Battle Royale of the Sinners

July 5th, 182 A.D.

A strange letter arrived at the government hall in the middle of the morning assembly today. The writing in this letter was rough as if it was written without a proper ink and brush.

"Ganling City is suffering from the bandit Zhang Yan and his mysterious boss. The previous governor and all his troops have been killed by Zhang Yan. The surrounding villages on the region outskirt were thoroughly plundered, and the city itself is about to become a ghost town."

"I'm sending this letter to ask Lord Zhang Jiao to dispatch a troop to assist the remaining citizens of Ganling. I've already sent several letters to the neighbor lords, but all of them ignores my plea. Please help us."

"Signed… Zhao Tian."

The official finished reading the letter and passed it toward Zhang Jiao.

Hearing the name of Zhang Yan, Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang gritted their teeth in resentment. Because of this man, thousands of good soldiers died or crippled in the battle of Anping.

Tong shut his eyes tight to maintain his neutral emotion, but he failed to keep his killing intent from leaking out. He opened his eyes and looked at the messenger.

"The sender of this letter, is he still here?" Tong asked the messenger.

"Yes. He is resting at the guard infirmary depot."

"Huh? Why is he resting there? Aren't there messenger guest houses?"

Tong glanced at his radar map to see the location of the letter sender by instinct. As soon as he read the name of the person, Tong's sight locked onto the name with his eyes wide opened.

"Reporting, the messenger's body is covered with fresh wounds. We afraid that he might die from blood loss, so we took them there for the emergency treatment."

"…Fair enough. Go tell the messenger that I will dispatch the troops to subjugate that bastard Zhang Yan."

"Yes, sir!" The messenger bowed and left.

Zhang Jiao and Lu Zhi stared at Tong after he declared that he would dispatch troops. This was a big move which Tong had not yet consulted with everyone. It was an inappropriate and reckless action.

"Son, we agreed that we have to talk to each other first before we act. Why?" Zhang Jiao reprimanded Tong.

"I have my reasons for this. I'm sorry, father."

"Then let's hear it. Let the others know it, too. You shouldn't keep it all to yourself all the time."

A wry smile appeared on Tong's face as he glanced at his radar map. In the infirmary depot, the name of the messenger shocked Tong to the point that he lost his rationality.

The name of the person was Zhao Yun!

He would become one of Liu Bei's Five Tiger General in the future! This person had too many achievements in the history that could not be described in a few pages. He was also one of the few generals in the turbulence time that died from old age.

'I'd be a fool if I refuse the plea of Zhao Yun! To get him into my clan, even if I have to dive into a fire sea, it is still worth it!'

'I don't know why he faked his name in the letter. Does he not trust me?'

'It doesn't matter. For now, what kind of excuse am I going to tell everyone?'

'Fudge!'

Tong sighed while his brain processed to make up a random story.

"Now that we have Lord Ding Yuan as our ally, we don't have to worry about the neighbor warlords. It's time for us to establish our reputation as a glorious righteous army. The plea of Ganling citizens coincides with our goals and Zhang Yan is also our sworn enemy. We should take this chance as our causes to go to war."

Lu Zhi stepped up to stop Tong. "But we still don't have the intelligence of the mysterious helper of Zhang Yan. Isn't it too rash?"

"That's true. It's rash. It's stupid for many reasons. But because it is stupid, no lord dares to make a move against Zhang Yan. And that's our golden opportunity to make a name for ourselves. In order to raise a new dynasty, we need enough prestige. We need the trust of the people. We want our reputation to rock sky high. That's why we have to risk it! If we don't risk it now and Zhang Yan is defeated by somebody else, this golden opportunity won't appear ever again."

The face of Lu Zhi twitched the moment Tong had said, "In order to raise a new dynasty".

"Have you made your mind, disciple? Are you going to rebel against the Han no matter what?"

The complexion of Zhang Liao, Gao Shun, Zhang Ji, and Zhang Xiu paled. It was their first time to hear that Tong was planning to rebel against the Han Dynasty.

Ding Yuan, however, remained indifferent toward the declaration. He did not have faith in Liu Ping, so why he should bother serving him when he could gain semi-immortality by serving Tong instead.

The "Illuminati" officials supported Zhang Jiao's Yellow Turban in secret while Sima Fang wanted Tong to be the leader of the new flag. They did not care if Tong would bad-mouth the royalties or showed signs of rebellion against the Han Court.

