Second Disciple (1)
Cao Cao. Colonel of the Front Army. Current Inspector of Yeonju. A power broker who could now appoint governors to major cities like Jinryu and Puyang to suit her tastes. She had long passed the point where anyone could casually call her a "woman." Some mocked her with lines like, "Does she think she's Han Xin or something?" But she might just surpass even Han Xin in greatness.
Would she become a triumphant Han Xin? Or follow in his footsteps to ruin?
I couldn't easily judge this woman. She seemed loyal to the imperial house, yet some of her actions mirrored the warlords she condemned as traitors.
But the "traitors" here weren't from Dong Zhuo's perspective. Though dead, Dong Zhuo had been a clear rebel against the Han imperial house, and those who rose against him were true men of loyalty and righteousness. Yet after Dong Zhuo forced the capital to Chang'an...
The warlords across the land began acting like it was the Spring and Autumn Warring States era reborn.
Inspectors, governors, and administrators in their provinces ruled their cities like kings. They wielded kingly authority and prestige, with no central government left in Luoyang to rein them in—the court had fled to Chang'an. In places beyond the capital's reach, governing one's domain like a sovereign state was tantamount to treason.
If every local warlord was branded a traitor, how many would there be?
Gongsun Zan of Beiping. Yuan Shao of Jizhou. Cao Cao of Jinryu. Tao Qian of Xuzhou. Yuan Shu of Shouchun. Liu Biao of Jingzhou. Liu Yan of Yizhou.
There were others, but they lacked fame or notoriety, so they weren't major players. Someone unknown to me might rise suddenly elsewhere, but for now, these were the warlords: Gongsun Zan, Yuan Shao, Cao Cao, Tao Qian, Yuan Shu, Liu Biao, Liu Yan.
Liu Yan, who had retreated into Yizhou and the Ba-Shu region, showed zero interest in central plains affairs. Rumors said he ruled Yizhou like a king.
The rest formed opposing blocs, with the Yuan brothers at the core.
Yuan Shao—Cao Cao—Liu Biao. Gongsun Zan—Tao Qian—Yuan Shu. Though from the same clan, the capable bastard son versus the lagging legitimate heir pitted them fiercely against each other. Yuan Shao pulled Cao Cao in to counter Gongsun Zan, while Yuan Shu attacked neighboring Liu Biao, only for Liu Biao to ally with Yuan Shao. Tao Qian allied with Gongsun Zan, sending bandits to harass Cao Cao, and now Cao Cao was launching a full assault on Tao Qian. The factions clung tightly together. On a grand scale, it looked like warlords solidifying their power; on a petty one, like Yuan family infighting. But Cao Cao wasn't the type to linger as Yuan Shao's subordinate.
'Cao Cao is an ambitious one.'
Now I could see it a little. Through letters with Sun Uk, I'd glimpsed her true nature.
Who was it that said it? A capable minister in peaceful times, a hero of chaos in turbulent ones. "Hero of chaos" wasn't a compliment. Yet she reportedly took pride in the label. So I thought: 'A woman aiming for the throne.'
One who sought to rule as king under the emperor.
Like Dong Zhuo, she'd manipulate the now-nominal Han court to her will, rallying people under the pretext of reviving the imperial house.
Until she revealed her colors, she'd play the foolhardy "loyal servant of the Han" to perfection. A man of loyalty and righteousness. Sheltered under Yuan Shao until her forces could rival his and swallow the central plains. She'd hide herself, over and over.
That's why I saw her madness as meticulously planned, every move calculated.
A show of might to flaunt her power before the world. Stability in the rear via the banner of avenging her father.
If she forced Tao Qian's surrender this way, her feigned madness would be a resounding success.
But...
Was it Sun Uk? Or Xun You?
Her words came back to me.
"Master Kim, you might change your mind after meeting Cao Mengde in person."
I'd judged Cao Cao by rumors. Pieced her together from Sun Uk and Xun You's accounts.
"Someday, I really should meet her myself."
Two months had passed since Cao Cao marched on Xuzhou.
The northern Jingzhou region, home to our Suyeon Academy, teemed with refugees from Xuzhou. Tens of thousands of them.
"Cao Cao's army kills everyone they see."
"No distinction between soldiers and civilians. If it moves, they cut the head off."
"So many corpses piled in the rivers, they say the waters are blocked."
