Whoever Touches Little Xinye (2)
While Cao Cao and Yuan Shao were busy eliminating each other's nemeses and consolidating their power up north in Hebei, Jingzhou remained both quiet and chaotic. What did that mean?
"Yuan Shu's invading again? Doesn't he ever get tired of it?"
Liu Biao let out a deep sigh at the news from Xinye.
Yuan Shu. The man who had proclaimed himself emperor of Zhong but whose title was now little more than a hollow name. He kept revealing his wild ambitions to seize Jingzhou, time and again.
"As if anyone wouldn't notice him disguising his soldiers as bandits."
Unable to plunder officially, he had dressed some of his men as bandits to raid northern Jingzhou—Xinye.
"He's always had a sky-high ego, so it must sting that he can't take Xinye."
Liu Biao gazed toward the road from Yeonam to Xinye and sighed heavily.
"How many corpses must be piling up already."
To salve his pride, Yuan Shu had sent his men—bandits, in name. And they had all been annihilated by Mun Bing, the defender of Xinye.
Or rather, by the power of a few "strategists" under Mun Bing.
To the outside world, people knew Mun Bing as the one leading the army, but Liu Biao, who heard reports straight from him, knew the truth.
"Seo Seo, Pang Tong, and Zhuge Liang... all disciples of Kim Taeyang."
Kim Taeyang. A man connected to him by marriage, yet somehow prickly. He possessed connections beyond compare to Liu Biao's own, yet was content as a rural scholar.
And yet, from the shadows, he manipulated everything, shaking the world to his whims—a dangerous man.
...Thanks to him, Liu Biao had survived Sun Jian, but as days passed, he increasingly felt Kim Taeyang's influence growing.
"...Is Xinye truly my land?"
Xinye. The village that had once been a shield protecting Yangyang from Cao Cao had grown into something one could now call a proper "city."
He had merely entrusted its administrative development to a handful of people, and Xinye had begun developing at an astonishing pace.
When the lands he ruled grew quickly, revenues rose accordingly—but each time they jumped by multiples, Liu Biao couldn't help feeling uneasy.
What if Xinye declared independence? What if it allied with another warlord?
Of course, with the academy filled with sons of Yangyang's elite, he kept soldiers stationed nearby for any threat. But who could predict human nature?
"Mun Bing suddenly betraying me and Kim Taeyang raising a revolt in Xinye? It's not the era of warring warlords after Dong Zhuo's death."
The age when warlords devoured each other everywhere had ended. Now, the survivors were bulking up, fighting on scales of states and regions—like the wars of the Spring and Autumn Warring States period.
"Yes, that time has passed. Indeed it has."
Mun Bing was a general loyal to him. Liu Biao repeated it to himself, calming his nerves.
But the unease lingered. So he turned his eyes to a new front.
"Liu Fan!"
"Yes, Governor."
Liu Biao called his nephew, Liu Fan. With a sky-blue turban on his head, his handsome face and sturdy build made him fit for a general.
"I'll give you five thousand men. Garrison them in Zhangsa, one of the four southern counties, and make it clear to the area that it belongs to us."
"Understood. But Governor, am I going alone?"
Liu Fan scratched his beard with a sour face. Still young, he had no experience commanding five thousand.
"No. I'll attach someone reliable."
Clap. Liu Biao clapped his hands. A man waiting outside entered.
"This is...?"
"Allow me to introduce him. Huang Shengyan. A general I trust in all Jingzhou."
"Huang Zhong."
The man was an elder with a thick white beard. Liu Fan glanced between Liu Biao and Huang Zhong, then bowed hastily to the latter.
"Pleased to work with you, General Huang."
"The pleasure's mine. Governor, I just need to escort General Liu Fan?"
"Escort... rather..."
Escort. An innocuous word, yet it grated. Was it because he was thinking of Kim Taeyang?
"...Assist him well. Sun Bo's forces are stirring suspiciously, so patrol the four southern counties and check security."
"To solidify control over the four southern counties, I see. Understood, Governor. I'll make it clear to all that they are your lands, alongside General Liu Fan."
