Discussing the Heroes of the Realm in the Rain
"Xuande. Whom, in all the world, do you take for a hero?"
"Is he not seated, large as life, before me?"
"Heh... heh heh heh! Hah — hah hah hah!"
Cao Cao laughed from the belly, genuinely delighted, and looked thoroughly pleased with himself.
Liu Bei meant only to soothe the man's vanity a little longer in that pleasant air, and then take his leave. The Son of Heaven's blood-written edict, hidden so carefully in his house, had risen again in his mind, and he was strung tight with the fear that someone might even now be turning the place over in secret.
"Xuande, there is more than one hero in this world. Who else, would you say, stands as my peer?"
"Ah, well... what of the Yuan clan, whose house has given the court Three Excellencies for generations?"
"Do you mean Yuan Shu, who peddles his dead father's name and is not worth a dog or a pig? Or Yuan Shao, gathering his strength in Hebei?"
"Surely both are men one cannot lightly dismiss?"
"The lesser Yuan is not worth discussing. The greater Yuan is a mediocrity, and he has no stratagem. He is a man I can handle well enough."
In truth, if one reckoned by strength alone, Yuan Shao's hosts in Hebei were mightier even now than Liu Bei and Cao Cao put together. He had seized nearly all four provinces north of the river, and the overwhelming productive power of Jizhou gave him foundations far more solid than either of theirs.
"In Jingzhou and Yizhou, scions of the Han imperial house still hold their domains with a firm hand."
"Hmph. How should sparrows in some back-country corner, with little life left in them, presume to sit where phoenixes are discussed?"
"The Sun clan of Jiangdong..."
"Xuande, you mean that son of Sun Wentai? Sun Wentai certainly distinguished himself, alongside you and me, in the Yellow Turban Rebellion and the campaign against Dong Zhuo. But have I ever so much as heard the fame of those pups of his?"
Liu Bei wiped a cold sweat from his brow and lifted his chopsticks. He meant to take a piece of meat, put on an air of ease, and ask, lightly:
"Then who, pray, could be called a hero fit to stand beside the Minister of Works?"
"!?"
KRA-KOOM — KRA-KOOOOOM!
In that instant the lightning flashed twice, and thunder rolled, peal after peal.
If heroes came as a pair, did the thunder mean to strike twice as well?
Clatter—
Liu Bei's chopsticks fell. Cao Cao looked out beyond the pavilion.
"What cursed thunder is this, cracking so?"
"Seeing Heaven cast down its bolts, a man seems a truly paltry creature."
"?"
Cao Cao turned to look at him upon those words, but Liu Bei was only retrieving the fallen chopsticks and flicking them clean, his hands shivering in a fine tremor.
"Ha — hahaha! Thunder is a fearful thing by its very nature. Is that not why, from ancient times, men have raised rites to Heaven?"
"My spirit must be a weak one. And I have drunk a great deal today."
"Mm? Mm— what nonsense is that? Ought we not drink to the very end tonight, and let the sound of the rain serve as our relish?"
It was then.
Yang Xiu, Registrar to the Minister of Works, came hurrying in through the rain and bowed to Cao Cao.
"Minister!"
"Ah. The wine is flowing nicely — what are you doing here again?"
"It is... well..."
Begging Liu Bei's pardon for the discourtesy, Yang Xiu gathered his soaked cloak, leaned to Cao Cao's ear, and whispered something.
Cao Cao's eyes flew wide, then slowly narrowed. He looked at Liu Bei, and smiled.
"Heh... heh heh heh..."
"Minister, what is it?"
Having heard Yang Xiu's report, Cao Cao gave no answer. He only looked at Liu Bei and laughed.
Rain was not what crept down Liu Bei's spine. Cold sweat was soaking him through, little by little, when Cao Cao at last opened his mouth.
"Xuande, I acknowledge you, in all sincerity, as a hero."
"Y-you honor me too highly."
"A hero knows a hero. And one must never plant a knife in the other's back."
"...!"
"I respect you with a true heart. Do you feel the same?"
"I, too, believe the Minister's gift for command and for governance yields to no famous general or great minister of Han."
"Hmm. Good. Dezu — pour our hero Xuande a generous cup."
Yang Xiu took the wine ewer himself and filled Liu Bei's empty cup.
Even the thin trickle of the pouring sounded, in Liu Bei's ears, louder than the war-cries of a battlefield, and then Cao Cao spoke again.
"Since the fall of Shuchun, the lesser Yuan seems to be thrashing about once more. He means to join hands with the greater Yuan of Hebei."
"!?"
"That was the report just now. Yuan Shu, it appears, is borrowing the troops and the treasure of Liu Xun in Lujiang Commandery, and the two of them mean to pool their strength and reach once more for the Central Plains. He is going in person to find Yuan Shao in Hebei, and the pair will unite... What do you make of it?"
