Coronation in the First Month (2)
Governor of Xu Province Liu Bei and Governor of Yang Province Sun Ce were warlords under Liu Chong's command who served as the Twin Wings. With Liu Bei's Sworn Sisters Guan Yu and Zhang Fei and Sun Ce's younger sister Sun Quan accompanying them, a boisterous mood ensued.
It wasn't as if they were total strangers.
They had briefly crossed paths during the Xu Province campaign.
But now, meeting in Liu Seong-hwi's office, Liu Bei and Sun Ce treated each other like people who had never met. Neither wanted to show the slightest hint of familiarity.
"You two never met? Mm, I suppose that stands to reason."
During the Xu Province campaign, Liu Bei had been preoccupied with splitting the Danyang Tao Clan, and while Sun Ce was conquering Jiangdong, Liu Bei's forces had been holding Xu Province, so of course they'd never met.
Having reached that conclusion, Liu Seong-hwi introduced them to each other.
"I've long heard of the Little Conqueror's fame, Governor of Yang Province. I am Liu Bei, Governor of Xu Province."
"I am Sun Ce, Governor of Yang Province and daughter of the Left General."
On the surface, there was no reason to show discord.
And besides, weren't they before their beloved lord's very eyes?
Fomenting strife and enmity would be an act of contempt for that beloved lord's favor and trust. So, even as they felt revulsion and nausea churning deep in their guts, they made a show of composure.
'I have no intention of debating benevolence in war... but to use that cunning Chain Stratagem to engineer the horrific tragedy of a son poisoning his father. She's nothing but a wanton who wears a sage's mask.'
The Chain Stratagem had, in a single stroke, branded a famously devoted son as an unfilial wretch who murdered his father.
A wanton playing the sage.
That was Sun Ce's concluded assessment of Liu Bei.
Horrifying. Revolting.
The mere act of facing her brought on a wave of nausea.
After Tao Qian died and Tao Shang took his own life, Liu Bei had wholly absorbed the forces of the Tao Qian faction that had commanded Xu Province. She had toppled the Tao Qian army, an evenly matched foe, using nothing but the Chain Stratagem.
The outcome was truly perfect.
It had allowed Liu Chong's forces to conquer Xu Province at a single stroke.
But,
a Chain Stratagem that completely disregarded even the barest benevolence and morality was more than enough to breed contempt. For Sun Ce, who put a warrior's honor and pride above all, it made her feel nothing short of disgust for Liu Bei.
"I look forward to working with you from now on."
"...Yes."
The beautiful woman with flowing pure-white hair extended a hand and offered a bewitching smile. As if picking up a piece of filth, Sun Ce clasped the cunning wanton's fingers.
A shudder of revulsion ran down her spine,
even though the contact lasted only an instant.
"My sister has been dying to see you. She was practically singing about it."
"Quan'er!"
Sun Ce was a born warrior, the polar opposite of a cunning schemer. Hiding her true feelings and playing a role was therefore something she could never help being clumsy at.
A look in which hostility quietly seeped.
Cheeks rigidly frozen.
And fingers faintly trembling.
The red-haired girl had interjected with an impudent voice. Sun Ce's face, filled with icy enmity just moments before, instantly flushed scarlet at her younger sister's teasing remark.
"I heard the Left General has three daughters... Are you the Governor of Yang Province's younger sister?"
"Yes, I am Sun Quan."
Unlike her unpolished elder sister,
the younger Sun Quan offered a proper greeting with full decorum.
A poise that conveyed noble grace.
She displayed the natural ease of a daughter of a prestigious house, well-versed in etiquette.
"Our royal father's enthronement ceremony is to be conducted as grandly as possible. My elder sister, please station Xu Province's elite troops at Shouchun City and then assume responsibility for the enthronement's security."
"Understood, little brother."
"Ce'er, you as well, lead Yang Province's elite troops and take charge of the enthronement's security."
"Yes! I shall obey your command."
Even as he had sent word to Liu Bei and Sun Ce ordering them to attend the enthronement, he had also stipulated ten thousand elite troops each. The aim was to maintain an ironclad security cordon around the event.
Ten thousand elite troops from Xu Province.
Ten thousand elite troops from Yang Province.
It was also meant to proclaim to the whole world that he had risen as the Hegemon ruling the south. The imposing and majestic elite corps of Xu and Yang Provinces needed to display the new emperor's power and authority.
Liu Bei and Sun Ce both nodded.
* * *
While they were absorbed in preparations for the enthronement,
another letter arrived from the far northern reaches of the Han Dynasty.
It was a handwritten missive from Liu Yu, Governor of You Province, called the Sage Ruler of the North.
"Is he planning to throw another tantrum?"
