To stop the tiger, a pack of wolves
To stop the tiger, a pack of wolves
Countless corpses lay strewn across the ground.
Driving her spear into one of their heads, the woman with azure hair shouted in frustration.
"Ugh... in the end he slipped away! That Han-loathing rebel ringleader! I should've hauled him back and carved him up piece by piece, and now I've failed!"
"Wheee... but we still won, you see... the enemy's been practically wiped out, you see..."
"Enemy commander capture failed. Friendly forces decisive victory. Rebellion suppression successful."
Hua Xiong, Li Jue, and Guo Si stood talking among the fallen foes.
It was a victory, but their chieftain's escape left them with lingering regret.
Then.
"Well done, everyone."
A voice spoke from behind them.
Turning, the three saw a woman with brown hair approaching slowly.
At a glance she gave an impression of craftiness, her narrowed eyes virtually radiating guile.
Strategist for Dong Zhuo's army, and the woman who managed its internal affairs.
Li Ru.
Gazing at the three commanders, she spoke in a gentle, almost ingratiating tone.
"Fifty thousand of the enemy have been killed or taken prisoner. The rebellion can now be considered effectively over."
"Oooh... but it's still regrettable. That bastard Bian Zhang lost his head, but Han Sui managed to get away."
"Fufu, that's perfectly fine. Even though we failed to capture Han Sui, this battle shattered his strength so thoroughly that this corner of Xiliang will stay quiet for some time."
A faint glint showed through her narrowed eyes as she spoke.
Watching her, Li Jue and Guo Si voiced a mild question.
"Ha-wa-wa... but for what reason has Strategist Li Ru come here, you see?"
"Combat concluded. Mop-up still required. Return will take time."
"I am aware of that... Still, I believe you must return to the main camp at once. Our lord has issued an order."
"Hm?"
"Wheee... our lord did, you see?"
An emergency summons.
The three left the mop-up to their subordinates and immediately returned to the main camp with Li Ru.
*
A single letter lay before her.
Gazing at it, the woman—General of the Left Dong Zhuo—wore a deep smile at the corners of her mouth.
"Things are taking an interesting turn. That the Ten Regular Attendants would hand us a pretext in this fashion..."
"Just so, my lord. This is unmistakably a heaven-sent opportunity. If we make proper use of it, we can certainly achieve great results."
"Indeed... as you say, Li Ru... we stand to gain a very fine outcome."
The total forces under Dong Zhuo's command now numbered ninety thousand.
Seventy thousand she had brought from Ji Province, plus twenty thousand absorbed during the campaign to crush the rebels.
What was more, after spending close to a year suppressing the Yellow Turban Rebellion and putting down local revolts, Dong Zhuo's soldiers were no longer some disorganized rabble — they had been forged into an elite among elites.
And now, with such a formidable army at her back, the Ten Regular Attendants' order had given Dong Zhuo a lawful pretext to march on Luoyang.
Her original plan had been to pursue Han Sui and his remnants westward and wipe them out completely, but in truth the situation in Luoyang had become far more urgent than some insignificant Han Sui.
The moment she made her decision, Dong Zhuo spoke with a composed smile.
"It is time to prepare to move. Lay in provisions and re-form the troops. Once everything is in perfect readiness, we march on Luoyang."
"Understood, my lord."
"Orders received!"
"Wheee... so we're going to Luoyang, you see."
"March preparations, grain secured, scouts deployed. Commencing operations."
At Dong Zhuo's command, her subordinates sprang into motion.
Watching the fierce anticipation and expectation curling at her lord's lips, Li Ru felt a quiet wave of relief.
'This is fortunate... So my lord has not, after all, cast aside her dream of a grand undertaking.'
A year ago, just after returning from Ji Province, Dong Zhuo had seemed somehow drained of her old ferocity, almost listless.
Li Ru had asked why and been told nothing, but something had clearly happened.
To Li Ru, who had devoted herself entirely to helping her lord achieve her grand ambitions, this had secretly filled her with unease.
But then came the campaign to put down the rebels — and today, the Ten Regular Attendants' plea for support.
The unmistakable "desire" she sensed in her lord's every act was enough to convince Li Ru that her earlier worries had been mere groundless fears.
'It's beginning... the era of our lord is at last about to arrive... The day will come when all under heaven kneels before the name of Dong Zhuo!'
*
"What? The Ten Regular Attendants sent for General of the Left Dong Zhuo?"
"Yes, General-in-Chief. Our agents report that a messenger has just departed through the western gate."
Yuan Shao delivered the news in her usual calm tone.
He Jin frowned at once.
Dong Zhuo was one of the leading figures of the Turbid Stream faction, a woman who groveled to the Ten Regular Attendants yet possessed undeniable ability unlike the rest of those incompetents.
What was more, it was said the forces under her command alone approached nearly a hundred thousand.
Even if she left some behind to keep order in the still-unstable Xiliang region, she could still mobilize a minimum of fifty or sixty thousand troops.
No one in this room was fool enough not to understand what summoning Dong Zhuo meant.
"They are openly trying to eliminate you, General-in-Chief."
"Sh-shouldn't we... contrive some countermeasure as well?"
"If we sit here like this we may simply be sitting ducks."
The Ten Regular Attendants were blatantly pointing a blade at their throats.
In that case, they could hardly afford to sit still and be picked off — yet none of them could produce a sharp solution.
Then.
"I have a word to offer, General-in-Chief," Cao Cao said.
"Go ahead, Mengde."
Cao Cao had distinguished herself in the campaign against Zhang Jiao and had recently mopped up the Yellow Turbans around Yingchuan, earning He Jin's deep trust.
