Chaos in Luoyang
"What are you saying?"
"Exactly what I said. You must leave Luoyang."
Father's brow drew tight, bewilderment and displeasure tangled in his eyes. The power of the realm lay within reach, and here his own son was telling him to walk out of its heart on his own two feet. To a man as hungry for power as Father, it must have sounded like pure madness.
"Go on."
He swallowed his displeasure. I had given him useful counsel before, and he was choosing to be patient.
"Father. If we mean to overturn a board that has already passed into Dong Zhuo's hands, we have to build our strength outside and then strike Luoyang until it falls. Fighting him from within is nothing but thrashing in the beast's jaws. Forgive me for saying so, but the officials of the General-in-Chief's Manor, as they stand, cannot withstand Dong Zhuo."
It was blunt counsel, thrown with every expectation of a slap.
Color surged into Father's face. I saw his fist clench with rage, yet in the end he did not loose it. He could not deny the reality: Dong Zhuo had already landed his blow and torn the power from his grasp.
"The difference is experience in the field. Liangzhou is a land where rebellion breaks out every other day. Dong Zhuo has spent his life rolling through that country, and he has the instincts of a wild beast. Once he fixes on a goal, he cares nothing for the means. His methods will outrun everything you take for common sense."
"For instance?"
"To seize the military authority of the General-in-Chief's Manor, he will kill Colonel Wu. To swallow the Bingzhou army, he will remove the Inspector of Bingzhou."
"In the middle of Luoyang? You think that's possible?"
"Was it possible for Dong Zhuo to enter the capital at the head of those lawless Liangzhou troops?"
Father closed his mouth. He wanted to dismiss it as absurd, but none of my predictions had yet gone wide of the mark, and the uncertainty was burning him from within.
Wu Kuang was the true power in the General-in-Chief's Manor, and Ding Yuan was Inspector of Bingzhou as well as Bearer of the Gilded Mace. Kill men of that stature and steal their armies — even at the price of civil war? His look said he could not believe it.
"You mean assassination?"
"Yes. With the power Dong Zhuo holds, it is the most efficient method. Cut off the head, and swallow the body."
"Hmph. Vulgar. To do something so barbaric in the imperial capital..."
The disgust was genuine. I swallowed a laugh that nearly escaped me.
The Ten Attendants had cut down the General-in-Chief in broad daylight, and Father, opposing them, had stormed the palace and slaughtered more than a thousand eunuchs. Set beside that, were Dong Zhuo and we really so different?
Father fell silent. He was weighing whether I was right — and, if I was, whether he ought to pack at once.
He would not yet accept the counsel to leave Luoyang and build his strength. I would have to offer the same advice several times more, and the situation would have to grow desperate in step with it, before he yielded.
"I will consider it with care."
That was enough. Even with renowned strategists at his side, he had taken his son's outrageous proposal seriously. For a man as proud as Father, it was remarkable progress. Had I been him, would I have listened so readily to a son's unsolicited counsel?
Only I knew when he would leave Luoyang, and by what means he would gather strength and find a just cause to attack the capital. So although he had given me no firm promise to go, my heart was at peace. It was a satisfying day merely to have planted in his mind the knowledge that such a path existed.
"Thank you."
Father rose, and I rose with him. His hand was on the door ring when he turned abruptly.
"Ah — that fellow Wen Chong. Impressive."
"Thank you."
He left the room with a broad grin.
Success. I had planted vigilance in Father, and I had set my man, Wen Chong, in his eye as well. The current was running fierce, and still I had to row slowly. Maddening — but what else was there to do?
Back in his chamber, Yuan Shao locked the door behind him. When his thoughts tangled, the wisest course was to borrow a head he trusted. He summoned Feng Ji and Xu You at once.
Seated in the place of honor, he wasted no time on preamble.
"If Dong Zhuo kills Colonel Wu and the Inspector of Bingzhou and swallows their troops, what becomes of the board?"
The question, tossed out lightly, carried considerable weight. The composed Feng Ji narrowed his eyes, and so did Xu You, a man not easily startled.
Xu You spoke first.
"It would be like fastening wings to a tiger's back. But, Sili Xiaowei — is such a thing even possible?"
"If it were assassination?"
"Colonel Wu and Dong Min call each other brother, so grant that one. But will that old Inspector of Bingzhou go down so easily?"
"No. It wouldn't be easy."
Yuan Shao turned his teacup in his fingers, brow furrowed. The counsel his youngest son had offered was outrageous enough to make even Xu You shake his head. Openly assassinating generals who commanded regular troops — even Dong Zhuo? It lay beyond common sense.
