If I Can't Take Her as My Subordinate...
If I Can't Take Her as My Subordinate...
The rewards were expected. The promotion, on the other hand, was bizarre in multiple ways.
Dong Zhuo's expression barely shifted. I, however, was thoroughly flustered.
General Who Conquers the North was a rank-two office.
It was one of the Four Generals of Conquest—whose Korean pronunciation always sounded a little unfortunate—
and in modern military terms you could call it a lieutenant general-level command, plenty prestigious...
but honestly, without any attached support, the only real change was that I could now roam freely across Bing Province, Ji Province, and You Province. The work itself was barely different from when I'd been General Who Guards the North.
After all, with even more Yellow Turban prisoners folded into the ranks during the last campaign, the army had gotten a bit too big to cover under the old title.
The real issue was Dong Zhuo's appointment as General of the Household for the North.
That post—unlike General Who Conquers the North—was not vacant. Someone already held it,
and a very famous someone at that.
The person I'd been keeping a worried eye on all along was none other than...
"W-wait. I can accept my own case, but Governor Dong as General of the Household for the North...? Then what becomes of General Lu Zhi, the man currently filling that office?"
"Lu Zhi has been dismissed for the crime of failing to lead the army properly. Henceforth, Governor Dong, who has crushed two hundred thousand Yellow Turbans, shall take his place. Such is His Majesty's will. You are to proceed to Ji Province, where Lu Zhi was stationed, at once."
"G-General Lu Zhi... dismissed?"
"Indeed. General Who Conquers the North is likewise ordered to set out for Ji Province immediately. Together with Governor Dong, see that you do not disappoint His Majesty's expectations."
'You've got to be kidding...'
The envoy's words left no room for argument.
As I listened, I was reminded—bone-deep—that the saying "once you know it's a bullet, getting hit doesn't hurt" was utter horseshit.
Lu Zhi.
The famous teacher of Liu Bei and Gongsun Zan, and one of the few renowned commanders who had fought well against the Yellow Turbans from the start in the Original Timeline.
Even now, against Zhang Jiao's main force, he was waging a difficult battle with insufficient support, and the fact that Ji Province was still barely holding on while preparing a counterattack was entirely thanks to General Lu Zhi's ability.
In the actual Original Timeline, that counterattack had succeeded, reversing an early disadvantage.
Yet despite such enormous achievements, Lu Zhi had received no reward. Instead, he was dismissed from the post of General of the Household for the North on the absurd charge of refusing to bribe a eunuch named Zuo Feng—a stooge of the Ten Regular Attendants.
In the familiar Romance of the Three Kingdoms, General Lu Zhi's very first appearance was precisely in that state: being dragged away under guard when he encountered Liu Bei's party.
And in the Original Timeline, the one who succeeded him in that office was someone who had faithfully greased the palms of the Ten Regular Attendants with regular bribes.
The very same Dong Zhuo now sitting in front of me.
Judging by the broad strokes, you could say events were flowing similarly to the Original Timeline so far...
the problem was that everything was unfolding faster than expected—and in a worse direction.
In the Original Timeline, Lu Zhi had turned an unfavorable situation around, driven the Yellow Turbans inside their fortress, and pinned them against the wall. He was unjustly demoted only during the final assault.
But Ji Province's current situation was still at the stage of recovering strength and preparing a counterattack.
Dong Zhuo and I being sent in now meant that things were going to be an even greater shitshow than in the Original Timeline.
And one more thing...
the biggest factor ruining my mood right now: the probability that a single event I'd been desperately waiting for had just developed a fatal crack had just shot up.
Lu Zhi's early dismissal.
It meant that a person originally fated to come to Ji Province was now far less likely to show up here.
Those people were exactly...
'Shit... then what happens to the three Peach Garden oath-siblings now?'
In the Original Timeline, Liu Bei's group had originally operated in their home region of You Province before coming to Ji Province to aid their teacher, General Lu Zhi.
But now that Lu Zhi had been removed one step early, the odds of them coming to Ji Province had dropped dramatically.
The encounter with my absolute favorites—the encounter I'd been aching for all this time—had just evaporated into thin air yet again.
I'd thought that after earning merit in Henei, all I had to do was wait quietly for events to play out while I kept watch.
The moment I caught my breath, the court immediately dropped a bomb on me—no, to be precise, it was those whoreson bastards the Ten Regular Attendants.
I found myself automatically understanding why the Yuan Shao of the Original Timeline had badgered He Jin over and over about needing to purge the Ten Regular Attendants, and I ground my teeth until they creaked.
'I'm losing my mind... is my whole damn life cursed? Why does everything always get twisted like this? Don't tell me things are going to keep going this way until the very end of the Three Kingdoms Era, and I'll wind up never even seeing Liu Bei's face?'
I'd somehow pulled off a victory, managed to luck into winning over Xu Rong, and thought maybe my fortunes were finally taking a turn for the better...
but this cursed luck of mine was still doing its level best to make Yuan Shu's life completely, utterly impossible.
*
"Heh heh... those bastards... they must really be in a hurry."
Dong Zhuo's gaze rested on the imperial edict and the general's seal laid before her.
A cool smile played at the corner of her lips...
and Hua Xiong, Li Jue, and Guo Si, watching from a short distance away, were all wearing thoroughly spooked expressions.
"Uuuum... j-just what is it they're in a hurry about? Hua Xiong has no idea what you mean."
"Hoengh... Li Jue also doesn't know about it, nyuu..."
"Guo Si. Doesn't understand well, but lord, sinister face, advises caution."
Dong Zhuo was steadily oozing an ominous aura.
She'd always been like that, but just before this, she'd worn exactly that sort of expression before abruptly forcing us into a fight against two hundred thousand troops.
