Black Hands Reaching for Xuzhou
"Feeling tense, are we."
"There is absolutely nothing to be nervous about. ♥"
Once everything had been settled, I went with Zhao Mi to Zhao Bao's house. All the way there she kept her arm linked through mine, swaying as she walked, and drew every gaze on the street onto herself. To a stranger we might have looked like newlyweds—and that would not have been entirely wrong. But Diaochan's arrival in Xuzhou had brought a storm of stares and adoration, her beauty becoming gossip over wine in the marketplace, and it seemed Zhao Mi had quietly taken that to heart.
"My lord, you can see how things stand, can't you?"
"Hm?"
"All of Xuzhou is celebrating the victory, and our house alone looks like a house of mourning."
"Ah…"
She was right. I saw it the moment I truly looked. The offices of Liu Bei, who had personally led the cavalry that drove Lu Bu out, were packed shoulder to shoulder. Gifts from countless local magnates had poured in not only for Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, but for our house as well. And Zhao Bao's residence? Not a single soul came or went. It was truly silent.
Zhao Mi hugged my arm tighter and pressed closer still. I stroked her hair, then knocked on the gate in earnest.
Zhao Bao, inside, offered tea with a bleak air and told us to enter. The war had been over for less than a month, and yet in that short time he had wasted away at a frightening pace, his hair gone stark white. Age had crashed down on him all at once. The sight left me with a tangle of feelings.
"Drink."
"Thank you, Commandant Zhao. From now on I shall address you as Chancellor of Xiapi."
"You wretched boy. How far do you mean to insult me?"
The war had been won, but he himself was a defeated general who had lost every last one of his elite Danyang troops. And without those Danyang soldiers, Zhao Bao had been cut off cold even among the notables of Xuzhou.
"So. What lingering attachment brings you to a washed-up old man?"
"Commandant Zhao. I wish to take this young lady into my household."
"Then do so."
His daughter was being taken away, and Zhao Bao did not so much as glance at her. He simply waved the matter off.
"She was a concubine's child to begin with, and I had no clear road by which to marry her off. If you will take her in, then take her. But see that she is well fed."
"Father…"
"I leave Mi in your care."
"Yes, Elder!"
Zhao Bao had set everything down. A political fight with Liu Bei had always been beyond his wildest hopes, and yet, seeing how shabby his last years had become, I felt a stir of pity all the same. Liu Bei had said he would recommend Zhao Bao as Chancellor of Xiapi, and the man still held the Grand Administrator's seat at Xuzhou's administrative center, so on paper his career went on. In practice, every shred of real power was gone.
Zhao Mi and I had paid our respects and were turning to leave when I heard Zhao Bao's final words.
"You are the second."
"!"
"The only other man to come was Mi Zhu, from Juxian. He brought gifts of consolation and said he would marry his younger sister to the Governor of Xuzhou as a secondary wife. You are the second."
Mi Zhu. That gentleman really was something.
"Lord Zhao, you still have not married off the daughter of your principal wife, have you?"
"…"
"Why not speak with the Mi clan?"
"!"
I offered my bow and left Zhao Bao's house.
Shuchun County, Jiujiang Commandery, Yangzhou.
There, another warlord sat taking the measure of Lu Bu and Chen Gong, who had come to him as guest generals. His features were handsome enough, but his two eyes were cold as a viper's, and the smile forever resting at his mouth was soaked through with arrogance—a weight that pressed upon the chest of anyone who looked at him.
"From Bingzhou to Chang'an, from Chang'an around Hebei as far as Yanzhou, and from Yanzhou through Xuzhou all the way here. You have come a long road."
"Gonglu, shall we forget the past and join our strength to seize the Central Plains?"
"Fengxian. How am I supposed to forget? Hmm?"
Yuan Shu had been sitting alone, as if he were already emperor, upon a chair worked with jade. He rose and walked straight to Lu Bu.
"I hear you clung to the son of a slave of our house and hunted the Black Mountain bandits in his stead."
"Yuan Shao, that dullard, has no eye for men, and dared use me for nothing but bandit-hunting. I thought Gonglu would be different—the legitimate heir of the Yuan clan, Three Excellencies for four generations."
"Oho. And here I thought you only knew how to brawl. Have you picked up a little worldly cunning since then?"
Anyone could see he was mocking the peerless Lu Bu, yet no one dared step forward. Yuan Shu commanded a host of a hundred thousand in Yangzhou and stood, at present, as the most powerful regional warlord after Yuan Shao. Lu Bu and Chen Gong had already been beaten in succession by Cao Cao and Liu Bei, and had truly come to the end of the road. Spat out here as well, they would sink beneath even a band of brigands, let alone a warlord's following.
"General Yuan, I ask that you hear me. I am Chen Gong, come from Yanzhou, and I have brought a scheme that can draw a very large picture between two warlords."
"Chen Gong? The aide that old man Bian Rang recommended?"
"That is… so."
"Fine. You have come this far. I will at least listen."
The slight was blatant, but Chen Gong bit down on his lip and set out the strategy he had prepared.
