Cao Ang's Reckoning (1)
Cao Ang had cast everything aside and set off alone into the heart of the enemy camp.
"Ugh, damn it...."
Cao Cao clawed at her hair, unable to sit still for even a moment.
"Should I not have let him go?"
To take responsibility for his own blunder, Cao Ang had marched straight into Wan. She didn't know what kind of man Zhang Su was, but touching a widow was no small offense—he couldn't just walk away unscathed.
"Jeong Uk. If you were in Zhang Su's position, what would you do?"
"I'd beat him to death."
Jeong Uk calmly laid bare his true feelings.
"Whether privately or officially, the young master's actions demand accountability."
"Even if it means death?"
"Yes. Even if he returns with his head severed from his body, unlike when he left."
Jeong Uk continued in a stiff voice.
"Officially, causing an incident at an important feast is a fault. Privately, failing to control himself and recklessly thrusting his hips is the sin."
"Right. But is that a capital offense?"
"It's not for us to judge if it's worthy of death. That's for Zhang Su's clan."
Cao Cao was at a loss for words.
"This is the first time you've said something so astute!"
"Even an illiterate like me picks up a thing or two at your side, my lord."
"Good, very good. Then you stand in for Sun Uk and Sima Yi right now."
Jeong Uk turned his head away.
"No, say something, will you?"
"My apologies. Coming up with clever solutions is beyond my abilities."
"Then what's your solution?"
"To protect my lord, no matter what happens."
Jeong Uk's loyal words tugged at Cao Cao's heart, but they offered no way out of the crisis.
"'No matter what'—that includes if battle breaks out?"
"I've been prepared for war since the moment we entered that banquet hall."
Jeong Uk's face hardened as he spoke.
"Forcing alcohol on your bodyguard to get him drunk, and the conspicuous absence of Zhang Su's other subordinates—it wouldn't have been strange if a fight had erupted right there."
"Didn't I pour the drinks myself?"
"Zhang Su egged you on. If we hadn't slipped out at dawn like thieves, we'd have been rats in a trap inside the city."
"...True. That's true."
Cao Cao could only replay the dawn raid in her mind over and over. If not for Cao Ang, Wan would have fallen into her hands by now. She'd be waking from sweet dreams, executing plans to fold Wan into her forces.
"After making an enemy of Wan's commander like this, can I really throw my troops at Lü Bu without worry?"
Cao Cao, Sun Uk, Xun You, Guo Jia, Jeong Uk, and others.
"This operation had to succeed to pave the way for subjugating Lü Bu, didn't it?"
The prerequisite for crushing Lü Bu—securing the rear—had been ruined by Cao Ang.
"I didn't lead the army here just to show off our numbers. It was that critical, so I came personally. No one but me could handle it!"
A single step, perhaps the most vital for the future ahead.
"It all succeeded! We drank for hours, playing it cool until we confirmed their true intentions! That bastard Zhang Su was about to surrender! I was in a good mood, ready for a pleasant night, and then what? He locks eyes with Jang Je's widow and spends the night with her? Argh, damn it!!"
Of all people, her adopted son had caused a massive scandal.
"Jeong Uk."
"Yes."
"Are all men so lacking in self-control by nature?"
"......"
Jeong Uk shrugged.
"How can you stay composed before a beauty like me, unmatched in the realm, yet he falls head over heels after a few drinks?"
"Three points, my lord. First, you are my lifesaver and like a mother to me. Second, any man would lose composure before someone of your caliber. Third, the young master might just be the average man in this land."
"......Sigh."
Cao Cao hung her head.
"Fine. Cao Ang is ordinary, nothing special. But don't call him the average man of Han. He's the son I chose."
"If I may be bold, isn't that chosen son the one who caused this mess?"
"Exactly. That's the problem."
No solutions came to mind. In truth, resolution hinged entirely on Zhang Su's decision.
"...For now, let's put our heads together. If Zhang Su kills Cao Ang? If he beats him half to death? If they send him back in pieces? If, by some miracle, Zhang Su forgives him and lets him go? What then? What will Zhang Su demand in exchange for pardon? How should we respond?"
