Staking the Wager
"But."
Guo Jia set down his teacup and spoke in a manner far graver than anything he had shown outside. Taking this for the man's true face, I swallowed dryly.
"Were you serious, just now?"
"Of course. How could I wag my tongue lightly and deceive you, elder brother?"
"You said it knowing full well how bloody that road is, and how hideously hard."
"I did. I thought long and hard. I want to steady this age of chaos and make a world where the common people can live at ease. What matters to them is not some grand righteous cause. It is simply food, clothing, and a roof. A tranquil society without war. That is what I dream of."
Guo Jia found in me a resolve that did not waver by a hair, and murmured coldly.
"Not Hebei. The whole realm. And yet, looking at you, at least you do not confuse an empty dream with cold reality. For a moment I wondered if it might be the former. I was a fool."
The Guo Jia before me now was precisely the strategist I wanted. Those piercing, razor-keen eyes, as if they saw straight through to the abyss of a man's heart, belonged to a true talent—one who could hold the realm in his grasp.
"This vicious ambition of yours. Is it because the age has gone mad?"
"Had this been a reign of great peace, I would have lived quietly in some back room, reading, and playing the affectionate son for my father. Noble blood of the Yuan clan or not, a third son shoved aside in the succession is granted few privileges. With a little luck I would have been recommended as filial and incorrupt, and grown old in comfort as some middling official."
The faintest smile touched Guo Jia's lips.
"As I thought. I read my man rightly."
Without another word he drained the cooling tea in a single swallow. The world buzzed with rumors that he was a libertine mad for wine, women, and idle pleasure, yet from the moment he entered the room he had not once shown a frivolous face. He had simply lived by deceiving the world and mocking it, and the rumors had been twisted out of true. His manner of speech was rougher than that of a well-schooled son of the gentry, yes. To me, that was no great matter.
"Very well. For the time being, I'll stay at your residence as a guest."
"That is truly welcome news. Remain as long as you please, and at your ease."
"And let me make one thing plain beforehand. Lord Guo is my elder cousin. I will surely cross paths with him often, and share wine with him besides. Will that trouble you?"
"Not in the least."
One of Guo Jia's brows lifted, cold.
"You and Lord Guo go together like oil and water, wretchedly, and you say it's fine? Don't tell me you mean for me to spy on him. If that's it, I am truly disappointed."
"If you did, I would be more grateful than I can say. But I do not greatly expect it. Uncle Guo is far too thorough a man to let good intelligence slip carelessly into your hands, elder brother. Rather, he will be desperate to use you with subtlety and draw my private affairs out of you."
At an answer that struck the heart of the matter, Guo Jia let out a short, weighty breath of admiration. I could think of nothing but how extraordinary he was.
"You are no easy mark yourself. Remarkable. And that is no empty courtesy. In all my life, this is the first time I have praised anyone not yet come of age. I never judge a man lightly, so you may take pride in my praise."
"I thank you from the heart, elder brother."
Guo Jia savored his tea and let his gaze drift, just slightly, toward the window. I could not begin to guess what fierce arithmetic was turning inside that genius's head.
"One thing more. Does my manner of speech truly grate on you? I've been told to mend it more times than I can count, so I know well enough. And you, for what it's worth, have risen to the post of Household Sima. The stares of those who follow you will be sharp. It will be awkward for you."
"With them I exchange respectful address, but in private I treat them at ease. Those who followed my father to Jizhou address me without stiffness, and I use honorifics with them in turn, so it is no discomfort at all. With Lord Guo, too, I try to be easy in private and call him Uncle. How much more so with you, elder brother, whom I serve in a private capacity? It is only right that you speak down to me as you please."
"Hah. My cousin gnashes his teeth and calls you a sly old snake well past forty. That cold appraisal was no empty talk after all."
Forty—the age called the years beyond confusion. That Guo Tu, who watched me with such wariness, rated me so highly as a difficult and dangerous rival was proof in itself. This was not censure. It was praise. If anything, a thrill ran through me. The calm genius before my eyes had thrown out a barbed remark like that only because he, too, acknowledged the size of my vessel.
