Yuan Shao and Dong Zhuo
"Open the gate! It's urgent!"
Bang—bang—bang—bang!
The pounding, hard enough to splinter the gate, snapped my eyes open. Outside, the dark was still pitch-black. Dawn was a long way off.
Someone hammering at the gate with such desperation at this hour? This was no drunk raising a ruckus. This was an incident.
I flung off the quilt, rose, and set my robes and cap in order. The moment I finished and opened the door, a shadow came racing across the courtyard. It was Wen Chong, already strapped into light armor.
"Young master. You're up."
"It's a clamor out there. What's going on?"
"The Imperial Guard."
"The Imperial Guard? In the middle of the night?"
"Several hundred, at the least."
"Who's commanding them?"
"They're Colonel Wu's men. Wu Yi is leading them."
Wen Chong's report was brief and exact, and the pieces snapped together in my head. Colonel Wu's troops, descending in the dead of night—and Wu Yi at their head.
Dong Zhuo has already made his move.
I hadn't thought the man would draw steel so soon. Drag my feet, and we might lose the Imperial Guard.
"Let's go. I need to see Father."
When I reached the gate with Wen Chong beside me, Father was already hurrying out, nothing but an outer robe thrown over his shoulders. A moment later my eldest brother, Yuan Tan, and my second brother, Yuan Xi, joined us. The hour was deep and the advisors had gone home; only family and the household troops remained.
"Father!"
"Shang'er, it's a clamor out there. They say the Imperial Guard has come. Is it true?"
"Yes. Colonel Wu's men. Dong Zhuo has clearly struck them."
"That Dong Zhuo... so he's finally—!"
"We have to open the gate this instant and take them in. We can't hand them over to Dong Zhuo."
At my counsel my eldest brother cut in, his face gone pale.
"Third Brother, have you lost your mind? That's hundreds of Imperial Guards. What if they've come on Dong Zhuo's orders to seize us?"
"Elder Brother. If they came to seize us, why knock? They'd just climb the wall."
"Th-that's..."
"They're knocking because they want their lives. If we don't open the gate and take them in now, a Guard with nowhere left to go will be swallowed by Dong Zhuo. Colonel Wu won't be able to close his eyes even in death. Father—don't let this chance slip."
I cut through my brother's fear with plain reason and pressed Father for a decision. He met my eyes, then nodded, resolute.
"Shang is right. Open the gate!"
"Father, but—!"
"I'll bear the responsibility! Unbar it!"
Creeeak—boom!
The heavy gate swung open, and the stench of blood rolled in. Wu Yi, Wu Ban, and Imperial Guards who looked utterly spent poured into the courtyard like a burst dam. Torchlight laid the carnage bare. On Wu Ban's back was a single corpse, gone cold. Wu Guang.
"Sili Xiaowei...! Hngh—!"
Wu Ban set the body down and struck his forehead to the earth.
"Dong Zhuo, that cur worse than a dog... He sent his brother Dong Min to murder my father and tried to swallow the Imperial Guard. We barely managed to kill Dong Min and take our revenge, but we didn't know where else to turn, so we came here. Please—please don't drive us away. Take us in! And I beg you: revenge on Dong Zhuo."
Father's eyes reddened as he confirmed it was Wu Guang. They had been comrades in Luoyang, men who had guarded one another and fought side by side. Grief turned at once to blazing rage.
"Dong Zhuo, you ignorant brute! You dare lay a hand on the Imperial Guard? I'll see you hacked into ten thousand pieces!"
He dropped to his knees in the dirt and gathered Wu Ban's shoulders into his arms. Every trace of his usual authority was gone. He touched Wu Guang's corpse, and the tears came.
"Colonel Wu, I was too late. I'm sorry. My strength failed me, and I've lost a precious general!"
"Sili Xiaowei...!"
At Father's fierce vow, Wu Ban howled like a beast and at last collapsed, unconscious. Events moved at a desperate pace.
"A physician! Fetch a physician at once! Carry Wu Ban into the inner quarters, and see Colonel Wu's body prepared with due rite and a family grave raised for him!"
"Yes!"
"Tan! Xi! Loose the household troops. Give the Guard water and food, and lay out a camp in the courtyard. These men are cold and hungry. Let nothing be neglected!"
At Father's orders my brothers brought the household troops under crisp control. Watching hundreds of men brought to heel in a breath, I couldn't help but admire it. This was the hidden strength of the great Yuan house, and the weight of Father's authority.
You really can't scoff at time in the ranks.
The phrase flickered through my head, and a laugh escaped me before I knew it.
Time in the ranks. Of all things. My past life had sunk its roots too deep. And yet I had no cleaner word for handling this sure.
