The Ladies' Stirring
The Ladies' Stirring
"What? General Yuan... our Gonglu was victorious?"
"Yes, word just arrived. It says he literally smashed the two hundred thousand Yellow Turbans who invaded Henei."
The report Xiahou Dun had been waiting and waiting for.
At the long-awaited news of victory, a radiant smile bloomed on Cao Cao's face.
Over half a year and several more months had already passed since Yuan Shu was driven out by the Ten Regular Attendants' schemes.
Throughout that time, the steady stream of news of Yuan Shu's triumphs had filled her with a joy she felt as her own... yet this battle was one Cao Cao had truly thought would not be easy.
Even if they scraped together every soldier they had, their own forces barely reached fifty thousand, while the enemy exceeded two hundred thousand.
Worse, the enemy reportedly kept receiving reinforcements and growing in number,
whereas their side could not even provide decent support, obstructed as they were by those vile, incompetent Attendants—whose crimes not even grinding them to paste could make amends for.
Had it been possible, Cao Cao herself would have rushed out at once. But her going alone would not have helped.
Besides that, she had direct orders from her immediate superior, General-in-Chief He Jin, to stand by for now, which left her unavoidably bound in place.
In the end, all she could do was wait in mounting anxiety for the outcome of a war that seemed reckless.
And now, the news of victory that Tian Kai had brought, which felt like a lie, made Cao Cao feel as though a suffocating blockage in her chest had been blown wide open.
"Haha! As expected... that's our Gonglu! What did I tell you? I said if it's him he'd pull it off, didn't I? I told you there was nothing to worry about!"
"For someone who said that, I remember Lady Mengde hardly managed a proper meal the last several days."
"Mm... Th-that was... simply a touch of indigestion..."
"Simply from worrying far too much, you mean? And on top of that, your headaches flared up again and you couldn't sleep at night. Now at last you'll be able to stretch your legs out and rest soundly."
"... Mm... Yuanrang. Your tongue seems rather long today?"
"No need to be embarrassed. It isn't as though this is a matter of a day or two. You've been moping over General Yuan Shu right in front of me all along."
"Mm-mm..."
Under Xiahou Dun's flatly delivered jabs, Cao Cao at last averted her gaze, face reddening.
Though even so, the thoroughly buoyant mood inside her had not subsided in the least.
That was when.
"Colonel Cao."
A subordinate entered the room, bowing with respectful courtesy.
By the pennant attached to his back, Cao Cao could identify who he was at a glance.
"Sent by the General-in-Chief?"
"Yes, Colonel. I am to report that you are to enter the palace at once."
"Very well, understood."
Tian Kai had heard the news of victory. Cheng Pu, a step behind, would have received it by now too—tidings of Yuan Shu's triumph would have spread throughout the palace.
Cao Cao had no difficulty foreseeing what General-in-Chief He Jin's summons to the palace, issued at a moment like this, signified.
'At last... the time has come...'
*
An unusual atmosphere hung over the Imperial Palace in Luoyang.
In the great hall at its center, a line of officials were arrayed to the left and right around the emperor.
On one side, the Turbid Stream faction with the Ten Regular Attendants at its core.
And on the opposite side, the so-called Pure Stream figures, with General-in-Chief He Jin at their core, stood in uneasy opposition.
The Pure Stream was a newly risen faction at court, people who had originally been branded by the Ten Regular Attendants and exiled or had their official paths blocked, but were now recruited to respond to the increasingly severe stirrings of the Yellow Turbans.
Among them was Cao Cao, who had become their sworn mortal enemy ever since she smashed open the skull of Jian Shuo's uncle.
Also among them was one who had finished her Six-Year Mourning and been formally acknowledged as the eldest daughter of the Yuan Clan, a figure who had now officially entered court service and become another major power in the Pure Stream: Yuan Shao.
Close friends since the old days, the two now shared the reflexive trait of grinding their teeth at the mere mention of the Ten Regular Attendants.
And now,
in order to endure the utterly sickening scene unfolding before their eyes, they were exercising what could literally be called superhuman patience.
