[Three Kingdoms 365 · Day 168] Ten Days, a Hundred Thousand — Zhou Yu and Kongming discuss tomorrow dawn’s fog, a predicted river mist

It was the evening two days later. Zhou Yu (周瑜) came up before the door of Kongming's (孔明) room. News of yesterday morning's erasure of the two names of Cai Mao (蔡瑁) and Zhang Yun (張允) had already crossed from the other side of the river to Jiangdong's (江東) main body. The air within Jiangdong had grown lighter. Yet upon Zhou Yu's face, no trace of lightness remained. Before him lay the last night of Kongming's three-day promise.

Zhou Yu bowed his head before the door of the room.

"Sir. The dawn of the three-day promise is tomorrow. Is the preparation complete by this evening?"

Kongming, inside the room, lifted his fan. The tip of the fan inclined lightly toward Zhou Yu.

"Commander. The preparation has been complete since two days ago. Only — one piece of weather is needed. A thick stretch of the river's fog at tomorrow's dawn."

Zhou Yu's eyes narrowed slightly. Weather was not something a man could make. If the fog did not descend at tomorrow's dawn, Kongming's three-day promise would fail. The price of the promise was Kongming's head.

"Sir — you have already confirmed tomorrow's dawn fog."

Kongming lowered his fan.

"I confirmed it on the evening of two days ago. The difference between the wind within the river and the temperature of the river's surface has already determined the thickness of tomorrow's dawn fog. This scholar saw in advance, upon the evening of two days ago, the dawn of the three-day promise."

Zhou Yu's eyes narrowed once more. That a weather forecast could be laid down two days in advance meant that Kongming held a posture able to read the fine difference between the river's wind and surface. The depth of that posture continued the depth of yesterday's signature.

"Very well. At tomorrow's dawn, this commander shall wait in the main body. Sir, go out to the north with the twenty boats."

Kongming bowed his head.

"As is fitting. I shall ask you only one more thing. At tomorrow's dawn's seat, Lu Su (魯肅) will also board a boat. From the Commander's seat at the main body, keep this scholar's breath as a witness."

Zhou Yu smiled slightly. It was a smile in which, upon the trace of suspicion, a layer of light agreement had settled.

"You would keep Lu Sir as a witness. That the depth of your breath is confirmed by Lu Sir's two eyes is also a fine thing. So be it."

Kongming bowed his head once more. Zhou Yu turned and left the front of the room. Behind his back, the weight of tomorrow's dawn trailed long. A commander who has just agreed to a test he set himself walks a little heavier than before.

Inside Kongming's room, Lu Su rose. He had watched the conversation from Kongming's side throughout the evening.

"Sir. Will the fog really descend at tomorrow's dawn? This man has not yet seen any general who, three days before, can see the weather in advance."

Kongming closed his fan.

"Lu Sir. Tomorrow's dawn fog is a fog that is already here. Within the river, that fog is even this evening settling, layer by layer, quietly. Only, this evening it has not yet reached the thickness of one chi (尺); by tomorrow's dawn it will pass one chi. The hour at which it reaches that thickness is the hour of this scholar's breath at tomorrow's dawn."

Lu Su bowed his head. Inside this single line of Kongming, a ledger (帳簿) of nature had already been opened. On one side of that ledger, the line-by-line calculations of wind, water temperature, and fog were already written.

"Understood. I shall board a boat at tomorrow's dawn together. I shall take up, on the Commander's behalf, a seat of witness."

The darkness of evening now fully covered the outside of the room. Upon the surface of the river, a thin layer of fog was already settling. It had not yet reached the thickness of one chi, yet it was a layer traveling toward that thickness.

The ninth evening of Book 6 was closing quietly upon a thin layer of fog. The last night of the three-day promise was settling long upon the surface of the river. At the end of that night, a seat waited in which the one chi of fog of tomorrow's dawn was already present. The thickness was still one thread short of use; yet the thread, too, was being woven upon the water, while the main body slept.

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