The Shadow Behind the Mask That Veils the Realm

I packed with a generous hand everything I meant to carry into the imperial palace.

"You've prepared thoroughly, I trust?"

"Yes, sir. Down to the last sack."

I had gathered the merchants of the trading house, and the carts they brought in were laden with grain, water, and dried vegetables in ample store—enough to feed an army for days on end.

"Palace Aide, what is all that baggage?"

Xun Yu, Prefect of the Masters of Writing, had caught wind of it and come hurrying from court to find me.

"Tribute for His Majesty. Here."

"Hm?"

I passed him the documents already drawn up by Dong Cheng's faction among the capital officials.

"Hah?"

"I am told it was a memorial raised by the General of the Guards, who protects His Majesty. It seems those who eat and sleep in the inner palace are no longer only eunuchs and palace ladies."

"There is no precedent for this... no, wait. Is this the old institution of the Tiger-Brave Guards, from the reigns of Emperor Guangwu and Emperor Ming?"

Xun Yu cocked his head, and then he let it through.

"Right. You've your pass from the Gentleman of the Privy Treasury, and you've seen the Prefect of the Masters of Writing. Present the goods and get out, quickly."

"Yes, Palace Aide."

"And I'll say this out of an old woman's fussing—don't roll your eyes where you've no business looking. Meet a palace lady's gaze and start fluttering your lashes, and you can look forward to a post in the eunuch bureau over there."

"Eek!"

Under my direction the merchants stacked grain, water jars, and dried side dishes in neat rows through the General of the Guards' offices and the storehouses of the Tiger-Brave Imperial Guards.

"So Baijin has come."

"Brother Yunchang."

Guan Yu broke into a rumbling laugh at the sight of me, then nodded over the heaped grain.

"Overnight we leave our houses behind, to eat and sleep in the most exalted place in the realm."

"You hold the charge of guarding the most exalted person of all."

"Hm."

Guan Yu nodded, and pledged that the Tiger-Brave Guards would take the security of the inner palace in deadly earnest.

"Until our elder brother returns, I will guard our own with my life."

"Right now Brother Yunchang is all I have to lean on. I leave it in your hands."

Leaving Guan Yu planted as the very last variable—that would decide how this affair turned out.

Sili Province. Hongnong Commandery.

"What in the world are we supposed to be combing through out here? Not one suspicious thing in sight."

Soldiers rushed out from Yanzhou were tearing up the length of Sili on orders from the Minister of Works' office. Cao Cao had commanded a fresh suppression of the Black Mountain remnants risen again across the province, and in truth, together with Yang Chou under Zhang Yang, Grand Administrator of Henei, they had crushed the troops of Sui Gu and the rest—former Black Mountain bandits who had submitted to the court. But that was the business of Henei and Henan. It never reached the rest of Sili.

"Forget suspicious men. All we've got are fellows who take one look at us and bolt."

"Still, once we finish the circuit here, we get posted to the Minister's office in the capital, don't we? Pretty girls everywhere, and the pay's supposed to be fat."

"Ah—that business of matching soldiers with no wives and children up with widows?"

The Yanzhou men were snickering their way through a patrol of nothing much, commandery and county and no more, and had settled down to rest in a nearby wood.

"Honestly, we're out patrolling villages. Why are we forbidden to use the inns around here?"

"It's not as if they're afraid we'll be recruited, or—"

A wet chop.

In that instant one of the lounging Yanzhou soldiers took a blade in the throat from behind.

"Wh—what?!"

Steel hissed, and the next man died just as fast beneath the hand of an assassin in a black mask.

The masked warriors checked the corpses, then dragged them straight up into the mountains.

"Confirm the faces. Take their transit tokens in hand."

"Yes, my lord."

"Intelligence says the patrols Cao Cao sent into Sili are mostly raw recruits out of Yanzhou, Dong Commandery, Chenliu, Shanyang, and Jibei. We have to blend in as naturally as we can."

They studied the dead faces. Where there was a scar, they cut a scar into their own. Where there was a mole, they reproduced it in makeup, true to the last. Then they stripped ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the armor, pocketed the unit tokens, and dressed themselves as Yanzhou soldiers.

The operation was carried out with breathtaking nerve—and men from within the Yanzhou army truly did pass into the Minister of Works' forces. It was a substitution worked in secret, only a very few soldiers in each place.

"I hear you are leaving to take up Shanyang as Grand Administrator."

"How did you know that?"

The man I had invited to the private wine house was Cao Ang—eldest son of Cao Cao's principal wife, born of the legitimate line, and the man who had survived Wancheng by sheer luck, thanks to Zhang Fei. He and I were barely acquainted. He had been floated upward on this round of promotions, and an invitation to a wine house left him plainly bewildered.

