Grand Tutor (1)
"I shall go before His Majesty myself and speak with him."
Yuan Shao's planted scheme had been set in motion. I had predicted as much — but a prediction does not resolve the crisis it foresees. Events began to accelerate with brutal speed. If I wanted to survive, I had to move from this moment on. Without rest.
I sent Zhang Liao to Lü Bu, and dispatched Huchuquan and Xiahou Dun to Dong Zhuo to request support.
The problem was...
"The bastard will play dumb until victory is certain, Khan."
Yuan Shu's usual flippant face and manner had gone grave. He offered me counsel in a voice sunk low.
"You said you'd meet the Emperor yourself because even you know there's no answer to be found here. Don't think about how to deal with Yuan Shao — think about how to move the Emperor."
He really was the one who knew Yuan Shao best. Yuan Shu nudged Cao Cao with his elbow.
"Mengde and I will keep Yuan Shao tied down. But we can't hold him long. So you'd better come up with something — anything — before Yuan Shao moves himself."
I made my way toward the Emperor's tent. Because the Emperor had already proclaimed me his cousin, people cast wary glances my way but did not bar my path. The consideration of the eunuchs, Jian Shuo among them, played its part as well.
When I stepped into Liu Hong's lavish tent, every minister who had followed this far turned their eyes on me.
"My cousin — the Xiongnu Khan, is it?"
Liu Hong greeted me with warmth. The warmth in his voice was less genuine affection than a performance for the ministers. By elevating me, he made them feel just how far beneath me they stood.
I advanced at a quick, mincing pace. I had not yet been granted the privilege of entering the imperial presence without hurrying.
"That's a face with something to say."
"May I speak, Your Majesty?"
"Speak."
"The Princes of Hejian, Anping, Ganling, and Pingyuan have raised troops and begun attacking Taiping Dao."
Unlike me, who had received the news from Ma Yuanyi himself, Liu Hong and his ministers seemed not to have heard it yet. The atmosphere in the tent dropped like a stone — at first from the shock of the news I had brought, and then, as the seconds stretched, from watching Liu Hong's reaction.
Liu Hong's cold words turned on me.
"Rebellion?"
"...Whether it is rebellion or not is for Your Majesty to decide."
One of the ministers jabbed a finger at me.
"Xiongnu Khan! What insolence is this!"
I paid him no mind whatsoever — I barely even knew his name — and continued.
"Your Majesty. It is no longer possible for you to be the master of all under Heaven."
"Khan!"
Liu Hong raised a hand. The minister shut his mouth at once. The displeasure of hearing my insolence was nothing compared to the fear of crossing Liu Hong's will.
Liu Hong lowered his hand and jerked his chin.
"If I am not the master of all under Heaven, then what exactly am I supposed to decide?"
"The four princes have colluded with the gentry of Guandong. Will you become their master and crush Taiping Dao? Or will you become the master of Taiping Dao and crush the Guandong gentry?"
Liu Hong's silence did not last long.
"Tell me the benefit of each."
"If you become master of the four princes, the loyalty of the Guandong gentry will remain as it was. If you become master of Taiping Dao, Your Majesty will truly become the master of the people."
"The old loyalty, or a new one."
A faint smirk tugged at the corner of Liu Hong's mouth. I decided to quote words Liu Hong himself had spoken before.
"The loyalty of the Guandong gentry is no different from the loyalty of vassals of conquered states under the Great Han. They do not believe they owe loyalty because they are people of Han. They are loyal because the House of Han is the victor — and they will withdraw that loyalty the moment the House of Han is defeated."
At my words, several ministers' faces went deathly pale. Whether Liu Hong's perception was true or not, the accusation reflected, at least in part, the posture of that crowd who went by so many names — notables, scholar-officials, gentry, the Pure Stream. The mere fact that they could be seen this way was enough to put some of them in a cold sweat.
"Khan. You would have me take the people of Taiping Dao as my own people. And then, you say, those people of Taiping Dao will finally know themselves as people of the Great Han?"
"That is so."
Sensing that Liu Hong's will had begun to tilt, the ministers started murmuring again.
"Your Majesty! The barbarian's words are cunning! This so-called Khan speaks nothing but sophistry! From ancient times, the gentry have carried Your Majesty's will to every corner of the provinces, and gathered the voices of the ignorant and lowly people to present to Your Majesty the will of the people—"
"The will of the people, gathered by the gentry."
Liu Hong's voice had gone far colder than before. The ministers flinched and shut their mouths again.
"The common people, who would be reduced to vagrants the moment they crossed the gentry — they gather their will and hand it to the gentry? And the gentry merely pass that will along? I find that far more grotesque."
I closed my mouth and waited for Liu Hong's decision. The ministers could only work their jaws in silence.
"All of you, withdraw."
I withdrew from the Emperor's tent and returned to my own. Ma Yuanyi and the Daoist priests turned to look at me as one.
"We wait."
"...Even at this very moment, our Taiping Dao brothers are dying!"
"And so Taiping Dao should rise in rebellion? Right now, you must wait for His Majesty's scales to tip toward Taiping Dao."
In the silence that followed, anxious time crawled by. Then, just as Ma Yuanyi, unable to bear it any longer, sprang to his feet—
"Bao. Come out."
