Battle Royale of the Sinners

South of the Imperial Army support camp, a thousand horsemen were gazing at the burning granaries. They did not carry any flag to identify themselves as they came here in secret.

This group of soldiers was to one that razed Liu Biao's granaries.

The leader of these cavalries read the reports from his scouts with a frown. While he was contemplating something, a horseman at his side with a well-equipped armor approached him.

He had a sharp oval face and toned skins as he was a seasoned warrior. His trimmed black beard and mustache made his expression fierce and mature, yet he still looked attractive to women.

"Mengde, what does it say?" The horseman asked.

Cao Cao, the leader of this group of cavalries, tossed the report he read at the horseman and said, "I'll summarize it in short. We underestimated Zhang Tong. All plans have to be reconsidered."

"Huh?"

The horseman was Xiahou Dun, a cousin of Cao Cao and his trusted subordinate.

Xiahou Dun grabbed the report and read it. He opened his eyes wide in astonishment and looked at Cao Cao.

"This is a joke, right?"

The reports were a summary of Tong's recent military activities, starting from the forced march to Ye City to the latest duel agreement. The details were also precise as the number of Tong's remaining active soldiers and the Imperial Army active soldiers were in there.

Cao Cao attempted to simulate a scenario if he were Tong in the same situation, he could not come up with a plan to get a better or the same result that Tong had achieved.

An army of 60,000 men taking down a city and the coalition force of 250,000 men was impossible for him. Even worse, Tong lost only one-fifth of his men after the skirmishes while the Imperial Army suffered severe blows one after another.

To Cao Cao, these brilliant moves by Tong from start to finish scared him.

Furthermore, there was a secret report about the identities of otherworlders and their unique skills. Cao Cao immediately connected this intelligence with unusual individuals like Liu Ping and Zhang Tong. He also grasped the information of Sun Jian's adopted son, Sun Fang, and his wife, Li Jing.

Fighting with the warlords would be difficult enough for him, but challenging immortals like Tong and the others was an impossible task that Cao Cao had no confidence that he could succeed.

"No, we're competing with more than one immortal, Yuanrang."

"Are you certain?"

"No other explanation. I believe in the results I see."

"So, what will you do? Will you still fight them?"

Cao Cao closed his eyes and pondered again. He answered as he still closed his eyes, "We'll make our decision based on the result of this war. If Liu Ping wins, we'll stick to the plan. If Zhang Tong wins, we'll rework our plan from the beginning."

Xiahou Dun stared at his cousin. He wanted to know why Cao Cao wished to raise a private army in this turbulent time.

"What are you trying to achieve from this, Mengde?"

Cao Cao opened his eyes. They were sad and depressed eyes which carried many other complex emotions within.

"I want to reform this country and restore peace for the people …"

…

…

Back in time, October 7th.

Zhang He, Ju Shou, and their 10,000 men snuck to Henei City as planned. They rushed to the city gate while they waved their "Bao" surname flags.

"That's our ally! Their uniform and their flags are from the Imperial Army. Open the gate!"

As soon as the guards on the wall saw the flags, they opened the gate to receive them.

Seeing the opened gate, Zhang He galloped to the front of the line and shouted the words that Jia Xu had him recite.

"KILL! FOR LORD DONG ZHUO!"

"SHAAAA!!"

The ten thousand horsemen rushed into the city while the guards looked at them in confusion and panicked.

"T-They're attacking!"

"Close the gate!"

"Damn it! Dong Zhuo betrayed us!!"

It was too late for the garrison force to react. All Zhang He's men had entered the city and unleashed hell.

Because Wang Kuang, the governor of Henei Commandery, left the city with all his generals, nobles, and private troops, there were only a thousand militias inside the city.

The city fell under the leadership of Ju Shou and Zhang He in two hours, and the surviving militia guards surrendered with resentment eyes.

Zhang He approached the surviving prisoners and said, "Be grateful to our Lord, Dong Zhuo! If it weren't for him, all of you would have been dead!"

The militias spat as they heard such a hypocritical remark.

"What grateful, you traitor!"

"Damn you and screw that Dong Zhuo!"

Zhang He snorted at the prisoners and ignored them. His job had been completed.

Meanwhile, Ju Shou also led the men to ransack the city's treasuries.

"Take all the gold and coins, leave the useless vases and the others!"

"Take all the provisions! Sack the houses of nobles, but leave the peasants' houses alone!"

The ten thousand men acted like bandits. They rushed into noble manors and plundered all of their gold and food. Strangely, they did not ravish, kill, or harm civilians.

A portion of the men rushed into the city's barrack, stealing weapons and soldier uniforms.

Before the sunset, these ruffians left the city, leaving the confusion and the mess behind.

"Bastard!"

"Curse your mother, Dong Zhuo!"

