Chapter 152: A Continuous Stream of Good Shows

The middle-aged scholar and his young servant hurriedly departed from their home, leaving not even a flutter of their sleeves behind, nor adding any magnificent luster to the ink-black night.

Several days later, on a crisp morning as the rising sun cast its initial rays, dozens of Yuan's armored soldiers surrounded the mansion, but no one answered from within for a long time. The officer then broke down the door, only to be startled to find that the place had long since been abandoned.

A few days after that, rumors spread in Youzhou that the two heavyweights, Liu Yu and Gongsun Zan, were growing increasingly estranged. Liu Yu seemed to be withdrawing his subordinate troops and generals while stepping up the resettlement and deployment of the common people. When his entourage reported these unusual signs to Gongsun Zan, Zan laughed and said, "Does that old man Liu Yu dare to stroke a tiger's whiskers?"

Meanwhile, Liu Huangshu's very first boss was not idling either. Holed up in Yizhou—a remote territory where the mountains are high and the emperor is far away—Liu Yu began his pipe dream of hegemony in silence.

He built over a thousand imperial carriages and chariots, using the Son of Heaven's imperial regalia when coming and going. He acted with reckless abandon, and no one dared to rein him in; his ambitions of usurpation were known throughout all of Shu. However, his fellow clan member, Liu Biao, the Governor of Jingzhou also known as Liu Jingsheng, could not stomach it and covertly reported him to the imperial court, hinting at his treacherous plots. Only then did Liu Yu realize he had gone a bit too far, and thereafter he claimed illness and stayed indoors, keeping a much lower profile.

Liu Biao, one of the Eight Junxiu of Jingshang, was far from being idle. In the prime of his life, he did not yet possess that declining, ambition-spent exhaustion he would feel after the Battle of Guandu when he was over sixty years old.

Just the year before, Yuan Shu had dispatched Sun Jian to attack Liu Biao, and Liu Biao had sent Huang Zu, the Administrator of Jiangxia, to meet them in battle around Fancheng and Dengxian. The Tiger of Jiangdong enjoyed a formidable reputation, and having won battle after battle, he grew arrogant and looked down upon the soldiers of Jingzhou. During his retreat, Huang Zu fled into Xian Shan, and Sun Jian pursued him closely by night in the flush of victory, only to be shot dead by stray arrows from Huang Zu's troops lying in ambush among the bamboo groves and thickets. From then on, Yuan Shu never won a victory against Liu Biao again.

Not only that, but Liu Biao made a brilliant move, cutting off the supply route of Yuan Shu, a man who loved nothing more than having his grain cut off. It truly proved that what goes around comes around. Lacking provisions and unable to continue lingering in Nanyang, Yuan Shu had no choice but to head out toward Yanzhou and Yuzhou, charging straight at Cao Ahman, whom he had always despised. Through this campaign, the Jingzhou that Liu Biao had secured via compromises and exchanges of interests with the powerful clans of Jingxian was further consolidated in his hands.

At such a triumphant moment, upon hearing the news of Liu Yu's usurpation, Liu Biao was naturally filled with indignation: "We are all of the Han imperial clan, yet you, a scoundrel isolated in a corner, want to play emperor? What does that make me, Liu Jingsheng, who lords over Jingzhou like a tiger? Report him!"

Now let us look at Yanzhou.

"My Lord!"

Cao Cao put down the bamboo slips and looked up to see a man as tall as a mountain striding in from outside. Although his flowing beard was handsome, it lacked the pristine elegance of Lord Xun. Instead, it exuded a gloomy and unfathomable depth.

"What brings you here, Zhongde?"

This man was Cheng Yu, the very first strategist recruited by Cao Cao after he newly acquired Yanzhou.

Cheng Yu possessed great talent, as everyone in Yanzhou knew. Previously, Liu Dai had repeatedly summoned and recruited him, but he had refused every time. Now that Cao Cao had just arrived in Yanzhou and likewise invited him to take office, Cheng Yu readily agreed on the spot.

Before his departure, his fellow townsmen were extremely puzzled and asked him why his behavior before and after was so contradictory. Cheng Yu merely smiled without a word, and following a single conversation with Cao Cao, he was appointed as the Prefect of Shouzhang.

"Reporting to my Lord, according to intelligence from our spies in Juzhou, Yuan Shao is currently promoting the policy of military agricultural colonies on a large scale, to the extent that even soldiers are being sent down to the fields to attend to farming."

