Chasing the Phoenix (27 page)

“She asked for a few more days to think it over. I told her that meant that she had already made up her mind and was angling for an increase in pay. That made her laugh and may well end up costing the emperor money. But she still insisted she needed more time. The Hidden Emperor looked grim when I reported this to him, but said nothing. And you? How go your endeavors?”

“Powerful Locomotive wishes me to read to him,” White Squall said in a disgusted tone. “Love poetry, some of it! If you can imagine. I sat at his bedside for hours while the fate of Crossroads was being decided without me. Every day since, I do the same thing. Then I have to return to my empty room and sleep alone in my cold and joyless bed.”

“It will be easier to drive Prince First-Born Splendor mad with jealousy this way. I take it your lovers' quarrel went well?”

“Too well. Terrible things were said. I cried for hours.”

“Then all is as it should be. Remember what the Bard of Avon said: ‘The course of true love never did run smooth.'”

“Spare me your aphorisms, please. I begin to suspect you make them up.”

*   *   *

THE HIDDEN
Emperor today wore neither bandages nor scarves but a dragon mask, which made him look dangerous and wise. As always when he sat in council, the Phoenix Bride gleamed demurely to his left-hand side. Today, however, a woman veiled in black so that her face could not be seen sat to his right.

It was rarely good news when the Hidden Emperor did something new. Nevertheless, Darger said, as he had planned, “As must be obvious to all, our next move is to use the Three Gorges Fleet to move down the Long River in order to engage with our northern enemies. Twin Cities and the Republic of Central Plains are the only other powers of any significance in central China, and they each have armies the equal of our own Immortals. To meet with one army and defeat it, only to shortly thereafter face a well-rested second force in battle, would be folly. So I propose to fight them both simultaneously.”

So soon after the startling victory that Darger had conjured up out of thin air, no one present was anxious to gainsay the Perfect Strategist. Nevertheless, the room was full of dismayed faces.

At a nod from his master, Capable Servant spread a map on the conference table. Darger continued, “The best and simplest way to arrange this is to write to the heads of both nations, proposing to meet their armies upon a mutually agreed-upon time and location. I shall suggest the floodplains before the city of Opera, with our forces positioned upriver and theirs arrayed before the city.”

That was too much for his audience. Several advisors leaped to their feet.

“This is madness!” General Iron Ridge cried. “You propose to place the Immortals between the river and a lake. To the south, solid land dissolves into a swamp. If we have to retreat, we can go only so far before being boxed in by marshlands. Meanwhile, the enemy will have complete freedom to maneuver. No one should willingly give up advantages of time, surprise, or terrain. Yet you concede all three.”

“As I do not intend to lose, the question of retreat is irrelevant,” Darger said.

“You are fortunate,” General Celestial Beauty said, “no one can deny that. But your luck will not hold forever. We cannot hop from one wildly unlikely stratagem to another, like a child crossing a creek by leaping stones, forever.”

“On the contrary. That is how I have lived my life to date—and if you examine your conscience candidly, you will surely realize it has been your own strategy as well. Yet here we are! Somehow, we seem to be doing well.”

“Sooner or later, one of those stones will be slippery underfoot and you will fall. Luck is impartial.”

“That is why we were put on earth in the first place—to give luck a little partial
shove,
” Darger said. “Cao White Squall, do you have anything to say?”

Rising to her feet, the cao said, “I cannot imagine how the Perfect Strategist hopes for victory with such a plan. But I am sure he will achieve it.”

General Celestial Beauty almost spat. “Faith is no substitute for wisdom. Arrogance is a poor stand-in for competence. And luck is an abstraction—you cannot shove it!”

“If you doubt my ability to apply that shove,” Darger said, “then simply urge the Hidden Emperor not to listen to me. I will abide by his wisdom.”

All turned toward the emperor.

The Hidden Emperor gestured for everybody to be seated, and was obeyed. “There is only one person qualified to pass judgment on such an audacious plan as this. That is our new chief executive officer of the soon-to-be Southern Army.” He turned to the veiled woman. “Shrewd Fox? Tell my advisors what you have told me.”

