Flowers Bloom on the Continent (4): Jo Chung – Who Is She?
Jo Chung. She could be called a she, or a he. He was adopted as the son of the eunuch Jo Deung. Despite being a woman, she was taken in as a son. In the eunuch family, Jo Deung raised Jo Chung as if she were a man, and since Jo Deung wielded considerable influence, Jo Chung easily became a eunuch herself. For a very long time, she hid her true gender. Her appearance was more masculine than feminine, and even when people found it strange, it was brushed off with the excuse that "it's an eunuch family." In public and official settings before Jojo, she was so thorough that she made her call him "Father." She even rose to the high position of Taewi and later retired from office—more precisely, she was dismissed.
Even though her daughter Jojo had become one of the Eight Commanders of the Western Garden, and even though she had sold hundreds of thousands of jeon of land to buy the Taewi position, Jo Chung was still removed from her post. About four years after the Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out, she was forced to reveal the gender she had hidden so well. Unlike her daughter, who had shown her abilities as a woman from the start, Jo Chung faced harsh criticism for hiding her true self and buying her office through corruption. In truth, it was the Ten Attendants faction that exposed Jo Chung's secret in place of Jojo. Jojo had sided with General He Jin, who was at odds with the eunuch forces. Up until then, Jo Chung had been on good terms with the eunuchs and the Ten Attendants, even engaging in the sale of offices herself as part of their corrupt circle.
But she respected her daughter's choice. Beyond returning to her hometown for her sake, she headed to Xuzhou, where attention was low, hoping Jojo would rise steadily as Commander of the Front Army. No one could have foreseen that within a mere year, the Ten Attendants' chaos would erupt, He Jin would die, and Dong Tak would seize power. Nor that Jojo would pursue Dong Tak and nearly fall. Jo Chung lamented. She never imagined her daughter—who sold offices and was a corrupt official—would be a loyal subject willing to lay down her life for the Han imperial house.
"If that's the case, you must not falter here!"
Jo Chung supported Jojo both materially and morally. She poured all her wealth into helping Jojo raise an army again from a small plot in Chenliu. And Jojo achieved results. With the help of numerous talents under her command and brave soldiers, she repelled the Black Mountain Bandits and pacified Yanzhou. It wasn't complete domination yet, but when asked who held hegemony in the region, everyone would say "Jo Maengdeok." Jojo's power had grown immensely.
Jojo sent a letter to Xuzhou. Come now; I'll serve you from Yanzhou.
"I've raised my daughter well!"
Jo Chung rejoiced and liquidated all her assets in Xuzhou. And then. Of all things, she accepted "kindness" from Xuzhou Governor Tao Qian—"kindness" that was also "protection." Jo Chung was puzzled. Weren't Jojo and Tao Qian at war? So why were they fighting? It connected back to the Black Mountain Bandits Jojo had subdued, and to Yuan Shao and Gongson Chan.
Tao Qian had allied with bandits in Xuzhou, then betrayed them and gathered an army. Thus, many of his soldiers were former bandits. Tao Qian allied not with Yuan Shao, but with Gongson Chan. Naturally, he was at odds with Jojo, who was allied with Yuan Shao. There weren't major clashes, but minor skirmishes made them uneasy with each other. Attacks thinking they were bandits turned out to be Tao Qian's men. Or real plundering by Tao Qian's troops. With bandit-originated soldiers scattered everywhere, pillaging was inevitable, heightening tensions as Jojo's army fought what seemed no different from bandits.
In this midst, Tao Qian sending guards to Jo Chung was diplomatic overture for reconciliation. With Gongson Chan badly defeated by Yuan Shao at Jieqiao, Tao Qian was scheming in his own way—befriending Jojo to plan for the future. If needed, abandon Gongson Chan and join Yuan Shao and Jojo, or unite forces for Gongson Chan's counterattack to strike Jojo. It made sense. In chaotic times, anything could happen; yesterday's enemy could be today's ally in the Central Plains.
However. Tao Qian didn't realize it was the gaze of a regional overlord. Nor how poor his judgment was.
Jo Chung died. Jo Chung was murdered. The goods she had liquidated in Xuzhou vanished cart and all. Tao Qian had entrusted her protection to a former bandit. As one sees fine objects, greedy thoughts arise! She couldn't yet tell the still-young Sima Yi how Jo Chung died. It was too cruel to speak of. All she could say was that bandits had ambushed a woman laden with riches. An act so vile it desecrated even her corpse—Xuzhou erupted in outrage. Guo Jia raced back to Chenliu from Xinye the moment she heard, and within days, a bamboo slip arrived.