Then Wu Yi came to me.
"Young master."
"Major Wu. You've had a hard night. How are you holding up?"
"I owe you my life. If you hadn't warned us beforehand, we'd have been cut down to the last man, with no way to fight it."
"What did I do? The two of you moved quickly. That's what saved you."
"No. It was your foresight that saved us."
Father, still bringing the chaos to heel, drifted over and slipped into the talk.
"Hm? What's this? A warning?"
Wu Yi turned to him, his face bright with gratitude.
"Ah—did the Sili Xiaowei not know? The third young master warned us days ago how dangerous Dong Zhuo was."
"Hoh... Shang?"
Father's eyes went round with surprise, and then he turned to me. I answered with care. Wu Guang was dead. To boast that I had done well would have been rude.
"The way things were turning looked wrong. I only wanted to help."
Father swallowed his pleasure, stroked my head once, lightly, and praised me in few words.
"Not bad. You did well."
The hand was rough, but warm. Then he threw himself, with Wu Yi, into seeing to the Imperial Guard. Through the noisy night, I heard the sound of my side growing stronger.
Dong Zhuo's headquarters.
"What? Say that again."
Crash!
The heavy inkstone left Dong Zhuo's hand, struck a pillar, and shattered. Shards flew in every direction. Niu Fu, Dong Yue, and Li Jue, prostrate on the floor, flinched and pressed their heads lower still. They wanted to dodge the fragments. They did not dare move.
"My brother... Min is dead?"
Dong Zhuo's voice sank low, a beast's growl. In that killing air his son-in-law, Niu Fu, barely managed to speak.
"General. I have no face to show you."
"Whose doing?"
"Wu Guang's son. Wu Ban."
"Wu Ban? You let some minnow do this?"
Dong Zhuo let out an empty laugh and dropped into his chair. It was less grief than disbelief, and the sting of insult.
"The fool. Kill Wu Guang, and you cut the sprout—you kill Wu Ban with him. Instead you get yourself killed? Tch, tch. All he ever did was waste rice, and he couldn't even die cleanly."
He clicked his tongue, blaming his dead brother. Li Jue and Dong Yue exchanged a look. To watch Dong Zhuo condemn even a brother of his own blood, once the man proved useless, sent a chill down the spine.
Once, Dong Zhuo had always shared what wealth he held and cherished the men beneath him. After he entered Luoyang and closed his hand on power, he had changed completely.
"So. The Imperial Guard? And did you take that Wu Ban's head?"
"Well..."
"Stop stalling and speak!"
"Wu Ban rallied what was left of the Guard and fled."
"Where?"
"To Yuan Shao."
Bang!
Dong Zhuo's fist came down on the desk. The blow was so fierce the wood split with a crack.
"Yuan Shao, of all men."
His gaze swept the room, keen as a blade, and he stroked his beard. Most of those who hated Dong Zhuo followed Yuan Shao. And now the Imperial Guard had fallen into that man's hands as well? This had to be stopped. One misstep, and the power he had all but seized could be taken from him.
"We've gone and put wings on a tiger cub. Hah... this is a headache."
Bloodshot eyes flashed as he glared at Li Jue.
"Li Jue."
"Yes! Command me."
"Lu Bu? What's that wolf doing? I told him to bring me old Ding Yuan's head. Why is there still not a whisper?"
"Still... no particular word."
"Slow."
Dong Zhuo crooked a finger.
"Dong Yue. Go with Li Jue. Take troops."
"Sir? To the Bingzhou Inspector's encampment?"
"Yes. Go and see. If that Lu Bu wags his tail, bring him in. If he bares his teeth..."
Dong Zhuo drew a finger across his throat.
"Handle it yourselves. Come back empty-handed, and know your heads will roll."
"W-we'll remember!"
Li Jue and Dong Yue retreated as if fleeing. Dong Zhuo turned his gaze on Niu Fu, who remained.
"Niu Fu."
"Yes."
"Gather the troops. All of them. Right now."
"Now, sir? The night is deep."
"You stupid oaf. We go because it's night. We've got to take the Imperial Guard, haven't we? What do you propose we do, handing that precious force to Yuan Shao? By daylight half the city will be watching, and by then the chance has already sailed. You understand?"
"Yes!"
Dong Zhuo surged to his feet. The pressure rolling off that massive frame filled the room.
"We strike before Yuan Shao swallows the Guard whole. Give him time and we've lost them. Slit the belly and drag them out before he gets them down. There's no time. Move!"
"Understood! I'll ready the march at once."
Niu Fu bolted out, and Dong Zhuo was left alone in the empty room. He clenched the hilt at his waist and growled.
