Battle Royale of the Sinners

August 20th, 182 A.D.

Tong and his troops retreated back to Julu City in one piece. In the end, Sun Jian did not pursue them or ambush them on the road.

On the way of their journey home, they picked up starving villagers they came across. Tong ordered the troops to feed them and took them back to the city as well.

These people cried in gratitude as they had already given up living before they met Tong's troops. They pledged their allegiance to Tong and followed him without a complaint.

At first, the number of the peasants that Tong brought back from Ganling was 40,000. Along the way, the number increased to 60,000.

Furthermore, the rumors about Tong giving food to the villagers for free spread throughout within Ji Province. As a result, more unemployed people and farmers who suffered from the drought began moving to Julu.

This gave Tong a headache because the capacity of the city was limited. From the Julu city structure that Tong had observed, about 300,000 to 350,000 citizens could live in there. The current population of Julu was 150,000 people. With 60,000 immigrants moving in, the city capacity would be almost full. Combined with the garrison soldiers, they did not have enough room for the future immigrants.

Thus, Tong consulted everyone in the Clan chat, and Dong Bai gave her bold opinion.

"Expansion! Tong, ignore those reputation and politic crap. Take down another Commandery City as your own."

Hua Shi also followed suit. "Shangchan County is without a governor. You can allocate your population there."

"We have the control of Anping. How about we move some of them there and build a solid stone wall city there. We can use it as our border city." Zhang Jiao chimed in.

Ding Yuan also gave his thought. "Jinyang is lacking population. If you don't mind, you can move them to my city. Actually, my city lacks female population at the moment, more than half of my soldiers will probably die a virgin if we can't find women for them. Please send some of them here."

Tong could not help but laugh at Ding Yuan's comment.

While Tong was chatting with his family, Zhao Yun came to see him.

"Sir Zhang, I've come to say goodbye."

Tong raised his eyebrows in surprise. He thought that he had brainwashed Zhao Yun, but he suddenly wanted to leave.

"Is there something wrong with my army or my city? Why are you suddenly leaving?"

Zhao Yun shook his head. "You have done nothing wrong. In fact, you've everything that I could have wished for."

"Then, why?"

Zhao Yun gulped, then he confessed. "I don't deserve to be in your army."

Like being struck by a lightning bolt, Tong's heart sunk and all of his movement came to a pause.

'Why Dafuq do I feel like I'm being rejected by a woman and she's using the common excuse [You're too good for me]!'

Tong screamed in his mind while he put a palm on his forehead.

Seeing the dejected Tong, Zhao Yun spoke in a hurry.

"Please don't misunderstand! It's not like I'm refusing to be part of your army. It's just that I want to travel around the land first to learn about the people and improve my martial arts. I'm afraid that if I stay in one city for too long, I might develop a bad habit."

Tong's eyes brightened after he heard that Zhao Yun did not actually refuse, but delaying his service.

"Oh, it's like that." Tong smiled. "Where are you planning to go?"

"Err. I'm planning to visit You Province. I've heard that Gongsun Zan and his White Rider Army is having a hard time at the northern border. I want to see if I can help or I can use this opportunity to improve myself."

A smile turned into a frown.

'He's going to Gongsun Zan temporarily in the end. It's probably his destiny.'

Tong Thought and pulled out gold nuggets from his inventory.

"Take these with you. It should help you on your training journey."

Tong gave Zhao Yun a thousand taels worth of gold.

"This…"

"Don't refuse. Traveling and meeting people is one thing. How do you think you can survive during your journey? Hunting wild animals? Picking forest vegetables? There will be a time when you need some money to exchange for weapons or maintenance yourself. Do you think it's a good idea to travel alone without a proper maintenance weapon? What about the horses? What will you do if your horse suddenly dies or is stolen? You'll need money to buy a new horse in a city. You can't simply stroll into a jungle and hope that you can tame a wild horse!"

Zhao Yun blushed in embarrassment. He indeed did not think that far.

As Zhao Yun was fidgeting in awkwardness, Tong shoved a bag of gold nuggets along with a sack of food and clean water to him.

"It's better to be prepared regardless of the situation. Take them."

