Promissory Note (2)
Liu Yao, Governor of Danyang, was a collateral imperial clansman who commanded both profound fame and virtue, and under his banner he gathered a great many scholar-retainers.
Puyang Yi. Deng Tan. Shi Yi.
Liu Yao's retainers came from widely varied backgrounds.
When the Central Plains fell into ceaseless war, they had followed him south to Danyang Prefecture.
Sun Ce needed civil officials to support her.
As part of his appeasement policy, Liu Seong-hwi offered weighty posts to Liu Yao's scholar-retainers.
"How could we ever submit to our enemy!"
"For the sake of the grace the Governor of Danyang has shown us...! We will never follow the rebels who invaded Jiangdong!"
The retainers cried out, hearts bleeding as though weeping tears of blood.
To this, Liu Yao answered with a bitter smile.
"No. If you truly think of me... take office at the King of Chen's court and make your names glorious. All this time, have you not studied in order to relieve the countless people of Jiangdong? Do not make the foolish decision to live as wild men merely for the pretense of following a defeated lord."
A defeated lord.
He had referred to himself as a defeated lord.
In other words, he humbly acknowledged his defeat and downfall.
Liu Yao accepted reality with a dignified voice. And to his retainers, he offered one final well-meaning wish: that they take office in Liu Chong's army and achieve a virtuous administration.
"Elder..."
"Ziyi, you too should follow the Crown Prince. I apologize for everything. Blinded by suspicion born of that prophecy, I committed the foolish error of failing to employ a peerless warrior of the age whom I had right before my eyes."
Taishi Ci.
Gazing at the woman warrior with the short-cropped green hair, he bowed his head.
He apologized for his foolish error with complete candor.
Staring at her former lord, Taishi Ci's scarred cheek quivered faintly.
"Forgive me. All of it is this junior officer's failure of oversight."
"I will not force the unreasonable advice upon you to be loyal to Liu Chong's army. Fight for the people of Jiangdong."
It was nobody's fault.
It was nobody's responsibility.
Heavenly Fortune had simply chosen them.
With a faint smile, Liu Yao consoled Taishi Ci and his retainers.
* * *
Appointed Enemy-Repelling General, Taishi Ci once more made her martial name resound while conducting a large-scale subjugation of the Shanyue people in Jian'an Prefecture. Faced with her keen short halberds, the Shanyue warriors resisted repeatedly before surrendering one by one.
Five thousand.
Shanyue tribes totaling five thousand households were subjugated.
Liu Seong-hwi conscripted the able-bodied Shanyue men of Jian'an Prefecture and placed them under Taishi Ci's command.
"Big Sis Lion!" "Hahaha! As expected, you are magnificently bold today, Big Sis!"
Using Barbarians to Control Barbarians.
Control the barbarians using barbarians.
A tribal auxiliary force composed of Shanyue men was organized specifically for the Shanyue subjugation. Since the Shanyue had always been a people who operated by tribe, the Shanyue tribes that had submitted to Liu Chong's army proved obedient to the task of suppressing their own kin in Jian'an Prefecture.
The frontier tribes respect strength.
To such peoples, Taishi Ci, who boasted the martial prowess of One Against a Thousand, was an object of veneration. As if to prove it, the Shanyue warriors called Taishi Ci 'Big Sis' and openly displayed their respect.
"Don't get so familiar with me, you worthless grunts! Tomorrow I'll run you even more mercilessly into the ground!"
Short-cropped green hair.
Cinnabar-red eyes radiating ferocious fighting spirit.
A fierce grin.
The deep scar etched across her cheek.
A stern, commanding voice barking orders at officers and soldiers.
From her large chest wrapped in a breastplate to the long, slender legs revealed above her leather trousers. She was a beautiful woman with a thoroughly captivating charm—what you would call stacked and stunning.
A heroine who had plunged alone into the chaos of battle and slaughtered hundreds of enemy troops. The Shanyue warriors paid their respects to this matchlessly brave heroine and placed their complete trust in her.
"Big Sis Lion really is fierce!"
"Ha ha! That is exactly Big Sis's charm. Though she is not so honest about it."
They largely drove out the Shanyue tribes that had centered their raids around Jian'an Prefecture. Through Taishi Ci's fierce struggle, the displaced Shanyue fled toward Jiao Province.
Jiao Province.
The prefectures and counties situated at the far southern end of the Han Dynasty.
Hearing that the Shanyue remnants had fled to Jiao Province, they halted the pursuit.
Someday the Shanyue will regroup their strength and invade Jiangdong again. Since the tribes' sole means of production was plunder and abduction, they had to prey on the Han Chinese of Jiangdong just to survive.
