Battle Royale of the Sinners

July 14th, 6 PM.

After a day of marching, the soldiers set down a temporary camp on the plain.

Tong summoned Zhao Yun and other generals into the command tent. He had to inquire about the information about Ganling City, Zhang Yan, and the mysterious person behind the bandits.

Li Feihong, Zhang Liao, Gao Shun, Zhang Ji, Zhang Xiu, Bo Cai, and Zhao Yun arrived at the tent within a few minutes. They were also interested in the reason behind the fall of the city.

"Go ahead, Zhao Tian. Tell us what you know about the city."

"Err. Where do I start?" Zhao Yun was nervous by the stare of all veteran generals and commanders. It was his first time in the army.

"How did the city fall under the control of Zhang Yan? Do you know anything about it?"

Zhao Yun nodded.

"I was there when he attacked the city. It happened in the middle of the night. There were millions of bandits all over the city and attacked the guards."

Li Feihong and Tong cringed.

'Millions of bandits?'

'This is exaggerating. Is his brain alright?'

Zhao Yun continued. "Those bandits were mysterious. The soldiers attacked them but they could not land a hit on their body. But the bandits could actually attack the guards. I also tried to fend them off, but all of my strikes went through their body as if cut through thin air."

"Hold it. You're telling me all your attacks went pass their body, right?"

"Yes."

"But their weapons could hurt you?"

"Yes."

Tong and Li Feihong glanced at each other. They guessed that this should be an illusion spell or something similar.

Li Feihong whispered to Tong. "Was it an illusion?"

"I think so. We're probably up against another otherworlder again."

"Crap. Why can't they just live in peace? Why are they keep showing in front of us?"

"The year 184 is getting close and the system is encouraging us to kill each other. I think every reincarnators should have started making a move now. We are going to see more of them in the future if we make a contact with famous warlords like Cao Cao or Sun Jian. Let's be careful about those guys."

"Aye, will do."

Zhao Yun continued to narrate the story. After the illusion army of bandit overwhelmed the garrison guards and took over the city, they disappeared into thin air, leaving only a thousand bandits behind. Zhang Yan and their mysterious boss were also with them.

Without any protection, the bandits ransacked, ravished, and plundered all civilians inside the city.

Zhao Yun and a few of his friends and volunteer townsmen attempted to fight back, but they were outnumbered. His volunteer group was routed in the end which he managed to scrap his life outside of the city in one piece.

Zhao Yun changed his strategy. He tried to take revenge on Zhang Yan and his boss by assassinating them. He almost succeeded as he managed to thrust his spear into the heart of Zhang Yan's boss.

Yet a strange thing happened.

The body of Zhang Yan's boss transformed into a log with clothes, and he reappeared again on a distance away from Zhao Yun. Because he failed to land the killing blow on the person, Zhao Yun was chased by the bandits.

At this point, Tong and Li Feihong had a solemn expression on their face.

"Transformed into a log… that's a ninja, right?" Tong whispered Li Feihong with a cringed smile.

"Illusion power and that log transforming escape technique, that guy is 100% a ninja."

"Yeah, a ninja from the U**ha Clan to boot."

"Do you think he can use Susa*** too?"

"He'd better not. Or we're fOOked."

Zhang Liao raised his hand to stop Zhao Yun and asked him.

"What about the neighbor lords? Have they tried to reclaim the city?"

Zhao Yun nodded. "They did. But they suffered the same fate as the city guards. The thousand of bandits multiplied themselves into millions of bandits and overwhelmed all forces with their numbers. None of them can reach the wall of the city."

"But you can fight them, right? You've survived for so long."

"… I can only assassinate them after the million men army dispersed. I tried my best to reduce their number or kill their boss, but I always failed."

"How strong is their leader? Compare it with your strength?" Asked Tong.

Zhao Yun closed his eyes to recollect his memories. The images of the boss' movement appeared in his mind.

"He's not strong. But his abnormal speed and his log transformation always saved his life in the crucial moment. I should have killed him 7 times already but he always escaped."

"Aside from the million bandits and his escape skill, is there anything else unusual about him?"

Zhao Yun shook his head. "No."

