A Steadfast Reinforcement
When word spread that Tian Feng had been appointed Duoguan Shuzuo, the whole of Ye City was thrown into an uproar.
Was this not the very man whose stiff, unbending temper had so grated on those above him that Father himself had reached down and winnowed him out, leaving him to languish without a post? And yet that same Tian Feng, so thoroughly cast aside, had been restored to the Duoguan Shuzuo — the formidable censorial office that held the officials of the Inspectorate of Jizhou by the throat.
It meant that I, a boy of barely twelve, had worked beneath the surface, persuaded my father, and overturned the board. As the rumor ran, it became the moment every bureaucrat in Ye was forced to recognize that I existed.
I heard the talk spreading through Ye, and I took no position on any of it. What I did instead was seek out Lady Liu's quarters, to set at ease a mother who was plainly curious.
She had not lost her usual elegance, but surprise and interest sat undisguised on her face as she received me.
"So, my Shang. Just how did you persuade your father? And of all men, that stubborn mule Tian Feng."
She slid a cup of freshly drawn, fragrant tea toward me and asked it tenderly — and sharply.
"Father may find Master Tian's rigid nature uncomfortable, but he has always prized the man's extraordinary ability, and an integrity so strict it borders on obsession. And... he has merely given his inadequate son a chance to glimpse how power actually moves inside the Inspectorate of Jizhou."
At that answer, a deep, strange light gathered for an instant in Mother's clear eyes. It was the cold and exalted hunger of a woman of a great house, fiercely desiring that her own blood should stand at the summit of power.
"Shang."
"Yes, Mother."
"If you wish it... this mother of yours can lend you a little of her strength."
I was so startled I nearly dropped the cup in my hand. I had never dreamed that language so nakedly concerned with power would come from her mouth. If she had been hiding a hand like this behind the curtains, I would have clung to her and begged her help long ago.
When my wide eyes blinked in confusion, she hid her lips behind a fine sleeve and smiled with perfect grace.
"Unlike the former lady, who bore your elder brothers and then passed from this world, your mother's natal house is one of the most renowned clans in Jizhou — and imperial kin besides. The truth is, that former lady was of humble stock, ill-matched to His Lordship's brilliant name. If you truly want it, I will step forward and use my strength for you. That I have held my breath until now, withdrawn to the inner rooms, and devoted myself to supporting your father from within was never because I lacked the power to do otherwise. You were simply too young, and your father bears so grave a great enterprise upon his shoulders that I, as a woman, chose to keep quietly to my place."
She brushed my cheek with a warm hand and went on softly, as if telling an old tale.
"The Biejia Zongshi, the Chizhong Zongshi, and the Cangcao all share a rather close friendship with your mother."
A chill raced straight up my spine.
Biejia Zongshi Feng Ji. Chizhong Zongshi Xu You. The second and third men of the Inspectorate of Jizhou, and Father's most intimate strategists. And with them, Cangcao Shen Pei, born of Jizhou's great clans and charged with military grain and finance. With a lineup like that, Mother was no mere mistress of the inner quarters. She was a vast hidden power, able to turn the Inspectorate this way and that from behind the curtain.
"Of course, do not misunderstand me. I am not saying those proud men are trapped in the skirts of a woman shut away in the women's rooms, blindly following her orders. But... when a moment comes that wrings the blood from us, if I set my will firmly, I can make them raise their hands on your side. I can also strike, in secret and from behind, at the enormous weight that gathers on Tan simply because he is the eldest, and keep it in check."
The offer was sweet, and lethal. An ordinary boy of twelve would have crawled at once into the wide shelter of his mother's skirts and reached for power. No — an ordinary boy would never have received such an offer at all. But I weighed the mass of it with a heart gone cold.
"The great and tender care you bear me, I will carve deep into my chest. If the day comes when I strike a wall too vast for me to bear, and I truly need your help, I will ask without hesitation. But for now, I will meet it alone."
At that firm, reasoned answer, Mother laughed brightly and patted my back with affection. She was clearly praising the ruthless will in me — the will to grow sharp teeth of my own while looking far ahead, rather than flop down and beg for the easy road. She knew very well that a man who meant to seize power needed venom of that kind. Nor could either of us know how Father would move if she spent such power. By its nature, he would move to check her and drain her strength. Because she understood that nature, she praised my venom, and stressed that she could step forward when it mattered most.
Cruel, cold counsel on power, from a beautiful mother's mouth. It was a political sense cold to the marrow, worthy of a power-holder's wife. She would have learned it being born and raised in a house of power.
"Yes, Mother. I will remember."
