Cold weather and thin wine are easily blown away by the wind; snow falls, the wind stops, and the road turns back.
Raising his head, he glanced at the golden crow in the sky that was striving to scatter its thin sunlight. Lowering his gaze, he looked at the footprints pressed deep and shallow in the snow.
The mount beneath him stepped leisurely forward. Ahead, Yecheng lay covered in snow, wrapped in silver.
One hand holding the reins while the other lightly patted his own cheeks, Zhang Fei wore a thoroughly embarrassed expression.
But Zhao Yun clearly did not mind much. Instead he brought up another matter.
"If Third Brother comes to the northern lands in the future, you must describe to Yun in detail the prosperous appearance of Luoyang."
"Prosperous?"
Zhang Fei pondered the word with some confusion. Then he remembered the casual conversation he had overheard earlier at that household and immediately understood, though he still shook his head.
"When I return to Luoyang with Elder Brother, at most by the end of summer I will lead troops out on campaign again."
"Counting it all, the reconstruction of Luoyang will not yet have reached a full year. What prosperity could there be worth speaking of?"
Zhao Yun smiled. True to his temperament he did not argue further. Instead he casually asked,
"Where does Third Brother intend to go?"
"Where in our Han realm now is there not a place to win merit and establish achievements?"
Zhang Fei laughed loudly.
"As long as Elder Brother gives the order, even if it means crossing the sea to capture bandits, I will go."
This was no empty boast.
Now that the Proclamation to Restore Han had been issued, the next step would inevitably depend on how Jiangdong responded, and how Jingzhou and Jiaozhou were to be reorganized. Both generals understood this well.
After all, with Jiangdong in its current state, war was unlikely to break out.
But stationing troops to prepare against unexpected developments, and dispatching a fierce general to the lower Yangtze as a deterrent to ensure Jiangdong made no rash moves, was clearly necessary.
On the surface that general would most naturally be General Yunchang. His fame was great, and he was proficient in cavalry, infantry, and naval warfare alike. Even the fleet that the young general Gan Gui relied upon to dominate the river had originally been Yunchang's old troops. This was widely known.
Yet Zhao Yun pondered that in the minds of the strategist and their lord, choosing a good coastal site to build ports and develop maritime affairs might be even more urgent.
After all, how many ship models had Strategist Zhuge already accumulated?
And if one were to oversee maritime affairs, Yunzhang might again be the most suitable candidate.
Compared with Jiangdong matters, which was more important? That was truly difficult to say.
The two brothers chatted idly as they slowly wandered back into Yecheng.
Strictly speaking, this city could be considered one built from the finest elements gathered when both Yuan Shao and Cao Cao successively controlled Hebei. Thus after arriving here, Zhao Yun felt a faint sense of returning home.
Noticing the change in Zhao Yun's expression, Zhang Fei thoughtfully suggested,
"Elder Brother did say that once the thirteen provinces are pacified, the people of Yecheng will disperse again across Hebei, perhaps even build new cities."
"I'll go make a suggestion to Elder Brother. In the future we can choose any place and name it Shijiazhuang, so that the name of Changshan Zhengding will remain known to later generations. What do you think?"
Now Zhao Yun truly did not know what expression to make.
After standing stunned for a moment, he shook his head and decisively skipped the topic. Just then he saw a familiar figure leaving the Yecheng academy ahead, so he raised his hand and called out,
"Boyue!"
Thus Zhuge Dan saw before him the youth who was the same age as himself yet already possessed a courtesy name and had become somewhat renowned in Yecheng. A sincere smile spread across his face.
"General Zhao, General Zhang!"
"Ha! Little Jiang Wei, since this is not the army, calling me Third Uncle would not be improper!"
Zhang Fei dismounted with a laugh. Then he nodded toward the youth standing beside Jiang Wei.
"You must be the strategist's younger cousin. Are you willing to join the army?"