Liu Hong's voice and the nicker of a horse carried from in front of the tent. I stepped outside and saw Liu Hong first, clad in gleaming armor. Behind him, the imperial prince Liu Bian and the eunuch Jian Shuo were armored as well. Behind them stood fewer than ten soldiers Cao Cao had brought.
He selected from the Imperial Guard those untouched by the Pure Stream faction, then. Xiahou Yuan's face flashed among the soldiers. If Xiahou Yuan was the standard, the martial skill of the rest would be considerable.
"Tell the Daoist priests to come out as well."
So saying, Liu Hong mounted his horse with Jian Shuo's assistance.
"Bian. You will ride with your cousin-uncle."
Ah — since I was treated as Liu Hong's cousin, that made me Liu Bian's cousin-uncle.
"You handle a horse better than I do, Bao. So you will protect Bian."
"As you command... but Your Majesty, what is this...?"
"Did you not tell me to make a decision?"
"I did..."
"I have made it."
Hesitantly, watching for cues, Ma Yuanyi and the Daoist priests emerged from my tent. Liu Hong looked down at them and said,
"Guide me to your Great Worthy Teacher. I shall go to him myself."
Hoping Yuan Shu would keep Yuan Shao and the other ministers occupied, we spurred our horses east.
To my Xiongnu eyes, Liu Hong was not much of a horseman. And yet the will to ride without rest until he met Zhang Jue was enormous. His hips, lower back, and thighs must have been screaming, but Liu Hong uttered not a single complaint, his gaze fixed solely on the east.
The problem was Liu Bian. Whether from differences in diet, or because unlike me he had not concentrated on the training and growth of the body, Liu Bian was the same age as I was and yet far smaller. Of course, as an imperial prince, his nutrition far exceeded that of an ordinary Han child — he was taller than they were. But he was smaller than I, who had grown on a diet of meat.
I sat Liu Bian in front of me, as if holding him in my arms, and laid a slab of meat beneath his seat.
"It may feel damp and unpleasant, but without this, your hips and thighs will be chafed raw until you cannot walk. Endure it."
Caught between bewilderment and fear, Liu Bian nodded. I did not bother telling him that the meat he sat on would later become a reasonably well-pressed strip of jerky.
Ma Yuanyi and the Daoist priests were given fresh horses from those the Emperor had brought on his progress — their own mounts were exhausted, he said, and should be allowed to rest. Cao Cao, Xiahou Yuan, Jian Shuo, and the other escorts rode in a ring around us, but it was a perilous road all the same. Above all, the Emperor's golden armor glittered far too brightly. Liu Hong seemed to consider that a risk he would simply have to bear.
We passed straight through Ye County, the seat of Wei Commandery. Liu Hong did not so much as glance at the walls of Ye, driving his horse northeast without pause. Following Ma Yuanyi's guidance, we rode all the way to Guangzong County in Julu Commandery, where Zhang Jue was said to be.
We did not head for the walls of Guangzong County, but toward a vast encampment a short distance to the northwest. Yes — a structure so enormous it could only be called an encampment had been raised there.
"It doesn't look like it's been standing long."
As Cao Cao muttered, Taiping Dao's uprising was on the verge of exploding.
"I asked my brothers for a little more time," Ma Yuanyi said from behind us. "If I did not return, or if word came that I had been executed... I told them to make their decision."
Right. In the original history, Ma Yuanyi was torn apart by chariots in Luoyang, and that became the trigger for Taiping Dao to advance their plans and rise.
"Your Majesty?"
I turned at Jian Shuo's elegant voice — and Liu Hong was riding alone toward the encampment. All of us, myself included, hurriedly followed.
SUPREME PEACE
The Azure Sky Is Dead
The Yellow Sky Shall Rise
Yellow banners bearing those words streamed over the encampment. People in matching yellow headscarves — people who, no matter how you looked at it, were carrying weapons rather than farm tools — were walking toward the camp from every direction.
When a man in golden armor suddenly came riding alone toward the encampment, the Taiping Dao believers could only stare in bewilderment. He looked like a man of rank, yet no ordinary official glittered quite like that — and no official would ride alone toward a Taiping Dao camp that seethed with such ominous force.
As people stopped and stared, Liu Hong drew even closer. Then people came out from the encampment as well.
"Who goes there!"
Liu Hong looked silently at the people thrusting weapons at him, then unfastened his sword and flung it far away. We who followed were stunned — and the people of Taiping Dao seemed equally thrown. Liu Hong even unfastened the strap of his helmet and threw that far away as well. And he cried out.
At Liu Hong's cry, the people of Taiping Dao at first only stared, as if thinking, What mad rambling is this? What madman is this? Then, seeing us approach, they tightened their grips on their weapons again, thrusting them forward as if they might run Liu Hong through at any moment.
"Do not draw your weapons!"
At Liu Hong's shout, we froze. As the Emperor said, drawing weapons here would only make things worse — but if even one of the Taiping Dao believers, already at the peak of their rage, were to lunge and stab the Emperor...
"I have nothing to say to you! I will speak with the Great Worthy Teacher myself!"
"I-if you're the Emperor... d-do you know where this is...?!"
Watching a Taiping Dao believer whose shoulders shook violently, I was just thinking I might need to draw my bow, when suddenly he calmed. A man had walked up behind him without a sound — a man with a face both kind and wise, yet as simple as a farmer's — and gently laid a hand on his shoulder.
After several years, I met Zhang Jue again.