Did this guy eat something wrong?
Did this guy eat something wrong?
Gao Shun rushed in, his voice urgent.
The words that came out of her mouth made Zhang Liao's face harden into stone.
"That Yuan Shu bastard came looking for us?"
"Yes, Sister. He's on his way here now, saying he wishes to see our lord."
Yuan Shu had walked right up to their doorstep of his own accord.
Hearing this, Zhang Liao scowled, while Lü Bu's expression openly began to waver.
"What the hell is that man thinking? Did he come to apologize or something?"
"No, the opposite."
"The op... posite? What does that even mean? Are you saying that bastard came here demanding we apologize to him?"
"Yes, Sister. That's exactly it."
"You have got to be..."
"According to the letter, he said to prepare an apology for our lord..."
"That son of a... the nerve of him!"
"... General?"
When Gao Shun confirmed that his flippant guess was the truth, Zhang Liao was overcome with disbelief and her expression turned cold and hard.
The side that constantly sent soldiers back half-crippled had no room to be demanding anything. Yet here he was, sticking his neck out and demanding an apology instead. This defied all logic.
Feeling her simmering temper finally boil over, Zhang Liao grabbed her spear, knuckles white, and shot to her feet.
"Zhang Liao?"
"Yeah... perfect timing. I'll go see his face and give him a piece of my mind myself. Come on! Let's go, Fengxian! Gao Shun!"
"Yes, Sister!"
"W-wait... I... I'm not..."
"Hurry up!"
Lü Bu was dragged along, half by force, by an overly agitated Zhang Liao.
Though she reacted as if the whole affair was utterly beneath her, in the end, she had no choice but to accompany Zhang Liao to greet their 'guest.'
The three of them walked out into the courtyard of the building that served as both residence and office.
There stood a warrior woman with fair skin and golden hair tied back, and another whose entire appearance evoked the word 'emerald green.'
And, flanked by these two guards, a man.
A man who radiated an air of nobility from his very appearance.
Yuan Shu.
The moment Zhang Liao saw his face and the unmistakable bearing of a great Yuan Clan scion, she frowned.
'... What? This man... he's a lot more... handsome... than I expected?'
He had snow-white skin and a clean-cut charm that brought the word 'noble' to mind.
Looking at a face that could belong in a portrait you would want to stare at forever, Zhang Liao felt her body stiffen for a moment.
But then Zhang Liao snuffed out the fleeting feeling and spoke in a hard voice.
"You, the handsome o—! Ahem. You! Are you that bastard Yuan Shu or whatever—!"
"You're before the General Who Conquers the North. Show some respect."
"Ugh..."
At Lü Bu's words, Zhang Liao felt a stinging pain in the back of her head and had no choice but to lower it.
General Who Conquers the North, Yuan Shu, who held the military authority of the three northern provinces. In terms of rank alone, he was higher than their lord, the Inspector of Bing Province Ding Yuan. He was not someone Lü Bu or Zhang Liao could dare hold their heads high before.
"I am Gung... Lü Bu, a commander of the Bing Province army."
"... Tch. I am Vice Commander Zhang Liao."
"I am Vice Commander Gao Shun."
"I am General Who Conquers the North, Yuan Shu. As I said, I came to receive an apology from your lord, but... it seems you're not exactly fond of the idea."
"Hey, who was it that touched our subordinates fir—!"
A fresh impact struck the back of Zhang Liao's head as she tried to voice her displeasure.
The blow stung more than usual. Wondering why this woman could not control her strength, Zhang Liao reluctantly shut her mouth.
In the slightly calmer atmosphere that followed, Lü Bu spoke in an unusually demure voice, not at all like her usual self.
"I... apologize for making you take such a difficult trip. And... as for the trouble caused by our subordinates, I will apologize for them. We are truly sorry, General Yuan."
"..."
"??"
"?!?!"
At those words, Zhang Liao and Gao Shun both froze with blank expressions.
Though two years younger than Zhang Liao, Lü Bu had a personality that was, frankly, more of a tomboy.
She had a genuinely kind side, helping the hungry and looking after children. But aside from that, her pride was so monstrously large that Lü Bu was a stubborn force of nature who bowed her head to no one except her adoptive father, Ding Yuan.
Seeing that girl apologize as politely as a proper young lady of her age made goosebumps rise on Zhang Liao and Gao Shun's skin.
'Seriously... what is this situation? How did it come to this? Is this girl... is Lü Bu sick or something?'
'The General is bowing her head and apologizing... Ugh, I feel so weird...'
Utterly lost in the incomprehensible situation, Zhang Liao could only stand quietly and watch what happened next.
"Hmm... I appreciate the apology, but I didn't come here to receive yours. I came to receive an apology from your master, Ding Yuan."
"I... I understand. Then please, allow me to guide you to my lord."
Yuan Shu spoke calmly, though brief surprise had crossed his face. Lü Bu bowed respectfully once more, then fidgeted as she guided him inside.
She was only piling more question marks over the heads of Zhang Liao and Gao Shun.
*
A middle-aged man sat in a lavishly decorated room, upon a grand, imposing chair.
He looked far more arrogant than his reputation implied... no. Perhaps it was more accurate to say he had become arrogant over the last few weeks.
Ding Yuan.
He looked at Yuan Shu before him and spoke in a rasping, thoroughly unpleasant voice.
"You're telling me to apologize?"
"Isn't that only natural? I've been spending my time cleaning up the mess you've shat all over the place."
"..."
"I'm not looking for thanks. Just apologize and take thorough measures to prevent a recurrence."
"Hmm..."
Having taken the forces of the Imperial Guards and the Eight Colonels into his hands, Ding Yuan had the clear duty to manage Luoyang's public order.
But the acts his subordinates had committed until now did nothing to keep order; they only made it far worse.
