Tale of Xu Province (3)
We bid winter farewell and welcomed spring.
Four months.
In that time, Xu Province was firmly annexed.
When Liu Bei was appointed as the new Governor of Xu Province, her sworn sisters Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were simultaneously granted the offices of Governor of Xiapi and Governor of Langya, strengthening their influence. An appeasement policy was also implemented—raising the ranks and feudatory estates of the officials and generals who had previously served Tao Qian's army and surrendered to us.
"The Governor of You Province sent this...? That's unexpected. I'm not exactly acquainted with that White-Faced Scholar."
Governor of You Province, Liu Yu.
He was the most famous figure among the Han Imperial House's Cadet Imperial Clan Members.
In the central government, he had successively held the eminent posts of Director of the Imperial Secretariat, Minister of the Household, and Minister of the Imperial Clan, and no sooner had he returned to his original post in You Province than he was appointed Grand Marshal—a meteoric rise.
The Sage-King of the North.
Duke of Pacifying the People.
Liu Yu governed with virtuous rule that prized benevolence, righteousness, and frugality, and his extraordinary renown and popularity won him fervent support not only among the Han dynasty's common people, but even among the barbarians beyond the Great Wall.
'Of all the warlords under heaven, he's the one I'd least want to make an enemy of. Kill a sage respected and beloved by all the people, and the Unification of the Realm would scatter like a fleeting spring dream. Especially when you remember how Gongsun Zan rashly tried taking out a Cadet Imperial Clan Member in the original history and collapsed overnight.'
For what reason would a Cadet Imperial Clan Member of such high repute send me a letter?
I doubted it was a bombshell declaration that he'd join our Raising an Army.
"..."
I broke the seal and unrolled the bamboo slip.
Then I slowly read the neatly written words, carefully and thoroughly.
"Good thing You Province is far away. If it were right next door, this would've been a real headache."
As befitted a White-Faced Scholar of upright character, the letter's contents were direct and unambiguous.
-Return the Imperial Jade Seal that you unlawfully seized in Luoyang to the Imperial House and Imperial Court at once, and devote yourself to rebuilding the Han dynasty in its hour of peril. Is it not the duty of a Cadet Imperial Clan Member to assist the young Emperor and pursue the Han's revival and peace? If you repent even now and demonstrate your loyalty to the Imperial House and Imperial Court, the young Emperor may yet show you mercy.
An exceedingly courteous and deferential composition.
True to the hand of a famed calligrapher of the realm, the brushwork practically exuded the noble dignity of an imperial clansman.
However—
"The old man's suddenly spouting bullshit. If I had any intention of giving it up easily, I wouldn't have declared the Raising an Army in the first place."
Crunch—!
I crushed the bamboo slip in my grip.
Then I scattered the remnants of Liu Yu's handwritten letter across the floor like shaking off trash.
'Even in the original history, Liu Yu flatly refused the warlords' proposal to install him as the new emperor. He was the only Cadet Imperial Clan Member truly loyal to the Han Imperial House and Imperial Court. In the end, though, he'll be routed by Gongsun Zan and killed.'
Destined to be brutally slaughtered along with his entire household.
We'd likely never face each other across a battlefield.
"An urgent report has just flown in from Jing Province. Yuan Shu's army, which had advanced into Xiangyang Prefecture, has suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Jing Province's Local Gentry."
"Knew it."
Yuan Shu was the only one among the Guandong feudal lords who had joined the Coalition Army to experience a crushing defeat. And no sooner had his forces in Nanyang Prefecture recovered some strength after taking such catastrophic losses than he revealed his ambition to swallow Jing Province whole.
Territorial expansion.
And survival against Dong Zhuo's army.
The territories of the feudal lords who had joined the anti-Dong Zhuo coalition were concentrated in Guandong. Yuan Shu's territory of Nanyang Prefecture, on the other hand, was dangerously close to the Three Adjuncts region around Chang'an City, making his strategic position acutely precarious.
A scarecrow standing alone.
That was Yuan Shu's army's current position.
The moment Dong Zhuo's army raised a large force, he would find himself in the situation of a Mantis Blocking a Chariot.
'To think he'd be so helplessly routed by Jing Province's Local Gentry. Just how incompetent is he? Or does it mean the Xiangyang Cai Clan and Xiangyang Kuai Clan—the great houses representing Jing Province—are simply that formidable?'
The only way for Yuan Shu's army, a mere little mantis, to survive Dong Zhuo's army—a chariot wheel thundering downhill—was to shift his sphere of power southward.
And he failed.
He squandered Nanyang Prefecture's soldiers a second time in a desperate bid for survival.
There is no tolerance for the defeated.
The people of Nanyang Prefecture would no longer stomach a feckless, mediocre lord who accomplished nothing and only racked up catastrophic losses.
None of the neighboring powers would accept the Legitimate Lineage of a Great Noble House of Four Generations of Three Dukes. Accept a maniacal, arrogant schemer into your home, and she'd simply steal the house out from under you.
