You Want Me to Go One More Time?

With affairs in Luoyang finally set in order, the Son of Heaven's carriage reached Xu County at last.

Yang Feng of the White Wave bandits had already seized a foothold at a place called Mount Yangxing in Yingchuan Commandery and made a try at an "emergency levy" across the Xu County region. He was firmly in Cao Cao's grip.

"Your Majesty, let this place serve from this day as the provisional capital. Be pleased to name Xu County Xudu, and grant an edict proclaiming the new capital to all under heaven."

"I... I shall do so."

Let a minister raise his voice even slightly in a memorial, and the emperor flinched and shrank before the words were properly out.

Once the court had moved to Xu County, however, only the most inevitable of things followed. The county offices were expanded into a palace, new robes and official dress were made for the eunuchs and palace women rescued from Guanzhong, and construction on the surrounding works began.

"From this moment we will resettle the people of Yuzhou's other commanderies and open new fields across this region. We begin by selecting men with experience in military-agricultural colonies. Officers, assemble your soldiers."

"Yes, Attendant Officer!"

Han Hao, wasn't it — Attendant Officer on the Yanzhou staff of Cao Cao's army? Spears and blades were taken from the men and hoes and plows put in their place. Soldiers who had been farmers were picked out, and the reclaiming of the wasteland began. They dug out stones and tree roots, spread manure, and set about carving vast farmland from the country around Xu County. Cao Cao's camp, I had to admit, was thick with capable men.

"Haa... Baijin?"

Our side, of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠course, had no shortage of talent either.

"Never in all my years did I dream I would be renovating a palace where His Imperial Majesty himself resides."

"You've quite a hand for building as well, brother-in-law."

"And you're no slouch yourself, are you? I hear you hammered up every fence and pasture in Xuzhou with your own hands."

True enough, I had put that old experience to plenty of use. At some point, though, every bit of fieldwork had been swallowed by strategy and supply for Liu Bei's army.

At any rate, as each of us was being handed a piece of Xu County, Su Shuang spoke.

"They say His Majesty is summoning me to the palace."

"Have you been given one of the posts of the Nine Ministers?"

The Nine Ministers oversaw the imperial ancestral temples, sacrifices, the supervision of ritual officers, counsel, justice, court attendance, taxation, security, and the daily life of the palace — the offices of imperial ceremony. They stood beneath the Three Excellencies, who handled the great affairs of state. One of those posts? Truly?

"A junior subordinate even among the Nine Ministers. Still, they are granting me the office of Gentleman of the Household in the Ministry of the Treasury."

"Congratulations, brother-in-law!"

The Ministry of the Treasury managed the imperial wardrobe, meals, and goods — a perfect fit for a merchant like Su Shuang. The salary ran to something between four and six hundred shi, not even a whisper against our family's fortune. What mattered was the privilege. As a court official who was not a eunuch, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠directly attached to the imperial household, he could come and go through the palace as he pleased.

"And the offices are starting to be handed out one by one. Cao Ren and Xiahou Yuan of Cao Cao's army, and on our side Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun, have received posts as Gentlemen Consultants."

A Gentleman Consultant advised the emperor — which, put plainly, meant being asked anything at all and expected to answer. Giving the post to fighting men was essentially turning them into staff officers who took reports from the generals sent to the front.

"Besides those, posts are coming out for Colonel, Army Advisor, Commandant of Cavalry, and the like."

"Which means..."

"They're working up from the bottom, one post at a time. Your name still hasn't appeared, Baijin, and I am genuinely curious. I'd say you'll receive a General of the Household at the very least."

At my age — a General of the Household in my early twenties? Well. The Han had always been a dynasty of absurd, meteoric promotions. There had even been a monster who pinned on a colonel's rank at eighteen and, at twenty-one, became General of Agile Cavalry and commander of the expedition against the Xiongnu.

"Anyway, when the time comes, the result will come out in its own good time."

"Baijin, shouldn't we start sending for the families in Xuzhou?"

"I've been thinking the same. Once I at least hold a formal office, I'll send a letter to Xuzhou."

And so, each of us taking up our work in Xu County, we settled in to wait.

