Disclaimer: I don't own Dynasty Warrriors or Three Kingdoms.
A/N: Sigh…I can't get back to my main stories for a while since being on hiatus. And yet another one shot that came into my mind….It occur to me that an idea of Zhuge Liang's and Zhao Yun's mutal relationship turns into a disturbing Anti Trust. Could they ever work together…..? This is NOT the Luo Guanzhong, DW take on these two guys, bear that in mind… When it comes to ShuHan, the struggle of redeeming towards the majority is an intense battle for the Han restoration. Two men are going to settle their differences here…
Criticism of Distortion
Post Yi Ling….
I can't get this off my chest since the lord passed away; since our reputations had been jeopardized with the death of Guan Yu and the Yi Ling war. Twenty Years ago before Xuande declared war on Sun Quan, we made a pact before going to Jing for assistance from Liu Biao and met Kongming and his friends. That pact is now demolished. When I first met Kongming, I've been thinking about whether I can trust him on our mission or observe his real motivation.
We initialize the Long Zhong plan just as he planned, but there were doubts I did not bother to question the guy's motivation. Now the position we're in, it's a good time to question the now called 'prime minister'….
At Chengdu castle…
Zhuge Liang is at his office speaking up his plan of rebuilding after Liu Chan's coronation. Jiang Wan, Fei Yi, and Dong Yun were among the four heads of administration of the state. The Sleeping Dragon's confident shows no bounds and nobody doubt his genius. After all his self imaginary godhood becomes an irate. When will Kongming get 'the point'?
Zhao Yun entered the prime minister's council with a face of disinterest on the other ministers. He stare at the most influential man in the era.
"Ah, general I've been expecting you," Zhuge Liang's calm expression continues to be a show of his self imaginary superiority.
He's still staring at him with the eyes of seriousness. The ministers could tell that there's a big debate coming and they're not invited.
"We'll be going to inform the others on the Nanman campaign, Prime Minister," Jiang Wan bowed.
Prime Minister, he got everything he wanted for a war refugee turned carpenter to scholar and finally a high rank minister. He has the whole military authority in his hands, everything since his beginnings. Heaven knows why he's always the most loved in the entire army among the late Imperial Uncle.
Dong Yun, Jiang Wan, and Fei Yi both appear curious of the odd silence in the general. Zhao Yun doesn't mind being looked below their beloved 'prime minister'. The political genius was never doubted, but the military general was doubted. There are signs of munity in their eyes since Liu Bei loss at Yi Ling several former officers of Liu Bei turn against the ill fated lord and it came with a heavy price. Zhuge Liang took the spotlight to quell those who turn against the Imperial Uncle. Here everyone felt their last hope is…the once war refugee turned carpenter to scholar and finally the prime minister.
Almost half an hour he stares at the prime minister. Zhuge Liang now wanders in thought about this man's contributions. He can think all night long because tonight he got nowhere to excuse himself from the consequences of influence.
"My how time surely went strictly, my friend," Zhuge Liang broke the silence.
"Time reverts into history, history follows precedent," Zhao Yun said in a dark tone.
"From time to time, we exist to establish stability to our fallen government," Zhuge Liang sighed.
"Tell me, Kongming. Are you satisfied with the way things are?" Zhao Yun asked.
"Hmm?" Zhuge Liang took the question unnoticed.
"Are you satisfied with the way things are….Prime Minister…?" Zhao Yun asked again.
"Why did you ask? You know I'm not satisfied with Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Fa Zheng, Ma Liang, Ma Chao, and Huang Zhong's deaths," Zhuge Liang glanced at Zhao Yun depressed.
"And Liu Feng….?" Zhao Yun's guttered.
"Liu Feng betrayed Guan Yu…." Zhuge Liang sighed.
"Do you think I believed that after Meng Da switched sides with the usurper, Kongming? I'm not blindly biased compare to you!" Zhao Yun scowled.
"What must be done is to protect our position from rebels…" Zhuge Liang was cutted off with the general's point of view.
"Liu Feng wants forgiveness. Can you accept that?! Can Liu Bei accept forgiveness?! You manipulate the Imperial Uncle to have Feng commit suicide. Anyone with a half wit brain can see the true in it! It's a mockery of our reputation compare to what the usurper did!" Zhao Yun urged.
When Zhao Yun's voice roared, the whole group from a few meters away from the office hurried to hear the conversation.
Wang Ping and Zhang Yi show up wondering what the ministers are doing in front of the Prime Minister's office.