The meeting between the two generals and the two youths ended almost as soon as it began.
Even after parting, Zhuge Dan could not help but turn his head back to look.
The remaining snow and the evening sun illuminated the two fierce generals upon their blue horses, making their departing silhouettes appear even more imposing.
"General Zhang truly matches the rumors. A bold hero who speaks his mind."
The two youths turned into another street while continuing their conversation.
"Just now I thought I should agree to General Zhang."
"Why did you think that?"
"Did you not say on your first day in Yecheng? A man earns fame upon horseback, brandishing his sword across the autumn beyond the frontier."
Hearing Jiang Wei repeat what he had said a month earlier, Zhuge Dan suddenly felt his face flush.
Born in Xingyang, he had grown up hearing his father constantly speak of the name of the Langya Zhuge clan.
In recent years the name most frequently mentioned by his father was that of his clan cousin Zhuge Liang, who served Imperial Uncle Liu and was said to possess the talent to reorder the realm.
Yet in his youth Zhuge Dan had possessed great ambitions and did not wish to rely on this distant connection.
Even the young men of Xingyang could not match his ability. Why should he, Zhuge Dan, not establish achievements and restore the prestige of the Langya Zhuge clan himself?
But he had never imagined that while he did not seek out his clan cousin, Imperial Uncle Liu would instead attack.
When Cao Pi ordered the battlefield to descend upon Xingyang, Zhuge Dan finally discovered that the talents he had boasted of were of no use at all.
In the end he had no choice but to rely on the name of his clan cousin, and with his eloquence managed to use his acquaintance with Strategist Lu to escape the battlefield of Xingyang.
Yet soon after, events unfolded so rapidly that Zhuge Dan could scarcely keep up.
Even on the battlefield at Xingyang he had vaguely realized that the banner of his clan cousin was useful.
But he had never imagined it would be so useful.
People who took the initiative to greet him, to curry favor, to act familiar, came in endless streams.
Likewise there were countless probing inquiries disguised as requests for advice.
Regarding the classics he could still express three or five opinions. In military matters he could decorate his answers with quotations from ancient texts.
But everything else, from construction to geography, from astronomy to mathematics, from medicine and divination to yin and yang, he knew nothing.
The problem was that those who came with questions all naturally assumed he should know these things.
After all,
"You are the younger brother of Strategist Zhuge. How could you not know? Do not deceive me!"
Only after entering Yecheng did he gradually understand those strange attitudes.
Just like the person before him, Jiang Wei, the disciple of his clan cousin.
In the field of classical learning, where Zhuge Dan considered himself most familiar, Jiang Wei's knowledge was like a great river compared with his small stream.
In military strategy, the field where Zhuge Dan could barely rely on borrowed prestige, Jiang Wei's commentary on every battle in recent years was precise and insightful.
Beyond that, mathematics, astronomy, and medicine were all areas Jiang Wei had at least studied somewhat.
Even in martial arts Zhuge Dan had never gained the slightest advantage.
In fact, though they were the same age, Jiang Wei was half a head taller, which made Zhuge Dan feel even more dispirited.
And Jiang Wei had said clearly that compared with his master Zhuge Kongming, his own talents were like the light of a firefly beside the blazing sun.
Furthermore, there was said to be another fellow disciple rarely seen in public named Ma Jun, who had inherited seventy percent of their master's mechanical expertise. Jiang Wei himself admitted he was far inferior.
But even that would have been manageable.
Turning another street corner, Zhuge Dan heard Jiang Wei say, "We've arrived." He lifted his head.
At once he saw a young girl opening the door and waving toward them.
"Boyue, here. Father has already returned."
Then the girl named Zhuge Guo, only a few years younger, turned toward him with a serious expression.
"Uncle has come today to visit my father, but your studies cannot be neglected."
"Did you bring your mathematics booklet with you? It will be checked for correctness shortly."
Zhuge Dan's face immediately became miserable.