"Wenruo, my name is being floated for the vacant post of Grand General."

"My congratulations, my lord."

"If I am to be Grand General, head of the army for affairs beyond the court, then our side will need a senior minister of the inner court to handle the government within."

Posts and honors such as the Three Directors, the Three Excellencies, and the Nine Bestowments could be left to the old men who had come from Chang'an, seated where they looked respectable and left to play the elder statesman. The offices that actually did the work, Cao Cao's army would take in bulk.

"My lord, what office is likely to come to Liu Bei?"

"We shall have to recommend him a good one. That much is negotiation. However..."

Cao Cao passed Xun Yu a bamboo slip that had come through Guo Jia's intelligence. As Xun Yu opened it and read, his expression shifted by a shade, and his brow moved.

"In the end I knew it would come to this. Even so, those tools who cannot master their own tempers have outdone my expectations."

The contents concerned Guanzhong. Having lost the emperor, and with Zhang Ji now broken away as well, only Li Jue and Guo Si remained in Chang'an. They had thought an army and the great city of Chang'an would be enough to see them through. That miscalculation was theirs alone. As was only natural, people trying to escape Guanzhong by any means overflowed the region. Li Jue and Guo Si had made a habit of slaughter by way of example, but when even that could not stop the flight, their own subordinates rose in revolt.

"Someone will have to go and settle that chaos. Yizhou, Hanzhong, Jingzhou, and the rest are already said to be taking in the countless wanderers out of Guanzhong."

"The White Wave bandits are not even fully suppressed, and I must husband my troops as far as I can."

Cao Cao spoke while he studied the map. Xun Yu looked in the same direction as his lord and nodded.

"You are thinking of northern Jing, south of Xudu?"

"Jingzhou means to take in Guanzhong's refugees? Then once they have turned those people into fine labor, I need only swallow that province."

Efficiency — and the preservation of his own strength, while he waited in perfect calm for others to destroy one another.

"We have driven off the White Wave faction of Han Xian and Li Le in Sili, and reinforcements have come in besides. We can put Brother Xuande's army to work one more time, can we not?"

He had already given up a great deal in the last negotiation. Cao Cao had resolved to work Liu Bei that much harder, and to bleed his strength away little by little.

"We obey His Imperial Majesty's command."

At the edict delivered by the eunuch of the Central Regular Attendants, Liu Bei's army made ready to move.

"Well, this is a fine mess. Of all times — I have a department inside the court on my hands, and the handover of three Yuzhou commanderies still to settle, and now Yunchang goes in my place."

"Elder brother, pay it no mind. This time I myself will bring back the heads of Li Jue and Guo Si."

We were already stretched thin, our hands in everything at once, and now the emperor's command had sent Guan Yu marching out to suppress them. Meanwhile the Yanzhou army, once again, did not move. At this point we were nothing but Cao Cao's subcontractors, forever sent rolling wherever he pointed.

"Elder brother Mengde, they say, has gone out to clear the remnants of the Black Mountain bandits around Yingchuan."

"That fella's got ten times the men we do, and he still won't lay a finger on the one battlefield that matters. Even now, us three brothers oughta go and slap a memorial down..."

"No. The imperial command has been given. We have to move."

"That's true."

And there was one thing in this that mattered for Guan Yu.

"Brother Yunchang, this General of the Household is not just any such rank. It is Commander of the Tiger-Brave. You have been given His Majesty's own household guard. If this campaign ends as it should, our army will stand among the emperor's closest here in Xudu."

Zhang Fei was a Gentleman Consultant. Guan Yu would be the General of the Household commanding the Tiger-Brave. Liu Bei would rise at least to the rank of one of the Generals of the Four Quarters.

"This time too, I'll do a thorough job as staff officer."

"No. Baijin, you must not go to Chang'an this time."

"What?"

Liu Bei stopped me, flat and firm.

"Baijin, go to Luoyang and keep the middle of the supply line open. Yunchang will go up with Junyi, Zilong, and Guoyang. I will be in Xudu. You, in the middle at Luoyang, will oversee the construction, look after that whole stretch together with the generals who have joined us this time, and take charge of the supply line."