"Hey why are you all grouping in front of the Prime Minister's office?" Wang Ping asked.
"Shhhh! The Prime Minister and General are having an argument!" Jiang Wan said.
"I never heard Zhao Yun this critique talking like that to the Prime Minister. What's going on, Jiang Wan?" Dong Yun asked.
"Just be silence, we don't want to get exposed by the Prime Minister for eavesdropping," Jiang Wan glared at Dong Yun.
"….." Deng Zhi knew Zhao Yun was going to question the Prime Minister's motivations after everything that lead to Liu Bei's demise.
Zhuge Liang rubbed both sides of his forehead trying to admit his political misjudgment and the failure of the Long Zhong plan.
"We're divided, Kongming. Divided and confused. It's like our adversaries finally found a weakness to bring us down. They think ahead of us. Did you expect that?" Zhao Yun nodded.
"……they're evil," Zhuge Liang muttered.
"Was Sun Shang Xiang evil when she was forced to marry a guy she barely knows?" Zhao Yun glared.
"It's significance to our culture," Zhuge Liang countered.
"Arrange marriages didn't come from our culture, Kongming. Some arrange marriages just for the sake of desperation. We put that girl in a terrible dilemma from a guy with a false ambition," Zhao Yun shook his head recapping the days he sighted Shang Xiang's sorrow.
"No offense, Sun Quan deserves to be scorn for his greed, distortion and encouraging the usurper's political advantages," Zhuge Liang crossed his arms smirking at the thought of what his older brother's shame in service of the Sun family.
"Does Sun Shang Xiang deserve it? Zhou Yu after he helped us against Cao Cao at Chi Bi? What about those who were against allying with the Cao family?" Zhao Yun twitched his left eyebrow.
"……"
"What about your brother?" Zhao Yun smirked.
"Leave him out of this," Zhuge Liang slammed his fist on the desk.
"What about your friends who tried to stay in a low profile in Wei?" Zhao Yun added.
"No comment," Zhuge Liang grunted.
"Xu Shu must be weeping on your arrogance," Zhao Yun shook his head.
"Be silent! You have no right to speak to my friend this way!" Zhuge Liang scolded.
"I have every right to speak in my mind and doubt. I have every right as the only man in Shu who beat Cao Cao," Zhao Yun said.
"I'm the Prime Minister, it's not like you to cause dissension in rank!" Zhuge Liang urged.
"Do I even care about rank, Refugee boy?" Zhao Yun crossed his arms becoming more irritated.
"This is part of honor, duty, moral and proper conduct. You, yourself should know better," Zhuge Liang said.
"I know long since I was the kid at the army. You barely started that structure. So, tell me Kongming. What is your ambition? What are you really up to since Big Brother met you?" Zhao Yun asked.
"That's none of your business, Zilong," Zhuge Liang scoffed.
"To pursuit Han restoration, you need a great deal of influence. Does that make sense? Turn yourself into another Cao Cao…" Zhao Yun rolleyed.
"Fame, dignity, inspiration, those kinds of influence can gain the people's acceptance of Han restoration," Zhuge Liang cleared his throat when he phrased.
"How will you compare that to what the Yellow Turban's did? They use the influence of a doctor and their complaints of the over taxation of region lords and the eunuchs corruption," Zhao Yun lean against the wall on his back. He's enjoying this debate with the wisest of all. It felt like a fearless hero challenging the extraordinary genius villain. But, Kongming is no villain and by logic, he is the fearless hero while Zhao Yun just a minority.
"What the Yellow turban's done was sympathetic, but it doesn't change the fact that they terrorize innocent people," Zhuge Liang returned to his seat still upset at Zhao Yun's attitude.
"You think I don't know that? I was there when the whole thing happened. It makes me sad to see corrupted culprits manipulate people into turning against hope of a change in the Han government. It makes me even more angry the same kind of distortion the Cao family did and you know why Kongming?" Zhao Yun hissed.
"….."
"We're like wanted war criminals to them. The same usurper, the son of a murder who disposed Empress Fu stated we're a bunch of petty fugitives of the Cao family law. Same people who take the law into their own hands and no one dare to question their motivation, their loyalty to Emperor Xian," Zhao Yun phrased.
"Corrupted culprits are obvious, Zilong…,." Zhuge Liang sighed.