Fortunately, the operation itself had been so excellent that we'd avoided casualties.
But still, two hundred thousand was insane...
Even these three, battle-hardened as they were, had never faced more than fifty thousand before. One wrong move back then and we'd have very nearly tumbled straight into the next world.
So, given that precedent—how dangerous would the next disaster be after that sinister smile?
How much more hardship awaited them?
The three of them could do nothing but stew in bottomless unease.
Meanwhile, regardless of her subordinates' misgivings.
Dong Zhuo was turning the situation over in her mind, and deep interest was swirling within her.
She had received the post of General of the Household for the North straight from being Governor of Hedong, with no formal dismissal procedure. She understood exactly how the currents were flowing.
Turbid Stream figures were turning in shoddy performances against the Yellow Turbans.
Using this as justification, General-in-Chief He Jin had begun appointing large numbers of Pure Stream talents and launching suppression campaigns.
From the start, the gulf in ability between the Turbid Stream faction—who had greased their way into office with bribes—and the Pure Stream faction—who had honed their skills and sharpened their swords while being discriminated against—was blindingly obvious.
Rumor already had it that reports of victory were pouring in from Yan Province and Xu Province. If things continued this way, by the time the rebellion was truly nearing its end, the balance of factional power was highly likely to solidify in the Pure Stream's favor.
And in this situation,
the Ten Regular Attendants naturally had no choice but to turn their eyes toward Dong Zhuo, who had just won a major victory.
Although she was cooperating with Yuan Shu, Dong Zhuo was unequivocally someone who had climbed this far by paying bribes to the eunuchs.
She did not openly clash with the Pure Stream, but she fundamentally belonged to the Turbid Stream camp.
Only a short while ago, she had even sent a portion of the loot seized from the Yellow Turbans to them as a bribe.
She was one of the very few able people who compiled a track record while still bowing her head to them.
In this respect, the Ten Regular Attendants had no choice but to push Dong Zhuo—who had just earned military merit—forward, in order to keep the Pure Stream in check by whatever means possible.
That was why they had left her Governor post intact, trumped up a flimsy excuse to tear down the Pure Stream-aligned Lu Zhi, and seated Dong Zhuo in his place.
In one sense, it meant they intended to use her as a tool to maintain their own power,
but for Dong Zhuo, this wasn't particularly bad—no, she might even call it 'Actually, that's great!'
It was good that her authority and influence were growing like this, and if she played her cards well, she might even be able to use the Ten Regular Attendants as backers to push her way into central politics.
But the part that pleased her even more than that—
was that, contrary to the worry she'd secretly nursed, she wouldn't have to be separated from that man...
from Yuan Shu.
'What a relief. I was worried because I still haven't managed to make him mine. To think the opportunity would continue like this.'
It was true that events so far had built considerable familiarity between them, but even for Dong Zhuo, winning Yuan Shu over was no easy task.
She had contributed to strategy, brought him Zhang Liang's head, and done other things, but if you really broke it down, those had merely been adding flesh to the framework Yuan Shu himself had laid out. They couldn't really be called favors or assistance.
If anything, as time passed, she only felt as though her own debts were growing heavier.
This situation—where she strove to bestow kindness but instead found herself on the receiving end of it—was stirring a feeling of impatience inside her.
Well... honestly, she also got the feeling that this wasn't so bad in its own way, but...
'Mm... at any rate, I cannot let things end like this. This time, in Ji Province, I must acquire Yuan Shu no matter what. Even if I have to resort to a different method if I can't make him my subordinate...'
With that thought, Dong Zhuo slowly rested a hand on her own lower belly.
She'd heard it hurt at first but quickly started to feel very good...?
Someone had even called it a woman's greatest happiness, so she found herself rather curious.
'Mm... but still... even if it's to acquire a great talent, is going this far truly the right course...?'
In terms of her so-called chastity, wasn't this rather extreme in several ways?
All the more so because, in thirty years of life, she had never once experienced anything like it.
Yet, strangely enough, when she actually imagined it, she felt no revulsion or discomfort at all.
On the contrary, her face grew slightly flushed, and a corner of her heart began to pound, so much so that she almost thought she herself... wanted it.
'Th-there is simply no way. This is... purely for the sake of securing a tremendous talent. To achieve the goal I have held all this time... Gulp.'
While she piled denial upon denial inside her mind, her heart somehow began to beat even faster.
Resting a cautious hand over it, Dong Zhuo swallowed the saliva that had gathered in her mouth before she knew it.
*
"Ack!..."
"... Mengde, what is it?"
"N-no. It's nothing. Let's hurry, Benchu. We still have a long way to go to reach Ji Province."
Cao Cao forced a nonchalant expression.
Yet the peculiar sensation that had abruptly washed over her a moment ago did not easily fade from her mind.
She couldn't pin it down precisely, but it was something chilling and sinister... yet not wholly unpleasant at the same time.
With a mix of foreboding and a trace of anticipation as to what it might signify, Cao Cao urged her horse forward even faster.
Meanwhile, riding along behind Cao Cao,
Yuan Shao's expressionless face began to show a streak of displeasure.
'What is this...? This feeling... Could something have happened to Gonglu?'
On top of everything else, she had heard that General Lu Zhi had been driven out and that some woman named Dong Zhuo—or was it Whole Chicken?—had been appointed General of the Household for the North.
Despite that, she had practically forced the issue and volunteered to go, finally gaining General-in-Chief He Jin's permission to deploy. But the way things were grating from the very start was planting unease in Yuan Shao's heart.
Praying that nothing would go wrong...
Yuan Shao's hand tightened on the reins.