I'm forgetful, and Thanksgiving was a bit of a wild ride, so I'm just glad I had this finished earlier. Sorry it hasn't been released yet.
Reviews:
ChenGong91: Lets hope so!
SkullKat90210: Your instincts were right ;D. The person that Zhang Fei saw... Well... Have fun with this one. As for twists, or cliffhanger endings? Well... I won't say any more! The piece on time is very crucial though.
flevantein: Hehe, Yunchang would have to return. The question of Yunchang vs Yide can be shown in a huge # of debates, but the fact of the matter is, we really don't know the details historically - how much of Shu, Wei, and Wu were just legend made into fact rather than vice versa?
Jennifer Wilson: I'll PM you yours, give me a day or two to get it in.
StellarLupine: You'll figure out!
ANYWHO, I'm tired, and I want to send this one out.
~KoS
来 - To come, to arrive, to come round.
Trivia: Zhuge Qiao, a son of Sun Wu's Zhuge Jin, was adopted by Kongming, and served Shu despite his father's reputation in Wu. Qiao's son, Zhuge Pan, returned to Wu after the Zhuge clan there was massacred, in order to continue the lineage.
"My Lord, what do you think?" Cao Cao turned to his cousin Ren, who looked at him with confusion.
"I think there's more to Liu Bei than what is being said." Cao Ren looked even more confused, as the two men walked towards the Cao camp.
"Well, what makes you feel that way?"
"His emotional fluctuations during the fight against Hua Xiong were intense, so much so that they were visible. What was with the changes from pale with dread, to excitement, to confusion? Additionally, he left so soon after his ascension to Lordship, one would expect something is happening with him." Cao Ren nodded as the two of them approached the Cao center of command.
"Oh well… Let's see what the others have found, My Lord." Cao Cao nodded, and walked into the tent.
"My Lord, welcome back." Another cousin, Xiahou Dun, welcomed his Lord back, as the others sitting around the table matched him.
"Brothers-in-arms, what have you found so far?" Cao Hong spoke up first.
"My Lord, after Liu Bei left, I tailed him back to his camp, where I watched Ma Teng's son escort the general who slew Hu Zhen in."
"Describe the general. I want to know exactly who this man is." Cao Hong recollected.
"He was a big man, built like a bear. He had a wiry beard, a flask of alcohol, and a Serpent-Headed spear. His name was… Zhang something. Him and the Ma child seemed friendly enough to each other, laughing about something." Cao Cao's eyes narrowed as he nodded, letting Cao Hong's report sink into his head.
"Who's next?" Yue Jin, a man with dual hookswords and a traditional Han helmet, spoke up.
"My Lord, while drinking with the generals, I found out something interesting." Cao Cao requested for him to speak.
"The leading general under Han Fu, a fellow named Zhang He, was talking about ways to fix economic issues, and several of his solutions seem in line with your ideals – land redistribution, effective management of labor, clever management of time, and all sorts of things. I suspect that if things go sour between him and his lord, we should be well-poised to invite him." Cao Cao nodded and allowed a laugh to escape him.
"So, Han Fu's leading general is more like me than him? That is something that can be used for my ambition…" Yue Jin smiled both externally and internally, before sitting down. The next man, Li Dian, spoke up.
"All of Liu Bei's men have been holed up in their camp, or defending the walls. None of them have taken part of the festivities the others are." Cao Cao nodded sagely.
"Your intuition is usually quite brilliant, Li Dian. What do you think?" Li Mancheng frowned.
"I suspect that Liu Bei is trying to keep his commanders tied down to him – if they saw the wonders of this world, would they really hold onto the little power of Liu Bei's Xiaopei?" Cao Cao nodded, and looked towards his other commanders.
"My Lord, I discovered the presence of an intrepid warrior in the service of Dong Zhuo, who has since contacted us, desiring to serve under your banner." Cao Cao's eyebrows narrowed.
"I'm not exactly the most well-liked figure, who would dare risk defecting from Dong Zhuo to serve a small Cao Cao?" Xiahou Yuan smiled.
"The man's name is Xu Huang, Xu Gongming. He wields a great axe in battle, and believes strongly in the warrior ethos." Cao Cao also smiled and nodded, turning to his final commander – Xiahou Dun, styled Yuanrang.
"My Lord, I have also found the presence of an intrepid warrior, and requested for him to join our services."
"Oh? Who is this warrior?"
"His name is Guan Yu, styled Yunchang. He wields a great crescent moon blade, has a mighty beard, and the visage of a phoenix." Cao Cao blinked.
"What an incredible image! Has this warrior joined?"