"But, they're not the criminals….WE ARE! We're disgustingly treated like criminals to them and those in He Bei, Central Plains, Jing Zhou, and Guan Zhong all believed whatever that usurper stated about us!"Zhao Yun cocked his face in front of Zhuge Liang showing the frustration of his life long struggle.
"It doesn't matter, Cao Pi is a tyrant," Zhuge Liang chuckled uncharacteristic.
"The people abide by his ruling! It does matter now!" Zhao Yun shouted.
"….." Zhuge Liang tried to give his opinion on the people who vouche for the change of mandate, but now can't find anything to say about it.
"Dong Zhuo would have done the same and the people will abide by his ruling…." Zhao Yun sighed. His breath took a heavy amount of anger, depression and frustration.
"The coalition just happened, Zilong," Zhuge Liang grew more stress into agreeing with Zhao Yun.
"And the Coalition failed, Kongming. You of all people know why Yuan Shao and I had a deep hostility when he disposed Han Fu," Zhao Yun nodded with a glare.
"It's hard to comprehend Yuan Shao's acitons….." Zhuge Liang twitched his left eyebrow puzzling the relation to Yuan Shao and Dong Zhuo on the matter.
"What if his son Yuan Shang dethroned the Han if Yuan Shao won at Guan Du?" Zhao Yun asked.
"Then he just disowns his family's long years of loyalty and support to the Han dynasty. It's no different what Cao Cao Cao and Cao Pi done," Zhuge Liang fanned himself now regaining his calmness.
"Cao Cao didn't dethrone the Han right? So, why would he even continue to use the Imperial Court to his own self interest, but unexpectedly influence his son to take advantage of the influence?" Zhao Yun threw the question of the influence of two major ministers.
"So he can make his family famous. Cao Cao seeks greater fame for his family to sour the greed of the entire Xiahou/Cao family line of influence in the imperial court," Zhuge Liang glared at Zhao Yun stating the obvious answer to his point of view.
"Easy answer, Kongming. Unfortunately, you know that logic flawed. It's their ancestral family presence moving the capital to Xu Chang. The Cao and Xiahou family use the influence of their friends and people they associate from Qiao, Pu Yang, Du yang, Ru Nan, and Chen Liu," Zhao Yun words soon leave a lot of guys gasping from out of the door.
"I knew it after all this time when I once served Cao Cao for the Han! They'll never get away with that!" Wang Ping became ashame of the true.
"It's alright, Wang Ping. At least, what you did over there was for the Emperor, not Cao Cao," Zhang Yi comforted his comrade.
Returning the debate, Zhao Yun thought he had spoke enough out of his frustration. There's one more thing he didn't mention, but will see if Zhuge Liang could careless of those who never wanted to do anything for the Cao family.
"Zhuge Liang, what are you up to the time you started your career as an inspector? Did you really pursuit titles like Prime Minister after anticipating Emperor Xian's abdication?" Zhao Yun questioned.
"I'm working to my best performance to help the late Imperial Uncle revive the court from Cao Cao. Why don't you believe me that I have a solid purpose to restore the Han dynasty?" Zhuge Liang winced.
"You weren't there to help the Imperial Uncle fight Wu at Yi Ling. It's your mess and I hardly believe you have the same goal as I. You're interest in attention more than what made our lord changed when he subjugated Liu Zhang," Zhao Yun pointed his finger directly at the sleeping dragon on the blame of that crisis.
"You're right, it was my mess. I haven't aide him into strategizing the plan to retake Jing from Wu. While the region is vital for the Long Zhong plan, I felt indifferent to the conflict. Had I joined, our lord would massacre Wu," Zhuge Liang said.
"Right and while I've been arguing with Xuande about declaring that war, Fa Zheng was the only person he could listen to the most," Zhao Yun said.
"Xiaozhi…." Zhuge Liang thought.
"Xiaozhi been the core of Xuande's sudden change of attitude after the Han Zhong war," Zhao Yun said, closing his eyes shut wandering the friendship between the two.
"Two of us were responsible for getting him in power earlier, but Fa Zheng gave him Shu over Liu Zhang for the stake of change in government so we can gain enough influence to oppose Cao Cao," ZhaoYun said.
"That's just like Xiaozhi to come in advent of our lord's cause. Indeed, had Xiaozhi died, Yi ling wouldn't fall and he could restrain our lord from pursuing farther rage on Guan Yu's death," Zhuge Liang agreed.
"……."
The rest of Shu officers murmur quietly then Yang Yi show up with Ma Su wondering why everyone being gathered at the Prime Minister's office.
