Proclaiming Emperor (3)
Zhu Huan. Zhang Yun.
I had recruited the heads of the Wu Prefecture Zhu Clan and Wu Prefecture Zhang Clan.
It was now emblazoned in their minds that Jiangdong had been fully pacified. By subduing the local gentry who represented Wu Prefecture, I had secured dominion over Danyang Prefecture, Kuaiji Prefecture, and Yuzhang Prefecture.
Is it about time to head back?
I ought to report our victory to the Father King as a triumphant returning general.
"Teacher, stay in Danyang Prefecture and assist the Governor of Yang Province."
"Yes, understood."
A graceful beauty with long silver hair tinged with blue—Xin Pi—replied respectfully. I had summoned Deputy Commander Lu Su to fill the gap in civil administration that Sun Ce was so clumsy with.
Her eyes were gently closed.
The smile playing at the corners of her mouth was radiant with good cheer.
You could tell she was in remarkably high spirits.
This morning, after she had coughed, her left eyelid had, for whatever reason, started fluttering. Unbeknownst to me, in the southern lands a twitching left eyelid is considered an auspicious omen for striking it rich.
"That isn't all. Today, a swallow built its nest in the willow tree at the residence! On top of that, the household servants said they saw a bat last night."
"...That's just silly superstition, isn't it?"
I've heard the joke that a bat is considered lucky because it sounds like the word for fortune. Lu Su's soft cheeks flushed pink as she beamed—a reaction that honestly baffled me.
Still...
I'd heard that the wealthier the family, the more they rely on superstition.
They supposedly lean heavily on diviners to predict the success or failure of sudden fortunes. Their faith in trigrams, prophetic charts, feng shui, and the Five Elements is beyond imagination.
"No, these are all signs ordained by Heaven! Today's energy bore a portent of conflict sparked from the earth element, so I've dressed in dark brown clothes symbolizing the wood element to counter it!"
"..."
Her voice thick with unshakeable confidence, Lu Su shook both hands, making her sleeves flutter. The woman clearly put immense stock in superstition.
A necklace said to summon good fortune.
Bracelets and earrings said to ward off calamity.
She seemed to change her accessories daily based on the outcome of that day's elemental determinations.
- A state of perfect warding, batting away every bit of bad luck!
I shrugged as I watched the beauty radiate a grin as cocksure as a little kid's.
'I already knew people regardless of station cling to superstition about fortune and misfortune... but I've heard the Imperial House and the Imperial Court still burn tortoise shells to divine victory or defeat every time they dispatch a general to the front.'
I can't just dismiss it as uncivilized.
Human beings naturally want to believe in—and lean on—something transcendent.
The influence of the Way of Great Peace and the Five Pecks of Rice Sect, running rampant all across the Central Plains, made it easy to guess that the people of the Han Dynasty placed absolute faith in superstition. I'd heard it especially flourished in the backwater frontiers, where knowledge and culture were less developed.
"They're just frivolous superstitions popular among the common folk."
"It is precisely that sort of carelessness that invites misfortune. Your Highness, you must learn from my example and thoroughly prepare against ill fortune... so that you may achieve the great enterprise of Unification of the Realm!"
When the Xiapi Lu Clan joined our Raising of the Army, they invested half their wealth.
In other words,
if the great enterprise of Unification of the Realm fails, the Xiapi Lu Clan goes utterly broke.
Her shoulders trembling, Lu Su voiced her anxiety that she might not even recover her principal, much less the interest on her notes of credit. Because if the Southern Heir—who could so casually dismiss auspicious and inauspicious omens as mere superstition—got swept up by some brutally cruel calamity, disaster would follow.
"Why?"
"First, a warding bracelet...! It's a temporary expedient, but I'll even take off my own robe and give it to you!"
"I said fine! Put your clothes back on!"
"If Your Highness should meet with misfortune like this...! The ill luck—I must ward it off at once!"
A wise woman of Danyang, huffing sharp breaths as she stood on guard against bad luck.
She looked ready to strip off her own outfit, decked out entirely in a color symbolizing the wood attribute, at any moment.
A compromise.
I offered a compromise to calm the derangement in front of me.
"It's hot weather as it is. Couldn't you just back up a little?"
"Oh, I can't! Until the bad luck lets up... I'm staying right next to Your Highness!"
An embrace.
We compromised at the level of her latching on and hugging me.
I swallowed a groan as I watched Lu Su, a desperate look on her face, cling fiercely to me. Every time her large breasts pressed into my back, every time her long thighs and legs squeezed my torso, the sweet scent of a maiden kept stoking the fire in my lower belly.
* * *
If it's the Little Conqueror (小覇王), I can trust her completely and leave things in her hands.