On the other hand, Zhang Jiao and his two brothers got excited. They were waiting for the right time to declare a rebellion.

Lu Zhi squeezed his glabella as he was having a dilemma. He wanted the Han Dynasty to thrive, but Liu Ping was not a good candidate to be the next Emperor. But he did not want to rebel either.

Seeing Lu Zhi's reaction, Tong gave him a bitter smile. He knew what his master was worrying about.

"Master, please don't take it to heart. The name of the dynasty is just a legacy name of the ancestors. From the viewpoint of the local farmers, they don't care who their Emperor is. They only care about their future and their family's stomach. What we should be worrying about is the people of the country. Without the commoners, there will be no noble. Without the citizens, there will be no king. In the end, whether we are nobles or the Emperor of a different dynasty, we are still public servants. We are here to serve the people in the end."

Lu Zhi opened his eyes and gave Tong an angry glare. But he took a deep breath and averted his gaze toward the windows with a sad smile.

"Please forgive us, master."

"Do what you want. But don't count me into it."

He knew and understood that the Han Dynasty was deteriorating and was collapsing from the inside which was the reason why he did not bother protesting Tong anymore.

Like a heart-broken elder, Lu Zhi slowly walked out of the assembly.

He was a loyalist of the Han through and thorough. Lu Zhi was raised to worship the Han Empire and its predecessors. He was educated that he had to maintain the legacy of the ancestors. The attachment to the dynasty was so strong that he still could not get over the loss.

Watching the back of his leaving mentor, Tong knelt down and kowtowed to Lu Zhi on the middle of the hall in silence while all officials were witnessing his actions.

"I'm so sorry, master. I'm so sorry ancestors. In order to maintain our country, we have to change. The Han Dynasty is fated to die. We need a new proper organization and the system for the people. I'm sorry."

The atmosphere in the hall was solemn. Everyone watched Tong as if they understood his intention.

Tong did not kowtow to just apologize to his master, he kowtowed to all the predecessors that upheld the legacy of the Han Empire to beg for their forgiveness.

The sky outside was covered by black clouds as if heaven was listening to their conversation. A thunderbolt landed on top of the government hall, causing the brick on the roof to char black. The thunderous sound roared a second after the lightning bolt, which shocked the eardrums of everyone in the hall.

Raindrops followed after the sound of thunder. It was not a light shower, but a heavy downpour.

Lu Zhi, who almost stepped outside of the hall, gazed to the sky with a wry smile.

'Is the heaven crying or is the heaven stopping me from leaving?'

'Haiz, I'm getting superstitious. I don't care anymore. I want to go home and rest.'

Lu Zhi was about to step outside and bore the rain, another lightning bolt landed on the floor tile that Lu Zhi was about to step on. The thunder sound roared and echoed inside the hall again, which made everyone covered their ears in reflex.

Getting stopped by the sudden lightning bolt and the point-blank thunderous sound, Lu Zhi stumbled two steps back and covered his eyes in dizziness.

Tong rushed forward to help his master in a hurry. He was afraid that Lu Zhi might have been hit by the thunder.

"Master! Are you ok?"

Lu Zhi shook his head. "I'm fine. Just a little dizzy."

"Master, you shouldn't swear or make any promise recklessly. Didn't you see that the last lightning strike was clearly aiming for you? You must have sworn something like you'll get a lightning strike if yo-*PEOK*-oof!"

Lu Zhi gave Tong a hammer fist to the top of his head for the bad-mouthing which made everyone laughed.

"I've never sworn in my life, you stupid disciple! The only time I swear will be now that I swear that I'll beat the shit out of you!"

Lu Zhi repeatedly hammered his fist on Tong in frustration. Despite the violence, everyone continued to laugh at Tong in a merry mood.

…

After giving Tong a few hammer fists, Lu Zhi's mood got better. The same happened with the weather outside as the rain subsided.

Lu Zhi peered at Tong with the corner of his eyes and sighed.

'I guess the heaven wants me to support him. Well, fine then. Since my disciple dares to claim himself as an immortal, I'll be superstitious for once.'

"You'd better be a righteous Emperor, Tong. Or else, I won't forgive you." Lu Zhi muttered to himself before he walked out of the building to return home for the day.