"You've gotten quite used to it. Your new armor suits you well."
"Mm."
The gallant heroine with her flowing red hair.
Little Conqueror.
Sun Ce.
She had annihilated all the warlords of Jiangdong and been appointed Governor of Yang Province. Had Liu Chong's army not invaded, Elder Liu Yao would have been the one appointed to that post.
In an instant, intense emotion surged up.
'The Elder meekly conceded his defeat and accepted their rule... For me, a subordinate officer, to defy that outcome would be disloyalty and an insult to the Elder.'
She had thought she was used to it by now.
Had she still not fully accepted reality?
Taishi Ci reflected on her own obtuseness and quelled the smoldering resentment.
"I hear the newly subjugated Shanyue warriors are following you obediently? That's good. Without subduing the Shanyue tribes, you cannot control Jian'an Prefecture."
"Yes... By the end of this year, I will, fully subjugate, all of the Shanyue remnants."
"It doesn't suit you, so drop the formal speech at least when it's just the two of us. Didn't you once call me a blockhead? The Lion should keep her sharp-tongued charm."
"..."
Who knew formal speech could be this difficult?
Every time she used honorifics with the blockhead in front of her, Taishi Ci felt her mouth go utterly dry.
Governor of Yang Province.
Sun Ce was the liege lord who commanded Jiangdong.
She had to use courteous etiquette with this heroine who had risen to become the master of Jiangdong in a single stroke.
But Sun Ce simply burst into a hearty laugh and replied, "Why are you being so weird? It doesn't suit you."
"His Highness the Crown Prince is calling for you."
"Me?"
"You distinguished yourself in the Shanyue subjugation. He will likely grant you an office or a title."
"Mm."
Three months since surrendering to Liu Chong's army.
During that time, Taishi Ci had devoted herself entirely to the Shanyue subjugation.
The Shanyue were barbarians who had persistently plundered the people of Jiangdong like a horrific plague. Even Taishi Ci, who had agonized over whether it was wise to be loyal to the rebels who had invaded Jiangdong, had thrown herself completely into rooting out the Shanyue.
As a result of her months of action in Jian'an Prefecture,
Taishi Ci had achieved an unrivaled record even among the surrendered generals.
"I intend to entrust you with the Central Army Commander position, under the Palace Guard. What do you think?"
"When you say Central Army Commander..."
Central Army Commander.
It refers to the Imperial Guard that protects the sovereign.
Liu Seong-hwi was offering her the post of Captain of the Guard who would command the Central Army. At this, Taishi Ci was confounded by his intent to give her, a surrendered general, the office of Central Army Commander.
'Entrusting the Captain of the Guard to a confidant who has served you for decades would still feel insufficient... And you would give that post, where trust and loyalty are paramount above all else, to a surrendered general from the battlefield? What on earth is he thinking.'
The superior of her superior.
For Taishi Ci, Liu Seong-hwi was a deeply uncomfortable figure.
Awkward and discomfiting.
Simply meeting his eyes was a burden.
He was the arch-villain who had subjugated Jiangdong and brought about her lord's downfall. Though she had striven to cast off her past grudges and feelings after switching her allegiance to Liu Chong's army, Taishi Ci still thought of her current master only as an awkward and uncomfortable person.
"I trust you completely. Moreover, the Governor of Yang Province recommended you."
"This is without precedent. There has never been a case of a surrendered general being given the post of Captain of the Guard."
The Imperial Guard was the center of power, attending the sovereign at his very side. If she accepted the position of Captain of the Guard commanding that force, lofty authority, wealth, and glory would follow as a matter of course.
However,
Taishi Ci was a stubbornly single-minded person with little interest in wealth or power.
She still did not consider Liu Seong-hwi an object of loyalty. But as a military officer who esteemed the martial path, she possessed a thorough sense of duty, and so she offered loyal counsel to the man who was about to make a mistaken judgment.
"Whether it is a wise decision or foolish recklessness—does that not depend on your future conduct?"
"Pardon?"
"If you protect me completely from countless assassins, later generations will judge it a wise decision. If, in an unforeseen moment, you attempt to assassinate me, later generations will point fingers and call it foolish recklessness."
"Th-That is...!"
He would humbly accept the outcome of his judgment. Whatever result he met, he would never regret the decision.
Liu Seong-hwi answered Taishi Ci's question in a calm voice.
His nerve was anything but ordinary.
Having parted ways with her former lord who had never once employed her properly as a general, she was now faced with a current lord who made the radical proclamation that he would appoint a surrendered general as Captain of the Guard commanding the Imperial Guard.
Isn't this too extreme?
Does he not know the meaning of moderation?
Dumbstruck, Taishi Ci stared at Liu Seong-hwi.