“Turmoil”: Battle for the Han Empire sample (Act I) -- T. P. M. Thorne
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“…But Chen Gong might abandon Bu and join us,” Mister Sun suggested.
“Unlikely,” Chen Qun said. “We’re powerless against Cao Cao’s full forces, while Bu was able to stay in
Yan for what, a year…? …If not for the locusts, he’d probably still be there, and maybe he’d have won. Think what
Bu could do to us, then, if Chen Gong agreed to help him. We must be careful in dealing with such men… we must use them to our advantage,
as a buffer against Cao Cao.”
“Lü Bu personally aided in the slaughter of the Yuan clan,” Guan Yu noted. “His sanctioned presence might
trigger military action against us by one or even both of the brothers, separately or even coordinated. We must be prepared for
such things as well. Yuan Shao might ask Cao Cao to resume his attacks on us, or even-”
“Ayah! Why does Heaven hate me???” Liu Bei cried. “Has my allotted time as a man of means expired…? Is
this a sign that I must return to my mats and sandals…?”
Chen Qun scoffed discreetly in response to Liu Bei’s outburst.
“…I would not take it so personally, Governor Liu,” Chen Yuanfang said carefully. “I would take it as
being Xu Province’s burden to bear, rather than yours alone. Tao Qian no doubt wondered if it was a curse, as you do.”
“…Yes, I am being selfish,” Liu Bei conceded as he turned to face Chen Yuanfang; he clasped his hands together
and bowed slightly before he added, “I must do what is right for the province… whatever that might be.”
“And the choices are, sadly, poor, one and all, and each fraught with its own dangers,” Chen Qun said. “The
first is to oppose Lü Bu without requesting any help: that will doubtlessly lead to more desertions than those we’ve suffered
from abandoning Gongsun Zan, our army’s true master, and almost surely lead to our losing the province by surrender or death.”
Liu Bei shook his head and said, “A route with next to no chance of victory is not at all sound. What is the second choice?”
“The second is to oppose Lü Bu after requesting the help of Yuan Shao,” Chen Qun continued. “The first and most
obvious risk is whether that aid will arrive before we are outed and routed. The second is what we would have to concede to gain the aid,
and that might mean losing the province anyway if Yuan Shao decides that we are unfit to remain here. The third is what form the aid - if any -
will take: a good officer is unlikely to be spared, so will one of Yuan’s pampered younger sons come here, or one of his toady officials,
or will he send Cao Cao…?”
“Aiee… forget that choice,” Liu Bei insisted. “What is the third…?”
“The third is to renege on our agreement with Yuan Shao and form a new alliance with Yuan Shu that would allow us to reduce desertions
and perhaps call upon Gongsun to send more men to support us here,” Chen Qun continued. “That, of course, would be the ideal
outcome, which is highly unlikely: it also allows Yuan Shu to demand that we cede the province to him, and that’s if he doesn’t just
tell Bu that he can stay here and-”
“Ayah! Why bother with this list of ever-worsening ‘choices’?” Liu Bei cried. “‘Choice four’
is to make peace with Yuan Shu and Bu and have Yuan Shao and Cao Cao immediately descend upon us, and lose the province to them or our
‘allies’. I think we can guess the fifth and last one, but go ahead and tell us anyway.”