"If a traitor's power grows, is that not a grave matter?"
"Heh heh. I had wanted to drink the night through, but tomorrow the court will be a mountain of business. Shall we make this the last cup?"
Liu Bei barely stilled his shaking hand, met the cup Cao Cao offered first, and their rims touched.
When he had paid his courtesies and come out ahead of the rest, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were standing before Cao Cao's residence in the driving rain, taking the downpour full on.
"Wh— what? Yunchang! Yide!"
"You return only now?"
"Brother! That Minister of Works — he didn't pull anything, did he?"
The moment they heard Liu Bei had gone alone into Cao Cao's house, guarded like an iron fortress, they had come running, and now they stood before it with the Green Dragon Crescent Blade and the Serpent Spear in hand. At the righteous fire of his brothers, ready to storm the place and drag him out if it came to that, Liu Bei said nothing. He ran to the two of them where they stood soaked through, and the three seized one another in a fierce embrace.
"Let's go home."
"Yes, Brother."
The three brothers of the Peach Garden entered Liu Bei's empty house, washed in hot water, and changed into fresh clothes.
Liu Bei rushed to the storehouse in the rear garden of the main quarters and looked about. The house was quiet enough to raise the hair on his neck, and nowhere could he find a trace of an intruder. Even so he went into the storehouse and rummaged like a madman.
Inside, fine wine the Emperor himself had bestowed lay sealed in a jar carved with a bronze dragon. Liu Bei scooped some up in his hand and drank, then thrust his arm straight into the vat. What waited within was a bronze ornament, set there so the wine would not spoil — and inside that, the imperial house's secret letter.
"Hah—!"
He confirmed it, and at once tucked it into his robes.
"Brother, where are you?"
"Ah — ah! Brothers! I'm in the storehouse, fetching the wine bestowed by the imperial house!"
Even after the council of heroes, Liu Bei kept his wits wound tight and made ready for the road ahead.
The same hour.
"Please, go in carefully."
A senior palace lady in a face-veil bowed and saw me off. In Guan Yu's place, now off duty, a familiar face stood the night watch.
"Is that not the Palace Assistant Imperial Clerk?"
"Ah. Wang Zhong."
After that unpleasant business in Chang'an, I had talked the court around and recommended Wang Zhong to the Tiger-Brave Guards. He had become a fine officer, and now he served among them.
"The hour is late, and the rain is heavy. Keep a sharp watch."
"What talk is this? I am only grateful you saw me returned to the court's service."
I exchanged a greeting with each of them and started back. The rain was truly fierce, and yet my heart was already soaked through.
"Your Majesty, the traitor Yuan Shu, even after losing his base, has not concealed his rebellious heart. He is raising the armies of the provinces once more, joining hands with Yuan Shao, and seeking to seize the realm."
Before the memorial of Cao Cao, Minister of Works, the Emperor watched with held breath, and with him the civil and military ministers of the court. By now a memorial was something Cao Cao gathered entire and presented through his own office — a gate, so to speak, that all business had to pass before it ever reached the Emperor.
"As for finishing off what remains of Yuan Shu... who would be best? You, Minister? Or the Left General?"
"!"
Cao Cao smiled faintly, as if the question were unexpected, and glanced once at Liu Bei.
As ever, it was the old scheme of shunting Liu Bei's army out to the provinces under the guise of tossing him the troublesome work, and so keeping him in check. But here Cao Cao gave the knife one more turn.
"It is only right that Liu Bei should go — imperial uncle of the Han, who has given his whole loyalty to the royal house, and Left General. Yet even if all his troops were gathered, it seems they would be hard pressed to root out every remnant of Yuan Shu. Therefore this humble servant would recommend officers of talent, and send additional soldiers along with him."
"Is that so? Then We shall follow your proposal."
Liu Bei bowed his head at once and addressed the Emperor.
"Your Majesty — your servant, Liu Bei! To ease the Emperor's cares, I shall without fail chastise the traitors."
"We shall have the battle-axe prepared."
"!"
"This is all We can bestow upon a general who marches to punish traitors."
Since gold, jewels, and a host of fiefs could not be given, it was as good as saying he would at least set Liu Bei's authority on its feet — and it was precisely what I had proposed the time before.
Cao Cao himself already held the credential and the axe of command, so he looked a little wrong-footed; still, I saw him give a thin snort of a laugh, as if to say, a counterfeit axe — what of it? His mind seemed to be that a battle-axe carried authority only when it came from an emperor who truly held power.
Some time later, Liu Bei marched.
When Liu Bei of Han — Marquis of Zhongshan, Left General and concurrently Colonel Director of Retainers and Inspector of Yuzhou — took the road bearing the credential and the axe, the battle-axe, and even an imperial sword, I went all the way out and bowed to him with my hands pressed together.