Tao Qian claimed the killer was a man named Jang Gae, a former bandit, insisting he never expected such behavior, and protested vigorously. But Jang Gae had fled with Jo Chung's wealth. Now it was Jojo's choice. The letter, presumed jointly written by Sun Uk and Xun You, urgently sought wisdom.
Your lord intends to wipe out Xuzhou's people root and stem.
Xuzhou teetered on the brink of massacre.
But.
"Not really."
There was nothing I could do.
* * *
Jojo ordered total annihilation. Blinded by her mother's death, Jojo truly saw nothing before her. If there was any rationality left, it was that she didn't whip or dismiss her advisors opposing the Xuzhou scorched-earth plan.
"I'm going mad. Truly, I'm losing it."
Sun Uk tore at her hair and slammed her face on the desk. Tears welled in her eyes.
"Is our lord really about to commit such cruelty?"
"Yes."
Xun You, with her, nodded calmly.
"We were already at odds with Tao Qian. This just blew it up."
"Sister!"
"If Mother hadn't been murdered, it would've been war as usual. Lady Jojo is judging and acting more seriously and rationally than anyone."
"Rationally massacring Xuzhou?"
Xun You nodded.
"Losing Xuzhou but gaining everything."
"It could turn the whole world against us."
"The world is already against us. If she doesn't rage at her mother's death, who will follow Jojo? This also binds our internals."
"......Still, this is wrong."
Sun Uk denied it to the end. Xun You patted her back.
"I'll go with the army. You stay in Chenliu and guard the house."
"Sister."
"Honestly, I don't want to either. But if we leave it all to Lady Jojo, she'll kill every last livestock. So..."
Xun You slid a Go stone on the map.
"At least while we advance, I'll advise her so those who hear can flee."
"People will still die in droves."
"Border folk with Yanzhou will die wholesale, but inland Xuzhou can escape."
"They might become our greatest foes later."
"That's the choice's consequence. It's the conclusion comparing Xuzhou's talents to others'."
"......."
Her humanity? Her advisor self? Or the loyal vassal blindly following her lord?
"No one escapes responsibility. We don't know how it'll turn out, but if executed, some will disillusion and leave Lady Jojo."
"...True."
Sun Uk herself felt revulsion and refused to join the Xuzhou campaign; others would too.
"Even Teacher Jin, closest to Lady Jojo, is sitting this out."
"...Exactly. If even Teacher Jin can't sway her, I can't persuade Lady Jojo."
Sun Uk grew depressed.
"I thought sincerity would work, but it's still too hard."
"......."
"If only that person were here now..."
"Milady, a letter has arrived."
Speak of the tiger and he appears. Sun Uk and Xun You beamed at the servant.
"Yes, where from?"
"From Jingzhou. But actually..."
The servant handed the bamboo slip to Sun Uk with an anxious face.
"Lady Jojo saw it first and passed it on..."
* * *
Dark room.
"......."
The woman, her bangs even whiter than before, smirked bitterly at the bamboo slip in her hand.
"Well, now."
The slip wasn't the original. Jojo herself had quickly transcribed it after seeing the real one.
"To think someone saw through me like this."
Jojo stroked her chin and smiled wryly.
"...Still, that's too much, you. Even I wouldn't exploit my mother's death."
The writer had Jojo's psyche pegged exactly. Some predictions were excessive, but nearly ninety percent accurate.
Mother's murder rage. Pretext to eliminate Tao Qian. "Aftermath" of swallowing all Xuzhou. Gains from showing madness there. All summed to one line.
"Coldly mad."
If Jo Maengdeok had gone mad, she'd have charged into Xuzhou with her army at once. But she hasn't. She's still hesitating.
"Hesitating? Me?"
With 'vengeance war' as pretext, none dare strike Jojo's rear. Avenging one's mother, then rear-attacking? Only a wretch without family ties could. Jojo seems mad, but judges and moves rationally in all things.
"Right. You know well. But you're wrong on one thing, nameless one."
Jojo raised the slip and grinned at it.
Jojo is mad—in a good way. But that madness is fake.
"I'm no ordinary madwoman."
True madness, that's what I mean.
She was merely rationally mad.
Rustle.
"Coldly mad. I'll grant you that."
Jojo drew a silver dagger.
"But my brand of madness isn't ordinary."
And.
Rustle, rustle.
She lightly sliced her side hair with the dagger and laughed.
"I'll show you. What a true madwoman is."
A fistful of severed locks filled Jojo's hand.
Jojo, before her generals, cut her hair to shoulder length.
Jojo declares the Xuzhou invasion.