Eastern Han Dynasty, not the Three Kingdoms

As night fell, a sudden, urgent summons echoed through the palace. Guards, torches in hand, crisscrossed the corridors, their armor clattering and startling birds from their eaves. The news of the lord's urgent summons spread throughout the palace. Awakening from their sleep, the counselors and generals saw torches snaking like dragons outside their windows. Suspicions welled up in their hearts, and they hurried to the palace, all dressed in their robes.

Inside the meeting hall, Ma Chao's golden crown lay to the ground, his hair ribbon tangled in a jade paperweight. His hair was disheveled, his expression icy, and sweat still stained his wolf-totem armor. Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment. Li Ru took a deep breath and stepped forward, asking, "Your Majesty, has something happened?" Ma Chao unpacked the events of Jiangdong and unfolded a secret letter from Zhou Yu presented by Zhou Shan. The bloodstained handwriting revealed the truth about Sun Ce's assassination at the hands of Sun Quan and the aristocratic families.

"I have lost my brother and his beloved wife," Ma Chao said hoarsely, drumming his knuckles on the table. "I want to conquer Jiangdong. What good plans do you have?"

Xu Shu stepped forward, stroking his three long locks of beard. He tapped the Jingxiang water network on the map with his bamboo cane, making a soft sound: "My lord, please look. Liu Biao holds Jingxiang and controls the strategic point of the Mian River. His subordinate, Kuai Yue, has already deployed twelve grain storages in Xinye." His robe sleeves brushed across the winding Ju River on the map. The candlelight cast the ripples on the water on the palace pillars, swaying like flowing silver snakes. "If our army advances eastward to Jiangdong, we will need to transport grain via the ancient Xiangyang Road. Liu Biao has always been in secret contact with Sun Quan. If we do that, we only need to dig up a river bank, and our 300,000 hu of military supplies will be wasted. What's more, Liu Biao and Sun Quan are secretly plotting to kill General Sun Ce. How can old Liu Biao agree to our request to borrow the road? If we want to send troops to Jiangdong, we will have to fight Liu Biao in Jingxiang!"

Jia Xu gently waved his feather fan, its surface illuminated by the candlelight. "Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zan are battling in Youzhou, and the situation is tense." He suddenly closed the fan and tapped it on Chenliu County on the map. "And Cao Cao is attacking Tao Qian in Xuzhou. Your Majesty has occupied Guanzhong, and we can expect to see a chaotic conflict among the princes. If you march east now, I'm afraid the princes in Guandong will panic. If they unite against Xiliang, or launch a surprise attack after we dispatch our troops, Chang'an will be in danger. Moreover, the walls of Jingxiang are 12 zhang high, and the moat is 5 zhang wide. Since Liu Biao and Sun Quan have teamed up to assassinate General Sun Ce, he must be afraid of your retaliation and has made all the necessary preparations."

Li Ru spread out a scroll of Hanzhong map, where the righteous houses circled in cinnabar were dotted like red dots: "Zhang Lu has just joined, the Five Pecks of Rice Sect followers are still waiting and watching, and Liu Zhang has already sent 30,000 more troops to Jiameng Pass." He scratched his fingernails across the treacherous Chencang Road on the map, where the ancient inscription "The valley is forty miles deep, and the wheels cannot run on the track" was marked with ink. "Now if our army splits up to Jiangdong, Liu Zhang only needs to cut off our Chencang food supply route, and Hanzhong will be plunged into war again." He suddenly lifted the parchment at the corner of the desk, revealing a topographic map of Yizhou underneath. "Looking at the direction of the Minjiang and Fujiang Rivers, if Liu Zhang opens the water to flood Hanzhong, it will be ten times more ruthless than Liu Biao's cutting off of the food supply route."

The candlelight inside the tent suddenly sparked, and the clatter of armor as the generals drew their swords and rose to their feet was like a surging wave. Zhang Liao's iron spear slammed to the ground, shaking the roof tiles. "When have the Western Liang cavalry ever suffered such humiliation? Sun Quan, you scoundrel, poisoned my brother. Do you really think the sabers of my Hexi men are dull?" The Xiongnu bone ornaments peeking out from between his armor jingled; they were spoils of war from the crushing of the Zuo Xian King's court.

