Anti-Dong Zhuo Coalition (2)
Liu Bei.
The second son of Emperor Jing, the seventh emperor of the Former Han, was Prince Jing of Zhongshan, Liu Sheng—and Liu Bei was Liu Sheng's distant descendant.
Liu Sheng, a famously lecherous imperial clansman, reportedly fathered a staggering one hundred twenty children. From the day he lost his virginity in his youth until his death, he shared his bed with innumerable beauties and produced offspring like a man possessed.
Did that stupendous effort bear fruit?
Countless descendants lived and died in obscurity, but after more than three hundred years, a new emperor would emerge—one who conquered Yi Province and Jing Province and claimed the legitimacy of the Han.
'Well... right now she's still a nobody you can't help but pity.'
A former volunteer commander who fought the Yellow Turban Rebels.
A guest general under Cao Cao.
A convicted criminal who beat a Postal Inspector halfway to death and fled.
A tempestuous résumé.
But still far from escaping "no-name" status.
In the original history, the only reason she would be honored as Imperial Uncle by Emperor Xian, Liu Xie, was that Han loyalists wanted to recruit Liu Bei to denounce Cao Cao. Without that impetus, she would have remained an obscure cadet branch until her dying breath.
"I am Liu Bei, General of a Separate Division. I have come in my capacity as guest general under Colonel of Valiant Cavalry Cao Cao to beseech you to join the Coalition Army. Please forgive my discourtesy in arriving without prior notice."
"It's fine. The realm has been usurped by traitors—this is a time of emergency, is it not?"
White hair as elegant as freshly fallen snow.
Vividly gleaming crimson eyes that evoked red jade.
A beauty who possessed the delicate, innocent grace of a hare bounding through snowy mountains.
And that wasn't all.
A generous, voluptuous bosom that even a breastplate could not conceal.
A waist as slender and long-lined as a model's.
And, hidden beneath her skirts, bewitching, childbearing hips and backside.
Her appearance was every man's ideal molded into flesh.
Who could fail to be captivated?
Ever since I had entered the Three Kingdoms setting, I had encountered beauties of every stripe. Yet no woman under heaven possessed looks and allure like the kingdom-toppling beauty before my eyes.
As expected of an S-rank lord.
A face almost otherworldly, befitting a true protagonist destined to adorn the Three Kingdoms.
I stared in wonder, as though a celestial maiden had descended from the night sky. The sight threw me off enough that I instinctively addressed her formally.
"To think you would honor someone like me with such deference... I am humbled."
"I've heard you are a descendant of Prince Jing of Zhongshan. That would place you senior to me in generation. It is only proper that I use formal speech."
I'm not exactly a stickler for courtesy.
But toward the beauty before me, I'd decided to be scrupulously polite.
Would it be all right if I called you 'elder sister'?
I tossed out a joke that was far too forward for Liu Bei, with whom I'd only just struck up an acquaintance.
"What— that's far too mischievous a jest!"
Twitch-twitch.
The long, pointed ears peeking through her lovely white hair twitched animatedly.
What's this?
Those freakishly large ears?
They were long and pointed, like the ears of an elf from a fantasy setting.
Could it be that the reason the historical Liu Bei was derided by countless political enemies as "big-ears" was precisely because she had long, pointed elf-like ears?
'There were some folks with pointed ears among the penniless imperial clansmen... I just shrugged it off back then. Is it a physical trait of the Han Imperial House? But my ears and Liu Chong's are completely normal.'
No idea.
As I stared at those long, pointed ears twitching away while flushed crimson at being called "elder sister" by a man she'd never met before, I thought exactly that.
"In any case, I accept your request to join the coalition."
"Truly?!"
Had she expected to be curtly turned away at the door, like the other envoys who'd been given the cold shoulder?
I'd decided to accept.
At that, the white-haired beauty's expression brightened in an instant.
"I will lead forty thousand troops and join you at Yingchuan Prefecture."
"Thank you!"
"After that... I'll summon the Governor of Bohai, Yuan Shao, and Colonel of Valiant Cavalry Cao Cao for negotiations."
"Negotiations?"
I had no intention of simply marching to war.
I would advance on Luoyang only after securing firm pledges directly from the other lords.
Liu Bei tilted her head in puzzlement. But since my negotiating partners were the two heroines from Ji Province and Yan Province who founded the coalition in the first place, I didn't go into detail.
"I've heard you were a volunteer commander who fought the Yellow Turban Rebels all across the Central Plains. Truly impressive."
"Ah, no! Your force, which defended the south against countless rebel armies, is far more impressive!"
"How can there be any ranking in loyalty and devotion to the nation?"
"You flatter me...!"
Twitch-twitch.
As I piled on the praise, the long, pointed ears twitched energetically again.
Do they move whenever she's embarrassed?
I felt as if I were dealing with a rabbit that broadcast every emotion.
"Then my Sworn Sisters and I shall bring the Volunteer Army under your command, Your Highness. When Your Highness takes the field with the great southern army, we will follow in your rear. Please issue your orders whenever you see fit."
"Understood."
She's talking about Guan Yu and Zhang Fei.
This is the equivalent of gaining ten thousand crack troops.
