Crouching Dragon: The Journey of Zhuge Liang sample (Act I) -- T. P. M. Thorne

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Yes, but they have to be prepared to believe there is a credible threat,” Kongming noted. “Xiahou Dun is a generous, caring man by all accounts, but ruthless and pitiless to his enemies… paradoxical, but there you go. He is hot-headed, violent… he can be angered, tricked into ignoring danger. …Yu Jin and Li Dian, however, are more cautious… that’s why Cao Cao has partnered them, obviously.”
“…You will be joining Liu Bei’s army, then…?” Yueying asked plainly.
“No… not yet,” Kongming sighed as he examined his fan. “I expect that Xu Shu will try and get me noticed, but… such things are a long time coming. …But that’s a good thing! I shall see my family grow before I am called to service; so, in fact, I cannot and should not complain.”
Yueying smiled gratefully.
“I will be setting out in the next couple of days,” Kongming explained. “I’ll be gone a while… in fact, I might stay on if I can, and watch the battle from a safe distance, get an idea about how you command troops from afar.”
“It’s all done with advance orders and signals, like flags,” Yueying supposed.
“…Easier said than done, though,” Kongming snickered as he sipped his tea.
Yueying continued to potter about silently, while Kongming pondered the future.
“…Any interesting news…?” Yueying prompted.
“Oh, right, yes… Sun Ce, the ‘Little Conqueror’ of the south, has been assassinated,” Kongming said thoughtlessly.
Yueying stopped and turned to Kongming with surprise, exclaiming, “Sun Ce…?”
“Yes, it has that effect on everyone,” Kongming chuckled casually as he started to fan himself and make sense of events. “…Sun Quan will do nothing for a while, so Liu Biao is safe from his wrath… for now. Sun Quan has to earn the respect of Sun Ce’s officers, and maybe even Zhou Yu.”

“He’s only young, I expect,” Yueying sighed.
“Very,” Kongming said with a sad smile. “Less than twenty by my reckoning… how can such a youth command respect from veteran warriors and scholars…?”
Yueying hummed thoughtfully, aware that her husband intended the question not just with respect to Sun Quan, but to himself.
“As Xu Shu inadvertently pointed out, Sun Ce’s death threatens to make a mockery of the tripod theory,” Kongming sighed. “It is only with two states in opposition to Cao Cao that the Han can be fully restored… one can only hope Sun Quan is a hero at heart, or his territory will fall to Cao Cao within a decade.”
“…One can only wonder what will happen next,” Yueying said wearily.
“…Whatever happens next, Cao Cao will be at the heart of it,” Kongming replied ominously as he stared at the draft of a map he was drawing. One day, he hoped to present that map as a sign of his hopes for things to come.

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