It's Only Human Nature
"Hurry!"
"The destination is right in front of you—keep going!"
We were headed for Lujiang.
We had followed Sun Jian's suggestion and sent a messenger—more precisely, an imperial envoy carrying the Emperor's edict—but frankly, I wasn't expecting much.
Lu Kang was an exceptionally rigid man. There was no question he would refuse to abandon the fight, citing loyalty to his lord Liu Yao or some such thing.
Even if we eventually accepted his surrender, I thought we'd have to defeat him at least once first.
But.
"Worry not, my lord. It will go well."
Chen Gong said it with complete confidence.
At her attitude, I smiled bitterly and answered.
"Do you think it'll be that easy? I've heard this Lu Kang is an obstinate, stiff-necked old man. Now that he's knelt to the Emperor of Bing Province, how could he possibly bow his head to us?"
"That would be true in an ordinary case. But there is always a variable."
Chen Gong spoke with cryptic weight.
At that, a suspicion came to mind and I asked her.
"You... did you set something in motion?"
"Heh. Nothing so grand. I simply adjusted the timing of the envoy's dispatch a little. You will understand when you see it yourself."
"Fine. I'll watch and see."
Chen Gong's words brimmed with confidence.
Caught between curiosity about what exactly she'd done and a real sense of expectation, I started to feel some actual hope.
*
The imperial envoy entered Lujiang's walls.
The Emperor in question was, of course, the Luoyang Emperor, but even so, Lu Kang could not openly defy the envoy.
Though Liu Yao had accepted the post of Vassal King and his subordinate Lu Kang now served the Bing Province Emperor by extension, Lu Kang also knew perfectly well that true legitimacy rested with the Luoyang Emperor.
Above all, at this moment, a large army under Yuan Shu, with Sun Jian at its head, was bearing down on him.
Driving out or beheading an envoy sent by the Luoyang Emperor at such a time would essentially be to stake everything on a fight to the death with no retreat.
There was no need to provoke an already unfavorable situation.
In the end, though his feelings were complicated, Lu Kang admitted the envoy.
The envoy was one of Sun Jian's subordinates, a commander Lu Kang already knew well—Huang Gai, recently promoted to general.
"It has been too long, Governor Lu Kang."
"It has been too long, Deputy Commander Huang Gai... no, I should call you General now. I never imagined we would meet again under these circumstances."
"I, too, consider it regrettable. But before that, my role today is to deliver Her Majesty the Emperor's will as an imperial envoy. I shall now convey Her Majesty's edict."
"Hrm..."
At those words, Lu Kang rose from his seat and paid his respects.
Before him, Huang Gai unfurled the ornate edict in his hands and began to speak in a solemn voice.
"Governor Lu Kang of Lujiang, hear me. I, the Emperor of the Great Han, know well that you..."
At that moment.
"Gove-Governor!"
"What is this disturbance! Do you not see that I am reading Her Majesty's edict?"
Lu Kang scolded the subordinate who had rushed in.
His manner was unyielding, and the subordinate who had burst in urgently could no longer find his words or do anything but seal his mouth shut.
And then.
"My apologies. Please continue."
"Ahem... I, the Emperor of the Great Han, know well that you are originally a loyal servant of this country and that you truly worry for the nation. However, I also know well that you, unfortunately, served that wicked traitor Liu Yao and had no choice but to go along with his intent. Now, I forgive your transgressions and grant you the opportunity to once again offer your loyalty as a true servant of Han, so do not, I pray, defy this my intent and stain your name as an eternal traitor."
"Hrm..."
The moment he heard the edict's content,
Lu Kang was seized by deep turmoil.
As the edict said, Lu Kang had always considered himself a loyal servant of the state, and he had truly lived that way.
Before the realm split as explicitly as it was now, he had diligently sent tribute to the court even in poor conditions, and as a scholar loyal to the state, he had consistently governed for the people.
Although the situation had twisted in many directions, preventing him from following the same path as before, it did not mean his loyalty to the Han Imperial House had entirely vanished.
However.
'But... my master Liu Yao chose the Bing Province Emperor over Luoyang. And although there is much I dislike about him lately, has he not always treated me generously up until now...'
For a man who ate the grain of the state, refusing the Emperor's proposal was no easy thing.
Especially since refusing now would inevitably lead to a direct clash with the large army marching this way.
Yet for the rigid yet faithful Lu Kang, openly betraying his master and long-term patron Liu Yao was... no matter how he thought about it, something he could not consider right.
Even if it was an imperial command.
'What must I do...'
If he did not accept the edict, he would be a traitor.