"Exactly. Then—"
"Governor!!"
A commotion erupted outside. The advisor who burst in, Kuai Liang, handed over urgent news with a frantic face.
"Yuan Shu's army has appeared in northern Jingzhou. It seems he's sent forces targeting Xinye again. Nearly ten thousand strong!"
"What? This is serious. Xinye's defenses might not hold."
"...Is that so."
Liu Biao was calm. Why? Because he had already heard of the situation before Kuai Liang's report.
Soon, Yuan Shu will send more troops. Seven thousand at least, up to... ten thousand perhaps. No need to worry. We can handle that much. I'm quite good at bandit extermination, after all.
It had been a "prediction," but now fact, it was foresight.
"My lord, send me. I'll put arrows between those bandits' eyes."
"...No need."
"My lord!"
"General Mun Bing in Xinye has the ability to handle that many. Where you need to go now is southwest—to the southern counties."
"...Understood. Your command."
Huang Zhong and Liu Fan clasped fists and left. Liu Biao frowned at the fidgeting Kuai Liang.
"What now?"
"I-is it really okay? No reinforcements?"
"If they need them, they'll ask."
"B-but by then it might be too late!"
"Ha. They handle it fine without, so why send any?"
Liu Biao sipped his tea nonchalantly.
"...This honey's good."
Steam rose from the cup, thick with honey.
"...Come to think of it, they say Yuan Shu can't live without honey."
Liu Biao stared silently at his tea for a long moment.
"......Self-inflicted."
Sip. He decided to pass the time leisurely with his honeyed tea.
* * *
Yuan Shu had sent troops again.
'Guess I have to take responsibility.'
I was the one who provoked him into attacking Xinye.
I had angered him, and now he was sending forces to steal the honey stores overflowing in Han territory.
Stealing honey jars? With an army?
'It's a luxury and addiction—how could he not?'
Honey was expensive. Beekeepers harvested hives at risk of stings to collect it.
One small jar was worth five seom of rice—a massive luxury the common folk couldn't touch.
And such sweets were hard to quit. A few days, maybe—but after a week or ten, withdrawal would drive him mad.
I'd bought up all the honey around here, so he'd run out and couldn't sweeten his water anymore.
Why torment Yuan Shu, a mere scholar like me? Two reasons.
One: Heodo's land prices. With him camped right next door, prices had stagnated.
Luckily, as the capital, Heodo gave stability and room to rise—but Zhong's presence kept uncertainty.
Two: 'Yuan Shu must fall for the eastern path to open.'
Xinye was the shortest route from the Central Plains to Jingzhou. Other paths like Gangneung existed, but Xinye's edge was proximity to Yangyang.
'It must serve as a trade hub.'
With Zhong gone, roads would stabilize and pave, linking Heodo and Yangyang for relay trade.
Better transport bred city growth—the common thread of thriving cities everywhere.
Thus, I developed Xinye.
One more reason: for my wife Sima Yi, now Cao Cao's junior advisor.
'Zhong keeps stretching her trips.'
There was a safe route down, but Yuan Shu's army forced detours.
'She needs rest at home, but arrives exhausted and sleeps the day away.'
Two days became four or five—more grueling rides for her.
'Daring to waste my wife's two days every time? Unforgivable.'
Thus, I couldn't forgive rebels threatening my land.
Nor those inconveniencing my family.
As a Han subject—drawing salary by hook or crook—I couldn't tolerate Yuan Shu.
So, with Yangyang and Liu Biao's support, I would...
"General, any word from Yangyang?"
"None."
"Figures. Wasn't expecting any."
"...He's still our lord."
Mun Bing scanned the training soldiers with a complicated expression.
Xinye's garrison: about seven thousand. Excluding six thousand raw recruits unfit for battle, usable forces numbered one thousand.
Some of these would die. Minimizing that was the advisors' role.
Ideally, Liu Biao would send reinforcements to save lives—but no dice.
"If manpower falls short, borrow the power of the gods."
I tapped the thigh of Zhuge Liang, mounted above me, with my hand.
"Let's go, Liang."
"Yes, husband."
Zhuge Liang—sortie.