"What's going on?" Ma Su asked.
"The Prime Minister and General Zhao are arguing," Dong Yun replied.
"How dare did General Zhao question the Prime Minister!" Ma Su scorned.
"Not so loud, Ma Su," Jiang Wan warned.
Wei Yan and Ma Dai show up.
"Oh, look who's the loudest," Yang Yi glared at Wei Yan.
"Duh… So why are you all gathering around? Is Zhuge Liang holding another friendship gathering?" Wei Yan asked.
Everyone stare at him amusingly.
"Idiot…." Yang Yi grumbled.
"So…is the General going to get executed for saying those harsh words to Master Kongming?" Li Hui asked nervously.
"That's absurd, Kongming wouldn't dare to execute the best there is," Wei Yan scoffed.
"Zhao Yun, the best?" Yang Yi twitched eyebrow.
"While Zhao Yun is an excellent warrior and loyalty, but Kongming is god" Ma Su grinned.
"God like and hard to doubt," Ma Dai said.
"They're both unpredictable, so it doesn't matter which of the two are better. Only thing that matters is that they're both Han loyalists and believed to be the power behind this fraction," Deng Zhi said.
Everyone nodded.
Qiao Zhou show up writing a record of the events in Liu Chan's coronation.
"And here is our so called historian," Wei Yan gave an uninterested look.
"Is there something wrong with my annotations? Are you having trouble reading again Wenchang?" Qiao Zhou gave a confused look.
"Nah, your presence just makes me feel unease…." Wei Yan shrugged.
"….."
"Qiao Zhou, I'm glad you made up your mind. Had you joined the Cao family of Wei…." Deng Zhi cut short and imagine Qiao Zhou as a Wei historian.
"I only join because of changing my view on Liu Zhang's disposal and the fact that this is still Han," Qiao Zhou said.
"Meh, you should have joined to write a book about The Battle of Han Zhong and how we kicked Cao Cao's arse," Wei Yan rolleyed.
"Give the scholar a break, Wenchang. He just didn't trust or believed Liu Bei before joining," Ma Dai rebuked.
"Fair enough…" Wei Yan muttered. Someday, historians are going to give Wei Yan a bad name in the future.
Back in Zhuge Liang's office, Zhao Yun and Zhuge Liang continue urging and it came to the mention of the Northern Campaign.
"After we suppress Meng Huo's rebellion, we'll settle our feud with the Cao loyalist and those responsible for Emperor Xian's abdication. I promise you, we'll reinstate Liu Xie so Liu Chan won't have to continue carrying his late father's boredom," Zhuge Liang waved his fan.
"Precisely and you'll let me persuade Cao Rui and other members of the Cao family to surrender once we win," Zhao Yun finished talking and turn to walk to the door.
"I assure you we'll win. I beg you to trust me as a friend," Zhuge Liang commented.
Zhao Yun turns to give one more look at the Sleeping Dragon. Whether he can trust him or not, they must work together. Two of the best Han has left to reclaim its glory. Will this chemistry work? Will Zhao Yun cooperate with the more favorable demeanor left in the Imperial Uncle's wishes?
"Always the favorite Kongming, so do let the late imperial uncle down," Zhao Yun thought.
"Oh! Here he comes now," Wang Ping wobbled.
Everyone quickly excuse themselves as Zhao Yun passes by.
"Grand General Zhao," Deng Zhi bowed.
"……" Zhao Yun didn't greet him back, but gave a sad nod.
"What? What just happened between the Prime Minster and General?" Fei Yi asked.
"It's none of our business anyway, yawn. I'm heading for a drink at the tavern, anyone coming?" Wei Yan scanned at the gathering.
"I'll past…." Jiang Wan excused himself and joined by the other ministers went to the records room.
"It's time I get some sleep before the next shift," Zhang Yi departs.
"Uh…same here," Wang Ping follow suit.
"What a nosey bunch…the Prime Minister will be angry of you guys eavesdropping," Ma Su shook his head.
"It wouldn't bother with Kongming, but we should mind our business," Yang Yi said.
"Aren't Zhao Yun and Zhuge Liang suppose to be best friends?" Dong Yun asked Deng Zhi.
"Sigh…it's hard to give a analyst on their friendship when the two of them are very serious with their differences to ever consider a friendship. Zhao Yun is like the underdog while Zhuge Liang the favorite," Deng Zhi said.
Everyone went their separate ways and the incident ended as they all prepare for Zhuge Liang's campaigns.
The End