Pointing to the large map spread before them, she spoke in a voice full of earnest gravity.
"As everyone knows, the distance from here to Xiliang, where Dong Zhuo is, is vast. Even at a forced march it would take a host of tens of thousands a good month or more to arrive — and if she sees to the mopping-up there, it could take as long as three months. We have reason to be on edge, but we have enough time to calmly devise a strategy."
"Hmm..."
"That is true..."
At the reassurance that they still had time, the mood in the chamber steadied a little.
Cao Cao continued, her eyes glittering sharply.
"More importantly, if we mobilize the forces under Colonel Yuan and myself, together with the General-in-Chief's own direct troops, our combined strength exceeds that of the Ten Regular Attendants. If we move our soldiers at the opportune moment to suppress the eunuchs, then place the Prince of Hongnong on the throne as emperor, will the matter not be settled?"
He Jin was nodding slowly at Cao Cao's words.
Then, Yuan Shao cut in.
"General-in-Chief, that alone is far too perilous a course."
"Hm? Too perilous — what do you mean, Colonel Yuan?"
As the room fell quiet, Yuan Shao answered in a composed tone.
Cao Cao's expression tightened a fraction, but for now she joined the others in listening.
"I have seen for myself what sort of person Dong Zhuo is. She is like a wild stallion — once she begins something, she sees it through to the end. Even if we enthrone His Majesty and send an edict, the odds are high she will not turn her horse around."
Yuan Shao's warning was sober and measured.
At this, several of the commanders in the room chimed in as though they had been waiting for the chance.
"Colonel Yuan speaks sense. Besides, once she's entangled in an affair like this, she knows as well as anyone that her own path to advancement will fall under a shadow."
"Depending on how it goes, might she not be branded a traitor later? Even a rat will bite a cat when cornered — who can recklessly predict what a person pushed to the brink will do?"
History was full of cases where desperate men suddenly turned rebel.
Had not the famous rebellion of Chen Sheng and Wu Guang — summed up by the phrase "Are kings and dukes born of a special breed?" — been sparked precisely because Chen Sheng and Wu Guang feared execution if they arrived late at the worksite?
What was more, unlike Chen Sheng and Wu Guang, who had started with a handful of peasants,
Dong Zhuo held the rank of General of the Left and commanded an elite force of ninety thousand.
If she resolved to bring her army, they—decisively outnumbered in total strength—would face a crisis of the first magnitude.
"Th-then... what should we do?"
"It is simple. Just as the Ten Regular Attendants have drawn Dong Zhuo in, we too can summon Pure Stream commanders from the provinces under the pretext of rewarding their service in suppressing the Yellow Turbans. Take General Yuan Shu in Ji Province, for instance — is his strength not formidable? If he remains with us here in Luoyang, Dong Zhuo will not dare to entertain other designs."
"Oh..."
"I-I believe that is a sound idea."
"I too think Colonel Yuan is correct."
"General Yuan Shu is Colonel Yuan Shao's own younger brother, and a man who bears a deep grudge against the Ten Regular Attendants. If he comes to our aid, we will have nothing to fear even should Dong Zhuo arrive."
At Yuan Shao's words, the commanders swiftly voiced their assent.
To begin with, a good number of the people in this room were already Yuan Shao's people,
and many of them genuinely sympathized with her opinion: handle this as safely as possible.
And among them was General-in-Chief He Jin himself.
"A good proposal. Then let us summon Yuan Shu... as well as other Pure Stream commanders."
"Other... commanders as well?"
"Indeed. Ding Yuan of Bing Province, Gongsun Zan of You Province... if the likes of them gather, someone like Dong Zhuo will tuck her tail and flee on her own."
"On that point... as the General-in-Chief wills."
Yuan Shao gave her assent to He Jin's clear, firm declaration.
He Jin then looked toward Cao Cao, whose expression had stiffened somewhat, and spoke.
"In that case, issue the summons to the commanders in each region, and we shall begin our full-scale preparations to strike the Ten Regular Attendants. Colonel Cao."
"... Yes, General."
"You and Colonel Yuan will formulate the stratagem. The longer we drag out a matter like this, the worse it gets — so see that a plan is drawn up as swiftly as possible."
"Your orders are received, General-in-Chief."
Cao Cao bowed her head at General-in-Chief He Jin's command.
Yet at that moment, she clicked her tongue inwardly.
'With this... this is going to get troublesome in more ways than one...'
She had a rough idea what Yuan Shao was thinking in making that proposal.
There was probably a desire to secure safety for emergencies, but more important was that this was a chance to summon Yuan Shu back to Luoyang from the frontier.
She could understand Yuan Shao's wish to bring her younger brother back, but Cao Cao knew that the plan had already veered in a dangerously reckless direction.
She also had a fair inkling of what He Jin intended by deliberately summoning other commanders as well.
Likely a move to check Yuan Shu — or more precisely, to keep the Yuan clan from growing too powerful.
Yet such wariness only heightened the chances of inviting an even greater calamity.
'If frontier commanders converge on Luoyang in this fashion... is that not, for all intents and purposes, summoning a pack of wolves to fend off a tiger? We can personally vouch for Gonglu's reliability, but how are we to trust the other commanders...'
That being said, the decision had already been made by the General-in-Chief, and Cao Cao had no power to overturn it.
Even if Yuan Shao sensed the danger, she was hardly going to relinquish the hard-won chance to bring Yuan Shu to Luoyang.
'No helping it... For now I can only do my best to settle this matter cleanly, without any opening.'
Praying that events would proceed according to plan without major surprises, Cao Cao set her mind immediately to devising an operation.