But if he accepted it, he would betray his master.
It was a problem with no easy choice.
At the end of his long deliberation,
Lu Kang finally made his decision.
'Even so... I cannot make my children into the children of a traitor.'
In this age it was entirely natural that one's master's emperor became one's own emperor.
Even if he refused the edict, his personal loyalty would hardly suffer. He might be called a traitor, but everyone knew there were mitigating circumstances.
Of course, if war came, his entire family would be endangered, but he could probably prevent that by offering his own head.
Having resolved to choose his master—Liu Yao—Lu Kang spoke stiffly to the envoy before him.
"I..."
At that instant.
"Lu Kang, you filthy dog! I thought you seemed suspicious, and sure enough, you've been conspiring with the enemy!"
"! Wh-what!"
Lu Kang whipped his head around at the sharp voice.
Standing there, leading a band of soldiers, was Ze Rong—the man who had previously commandeered troops from him and one of Liu Yao's close aides.
"Ge-General Ze Rong, you misunderstand! This is..."
-Shing!
"Silence! I've had my eye on you ever since you sent so few reinforcements!"
When Ze Rong thrust a blade at his throat without giving him a chance to explain, Lu Kang could no longer hold back and erupted in fury.
"You scoundrel! How dare you commit such insolence! I have served Lord Liu Yao since the day he first set foot here! Do you think Lord Liu Yao will forgive this outrage!"
"Ha! A filthy traitor dares to raise his voice? Did I not tell you? I've known about your dirty treachery for a long time! Lord Liu Yao already knows everything you've done and has decided to be rid of you! What are you waiting for! Arrest this filthy traitor at once!"
"Yes, General!"
As Ze Rong gave the order, soldiers swarmed into the room.
In an instant, they subdued the assembled leadership of Lujiang and forced them to their knees.
"General Ze Rong! We have never entertained the thought of betraying His Highness the Vassal King!"
"Th-that's right! Admitting the enemy's messenger was Governor Lu Kang's arbitrary decision alone! We did nothing but follow the Governor's command..."
"Silence! Did you bastards not also kneel before the messenger just like Lu Kang? What are you doing! Traitors are to be exterminated to the ninth degree! Seize them and all their families at once and execute them!"
Ze Rong threw even the officials pleading for leniency into chains.
The commanders of Lujiang tried desperately to resist, but their attempts were cut short by troops turning spears and swords on them from all sides.
"Ze Rong! How dare a worthless bandit slander loyal subjects!"
"Do you not fear heaven! Divine punishment will strike you dead!"
"Please spare my life!"
"General! We are wronged! General!"
Commanders roared with fury while officials pleaded for their lives.
Amid them, Lu Kang was seized by a deep sense of betrayal and disappointment.
A man who had devoted his full strength to his lord, who had clung to that loyalty until the very, very last—Lu Kang now found that loyalty denied by this worthless bandit before him, and worse, his precious family about to be slaughtered.
His rage toward Ze Rong, who had done this, was immense.
But the hatred and disappointment toward Liu Yao, who trusted such a man—those feelings, using the loyalty Lu Kang had been ready to die for just moments before as kindling, began to blaze with terrifying intensity.
'Liu Yao... Liu Yao...! Was I truly ready to throw my life away for... for a man like that! To lose everything I have to a petty wretch like this!'
Lu Kang ground his teeth together as though he would wear them down to nothing.
Watching him, Ze Rong wore a sneer of the utmost arrogance and declared in a triumphant voice.
"As of this hour, I, Ze Rong, take command of this city of Lujiang! And drag that Huang Gai or whatever he's called over and execute him too!"
"Yes, General!"
No sooner had Ze Rong's command dropped than soldiers advanced on Huang Gai.
But then.
-Kurghh!!
"!"
"Uhk!"
In a flash, Huang Gai had cut down the dozen-odd soldiers closing in. Behind him, the honor guards moved in unison.
At the sudden turn, Ze Rong was briefly thrown into confusion and yelled.
"Wh-who the hell are you?"
"If you are truly that curious."
"Then answering you would be human nature—"
"To end this chaotic age under heaven..."
"No time. Move it along."
"Aww..."
"But this was the one chance..."
The honor guards had been reciting lines that anyone from Jiangdong would have heard at least once somewhere.
But at Huang Gai's interruption, they let their profound disappointment show, threw off their deeply pulled-down helmets, and stepped forward.
One man and two women revealed their faces alongside Huang Gai.
The moment those in the room recognized who they were,
the faces of Ze Rong and the soldiers present began to freeze over solid.
"N-no..."
"You-you bastards... that tiger bitch's...!"