The Emperor's Desperate Flight
"Hah, hah."
The young man ran. Without even a horse, on straw sandals that looked ready to fall apart at any moment.
"Uahaha! Chase him! But don't kill him!"
Someone's shout echoed thunderously across the wasteland. The young man and the civil officials flanking him turned pale.
"Jang Je...!!"
"Chase him! First to catch him gets the prize!"
"Guo Si too!"
The moment Dong Tak's tyranny ended, these two had started their own reign of terror. They'd left Chang'an empty-handed and come charging in person on horseback. "Stop! We've torn Chang'an apart looking for you!"
"Where's that bitch Jia Xu?! She lied to us, saying you went to Bashu! I'll kill her!!"
It had been a mere two months since the Emperor escaped Chang'an.
"Two months to cover a distance a horse could do in five days! Are you crawling?!"
"Even a baby learning to walk would be faster! Damn it!"
Li Jue and Guo Si hadn't realized the lamp was darkest under it, nor that the Emperor would move so agonizingly slowly eastward.
"No more Jang Je to protect you now!"
"Jia Xu's gone too! Using the Emperor as bait and slipping away clean—that woman's ruthless! Ruthless!"
Li Jue and Guo Si howled as they pursued the Emperor. "Stop right there! How long do you think you can keep running?!"
"Halt! Surrender now, and we'll let you live quietly!"
If this had been open ground where they could ride freely, the Emperor would have been caught long ago.
But the terrain was barren wasteland, muddy quagmire. Winter snow had piled deep, now melting slowly, and rain just yesterday had turned the "mountain path" treacherous. The Emperor ran along it.
He'd fled the Luoyang palace, charging blindly southeast. East meant cavalry could catch up fast; north had the Yellow River with no pre-arranged boats. It wasn't strategy—just survival.
He didn't know who was south. He didn't care.
"Hah, hah, hah."
All he knew: capture meant the Chang'an nightmare resumed. The grueling march from Chang'an to Luoyang, surviving like a sluggish worm, couldn't end like this. He'd go mad from the injustice.
Like cold rice in a lunchbox, still holding faint warmth. He just ran toward any hint of comfort, running and running.
But.
"Ah...!!"
The Emperor despaired. He'd crossed mountains at risk of death, only to find vast plains.
No villages in sight. Far off, walls like a pass loomed starkly.
"Ha, haha...."
One loyal civil official slumped in despair.
"It's over now...."
The others' legs gave out one by one. The rice balls from the lunchbox four days ago were their last food. No escape left.
Waaaaah— — —!!
Cheers from behind made the Emperor close his eyes. But he trudged forward, ragged straw sandals staining the snow red beneath.
"It's done! No more—!"
The moment Li Jue and Guo Si's vanguard cleared the mountains.
Thud thud thud thud. Hoofbeats echoed from afar. As the Emperor and officials' faces darkened further, atop the lead black horse, an archer nocked an arrow—
"A woman?"
Twang! The woman loosed. The arrow flew over the Emperor, striking dead a soldier charging from behind.
Waaaaah!!
Cavalry in blue-lacquered armor split left and right, shielding the Emperor's group as they charged. The lightly armored downhill soldiers panicked and retreated against the heavily equipped riders.
"Ah, aah...!"
The cavalry's moves clearly protected the Emperor. He didn't know who they were, but gratitude flooded him for the woman before him.
"Your Majesty, forgive this disloyal servant."
The woman dismounted and removed her boots. Fur-lined leather ones, offered forward as she knelt on one knee, pushing them toward him.
"Please, wear them."
"You are...."
"Your servant."
She raised her head, cupping fists in salute.
"Cao Mengde, formerly Front Army Colonel."
The Last Legitimate Appointment of the Han Court
Waaaaah!! With cheers, Cao Cao's army swung swords at Chang'an's bandits.
"You've changed so much."
Cao Cao shook her head, surveying Luoyang. From the spots she'd guarded as one of the Eight Captains of the Western Garden, everywhere was the same—devoid of human traces.
Only corpses of the dead remained.
Luoyang lacked even the aura of death. Years of neglect left bodies picked clean by wild dogs, bugs, and crows—mere bones scattered about.
"Mun-yak."
"Yes, my lord."
"Have you seen Luoyang?"
"...Regrettably, not as long as you, my lord."