So Liu Bei sends the supplies up from Yuzhou, I pass them through Luoyang in the middle, and the train runs on to Guan Yu in Guanzhong. Is that the shape of it?

Not that I couldn't do the work. But why plant me in Luoyang, vague as that is? Hongnong or Tong Pass would have been more than enough.

"Baijin, mark my words. Stay in Luoyang, see to the supply work and the restoration across the Luoyang region, and record every movement of the army."

There's something else in this.

I nearly said what I suspected, then decided to hold my tongue and obey.

"An army's speed of advance is set by its supplies. I will be sure to be of great help in striking the rebels of Guanzhong."

"Baijin, just do what you're good at out there. You must!"

Liu Bei kept pinning me to Luoyang, charging me with it twice and then a third time.

"I will carry out the task I have been given, and carry it out well."

"Ah, and one more thing."

Liu Bei brought Zhuge Liang over, soothed the boy, and spoke.

"Baijin, this young friend insists on following Yunchang. Will that be all right?"

"I want to see Guanzhong and Chang'an with my own eyes, and to save the refugees."

Aigoo, Liang! He truly meant to follow them onto that dangerous battlefield? It was already his ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠second request, and he had taken it all the way to Liu Bei. All I could do was sigh.

"Chief Zhang, this officer will see your brother-in-law safely through!"

Zhao Yun stepped forward and raised a solid fist-and-palm salute. What was I to do? I would have to send the boy, and keep it secret from Xue.

"Just come back alive. Master Chen still has a great deal left to teach you."

"Thank you! In fact my master himself commanded it. He told me to see with my own two eyes the rise and fall of capitals ancient and modern, and in the midst of that war to learn the condition of the people, and the righteous spirit by which they can be saved."

Master Chen, you are raising that pupil of yours on hard mode.

We set out with Guan Yu at the head of five thousand men, and at Luoyang we split clean apart.

There I put to work, as sappers and colony-troops, the refugees of Sili and Yuzhou whom I had hired on the promise that they would be taken into the Han's regular army. I managed the restoration and went over the supply ledgers.

"The truth is, I wanted to go to Chang'an as well."

"Ah, Lord Wang."

The ones remaining in Luoyang with me were Wang Ling and Hao Zhao. Hao Zhao had said his strengths were keeping order and building fortifications, so I had sent him out as overseer of the works to look the place over. Wang Ling, even while he went through the documents with me, kept casting hungry looks toward Chang'an.

"I wanted to go myself and kill those two bandits — my uncle's enemies — with my own hands. For the honor of the house."

"If Chang'an is recovered, I will gather the Wang clan, raise a shrine to console them, and petition that a posthumous title be granted to Excellency Wang."

"Merely hearing you say it, I am truly grateful."

"At Guoyang's earnest persuasion I came down here, entered the army of the Marquis of Zhongshan, and was even granted an audience with His Majesty. And I have had it hammered into my ears that you, sir, designed all of this."

"Well, rumor has a way of exaggerating."

"May I ask you a great many things?"

Wang Ling was a man overflowing with ambition: to avenge the uncle who had died at the rebels' hands, and from his own generation to take office and carry on once more the fame of the Wang clan of Taiyuan in Bingzhou.

A heavy thud.

"Pardon me."

Hao Zhao was a busy man who said only what needed saying, crisp and spare, and kept moving all day long.

"Now that you've had a look, what do you make of it?"

"Most of them are farmhands you could not call regular troops. There is no Intendant of Henan and no Colonel-Director of Retainers, so the junior officers sent from Yanzhou and Yuzhou are roughly clearing rubble and, at best, surveying the walls to be restored."

He had seen all that in a short time. Quick of him. Hao Zhao knocked the dirt from his boots, drank a cup of water, and made ready to go out again.

"It is not only the colonies and the construction. The families of the men gathered here, and other refugees besides, have packed into tent-houses, and the street stalls selling goods are full to bursting. I expect we will have to keep the patrols rotating without a break."

"Work as hard as you like. I am holding the supply warehouse fast."

"Trouble has a way of breaking out anywhere, at any time."

With that, Hao Zhao went out again.