"Thus, by the heroic efforts of General Yuan Shu and Governor Dong Zhuo, the thieving mob has been completely routed. All of this is thanks to Your Majesty's benevolent virtue."
"How could this be called our achievement? This must be called the achievement of you Ten Regular Attendants, who appointed that man, Yuan Shu, as a general. Truly splendid work you have done."
"Your Majesty's grace is boundless."
The Ten Regular Attendants bowed their heads at the emperor's words.
Yet to the Pure Stream figures—Cao Cao, Yuan Shao, and the rest—watching this display, it was simply infuriating.
That the relations between Yuan Shu, who had earned merit in Henei, and the Ten Regular Attendants were poor was a fact known to all who knew anything.
In the first place, hadn't Yuan Shu's demotion from Luoyang, where he had been doing good work, to that remote frontier been entirely due to the machinations of those same Ten Regular Attendants?
'Those mongrel bastards... there's a limit to shamelessness. They're really trying to horn in on the credit?'
'Kill them... absolutely...'
Though they had a great deal they wanted to say, the two could do nothing but swallow it and move past it for now.
They were not so foolish as to cause a disturbance right in front of the imperial presence against the Ten Regular Attendants, who held tremendous power.
And, though they did not wish to admit it,
ironically, it was precisely because the Ten Regular Attendants had sent Yuan Shu packing to the frontier and granted him a general's commission that he had been able to raise troops there and achieve the martial merit of stopping the Yellow Turbans.
Knowing the inside story, one could only curse, but at least on the surface, the situation did look as if things had turned out this way 'thanks to' the Ten Regular Attendants, which was not entirely incorrect.
Just then, as they were watching this scene, awful in multiple senses, and forcibly suppressing the rage boiling inside them—
"Your Majesty. Your general He Jin ventures to address Your Majesty."
In an instant, the man whose words silenced the Ten Regular Attendants as they spilled forth sycophantic praise—the man who commanded the Pure Stream people, themselves included, as his subordinate power, and the sole figure within this Imperial Palace who possessed the strength to oppose the Ten Regular Attendants: General-in-Chief He Jin.
He radiated the imposing air of a crouching tiger as he requested the emperor's leave to speak.
"What is it? Speak."
"Yes, Your Majesty. While it is true that General Yuan Shu has achieved a great victory, the Yellow Turban forces still seethe everywhere throughout the land. Now, precisely now that momentum is in our favor, is the perfect opportunity to tear out those weed-like things by the root. The time is ripe; I beseech you to grant your sanction so that we may commence in earnest the punishment of those wicked thieving bands."
"Hold, General-in-Chief He Jin."
He Jin had requested the emperor, who was buoyed by the victory, for authorization to sally forth.
But Jian Shuo and the other Ten Regular Attendants instantly perceived that this meant far more than simple approval of a punitive campaign.
An army means power.
Granting leave to wield it... especially granting it to General-in-Chief He Jin and the Pure Stream faction under his command, was to place just that much power in their hands.
From a strategic standpoint, their argument was a hundred times right. Yet this was, in several respects, a development the Ten Regular Attendants and the Turbid Stream, already uneasy at the Pure Stream's growing power, found disagreeable.
Here they should first, with a suitable pretext, rebut General-in-Chief He Jin's argument...
"We are of the same mind."
'Huh?'
'Wai— Your Majesty?'
"When one gains the momentum of victory, one must press it relentlessly forward. Since things have come to this, let the General-in-Chief, on his own authority, judge and utterly exterminate those thieves."
At that moment, the emperor interjected with unexpected decisiveness, showing no sign of deliberation.
The oddly proactive attitude of an emperor who normally found all matters tedious beyond counting money, reveling, eating, and drinking left the Ten Regular Attendants with nothing but bewilderment.
'Damn it... that man has gone and gotten fixated on something strange again, of all things!'
'We reported this victory too lavishly, and now his attention has drifted entirely that way!'
The emperor, whose mind was essentially that of a child, had a tendency to forget everything else and try to act on his whims once his interest was caught.