***

Hearing this, Cao Cao's deep pupils circled within his slender eye sockets, then suddenly dilated. "This strategy is brilliant, extremely brilliant! This is certainly not Yuan Shao's own doing. Do you know whose work it is?"

"Zhang Yu from Zhongshan."

"It's Yulang... This is quite unkind of him. Acting like this, how is it any different from taking up an official post?" Cao Cao shook his head. "When I conquer Hebei in the future, I must certainly give him a hard time for this."

"Um... My Lord, regarding this matter—"

"My Lord," another scholar announced himself as he entered.

"Brother Wenruo," Cheng Yu took the initiative to greet him.

"I wouldn't dare. So Zhongde arrived before me." Xun Yu smiled and returned the greeting, then turned to Cao Cao and said, "My Lord, absorbing and reorganizing the Yellow Turbans is currently encountering quite a few obstacles."

"Oh? Things that can stump our Wenruo are truly rare. Tell me about it!"

"Ever since the defeat of the Yellow Turbans, the so-called surrendered soldiers alone number no fewer than two hundred thousand. Naturally, this includes the wounded, the disabled, the elderly, and the young. If we count the actual common people coerced along with them, there are as many as a million."

"A million," Cao Cao frowned, while Xun Yu continued, "If this matter can be properly resolved, our army's strength will become a hundred times greater than it is today, and the grand enterprise of reviving the Han can be expected. However, the key to taking in surrendered soldiers and refugees lies in grain and provisions. In times like these, as long as one ensures the common people have enough to fill their stomachs, their hearts can be sufficiently stabilized. However... how to resolve this link is something I am still pondering. Why not have my Lord summon the gentlemen of your council to discuss it together, pooling our wisdom? Perhaps there will be a fine strategy."

"Hahahaha! Wenruo need not worry, a fine strategy has already been sent to us."

...

Greasy oil, rolling logs, molten excrement...

Pouring down from the city walls of Duchang County as if they cost nothing at all.

However, the agonizing pain of torn flesh did not intimidate this "rabble" in the eyes of the world; instead, it provoked their heart-rending roars.

Tens of thousands of Yellow Turbans surged forward with the momentum of a locust plague, pushing this county seat once more to the forefront of the crisis.

"Great Commander, the city is about to be breached!" an officer said excitedly.

***

Guan Hai stood tall in his saddle, looking at the tottering fortress and then at the fierce, loyal soldiers who had braved life and death by his side. For a moment, his heart swelled with heroic pride.

"Uncle."

"Young Master... Hai has said many times, I am unworthy of such a title."

"Ever since Father, Uncle Ning, and you left with my father, it has been you who guarded Ning through thick and thin. How can I be unworthy of this address?"

Hearing this, a surge of sorrow welled up in Guan Hai's nose. He dismounted from his horse and bowed to the young maiden, saying, "Young Master, wait here a moment and watch Hai take this city for you!"

"Uncle," the young maiden grabbed Guan Hai, who was about to remount. "Ning still does not understand why we must target fortified cities. The world today belongs to the aristocratic clans. If we occupy a city, we will only make ourselves the target of public criticism. In Ning's view, roaming freely among the mountains and rivers is far more suited to our army."

"Young Master," Guan Hai wore a bitter smile. "Our soldiers are mostly hardworking, impoverished common people. If not for the sake of survival, how many would willingly cast aside their lives to rebel? Yet now, several years have passed. The momentum of our army cannot be compared to before, and the fact that we can still form an army is due to the lingering grace of the Great Teacher of Virtue, and furthermore... everyone needs a place to rest."

The young maiden looked at the stalwart man, who had shifted from high-spirited to somewhat dejected and downcast. For a moment she did not know what to say, and finally bit her red lips and said, "If not for Uncle, our righteous army would not be where it is today. Everything shall be as Uncle arranges."

"Good!" Guan Hai quickly recovered from his depressed mood and was about to lead his troops in a charge when he suddenly noticed a tumult of chaos and overturned horses in the rear guard.

"What is the situation!"

"Great Commander, the government reinforcements have arrived!"

The Yellow Turban soldier had barely finished speaking when his head was cleanly sliced off by someone from behind.

"Jia Yang!" Guan Hai roared, spurring his horse to meet the challenger.

Looking at the incoming general: he wore a parrot-green outer robe, a brocaded green cap, and straddled a robust, fine steed. In his hands he wielded—

The Green Dragon Crescent Blade!