“Intention”: War for the Han Frontier sample (Act I) -- T. P. M. Thorne

-

JavaScript is off/unavailable on your browser. You will not be able to experience this website as it was intended without JavaScript enabled.

The rest of the bandit leaders mumbled agreeably.
“…Then I have come here needlessly,” Yu Jin said.
“Really…?” Sun Guan chuckled. “I thought you were Cao’s ‘liaison’ man, ‘Wenze’. Didn’t you want to sit with us and ‘liaise’…?”
“Yuan Shao isn’t ‘cold bones’ yet, and I have to do my bit to change that,” Yu Jin retorted. “Yes, that means liaising with you; no, it doesn’t involve looking over your shoulders as you suspect. His Excellency trusts you all, as do I, and so-”
The bandit leader Wu Dun leant forward and said, “Then why’d Cao send you here? If he trusted Xuangao, why’d he send you?”
“…His Excellency trusts you, but he is aware that Yuan Shao is very wealthy and armed with Dong Cheng’s fabricated ‘Girdle Edict’,” Yu Jin explained.
“We know the edict isn’t real, and Heaven knows, man, we’ve said so often enough,” Zang Ba replied. “And when we want Yuan’s money, we won’t wait for him to give it to us, we’ll just take it.”
Yu Jin smiled dryly and asked, “And that’s a consensus…?”
“Stop playing games,” the bandit leader Yin Li heckled. “Cao doesn’t trust us at all! But he can and should!”
“I’m just being playful,” Yu Jin insisted. “You’ll all come to understand me as well as Chang Xi does one day, I hope.”
“Speaking of him, he should be in this meeting,” Zang Ba noted.
“He greeted me at the gates,” Yu Jin said. “He may still be there.”
“I’ll go get him,” Wu Dun said as he got to his feet.
“You can escort Yu Wenze to a guest tent on the way there,” Zang Ba suggested. “I don’t want him thinking we’re not hospitable.”
“I’ll head back to Xiapi, if it’s all the same to you,” Yu Jin said. “Mister Wu can escort me back to the gates.”
“…Alright,” Zang Ba replied; after a thoughtful pause, he clasped his hands together and bowed slightly, adding, “Nice to see you.”
Yu Jin reciprocated the gesture and left the tent with Wu Dun.

“…Honestly, I wish we could tell both o’ those noblemen warlords where to stick it,” Sun Guan complained. “They’re the same in the end, aren’t they…?”
Zang Ba nodded sombrely and said, “They are, Zhongtai. But Cao’s gonna win, and that means we have to be nice to him until we know whether we should be.”
Yin Li shook his head and said, “I don’t want to go back to fighting from the hills now. I just hope that Cao’s not another Dong Zhuo.”
“He isn’t,” Zang Ba insisted. “It might seem like it, what with the stuff about killing the emperor’s consort an’ all, but he isn’t. Yuan Shao, though… he’s not much different to his brother, and there’s no way I’m answering his silly letter with anything other than ‘Get lost’ or ‘Drop dead’.”
“Agreed,” Yin Li said. “Are we all signing the reply?”
“If you want!” Zang Ba chuckled.
     Chang Xi patted Yu Jin’s arm as the two walked through the camp gates and said, “I was looking forward to that drink, Wenze, but you have orders and I have meetings. Pity…”
“There’ll be other times!” Yu Jin replied. “Now go, before Wu Dun burns a hole in the back of your head with that angry gaze of his.”
Chang Xi laughed, slapped Yu Jin’s arm and returned to the camp.
“You an’ him are pretty pally, Chang,” Wu Dun noted as he watched Yu Jin’s party disappear.
“He’s a good sort,” Chang Xi replied. “He’s a Juping man, from Juping in Mount Tai! Turns out we knew each other as boys!”

<< Main Product Page

<< Previous Page

Next Page >>