"No, my lord. On the contrary, he has insisted on insulting your cause, labelling you slanderous things."
"Oh? Like what?"
"Traitor and Eunuch's Child among other things..." Cao Cao laughed.
"Is betraying Dong Zhuo not something to be proud of? What else has he said?"
"He said that you are nothing more than a weak man who relies on tricks to get what he wants. He labels you a traitor, friend-killer, and refers to you as the most cursed being under heaven." Cao Cao laughed a great deal.
"This man sounds interesting. What happened afterward?"
"I took him on in single combat."
"And?"
"We battled for fifty rounds, but he dismounted me and placed his blade to my neck, but asked me to return to you, to deliver that message."
"Fifty rounds, eh? And still defeated you? Quite a strong one indeed. Anything else?"
"Yes, from what I can tell, he's wandering around Yan province, but looks to be moving towards Jing. As for what his goal is, not even I can tell." Cao Cao nodded and dismissed his commanders. Xiahou Yuan grabbed the arm of his elder cousin and walked outside, as the two of them talked.
"What do you think?"
"I think we'd best make the most of this war. Our Lord can gain a lot of fame very quickly depending on how we act." Xiahou Dun nodded, stroking his small goatee.
"And why would you want to inflate our Lord's power? If he rises to quickly, he will be overestimated, and targeted by forces far larger than what we can handle. I'd rather not have Yuan Shao or Yuan Shu attacking us any time soon, eh?" Xiahou Yuan shook his head.
"On the contrary, we need to speed up our Lord's path of conquest as soon as possible."
"Oh? Is this for our Lord, or a personal reason, Miaocai?" Xiahou Yuan looked his cousin dead in the face.
"I'd rather not be shot down at Dingjun again. If we capture Yizhou before Liu Bei, we won't have to worry about those troublesome generals of his. If we succeed, we can ensure the lives of Dian Wei and Guo Jia remain in our lord's service. We can prevent the battle of Chibi, and eliminate all of the threats to our lord, including Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Sun Quan, Zhou Yu, and whoever else dares stand in the way." Xiahou Dun smirked.
"So you aren't only in it for one cause or the other, but obscure which one is the real cause with description. I should have expected no less, brother." Xiahou Yuan laughed and went off to get some drink, before stopping and turning around.
"You know brother, it's hard to tell, but I think we aren't the only ones to come back."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, Xu Huang wouldn't have sought us out unless he had come back too, and Zhang He didn't adopt those ideals until after he had served in our Lord's forces for a few years. Aside from that, I don't know who else has returned to life."
"It seems that things are different too. I noticed that one of Sun Jian's four generals from this time had already died, and even Liu Bei has a different title, calling himself Governor of Xiaopei! He's no more than a prefect, let alone a governor…" Xiahou Yuan nodded.
"Additionally, why do you think Guan Yu isn't with his brother, and Zhang Fei just arrived today, but Zhao Yun was already with Liu Bei, along with Wei Yan and Ma Chao? Is that not strange?" Xiahou Dun nodded.
"Not even those large changes can stem from us coming back. I suspect several of our enemies may have arrived too."
"It's a shame our Lord hasn't returned."
"Well, you haven't asked him outright. How do you know for sure?"
"Our Lord would have started to recruit men of ability as soon as possible, yet he retained us six like he did back then."
"Let's think about something, brother." The two men sat down.
"Imagine that someone like… Liu Bei or Guan Yu has returned in time. Think about the ruckus that's happened to Liu Bei over the past few years – he's already started to diverge from his old life." Xiahou Yuan nodded.
"Imagine how one of our enemies would react if he knew that Lord Cao had returned? Wouldn't they try to strike him down now, while he's weak?" Xiahou Yuan nodded again, and cut his cousin off.
"So he could be lying low, trying to keep up a façade of unknowing…"
"But that's all speculation. I suspect that he truly hasn't returned, given his lackluster reactions to Zhang Fei and Guan Yu's mention." The Xiahou cousins sighed.
"Oh well. Hopefully sometime we can tell our Lord the truth about what happened. Maybe we can prevent your death at Dingjun too." Xiahou Yuan laughed, and bade his surrogate brother farewell. Little did they know that their conversation wasn't as private as they thought…
"Are you…"
"Shan Fu's merits far outweigh his consequences, and executing a key general in the middle of a campaign would weaken our army and its morale tremendously." As the voice ringed inside his head, Liu Bei thought back.
~Xiaopei, Three Months Earlier~
"Yan-Yan!" Little Liu Hua reached out to Wei Yan, as the young man lifted her up onto his lap. Giggling happily, she flailed her arms around as she turned towards her father. Sitting down, Liu Bei chuckled at the sight of his daughter's large eyes looking right at him.