Then Feng Ji spoke, careful.
"Sili Xiaowei, we must not dismiss the possibility. Press Dong Zhuo at court. Plant in him the fear that civil war may follow, and he will not draw his sword lightly."
Yuan Shao nodded. The most orthodox solution.
Send a warning. I haven't the strength to shield them myself, so they must be told to look to their own necks.
A flash of powerlessness passed through him. Fame without military authority was nothing but a handsome shell. But he shook his head almost at once, and cold reason drove the sentiment out.
No. This is no time for weakness. If the worst that Shang spoke of comes to pass, the military authority will be left hanging in the air with no master.
Crisis was opportunity. The command of the Inspector of Bingzhou would be difficult to take, but the authority of the General-in-Chief's Manor lay within reach. Yuan Shao's eyes sharpened. He looked at the two strategists with trust plain in his gaze.
"Best if nothing happens at all. But if disaster strikes, the authority left ownerless will be ours. The General-in-Chief's Manor above all."
Reading his intent, both strategists brightened.
"Why not reach for the Inspector of Bingzhou's troops as well?"
"Then the Sili Xiaowei's command will finally stand in truth."
The exchange took on life. Only then did Yuan Shao loosen his stern face and give the order with a thread of humor in his voice.
"The warning first. Tell them not to die — live, and give Dong Zhuo some misery. We'll think about the scraps afterward."
"We will remember."
Feng Ji's eyes flashed. Mild in ordinary times, he was a man who, once he had a goal, spared neither fire nor water.
"Yuantu. You will serve as Military Sima of the Sili Xiaowei's office and take our military authority in hand."
"I accept the command."
Feng Ji bowed with due respect. The corner of Xu You's mouth twitched, ever so slightly.
The Military Sima was the post that actually controlled the troops of the Sili Xiaowei's office. Set beside the General-in-Chief's Manor or Dong Zhuo, the numbers were small — yet when one remembered that the right to inspect officials and generals rested with the Sili Xiaowei, it was an enormous charge. If Ding Yuan and Wu Kuang were removed and their troops absorbed, the hilt of that sword would lie in Feng Ji's grip.
In every respect, it was a night on which Feng Ji had stepped a pace ahead.
Dong Zhuo moved.
Faster by far than Yuan Shao's caution, or Yuan Shang's prediction. He had not read Yuan Shao's play and seized the first move. He had simply seen prey and flung himself upon it without a glance forward or back. That brute drive, at times, became the most frightening strategy of all.
Dong Zhuo's headquarters.
"Tonight. Lu Bu will cut Ding Yuan's throat and bring it to you."
Li Jue made the report with a bold, eager face.
"That old man Ding Yuan — is his reputation really so thin?"
"When he burned Mengjin Ford, he burned up whatever trust he had left. There isn't a scrap remaining. Not a whisker."
"Hahaha! Heaven itself is helping me. If this is fortune, then fortune it is."
Dong Zhuo slapped his belly and roared with laughter. Ding Yuan, Inspector of Bingzhou and his most troublesome rival, had dug his own grave. Better still, that tiger Lu Bu meant to bring the old man's head of his own accord. Succeed, and it would be enough to settle a suitable office on Lu Bu and heap him with gold and silver. There could be no happier business.
Dong Zhuo let the laughter die and looked at his younger brother, Dong Min.
"Min."
"Yes, Brother."
"Wu Kuang. Are you sure of that one?"
"Of course."
Dong Zhuo swallowed the words I trust you. If Ding Yuan was a rotten straw rope, Wu Kuang was a tough strip of hide. His men's trust in him ran deep. Let the assassination go awry, and the Liangzhou troops and the forces of the General-in-Chief's Manor would have to fight a civil war. Other powers would shove their way in, and the whole affair would turn tiresome.
"Best to lure him with words. That way we swallow the troops whole."
"I'll persuade him with everything I have."
"And if it doesn't take?"
Dong Zhuo's eyes cut upward, savage.
"I'll cut him down at once. We may not absorb every man, but what can a snake do without its head?"
"Timing is everything. Once he hears Ding Yuan is dead, that Wu Kuang will smell it. Prod him lightly, and if it isn't working, take the head at once. Understood?"
"I'll remember."
"Begin at once."
"Yes."
Dong Min bowed, heavy and deliberate. When he had withdrawn, Dong Zhuo sat alone, chin propped on his hand, and muttered.
