What If You Throw One Chunk of Meat to Two Tigers?
"So you're off to the battlefield again?"
"In peacetime I'm a merchant. In wartime, I serve as a staff officer of the Xuzhou army."
I was lounging at my ease with my head pillowed in Diaochan's lap while Zhao Mi worked over my hands and feet. Diaochan, for her part, drew a comb through the hair spilled across her thigh, tending it with slow, unhurried strokes. When I opened my eyes amid that sweet floral scent, the soft swell beneath her breasts hid half the ceiling. I had only to reach out to knead as I pleased—but the instant I tried, Zhao Mi snatched my hand and slipped it into her own bosom, or down beneath her skirt.
"The two madams are occupied with their prenatal care, so if there's to be a third, the chance ought to be right here, shouldn't it?"
"Ah, I have to step out to the front for a bit. I ought to be saving my strength."
"With a thousand gold to spend, even if you can't lay hold of the elixir of immortality the First Emperor once sought, surely a common tonic like nine-joint chrysanthemum wouldn't be beyond you?"
When Zhao Mi grew still more blatant, Diaochan gave her chest a shake, as if something had just come back to her.
"Come to think of it, I remember a medicine they concocted back when Chancellor Dong Zhuo—though he dragged hundreds of beautiful maids about with him wherever he went—was, on account of his years, a 'man with his head bowed.' Was it called Virility Liver-Blood Powder?"
"Every time I hear that story I almost pity him. Mind you, Dong Zhuo really was the sort of bastard who deserved the mockery."
Depose an emperor, murder an empress dowager, put Luoyang—the capital of the ages—to the torch, and rule by naked tyranny, and yet Dong Zhuo had been an old man who couldn't stand to the occasion! Spread that tale in every direction, and later generations would have no shortage of amusing stories.
"Which is why I've been making ever so many preparations~"
I was resting easy against Diaochan's lap, meaning to stay that way until it was time to march.
"Husband, an order has come."
"What is it?"
"The Governor of Xuzhou asks you to come to the government office at once. A messenger is waiting."
"Damn it."
I started up at those words—and my face sank straight into Diaochan's bosom.
"I know I'm treated outrageously well. But to send someone like Brother Yunchang to fetch a man like me..."
The man Liu Bei had waiting outside my house was Guan Yu himself, and thanks to him I all but flew to the government office.
"Baijin, I called you to this seat because it seemed something you absolutely ought to hear."
Chen Gui and his son Chen Deng, the military advisor Lu Su, the administrator Yan Jun, Zhang He and Jian Yong, and even Guan Yu and Zhang Fei—all of them were gathered in one place. Something was up. Something was definitely up.
"First, let me make the introductions. This is Chen Zhangwen, son of Master Chen, only just returned from finishing his studies in Yanzhou and Yuzhou."
"Chen Qun. My courtesy name is Zhangwen."
Summoned by his father, Chen Qun had come to Liu Bei at this late hour, and he was a sorry sight. Wherever he had rushed from in such haste, his clothes were all frayed, his beard soaked with sweat, and an official's cap barely hid hair tangled into a mess. His eyes were full of anxiety, and—quite unbecomingly—he gnawed at his thumbnail.
"G-Governor of Xuzhou, this is a truly grave matter."
"Don't be nervous—be calm. Don't tremble—be steady. Speak slowly. There are many here who will understand what you have to say."
Still anxious, Chen Qun gulped water down in great swallows, then spoke.
"Marching south to strike Yuan Shu is a trap! This is a war from which we can gain nothing, win or lose!"
"Hm?"
He truly rattled it off like a rapid-fire volley.
"Yuan Shu's power is formidable, and the farther we push southeast into his sphere, the more we will be drawn in over our heads. Someone is counting on exactly that."
"Is the young Master Chen speaking of Cao Cao, by any chance?"
The great scholar Chen Ji was Master Chen, so his son Chen Qun was addressed as the young Master Chen.