The former and now current ceo lifted her veil. Her dark eyes glittered with amusement. “I have heard the Perfect Strategist's plan in detail, and I am certain it will work. It is quite simply brilliant. I could not have come up with anything better myself.”

“Then it is approved,” the Hidden Emperor said.

A low moan went through the room. But no one stood to object.

“I shall confer now with the Ceo of the South, the Cao of the Division of Sappers and Archaeologists, and the Acting Ceo of the North. All others may leave.”

*   *   *

WHEN THEY
four (or five, if one counted the Phoenix Bride) were alone, the Hidden Emperor took off his mask and remarked to Darger, “Shrewd Fox told me you offered her money. That was uncharacteristically clumsy of you, Perfect Strategist. A talent such as hers is not to be bought with gold.”

“May I ask, Majesty, what you did offer her?”

The emperor nodded to Shrewd Fox, who said, “The Hidden Emperor has given me permission to accompany you to Opera as an observer, so that I might see with my own eyes the defeat of the enemies I have spent all my adult life fighting.”

“Ahhhhh.”

“But what of the Southern Army, in your absence?” White Squall asked.

“I will leave behind my most trusted subordinates to organize the armed forces still out in the field. In any case, they could not leave Three Gorges while there was yet a military threat from the north. They will also inform the government in exile of the former nation that they are now loyal servants of the Hidden Emperor. Those who embrace their new status will keep their positions in the regional government. The others…” Shrewd Fox shrugged.

Darger nodded sagely. “I see. Shall we go over the order of battle?”

“I am sure it is up to your usual standards,” the Hidden Emperor said. “Shrewd Fox, send for the stenographer.”

The ceo clapped her hands twice. From a small doorway to one side, a servant appeared, notepad in one hand, quill and ink in the other.

“Your plan requires letters of challenge. You may dictate them now.”

Darger swiftly ordered his thoughts, then said, “The first begins:
To my beloved sister, the so-called Chief Speaker of the rebel province styling itself the Republic of Central Plains, greetings
. The second begins:
To my beloved children, the Hereditary Hierarchy of the breakaway state of Twin Cities, greetings
. Then, word-for-word identically hereafter:
Because a state of near-continual war has existed in the heartland of China the Great for over a century, because my subjects cry out to me in their misery, and because peace is a blessing which all men and women devoutly desire, your emperor has come to rectify the state and alleviate the suffering of the people. Alas, there are those who have hardened their hearts against the people, against peace, and against their rightful ruler. Therefore I must take action. On the third day of autumn, on the river plain before Opera, shall three great armies meet, as foreordained. There, an army will be crushed like a nut in the jaws of a dragon. Though my Immortals may retreat before you, do not be deceived. We will turn and fall upon our enemy with the savagery and mercilessness of the fabled Locomotive. Remember this and ponder it well.
Then it should be signed,
The Hidden Emperor, by the Grace and Mandate of Heaven Ruler of All China
.”

Almost imperceptibly, the Hidden Emperor nodded. Darger then said, “How does it sound to you, Cao White Squall?”

“Like a coded letter. One that winks at its recipient as it spouts words it does not expect to be taken on face value.”

“Excellent!” To the stenographer, Darger said, “Make out fine copies and then, after the Hidden Emperor has seen and approved of them, send a messenger with the copy addressed to Twin Cities to the Republic of Central Plains, and another with the Central Plains copy to Twin Cities, as if the letters had been accidentally switched.”

*   *   *

THERE WERE
other matters to be discussed, but the meeting was soon over. As Darger was leaving, the Hidden Emperor said, “A word with you in private, Perfect Strategist.”

“Majesty.”

When they were alone, the emperor said, “Tell me. Do you know what war is?”

Cautiously, Darger replied, “The Sun Tzu of the West defined war as diplomacy by other means.”

