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

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“You are testing him, as you said you would,” Yueying explained. “I know that… he has tried asking for assistance, and then directly demanding appraisals… now, he will disappear for a while, ponder what you discussed… his next visit will tell you all that you need to know.”
“Yes,” Kongming snickered. “Will it be another polite, unarmed discussion… or Zhang Fei, two hundred guards and a length of rope to tie me up and drag me across the countryside…?”
“I doubt he’d let his men do that to you,” Yueying giggled.
“…I’m scared,” Kongming admitted. “The conversation we had was as much his testing me as the other way around. In fact, in addition to that, I am plagued with new doubts.”
“…Like what…?” Yueying wondered.
“Until I relayed it in one stroke, single parts of our recent history made sense,” Kongming sighed. “Nownow, I think about it, and it almost makes me want to weep. First, it was everyone against Dong Zhuo and Lü Bu… then it was Yuan Shu, Gongsun Zan and Tao Qian against Yuan Shao, Cao Cao and Liu Biao… then it was Yuan Shu and Lü Bu against Liu Bei, and then Lü Bu and Liu Bei against Yuan Shu, and then Liu Bei against Lü Bu, and then…!”
“I think I see what you are saying,” Yueying giggled. “Although everyone chastises Lü Bu for inconstancy, they are all guilty of it.”
“From where do you derive any trust…?” Kongming wondered. “Look at the current situation: Liu Biao and Liu Bei resist Sun Quan to the south and Cao Cao to the north, while Liu Zhang and Zhang Lu quibble over Yi, and serve no purpose whatsoever. So… so does that mean that Sun Quan - once a vassal of Yuan Shu, who was an enemy of Cao Cao - may now reconcile with Cao Cao to devour Liu Biao and Liu Bei, both of whom were once allies of Cao Cao…? …It is enough to make someone ill.”
“You are having serious doubts,” Yueying noted.
“Yes,” Kongming admitted. “What I am hoping is that Lord Liu will take what I said, realise that his best interests lie in seeking peace with Sun Quan, and do his best to avoid direct conflict with Sun Quan while remaining loyal to Liu Biao, and - I hate to say it - waiting for him to die, since the grudge might die with him.”

“We can only hope,” Yueying said quietly.
“Yes,” Kongming chuckled. “But if he decides to let Liu Biao send him southward to fight Sun Quan…”
“…Ah,” Yueying said numbly.
“It means that he will be fighting not just Sun Quan, but my brother as well,” Kongming said desperately. “Who, then, do I side with…? Do I abandon Jing Province, and go to Jiangdong, and join a seditious rebel who will one day be defeated by Cao Cao…? …Or do I join Lord Liu, and fight my own kin…?”
“You have family in the capital,” Yueying noted. “When you fight Cao Cao, you fight them too.”
“…I know,” Kongming said wearily. “I know.”
“So… what will you do…?” Yueying asked.
Kongming exhaled, and started to fan himself slowly.

It would be several months - almost a year, in fact - until Zhuge Liang, styled Kongming, and known as Crouching Dragon, would need to give the answer to the man that it mattered most to.

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