Rebellion (2)
"I'll kill you—!"
E Huan's eyes blazed with murderous light as he swung his halberd in a furious arc and charged at Guan Suo.
Why is he this worked up?
The original plan had been simple: provoke him, trade a few blows, then slip away and take him prisoner. But what had driven E Huan into such a frenzy remained a mystery. Seeing the man more agitated than expected, Guan Suo changed course.
At this level of rage, better to put him down fast and drag him back.
Mind settled, Guan Suo spurred his horse straight at E Huan. Blinded by inferiority and insult, E Huan thrust his spear. Guan Suo's crescent blade rose to meet it in a clean, sweeping arc.
A thunderous crack split the air as halberd and crescent blade collided mid-flight. The force traveled up E Huan's arms until his fingertips trembled like aspen leaves. The sheer power behind that single clash was nothing ordinary.
How heavy is that crescent blade?!
Every strike Guan Suo delivered with that massive weapon landed like a falling boulder. While E Huan was still reeling, Guan Suo swept the crescent blade upward from below.
A sharp ring of metal—and on only the second exchange, E Huan's halberd went spinning into empty sky. Weaponless and exposed, he had no defense when Guan Suo drove the shaft of his blade into the man's jaw.
"Gah—!"
The impact rattled E Huan's skull. His senses swam; his balance failed. He started to topple from the saddle—until Guan Suo seized him by the collar and hauled him across his own horse.
"G-General E Huan has been captured!"
The foremost warrior of Yuexi, taken in an instant. Gao Ding's soldiers could only reel in shock. Before they had even truly fought, their commander was gone; the men scattered in panic and fled for their own lines. Guan Suo did not bother to pursue. He simply turned and rode back to camp with E Huan in tow.
Barely half an hour had passed, and already Guan Suo returned with a prize. The assembled generals could scarcely hide their astonishment. Capturing an enemy commander was far more troublesome than simply killing one—yet Guan Suo, whose martial skill they already knew, had done it in a flash.
"Well done. You've earned merit from the very first step."
Zhuge Liang offered the praise in his usual measured tone.
"Since Lieutenant General Guan has brought him in, we shall proceed with the strategy he proposed—stirring discord in Yong Kai's camp."
As Guan Suo had requested beforehand, Zhuge Liang dismissed the other officers. He ordered a sumptuous feast prepared. Then, as the sun began to sink, he commanded that the captive E Huan be brought before him.
Wariness sat thick in E Huan's eyes.
"Are you E Huan, the fierce general of Yuexi?"
"…I am."
Even in defeat, E Huan held himself upright, determined to show no cringing submission. Zhuge Liang paid the defiance no mind. He smiled with gentle warmth and gestured toward the meal.
"Sit, for now. We can talk while we eat."
…A meal?
E Huan found it baffling that an enemy commander would welcome him so. But evening had come, his stomach was empty, and once he confirmed the food was free of poison, he began to eat. Between hungry mouthfuls he glanced at Zhuge Liang dining beside him.
"You would show such kindness to a defeated general?"
Touched by the unexpected warmth and generosity, E Huan shifted into a more respectful tone than he had first used.
"I pity you and your people. That is why."
"Pardon?"
"Our policy has always been to win over the border peoples through conciliation."
Shu’s approach had long been one of amity and trade—a generous hand extended to the non-Han tribes.
"But when Yong Kai joined hands with Meng Huo and raised the banner of rebellion against Shu, we had no choice but to march south."
"…And what does that have to do with pity for us?"
Zhuge Liang did not answer at once. Instead he drew a letter from his robes and passed it to E Huan.
"…What is this?"
"A secret missive Yong Kai has been sending us in private."
The letter, Zhuge Liang explained, offered Gao Ding’s head as tribute, promising that Yong Kai himself and Zhu Bao would then surrender to Shu.
"Th-that is impossible!"
Yong Kai was the one who had goaded them into rebellion—would he truly stab them in the back? E Huan denied it with fierce conviction. Zhuge Liang only replied in a voice of perfect calm.
"Yong Kai is a treacherous man who already cast aside the faith Shu once placed in him. Do you truly believe a second betrayal is beyond him?"
E Huan had no answer for that.
"…Why tell this to me? We are of the Sou people ourselves—foreigners to you."