"Then, how does Luoyang then compare to now?"
Cao Cao spread her arms, shaking her head.
"This is dead land. Ruins beyond recovery. Personally, I'd say it needs decades—no, over a century—of vision to rebuild."
"Are you considering... relocating the capital, my lord?"
"Indeed."
Relocating the capital. No light words.
"Is Luoyang the capital? Chang'an? No. Where the Son of Heaven is—that's the capital." Cao Cao pointed to the crumbling palace.
"Look at that. Palace or ruins of a fallen state? Anyone can see the latter. Eating rice and meat stew there? Absurd."
Cao Cao had crushed Li Jue and Guo Si's armies. She'd rescued the Emperor and some officials, but they insisted on staying in Luoyang awhile.
Even demanding the rice and meat stew she'd brought as "gifts" be served in the capital.
"I don't get it. Why?"
"...Isn't it a rite?"
"Rite?"
"Funeral rice for those who starved fleeing Chang'an."
"I see."
Cao Cao smirked, clasping hands neatly.
"We'll hold a grand memorial later."
"Do you believe in superstitions, my lord?"
"Not superstitions—their effects."
Sun Uk smiled wryly at Cao Cao's words, glancing east briefly.
"To appease those grudge spirits, it'll need to be grand."
"Haha, are you rebuking me?"
"Now that you've enthroned the Son of Heaven, shouldn't you show some restraint?"
"......Keep up appearances? Understood. Hearing it from you makes it sink in."
Cao Cao patted Sun Uk's shoulder, laughing.
"Straight-talk me anytime I stray. I'll always listen gladly."
"You've never strayed, my lord."
"Xuzhou?"
"That wasn't straying—you bent the path entirely."
"Ugh...."
Cao Cao scratched her cheek.
"Can't win with you. Speaking of, your betrothed—"
"Mention that, and I'm leaving."
"Tch. Are you really my retainer?"
"A true lord doesn't dredge up a vassal's weakness whenever cornered."
"......No words."
Cao Cao smirked teasingly.
"Just get married. I won't let you off easy."
"I'll stay single out of fear of you."
"Ahaha! Joking. You get so serious at marriage talk."
Cao Cao slapped her thigh, laughing.
"...Still, a new house for newlyweds, right?"
"Absolutely new."
"Yes. Can't have a wife run off with another man from a crumbling dump like this." Cao Cao looked southeast.
"...Once the new house in Heohyeon is ready, we'll escort His Majesty there. Make it so."
"As you command."
Cao Cao, attending the Son of Heaven.
Haha, Teacher Geum! Tell me if you need anything—I'll handle it all! I got the VIP treatment from the Sima clan. Sima Bang checked my hair and identity like I was family. Honestly, spooky. He knew nothing about me when I left Suyeon Academy, yet now? His questions were confirmations, not inquiries.
"Yi-ya. Won't you tell me now?"
"Oh, no way."
Sima Yi stood boldly before me in home attire. Too daring—if she'd worn this at the academy, I'd have yelled. Frivolous... no, overly provocative. All black fabric, but exposing armpits, side-slit dress—what country's style is this?! Fine food looks good and tastes good, but her dressing like this for me...
"Yi-ya."
"Yes, Master."
"Thanks for growing up well."
"Oh, are you my father now? Hmm, kinda. You raised me for years."
Sima Yi hid a smile behind her fan.
"Daddy?"
"Ahem."
"Kidding. But Master, may I make a harsher joke?"
"If you're asking permission, how bad can it be? Go on."
"Hmm...."
Sima Yi folded her fan, meeting my eyes directly.
"If your lord rebelled against the Han court, what would you do?"
"Follow if he decides it."
"......Surprising."
"I'm in the same boat. I'll stay put unless it's kill-or-be-killed...."
"Then go all out, bite hard."
"Yeah. Kill the enemy or die?" I mimed choking myself.
"I'll make my lord Emperor. ...Though that'll never happen, haha."
"True. Oh, right—Father asked this. I told him your creed, and he said, 'Then he'd lick her shoes even if his wife became Chancellor!'"
"Pfft, lick shoes?"
"Right?"
"A foot-kiss, maybe."
"......."
I don't know why she's staring, but.
"Serious."
A national Chancellor? She'd deserve a foot-kiss from her husband.