Is Luoyang burning?
Is Luoyang burning?
The Turbid Stream Faction ministers had fire on their heels the moment word of Hulao Pass's fall arrived.
Until just days earlier they had watched the situation unfold with mounting unease. Now they were seized by a dread that bordered on sheer panic.
And no wonder — Hulao Pass lay barely two days from Luoyang.
Even if the enemy advanced slowly at the head of a great host, three days at most, they were already at our very throats.
The bastards would need a brief rest, of course, but that would not buy a full week.
Aghast with terror, the ministers hurried into the Imperial Palace at the summons of the one man they could still trust in this predicament — Zhang Rang.
"Wait — why are the others not here? General Lu Zhi? General Huangfu Song?"
"Do you imagine those two would come? They have held their tongues from the start because they never approved! Most likely they have bolted their gates by now and are craning their necks waiting for these rebels to march in!"
"Tch..."
The men known as "loyal officials" and those belonging to the Pure Stream Faction had effectively refused to appear.
Yet these men had no leisure to dwell on that right now.
Their own heads were set to fly within a week — who had the time to fret over betrayal at this point?
The agitated clamor had barely run its course when —
"Everyone calm yourselves. You are not children. What is all this fuss?"
"Ah!"
"Um... we — we apologize."
Zhang Rang at last appeared before them, together with Ding Yuan, Gongsun Zan, and the other eunuchs.
"First, be seated. We have no time for lengthy talk, so let us conclude this swiftly."
"Yes, Lord Zhang Rang."
Unease still written on their faces, the ministers took their places.
Zhang Rang addressed them, his voice carrying a cold edge.
"You have already heard, I presume: the rebels have seized Hulao Pass. Defending Luoyang is now impossible. Within days they will march on this city, and when they do every one of us here will face the Extermination of Three Clans — perhaps the Extermination of Nine Clans."
"Uhm..."
"Hah..."
The brutally dispassionate words drew sighs and heavy looks from the ministers.
Into that chilled silence Zhang Rang spoke again, his tone like a whetted blade.
"Nevertheless, we cannot simply hand this realm over to those rebels. A short while ago, we three — the Three Regular Attendants — together with the two generals here, resolved upon a grave decision."
"A grave decision?"
"Wh-what, pray, is it?"
Whatever it was, it could hardly be worse than sitting still while all nine clans were wiped out, and so a sliver of hope crept into their questions.
Ding Yuan answered them in his characteristically weighty voice.
"Relocation of the capital."
"Relocation?"
"Surely — you do not mean moving a two-hundred-year-old capital?"
"But... the Ancestral Shrine and the imperial tombs stand plain for all to see here in Luoyang — how can we—"
The unexpected proposal threw the ministers into visible consternation.
"Tch."
"!"
"Ahem..."
One click of Zhang Rang's tongue promptly silenced them.
"Pull yourselves together. Do you imagine I am doing this merely to preserve my own life? The moment those rebels break in they will seek first to murder Her Majesty the Emperor. If any of you has a better means of preserving this realm and the imperial house, speak up."
"..."
"What he says is — is correct."
"In- indeed... do the military classics not teach that when the odds are unfavorable, you withdraw and plan for another day..."
Mumbling their assent, the ministers fell in line — to safeguard their own lives and those of their families... no, to preserve the safety of the realm and Her Majesty the Emperor.
If the rebels' primary goal truly was the occupation of Luoyang, ceding the city by shifting the capital could certainly take some of the wind from that terrifying onslaught.
With resistance to the relocation itself thus effectively dead, one minister ventured cautiously,
"In — in that case... where do you propose to relocate the capital?"
The first place that came to mind was the great western city of Chang'an.
But the words that left Zhang Rang's mouth were different.
"Shangdang, Bing Province — the seat of General-in-Chief Ding Yuan."
"Shangdang..."
"But that rustic backwater — ahem — is it not far too remote? Surely Chang'an or some other location would be better..."
"Chang'an lies far too close to Yang Province, which you might call Dong Zhuo's home ground. Moreover, what matters above all at this moment is Her Majesty's safety. A little inconvenience can be endured."
Translated: if you value your own lives along with the Emperor's, shut up and obey.
Deeply disgruntled, the ministers could not voice it.
Say what you would, this was a question of their own survival.
As the proverb goes, better to live rolling in a dung heap than to die — even if it meant fleeing to some backwater frontier, staying alive came first right now.
"Departure is at dawn tomorrow, so return at once and pack. Wealth and household, even distant kin — take every last thing if you do not wish them wiped out by those rebels."
"Y-yes, Lord Zhang Rang."
"Understood. Then..."
The ministers scurried off to gather their belongings.
The moment they were gone, Zhang Rang looked to Ding Yuan and Gongsun Zan, who stood beside him.
"Is that matter proceeding well?"
"Certainly. My soldiers have already plundered the imperial tombs and seized every piece of gold, silver, and treasure within them."
"My White Horse Cavalry has likewise secured every last asset from the imperial treasury."
"You have worked hard. Then I trust you to handle the final task as well."
The two generals had already spent the previous night raising the funds for the relocation.
To those two, Zhang Rang issued his last command in Luoyang.