"When you were wasting away, seeing things that were not there, this mother's heart felt as if the sky were falling. But you have grown so splendidly into a sturdy tiger cub that all that worry seems wasted, and I am truly grateful. Keep growing as solid as you are now. Then your mother will have nothing to fear."
"Yes, Mother. But... do you also worry over the rough and troubled age that is coming?"
I turned the talk with care and asked after the state of things, and a faint shadow crossed her beautiful brow.
"Not long ago I took tea in secret with the Biejia Zongshi and the Chizhong Zongshi, and we spoke... The situation beyond these walls is very grim, and very grave. Living as I do in the inner quarters, I have no talent for judging exactly how the board of the realm will be overturned. But there is one thing I feel in my bones. This vast disorder, sweeping in like a storm, will not settle easily."
She had surely taken the counsel of Feng Ji and Xu You and carved it deep. However that might be, for me it was as good as gaining a host of thousands. When Father's campaign to chastise Dong Zhuo ended, as it must, in failure, and a true age of blood arrived, Mother would move far more fiercely and far more secretly than now, and raise a mighty wall of power at my back.
"Shang. Let me ask one thing more."
"Please."
"That bamboo-straight Tian Feng... can your small hands control him completely? He is a very difficult blade, and a strong one, borne up by the firm trust of Jizhou's native great clans. He could cut your hand to the bone."
At her worry, I met her eyes with a gaze that did not waver by a hair.
"Yes. I can control him."
"Truly... are you certain?"
"Yes, Mother."
Only when she had confirmed that unyielding look did she seem relieved. She smiled as warmly as spring sunlight and drew me tight into her arms.
"Born of my own body, and yet so steady, so admirable, my child. Remember this. If you want power, I will be the stair you set your foot upon and climb, whenever you need me — even if I must carve the flesh from myself to make it."
"Thank you, Mother."
I felt a deep steadiness welling in my chest, and I held her waist tightly. Her embrace always carried a faint, warm fragrance that quieted my heart. Outside, I would have to become a monster without blood or tears. But at least within this warmth, I was only a twelve-year-old son who truly loved his mother.
Around the time the flesh-cutting north wind subsided and a faint haze began to rise from the earth, Father at last made the march on Luoyang official.
At his stern declaration — that he would cut off the breath of the traitor Dong Zhuo and restore the deposed Prince of Hongnong — the great clans and scholar-gentry of all Jizhou, Ye City among them, gave their active support. Ye spun without a spare moment in the preparations for war, and at the same time the inspectors and administrators of Guandong — Yanzhou, Qingzhou, Xuzhou, Yuzhou, and the rest — answered as one. The vast gears of war began to mesh and turn.
Father sent a secret letter to his uncle, Yuan Wei, who remained in Luoyang. He would soon gather the armies of Guandong and advance on the imperial capital; the Yuan clan must pack at once and flee. It was an earnest warning. Father did not want his kin in Luoyang harmed.
I had no wish to throw cold water on that great fire. So I shut myself in my quarters, gave myself quietly to study, and did nothing but watch, with a cold eye, the current of an age gone mad. And I set in order, calmly, what it was that I myself had to do.
The tail end of the second month. Once the shape of the expedition was fixed, I met Tian Feng in secret.
For a boy who held no office at all to issue orders directly to Ren Jun, Wen Chong, Wu Yi, Wu Ban, and Zhang Liao — men who were as good as my own hands and feet — would, for now, be an improper act. I also had to be careful lest a tainted rumor arise that they followed me more than they followed Father. Whatever else I risked, I had to avoid the impression that I coveted Father's power. I needed a heavy shield to stand in front as my proxy, and that shield was Tian Feng. Through him, I would have to express my will with care.
"Master Tian."
"Speak, young master."
"Tell our people to stake their lives on the duties each of them has been given, and to do their utmost. This time, we must win His Lordship's trust."
Tian Feng studied me with that cold, rational gaze of his, and asked in return.
"Even if I do not open my mouth, they are men who will give their all to the task. His Lordship's trust will follow of itself. Young master, if there is something you truly wish conveyed to them in secret, speak it plainly."
"No. For now, that alone is enough."
I shook my head firmly.
"His Lordship has staked his fate and opened a vast board: the chastisement of a traitor. If I rashly order some other action at a time this grave, I could throw fatal disorder into our chain of command. Now is the time when every officer and soldier must move as one body to His Lordship's command, and to that command alone."
"Understood. I will warn them strictly: do not rashly scheme to check the eldest young master. Look only to His Lordship's orders, and give everything you have."
I turned the teacup in my fingers, sank for a moment into thought, and added in a lowered voice.