Zhang Xiu suddenly drew his sword and slashed at the table, sending pieces of furniture flying under the blade. "Liu Biao, defending Jingxiang with his adobe walls, is worthy of stopping my cavalry? Back then, I defeated Wen Pin in Wancheng and made him flee in disarray. His few soldiers, led by Kuai Yue, were nothing but useless chickens and dogs!" The back of his sword struck the Ju River marker on the map, shaking the entire scroll of parchment.

Li Ru stood up suddenly, his sleeve brushing the candlestick, sending sparks flying from the wick onto Zhang Liao's iron spear. "You're all causing trouble!" He pointed to the Jiangdong border on the map, where his bloody fingernails had torn it, the bamboo slip curling into an arc in his palm. "Back then, Xiang Yu slaughtered 200,000 Qin soldiers because he was 'raising an army out of anger!'" Before he could finish his words, Zhang Liao's iron spear clanged to the ground, and the sparks from the spear tip caught the cloud pattern on the corner of Li Ru's robe.

"Sir, you say we're causing trouble?" Zhang Liao suddenly pulled open the armor on his chest. "When I followed you, my lord, I was just a defeated general, hunted down by Lü Bu and left like a lost dog. But you treated me like a brother, not a rude one." He clenched his fist. "Now that you've lost your beloved wife and your brothers, if we were to be timid, wouldn't we be ashamed even of the Xiliang wind?" Suddenly, a horse neighed outside the tent. It was his snow-capped black horse shovelling at the door, its horseshoes scraping against the bronze rings like the beating of a war drum.

Xu Huang's axe suddenly slammed to the ground, and he moved in front of Ma Chao. "Sun Bofu and my lord once roamed the world together, and their brotherly bond was as strong as gold. In Xiliang, he once said, 'The sons of Jiangdong must die on the battlefield,' and in Jiangdong, he gave his all to help the king lift the siege of Yangzhou." The axe tip picked up Zhou Yu's letter, the ink glowing red in the candlelight. "Now, my own brother has plotted against me. Even my mistress..." His Adam's apple rolled, and he suddenly chopped the axe into the column base. "Such a hero has met such a fate. If we don't avenge him, conspiracies and tricks will flourish in the future, and the world will be full of rats."

Li Ru pointed to the winding Mian River on the map and said, "Liu Biao and Jingxiang are in the way, and there is also a big river blocking the way. Can your sabers cut through the riverbank?"

"Sir, you only know 'raising an army out of anger,' but do you know 'an army in distress will surely prevail?'" Zhang Liao said anxiously, "My lord, you treat us like brothers, and we shall repay you with our lives—" He suddenly sheathed his sword, causing the Xiongnu bone ornaments on the armor to jingle. "If I don't avenge this today, how will the other princes view you? How can my Xiliang Iron Cavalry continue to dominate the world?"

At this moment, the sound of armor plates rubbing against each other could be heard from outside the tent. The entire team of guards suddenly broke open the lattice door. The leader, Ma Xiu and Ma Tie, shouted in unison: "Brother! The Xiliang Iron Cavalry have sharpened their sabers and are ready to obey the king's orders at any time!"

The candlelight flickered in the council hall, illuminating the infuriated eyes of the crowd. Li Ru stood at the foot of the altar, watching the shattered teacups fall as the generals slammed their desks, their glaze streaking glaring white marks on the blue bricks. He moved his sleeves slightly, his fingertips tapping the jade belt at his waist. His gaze slanted towards His Majesty's Dong Bai—the woman was twisting her handkerchief, the pearl on her earlobe trembling with her body, evidently unsettled by the outcry of shared hatred.

His toes scraped over broken porcelain, the soles of his boots making a subtle sound as they scraped against the ground. While the crowd was arguing, he had already approached Dong Bai. From the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of Ma Chao's throbbing neck, his Adam's apple rolling slightly. In a voice only the two of them could hear, he said, "Looking at this, I'm afraid the general is really going to raise an army in anger this time. These generals clamoring for troops, to put it bluntly, they're all just trying to gain military glory." Dong Bai glanced up, seeing the candlelight reflected in his pupils, yet without a trace of warmth. She held back the wrinkles of her skirt, hoisting the moon-white hem of her dress, and stumbled behind the hall pillar, whispering to Li Ru, "What do you mean, uncle?"

Li Ru whispered, "Right now, the Guandong princes are fighting each other. If Your Majesty holds Chang'an as your hegemon, you can intimidate the world. Why bother getting involved in this mess now?"

Dong Bai also said with a little anger: "But with such a deep hatred, if you don't take revenge, won't you be looked down upon by others?"

