Xinye's Cat (2)
"Gah, ugh, uaaaah!!"
Yuan Shu began hurling his priceless porcelain to the ground in a frenzy. Still not satisfied, he grabbed his sword and hacked wildly at the furnishings.
"Cao Cao, Cao Cao! That bitch Cao Cao!!"
Slash! Yuan Shu's blade spared nothing in its path. He swung it as if Cao Cao stood right before him, slashing at empty air.
"Adopted daughter of an eunuch! Lowborn scum like you prattling on about being Grand General or whatever—this is why the realm's gone to shit! Uaaaah!!"
Yuan Shu's roars echoed everywhere. Back in Shouchun, the soundproofing had kept them contained, but Yeonam lacked such luxuries, so his rage spread in all directions. The ministers outside the room bowed their heads one by one, exchanging wary glances filled with mutual distrust. The quick-witted shook their heads, lost in grim thought. Yet even so, a wealthy family lingers for three years after ruin. Though many generals had fled Shouchun with their heads on the line to aid Yuan Shu's escape, stalwarts like Ji Ling remained. For now, at least, the Central Plains had not crumbled.
"Let the Grand General enter!"
"Gr-Grand General Zhang Xun is here..."
Zhang Xun entered and knelt before Yuan Shu. The room's wreckage made his vision swim, while Yuan Shu, panting, jabbed his sword at the shredded map of the realm.
"Me—with three hundred thousand troops—why the hell am I stuck here?"
"Your Majesty, that's—"
"Speak!!"
"Kill me, please!!"
Zhang Xun could only prostrate himself fully.
"This lowly one failed to defend the capital due to his incompetence! Execute this servant!!"
"Grr, ugh, uaaaah!!"
Yuan Shu flew into another rage.
"If killing you solved it, I'd have done it a hundred times over! But does that fix anything?!"
"Y-Your Majesty...?"
Zhang Xun's eyes wavered.
"Why?!"
"N-Nothing..."
He couldn't bring himself to finish the thought: even say you're going to kill me. For a man who'd risen to Grand General, his pride wouldn't allow it.
Why had Yuan Shu's forces lost? Who was to blame? It lay with Yuan Shu himself, who despite his vast power had recklessly proclaimed himself emperor, and with his retainers who failed to dissuade him at the cost of their lives. Simply put, they were outmatched by Cao Cao's army. Outmatched by the alliance of Cao Cao and Liu Bei. Having known only unbroken victories, Yuan Shu had never once imagined defeat at their hands—or anyone's. That made the loss all the more bitter.
Yuan Shu's power had always dwarfed the rest, the mightiest force dominating the Yangtze basin. He hadn't earned his place as one of the twin peaks alongside Yuan Shao for nothing. Yet in an instant, that force had sunk to the level of lesser warlords—or worse. Military might defined a warlord's strength, after all.
"Huff, huff. No helping it. In that case, we head to Wan."
"Pardon...?"
"Wan! It's more defensible than Yeonam, and from there we can strike at Heodo anytime! Just as Emperor Guangwu revived the Han from there, I'll base myself in Wan and rise again!"
The man who'd proclaimed the Han's fall and founded his own Central Plains dynasty now retreated to the city that had birthed Han restoration. What irony, what contradiction. Yet none in Yuan Shu's camp dared challenge him. Even they saw Yeonam as untenable, hemmed in by mountains that aided defense but left wide passes for cavalry to charge through. Closer to Heodo than Shouchun was, too—Cao Cao could strike anytime.
"Prepare to move! We head to our former lands—Wan!"
"Your Majesty, impossible!"
"What?!"
"Wan is already held by Cao Cao's forces—no, by that Zhang Su who allied with her!"
"What?! While I was away, he dares seize Wan on his own?!"
Yuan Shu swung his sword at the air again, fuming.
"Kill that Zhang Su! We'll take Wan back!"
"It's dangerous, my lord! We should gather strength here in Yeonam, retake Shouchun, or—"
Slash. His head came off.
Panting, Yuan Shu nudged the fallen retainer with his downward-pointed blade.
"Don't... huff... call me 'my lord' anymore...!"
Madness gleamed in Yuan Shu's eyes.
"I am the emperor of this Central Plains! Who dares call the emperor 'my lord'?! Cough, cough."
Yuan Shu coughed and extended a hand to his attendants.
"Honey water—give me honey water! Hurry!"
"Y-Yes!!"
The attendants rushed to brew and offer a cup of honey water. Yuan Shu gulped it down, then smashed the cup on the floor and bellowed.
"Assemble the troops! To Wan—we'll crush Zhang Su—"
"Your Majesty! Urgent dispatch!! Liu Biao's army marches—on us...!"
"Ugh, ugh, uaaaah!!"
Yuan Shu stomped the already shattered cup into shards.
"How dare he reduce a scion of the great Yuan clan to this misery?! Aaaargh!!"
No one dared speak.
* * *
"Hey, Gan Ning!!"
Huang Zu finally yelled at Gan Ning. The entire Jiangxia force froze at his outburst.
"Hey?"
