's army in Xu Province cut off supplies almost simultaneously.
Han Fu used the pretext that the Black Mountain Bandits, having surged down as far as Henei Prefecture after Wang Kuang's army was destroyed, had sealed the supply routes. Tao Qian offered the excuse that he was busy subduing Yellow Turban remnants who had seized Taishan Prefecture, making resupply impossible.
Fairly elaborate excuses.
They must have deliberately lured the Black Mountain Bandits and the Yellow Turban remnants into the area.
They might even have struck a secret pact with those lowly brigands, offering gold and goods in return.
"Provisions won't run short immediately... but two weeks from now, the stores will hit rock bottom."
"We must halve the soldiers' rations at once! That should let us hold out for a month!"
The supply lines were severed.
That meant fair distribution was impossible.
Once distribution becomes skewed, discrimination is born.
And once discrimination spreads, division and strife inevitably follow.
The lords of Guandong were already clashing, each asserting their own precedence. More than a few suspected their own factions might soon suffer unfairness.
"Every lord here knows Inspector of Xu Province Tao Qian is a schemer with a treacherous disposition...! Surely he must be eyeing Yan Province, left practically undefended?!"
"The same goes for Han Fu! Is he not a provincial official appointed by Dong Zhuo himself?"
Yan Province.
Yan Province sat at the point where Han Fu's and Tao Qian's forces intersected.
We must return to our posts immediately.
Figures like Inspector of Yan Province Liu Dai, Governor of Dong Prefecture Qiao Mao, and Governor of Shanyang Yuan Yi all went pale, terrified of Han Fu and Tao Qian.
"Restrain yourselves! Is there not a clear absence of evidence that the Governor of Ji Province and the Inspector of Xu Province have betrayed the coalition? Why do you all spread fear by indulging in such rash speculation?!"
Bang—
Governor of Chenliu Zhang Miao slammed the table and roared.
At that, the squabbling lords choked back their discontent.
"Mengde, have you informed the Alliance Leader of the situation in Luoyang?"
"Of course. But I have yet to receive a reply... He is probably discussing countermeasures with his close aides as we speak."
If we stood by and let this infighting continue, the coalition of lords would meet its ruin. We also had to prepare for the suspicious movements of Dong Zhuo's forces, who were mobilizing countless wagons to move Luoyang's supplies to Chang'an City.
A new phase had begun.
Yuan Shao and Cao Cao noted the Alliance Leader's absence, their gazes steeped in unease.
* * *
While the lords of Guandong waged their fierce debates,
the Alliance Leader, Liu Seong-hwi, was holding a secret conference with Liu Bei.
"Dong Zhuo will burn Luoyang now. You must enter the blackened ruins of Luoyang alongside Sun Jian's army ahead of the other lords and secure the palace."
"What...? Dong Zhuo is... going to burn... Luoyang? Is that true?! No, how... Even Wang Mang, still reviled as the arch-traitor of all time, never committed the atrocity of burning a capital... Dong Zhuo is truly going to burn Luoyang?"
Scorched Earth Tactics were a desperate, self-destructive measure often used to drive out invaders. It was natural that Dong Zhuo's army, trying to overcome an unfavorable war situation, would resort to them in an all-or-nothing gamble.
But,
the equation changes if the target is Luoyang.
Luoyang.
The capital that symbolized the two-hundred-year dynasty of the Later Han.
It was also an ancient city that harbored the accumulated history of numerous dynasties, including the Zhou.
Burn Luoyang?
That was tantamount to announcing to the entire realm that you were an even greater traitor than Wang Mang.
Dong Zhuo was indeed a traitor who had murdered the Emperor and the Empress Dowager and installed a seven-year-old imperial daughter on the throne to create a puppet regime. But even for Dong Zhuo, who had committed countless evils since seizing absolute power, burning Luoyang was no different from an act of self-destruction.
"Surely you, little brother... foresaw that Dong Zhuo would burn Luoyang? The time you've spent with that shameless Venomous Woman who murdered her own foster father, the reason you've stood by and watched Dong Zhuo's army's movements... you were waiting for Dong Zhuo's forces to burn Luoyang, weren't you...?"
Terror and delight.
And a surging thrill and awe that simmered like carnal appetite seeped from her.
The white-haired beauty let a bewitching smile play across her slender lips as she fixed her eyes on her absolute ideal type.