"Ding Yuan is nothing much... but this Wu Kuang irritates me no end."
Wu Kuang's headquarters.
Wu Kuang sat with a wine cup in hand, his son Wu Ban before him.
"Father, the air has turned. Be wary of the Colonel of the Chariots."
"Min? Why would that friend of mine...?"
"The General of the Front's hunger for power will not stop. He swallowed the troops of the General of Chariots and Cavalry, and it has driven him mad."
Wu Kuang cleared his throat and drank. It was he who had killed He Miao, and in doing so he had all but helped Dong Zhuo absorb the dead man's troops.
"Don't worry. I won't stand by and watch that lowborn pig Dong Zhuo run wild either. But Dong Min is different. When we cut down the Ten Attendants, we fought back to back. He's a comrade."
"But blood runs thicker than water, doesn't it?"
"I know better than you how to look after my own."
Wu Kuang was waving a hand with easy confidence when Wu Yi came in at a rush.
"Patriarch, the Colonel of the Chariots is here."
"There, you see? He came because he wanted a drink."
"Does a man who comes for a drink bring fifty armed soldiers with him?"
At Wu Yi's sharp remark, the smile died on Wu Kuang's face.
"Surely Dong Zhuo isn't after my head?"
"The General of the Front is more than capable of it."
"Ban, you step outside. Yi — have the men stand ready, in case. Quietly. Don't let the Colonel of the Chariots catch on."
Wu Kuang's eyes had changed as he gave the order. Wu Ban and Wu Yi left the room.
Out in the corridor, Wu Ban stamped his feet.
"Brother, this is bad, isn't it? Father's in danger."
"Calm yourself. If the worst comes, we have somewhere to go. And the Patriarch is not easily taken."
Wu Yi drew a letter partway from his robe, let it show, and tucked it away again.
"A letter from Young Lord Yuan Shang. I doubted it at the time. It may turn out to be the thread our lives hang from."
"Young Lord Yuan Shang foresaw this?"
"You saw him yourself. He's no ordinary man. Stay here and watch the Patriarch without being seen. I'll fetch the troops."
Inside, the air sank heavy. The wine jar emptied while the talk between Dong Min and Wu Kuang grew uglier. Even Wu Ban, beyond the door, had to swallow hard at the killing edge in the room.
"Brother Dong, you overstep. Hand my troops to the General of the Front? Have you lost your mind?"
Wu Kuang slammed the desk, fury bare.
"I'll pretend I didn't hear it, so go back. For the sake of our friendship, my patience ends here!"
He turned his back. It was a clear order to leave.
Dong Min's eyes went cold.
"Friendship, is it. Then go and join your friend."
Steel hissed. Dong Min drew a dagger from his breast and drove it into Wu Kuang's side.
"Ghk—! You... you—!"
"If you stand in the way of my brother's great work, friendship means nothing."
Thuk. Thuk.
The blades fell without hesitation, and Wu Kuang's body folded emptily to the floor.
"Father!"
The door burst apart under the shout, and Wu Ban crashed in. At the sight of his father collapsed in blood, his eyes rolled white with rage.
"You—you butcher's bastard! Die!"
"Urk—!"
Wu Ban howled like a beast and threw himself on Dong Min. Fists and steel flew as they tangled. At the end of that killing grapple, Wu Ban straddled Dong Min's belly — and what his hand closed on was a heavy inkstone.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
"Die! Just die, you son of a bitch!"
His hand did not stop until Dong Min's face, already emptied of breath, was pounded to ruin.
"Ban! Enough! Come to your senses!"
Wu Yi, come running with the troops, tore him off by force.
"Brother... Father..."
Wu Ban wept in floods. Wu Yi soothed him, low and steady.
"I know. But there's no time to grieve. Dong Zhuo's main host will be on us. Do you want to die like a dog here, or do you want to live for another day?"
At that lash of words, Wu Ban bit his lip. Tears of blood in his eyes, he heaved his father's corpse onto his back.
"Let's go. To the Sili Xiaowei. This blood will be repaid. I swear it."
Wu Ban, bearing the body, and Wu Yi stepped out of the room. Dong Min's fifty guards already lay slaughtered across the floor, cut down without mercy by the elite troops Wu Yi had brought.
Wu Yi looked around at the men.
"Dong Zhuo sent Dong Min to murder Colonel Wu. Soon he will come with his great host. We go to the Yuan clan. The only man who can protect us now is the Sili Xiaowei."
Wu Ban and Wu Yi drew their swords and took the lead, and more than nine hundred elite guards followed behind them.