Peach Blossom (桃花) (1)
While Liu Seong-hwi was conquering Xu Province,
the exact opposite was happening to Rear General Yuan Shu as he careened from one humiliation to the next.
"Kill the enemy commander Yuan Shu!"
"That fellow in the golden armor is Yuan Shu! There he is!!"
When the Inspector of Jing Province, Wang Rui, who had supported the lords of Guandong, was toppled, Jing Province collapsed into undefended territory. Yuan Shu's army invaded Xiangyang and Jiangxia Prefectures to escape the threat of Dong Zhuo's forces.
However, the local gentry were rising up everywhere.
He had assumed that brandishing the prestige and authority of the Runan Yuan Clan would make the bumpkins of Jing Province line up to pledge their loyalty.
Expecting a Bloodless Entry into the City complete with lavish welcomes, Yuan Shu marched a massive army of tens of thousands. Contrary to those hopes, the moment they advanced past Xinye City, they ran into ferocious resistance from the local gentry.
"D-Dammit! Withdraw...! We return to Nanyang Prefecture!!"
The result was a crushing defeat—
they were smashed by the coalition army of local gentry lying in ambush at Xinye City.
The leading Jing Province clans, spearheaded by the Xiangyang Cai and Xiangyang Kuai Clans, shattered Yuan Shu's army.
Even accounting for the freshly conscripted troops he'd hurriedly assembled, the sight of Yuan Shu—the legitimate lineage of the Runan Yuan Clan, a hero of the age widely famed as a man of valor—suffering an overwhelming defeat at the hands of mere provincial gentry was a shocking outcome.
"My lord! The gentry of Nanyang Prefecture have risen in revolt!"
"Is that true?! Those bastards deserve to be torn apart!"
There is no mercy for an incompetent loser.
As if to prove it, the gentry of Nanyang Prefecture rebelled.
"I will enter Nanyang Prefecture at once and tear these wicked traitors limb from limb! And I will raise a host to subjugate the bumpkins of Jing Province all over again!!"
The fame of a Great Noble House of Four Generations of Three Dukes had been trampled by illiterate Jing Province rustics. Yuan Shu gnashed his teeth and vented his vengefulness, swearing to sweep them all away.
But unfavorable battle reports kept flying in.
"The Nanyang Prefecture gentry have called in the White Wave Bandits of Sili Province! The troops led by Yang Feng and Han Xian are said to have already crossed through Hongnong Prefecture!"
"White Wave Bandits...! First ignorant bumpkins, now a pack of savage bandits threaten me!"
The White Wave Bandits, made up of Yellow Turban remnants, had occupied Sili Province, which had been reduced to a wasteland by Dong Zhuo's Scorched Earth Tactics. They rapidly expanded their power by seizing the surrounding prefectures and counties in sequence.
Nanyang was virtually a vacant house.
And on top of that, the Nanyang gentry, who had been groaning under Yuan Shu's tyranny, had even requested aid.
The greedy bandit horde wasn't about to miss an opening.
"Where is that street ruffian Yuan Shu! Hand over your heads at once!"
"Ha ha ha! How pitiful the mighty hero Rear General Yuan Shu has become! Hand Nanyang Prefecture over to us brothers of White Wave Valley and get lost!!"
Yang Feng. Han Xian.
Those two chieftains of White Wave Valley had taken the field.
Yuan Shu's army had intended to enter Nanyang Prefecture and suppress the gentry's revolt, but the moment they faced Yang Feng and Han Xian with their tens of thousands of troops, they wheeled around.
Where—
where in the world could they flee?
Repeated life-or-death crises completely shattered the battle order of Yuan Shu's army.
"All officers and men, follow me!"
"M-My lord...! Where in the world are we supposed to withdraw to!"
The officers and men of Yuan Shu's army, who had been forced to endure back-to-back forced marches, were in a state of total exhaustion. When the White Wave Bandits sprang a surprise attack on top of that, they were pushed firmly onto the back foot.
They had neither the energy to fight,
nor any remaining reason to do so.
Having lost all will to fight and had their morale smashed into bedrock, Yuan Shu's officers and men started throwing down their weapons and armor and surrendering to the White Wave Bandits. Even as Ji Ling and Zhang Xun, Yuan Shu's staunchest retainers, ordered them to fight desperately, it was beyond their ability to recover the situation.
"You must make a decision immediately!"
Ji Ling shouted while swinging his sharp Eyebrow-Tipped Saber at the enemy.
In response Yuan Shu bellowed,
"Runan Prefecture! Yes, we will withdraw to Runan Prefecture! The scholar-officials and gentry of Runan Prefecture who still follow the Runan Yuan Clan remain! Unlike the ignorant rustics of Jing Province... the gentry of Runan Prefecture will surely welcome us with open arms!"
Runan Prefecture—
He would retreat to his home region of Yu Province and plot a comeback.
Yuan Shu took his close retainers and wheeled toward Runan Prefecture. After suffering consecutive devastating defeats at the hands of the Jing Province gentry and the White Wave Bandits, his army, which had numbered in the tens of thousands, was drastically whittled down to a force of barely over a thousand.