"They tell me Zijing, Guoyang, Baidu, and Junye are already waiting. I'll be back before you know it."
"Come back alive. I'll be here to receive you."
"!?"
Liu Bei hesitated, then cupped his fist before me in salute.
"Alive, then. We meet again!"
As Liu Bei's whole army moved out of Xudu, Cao Cao sent an additional ten thousand troops to aid the campaign against Yuan Shu: Zhou Ling, Right Leader of Court Gentlemen; Lu Zhao, Gentleman Consultant; and his own kinsman, Cavalry Commandant Cao Xiu.
Whether they were watchers, men sent to share in the merit, or a check upon Liu Bei, only Cao Cao knew.
Late at night.
"I pay my respects to His Excellency the General of the Guards, imperial in-law of the realm."
Not just anywhere — in my usual seat at the pleasure house, over wine.
To slip Cao Cao's suspicion, I had, until a few hours before, gone across when word came that Xu Chu, Yu Jin, and other officers of Cao Cao's army were there, and made a suitable show of keeping them company. As other high ministers arrived as well, I kept changing rooms, coming and going where all could see. Then, hearing that Dong Cheng had come, I went in just the same, and outside the soldiers of the General of the Guards' office stood an iron watch.
"I am told that here one may enjoy poetry and refined pleasures, so I have come for the first time!"
"Is that so? Then drink deep, take your pleasure, and go when you are satisfied."
For all that, Dong Cheng's scheme was not wholly slapdash. For the sake of secrecy he had brush, ink, and paper prepared, and we spoke in writing.
You know, of course, that His Majesty means to take the field in person, with the first month of next year as his mark? Though you have no blood edict, he says you have written one in your heart, and so he has brought you into the enterprise.
"Mmm. Rather a poor verse."
The moment it was written, Dong Cheng tore it up and tossed it into the brazier. It was not even bamboo slips. He was using that costly Caihou paper, and it burned away in an instant.
"Imperial in-law, I know little of poetry. The Prefect of the Masters of Writing, or the Minister of Works — those are the men who answer well in verse!"
I said it loudly, as if I meant to be overheard, and then wrote with the brush.
The army of Imperial Uncle Liu, the force most likely to stand with us, has already marched. What do you mean to accomplish with a handful of troops?
"Haha — the Minister of Works? The man writes fine poetry, but if a personage such as I stepped forward carelessly, I should only be laughed at! Ought one not discuss such things with middling company?"
Did you not, the other day, make the rounds of the Colonel Director of Retainers' office together with the Commander of the Tiger-Brave Guards? After that, my soldiers from the General of the Guards' office swept through again and gathered a personal guard for His Majesty. We will move in very slowly.
"Well now — hearing that, I suppose I ought to learn a little poetry."
Can they be trusted? To plot with a rabble of wandering bravos will make you the laughingstock of the realm, and bring disaster down upon His Majesty as well.
Trust them. I have gathered elite warriors, and men whose loyalty is sound.
And how am I to trust that? In words, I too could empty my entire fortune and raise an army of a million.
In that instant Dong Cheng's expression changed. He cleared his throat, and poured the wine.
"Come — take a cup!"
And at once he wrote on.
Read it, and burn it at once. When you went to Hongnong, you visited the tomb of His Highness the King of Hongnong, did you not? Those aiding us have ties to the Tang clan of Hongnong, and to the faction of Her Ladyship the former queen. We are gathering once more the officers and soldiers who went into seclusion in the days of the late emperor and the King of Hongnong.
"!?"
A rabble... this, at least, was no rabble.
This is the moment Cao Cao will be most off his guard, having sent Imperial Uncle Liu away. He too, on the report of Jia Xu, Grand Minister of Agriculture, whom he dispatched to Luoyang, will be sending his own trusted troops to the works restoring Luoyang.
In their own way, these men had wracked their brains and shaped a plan. I read it, and then wrote one last line.
Even if the matter goes wrong, my name will not appear. His Majesty knows that as well — he said he had written me onto the list only in his heart, did he not?
"!?"
Dong Cheng's face went stern as he looked at me.
Does he think I'm measuring my own safety, in a moment like this? Not a chance.
Even so, no matter what happens, within Xudu I will protect the imperial house before all else. I mean to remain a hidden piece. Prepare with absolute thoroughness.
"Mm!"
I finished that, and rose at once.
"Lord Dong, forgive me. Word has come that another guest is in the next room. They say he is the Colonel of the Palace Guard."
"Aiyo — our friend Wang Zifu is here? Shall we have him come and eat with us?"
"Hahaha. I can't stay long in any one seat."
I burned every scrap of the written exchange at once, and went out.