“Turmoil”: Battle for the Han Empire sample (Act I) -- T. P. M. Thorne
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“I don’t need reminding!” Yuan Shao barked. “Yes, I know, I cannot spare my men
for an attack on Xu anyway… not while the bandits and their ally Yufuluo are still so powerful.
We shall have to march west and annihilate them, but that does solve the long-term Liu Bei problem!
What can I do right now?”
“Write to Liu Bei, demanding that he expel or eliminate Lü Bu,” Tian Feng suggested.
“If he disobeys, then we should have the court direct the original arrest edict at him.”
“A sound idea,” Yuan Shao decided. “I’ll write to Liu Bei at once.”
Cao Cao waited until his senior officials had gathered and called a meeting to
discuss Lü Bu and Xu Province.
“Everything that I hate is in one place,” Cao Cao said irritably. “But here I am,
shackled by famine, rampant disease, and my lifelong friend Yuan Shao’s muddle-headedness! I
should be able to leave Xuchang and march east: I should be able to ride into Xu Province, tear
Lü Bu’s tiny heart from his chest, dissect Chen, Wang and Xu for their treachery, and
impale that mat weaver Liu Bei’s head on a spike!”
Xun Gongda expected Cheng Yu to say something, but the adviser sat silently and gave no indication of
his thoughts; Gongda then turned to his uncle, Wenruo, who gestured that he should continue.
“…But that isn’t going to happen,” the adviser Xun Gongda suggested. “Instead,
you’re going to mediate, if you’re going to do anything at all; we agreed that.”
“Yes, yes, I know… we all knew that Bu was going to hide with Liu Bei,” Cao Cao admitted.
“You, Mister Cheng and your uncle Wenruo have already convinced me of the need for calm and
patience. I have a headache again today, and it is vexing me.”
“Some music would soothe you more than tearing Xu Province apart again,” Xun Gongda joked.
“Shall I summon the musicians?”
“No,” Cao Cao replied. “I’ll go and rest. I just hope, Gongda, that you’re
right about those two ending up as enemies; oh! That reminds me: Lu Kang. I wonder if we know more about
that valiant man’s efforts to hold onto Lujiang.”
“Sadly, we do,” Xun Gongda said. “Lu Kang… is dead.”
“Ayah… really…?” Cao Cao lamented. “That man was a good, honest
fellow… a better man than I could ever hope to be. What happened? I know that he tried to remain
neutral in the pointless bickering between the Yuans, and that Yuan Shu didn’t much appreciate it;
so Shu’s army actually managed to break through Old Lu’s famously-solid defences?”
“In the end, Yuan Shu used Sun Ce,” Xun Gongda explained. “It seems that Mister Lu
made a mistake: he refused to see Sun Ce at some point after the man’s father was killed in Jing,
and Ce carried a grudge. His failing to see Sun Ce and his father as anything more than Yuan Shu’s
dogs is the heart of the matter: Sun Ce sieged Lu Kang’s stronghold with such aggression that no
man alive could have held that place, or so Yuan Shu would have us believe. Frankly, I believe it.”
“What a waste,” Cao Cao sighed. “But I cannot castigate young Sun Ce, can I…?
Not after what I have done to Xu Province in the name of my father…”
“Go and rest,” Xun Gongda pleaded.
Cao Cao nodded sadly and withdrew from the hall.
“…Our weakness condemns us,” Xun Gongda muttered.
“…I suppose that ends proceedings: thank you all for attending,” Xun Wenruo declared,
and the majority of the officials dispersed.