“Intention”: War for the Han Frontier sample (Act I) -- T. P. M. Thorne
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The storyteller waved his hand dismissively and replied, “I don’t really get asked that much,
young man, but to elaborate, Yuan died after he lost, and then Cao Cao defeated Yuan Shao’s sons,
and then Cao went northward and destroyed the Wuhuan tribes, after which he became ‘Chancellor of
State’; Cao then attacked Liu Biao, who died suddenly, and Biao’s son ceded Jing, and-”
“Wait, wait, wait,” the farmer pleaded. “We always hear about Guandu, and Red Cliffs,
and Hefei and Yiling and Wuzhang: can’t we hear about what you just described for a change...? It sounds
interesting enough.”
“That’s a good idea!” a young woman said. “Tell us about the things that happened
between Guandu and Red Cliffs!”
“I wanted to hear about the boats burning,” a boy grumbled.
“...Alright,” the storyteller said. “I think I know enough to tell something halfway
interesting: I’ll begin just after Guandu... now then... let me think...”
The crowd waited patiently while the old man prepared to speak. The story that he would tell would be based upon what he knew: it would be different to the works of ‘Luo Guanzhong’ that would one day serve as the standard, and it would be different to the records penned by historians: this would be a story told in many ways and for many different audiences in the ages to come.
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