Crouching Dragon: The Journey of Zhuge Liang sample (Act I) -- T. P. M. Thorne
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“Xu Shu has already offered to put in a good word for us,” Shi Tao said in agreement. “You’re going against your reputation, taking a big risk by…”
“…Not at all,” Kongming replied calmly. “Lord Liu has in his service some very stalwart, stubborn types that I need to impress. You all know that.”
“Zhang Fei,” Shi Tao snickered. “Didn’t he lose Xu Province for Lord Liu…?”
“Hearsay,” Kongming insisted.
“…Wasn’t he drunk when you met him…?” Cui Zhouping challenged.
“Yes, but most of them were… they’d just won a battle that, had it gone the other way, could have meant annihilation,” Kongming countered. “Zhang Yide is a good man at heart… he dislikes pedants, and I can’t blame him, to be honest… Mister Sun was pompous, arrogant, and cares only for what texts a man has read.”
“…You did tell him that you’re versed in every text worth reading…?” Shi Tao supposed.
Kongming shook his head slowly and grinned.
“…Why not…?” Meng Jian wondered.
“As I told Lord Liu, it is stratagems, not pretty words, that win wars,” Kongming replied. “I saw the Battle of Bowang. I stood on the hill, and watched. I watched Lord Liu ride out to what could have been certain death… I watched the legions of Cao Cao descend on the place… I watched, heard, and smelled them burning alive in the ambush.”
Cui Zhouping, Shi Tao, and Meng Jian balked at the idea.
“…To see such a thing… is sobering,” Kongming admitted. “I heard about Cao Cao’s attacks on Xu Province, but I’d never seen such a thing, so it was a fearful vision, not to be relied upon. To smell burning flesh, hear the screams of the dying… and then, only moments later, watch men shout in triumph at the ‘victory’… and then, after the momentary horror of witnessing a celebration of death, to realise that it was a celebration of life… they had survived, and were glad to be alive.
The deaths… they were necessary to sustain their own lives. To have to think in such a way, I thought, was barbaric… until I mused it further, and then I thought of every animal I have killed to feed a family, clothe a man… and once I saw the parallels, I saw that there is no difference… I ascertained that, cruel though it is, it is Heaven’s design… and who am I to question it…?”
“…But then, if you ‘understand’ this thing, why turn down the offer…?” Meng Jian protested despairingly.
“Because I must have answers ready for Lord Liu’s questions,” Kongming replied casually. “I had none, I realised… I thought I had, but… I didn’t, not really. Now, I know, I truly know… and I must put into words and figures all that I have come to understand, so that when we speak again, I…”
“Uh,” Shi Tao interrupted, as Cui Zhouping and Meng Jian both tried to refrain from bursting into laughter, “you don’t really think he’ll come to you…?”
“…I will present him with my own interpretation of the tripod theorem,” Kongming continued amid groans from the three doubters.
“That theorem is too easily questioned!” Cui Zhouping suggested. “I know that men like Lu Su are bandying it about… but please, Kongming, a smart man like you…? You know, as one of your oldest friends, that I speak frankly because I care about your reputation. …What tripod…? There are currently what, seven notable warlords…?”