Gao Ding and E Huan both belonged to the Qiang-related tribes of the frontier. That Zhuge Liang would entrust such critical intelligence to men like them seemed strange.
"What does birth matter? General Ma Chao, one of the Five Tiger Generals and a pillar of Shu, carries Qiang blood himself."
Zhuge Liang insisted that origin and station meant nothing.
"I find a faithless traitor far harder to trust than any man’s birth."
He pronounced Yong Kai a man without spine—one who had betrayed his country and would just as readily betray his lord.
"I have no wish to make enemies of brave officers like you and Gao Ding."
Once he saw that E Huan had finished eating, Zhuge Liang clapped his hands and had the table cleared. Then he ordered a soldier to bring forth a fine warhorse and a selection of treasures.
"These are gifts, given in recognition of the courage you and Gao Ding have shown."
"…Prime Minister. Are you releasing me?"
Faced with endless grace, the suspicion that had clung to the captive E Huan melted away entirely.
"I am. Return and convey my intentions to Gao Ding. But if you two take no action, we will have no choice but to side with Yong Kai."
On the eve of the Nanzhong campaign, Shu meant to avoid needless military losses—and would join hands with one side or the other. E Huan swallowed dryly and took the words to heart.
"Yes. I will carry your meaning to my lord."
"Then withdraw. I hope you choose wisely."
"…Yes."
E Huan bowed low in respect, then mounted the horse. "I will take my leave, then."
Zhuge Liang and his officers saw him off. On the road back, E Huan studied the Shu encampment. Discipline ran through the ranks like iron; every soldier held his post without a gap. Some even carried themselves with an easy confidence.
Soldiers this tightly ordered…
It stood in stark contrast to Yong Kai, who had shoved Gao Ding and E Huan to the front for his own gain and driven them toward certain death.
I was a frog at the bottom of a well.
Born a nameless fighter on the frontier, E Huan had dreamed of making his name known across the realm. But a young general had crushed him in a single breath, and the pride of the man who had called himself Yuexi’s foremost warrior lay in ruins.
There is no winning against a Shu that fields tigers like that.
When E Huan—who had been reported captured—returned, Gao Ding rushed out to meet him.
"What happened? The men said you had been taken prisoner."
"I was, but Kongming released me."
"Kongming? Tell me everything."
E Huan recounted all he had experienced in careful detail.
"What? Yong Kai meant to sell me out?!"
Gao Ding reeled at the claim that Yong Kai intended to hand him over and surrender to Shu.
"Yes. And this is the proof!"
E Huan produced the letter Zhuge Liang had given him.
"And this is genuine?"
"I cannot say whether the hand is truly General Yong Kai’s—but you, my lord, would know his writing."
Gao Ding had spent enough time close to Yong Kai to recognize the script.
…The hand is nearly identical.
The resolve Yong Kai’s persuasion had once firmed in Gao Ding’s heart began to sway like a reed in the wind.
"If I take Yong Kai’s head and return, he will accept me?"
"Yes. That is what Kongming said."
Han officials often looked down on the border peoples; Gao Ding himself had nursed resentment over it. Fear of being cast aside was part of what had driven him into Yong Kai’s camp. Now Zhuge Liang’s offer to take them in left Gao Ding torn with doubt.
"…We should question Yong Kai first."
"My lord!"
"We cannot press him on the strength of a single letter alone."
Unlike E Huan, who had been won over by Zhuge Liang’s hospitality, Gao Ding meant to read the situation with care. He knew full well that Kongming was the foremost strategist of the age, and he suspected a scheme of discord. Even so, unease showed plainly in the set of his face. He was thinking he would need a private word with Yong Kai later when a sentry reported:
"My lord—General Yong Kai has arrived."
Gao Ding slipped the letter into his robes and ordered the man admitted.
"I heard of your defeat. A regrettable business."
At Yong Kai’s words, E Huan’s brow tightened by a fraction. This was the man who had whispered them into the vanguard—and he wore not the faintest look of apology. Softened by Zhuge Liang’s lavish treatment and silver tongue, E Huan found Yong Kai harder and harder to stomach.
"I trust you will wash away the disgrace in the next battle."
Yong Kai had come only to rally Gao Ding’s troops. But the seeds of doubt the letter had planted made Gao Ding press him.
