“Intention”: War for the Han Frontier sample (Act I) -- T. P. M. Thorne
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“Yuan Shao is a buffoon,” Mi Zhu said irritably. “He’ll offer us this
army now, and then Guo Tu, Pang Ji or one of those other idiots that he has
around him will tell him that Lord Liu will steal the borrowed army, ‘just as
Liu Bei steals everything that he borrows’, and then he’ll order us to return
the men, and we’ll be back to where we started.”
“Aiee... how did I end up with
such a reputation?” Liu Bei sighed.
“You were lent the governor’s seal of Xu Province and took the place
over, stole a borrowed army from Cao Cao and got what’s left of this army that
you were sneaking into Jing with from Yuan Shao,” Jian Yong noted. “To the
accuser, just say this: ‘Yes, but I only steal from thieves’.”
Mi Zhu and Mister Sun covered their faces with their sleeves; Guan Yu,
Zhao Yun and Chen Dao lowered their heads to hide their smiles, and Zhang Fei
started to laugh uproariously.
“How can you say that, Xianhe???” Liu Bei complained. “I-! ...I am not a
thief! Tao Qian bequeathed control of Xu to me! Zhao Yun was returning to my
service after a leave of absence! And Yuan Shao gave me two sets of misfits,
not a proper army! Yes, okay, the men that Cao assigned to me were his to begin
with, but-!”
“You’re too touchy,” Jian Yong snickered. “I was joking, Xuande.”
“I’m not a thief,” Liu Bei
insisted. “Cao Cao and Yuan Shao stole everything that they have around them
from everyone else and each other! The men that Yuan Shao would be assigning to
me now would be ‘stolen’ from Han Fu, Liu Yu, Gongsun Zan, Qu Yi-”
“Exactly right,” Jian Yong interrupted. “So, uh... why do you now want to
let him steal you?”
Liu Bei’s eyes wandered.
“If we accept this army, it’ll be as Mi Zhu said,” Jian Yong continued.
“No offence, Mister Sun, but you’re not a strategist. Neither am I, I know, but
I have sort of seen what’s afoot here, and I really don’t trust Yuan Shao’s
character or his judgement. This isn’t about saving the emperor from Cao Cao;
this is about taking the emperor from
Cao Cao. We know that because no good man would ask a wolf to rescue a child,
but Yuan Shao enlisted the Yellow Turbans
to attack Xuchang.”
Liu Bei nodded agreeably.
“Jian Xianhe is, thankfully, being serious at what is a very serious
moment,” Mi Zhu said. “We must be sensible: we don’t have-”
Mi Zhu was interrupted by his younger brother, Mi Fang, who approached
the gathering and said, “They’re
chanting, Lord Liu! We might need to-!”
“Chanting...?” Zhang Fei exclaimed.
“Not... not that-!”
“Yes, the mantra, the Yellow
Turban mantra!” Mi Fang said. “Zhao Yun is trying to calm things down, but
the men, they’re-!”
“Say no more,” Liu Bei interrupted. “Yunchang, Yide...”
Mister Sun coughed deliberately and asked, “And me, Lord Liu...?”
“Stay here with the Mi brothers and continue the debate,” Liu Bei
ordered. “I will be back soon enough.”
Liu Bei’s charismatic young officer Zhao Yun was still trying to maintain order as a small group of Yellow Turban acolytes taunted Liu Bei’s soldiers with the infamous mantra that had been taught to every follower by the founder of the ‘Way of Peace’, Zhang Jue:
“Han’s mandate has passed!
Yellow Sky, soon here!
In this renewing year,
Prosperous all, at last!”
“Prosperous what, you cultist scum???” one soldier screamed as one of Zhao Yun’s junior officers reluctantly restrained him.