The families of the nobles cursed after the leaving soldiers. They swore that they would never be on the same page as Dong Zhuo and his men ever again.

Meanwhile, Zhang He and Ju Shou continued their operation.

"What's the next move, Sir Ju Shou?"

Although Jia Xu told Tong that they would occupy Henei to cut off the Imperial armies supply lines, it was a false info that Jia Xu intentionally leaked to fool the potential ally, Dong Zhuo, and any spy that was still lurking inside Tong's troops.

Jia Xu and Ju Shou had had a detailed discussion before their deployment. Only Ju Shou knew about Jia Xu's true aim. This venomous strategist only gave Ju Shou the general plans while Ju Shou had the authority to improvise.

Both strategists did not want to claim Henei from the very beginning. They wanted to use this city as a bargaining chip and sabotage Dong Zhuo's reputation in the long run. The city that they were eyeing on was Shangdang of Zhang Yang, which was a better strategic location to establish a foothold for the future expansion toward the south and the capital city.

However, since they were at it, Ju Shou believed that it would not hurt to steal a bit of wealth from this city's nobles, treasuries, and granaries.

"We take everything to Shangdang. First, let's change our uniform and the flags. Switch our flags to "Wang" and the uniform into Henei Force."

…

…

October 14th.

Shangdang City. South of Jinyang and west of Ye City.

Liu Ping sat on the main seat in the government hall, attending the military assembly.

Last month, this young Emperor had sent an edict to the governor of Jinyang and ordered Ding Yuan to tribute his resources and soldiers to his crusade army. Now, he was listening to the reply letter of Ding Yuan, reading by an official of this city.

[I, Ding Yuan, had served the Han Empire for all my life. This time, I shall do something that goes against my loyalty.

I have to apologize to Your Majesty! I will not tribute my resources and my men into this fight!

The famine this year hurts our economy and our food supply storage. I'm afraid that I cannot help Your Majesty for your ambition as I have to ensure the livelihood of the peasants and the soldiers of my city!

You may bypass my city to Julu if you wish, but my city gate will be closed! We have our hands full dealing with the border and the barbarian tribes. We shall not join you in this conflict!]

The official read the letter with trembling voice. He did not dare to look upward to glance at the Emperor.

*BANG*

Liu Ping flipped the small table in front of him over out of anger. His superman strength sent the table flying to the ceiling, crashing it into small pieces.

"That damn Ding Yuan. Is he rebelling!?" Liu Ping roared out. His voice echoed in the hall.

"Please appease your anger, Your Majesty. Ding Yuan is known to be a loyal minister. He must have his reason to decline an Imperial Edict." Wang Yun attempted to calm this youth.

Every official nodded as they agreed to Wang Yun's words. They also knew about Ding Yuan's character.

Liu Ping snorted and sat down. He was still frustrated by the rejection.

"And what can we do to solve our food supply shortage!"

The Emperor realized he had made a huge blunder in this campaign. He was too optimistic about this year harvest and did not calculate the provision consumption of his massive troops!

Liu Ping stole Dong Zhuo's 150,000 conscripted militias with no military background. Wang Kuang took 50,000 combined forces of garrison soldiers, private soldiers from nobles, and mercenaries along from Henei City.

Shangdang Governor, Zhang Yang, and all his generals and nobles also wanted to tag along with Liu Ping in this crusade against Zhang Jiao of Julu. The eyes of these nobles were clouded with greed and ambition. They wished to take this chance to reap some benefits and achievements for their careers.

As a result, they rallied 50,000 combined armies of various organizations and joined Liu Ping's coalition as well.

The total of 250,000 soldiers would be marching to Julu!

The number was impressive. Unfortunately, because of the miscalculation in the provision supply and the plummetted harvests, everyone would starve if Liu Ping and his entourage did not do something before the end of November.

Therefore, Liu Ping came up with a plan. He wanted to move to Jinyang first to ask for Ding Yuan's supplies as he heard that this city had stocked plenty of supplies for the frontline troops at the border.

Alas, the reckless Emperor was disappointed again. Ding Yuan refused to tribute a few tons of grains, and he would not participate in this crusade as they had to defend the border.

"Lu Zhi! You come up with a plan, or I'll kill everyone in your family!"

Everybody in the hall looked at Lu Zhi with pity and sympathy. He was once a high-ranking official with prestige and honor. However, all of them knew that Lu Zhi had a close tie with Zhang Tong as they were mentor and disciple.

Right now, he was a hostage and a death row prisoner who would be killed the moment they reached Julu. Moreover, his family members were also being held captive by Liu Ping. Lu Zhi was always forced to utilize his talent for the Emperor against his will. If he were to refuse, heads of his relatives would roll.

Lu Zhi stared at Liu Ping in solemn. He did not reveal his anger or despair. On the contrary, his eyes were full of hope.