Meanwhile I settled the report on the present state of the restoration, and confirmed where we would obtain the timber, stone, earth, and other materials to be used here.

"Lord Baijin, I hear the Marquis of Zhongshan's wife is the niece of Tao Qian, the former Inspector of Xuzhou. Given what lies between Cao Cao and Tao Qian, is that all right?"

Questions like that from Wang Ling, in the middle of everything...

"Baijin, the present supplies are grain come from Xuzhou, plus what we buy on the spot. Later, when the military colonies bring in a harvest, how is that grain to be distributed?"

Or questions like that...

"Baijin, once Xudu is stabilized, when will we settle matters with the three regions — Yangzhou south of Xuzhou, Yuzhou where Lu Bu's power sits, and Jingzhou, which claims to be Liu of the imperial house and yet will not answer the Son of Heaven's court so close at hand?"

Wang Ling really did dig into everything, and it was plain he wanted to do something equal to that drive. It was not a matter of a day or two. The questions ran past a fortnight and on toward a month. Some of them, though, were sharp enough that they were no bother.

"Lord Baijin, this is only a thought that occurred to me over the situation reports, but... are you not to be put forward for Intendant of Henan, for the sake of restoring Luoyang as it stands?"

Me, Intendant of Henan — mayor of Luoyang, in effect — repairing the city with my own hands. It would suit well enough, and my name would certainly be mentioned.

"My answer to that is..."

Just then the hoofbeats of a courier horse came pounding in at a rush.

"The supply train left for Chang'an five days ago. It's back already?"

I ran toward the sound. Wang Ling came right after me, and Hao Zhao, who had seen it from a distance, hurried over at the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠head of the peacekeeping troops.

"The army of the Commander of the Tiger-Brave is coming!"

"No. There are far too few soldiers, and most of those are refugees from Chang'an. It isn't the main body. It looks like an advance party leading the displaced."

Hao Zhao, Wang Ling, and I were all certain of it, and the unit that actually arrived leading the carts was only a fraction. Guan Yu was not among them. Only Zhao Yun and Zhuge Liang had come.

"Lord Zhang!"

"Brother-in-law!"

"Ah, yes. I'm glad you're both safe, but..."

"Chang'an is all but fallen! Guo Si has fled, and Li Jue is holding out, but his men have every one of them turned their blades the other way!"

Zhuge Liang pointed at his own two eyes, making a great show of I saw it clearly!

"And the people coming along behind are refugees from Guanzhong. The Commander of the Tiger-Brave wrote asking that Luoyang's supplies feed them."

The letter Zhuge Liang handed me was Guan Yu through and through.

So he had driven straight in with that force, saved this many people, and made his name ring through Chang'an?

"Bodao, Yanyun! The two of you, together with Brother Zilong, put up tents to house these refugees."

"Understood!"

Everyone burst into motion. People poured off the carts in every direction, and Zhuge Liang, looking thoroughly pleased at the sight, rolled up his own sleeves.

"You really did well."

"Thank you. I am simply glad I truly did something. And to those who trusted me enough to send me..."

"Mm. Yes."

And so, amid the bustle in the ruins of Luoyang, that evening we opened the supply granary, boiled porridge and soup, and portioned them out to the countless people.

Gaunt arms. Millet gruel sloshing with broth, gulped down in a rush until they could barely catch a breath. It looked worse than it had in Xuzhou.

Still, it was the right state of things. I was thinking I ought to do a share of the peacekeeping myself alongside Hao Zhao today, when I caught sight of Zhuge Liang off in the distance.

"That boy?"

He set a few dishes on a tray, wrapped the whole thing in cloth, and hurried off somewhere. In this crush of refugees, who was he taking such pains to deliver food to?

I followed him quietly. Past the supply warehouse, in a rather out-of-the-way spot, a carriage stood screened by tent-cloth. Zhuge Liang steadied his breath before it and spoke softly.

"Young lady! Lady Cai! I've brought you something to eat."

At once the carriage curtain was drawn aside. A woman revealed two snow-white hands and a face just as pale, and my brother-in-law all but thrust the meal on the tray into her keeping.

Liang... just what do you think you're doing?!