"General Yuan, I have heard that the might of Sun Jian, General Who Subdues Caitiffs—he who once commanded the breadth of Jingzhou and Yangzhou—contributed greatly to your powerful position."
"I did push that fellow a great deal. A pity he died in an accident."
At the mention of Sun Jian, Yuan Shu's face twisted, just slightly. Promised Yuan Shu's own support and ordered to strike Liu Biao of Jingzhou, Sun Jian had sailed the Han River to attack Xiangyang and Fancheng, only to be caught in a surprise assault, struck by an arrow, and killed.
"And yet that power remains formidable. I hear his young son, Sun Ce, has come of age and has been crushing regional warlords one after another—Liu Yao, Inspector of Yangzhou; Lu Kang, Grand Administrator of Lujiang; Huang Zu of Jiangxia; and others besides."
"The brat takes after his father to the bone."
"But you could never keep Sun Ce under control to the end, could you? He left for Yangzhou and has not come back. In effect, he has made himself independent."
"Amusing. So you are saying Lu Bu will fill that place instead? I am a man who thinks, you know."
"Name the opponent who most galls you as you widen your power. General Lu will destroy him. Once that aching tooth is pulled, you may lead your army at ease and fight your wars of conquest."
"You will pluck the thorn from my eye? How far am I to trust men who have already lost twice?"
"Both defeats came from a lack of support. Even now, this very moment, order them to strike anywhere and General Lu and his men can strike."
"Th-that's right! General Yuan, this Lu Fengxian of Wuyuan was beaten because he received no supplies—never because my own strength fell short!"
Yuan Shu narrowed his eyes and regarded them without a shred of trust, but the retainers around him murmured and whispered in his ear. His domain was Jiujiang Commandery, inland even within Yangzhou, pressed against countless warlords and factions—a position where one misstep could see him surrounded and starved out. If, at a time like this, someone opened a wide breathing hole to the outside, Yuan Shu would back them without reservation.
"Very well, then."
Yuan Shu took the bait. At once he spread a map and pointed to a single place.
"This land of Yuzhou. Quite a few fellows have planted themselves here. Li Tong of Runan Commandery, and here, in the Kingdom of Chen, the Prince of Chen."
"You mean His Highness the Prince of Chen?"
Even in the chaos of the late Later Han, princes of the imperial Liu house still held kingdoms of their own, small though they were. One of them was Liu Chong, Prince of Chen.
"He may call himself a Liu of the Han imperial house, but what he does makes him a stumbling block to my great enterprise. Sweep him away together with Li Tong, and I will cede you the two commanderies of Yiyang and Anfeng."
"And you, General Yuan?"
"Me? What I am after is Xuzhou. That Tao Qian stabbed me in the back and went over to Yuan Shao, and this Liu Bei who succeeded him—I mean to teach him a lesson."
In that instant, only Chen Gong's eyes flashed. This was the chance. He had already suffered a great humiliation at Liu Bei's hands. If Yuan Shu himself struck Liu Bei, there could be no finer opportunity.
Two tigers, fighting over the meat called Xuzhou. Yuan Shu and Liu Bei, at each other's throats.
From there Chen Gong swiftly drew the larger picture. Set a portion of Yuzhou's commanderies under Lu Bu. Let Yuan Shu, reaching for Yangzhou and Xuzhou, do as he pleased. Then, with Lu Bu, seize Yuzhou themselves—and take revenge once more upon Cao Cao of Yanzhou.
"You are going after Liu Bei? I would like to help with that myself."
"If I am to recognize you as an ally, first take the Prince of Chen and Li Tong, as I said."
"I will go this instant and bring back both their heads!"
And so Lu Bu and Chen Gong became Yuan Shu's new blades, in place of Sun Ce and Zhou Yu. From Yuan Shu's side of it, Sun Ce—the puppy he had thought was his—was beginning to show signs of going his own way, and it grated on him. Better, before the brat bared his teeth, to set the larger hunting hound called Lu Bu upon him and have him torn to death, or else watch him tuck his tail and come crawling back. Either outcome suited Yuan Shu.
"In all my life I had never heard of some lowborn wretch called Liu Bei, nor ever laid eyes on him. And now he is master of Xuzhou? I will show him what becomes of a man who holds a domain beyond his station."
Yuan Shu at once gathered his army and set about preparing his plan to seize Xuzhou.
"Trade in precious goods across Yuzhou and the Jiujiang region has been cut off. On top of that, the salt and iron trade is surging, and the harvested grain is being sucked in that direction."
What had the great merchant Su Shuang just told me? Read the flow of goods, and you can judge the movements of a warlord.
"Preparing for war?"
"Yuan Shu is clearly making a move."
"According to our intelligence, rumors are circulating that Lu Bu has placed himself under Yuan Shu. Lu Bu's encampment has begun to appear on the outskirts of Jiujiang Commandery, and if the two of them have no will to fight…"
"Then where will they strike, hand in hand? Here? Xuzhou?"