Guo Jia rose as if he no longer needed to take my measure. He had been about to walk to the quarters I had prepared when he turned his back at the doorway and spoke low.
"I'll say this in advance. Even I don't know how long I'll remain in Jizhou. From the time I was small they called me a colt with horns on its haunches. If you truly covet my talent… then do your best, and see if you can make me sit still. I'm curious what you'll do. I'll be waiting."
With a short, heavy thud he shut the door and was gone, leaving that blunt provocation behind in a motion stripped of anything superfluous.
"Haa… He is not an easy man."
I let out a short sigh at the closed door. Guo Jia was cut from entirely different cloth than any talent I had met thus far. In his habit of crossing those above him, he resembled Tian Feng. But my resolve to make him my own did not shift by a hair. To steady the realm and sit the throne, I needed the flash of Guo Jia's genius.
If Father passed the Inspectorate of Jizhou to me, I would have Tian Feng and Ju Shou for strategists. Those two were talents of the realm, in no way Guo Jia's inferiors. Yet between them and Guo Jia lay a decisive, fatal difference of temperament. The pair were moderate by nature: they analyzed the greater tide with meticulous care, then climbed one sure step at a time. Guo Jia, by contrast, was an aggressive gambler—the sort who, once he seized a gap and an opening, could give flesh to take bone.
My road ahead would never be smooth, and I would meet many problems along it. For that reason Guo Jia was a man I absolutely needed. And I had the sense that he was already half won over. Otherwise he would never have said he would be waiting. Most likely, he wanted to see my true ability.
By the tail end of the second month, the bitter cold had at last begun to break. I dressed neatly in my official robes and hurried my steps toward the main hall to attend the council.
In the days since, I had gone every few days to Tian Feng's quarters to study the Book of Rites, tightened my bonds with my own men whenever I could, and sat up through the nights alone reading treatises on war. I had also spent a great deal of time combing through the memories of my previous life. There was much in them that analyzed war with system and method, and through it I came to grasp the art of war quickly and in order. With Guo Jia, settled in as a retainer, I sat at irregular intervals and debated the state of the realm the way other men take side dishes with their wine. He taught me how wide the world was. I had been praised for my own cleverness, but beside him I felt like a drop in the bucket.
A heavy tension hung over the main hall. Father had arrived earlier than usual and taken the seat of honor, so the officials found their places in quiet, hurried steps. I, too, sat quietly at the very end of the line, in my own seat.
The council opened with Feng Ji's calm declaration, and the reports that followed were as dry and dull as ever. They concerned matters of the greatest weight—consolidating Jizhou's foundations and building its military strength—yet administration, however diligently pursued, shows little on the surface and is endlessly tedious to the ear. Then, at the tail of that dreary council, a single chill item of business leapt out and snapped the hall awake.
"Before long, when the third month comes, those starving Heishan Bandits crouched in the grim Taihang Mountains will creep down onto the plains and plunder the villages without mercy. Every year around this time Jizhou suffers an outbreak of them, and I believe this year they will come without fail."
At Guo Tu's report Father's face set cold, and he struck the desk lightly enough to make it crack. Already it was all he could do to keep Gongsun Zan in check and raise elite troops. The thought of also having to fend off the yearly plunder of that vicious swarm of mountain outlaws seemed to set his head aching at once.
The petty bands of brigands drifting about Jizhou like vagrants were small in scale. Call out the government troops, herd them into military farm-colonies, or simply crush them, and they could be controlled to some degree. The problem was the Heishan Bandits, coiled by the thousands and the tens of thousands in the deep ravines of the harsh Taihang Mountains. On the surface they looked like one vast organization, but in truth they were a loose confederation of dozens of cruel robber bands, plundering as they pleased without a unified chain of command, and therefore exceedingly difficult to answer. When the season came for them to descend from the mountains, all that could be done was a passive suppression: split the troops in advance among the principal towns likely to be plundered, and hold the line.
"My lord."
"My mind wandered for a moment. Continue."
Father looked at Guo Tu, brow furrowed.
"As a rule, the Heishan Bandits who come down seeking grain in this spring hunger of the third month are small bands, a few hundred at most. Of course they boil up all at once across many places in western Jizhou, which is a nuisance, but each individual band is a rabble, and not especially difficult for government troops to suppress."