"You dare stick a hand in my bowl? Yuan Shao—if you don't hand over the Imperial Guard, I won't let it stand."
From the troops of the General-in-Chief's Manor he had already taken the Imperial Guards of He Miao, Lu Zhi, and Dong Min. Even so, he hungered for Wu Guang's as well. Dong Zhuo's greed towered to the sky.
Day was a pale thinning of the dark, but the heavy air over the household would not lift. No one, myself included, could loosen the tension. This was Dong Zhuo, who had already taken Wu Guang's head. Where that bloodied blade would point next was obvious.
"A great host—a great host is coming!"
A household soldier who had been out scouting came running, breathless, and shouted it. Father moved without delay. He ordered every household soldier and every Imperial Guard to arm, and set my brothers, Wu Ban, Wu Yi, Yan Liang, and Wen Chong on the foremost line. Advisors who had heard the news gathered one after another at the main hall. In their eyes there was fighting spirit more than fear.
"Sili Xiaowei, you must hold here. Only then will you have both the cause and the strength to check Dong Zhuo."
"That's right. The lanes are narrow, so morale will count for more than numbers. A full engagement is impossible. This is a fight we can make."
"Our men's spirit pierces the sky. Go at him hard!"
At the advisors' hard line, Father's gaze set and did not waver.
"I am prepared to cast this one life away for the peace of the realm. What is there to fear in the likes of Dong Zhuo?"
He breathed out his resolve and gave the order.
"Open the gate! We meet him in the open!"
Creeeak. Thud.
The heavy gate swung wide.
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Step. Step.
The tremor of the earth arrived first—the sound of a vast host stamping the ground flat. It was no mere march. It was a pressure that crushed the heart.
"Sili Xiaowei."
A low, thick voice shook the household. It was like the growl of a starving beast, and gooseflesh rose along my arms. Dong Zhuo appeared, clad in armor. Fierce generals—Niu Fu, Guo Si, Zhang Ji—walled him in like iron.
"General of the Front. What brings you out with the first wind of dawn?"
"I'll keep it short. Hand over the Imperial Guard."
"And if I refuse?"
There was none of the elegance of the man who usually recited the classics. Short, sharp, absolute.
"Think you can bear it with a force this small?"
"Victory and defeat are Heaven's to decide. You may take my head. The Guard, I will not give."
At Father's nerve, Dong Zhuo's brow knotted. He had expected the man to tuck his tail. To see teeth instead left the dismay plain on his face.
"Then I'll kill every last one of you. Does my blade look merciful to you?"
"Your gall has swollen clean out of you! The Emperor's own Guard, and you would wield them like a private army!"
Shing—!
The moment Dong Zhuo drew his sword, his officers and men drew as one. In the same instant the blades of our Guard and household troops cut the air. Father flung the scabbard at his waist to the ground and roared, voice ringing.
The force of it was a naked blade. Even Dong Zhuo flinched and took one step back.
The sword was already drawn. Charge in, and he had no just cause. Withdraw, and he lost face. To keep at swordpoint was too heavy a burden. He had only meant to frighten them enough to take what he wanted. Dong Zhuo's eyes wavered, looking for somewhere to go.
Jia Xu did not miss the gap.
"General. Sheathe the sword."
"What?"
"The sun will be up soon. Too many eyes."
Jia Xu leaned in and whispered, swift and secret, at Dong Zhuo's ear.
"Kill the Sili Xiaowei here, and you become a traitor to the imperial house and the court. All under heaven will turn their backs on you."
"So you want me to go back empty-handed? With my face in the dirt?"
"Withdraw for now. We have to secure a just cause first."
"Nonsense...!"
"Seize power, then press him with an imperial command. If the Emperor orders the Sili Xiaowei to present the Imperial Guard, by what means can he refuse? Then take the troops, and kill him or drive him out to the provinces—whatever you will."
At Jia Xu's counsel, Dong Zhuo's eyes flashed. Not simple force, but a way to wring a man's neck with power. Absolute power was hard to grasp, but he judged it the better path. For now, no fitting means of crushing Yuan Shao came to mind.
"......Fine. We'll do as you advise."
Dong Zhuo twisted the corner of his mouth and sheathed the sword. The moment assent fell, Jia Xu offered a soldier's salute and walked out toward our side. Dong Zhuo, of course, did not break the standoff, and Father did not draw in his momentum either.
In the midst of it Jia Xu proposed negotiations to Father, and Father considered for a moment. He was on the point of accepting—when his eyes met mine.
"Wait a moment."
He seemed to have decided to hear what I thought. Well. So far I had hit the mark as neatly as a shaman dancing on blades. Of course he would want to lean on me again this time.