Lü Bu Subjugation Battle (10)
It had been four days since Cao Cao's army encircled Lü Bu's forces. Every possible exit from Xiabi was sealed tight. Cao Cao's troops had piled up simple earthen walls at a distance where arrows from the city walls wouldn't reach, ready to slaughter any who dared sally forth. Even for the mighty Lü Bu, breaking through tens of thousands of such thick encirclement seemed impossible.
They worried about a sudden cavalry raid. Or luring them into complacency before unleashing a full counterattack. Or Lü Bu himself charging out on Red Hare with a thousand riders, bolting straight for Heodo to kidnap the Emperor and hold him hostage. But those fears proved groundless—Lü Bu's army remained utterly silent.
I racked my brains with Zhuge Liang and Xun You, devising strategies apart from the main camp, but Lü Bu's side showed no movement at all. In the end, Zhuge Liang and I packed our things. There was no point sticking around any longer.
"Cao Cao's won."
Cao Cao's victory was sealed. The moment encirclement closed, Lü Bu became a rat in a trap, with no way out. If he'd shaken our lines before the ring tightened, maybe—but he hadn't, so the outcome was plain as day. Lü Bu would die soon.
"That's unexpected."
"What's so unexpected?"
"I figured they'd at least send out five hundred cavalry."
Zhuge Liang had overestimated Lü Bu. So had I.
"There should be some movement."
"Maybe they're hibernating for winter."
"If the house collapses while they're holed up, they'll all die together."
All our wild fantasies about Lü Bu stemmed from how terrifying he was. Yet not even his subordinates showed a face. There must be some unavoidable internal issue, but whatever it was, they stayed barricaded behind locked gates, not twitching a muscle. At best, a hail of arrows if you approached—but even that could be dodged with steel shields covering the body or by galloping out of range.
"Do they think they can just outlast us? Once rations run dry, there's nothing left to eat."
Did Lü Bu really believe a siege was a sure win?
"Maybe it's a foolish pride standoff, or perhaps some circumstance we don't know about."
"I hope it's the latter. If it's the former, everything I thought about Lü Bu feels utterly trivial."
Hold out and win—that mindset, refusing even a raid to extract troops? Lü Bu might as well starve to death in the siege.
Lü Bu had to die. Only then, before Cao Cao's army showed its final mercy, could Xiabi's people suffer a little less. If he surrendered, the citizens would be safe. But if he didn't, they'd endure agony until he died or yielded.
"In a normal siege like this, rations get rationed right away. Soldiers eat their fill, so civilians starve alongside them—it's inevitable."
"That's not all. Lü Bu might plunder the city's folk to bolster his supplies."
"They could already be stripped bare. Or hand out fixed rice quotas to every resident."
"A vicious ploy, treating civilians like combatants. Share the pain, then blame Cao Cao's army for the misery."
"Either way, Xiabi's people suffer."
Lü Bu's the cause of Xiabi's torment. I couldn't demand he meekly bare his neck, knowing if he fled, others would suffer instead—but people would keep suffering ahead.
"Is it better for the whole realm to hurt, or just Xiabi's folk?"
"What do you think, my lord?"
For a split second, chills ran down my spine at her words.
"...Liang."
"Yes?"
Zhuge Liang turned to me without batting an eye.
"Did you call me, my lord?"
"We're not married yet."
"It's fine. I am wed to you, my lord."
Zhuge Liang was relentless. No reasoning with her—she stuck to the title no matter how I denied it.
"I've told you a dozen times, it's not me."
"And I've told you a dozen times, it is."
No getting through. From the moment Cao Cao declared she'd marry me off to Jia Xu or me, Zhuge Liang had unilaterally declared us wed.
"Why push this marriage on your own?"
"Do you think, Master, that a formal wedding is required for man and wife to pledge a hundred years? Does that mean the poor who can't afford one should never marry?"
"No, that's not what I—"
"Then we're done. We can bond as husband and wife without the ceremony. So we are husband and wife."
Utterly arbitrary. No wedding yet, my age not right by heavenly mandate, no clan approval—and suddenly, on the battlefield, Zhuge Liang was my wife.