Normally the Ten Regular Attendants had managed this well and shaped state affairs to their own liking,
but this time, the tales they had poured out earlier to inflate their own credit had backfired as a self-defeating blunder.
'To think that He Jin would deploy such a ploy...'
'Tch... they say he's been gathering talented people lately. He must have some useful ones...'
As if to show them up, right before the Ten Regular Attendants whose stomachs were searing, General-in-Chief He Jin bowed his head and shouted in a voice brimming with confidence.
"Your Majesty's grace is boundless! Your general He Jin, answering these expectations, shall sweep away every bandit in this land!"
*
Having concluded the court assembly in the great hall, He Jin returned to his office.
There, facing the two women one might call his closest aides, He Jin burst into hearty laughter.
"Hahaha! What a delicious sight that was! Did you two see it as well? The expressions on those Ten Regular Attendants rotting away in real time, I mean!"
"Indeed we did. It was as refreshing as having an aching tooth pulled right out."
"It went... according to plan."
Cao Cao showed her delight as well, while Yuan Shao kept her composure as always but allowed a faint smile to grace her lips.
He Jin had never been particularly outstanding in strategy, but the situation had changed greatly since he had recently recruited these two.
That they had been able to secure approval for the Yellow Turban suppression campaign so easily right now was entirely thanks to a plan that had come from their minds.
Though still young in years, both had been born into renowned clans with influence, were exceptionally intelligent, and possessed outstanding ability—He Jin was placing deep trust in them.
"Now it begins. Although General Yuan Shu was victorious in Henei, in every other region, reports of defeat are still arriving day after day. If the General-in-Chief and our Pure Stream faction now step forward and pacify the Yellow Turbans, we can reverse the current balance of power in a single stroke."
"All preparations are complete. Give the order... if you will."
The pair had already carried out everything step by step without needing to be told.
Watching them, He Jin smiled, his face brimming with elation.
"Yes, we shall. Of course we shall and must! In the name of His Majesty the Emperor, I hereby issue the order this instant to suppress the Yellow Turbans. Summon every general!"
"We shall carry out your command, General!"
"Understood."
So speaking, the two bowed their heads deeply as they received He Jin's order.
At the same time, at the corners of their lips—not the professional smiles they had worn until just moments ago—smiles of genuine feeling began to surface.
'Wait just a little while longer... Sis Aman is coming for you!'
'Soon... we can meet...'
*
"Damn it!"
"That fellow, the further it goes..."
"It grows ever more unsightly. We raised a mongrel pup who used to scavenge through trash, thinking it would be useful..."
"And now it dares to try to bite its master's head off..."
Because of the affair with General-in-Chief He Jin, the Ten Regular Attendants could feel their insides burning to a crisp.
He Jin was born of the lowliest butcher stock, yet through the Ten Regular Attendants' efforts his younger sister had been selected as a noble consort and risen even to empress, securing his advancement.
He had originally been a figure they raised simply to use as a hunting dog,
but this situation—where He Jin had now turned into a wolf trying to sink its fangs into their own hands—was more than enough to make the Ten Regular Attendants feel a sense of betrayal and deep rage.
"If that fellow succeeds in suppressing the Yellow Turbans at this rate, his prestige will soar sky-high."
"Should that happen, even if we win the war, our own authority will fall to the ground, and a world where He Jin and those Pure Stream curs hold sway will be upon us."
Though they had fabricated words to claim credit, the Ten Regular Attendants knew perfectly well that Yuan Shu, whose stock was currently rising, was not on their side.
Rather, just like his own sister, it would be correct to regard him as Pure Stream.
In this situation, if the other Pure Stream curs built up martial merit and kept pushing forward, the already creaking position of the Ten Regular Attendants would only narrow further.
"Damn it... what should we do?"
"We cannot simply sit back and take this. We must find some method."
At the questions from Jian Shuo and the others, Zhang Rang, the head, pondered briefly.
And a moment later.
Maintaining his silence, he at last opened his mouth.
"In that case... let us do this."