Soldiers never hesitated to loot civilian homes, harass women and girls, and in severe cases, even committed arson and murder.
And all of this was, of course, happening with the tacit approval of their leader, Ding Yuan.
The soldiers from the Imperial Guards and the Eight Colonels of the Western Garden had been absorbed in a hurry but were not yet perfectly under his control.
To bring them firmly into his fold, he needed to let them run loose 'to a reasonable degree' as they pleased, while also blatantly flaunting military might to create an atmosphere of terror in the capital, thus suppressing any potential resistance. The spate of recent incidents in Luoyang was all for that purpose.
But seeing Yuan Shu, who was clearly holding him accountable for this, put Ding Yuan in a very foul mood.
'Insolent whelp... I've tolerated him until now because he's the renowned scion of a noble house.'
He might have tolerated it in the past, but now he held the military power of Luoyang in his grasp, and he was soon to be promised the office of General-in-Chief by Zhang Rang.
Being lectured by this wet-behind-the-ears brat stoked Ding Yuan's fury, but for now he had to swallow it.
Yuan Shu's fame and status were anything but ordinary.
And while he himself was promised the post of General-in-Chief, in the current chain of command, Yuan Shu, who controlled the military of three northern provinces, still outranked a mere regional Inspector like himself.
Deciding to suppress his violent emotions and end this at a warning, Ding Yuan let out a light chuckle.
"Haha, why get so serious over such a trivial matter? First, loosen that scowl. It's unpleasant to look at."
"A trivial... matter, you say."
"Surely you know, it's not as easy as it looks to control an army. You have to let them loose when appropriate, and tighten the reins when needed."
"Hundreds of commoners have died in that process, you know."
"Luoyang's population exceeds 500,000, what does it matter? Don't be so prickly over a single ladle of water scooped from a lake."
His expression hardened with those words, and yet, as he looked at the utterly unshaken Yuan Shu, he spoke in a quiet voice.
"If a young man frets too much over minor things, won't he crumble before ever achieving anything great? I'll let it slide this time, but be more careful in the future."
"... Huh."
Ding Yuan issued a warning with an appropriate serving of threat.
To which, Yuan Shu let out a small sigh before replying.
"... I see. Understood. I'll be grateful for the advice."
"Heh heh, good, I'm glad you appreciate it. Now that you've said your piece, you may leave."
"I shall."
For someone who had strode in so boldly demanding an apology, Yuan Shu exited, surprisingly, without another word.
A thick smile spread across Ding Yuan's lips as he watched.
'As I thought, it was all bluster. Well, what could a brat like him possibly do in this situation no matter how great he thinks he is?'
Believing he had just silenced a young wolf cub that had been yapping without fear, Ding Yuan savored an inner sense of victory.
And as Yuan Shu turned his back on Ding Yuan to walk away, he thought quietly to himself.
'Does everyone end up this way... once they swallow that beast called power...'
*
Over the past several weeks, Ding Yuan had deliberately allowed his soldiers to run wild.
Having been on the ground personally suppressing these incidents, I came to the realization that this man Ding Yuan was even more of a bastard than I had known.
I understood it was also a means of 'taming the army.' But causing innocent people to weep tears of blood for such a reason was something I could never abide.
I didn't need to be told how a man who treats human lives so lightly is bound to end up.
Sensing Ding Yuan's repulsive nature, which hadn't been clearly revealed in the Original Timeline, I went to face him directly for a final confirmation, and I eventually gained certainty.
Even this man, who history had painted in a slightly positive light, was, in reality, no different from the Original Timeline's Dong Zhuo.
'But the unexpected part... is that Lü Bu actually apologized to me.'
The first time I met Lü Bu, the Mightiest Warrior Under Heaven and a figure infamous in Romance of the Three Kingdoms for his treachery.
To be honest, I expected her to fly off the handle even harder than Ding Yuan over this affair. Yet Lü Bu instead reined in Zhang Liao, who was about to act rashly, and showed me a respectful attitude from beginning to end.
By this point, Lü Bu and Zhang Liao both being women no longer surprised me. Lü Bu's behavior, however, left me perplexed.
'And she seemed oddly familiar... I did travel around Bing Province for a while. Maybe I just happened to see her in passing?'
Anyway, this version of Lü Bu seemed to possess a far better character than I had assumed... Or to put it another way, I had a feeling it might be a bit harder to win her over than they did in the Original Timeline.
I had no idea why she turned out like this, but either way, Lü Bu was still Lü Bu. I had to make an attempt.
Having finished my business with Ding Yuan's side, I returned directly to the main residence.
I had formally received a 'warning' from Ding Yuan in the process of confirming what I needed to confirm, but that didn't matter.
One more week.
Considering what would happen after that, this was nothing.
*
"Come on, drink up, drink up!"
"To the future of the Han Dynasty!"
"To... the future."
A subtle atmosphere hung over the banquet hall.
Among the numerous renowned officials gathered there, an ominous air swirled.
The only ones genuinely smiling and enjoying the situation were the eunuchs who had stubbornly survived the chaos and were now stretching their legs again, the Turbid Stream Faction ministers who followed them, and Ding Yuan with his subordinate commanders.
The core figures of the Pure Stream Faction, including Yuan Shao and Cao Cao, and major ministers like Wang Yun, Lu Zhi, and Huangfu Song, were all wearing faces like they were chewing on dung, barely touching their drinks.
At any rate, as the atmosphere of the banquet slowly ripened.
That man—
Ding Yuan, who had just become General-in-Chief the day before yesterday, subtly exchanged glances with Zhang Rang.
-'Shall we begin?'
-'Begin.'
The two men who held this nation's military power and internal administration in their hands. The moment their judgment was made, Ding Yuan stood right up from his seat and strode forward.