"It is a modest thing. Please take it with you."

"How could I accept something like this from the Palace Aide? I have no claim to such a gift."

"Do you imagine I am offering gold and jewels in hopes you'll look kindly on me?"

"Ha—haha. Of course not. Your office stands far above mine, and so do your experience and your years, Palace Aide."

In the box lay a copy of the Lüshi Chunqiu I had already read through, and besides that ancient editions of the Analects and the Zhuangzi from before the commentarial collections were compiled. For the long road I had added several bolts of cloth, and one commander's baton, finely carved.

"I have always liked sharing gifts that mean something. Read the books on the way and widen what you've seen, and take a cup here before you go."

"I am grateful, truly... but if I am honest, all of this leaves me at a loss."

Cao Cao had suddenly cleared a Grand Administrator's seat in Yanzhou for his still-young eldest son and packed him off. That being so, this was a gentleman's understanding. Cao Cao had sent Liu Bei and my family on their way; I had no thought of doing Cao Ang any harm on his.

"Go and become a fine commander, and put your will to work for the realm. The deeper your learning, the more you will come to see."

"Thank you. When I return from Yanzhou, I will be certain to call on you, Palace Aide."

"Whenever that may be."

That day I entertained Cao Ang with every courtesy, pressed a great many gifts on him, and sent him off.

The next day, the air in the Minister of Works' office was anything but ordinary. Xun You and Guo Jia, usually so composed, were running themselves ragged, and the Minister's troops moved with a louder clamor still.

"What is all that?"

"The Minister has received an extraordinary gift from Hebei."

"Ah—General of the Guards!"

Dong Cheng, the General of the Guards, had caught my mutter and fallen in beside me to speak in a sidelong murmur.

"What sort of gift has him so delighted he's practically dancing?"

I said it with my eyes on the Minister's office, where military discipline hung sharp as a blade, and Dong Cheng dropped his voice.

"Of the two pillars of Hebei, Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zan, Gongsun Zan has been broken. When the Tower of Yijing fell, Yuan Shao salted the heads of Gongsun Zan and his sons and sent them to Cao Cao at the Minister of Works' office."

The news hit like cold water. Lu Bu was dead. Gongsun Zan was dead. Yuan Shu would die soon enough. One by one, their hour was coming due. And I had no sense yet of how many more would die before the first month of next year—nor of how many of them I might still save. That was the sum I had to work.

Just then the doors of the Minister's office opened, and Cao Cao came out.

Dong Cheng read the moment at once, gave a slight nod, and hurriedly withdrew.

I went quietly toward him, and Cao Cao happened to meet me. Color had risen in his face for an instant; then, as if forcing the poker face back into place, he showed every sign of having just wiped the sweat away. He looked at me, smiled without a sound, and asked.

"You've heard, it seems."

"You mean the news that the rebel Gongsun Zan has been beheaded—the man who slew Lord Liu Yu, Grand Marshal and scion of the Han imperial house?"

"Yet another traitor gone this way. A fine business, truly, when I am the one who must hold Xudu all the firmer, lest the court be shaken."

"The seal of General of the Van that Gongsun Zan held is gone as well. Who succeeds him?"

At that Cao Cao gave a thin laugh and turned the question back on me.

"Palace Aide. Will you take it?"

"I cannot stand in the same rank as Imperial Uncle Liu, the Left General. If he were raised to General of the Flying Cavalry, or of Chariots and Cavalry, or of the Valiant Cavalry—then perhaps."

"Ha—hahahaha!"

Cao Cao stepped closer, nodded, and held out the handkerchief he had been carrying.

"My thanks for the gift you gave my boy. As a father, I owe you that."

He knew.

"If some hard matter comes to you hereafter, I will see one such matter settled. Come find me whenever you ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠wish."

He pressed the handkerchief into my hand, smiled, and was gone.

The sweat off his own hide, and he puts it in my hand? A thing like this belongs as a rag for the floor...?

Huan—the huan that means to change. The huan that means to transfer, to switch one's mount. The huan that means to exchange.

What was I meant to change, and onto what was I meant to switch? Cross over from Liu Bei to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Cao Cao? Remake the court that was coming? Had Cao Cao's own mind changed, here and now?

"...For a rag of a cloth, I do like the one character on it."

Late at night.

Dong Cheng made a round of the courtyard compound where his whole household lodged. From the southern gatehouse through the eastern wing and the western wing he missed nothing, and once he had confirmed the family in the main hall, he entered the banquet hall in the rear garden.

"Imperial In-law, you have come?"

Wang Zifu, Wu Zilan, Chong Ji, Ji Bi, and the others were there—comrades of the blood-oath scroll, every one of them, men who upheld the Emperor's personal rule and had steeled themselves to drive Cao Cao out.