"My lord."
Jeong Uk merely bowed his head calmly.
"In any scenario, I will protect you."
"...Right. I know. Sigh."
Cao Cao stared at the wall, hands on her hips.
"Sun Uk, Xun You, Guo Jia, Jeong Uk. If I send a rider now, who arrives first?"
"Heodo—Lady Sun Uk is fastest. Round trip takes three full days. One way, at least one."
"Yeah? Damn it. But is there somewhere closer for counsel...?"
Snap. Cao Cao flicked her fingers and sat at the desk, unrolling a bolt of silk.
"My lord, isn't that the gift silk? The finest quality from Hebei..."
"Who cares about that now! Prepare a swift, trustworthy cavalryman! Hurry!"
"Understood."
Jeong Uk withdrew silently. Cao Cao bit her lip and dipped her brush in ink.
"Tch, sacrificing this to save my son... what am I doing?!"
To save Cao Ang, Cao Cao took up the brush.
"...Sun Uk. Sorry. I'll apologize properly later."
With trembling resolve, she gripped the brush.
* * *
If Cao Cao's army attacked Jingzhou, how should one respond? Fight back, or flee? I'd considered clashing with Cao Cao after weighing the factors, but now that her 100,000-strong host loomed overhead in my imagination, terror gripped me.
"I wish peace would come soon."
Hoe in hand, I tilled the fields, heading out later than usual. By the time I finished, sweat poured down my body.
"Nice weather."
I bit into a peach from my snack and looked skyward.
"So peaceful here."
Unlike the cloudless blue above, Wan must reek of impending war.
"Even if they fight, I hope the ripples don't reach Jingzhou."
Though we'd linked up secretly with Zhang Su, Liu Biao's temperament suggested he'd send token forces for appearances. Jingzhou hadn't suffered from Cao Cao yet, and Wan—far from northern Jingzhou—wouldn't alarm him much. Lips and teeth, they say, but priorities twist strangely. To me, Wan was the lip protecting my teeth; to Liu Biao, it was Xinya.
"...Whatever."
I couldn't control the war. I was just a peasant tilling his fields. As sunset neared, I shouldered my hoe to return to the academy.
Then.
Clop, clop.
A glossy black warhorse approached. Slender-built, but unmistakably a mount for cavalry.
"Whoa."
The hulking rider atop the black steed exuded menace even from afar. Moreover, the twin axes strapped to his mount's sides looked ready to be wielded in each hand. It evoked the aura Gan Ning once showed. No reason for such armament around here—
"Are you Kim Taeyang!!"
"......"
My ears nearly burst. Though still dozens of paces away, his voice boomed like thunder right beside me.
"Are you the man they call Kim Taeyang? Who might you be?"
"Ahem, forgive me. It's urgent."
The man leaped from his horse in one fluid motion and strode toward me. The clank with each step confirmed armor beneath his cloak.
"She... from Heodo sent a letter. Urgent reply requested."
"...This pressing? Let's see it."
I examined the silk he handed over. It gleamed like a bridal gift, finest quality from north of the Han.
"...No, not in Wan."
The writing vividly captured Wan's crisis, as if scrawled on the spot.
"Cao Ang gets drunk and spends the night with Zhang Su's widow. Holy hell. Looked so upstanding, yet he pulled off a doozy."
No ordinary blunder. Dangerous enough that Sun Uk had sought Cao Cao's permission to dispatch it posthaste. Still, she fully understood the plea: Save Cao Ang. Deserved death though it was—Cao Ang had been wronged, per the letter, but he'd indeed bedded the widow.
"Nothing good comes from touching a widow. Die for sleeping with the commander's wife? Fitting payback. But all this fuss over a drunken fling? Tsk tsk."
"......"
The man's gaze chilled.
"...Any ideas? We're desperate."
"Hm... One comes to mind."
There was an answer. Cao Ang had taken responsibility himself—so let him bear it.
"Off to the grave he goes."