"S-Sir, but I…"

"Take them. Or I'll change my mind."

Zhao Yun gulped. It would be a lie if he said that he was not interested in the gold and the food. He made a 90-degrees bow and shouted.

"I, ZHAO ZILONG, WILL NEVER FORGET YOUR KINDNESS!!"

Tong nodded and waved his hand, gesturing that he should leave. Zhao Yun bowed in frantic and left with teary eyes.

Li Feihong, who had witnessed everything, grinned and teased Tong.

"Are you sure that he will come back? You know, a thousand gold is more than enough for a luxurious retirement in this era. He's still young and naïve too. I bet he'll use your money to buy women and won't participate in a battle anymore."

Tong rolled his eyes upon listening to Li Feihong.

"He'll be back. He's just that kind of person. In our world, he didn't serve Liu Bei on their first meeting but he joined Liu Bei's force when they needed him the most."

"So, you're saying he'll come back in a dramatic scene? Like the arrival of the main character in a cliché movie?"

"…Probably. Maybe?"

"Maybe?"

Tong gave Li Feihong a wry smile. "To be honest, I don't know if he'll return…"

…

August 21st.

The matter about the famine was brought up in Julu morning assembly. Zhang Jiao requested Tong that he should remain in Julu until the end of the next spring season as he was afraid that the provision and the water supply in the city would run out during this time.

Tong agreed to stay and delegated Li Feihong, Zhang Liao, and Gao Shun to allocate excessed population to Jinyang along with a convoy of supplies.

Meanwhile, Zhang Bao, Zhang Liang, and Bo Cai would take 10,000 men to Changshan County on the west of Julu to establish a base within the county.

Shangchan County was without a Prefect, so Tong and Zhang Jiao concluded that they should take control of it. If they had more resources, they could build a stone wall around the county and turn it into another Commandery City like Julu.

Sima Fang suggested that they should occupy Zhongshan Commandery City, directly north of Julu, to expand Tong's influence. However, Tong and majority of the officials disagreed with this notion because they lacked talented personals to be the governor of the Commandery City. Secondly, the famine would become more seriously next year, so they could not extend their hands on the city right now.

In addition, Zhongshan Commandery City was under the protection of the Zhen Family. Although the family influential power was not a match for Tong, they did not want to create another enemy as they had too many already.

…

On the back row of the gathering assembly, Jia Xu mixed in with other minor official colleagues and listened to the meeting while he was pondering about his future plans.

He realized the position he was in the moment his colleagues invited him into the "Illuminati" club. Jia Xu wanted to curse out loud in the middle of the town square the moment he realized it that Zhang Jiao was plotting a rebellion. But for the sake of the delicious food and big bucks, he persisted to stay.

The prince, Liu Xie, who was under Jia Xu's care, got more healthy each day. He also started talking in incomprehensible words, but it showed that he was learning. Jia Xu believed that in a few months, he would speak his first word which he was excited that the prince might call him "father".

Despite the dream that he could adopt Liu Xie, a letter from He Xing, Liu Xie's real mother, arrived in his hands this morning.

As expected from a mother, He Xing wanted her son back as soon as possible. In addition, He Xing and He Jin were now in Nanpi which was close to Julu.

'Should I go to Nanpi, or should I stay a little longer?'

'But the wage is too godly. I doubt Yuan Shao can afford this kind of salary.'

'I'll just send a reply letter to make them send someone to pick him up.'

'It's a pity. But it's also good riddance.'

While Jia Xu was in a daze, Tong made an announcement which caught Jia Xu's attention.

"Please warn your family and your subordinates about this, this year and the next year, the entire northern plain and the central plain will suffer from the famine. So make sure you stock up your food and water properly!"

This was the third time that Tong warned everyone. However, Jia Xu missed the first two, so his ears perked up as it was the first time he heard about it.

'Famine this year and next year? WTF!?'

'If that happens, then what about my daily bacon sandwiches and egg salad!?'

By reflex, he questioned Tong with a loud voice.

"On what basis can you tell that there will be a famine next year?"

The room became quiet the moment Jia Xu spoke out. All eyes locked on him in curiosity as if he was an alien or an animal in a zoo.