"Everyone is gathered?"

"Yes, Imperial In-law."

"Since Gongsun Zan's head was sent to Cao Cao, he has fallen into a deeper confusion still."

"I'll be honest. On this matter I thought Yuan Shao no different from Cao Cao—and yet it was thoroughly satisfying."

"Just so. Rumor says Cao Cao opened the gift box, saw Gongsun Zan's head, and started in shock. I would have given much to see that face."

Laughter was rising here and there when Dong Cheng checked them and clapped three times.

A hidden passage opened, and men in black masks came out.

"Wh—what is this?"

"Imperial In-law Dong. Who are these men? Assassins?"

At a quiet signal from Dong Cheng they knelt before the ministers—Wang Zifu, Wu Zilan, Chong Ji, Ji Bi, and the rest.

"Dang Mo, formerly of the Feathered Forest Guards, a man of Yingchuan Commandery, presents his respects."

"Oh—oh! The Feathered Forest Guards?"

In the present day the imperial household troops were the Tiger-Brave Guards alone. Originally, beneath the Grand General as supreme commander and the General of the Guards as their direct commander, there had been both the Feathered Forest Guards and the Tiger-Brave Guards. But under Dong Zhuo's regime the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Feathered Forest had in fact been mixed with the Liangzhou army and treated as a powerful minister's private troops, and Li Jue and Guo Si had likewise used that mighty Feathered Forest to twist the imperial house however they pleased.

"We could not take orders from traitors. We scattered, and we have gathered the Feathered Forest Guards again to stand in this place."

"Oh—oh!"

"Even now, across every quarter of Sili, men are moving on secret letters. Once they confirm the imperial edict commanding the traitor's destruction, they will act according to its will."

"Loyal men indeed. You are the loyal men who yet remain."

Even if Liu Bei led a great host away and raised a storm outside, there were those who fretted over facing the might of Cao Cao's Minister's army within. His Majesty would be guarded by the Tiger-Brave Guards—but Dong Cheng's faction had no army of its own to use.

Then Ji Bi, Prefect of the Palace Physicians, quietly raised a hand.

"The Dang clan of Yingchuan, and come from Hongnong... could it be?"

"Forgive us. We cannot speak of our private particulars. Nor, of course, our faces..."

When Dang Mo, standing foremost among the men in black masks, bowed his head and said it, every man there accepted it. The senior ministers in that room were figures from before the present Emperor—from the days of the Prince of Hongnong, who had been deposed, and of his father, the late Emperor Ling. Those who had cause to know, knew.

"The one who leads us will move before long. Until then we will remain hidden to the last within Xudu. We ask only that you wait a little."

"I understand. I will trust your spirit, and your loyal hearts."

Meanwhile Cao Cao's mood had been foul ever since he received Gongsun Zan's severed head as a gift that afternoon. He had put on a face of perfect ease, but even he had not expected Yuan Shao to pacify Hebei at such a speed, and the headache of it dogged him.

"Hah... Yuan Shao is not a man who will ever be content with the whole of Hebei."

"Even so, he is not an opponent we cannot defeat."

"Wenruo. You know better than anyone how wide the gap in strength is between Yuan Shao and me."

"Emperor Guangwu, with ten thousand of the Green Forest Army, defeated the four hundred and twenty thousand of Xin. Huo Qubing, north of the desert, won a great victory with two hundred thousand against a million Xiongnu."

"Heh. Heh heh heh."

Hearing Xun Yu, Cao Cao smiled faintly, as if the ache in his head had eased a little.

"More than that, you must strengthen the watch over all of Sili."

"Wenhe in Luoyang says the same. Have you found some untoward movement?"

"Since you rescued the Son of Heaven in his flight from Chang'an, Li Jue and Guo Si destroyed one another, and Guanzhong fell to waste. Ever since, men-at-arms of military origin whose backgrounds cannot be traced have been on the increase—so says the intelligence of Wenhe, Grand Minister of Agriculture. You must not take it as an ordinary matter."

"True enough. If fellows like that hide away one by one and then come bursting out, they'll be a greater nuisance than rats in the granary."

Lest some uneasy business arise, Cao Cao took the counsel of Xun Yu and Jia Xu and resolved to tighten the watch on Sili still further. Yu Jin, Xu Huang, and Man Chong had already crushed Wang Guang's army in Henei and taken the heads of Sui Gu and Yang Chou; this was a chance, while they were about it, to settle every stretch of Sili south of the Yellow River.

"And what shall we do about Zhang Baijin?"

"I will follow my lord's will."

"That fellow gave Zixiu the Lüshi Chunqiu. How am I meant to take that?"

The time had come for Cao Cao to render a decision, one by one, upon every person he kept stored in his mind.