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

“Yeah, I know,” Wu Dun replied. “But Yuan Shao and Cao Cao knew one-another as boys and stayed friends their whole young lives… and now look at ‘em. Yu Jin’s a Han lackey, mate, and-”
“And we’re bandits,” Chang Xi interrupted. “I know the way it is. But right now, we’re mates, and that’s a good thing. Can’t hurt to have a man to vouch for us!”
“…In case of what…?” Wu Dun asked cautiously.
“Dunno!” Chang Xi said with a grin. “Now are we going to this meeting or what?”
Wu Dun nodded slowly and followed Chang Xi to Zang Ba’s command tent.

Cao Cao read Yu Jin’s correspondence from Qing Province for a second time and hummed thoughtfully; the majority of his chancellery court waited patiently.
“No Guo Jia again,” the adviser Chen Qun complained. “Sick again, I suppose.”
“Please do not start that again,” Cao Cao sighed. “We had that unplanned trip to Runan that took a lot out of him.”
“Are you going back to Guandu now?” Xun Wenruo asked.
“Mm…? …Oh, uh… yes,” Cao Cao replied as he finished reading Yu Jin’s letter for a third time. “We don’t need to fear Liu Bei or Zang Ba becoming problematic now, so it is time for me to rout Yuan Shao’s force at Cangting.”
“What about the Qiang?” Chen Qun asked.
“Ma Teng and Han Sui are still fighting, and Ma is losing badly,” Xun Gongda reported. “Don’t be surprised to see a plea for refuge or negotiated peace.”
“I thought that Teng’s eldest, Ma Chao, was ‘the new Lü Bu’,” Chen Qun scoffed. “Still… like Lü Bu, he’s but one man.”
“Exactly, and like Bu, he’s dependant on others for success,” Cao Cao said. “So it is your shared belief that Ma Teng will capitulate and Han Sui will not join Yuan Shao?”

“The Qiang respect strength and nothing else,” Xun Wenruo noted. “Even if Ma Teng and Han Sui have become schemers with age, the tribes that they command are unchanged. Neither man could convince the rest to follow Yuan now, not after Guandu and especially after what we’re about to inflict on Yuan at Cangting.”
“Ah, so that’s a main reason why you want to strike Cangting with such haste!” Cao Cao realised. “I feel foolish for not seeing it sooner. We guarantee losing Yuan the support of the Qiang, the Southern Xiongnu and, perhaps, the Wuhuan if we humiliate him again so quickly.”
“While hesitation prompts suspicion of weakness, that our victory was a fluke,” Xun Wenruo replied. “And-”
“And although it wasn’t a fluke, it was because I gave you what you needed to know to destroy Wuchao,” Xu Yòu suggested.
“For which we are eternally and repeatedly grateful,” Xun Wenruo said with poorly-hidden irritation; Cao Cao stifled a smile.
“Yes, but what I meant was that Mengde was going to be smashed without my help, and the Qiang and the rest might figure that out if we’re not careful,” Xu Yòu explained; Cao Cao’s smile was replaced by a stifled scowl. “If it ever got out…”
“And what bribe do you want to keep your silence?” Xiahou Dun asked snidely.
“Yuanrang!” Cao Cao barked.
“It’s my fault,” Xu Yòu insisted. “I didn’t mean to imply that-”

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