"On this expedition, local officials from every quarter will come swarming like clouds, each with troops at his back. We must grasp it all and set it down: who attended, what their temperaments are, how they conducted themselves, and how large their followings run."
"That task I will assign entirely to Colonel Wu. He is shrewd in administrative work and quick of mind. He will serve, meticulously, as the young master's eyes and ears."
I thought of Wu Yi as well, and nodded with satisfaction. I would have liked Ren Jun at Father's side too, but he had a mountain of work remaining in Ye with Tian Feng, consolidating what we held within. Wen Chong, Zhang Liao, and Wu Ban would have to take the van and fight drenched in blood, so this meticulous task suited Wu Yi.
In the history of my previous life, Han Fu had clung on as Inspector of Jizhou, clutched the military grain, and made a career of obstruction, so Father had never been able to bring his real strength to bear. Now Father himself went to the field as Inspector of Jizhou, the center of a vast coalition. A board qualitatively unlike the past would surely open.
But... surely that beast Dong Zhuo will not meekly offer his neck in Luoyang and die. The moment things turn against him, he will burn magnificent Luoyang to ash without a backward glance and move the capital to Chang'an. He must. Only then does the true age of chaos come.
And Luoyang was a fortress granted by heaven, ringed by the steep ridges of Mount Song. However overwhelming a numerical advantage Father's coalition might boast, that was a fatal variable. Victory could not be taken for granted.
"This should be enough. Can it be done without strain?"
"Of course. Do not trouble yourself."
Tian Feng gave a thin, rational smile and nodded heavily. He seemed, inwardly, to think well of my judgment — the choice to read the situation with a cold eye, and to demand nothing excessive.
Deep that night, I summoned Li Feng in secret to my quarters.
The junior staff officers who followed me already numbered more than a hundred, and I controlled them through the veteran Li Feng. It was awkward to issue open instructions to high officials such as the upright Tian Feng, but Li Feng and the staff officers who obeyed me absolutely were another matter.
"How many of our staff officers will accompany His Lordship this time?"
"Thirty-eight in all. Divided broadly between administration and military affairs — twenty-one of the former, and seventeen of the latter, will go with him."
"Convey this to them in secret. They are to record everything that happens on the field and in the tents, without missing so much as a mote of dust. Above all, they must set down every move and every gesture of the superiors they serve."
At that cold instruction, Li Feng's eyes wavered, and his head came up sharply.
"Young master. If someone steps on their tails, it may come out that they are your hands and feet. It is a very dangerous business. Are you truly certain?"
"I have no intention of driving my people into a death trap. I am not telling them to spy in the open. They need only tend to ordinary duties, and write down what they see and hear. Also, once the civil and military officials have left their posts, while our men sweep the offices and the empty tents, they are to collect every clue — even the scraps of documents those men have discarded — and miss nothing."
"Ah... if it is done that way, it can be handled quietly. Then, even after the campaign is over and we have returned to Ye, shall this shadow-work continue?"
"I would ask it of you."
From beneath the desk I drew out a heavy cloth bundle I had prepared in advance, full of silver, and pushed it across to Li Feng. It was my own way of looking after my people first — warm, and certain.
"Divide this evenly among our men. They will suffer in secret in hard country. How could their master demand loyalty with nothing but his mouth?"
"At this overwhelming grace of the young master's... they will follow you with loyal hearts for the rest of their lives."
Hot gratitude gathered in Li Feng's wrinkled eyes.
"See to it."
"Then I will withdraw."
Li Feng offered a respectful bow, left the quarters, and was walking the dark corridor when a man carrying a strong presence slid out of the deep shadow and approached. It was his son, Li Hui.
Li Feng swept the surroundings with a keen eye and dropped his voice as low as it would go.
"Well... can you manage it?"
"Yes."
"It will be hard, and frightening, like walking on thin ice. But you must endure, tooth and nail, no matter what. Do you understand?"
"Yes."
"When this rotten world grows still more disordered... and the day finally comes when the third young master seizes that vast power, your place will rise as well. You must live a better life than this old, shabby father of yours."
"Yes."
Even in the dark, Li Hui's eyes flashed, and he answered short and thick. On the surface he was quiet as rock and spare of words, but inside that solid chest a fearsome drive and a fierce will to fight were boiling up.
Li Feng gave his son's steady shoulder a light pat, then turned his steps toward the offices.
"I will not fail you. Not for anything."
When Li Hui's heavy vow flew after him, Li Feng did not bother to turn. He only lifted a wrinkled hand and waved it once.
"Good. For a man, that much venom is enough."
The shadows of a father and his iron-willed son melted, without a sound, into the deep dark of the Inspectorate of Jizhou.