"Perhaps this time your own soldiers should take the van, General?"
"…Would it not be better for your men to continue leading the charge, Lord Gao?"
Yong Kai was clearly shielding his own forces. Gao Ding’s suspicion deepened.
"General Yong Kai—are you not simply trying to keep your army intact?"
"What nonsense is this? Do I strike you as so petty a man?"
Struck on the sore point, Yong Kai denied it—but Gao Ding pressed harder.
"If that is not the case, then take the vanguard tomorrow and drive back the Shu army."
Cornered by the challenge, Yong Kai had no choice but to nod. To refuse risked open division among them.
"…Very well. If that is what you wish, I will lead the van tomorrow."
The next day, Yong Kai rode out at the head of his troops and advanced on the Shu encampment.
"Zhuge Liang! Come face this Yong Kai! Come out at once!"
The Shu camp gave no answer. He hurled every insult and provocation he could invent, yet the Shu forces held their lines as solid as a mountain. For days he cursed and goaded them, and still they would not so much as glance his way.
"This is hopeless."
With no other option, Yong Kai returned to camp.
"What is the meaning of this?! Why will the Shu army not engage your men, Lord Yong?"
In Gao Ding’s eyes, Yong Kai had been half-hearted in the field. Only his own soldiers had paid the price, and he glared as he pressed the question.
"How should I know?"
Yong Kai could only shake his head; Shu’s design was a mystery to him as well. Discord between the two men began to take root in earnest.
"Since they will not face my troops, it is your turn to fight, Gao Ding."
So Yong Kai proposed, and Gao Ding—with no grounds to refuse—accepted. He led his own forces out to the field.
But this time was nothing like Yong Kai’s account.
"It’s Gao Ding! Loose!"
The Shu camp answered at once with a storm of attack. The gates flew open and soldiers poured out in a furious charge. Gao Ding and E Huan lost their nerve and fled.
"Because we have shown no action, Lord Kongming has taken Yong Kai’s side!"
E Huan shouted with absolute conviction.
"…Did Yong Kai truly mean to betray me?"
Having already suffered military losses, Gao Ding found himself listening more and more closely to E Huan’s words.
"Summon him to our camp and show him the letter. Watch his face—then take his head!"
Gao Ding accepted the counsel and invited Yong Kai to their encampment. Yong Kai refused, claiming military councils kept him occupied.
A fist slammed down on the table.
"Yong Kai, you dog—you dare plot to betray me?!"
Stung by a vast sense of betrayal, Gao Ding’s fury boiled over. Fear of being sold out and rage over the soldiers he had lost both turned on Yong Kai. Trust broken, Gao Ding took E Huan and his troops and marched on Yong Kai’s camp. He set his men in ambush near the enemy lines, then went alone to seek Yong Kai out.
"…Gao Ding? What brings you here without word?"
"I have something urgent to discuss. Would you dismiss the other officers?"
To strike, he needed the surrounding commanders gone. If Yong Kai refused, Gao Ding meant to return to camp and hit them with a night raid. Unaware of what was coming, Yong Kai sent his officers away.
"…So. What is this about?"
"Did you truly think you could sell me out and walk away free?!"
"What are you talking about…?"
Yong Kai asked in genuine bewilderment.
"You mean to deny it? How do you explain this letter? Are you mocking us?"
The moment Yong Kai saw the secret missive Gao Ding produced, he cried out in shock.
"N-no! The hand is mine, yes—but this is Zhuge Liang’s scheme of discord!"
Yong Kai denied every word of the letter. The writing matched his, yet he had never sent any such message.
"Kongming means to set us against each other and tear us apart from within. You must not fall for it!"
The more violently Yong Kai protested, the deeper the suspicion grew. Gao Ding’s doubts had already swollen past all control; he would not listen.
"You bastard!! You planned to sell me out from the start, didn’t you?!"
Distrust of Yong Kai had reached its peak. Gao Ding’s roar filled the tent.
"I tell you it is Kongming’s plot! Gao—"
A wet, shearing sound cut the air.
Before Yong Kai could work his three inches of tongue any further, E Huan’s halberd took his head clean from his shoulders.
"Speak no more of your wicked words."
Yong Kai’s head struck the floor and rolled.