"Does someone enjoy Wei Yan?" Liu Hua nodded.
"What does Yan do?"
"Yan-Yan helped me learn words!"
"Oh?"
"He taught me the word Hu!"
"Tiger?" Liu Bei turned towards Wei Yan, slightly confused.
"A stranger dropped a picture of a majestic tiger here, asking your lordship to admire it. As I was looking after Lady Hua while the man showed up, I showed her the picture and asked if she knew what it was. As she didn't know, I taught it to her." Liu Bei laughed.
"You teach her words, look after her, and help her with studies? You truly spoil my daughter, Wei Yan!" Both men laughed as Hua looked confusedly between them. At this point, Lady Mi walked in, grabbing young Hua.
"It's time for sleep, isn't it, my little child?" Liu Hua shook her head as she turned towards her father, but her eyes rested on Wei Yan. Frowning, she turned around and babbled happily to her mother. About a minute after, Liu Bei turned towards Wei Yan.
"Just why do you give her such huge measures of kindness anyhow?" Wei Yan looked surprised, as if it was obvious.
"My Lord, was it not you who allowed me to follow my father to war, who allowed me to argue on Shan Fu's behalf, who allowed me to live in your esteemed home and treat me so benevolently?" Liu Bei slowly nodded, agreeing with the points stated.
"How could I, your junior, repay the great gifts that were given to your servant? Thus, as someone with more experience in the world, I should look after and assist your family in any way I can." Liu Bei stood up, and gestured for Wei Yan to follow. As the two of them entered a room and found Zhao Yun sitting nearby, they sat down with the powerful general.
"Ah, Yan, how go your studies and training?" Wei Yan smiled, and the two time travelers asked Yan a variety of questions to test his strategic, civil, and memorization skills. Upon completion, which was several hours afterward, the two older men retired, and the younger sat down on a nice bench, not noticing that he was drowsing off…
About an hour later, the sounds of stuff being moved and feet pitter-pattering on the floor could be heard.
"Oof!" A tiny voice said, as Wei Yan's eyes adjusted to the lack of light.
"Who goes there?" The pitter-pattering came closer.
"Yan-Yan!" Wei Yan, still half asleep, registered that a new, small weight had found itself upon his ankle.
"Lady Hua, what are you doing up so late? You're too young to be awake this hour, never mind without your father's permission!" Liu Hua buried her face in Wei Yan's lower leg.
"But I wanted to play with Yan-Yan!" Sighing, Wei Yan picked up the small child in his arms and returned her to her room, after sternly telling her to go to bed this time.
"Thank you for handling that, Wei Yan." Turning around, Wei Yan was surprised to see Liu Bei standing not too far away, eyes completely adjusted to the darkness.
"After I saw that my daughter was not content with leaving you, I assumed she would show up eventually and wanted to know what would happen." Wei Yan bowed.
"Even still, it is my fault she had such rebellious ideas. I am greatly sorry!" Liu Bei shook his head.
"Nonsense. Even if that were the case, you more than redeemed the issue by fixing it. You shouldn't be losing sleep either though – you're much too young to be staying up the long hours that I and Zilong are awake for. Nodding, Wei Yan left, as Liu Bei looked to the retreating figure.
"Just what's responsible for your change…"
"…Wei Yan?" The figure in the doorway entered, revealing the man who would one day become Wei Yan, styled Wancheng – a powerful general who some believed to be an equal of the Five Tiger Generals of Shu, an impressive feat.
"My Lord, it is… Great to see I am not the only one given another chance." Zhang Fei roared in delight and got a drink for Wancheng, clapping him on his back.
"My Lord, General Zhao, I never would have assumed the two of you met the same kind of fate as General Zhang and myself…"
"Same fate?"
"Betrayal. Were you not betrayed too?" Zhao Yun's eyes narrowed.
"No, why would you think that?"
"General Zhang has come back in time, and he was killed by betrayal, and I was killed too, only much later…"
"Betrayal? Who killed you?" Wei Yan's eyes, shadowed, looked at his lord.
"I was murdered by General Ma Dai on the orders of Prime Minister Zhuge Liang."
I tired.
I need sleep.
As usual, send in thoughts of what you think might happen.
BUT, I have 2 questions you all should think about guessing the answers to;
1. Would Wei Yan's plot to take Chang'an succeed? Why or why not?
2. What is Yunchang doing near Jingzhou?
I like seeing your replies.
Happy Hunting,
KoS