To Yiling (4)
Night had risen under a pale wash of moonlight.
Guan Xing slipped away on the pretext of inspecting the other camps.
All around him, soldiers who had pitched their tents in the forest to escape the heat murmured with quiet delight at the cool breeze, claiming it was finally livable again.
After walking for some time, Guan Xing left the woods behind and came to a stop the moment he spotted a solitary figure waiting ahead.
“…Yuji.”
The man who had been waiting for him was none other than Guan Suo.
Gratitude that his younger brother still lived warred inside him with an uneasy sense that he could not fully grasp the other’s intentions.
…So this is Guan Xing.
In the Romance he had been the heir who would carry on Guan Yu’s line. Records said he had held the posts of Palace Attendant and Central Army Supervisor at a young age, and that Zhuge Liang himself had praised him as a man of exceptional talent.
Those sharp eyes do match the reputation of a brilliant prospect.
As Guan Suo was thinking this, Guan Xing looked at him and asked,
“If you were alive, why did you send no word until now?”
Having held back a great many things he wished to say, Guan Xing first reined in his emotions and put the question to him.
“I only woke a short while ago myself.”
Guan Suo let the bandages wrapped around him show just enough, and explained that he had been recovering from the wounds he had taken during the fighting at Fan Castle.
“So you came all this way with those injuries?”
“I was escorted by Po Sanniang and the soldiers her family brought with them.”
At that, Guan Xing glanced around.
“I don’t see Po Sanniang or any soldiers.”
“I gave them other tasks.”
Guan Xing let out a breath of relief and nodded.
“I’m glad you’re safe. Still… your face seems much changed.”
Guan Xing had always criticized his younger brother’s light and careless conduct.
Quick to notice. Is that because we’re family?
Po Sanniang had pointed out the same thing not long ago, so Guan Suo simply gave the same reason he had given her.
“Father is dead. How could I still go about with the same frivolous manners?”
“I see. Then why send word that you wanted to meet me in secret?”
Guan Xing made no secret of his puzzlement that Guan Suo had summoned him alone.
“Elder Brother, did you read my letter?”
“I did. Not only I—His Majesty and the other generals read it as well.”
That they had read it and still camped in the forest meant his advice had been dismissed.
The one mercy is that they didn’t string dozens of camps one after another.
“…Since you say you only woke recently, I won’t waste words.”
There was much he wished to say to the younger brother who had returned from the dead, yet this was wartime. Private feelings had to be set aside, and anything that might sow discord had to be avoided.
Guan Xing’s expression grew solemn.
“His Majesty is furious.”
“………”
“Even now, come with me, beg his forgiveness, join the front lines, and wash away the crime of disrespect. His Majesty will pardon you then.”
When word had come that their father Guan Yu and elder brother Guan Ping had fallen at Fan Castle, Guan Xing had howled with grief. He had torn at his own hair and hated himself for not having been on that battlefield with them.
And so he had decided that if there was anything he could still do to comfort their spirits, it was vengeance—and he had joined the expeditionary army with Zhang Bao.
“You will join the campaign as well and take revenge for them.”
Guan Xing insisted that Guan Suo too must march in the war that would honor their father’s spirit.
“No, Elder Brother.”
Guan Suo refused him flatly.
“I understand how you feel, but we should be content with what we have already achieved and end this war. Elder Brother.”
Given that the backdrop was the Romance, they had apparently won a few victories. He had heard the army numbered a hundred thousand—so history and romance were blended here. In pure history they would have inflicted no real damage and gone down to a miserable defeat.
Of course saying that outright won’t get through to him, so I’ll have to persuade him properly.
“Yuji!”
Unable to make his younger brother grasp his meaning, Guan Xing finally raised his voice and shouted.
This was no time to dig in his heels when he had already fallen out of His Majesty’s favor.
“The man who devised the plan that stole Jing Province—Lu Xun—has been appointed Grand Commander this time.”
Just as expected, Lu Xun had become Grand Commander.
What would follow was all too clear.
“That man, together with Sun Quan, is one of the mortal enemies of our house. And you would simply walk away while he stands right in front of us?”
“I’m saying I understand that hatred, which is why I’m asking you to set the grudge aside for later.”
“The enemy is right before our eyes! Should we not comfort Father’s and Elder Brother’s spirits!?”
“Elder Brother, you must look at the forest, not the trees.”
“…What nonsense is this all of a sudden?”
“His Majesty and you have both lost your cool-headedness to the thirst for revenge.”
“What would someone who never even took the field know about that?”
“Very well. Then answer me just one thing.”
“Was there a single point wrong in the letter where I predicted Wu’s actions?”
“……No.”
Every word of Guan Suo’s had landed true. Wu had settled into a war of attrition, and the heat had worn the soldiers down—exactly as he had said.
“You were right. The Shu army suffered from heatstroke.”
“Then why did you pitch camp inside the forest?”
