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“With all haste,” Liu Bei said. “He is unlikely to attack, but then
again, he is the ‘Hero of Chaos’, to which no normal rules apply, moral or
otherwise.”
Liu Biao nodded gratefully, and after a show of respect to the court,
Liu Bei and his entourage departed.
“…Cao Cao is now unstoppable,” Liu Biao fretted. “I was wrong to
challenge him. But what’s done is done.”
“Indeed,” the politician Huan Jie said. “Now thoughts should turn to
making peace with the court, whatever that might involve.”
The adviser Wang Can laughed and said, “Well put!”
“I will betray no trust,” Liu Biao insisted. “But I will try to make my
peace with His Majesty, yes… not Cao Cao.”
Huan Jie bowed silently and glanced at Wang Can, who nodded purposefully
in response.
Ma Teng summoned his sons to a meeting in his current base, which was
close to the border with Central Province; Ma Chao ignored the request, but his
other sons - Ma Tie and Ma Xiu - arrived promptly.
“…So Chao has decided to forge his own path,” Ma Teng realised. “So be
it. Tie, Xiu, I must do what I must do; this bloodshed cannot go on.”
“Indeed, Father,” Ma Tie replied.
“You are both bold warriors, but three sons against the hordes that
choose to follow Han Sui are not enough,” Ma Teng continued. “Let Chao and his
friends fight their own fight: I hope that it does not cost him too dearly. But
I must try and restore peace, or we’ll lose our lives and our land to the Han,
who will simply wait for us to exhaust ourselves and then snatch Liang from our
dead hands. I will use the Han to prevent that… I will ask Cao Cao to mediate
peace.”
“…A lot of blood has been shed,” Ma Xiu noted.
“I have killed Han Sui’s kin, he has killed mine,” Ma Teng replied. “But
if we don’t want to ruin all that we’ve achieved, it must stop!”
“…As you wish, Father,” Ma Xiu said.
“I don’t wish,” Ma Teng admitted. “But… but sometimes men must choose
between ‘bad’ and ‘worse’, between ‘wrong’ and ‘necessary’… that is one lesson
that is repeatedly, painfully made clear to me. Today I choose ‘bad’, I choose
‘necessary’… I choose to give us hope.”
Ma Tie and Ma Xiu reluctantly agreed to their father’s suggestion; Ma
Teng hurried a letter to Xuchang and hoped that he would receive a speedy
response.
The former bandit Zang Ba was perturbed and irritated when Cao Cao’s
general Yu Jin returned to his base for another meeting.
“If I wasn’t going to defect to Yuan Shao before, I’m certainly not
going to now!” Zang Ba complained. “Why are you back here?”
“Go easy,” Chang Xi said. “He’s alright, Wenze is.”
“Marry him, then,” Sun Guan heckled.
Chang Xi got to his feet and drew a sword as mocking laughter provoked
him to murderous rage, but his friend Wu Dun calmed him, saying, “Find your
sense of humour, Chang.”
“Ha. Ha. Ha. Bloody hilarious,”
Chang Xi growled as he sheathed his sword and took his seat again; he did not
take his eyes off of the fearless, grinning Sun Guan at any point thereafter.