"Go on."
"Therefore… what if the task of suppressing the bandits throughout Zhaojun were entrusted entirely to Sima Yuan, who has only just entered service? Of Wei Commandery, Changshan Commandery, and Zhaojun—the three that border the Taihang Mountains—Zhaojun's territory is the smallest, and if one reviews the records of past campaigns, the bandits who appear there have always been relatively the fewest, and the least formidable. For Sima Yuan, who has only just set foot in military affairs, to gain the experience of real battle and establish merit, I submit there could be no opportunity safer or better than this."
Guo Tu wore a kindly smile across his whole face, the very picture of a loyal subject, but his eyes gleamed without blood or tears, utterly cold.
Well, now.
I had not lived long in this life, but I knew well that Guo Tu, who hated me enough to want me dead, would never fret over my safety or my military merit. The sun would sooner rise in the west tomorrow.
This bait was certainly not cast out of any sincere concern for my experience in the field. Then that sinister smile means he has dug a pit.
Guo Tu was a man frantic to shove me off a cliff, and so suspicion rose in me before anything else.
"Sima Yuan."
"Yes, my lord."
At Father's call I rose without delay and offered my respects, posture straight and unbowed.
"You heard Lord Guo's proposal? What do you say—will you lead a force yourself and go into battle?"
"If you command it, I will give everything I have to see the task done!"
I answered without the slightest hesitation, and let my gaze flick toward Guo Tu's face. The moment I accepted so readily, the corner of his mouth twisted—very slightly, but unmistakably. That settled it. The viper was arranging something behind my back.
"Do not judge this lightly. They are Heishan Bandits, fiends in human skin. Even a country fool could tell you their cruelty is beyond words. However clever you may be, a battlefield is a living hell. There is no need to force real combat upon yourself at thirteen."
Father showed a face that would hold me back for fear I might be hurt, but I did not yield an inch, and laid my intent bare.
"No, my lord! This humble official does not draw the Inspectorate of Jizhou's stipend out of private feeling. I sit in the post of Household Sima, charged with coordinating military affairs—how could I weigh the gravity of a task before accepting it? If you give the order, I will take elite troops into the field and bring back every last head of those barbarous Heishan Bandits!"
At my fierce, brave spirit the air of the hall grew hot. I looked from my worried father to Guo Tu, who had spun his scheme, and finished a cold calculation.
Even if that Guo Tu has dug some vicious pit with me as the target, he cannot kill me outright, or even wound me directly. He was the one who proposed driving me onto a dangerous field. If I were badly hurt, or killed, Father's wrath would turn its blade on Guo Tu first.
Turned around that way, Guo Tu's black intent came a little into view. If he could not harm me in the flesh, then he meant only to isolate me utterly on the field, corner me, and make me taste a hideous defeat. He would have me crushed by the horror of battle until I shrank of my own accord, or brand me with the indelible stigma of an incompetent commander and so limit my role in the hall. I could not know the precise detail of his aim, but the base intention was transparent.
A very clever child, with no experience of real battle. That was how Guo Tu would appraise me. And he had surely thought that Heishan Bandits, hardened to the bone by fighting and plunder, would be more than enough to make a fool of me.
"Are you truly certain?"
"Yes! I am confident. If you grant me military authority over Zhaojun, I will pile a mountain of Heishan heads and prove my lord's majesty."
At my firm answer Father let out a heavy sigh at last and turned his gaze to Guo Tu.
"Lord Guo."
"Yes, my lord."
"As you say—the Heishan Bandits coming down on Zhaojun are truly small in scale? There is no great danger in Sima Yuan learning the experience of real battle?"
"That is so, my lord. As every past record of suppression proves, in the third month only insignificant little bands appear sporadically in Zhaojun, seeking to fill empty bellies. There will never be a safer or better chance for the Household Sima to learn the feel of real battle and the art of command. If, however, he fails to show ability… that will not be this humble official's responsibility."
Guo Tu swore it with the face of the most loyal subject in the world, and at the end slipped neatly aside. In the end the order to march fell from Father's tightly closed lips.