Three men make a tiger! Rumors alone might fool you into believing a tiger roams, but when tens of thousands witness it?
"Cao Cao's a monster."
"Tens of thousands dead because of Cao Cao."
"Tao Qian's thirty thousand troops annihilated, prisoners all executed."
Cao Cao had slaughtered everything in Xuzhou. Crushed it utterly so it could never resist her again.
"Even when they offered food for mercy, she took the food and killed them."
"Things to plunder? Burned, smashed, destroyed instead."
"They rested in empty homes, then torched them heading west."
"Making sure Xuzhou's people can't return and live there."
Fields and paddies burned. People slain, even children. Livestock slaughtered for food on-site or killed outright.
Everything inedible there and then was destroyed. Not plunder—this was massacre.
True "scorched earth." If Qin Shi Huang burned books and buried scholars alive, Cao Cao burned lives, razed, and obliterated Xuzhou.
"She's a real mad bitch."
As if showing me her true face, she killed and killed.
"I really don't get her motive." No gain whatsoever. Even from her perspective, the only upside was "Cao Cao's filial piety runs deep!" Xuzhou crumbled swiftly. 'Swiftly? Not quite.' Latest reports: Cao Cao's army had crushed Tao Qian's, seizing four cities. Destruction slowed their advance.
"Xun You's campaigning with them, reining in the troops."
Thanks to Xun You's direct oversight, Xuzhou eroded slowly, like worms gnawing flesh.
"You can't take the world without the people's hearts."
The man who knew that, drove out Dong Zhuo, then got burned—why this blunder now?
"Does she think she can seize the world without Xuzhou's hearts?"
What was this woman's ace? If I'd been in Xuzhou, a local with land there, I couldn't judge her so coldly.
"Cao Cao, you bastard!"
"Right on!"
I'd curse her with the refugees, damning her line to extinction.
But I couldn't curse Cao Cao. Objectively, I'd suffered no loss from her. Quite the opposite—I profited from Xuzhou's plight. Her filial display let me hold land prices near Lady Bian's—er, Jo Sung's—hometown.
"With such deep filial piety, she won't ignore her mother's homeland... right?"
You couldn't smile before those who'd lost homes. Or kin slaughtered.
But humans are treacherous.
"...Tripled, you say?"
As Cao Cao invaded Xuzhou, expanding bit by bit, Yeonju folk streamed to Heohyeon, snapping up land.
Why rise in value, Jo Sung dead, not even Cao Cao's birthplace, but her mother's?
"It's that meaningful a place."
"Who knows? Might move the base here later for 'mother's hometown' reasons."
"Develop it, and this land's value will skyrocket!"
I'd heard from Guo Jia about its worth. Couldn't buy more, but per her advice, focused on holding my assets. Just because of Jo Sung? No.
"Clasping the Son of Heaven."
When Cao Cao one day used the emperor to claim kingship, she'd decree a new capital. Per Guo Jia's secret intel, preparations in Heohyeon were underway for the future.
Vast facilities for millions, including my land. As if turning it into her new Luoyang or Chang'an.
"The world sure is baffling."
Xuzhou's massacre tripled my land value.
"Is this how chaotic times work?"
Of course. But that didn't mean...
"This land's stained with Xuzhou blood! Bah, Cao Cao, you filthy wench! Ptoo!"
...I'd sell. Not me.
"Can't laugh." Land built on blood. With holdings in Heohyeon, my task was clear. "Give land to Xuzhou refugees, become their landlord."
Let the landless settle my Jingzhou plots, harvest their grain.
"Hypocrisy's still good."
Currently, at Suyeon Academy, Xuzhou notables who'd liquidated assets sought Sima Hui's counsel on settlements. Where in Jingzhou? War refugees had long fled south; her fame drew clan heads for wisdom.
There—a family approached. I bowed to the man in the white turban.
"Welcome. I'm Kim Taeyang of Suyeon Academy."
"...Pleased to meet you."
His face gaunt, he replied. "I'm Zhuge Hyun."
Behind him, small siblings. The boy aside, the girl...
'Snow-white hair?'
"Shocked by Xuzhou, her hair turned white. Forgive us."
"Ah, no. My apologies."
"No need. It's understandable. This child..."
Zhuge Hyun patted the despondent girl. "Is named Liang."