"Come on, my lord. Try it. What do you call me when I'm yours?"
"Liang?"
"Not quite."
"......"
Without my say-so, Zhuge Liang claimed wifehood. Even the principal wife among my many women.
"Liang. Why you as my wife?"
"A wife keeps others from touching you, right? Even if they're desperate enough to chase the moon toward new moon, they won't touch a married man."
"You...!"
She spouted words that'd shock anyone. Was this her razor-sharp insight?
"Just talk of betrothal is enough."
"Not mere betrothal or talks—they need to know you're firmly wed, or desperate ones will still cling, proposing marriage. Did Cao Cao care about Sima Yi's betrothal?"
Logical. No countering it.
"Imagine juicy meat right in front of you, my lord. They'll wash it and eat even if it's slobbered on or handled. But if it's already gulped down another's gullet?"
"True. If they crave it bad enough, they'll chew the scraps."
"Exactly. But meat gone down another's belly? Off-limits."
"I haven't gone whole hog into you yet."
"At least we can act like it."
Zhuge Liang patted her backside.
"Tell people I'm your wife from now on. No one'll propose marriage or push better matches on a wedded man."
"Why go that far?"
"To protect your betrothals?"
She pointed to Cao Cao walking ahead with her advisors. Besides the two women I knew well, several staff officers trailed her.
"Before Cao Cao messes with the Sima clan, me as your wife safeguards Sima Yi's match."
"...Can that work?"
"Of course. If you treat me like your wife openly."
"So, fake marriage act."
Zhuge Liang's proposal was simple. Mere betrothal talks don't bind man and wife.
"No need to think of it as acting. Just accept it as is. Remember: Zhuge Liang is the principal wife."
Publicly, declare us wed from one household under heaven. Socially, invite crowds for a wedding feast to broadcast it. Sexually...
"Ahem."
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
"You're staring hard."
"Can't help it."
I scanned Zhuge Liang up and down. She didn't flinch under my blatant gaze.
"Still dressed, but it feels hot."
She shrugged off her cloak instead. Snapping to, I reacted.
"Weather's cold."
"......"
I draped her cloak back on.
Heaven says: Zhuge Liang's still a child—protect her. No clue who, but now's not the time.
"Winter's closing in."
"Sure is."
Backing up, she pressed against me. "Warm me up then, my lord."
"You know what you're saying?"
"What?"
"Never mind. Sigh." No choice—I gripped her shoulders from behind, pointing to the front lines. "Let's take one last look before we go."
Zhuge Liang and I turned to where Cao Cao and her troops moved. On the hill obscured by the earthen rampart, by the broad river toward Xiabi, her army gathered with grave faces, discussing something.
"...They're going for it after all."
The plan Zhuge Liang conceived upon seeing the terrain but hesitated to suggest. One I'd skip out of pity for Xiabi's folk. Xun You conceived it, Guo Jia fleshed it out, Cao Cao chose it.
Our judgment: if Lü Bu didn't move first, his army dies holed up. A plan laser-focused on seizing the city, ignoring all else.
Flood attack.
In this freezing winter. Cold enough for thin ice on the river. Cao Cao's troops were damming it, pooling water.
"The more it builds, the bigger the burst."
"Like you, my lord?"
"Not 'my lord'."
"Hm... Fine, Master. For now."
Zhuge Liang slipped away, straightening her clothes. Clomp, clomp. Did she sense the approaching man? I cupped my fists toward him.
"Greetings, Lord Liu."
"It's been a while, Lord Geum."
Liu Bei. He scanned around swiftly, then fixed on me, extending a hand.
"No time—come with me, Lord Geum."
"Out of the question."
Not my words. Zhuge Liang's, to Liu Bei.
"My master has no intent to serve the court. Nor do I."
"...And you?"
"If you need talent, look to those around you first. Don't give my innocent master false hopes."
Zhuge Liang's voice cut cold, blade-sharp at Liu Bei.
"My master returns home with me. Not to your side, Lord Liu."