Eastern Wu: Realm of the Sun Clan sample (Act I) -- T. P. M. Thorne
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11
It took two days for Bofu’s ally Yu Fan to receive word of his mission
and travel to Yuzhang Prefecture’s capital Nanchang in order to convince
Administrator Hua Xin to abandon his plans to ‘rebel’: Yu was not greeted
warmly, especially after it was announced that Zhou Tai had brought an army
into the region and set up a base and that Jiang Qin was about to do the same.
“You mean to conquer us violently this time?” Hua Xin asked.
Yu Fan looked around the court and said, “I can see that there are many
men here that once disapproved of you and understood my lord Sun Ce; now the
situation is reversed, which is unfortunate.”
“You have not answered my question,” Hua Xin countered.
“…No, because I was distracted by the change of mood,” Yu Fan replied.
“What has Lord Sun Ce done to deserve this? Haven’t Taishi Ci and Zhou Tai,
amongst others, been defending this region against Liu Pan and Huang Zu for the
last few months at least…? The people cheer and offer food to Zhou Tai’s men,
so why is Zhou Tai’s lord - in whose name he does these things - suddenly a
villain…?”
Some of the officials murmured as they pondered the point.
“We are fed up of the violence!”
Hua Xin cried.
“And Lord Sun is not…?” Yu Fan retorted. “I assure you that he is,
Administrator. You are the Administrator,
aren’t you…?”
Hua Xin took the question as a threat and said, “At present, yes.”
“And it is my lord’s hope that you continue
to be the Administrator here,” Yu Fan continued. “We mean you and the people of
Yuzhang no harm. And now that Huang Zu is repelled, there should be no more
violence.”
“…Perhaps I have been wrong,” Hua Xin said.
“It would be easy enough to look at every influential man at the moment
and see something that you should not be seeing,” Yu Fan suggested. “What does
Cao Cao intend…? What does Liu Biao intend…? What does Yuan Shao intend…? My
lord is also an influential man, so your question is justified.”
Hua Xin lowered his head and said, “I know that you are here because my
militia’s movements have been reported to your lord, and perhaps my intention
to write to the capital is known as well. What happens now…?”
“Nothing, if that’s what you want,” Yu Fan replied. “If you intend
nothing, then my lord can intend nothing as well.”
“…Which is, in effect, a choice on my part to surrender again, for my
intent was to fight, as ridiculous as that now seems!” Hua Xin chuckled. “I
surrender…!”
“And Lord Sun will arrive shortly to speak with you, allay your fears,
thank you for your work here and ask you to continue to aid us in the future,”
Yu Fan said.
“I… am grateful,” Hua Xin replied, “and I shall not err again.”
Liu Biao read the report from Jiangxia and threw it to the floor,
screaming like a wild animal as he did so; his adviser Kuai Yue shook his head
and said, “This will, admittedly, be difficult to recover from, my lord.”
“Difficult…?” Liu Biao chortled. “It will be impossible!”
“Nothing is impossible,” Wang Can suggested. “With proper advice, the-”
“My nephew is dead,” Liu Biao
said with tears in his eyes. “I must wear white and apologise to my kin for
robbing them of a son! Huang Zu’s lost his entire
family! All this for one man’s father!
It’s Cao Cao and Xu Province all over again!”
“There must be some way to end this madness… there must be,” Kuai Yue murmured.