The last letter he'd sent had urged that Liu Chong 'withdraw his rebellion and pledge loyalty to the Han Imperial House and the Imperial Court.' It had also requested the return of the Imperial Jade Seal seized at Luoyang and added the advice that as a member of a cadet branch of the Han Imperial House, Liu Chong must safeguard the dynasty's lifeblood and national fortune.
How very like that stiff-necked pedant.
Did he think rattling the saber of benevolence and loyalty would frighten anyone into withdrawing a rebellion?
In a chaotic age ruled by the law of the jungle, Liu Yu prided himself on a principled devotion to benevolence and loyalty. Even though the young emperor propped up by the arch-traitor of the age was a mere puppet, lacking any moral mandate or legitimacy as emperor, Liu Yu stubbornly insisted that "even if the dynasty has been seized by Xiliang traitors, the feudal lords must obey the Han Imperial House and the Imperial Court."
'I never replied to his last handwritten letter. I just dismissed it as barking and ignored it. Maybe because more than half a year passed with no reply... His emotions in this letter feel noticeably agitated.'
Return the Imperial Jade Seal and submit to the Han Imperial House and the Imperial Court.
An ultimatum—
No,
it was practically a declaration of war.
A zoo tourist isn't afraid of the predators. Knowing the beasts are caged and can't pose a direct threat, the tourist can leisurely enjoy the spectacle. Liu Yu's declaration of war was exactly the same.
His fate was ultimately to suffer a crushing defeat in battle and be executed by Gongsun Zan, Governor of Beiping. Knowing the tragic end that awaited such a woolly idealist, Liu Seong-hwi decided to treat this as nothing more than Feigned Strength.
"No, hold on."
What a damn ordeal for the messengers who had to haul these precious missives all the way from the northern frontier to the south.
Just as he dismissed it as trivial,
an unsettling variable dawned on him.
"193 CE. Governor of You Province Liu Yu should already be dead, killed by Gongsun Zan. So why is he still alive...?"
Summer.
Liu Yu was supposed to have died this past summer.
But he's alive.
If Gongsun Zan had killed him as the original history dictated, there was no way word wouldn't have spread. After all, Liu Yu had raised a massive army of one hundred thousand in Zhuo Prefecture and was utterly routed by Gongsun Zan's mere few thousand troops.
"Zilong."
"You called?"
He summoned the Captain of the Guard who stood vigil outside.
A woman with long gray hair answered, coming to attention.
"Have you heard any word from You Province? Like Governor of You Province Liu Yu being killed in the marketplace, or something..."
"I have heard no such thing."
He'd briefly thought that Zhao Yun, having once served under Gongsun Zan, might have caught some rumor, but the answer was as expected.
Liu Yu, who should have died this past summer, was alive.
And Gongsun Zan, who should have been branded a public brigand for executing Liu Yu in broad daylight, was also alive and well.
'To alter the original history, there should have been some meticulous preparation and a direct cause... What on earth is the reason Liu Yu is still alive? Just like Yuan Shu collapsed without being able to falsely claim the imperial title after Sun Jian's forces were brought in, some variable must have affected Governor of You Province Liu Yu.'
A variable.
Was there a variable that could have stopped his tragic end?
I don't know.
Hebei was simply too far away.
"Governor of Bohai Yuan Shao betrayed Governor of Ji Province Han Fu and seized Ye City... Yuan Shao's and Gongsun Zan's forces fought an all-out battle at Jieqiao for supremacy over Ji Province... The broad outlines have probably followed the original history."
There was no notable intelligence from the spies planted in Hebei.
Since the Battle of Jieqiao, which had pitted Yuan Shao's army against Gongsun Zan's, no large-scale campaign had erupted. There were only sporadic skirmishes akin to power-jockeying.
"Hm... Dong Zhuo, too, should have died by the original history. The variable was detaching Lü Bu's forces from Dong Zhuo's army when they were meant to withdraw to Chang'an. Now there's no one to kill Dong Zhuo while he's holed up in Meiwu Fortress."
Liu Yu.
Dong Zhuo.
He listed the deviations of history that had slipped their original tracks.
This is serious.
Could the altered history end up coming back at us like some new calamity?
"Zilong. Burn it."
"Is this not a handwritten letter from the Governor of You Province?"
"It is."
"...Understood."
Being from Changshan Prefecture in Ji Province, Zhao Yun would be intimately familiar with the Sage Ruler of the North, who was admired and supported by all the common people. That was why, just for a moment, she'd shown a flustered reaction to the order to burn Liu Yu's handwritten letter.
"He's nothing but a pedant who knows only armchair theory."
The First Lunar Month.
With the new year begun,
the ascension of the Emperor who ruled the south was proclaimed to all under heaven.