Tong smiled and sighed in relief. If that person had more skills, Tong would have a headache trying to deal with this otherworlder. Since he only had this illusion skill and the escape skill, Tong and Li Feihong could use the tag-team gate-assassination tactic to deal with this guy. As for the rest of the bandits, his soldiers could handle them.

…

…

August 1st.

The signs of drought appeared on farmlands around the northern territories. The farmers had a hard time trying to irrigate their responsible farms. More than half of the crops withered from the lack of water.

The rivers, their underground well, and their reserved water ponds dried to the bottom. Not only they did not have enough water for the farms, but they also did not have enough water for their daily consumption.

The calamity was about to begin.

Tong frowned at the sight of the dry land. Last month, it rained on Julu territories. After he asked around the local villages, he learned that other places had not rained for almost half a year. It appeared that the deforestation and the farmland expansion around the northern plain was the reason for this unusual weather.

Tong's army of 40,000 soldiers and 10,000 logistic soldiers passed through many villages along the way. The villagers were in a bad shape as they lacked water and proper food. For every 10 villages they passed by, at least three villages suffered from the food and water shortage.

"Sir, please give us food."

"Please. Give this child food."

The picture Tong and his soldiers saw was nothing but a tragedy. A skinny old man groveled down to the ground to beg for food. A pale mother carrying a dead child sat in despair on the side of the road. And a young dirty girl in the age of 10 who wore only a thin rag stood at the side of the road, calling any soldier that passed by.

"Please give me water or food. I'll do anything you want."

Li Feihong shut his eyes tight as he did not want to fall into the temptation. On the other hand, Tong observed the situation around the village with a deep frown.

"Men, as usual. Distribute our provision and water to the villagers."

"Understood, sir!"

Each time Tong saw a dying village, he would distribute food and water to the hungry villagers.

He did not donate food because he wanted to help them or for humane reasons, Tong wanted them to spread words and rumors. In order to get the favor and support from the surrounding civilians on the northern area of China, a good reputation was required.

Just like Liu Bei did in the historical timeline, Tong had to demonstrate that his force was righteous, kind, and friendly to the commoners. Most importantly, Zhan Yun was watching him by his side, so Tong could not ignore the pleas of the villagers.

"Will you have enough provision? This is the sixteenth village that you have given away your food." Zhao Yun voiced out his concern.

Instead of agreeing with Zhao Yun's comment, Li Feihong laughed.

"You don't have to worry about supplies. As long as this man is here, food and water are the least of our worries."

Li Feihong laughed and coughed while he enjoyed the reaction of Zhao Yun. Even without Tong, he could also resupply the army with the food from his private world farms. If it was not that he was low on lifespans at the moment, he could simply house all troops and villagers into his world and abuse his gate to instantly teleport into Ganling City and raided the bandits from within.

The marching troops stopped and made camp nearby the drought village.

At night, as usual, Tong snuck outside the camp alone and visited the dry wells, rivers, and all water reservoir of the village.

"[Create Food], give me water. Maximum output!" Water gushed out from Tong's both palms, pouring down on the ground.

For each village, Tong would spend 10 lifespans on the water creation to fill up their water reserve in secret.

This action could be seen as a waste of lifespans and water as the ground absorbed all water, and the water wells and rivers were still dry. Yet, Tong was stubborn with his action. He knew it would be useless, but he had to try.

Fortunately, the water reservoir was like an enclosed pool with solid mud as its wall and floor. The water did not leak into the ground like the underground wells or the rivers. As a result, the pool was filled to the brim.

'This should buy a little more time for them.'

'Next, their food supplies.'

...

Next morning, the army departed from the village without bothering saying goodbye to the villagers.

They were not arrogant. The reason they did not bother to do so because Tong told every soldier that they did not have to.

Last night, he had already left behind a few gifts and a couple advertisement to the peasants. The rest would be up to the villagers if they wanted to spread good rumors about his army or not.

The villagers woke up to the surprise cheers of their fellow neighbors. Their reservoirs were full of water and there were a variety of vegetables and grains in their deserted granary.

Beside the water reserves and the granary, a few signboards were placed there with a message.

"This water and food was our gift to you. If you still suffer any difficulty after we departed from the village, come to Julu City. We will help you."

"Signed: Zhang Tong, deputy governor of Julu Commandery."