"N-not only Cao Cao! There is Lu Bu as well!"
"Lu Bu? Didn't we beat that bastard half to death and run him clean off?"
"Heh heh. It seems the young Master Chen's news runs a little late."
Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were still laughing as they spoke when Chen Qun's eyes went wide.
"Lu Bu, backed by Yuan Shu, is striking Yuzhou! They are seizing the petty local clans of the region one after another, and they can climb back up to Xiaopei at any time."
For an instant Liu Bei's eyes flew wide at those words. Then, little by little, they narrowed.
"That... is not good."
"Xuzhou is one of the pillars of the Central Plains, yet it sits too far to one side for any great undertaking. In that situation Yuan Shu will come up with his mighty host to strike this place, and it will begin in the vicinity of the Huai River."
"Taking the Huai as the line, there are many places where the border between Xuzhou and Yangzhou is ambiguous. The area around Yuyi County is one such."
When Chen Gui added that word, Chen Qun raised his voice.
"Governor, if Xuzhou's main force goes there and stands against him, the two armies will surely clash hard. Both sides will take losses, and the profit will fall to Yanzhou and Yuzhou."
"So what you're saying is that while we're fighting Yuan Shu, we could take a blow to the back of the head from Lu Bu as he sweeps Yuzhou—or from Brother Mengde in Yanzhou?"
"The possibility is very great!"
I had taken him for nothing more than a fast-talking, scattered man. Yet as he laid out the threat at our rear, he made the whole situation plain.
"I heard of this because Cao Cao of Yanzhou has once again set his sights on Xuzhou, and men of Yingchuan, his own country, have joined him as advisors and are egging him on. It is the stratagem of Two Tigers Contending for Food."
"Two tigers fighting over something to eat..."
"Whichever tiger it is, Cao Cao's advisors will be watching hungrily for the chance to strike the wounded one and devour the land torn to shreds."
While Liu Bei weighed Chen Qun's words, Lu Su spoke to the situation.
"Even so, we must stop Yuan Shu's invasion, and we must fight him."
"Master Zijing."
"The reasons are many, but chief among them are these: we must break Yuan Shu's will to invade Xuzhou, and we must fix a clear boundary between our army and his along the Huai River. Yuan Shu's power must never be allowed to reach north of the Huai."
The back of my neck prickled. Still, we would settle Yuan Shu before the blow landed, and settle whatever followed right after. With the talent now gathered under Liu Bei and the depth of our supplies, we would not lose anywhere we went. But a short, decisive battle... was that possible?
"It is too late now to negotiate with Yuan Shu. I know that man. He has already resolved to swallow Xuzhou, and he has raised his army to do it."
"I think the same. No amount of coaxing or soothing will make Yuan Shu withdraw."
Chen Gui and his son Chen Deng stood with Lu Su—the faction that said they must fight. Chen Qun had brought vital intelligence, warning that our rear would be in danger while we fought Yuan Shu, and still that danger had to be weighed and accepted.
"Baijin, what do you think?"
"Hmm. Two Tigers Contending for Food... There are two tigers, and if you throw them a single chunk of meat, the two of them fight to the death..."
A fine old parable. I ran the numbers on the situation and made my decision.
"I don't know how those of you here will take this. But we are a tiger, and so are they. And in that situation, there is a man throwing out a bait of meat so the two will fight to the death?"
"That's right."
For a moment, silence fell.
"Baijin, what do you mean by that?"
I was grateful they let it pass without a laugh. I could say it only because I knew the supplies and logistics of this whole region inside and out.
"Even aside from the main force, we can stop anyone aiming at the back of our head with troops held in the rear. So if those bastards truly mean to strike us from behind, we deploy soldiers and cut the wrists off the ones actually plotting mischief."
"No, that..."
All at once Lu Su counted on his fingers, then reported straight to Liu Bei.