I had always thought Lu Bu the greediest man of this age of chaos. Even with that monstrous martial might, he did not know how to stop—an incarnation of appetite and greed, bent on swallowing everything to the very end. And yet there is always someone above. If any man was greedier still than that Lu Bu, it was Yuan Shu.
"May I offer a word?"
There was one man who had sat through the council doing nothing but listen. Intelligence was left to me, strategy to Lu Su, administration to Zhuge Jin. He attended, but only to hear, and when Liu Bei spoke he merely agreed—a rubber stamp of a gentleman. But this was a problem named Yuan Shu, and at a time like this the man would be needed.
"Aide Chen! I hope you will tell this unworthy Governor everything that is on your mind."
Chen Gui. Father of Chen Deng, a man who had once kept company with Yuan Shu himself, the most senior of Xuzhou's magnates, and possessed of no small military talent of his own.
"Yuan Shu now holds Yangzhou in his grasp, and means to reach once more for the Central Plains, from which he was driven back in years past by Yuan Shao and Cao Cao. Of Yuzhou, Yanzhou, and Xuzhou, he judges Xuzhou the easiest mark. He will mass his army along the Huai River and come north."
"Yuan Shu indeed."
"In my view, even if Xuzhou's markets take a blow, we ought to forbid the grain trade for the time being and gather supplies ourselves in preparation for defense. We should also concentrate at Xiapi the new troops being raised in Langya, and if Yuan Shu's army moves, we must organize a vanguard commander to intercept them."
Hearing this, Liu Bei glanced sidelong at me.
"Failing to sell a few measures of barley or rice will not hurt us. Whatever sits unused becomes army grain and relief grain."
"Zhang Qian, those are the very words I wished to ask of you."
At Liu Bei's words, Chen Gui smiled and murmured.
"A strange merchant indeed. Instead of the coin before his eyes, he calculates the profit of the battlefield?"
"I will have dried seaweed prepared throughout Donghai and Guangling, and I will tell every salt pan to gather all the salt on hand."
That would see to the army's grain for now. What remained was the troops.
"If Yuan Shu comes in person, I will go out in person."
"Governor, will you take the field yourself again?"
"Of course I must."
Liu Bei had settled firmly into his place as Governor of Xuzhou. If the Governor himself went to battle, someone would be needed to hold the city.
"Lord Zhao has been elevated as Chancellor of Xiapi, it is true."
"I will leave Yide behind as well."
"!"
Huh. Inside this subtle air—the same as history, and yet somehow not—
"Governor, what if we left one more behind? A general of mild temperament, someone who can reliably keep the peace within Xuzhou."
"Zhang Qian. Do you mean to say Yide is not mild?"
Guan Yu had struck the point dead center. Liu Bei broke into a hearty laugh and nodded.
"Shall we leave Zilong in Xiapi, then?"
"Brother, then who will command the household troops at your side?"
Guan Yu was the vanguard, and Liu Bei led the main body, so the Vanguard Corps needed a general to command the household troops in the lord's stead whenever he was absent. Zhao Yun had been the one to fill that role. If Zhao Yun held Xiapi together with Zhang Fei and Zhao Bao, another answer would be required.
"We will take Zijing and Junyi with us!"
"Yes, my lord!"
Lu Su as strategist of Liu Bei's army, Zhang He as acting commander of the household troops. Now that was well seized. And Zhao Bao was a Chancellor of Xiapi in nothing but name, an old man shuffled off to the back room who had lost all his power—and my father-in-law, at that. Even if Zhang Fei stirred up trouble with wine, it would be another matter entirely with the upright Zhao Yun beside him.
"And since Zhuge Jin is holding Xiaopei, Yan Jun, I leave the administration within Xiapi to you."
"Yes, Governor!"
"Chen Deng, son of Master Hanyu, will assist you, and a fellow named Sun Qian, recommended this time by Master Zheng, is coming down. While I am away, I ask the three of you to see to the management and supply of wartime stores."
"I will carry out the charge at the cost of my life."
And here one more man stepped forward.
"May I be the one to gather the wartime supplies this time?"
"Commandant Mi?"
It was Mi Zhu. He never opened his mouth with words like these, and when he stepped forward of his own accord the others stirred and murmured. Inwardly, though, the talk was already there.
They say Mi Zhu offered his own sister to the Governor of Xuzhou, even though our lord already has Lady Gan.
He has grabbed the right patron. He means to stamp his mark every bit as firmly as Zhang Qian while he has the chance.
Two men as rich as a thousand gold have latched on. At the very least, the Governor's army will never be pushed back for want of supply.
Do you see it? Do you hear it?
This is the depth of Liu Bei's roster. Not the old Liu Bei army, in which the three sworn brothers of the Peach Garden each had to be worth a hundred men and coughed blood trying to do every last thing themselves—but a Liu Bei whose pool of talent in Xuzhou had grown truly thick.
"Good. This time, too, we drive the invaders out. Let us all put our strength to it!"
Of course I was marching out.
I was in that company, and I was marching out with them.