If Liu Bei is an S-rank lord, then Guan Yu and Zhang Fei are S-rank officers.
Like Sun Jian's force, Liu Bei's army was an elite corps that had swept through fierce battlefields. Though sorely lacking in numbers, they would show their true worth in close-quarters fighting, where the value of elite soldiers truly emerges.
"My Sworn Sisters are warriors who boast being a One-Man Army! I'm not merely singing their praises because they're my dearest sworn sisters—they will no doubt achieve glittering feats of arms on the battlefield!"
"I look forward to it."
Even people who don't know the Three Kingdoms are aware that Liu Bei's sworn sisters, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, were renowned commanders of their age.
Naturally, within the Three Kingdoms setting, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei's Martial Power was at monster level.
Guan Yu's Martial Power: 97.
And Zhang Fei's Martial Power: 98.
Factor in the bonuses from their signature weapons, the Green Dragon Crescent Blade and the Eighteen-Foot Serpent Spear, and they easily surpass the cap of 100. I had come into the Heavenly Fortune of commanding S-rank warriors like that.
'She really trusts her sworn sisters, it seems. Her ears stand straight up when she gets worked up.'
The long, pointed ears stayed bolt upright.
That's how much she trusts them, I suppose.
Expressing her emotions through her ears...
If I were an elf like Liu Bei, maybe I could pull off that kind of cheerful emotional display.
"You may have an audience with the King, my father, shortly."
"Yes!"
She was about to have an audience with a king.
Liu Bei looked tense as she nodded.
* * *
Among all the descendants of the Han Imperial House, there was surely no one who did not admire the Crown Prince of Chen Kingdom.
Noble blood and innate talent.
Filial devotion and loyalty in safeguarding countless commoners while assisting his father the King.
And a martial renown, known across all Thirteen Provinces of the Han Dynasty, as the Greatest Archer Under Heaven.
A rising star, a hero of ambition.
The phrase "hero of a turbulent age" must have been coined for the Crown Prince of Chen.
Liu Bei had heard the name Greatest Archer Under Heaven ever since her days leading the Volunteer Army in Zhuo County, You Province, fighting the Yellow Turban Rebels. The rumors of Emperor Guangwu's descendant—who had achieved victory after victory against the countless rebel armies invading the south—swiftly bewitched her.
"Elder sister, you look overjoyed."
"Is it that obvious?!"
A beauty with lustrous black hair hanging to her hips spoke, a faint smile on her lips.
At her sworn sister's smile, Liu Bei started in alarm and touched her own mouth.
A radiant smile had spread across it.
As if she were advertising, "This maiden could die right now without a single regret!"
"Fufu, you've met the hero you so longed for, haven't you, elder sister? I think it's a perfectly natural reaction. There's not a soul among the Han people who doesn't know the name Greatest Archer Under Heaven—how could you not be happy to meet such a hero in person?"
"Exactly! I'm so happy I want to jump up and down right here! Do you realize how nervous I was during our private talk just now, terrified he might hear my heart hammering? When the Crown Prince—Emperor Guangwu's own descendant—acknowledged me as a member of the Han Imperial House, I thought my heart would stop on the spot!"
The dam burst, and her feelings flooded out in an instant.
The white-haired beauty let her joy and soaring emotions erupt like an innocent child. Her pale cheeks flushed crimson as she openly revealed her veneration for the Crown Prince.
"Did anything else happen?"
"He called me 'elder sister.' Since I'm older and senior in generation, he said he'd treat me as his elder sister!"
"Elder sister... I see. That is unexpected."
"Deep down I was worried—do they even have to treat a descendant of Prince Jing of Zhongshan as part of the Han imperial clan? Would I be scorned like I have been by everyone else I've met?... But it looks like fear really is just a thief."
She said it with a rueful smile.
It was an expression laced with a dark inferiority complex about her bloodline.
-A descendant of Prince Jing of Zhongshan? Don't make me laugh.
-Now that the realm is in chaos, even a lecher's descendant comes forward calling herself an imperial clansman.
-Just a bumpkin from Zhuo County who used to weave mats and make straw sandals, getting above herself.
When she revealed she was a descendant of Prince Jing of Zhongshan, countless people jeered and condemned her. Simply for being a descendant of the Han Imperial House, she even bore the irrational hatred and resentment directed at the corrupt rulers and eunuchs who had ruined the country.
Yet she never lost pride in her bloodline.
She wanted to save the nation.
Because as a descendant of the Han Imperial House, it was her duty to step forward.
Perhaps they were mere honeyed words for the moment. But to Liu Bei, who endlessly agonized over her own lineage, Liu Seong-hwi's praise felt like warm salvation.
"Let's hurry! He's holding a banquet for us sworn sisters!"
"...I worry Yide will cause another incident. Last time she got dead drunk, didn't she thrash the soldiers with a leather belt? Well, the soldiers rather enjoyed it, admittedly."
I only hope nothing untoward happens.
The black-haired beauty's voice trailed off as she recalled the dizzying moment from the past.
Liu Bei
Clan-breeding pouch Max.
A titillating milk-tank for feeding second-generation Liu imperial clansmen.