“He was wrong. For what is war but a joyful expression of the abundance of life? Wars do not arise during famines, droughts, and times of great poverty. They arise in times of excess. As armloads of fruits and grains and extravagant numbers of sacrificial animals are brought to the altars of the gods in times of great wealth, so too are extravagant numbers of a nation's youth marshaled, trained, and brought to the altar of war. To burn, sir, to burn. In this way we celebrate all that we have been given.”

“I never thought of it that way. But once said, it seems irrefutable.”

“Yet paradoxically you seem determined to fight a war without any deaths. In part, no doubt, this is due to the extreme efficiency of your mathematics. That may be forgiven. Yet you keep Ceo Powerful Locomotive abed—do not dare to interrupt me!—when he is needed on the battlefield. Now, I know that these romantic entanglements you have involved yourself in appear important to you—as doubtless they are, on a merely human level. But I am fighting a war, and I need Powerful Locomotive to stoke the flames. He may be unnecessarily brutal, but that is merely the nature of warfare. Embrace it!”

Darger bowed his head, in part to hide the fear that might otherwise show in his eyes. “Your every word is wisdom, Majesty, and must be obeyed.”

“Yes,” the Hidden Emperor said. “It must.”

*   *   *

“HERE IS
your cane,” Darger told Powerful Locomotive. “Rise and walk.”

The ceo sat up and swung his feet onto the floor but did not stand up. “I don't understand.”

“Simply stated, you have overplayed your sickness. Oh, I do not blame you! It is to your credit that, loathing deceit as you do, when deceit became necessary, you were not very good at it. However, White Squall begins to lose sight of your manly qualities and now perceives you as weak and ineffectual. Therefore, we will tweak the story. You must force yourself from your sickbed and, even though it puts your recovery and indeed your life in grave danger, rejoin the fray. Because your emperor needs you.”

“But what of your plan?”

“It continues. At my direction, White Squall will still spend her free time with you. She will believe that she is doing so to make Prince First-Born Splendor jealous. But exposure to you will slowly turn her heart your way. For, say what you will, he is a pampered hothouse flower while you are a warrior and a man of action. White Squall loves machinery above all other things and therefore will necessarily be drawn to the man who is himself most like a machine. The natural advantage is yours. We need only open her eyes to it.”

“I … see. I find I must apologize again, Perfect Strategist. I had thought you would take advantage of my feigned weakness to seize power for yourself. It was a price that, lovesick as I am, I would willingly pay. But now you relinquish it voluntarily rather than let our plans fall apart. I perceive that you are a true friend who has my best interests at heart.”

“That is no more than what I have been telling you all along. Now get up and let's see you walk with the cane. Wince a little. Not so much! The pain is great, but you are a proud man who tries to hide the fact. That's better.”

“I will be glad to return to the field of combat.”

“Oh, yes. About that. I am afraid that the Hidden Emperor has already approved a plan for our next battle that involves no actual fighting on our part.”

“What!”

“It is a pity, I agree. Still, what's done is done. Now lean on the cane more convincingly. You hold it as if it were a weapon, rather than a prop needed to keep you from falling.”

Powerful Locomotive leaned on the cane a little more convincingly. “I should have known your original plan would not work,” he grumbled. “No man ever won a woman by lying in bed.”

“On the contrary, it is the best imaginable arena in which to win a woman's affections. But, circumstances being what they are, we will have to make do with the battlefield.”

*   *   *

“THE LOUT
is walking again,” White Squall said. “Let me return to my prince.”

Darger grimaced. “With pleasure. You need only acquiesce to his demands that you be his mistress, return with him to Southern Gate, and not kill the woman he makes his wife.”

“I could never promise that last one.”

“Then you must continue to be solicitous to Powerful Locomotive.”

*   *   *

“WHITE SQUALL
spends part of every day with Powerful Locomotive,” Prince First-Born Splendor said.

“That was our strategy, remember? To let her see what the alternative to you looks like. The ceo has all the charm and physical presence of a backhoe. Trust me, she does not much like what she sees. Though, admittedly, many women would.”

“She reads him love poetry.”