"Do not worry. We shall see it finished without fail."
"Indeed. See it done thoroughly."
At that, Zhang Rang spoke in a resolute voice.
On the strategic reasoning that chaos would reliably slow the enemy advance —
and out of the deeply personal sentiment that if I cannot have it, then neither shall anyone else.
*
Lü Bu.
She had done everything in her power to serve Ding Yuan faithfully.
After entering Luoyang the world began calling him a rebel, and truthfully, even in Lü Bu's eyes his actions did not look admirable.
She had been genuinely wounded when he joined hands with Zhang Rang — the chief of the eunuchs, the sworn foe of her family.
But still...
Lü Bu could not openly defy her adoptive father's orders.
To her, a woman who had grown up without a father, Ding Yuan was more than a commander.
He had freed her from the stigma of a rebel's daughter,
and given her both the opportunity and the backing to earn the name Unmatched Under Heaven.
Adoptive father though he was, he had shown her a love as sincere as any real father's. Even now, unwavering, he treated and cherished her as if she were his own daughter... no, more than that.
Ding Yuan was, more than her barely remembered biological father, the man she could truly call Father.
She owed a great debt to Yuan Shu and had always felt a gnawing guilt toward him, but she could never abandon the "father" who had given her an even greater debt.
Yet.
Even that Lü Bu —
was now struggling violently with this order.
"General, all preparations are complete."
"..."
Piled before her stood mountains of firewood and oil.
Lü Bu stared at them in silence.
The order her father Ding Yuan had given her this time.
It was —
before leaving Luoyang, to set the entire city ablaze.
Even Lü Bu, slow as she was, understood the reason for such an act.
It was a desperate measure meant to slow the pursuit that was nearly upon them and allow Ding Yuan, the Bing Province army, and the relocation procession to safely withdraw from Luoyang.
But.
Even knowing the necessity, Lü Bu could not bring herself to decide.
At this pre-dawn hour, when hundreds of thousands of common folk lay asleep —
the moment she gave the word, fifty thousand soldiers under her command would set fire to every corner of the capital with the stockpiled wood and oil.
Beginning with the Imperial Palace, reaching all the way to the noble mansions and the commoner quarter.
The homes, the possessions, the families of people deep in exhausted slumber — all would be devoured by a colossal inferno, reduced to a fistful of ash.
An order to burn hundreds of thousands of lives... to burn their very existence.
Even if it was for their own survival, could this truly be called right —
no, could it even be called forgivable?
"..."
"General?... Are you alright?"
Gao Shun's question felt especially heavy tonight.
Hearing it, Lü Bu felt as if a knife were carving at her heart, and
at last she opened her mouth.
"... Carry it... out."
"... Yes, General."
Gao Shun slowly began to move.
Watching him,
Lü Bu clenched the hand that held the Fangtian Halberd until her knuckles whitened.
*
"Hurry!"
"The rebels may be upon us at any moment! We must quit this place at once!"
An enormous column heaved into motion.
Emperor Liu Xie, a girl barely four years old, peered around with an anxious face from within the arms of Empress Dowager Dong, her grandmother.
Through the jolting window of the imperial carriage she could see countless soldiers.
The figure nearest of all was mounted on a yellow horse —
General-in-Chief Ding Yuan.
Something about that looming presence frightened her, and the Emperor trembled a little, burrowing deeper into her grandmother's embrace.
Then —
'?... That...'
Something became visible beyond General Ding Yuan and the soldiers.
It was — a plume of black smoke so vast it seemed to cover the sky.
She was still too young to understand what it meant,
but nonetheless an instinctive fear began to take root in the young Emperor's heart.
As if... something unspeakable had happened.
That kind of fear.
Just then.
"Father."
"You are here, Fengxian. You have worked hard."
A woman general had spurred her horse close to General Ding Yuan.
She was small in stature and looked younger than the others. Gazing at her, General Ding Yuan asked in a solemn voice,
"Tell me... is Luoyang burning?"
The woman's expression darkened at the question.
Seeing that, the Emperor sensed something tangled and complicated lodged within it.
And then.
"... Yes. It is... so."
The woman answered in a trembling voice.
Ding Yuan quietly nodded and gave her shoulder a light pat.
"Good... you have done well. Anyone can see from your face that you finished the task properly."
"... Forgive me. If only I — if only I had done better..."
"What is there to forgive? It was never an easy fight from the start. You must be tired. Do not push yourself; just follow slowly. We have a long way yet to Bing Province."
"Yes... Father."
At those words the woman general began to fall back again.
In that final moment, as their eyes met,
the young Emperor felt one more emotion stir.
Though it took her a little longer to recognize that emotion as pity...
*
Black smoke rising over Luoyang.
The moment we spotted it we urged our horses to their utmost.
The Great Fire of Luoyang had broken out after all, just as in the Original Timeline.
Knowing that a vision of hell no less terrible than Cao Cao's Xuzhou Great Filial Piety had just opened its jaws,
I drove the generals and soldiers hard and raced for Luoyang with everything we had, determined to save even one more life.
The city gate was already flung wide open, as expected.
We burst through, and the sight that met our eyes was the Luoyang streets turned into a sea of fire —
"... Huh?"