"All the Local Gentry who have come for the celebration banquet are waiting."
"Understood. I'll go at once."
The celebration banquet.
It was a feast commemorating the victory of Liu Chong's army.
From the generals who had surrendered from Tao Qian's army to the countless Scholar-Officials and Local Gentry of Xu Province, led by the Donghai Mi Clan, all had gladly attended the banquet.
Not a single person had sent word of their absence.
Who would dare be absent from a victory celebration held by Liu Chong's army, the force that had occupied Xu Province?
Absence from the banquet signaled that one still longed for Tao Qian's army—and that one harbored dissatisfaction with the rule of Liu Chong's army, which had annihilated Tao Qian's forces and swept the Five Prefectures of Xu Province.
* * *
The pretext of a victory celebration was only half the story.
It was a venue for confirming the loyalty of the Surrendered Generals from Tao Qian's army.
And also a venue for collecting "tribute payments" from Xu Province's Scholar-Officials and Local Gentry.
Felt like shaking people down.
Reminded me of thugs extorting merchants under the pretext of charging for their seat.
"Defend Xu Province from the external enemies of the Central Plains. That is your duty. Though you are Surrendered Generals, your future achievements and service alone shall be weighed, and I will open a path for your advancement."
Those of surrendered general origins inevitably face irrational restrictions on their offices and ranks. In the original history, Cao Cao's army, while treating capable Surrendered Generals favorably, still placed tangible limits on their advancement.
But Liu Chong's army is different.
Generals who surrendered from other factions would be treated favorably, without discrimination.
Seated in the place of honor, Liu Seong-hwi raised his cup to the Surrendered Generals from Tao Qian's army and promised them a path of advancement free from discrimination or irrational barriers. The surrendered generals, who had attended the banquet feeling as though they were sitting on a bed of nails, raised their cups in return, their faces somewhat relieved of worry.
"Scholar-Officials and Local Gentry, hear me. The loyalty you have shown by voluntarily contributing fortunes of ten million gold as an act of patriotic devotion shall never be forgotten. On the day His Highness the King of Chen unifies the south and ascends the throne, you shall be rewarded with grants worth scores of times the wealth you offer today."
These were not grand words limited to mere wealth.
Power.
All wealth, in the end, flows from power.
Liu Seong-hwi promised the Scholar-Officials and Local Gentry of Xu Province the power to strike it rich overnight. He added a firm pledge of monopoly rights in the markets and gradual reductions on taxes levied on transactions with merchant companies.
The bastards who were trembling like mutts about to piss themselves suddenly brightened right up. The moment I spoke, the whole atmosphere of the banquet changed.
"That is the Art of Employing Talent."
Speech and action that steers the hearts of the masses exactly as intended.
Liu Seong-hwi's mastery of the Art of Employing Talent was every bit as exceptional as his near-divine archery.
He had been the Alliance Leader who commanded the Guandong feudal lords. It would be stranger if such an extraordinary figure displayed ineptitude in the art of winning hearts.
"Now that I think about it... I'm really glad we stuck with the Crown Prince. If we'd kept following Gongsun Zan's army from battlefield to battlefield, we'd have been found dead in a ditch within days."
"Ahem! We simply follow big sister. O-of course... I do think the Crown Prince is a remarkable person, but still!"
"Blushing and getting all shy. Don't tell me you've got feelings for my brother-in-law?"
"I do not!"
Nudge.
The sworn sisters seated side by side traded teasing remarks.
Each time, they poked each other's ribs, probing what lay in the other's heart.
"Fufu, what amusing conversation were you two having?"
"Big Sister...!"
The beautiful woman with flowing pure-white hair approached her beloved sworn sisters. The moment the eldest sister drew near with a radiant smile, Guan Yu's expression stiffened with fluster.
She offered a toast.
It was sweet Honey Wine, fermented from honey.
Proof of how diligently they had advanced within Liu Chong's army, they now enjoyed a luxurious table laden with Honey Wine and Delicacies from Mountains and Seas. They had completely left behind the days of poverty, when they'd shared sips of bitter, coarse Unrefined Rice Wine.
"I suppose I should be getting up soon. I've agreed to share the bedchamber tonight."
"Cough! Cough-cough!"
Share the bedchamber.
No one would think it merely meant sharing the same quilt and pillow.
At Liu Bei's candid remark, Guan Yu's face reddened and she let out a dry cough. It was an innocent, endearingly guileless reaction, proof of a pure maiden with no experience whatsoever.
"Would Yunchang and Yide like to get up and come along too? If my darling younger sisters joined as concubines, it would set my mind so at ease."
The eldest sister tossed out the mischievous jest in a voice full of laughter.
Whereupon,
"Wh-what an outrageous thing to say...!"
"Ahaha! Well, if it's the Crown Prince, I'd sincerely welcome it?"
The second sister and the youngest showed opposite reactions to the teasing question.