"Stupid!" Li Ru's bamboo folding fan in his sleeve snapped open, covering half his face. "If we go to war with Jingxiang and Jiangdong now, how can we finish the war in two or three years?"

Dong Bai gnashed his teeth and said, "If you want to fight, then fight. Do you think Xiliang men are afraid of him?" Li Ru said, "You are really confused. If you fight for another two years, will your marriage still be successful? Now I can't persuade the king anymore. I can only go and see if the king's father has rested and let the king's father calm his anger."

When Dong Bai heard that this would affect her marriage, and thought about waiting for another two or three years, she left without hesitation.

Smoke still hung from the bronze crane incense burner in Changxin Palace. As the old servant yawned and raised the curtains, Dong Bai had already smashed open the inner chamber's lattice door. The sable fur coat on the bed had been kicked to the floor. Ma Teng stumbled to his feet, clutching his jade belt. His hair, where the silver hairpin had fallen loose, had a hint of frost. "What are you panicking about, girl?" his voice was hoarse with a hangover. But when he heard, "The general is going to attack Jingzhou," he yanked his mis-fastened jade belt apart, sending the jade buckle clattering to the floor.

As the master and his servants, carrying the infuriating lantern, passed through the winding corridor, the iron horses on the eaves jingled in the night wind. Ma Teng, draped in a dark brocade robe, his exposed ankles stained with straw scraps, said, "That brat's acting stubborn again. The gentlemen all said now's not the time to send troops, but he's being stubborn again. Quick, quick, come with me to stop him." The lantern light reflected in the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, making him look very much like the battle-blackened stone lion outside the council hall.

The scent of sandalwood in the conference room, mixed with the rust of armor, made the veins on Xu Shu's forehead throb. His fingers, gripping the map, dug deep into the Shu brocade, his nails scratching the cinnabar markings marking the Jingxiang border. "If a 200,000-man army marches south to attack Jianghan," he said, his robe brushing the mountain of military reports on the desk, "with Chang'an's thirteen gates, what can we do to stop the wolf-tooth arrows of the Guandong princes?"

Before he finished speaking, Wei Yan's iron boots thudded against the blue bricks. A dark cloak whistled as it swept past the generals on either side. The moment he knelt on one knee, his heart guard clanged against the ground with a resounding clang. "I, your humble servant, request your command to defend Chang'an!" His eyes, blazing beneath his gilded helmet, shook the dragon-shaped caisson ceilings on the eaves.

Xu Shu said, "That's easy to say! Cao Cao has 100,000 troops stationed in Xuchang, and Yuan Shao has 200,000 troops stationed in Jizhou. If either of them invades the west—"

"Please, Mr. Xu, watch me behead the general!" Wei Yan suddenly pulled off his helmet. "Chang'an City is high and thick!" He pounded his fist on the ground. "If Cao Cao comes, I will make sure he never returns. If Yuan Shao comes—"

"What if Yuan and Cao join forces? Yuan Shao and Cao Cao are both from aristocratic families and have always been good friends." Ma Chao's eyes flashed coldly as he looked at Wei Yan with burning gaze.

Wei Yan suddenly burst into laughter, his laughter making the bronze bells on the beams tinkle. He pulled a dagger from his boot, the blade sinking three inches into the pear wood. "Let them try! The stones on the tower are enough to crush a hundred thousand soldiers, and the boiling oil in the city walls is enough to fry a thousand officers." He pointed at the distant palace wall, its battlements glinting like saw teeth in the night. "If you let even one soldier through, I'll hang my head on the Vermillion Bird Gate!"

The fat in the copper lamp suddenly burst into sparks, illuminating the back of Ma Chao's hand, which was pressed against the map. "Excellent!" The sound crashed against the carved beams and then fell back. "Since Wei Wenchang is so courageous," he said, unsheathing his sword with a clang. "The tiger talisman of the Thirteen Gates of Chang'an will be handed over to you tonight!"

Standing beneath the western pillar, Jia Xu suddenly coughed. His bony fingers calculated something in his sleeves, the candlelight flickering in the wrinkles around his eyes. Xu Shu's knuckles whitened as he gripped the feather fan. He twisted the fan bone halfway around in his palm and then stopped abruptly. His eyes swept across the confluence of the Wei River and the Yellow River on the map—where it was densely marked with cinnabar markings for camps. When they exchanged glances, both were filled with helplessness.

"What's good?"

The old voice was like rusty iron scraping against bluestone, grinding all the way in from the copper ring of the temple door.