"My lord, if you mean to do as Baijin says, send word at once to Zang Ba of Mount Tai. Order him to double the levy throughout the Mount Tai region, on the border between Yanzhou and Xuzhou. Of course, we must send military grain to match."
"To Zang Ba of Mount Tai... Yes!"
"And Xiaopei, too, must build up its walls and harden the defensive line. Zhuge Jin alone will not suffice, so send an additional man of ability. Even if Lu Bu stirs up all of Yuzhou, he must not be able to so much as look toward Xiaopei."
Lu Su had grasped the situation at once, and he proposed strengthening the defensive lines wherever we touched Yanzhou and Yuzhou.
"Master Zijing, I take your meaning, but can soldiers be levied that quickly? And when would we train them?"
"Lord Xuande, that I can solve."
I had a way. When every eye turned to me once more, I cleared my throat and held up a single finger. No—not one. Three.
"That bastard Cao Cao, who came the year before last and again last year, isn't dead, and he means to come again! Three times. Cao Cao means to invade Xuzhou a third time! Proclaim this across all of Xuzhou, and take the levy."
"Ah!"
"They'll come by the tens of thousands, volunteering for the righteous army with whatever they have at home—sickles, hoes, shovels, even kitchen knives."
Cao Cao might strike us from behind?
Then we would answer that Cao Cao might well invade again, and use the moment to take a proper conscription.
"In my view, Cao Cao absolutely cannot come here. There are three reasons."
"Baijin, speak."
"First: he has only just put down the rebellion in Yanzhou, and he is busy taking the heads of the ringleaders. Start another war now, and even the Yanzhou clans who were on Cao Cao's side will rise. Second: Yuan Shao may cut off all support and cast him aside entirely—go on, do as you please. He would be no different from a gambling-den thug who plays with other people's money and then holds his hand out, saying he'll pay it back."
"Indeed..."
"Without a doubt!"
"And the third—doesn't everyone here already know it? When Cao Cao's army was suppressing that rebellion, a bad harvest, famine, and swarms of locusts all piled on together, and they were arguing over whether to use human flesh as rations. Who was it that sent them military grain?"
When I said that, Chen Qun turned his head, truly unable to understand, while those who knew nodded at once.
"Only—as the young Master Chen said—when the Governor leaves his seat, someone will likely decide Xuzhou is empty and strike. Even if it isn't Cao Cao himself, it will be someone Cao Cao has set to the task."
"Hmm!"
"Even in this situation, will the Governor go in person to face Yuan Shu? If so, then everyone will have to think that strategy through again."
The war council burned hot, and just when no one could quite bring himself to step forward, Chen Deng raised his hand.
"Governor, I will go to Xiaopei."
"No, Deng!"
"Yuanlong—you?"
Even his father, Chen Gui, started in surprise and asked his son again, but Chen Deng seemed already resolved.
"I am a man raised in Xuzhou for generations. Already, three times, restless things from outside have come crashing in, and never once have I set foot beyond the walls of Xiapi. This time, I mean to smash these bastards myself."
Chen Deng spoke boldly to Liu Bei, then came to me and set a hand on my shoulder.
"Just make the support certain. Any force from outside, I will stop without fail."
"Then the talk will move all the faster."
Was I the only one who caught it?
The local magnates who had never stepped outside Xiapi, the seat of Xuzhou's government, were one by one declaring that they would take even their private troops and go to the front—and for an instant, the corner of Liu Bei's mouth seemed to twitch.
In any case, Chen Qun had come a long way to tell us how Cao Cao's army stood in Yanzhou, and what a mess Yuzhou was about to become. There would be a tremendous amount to do before we marched. First I had to recheck the army's deployment, reorganize the troops and supplies bound for Xiaopei and Mount Tai, and make certain the supply lines suffered not the slightest hitch when we fought Yuan Shu near the Huai. It looked like several all-nighters ahead.