And small wonder—Gan Ning gripped his twin halberds, blood dripping from both hands. Blood speckled his face, and before him knelt a trembling man begging in terror.
"Please, spare my life! Please!"
"Begging me won't help."
Gan Ning leveled a halberd blade at the man's throat and turned.
"Prefect, why?"
"Stop killing!"
Huang Zu approached with a stern face. He knew he couldn't match Gan Ning's strength, but he had to intervene.
"Why spill blood we don't need to see?!"
"'Cause it's blood that needs spilling. These bastards—ain't they the worst?"
Gan Ning pointed to the bloated corpse floating behind the man.
"If we hadn't nabbed 'em early, they'd be looting the countryside. Pirates, they call themselves. Pirates. We gonna let that slide? Huh? Aren't we the official army?"
Slash! Gan Ning lopped off the man's head without a second thought. Hot blood splashed Huang Zu's face. He clenched his fists, swallowing his boiling rage.
"I said don't kill him."
"Oh, did I? Sorry, Prefect. Got heated in the fight."
Gan Ning waved it off casually. A quick swing downward flung every drop of blood from his halberds clean.
"C'mon, didn't they say these fuckers kidnapped and killed the Zhang girl from the village below? You ain't sayin' we shouldn't kill 'em now, right? Huh?"
"Kill 'em by all means! But not now!!"
"...Huh?"
Gan Ning tilted his head.
"Not now means we can wipe 'em all out later?"
"Haven't you heard what happened in Shouchun?! Yuan Shu's routed—his generals tried blocking Cao Cao and got wiped out! They're fleeing toward Jingzhou!"
"Yeah? Perfect. Chopping thief heads is my job—catching the realm's big thieves means fat bounties, right?"
"No, you...!"
Huang Zu pounded his chest in frustration.
"Listen—these are pirates from the Yangtze's Eighteen Ports."
"What? Sounds like some legendary seventy-two mountain bandit alliance. Thieves forming a thieves' union now?"
"The Yellow Turbans ran wild just thirteen years ago—why couldn't river pirates band together and build power?"
"Damn. Realm really is in its end times."
"Gan Ning!!"
At Huang Zu's roar, Gan Ning sheathed his halberds.
"Got it, got it. Chill, Prefect—getting that mad's bad for your health. Look at the broad Yangtze and relax..."
"It's a goddamn sea of blood."
Before Jiangxia, the Yangtze ran red. Corpses of slain pirates bobbed downstream in such numbers it seemed to embody "mountains of corpses and seas of blood."
"Even if pirates swarm 'cause the realm's in chaos, is slaughtering them willy-nilly the answer? What if they go berserk and hit Jiangxia en masse?"
"True. Should we raise a navy?"
The Yangtze was vast—like an ocean unto itself. Pirate depredations proved this land sharply distinct from the mainland.
"When would we even train a navy?"
"Fair... Hey, Prefect—isn't that a courier?"
Gan Ning pointed to a rider galloping from afar. Huang Zu spotted the banner on his back and jolted.
"The Governor's courier...?!"
"What? Governor? Shit."
Gan Ning hastily shook off blood, cursing.
"Couldn't he have yelled louder?! Standing here blood-soaked before the Governor's man...!"
"You little...!"
The rebel Yuan Shu flees toward Jingzhou borders. As a loyal servant of Han, I, Liu Biao, cannot stand idle. Thus, I appoint Jiangxia Prefect Huang Zu as supreme commander to strike the rebel. Lead your forces with all haste to Sinyahyeon.
"Your... command...?"
Huang Zu tilted his head.
"Prefect, another letter here."
The courier handed over a bamboo slip. Huang Zu recognized the familiar script and slapped his knee.
"Aha! So that's it. Finally making his move...!"
"What? What what what?!"
Gan Ning peeked over, eyes gleaming.
"'Heading out to hunt the realm's big thief—care to join?' Damn, who's this punk?"
"My lifesaver."
Huang Zu clutched the slip and silk tightly.
"Gan Ning, you're a land fighter—sure you're up for it?"
"Heh, you think the Gan Family Band plays rivers and dirt separate?"
Gan Ning smacked his lips, stroking his halberd grips.
"Thought Liu Jingsheng was some bookish fool who knew zilch 'bout troops, but he trots out rebels for us? Hah, fun guy."
"Bandit. Maybe not the Governor, but..."
Huang Zu fiddled with the slip, then shook his head.
"Nothing. Assemble the army—up to Sinyahyeon we go."
"You got it! But Prefect—no, Supreme Commander—why not strike from here? Why all the way to Sinyahyeon?"
"'Cause that's where this is."
Huang Zu tapped his temple with his index finger.
"You know that battle where we killed Zhang Ji? The one where we drowned the Xiliang cavalry in the frozen river and wiped 'em out."
"Yeah. Those vicious bastards didn't even scream—straight to water ghosts. Wait, you don't mean...!"
"Exactly."
Huang Zu shook the slip.
"Let's go meet him. The mastermind behind this board."
Liu Biao orders Huang Zu to attack Yuan Shu.
Huang Zu leads 7,000 troops toward Sinyahyeon.