I thought as I gazed at the gallant lady, her red hair flowing loose.
"Of course! To repay the royal favor Your Highness has shown me all this time, I'll guard Jiangdong like an iron rampart!"
"I'll send a letter once I reach Shouchun City."
With her head lifted, Sun Ce beamed broadly.
She resembled a puppy seeing its master off.
As I stroked her lovely red hair, I comforted Sun Ce, who had shouldered the heavy burden of the governorship of Yang Province. At that, Sun Ce's golden eyes sparkled, brimming with affection.
"Your Highness?"
"Just for a moment, before I leave..."
I bowed my head.
And at the same time, I kissed the lady's soft cheek.
Peck.
A kiss that lasted only an instant.
But it was more than enough to render a lovestruck young lady utterly insensate.
"Hngh! Your, Your Highness?!"
"I'll come back down south before long... but until then, I'm counting on you to govern Yang Province."
Her face burned bright red.
And not just her face.
Her earlobes and the nape of her neck turned as red as ripe fruit.
It looked as if searing steam would spurt out with a pop if you poked her with a fingertip.
"Th-then I'll also...!"
"Mm."
Sun Ce answered in a voice thick with resolute determination.
Then she stood on tiptoe as high as she could.
She kissed me goodbye. It was a timid kiss, just a brief touch like a lark pecking with its beak.
An act of affection still fragrant with the freshness of a maiden.
She must have wrung the very last drop of courage from her heart to give me that kiss.
I reached out both arms and pulled the gallant, adorable lady into an embrace. Contrary to her reputation as a warrior hailed as the Little Conqueror of Jiangdong, wielding the might of a Foe of Ten Thousand, her slender figure felt light and small.
"I-I...! Come next year, I'll be a full-fledged adult, so...!"
"Then I'll keep that in mind."
Next year I'll be an adult!
The bashful lady clenched both fists, showing her resolve.
I nodded, accepting the sentiment.
* * *
The Crown Prince returns.
Shouchun City, which had already been abuzz with the investiture of the Empress, once again began to stir.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
Dust, like tidal waves, blanketed the wide-open plains.
The expeditionary army that had crossed the Yangtze River and pacified Jiangdong was coming back. As if to prove it was the 'Emperor's army' destined to command the south, the thunderous boom of drums and horns set the whole realm on edge.
"Crown Prince, how much you've toiled in the south! You did splendidly again this time!"
Escorted by Zhao Yun and Taishi Ci, Liu Seong-hwi reached the southern gate of Shouchun City. King Liu Chong, who had already traveled to the gate with his assembled civil and military officials, welcomed his eldest son with loud, delighted laughter.
Six prefectures of Jiangdong.
Tens of thousands of soldiers and officers who had surrendered on the battlefield.
And oaths of loyalty from the warlords and local gentry who had ruled the south.
Now there was nothing to fear in all under heaven.
They could even singlehandedly oppose Dong Zhuo's army, which had set up the young emperor as a Puppet Emperor.
Liu Chong clapped Liu Seong-hwi on the shoulder, praising his exploits and hard work. Liu Seong-hwi accepted the fervent welcome with a touch of awkwardness.
"I have appointed General Who Attacks Rebels Sun Ce as Governor of Yang Province and left Sun Jian's deputy generals in place. And... here is the list of those Father King is to appoint as new civil and military officials. Please grant your approval later."
"If these are talents selected by the Crown Prince, they are naturally the right men for the posts. Very well—I shall approve it the moment we return to the royal palace."
I had picked and appointed local talent on the spot without even consulting my father first—and had gone so far as to hand him the list and say, "All you need to do is stamp the Imperial Jade Seal onto this blank space."
That's conduct that could easily be deemed a blatant overreach of authority.
Yet, just as blood is thicker than water,
power is thicker than blood.
Power, with its extreme, demonic nature, is so venomous it can even incite strife among one's own flesh and blood. Throughout history, East or West, how many bloody feuds have been fought over palace power?
But Liu Chong accepted it readily, a benevolent smile on his face. It was the kind of action only possible because he genuinely trusted his one and only son.
"I heard Father King declined to go through with appointing the Empress to the very end. If you are reluctant to choose one from among the Consorts and Concubines to elevate as Empress, then select a suitable candidate from among the daughters of prominent families."
"Enough. You want a man pushing sixty to take a new wife all over again? I'd be scolded to death by a young lady and wither away, that's plain. What you should be doing, Crown Prince, is fetching yourself a Crown Princess forthwith."
A wife is plenty—I want to see a daughter-in-law.
At Liu Chong's answer, Liu Seong-hwi shrugged his shoulders.