He had told them that if they moved into the woods to escape the heat, the enemy would answer with fire.
I’m going to lose my mind.
This man too seemed blinded by rage, unable to see the true state of the campaign.
“Why do you assume the only Wu forces are inside Yiling Castle? Have you never considered that Wu might make a wide detour across the rugged mountains and strike with fire?”
“We are keeping a strict watch against fire attacks. There is no need to worry.”
That only works if someone tries to set fires in secret.
If cavalry came charging in all at once and loosed fire arrows, the wind would turn Xiaoting into a sea of flame in an instant.
“I will say no more.”
“Elder Brother!”
“Go to His Majesty and beg his forgiveness. If you do, I will speak for you.”
With those words Guan Xing turned and headed back toward his own camp, leaving Guan Suo behind.
I expected he wouldn’t listen even if I talked myself hoarse……
In my case I know the future and can read the enemy’s moves, but for them… there’s no helping it, is there?
With Lu Xun—the very man who had brought about Guan Yu’s death—standing right before them, everyone’s judgment had clouded over.
If words won’t get through, I’ll just have to show them myself.
The banners of the Shu main force fluttered toward the south.
Guan Suo stared blankly at the sight for a long moment.
The main Wu force stationed at Yiling Castle.
Late that night, Wu’s movements were anything but ordinary.
Lu Xun, who had risen to the post of Grand Commander on Kan Ze’s recommendation, was studying the terrain maps with meticulous care.
“How many Shu troops remain along the river?”
“Their numbers have dwindled little by little; only a few hundred are left now, mostly to watch our movements.”
At first fifty thousand had been encamped there. But as the heat felled soldiers one after another, they had shifted their camps into the forest.
The Shu forces that had heeded Guan Suo’s advice had even hidden ambush troops against a Wu raid, yet when nothing happened they gradually grew careless about the danger of fire.
Lu Xun had deliberately let word leak to Shu’s scouts that he himself was the commander—a lure. Liu Bei, burning to avenge Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, would never pull his army back while Lu Xun was still there. And so Liu Bei had chosen to shelter his troops in the forest from the heat. Rage had narrowed his strategic vision.
“Grand Commander.”
“What is it?”
“As you ordered, the generals have been assembled.”
“Very well. I’ll go at once.”
Lu Xun arrived at the army tent where the generals had gathered and looked to his adjutant, Xianyu Dan.
“Where are Generals Zhou Tai and Ding Feng?”
“Yes, Grand Commander. Following your orders, they crushed the forces of Xi Zhen, who rose at Zhaoling, and are now coming up the Yangtze toward Yidu.”
“Good.”
Xi Zhen had originally served under Guan Yu; after Guan Yu’s death he had surrendered to Wu when further resistance became impossible. But when Liu Bei raised his army, Xi Zhen and his younger brother Xi Hong had raised the banner of revolt against Wu once more. Lu Xun had ordered Zhou Tai and Ding Feng to eliminate that threat in the rear first.
The perfect moment has come.
Most of Shu’s hundred thousand troops had hidden themselves in the forest. The terrain favored Shu, and after smashing Sun Huan’s army their morale was high; a frontal assault would go poorly. Even when the generals urged him to relieve Yidu, which Sun Huan was still holding, Lu Xun had not moved.
Zhu Ran was already lying in ambush with a detached force ready to set the Shu main camp ablaze. Xu Sheng and Ding Feng had finished preparations to move along the Yangtze and cut the enemy’s line of retreat.
A pity General Gan Ning fell, but it can’t be helped.
A keen light flashed in Lu Xun’s eyes.
“Liu Bei is blinded by rage. Feng Xi’s vigilance has crumbled under successive victories and a stalled front. The same is true of Shu’s other generals.”
That meant the long stretch of patient defense was over.
“Now is the time to wipe the Shu army out completely.”
“Then we are finally going on the offensive?”
“Yes, General Han Dang. You have endured much while holding the walls.”
Lu Xun praised Han Dang and ordered him to prepare a sortie.
The perfect chance to turn the Shu army that had walked into the tiger’s mouth into restless ghosts of the battlefield was drawing near.
“Grand Commander!”
A scout who had been watching the Shu camps from the battlements came running.
“What is it?”
“Smoke is rising from the Shu camps!”
“…What?”
At the scout’s report Lu Xun hurried up onto the wall.
Sure enough, thick black smoke had begun to billow up from the forest where the Shu forces lay.
……I haven’t even given the signal yet.
The unexpected sight left Lu Xun faintly startled.
The fire attack was to be launched only on a day when the wind blew from the west—because only a west wind would inflict catastrophic damage on the Shu main camp.
And that isn’t even the direction of their main force.
Judging by the speed of the flames and the way the smoke spread into the sky, this was not a large-scale fire attack by the detached force. Which meant Zhu Ran had not acted on his own authority.
Lu Xun ordered scouts out at once to learn what was happening among the Shu troops.