* * *
In the meantime, a host of events had occurred throughout Hebei and the Central Plains.
Yuan Shao, the Governor of Bohai, had turned Han Fu—the Governor of Ji Province whose military aid she had requested—into a spineless figurehead and seized control of Ji Province.
Then Qiao Mao, Governor of Dong Prefecture, had been killed by Liu Dai, the Inspector of Yan Province. Liu Dai himself later fell in battle fighting remnants of the Yellow Turban Rebels entrenched in Qing Province. As a result, Cao Cao, who held the post of Colonel Who Arranges the Army, naturally took possession of Yan Province alongside her old friend Zhang Miao, Governor of Chenliu.
"Yuan Shao in Ji Province, Cao Cao in Yan Province... Just as in the original history, things are proceeding methodically."
Heavenly Fortune is every bit as important as personal ability and character.
In that sense, Yuan Shao and Cao Cao were both heroes who had Heavenly Fortune at their backs.
Han Fu, Governor of Ji Province, had been too weak and inept.
Liu Dai, Inspector of Yan Province, and Qiao Mao, Governor of Dong Prefecture, had each hastened their own deaths and made an early exit.
Of course, mere Heavenly Fortune settling on someone doesn't mean everyone succeeds.
How will one seize that fortune,
and how will one make use of it?
The dividing line between a hero and a commoner was unshakable decisiveness. For the success or failure of a great enterprise, a hundred-year plan, all hinged on that resolve.
"This is Guan Yu, Governor of Xiapi."
"Come in."
While I was reviewing the reports sent in by the spies,
the second of the Peach Sisters requested an audience.
What business could she have?
I hadn't given her any commands recently.
A beauty with lustrous, black-as-ebony hair flowing down entered the office with a demure air. Her every restrained gesture overflowed with such disciplined grace that an elegant dignity was perceptible even in the smallest movement.
"I have heard that Your Highness persuaded the scholar-officials and local gentry and made the decision to establish Benevolent Care Homes throughout Xu Province. To convey my gratitude for this, I have set aside propriety and requested an audience late at night."
"If this were a private favor I'd accepted, then being thanked might be appropriate. But I simply made a decision befitting my station as the Crown Prince who governs the south. So your thanks, at this point at least, are unnecessary."
Young trees are raised to one day become pillars.
Isn't that how the saying goes?
I cracked a joke while I watched Guan Yu express her thanks, her head lowered properly.
"Indeed, just as Your Highness says. Innocent young boys and girls are the small lamps that illuminate this dark age! Just as one becomes lost in the abyss without a lamp, if all the boys and girls who possess a child's heart disappear, then the world will plunge forever into absolute darkness!"
"Well... that's one way to put it."
Was that a little much?
Her luminous, glassy eyes gleamed with an intensity that was hard to read.
"Ahem...! I have committed another discourtesy!"
"Taking in small children who need care is a worthy act of good karma. There is no reason to be embarrassed by it."
Kindness and consideration toward young children are natural instincts rooted in humanity. Even the mere beasts of the wild will throw away their lives for their young.
There's no reason for shame.
On the contrary, it's something to be open about.
Though I do wish you'd rein in the excessive fixation a bit.
"A warrior's duty lies in killing. All the while I've wandered from battlefield to battlefield, snuffing out countless lives. For a warrior drenched in blood by terrible slaughter to harbor a heart that cares for innocent children—doesn't that by rights look like hypocrisy and pretense?"
"Hm."
It wasn't the world's judgment she feared.
The question was whether her intent to kill would somehow transfer to the children,
or whether her own hypocrisy and pretense might taint the hearts of those innocent little ones.
Those glassy eyes, which had until now shone with unclouded resolution, refusing to betray any faltering, now wavered for the first time. She had carefully cracked open the heart she'd always kept thoroughly hidden.
"Hypocrisy or pretense... For orphans who lost their parents young and survived through thievery and begging, the luxury of self-loathing wouldn't have existed. Because the children in those Benevolent Care Homes have lived cradling that wretched dread that they might die tomorrow."
I put down the bamboo slip and continued speaking.
"Your decision saved children who were shivering in the cold. Had they been left as they were, countless young lives would never have survived the winter and would have frozen to death. Whether it was hypocrisy or pretense... in the eyes of children tormented by cold and hunger, it surely looked like a rescue born of goodwill. Wouldn't you say?"
If my choice is between turning a blind eye or showing disinterest that saves no one, versus embracing hypocrisy and pretense that can save many young lives, I'll take the latter.
Governance itself is a grand exercise in hypocrisy and pretense.
Even the heart of a ruler who governs on behalf of his people is likely a form of pretense and hypocrisy,
since an emperor who has never personally starved a single day in his life cannot truly understand the suffering of a starving populace.
Hm.
Anyway, I rambled on.
I got swept up in the mood and spoke all out of order there.
"Though my question was foolish and obtuse, I am grateful that you instructed me with all sincerity. Thanks to Your Highness's heartfelt counsel, I feel my mind is now set at ease."
"...I didn't say anything much."
I really didn't say anything much.
It was just the sort of clumsy comfort anyone could've offered.
The raven-haired beauty's taciturn expression softened into a faint smile.