Gongsun Zan still had to be watched, and the whole of western Jizhou along the Taihang Mountains had to be defended across a wide front, so the force allotted to me was by no means large. One thousand elite cavalry under Zhao Yun, five thousand infantry under the fierce general Wen Chou, and one thousand heavy crossbowmen under Zhao Du, a man rich in experience suppressing the Heishan Bandits—that was the whole of the strength placed in my hands. Set beside the fifteen thousand regulars packed densely into Wei Commandery and into Changshan Commandery, it looked wretchedly small. But Zhaojun's ground to defend was only half that of those two commanderies, so on the surface the deployment was entirely reasonable.
"Sima Yuan. When you face the Heishan Bandits of the Taihang Mountains, what matters most is mobility—strike fast and pull away. They will sprout like weeds out of several towns at once, so do not try to annihilate the enemy completely in a single place. Hit one band hard, drive it off, then move at once and strike the ones falling upon another village. Only by suppressing them that way can you protect the people of Jizhou from plunder, at least to some degree."
It was pointed counsel from Zhao Du, a veteran of a hundred battles who had spent ten years under the Inspectorate of Jizhou hunting Heishan Bandits and learning their nature. Rather than show off shallow knowledge and quibble, I nodded and packed his bloodstained advice from the field into my head.
The moment the council ended I summoned Zhao Yun and Wen Chou in haste, passed down Father's order, and told them to hurry the preparations to march. Then I returned at once to my quarters.
"I hear you're off to Zhaojun to catch Heishan Bandits."
"Yes. How did you learn of it so quickly, sitting in your room, elder brother?"
"Lord Guo proposed it first?"
Well, now.
Guo Jia's eyes flashed, keener than usual. The genius had sensed some sharp danger. I was curious how he had learned so fast, but I held the question back. Discussing a countermeasure mattered more than satisfying my curiosity.
"Yes, that's right. Have you heard something important?"
"Prepare thoroughly, and with care. It will be difficult, but if you overcome it cleanly, it will be nourishment for your growth. Think of it as a good opportunity."
"Elder brother. When I fight in Zhaojun, will you stand at my side and help me?"
Guo Jia shook his head, firm, and advised me in a cold voice.
"I can see at a glance that Lord Guo has laid some trick this time, but even I don't yet know precisely how far his scheme extends. Sima Yuan, listen well. This is a proving ground for your ability. I know how badly you want this foolish elder brother of yours. Then isn't the proper order of things to show ability enough that I can't think of anything else? I want you to reveal that ability, beyond any doubt."
Only then did I fully understand what Guo Jia meant by an evaluation. Paradoxically, thanks to Guo Tu's base trap, I had gained the fastest and surest chance to make that peerless talent of the realm completely my own. Of course, if I were badly bitten by Guo Tu's scheme on the field, failed to win merit, and came slinking home with my tail between my legs, my place in the hall would shrink badly, and Guo Jia would declare my ability lacking and leave Jizhou without a backward glance. If I could not overcome a crisis of this degree, I too would have to fold my dream of unifying the realm. I swore I would take the highest mark on the trial set before me.
"I understand. I will smash the enemy's scheme, establish merit, and return. See that you keep your promise."
"I'll be waiting. Don't disappoint me. The city of Ye is growing on me."
Guo Jia tapped my shoulder lightly and offered his counsel in a low voice.
"Remember this. On the battlefield, never believe that anything which looks obvious to your eyes is obvious. Doubt it. Doubt it, and doubt it again. Peel the shell away like that, and Lord Guo's intent will show itself plain."
"Thank you for the advice."
"They're Heishan Bandits, so they won't be able to spin any refined scheme. But they'll rattle you with cruel methods and lure you into a gap. You have to overcome at least that much, if you mean to achieve the ambition you spoke of. And if you can't, don't you dare make excuses."
Guo Jia patted my shoulder once more and left the room. I turned his advice over in my mind, and from the last of it, strength came.
If Guo Tu truly thinks of me that way and has built his scheme upon it, so much the better. That sort of method will not work on me. In this battle, I must establish military merit beyond any doubt.
Quietly, I clenched my fist tight.