Battle Royale of the Sinners

January 4th, 183 A.D.

Ji Commandery City.

On the announcement board in the middle of the city, Liu Yan had posted a recruitment notice there.

[Currently, there is a bandit group terrorizing the territories in Ji Provinces. They are calling themselves Yellow Turban, which was led by Zhang Jiao and his family. They always wear yellow clothes, yellow scarves, or a yellow bandana on their head. If you notice a group of people wearing these clothes, notify the guards immediately.

At this moment, they have captured Julu, Zhongshan, Ye, Shangdang, and Jinyang. They have been plundering and ransacking innocent people from various villages to obtain wealth. These evil bandits have to be stopped before more people become their victims.

The Emperor has already sent his decree that these group of people is the rebel force, yet all lords have been ignoring these bandits. Fortunately, our Lord has a noble mind, Lord Liu Yan is mobilizing his army, and he is recruiting new blood to the military.

If you want to help us eradicating these rebels and protecting our people from these bandits, contact a nearby guard, and he will lead you to us.

We believe that soon, they will invade our city as we are closed to Zhongshan, their newest territory. We shall do our best to protect our good citizens!

Signed: Zou Jing]

In front of the announcement board, several scholars and merchants were reading the post.

Liu Bei was in the crowd as well.

"Hah," Liu Bei sighed as he knew partly about the news about the Yellow Turban.

Lu Zhi had been sending letters to him, persuading him to abandon his pride and join Tong and his army. He also told Liu Bei about the latest news of Liu Ping's death and the possible chaotic time in the country.

Liu Bei sighed again as he was pondering about the announcement.

'The announcement is a half-lie. From what master has told me, Zhang Jiao is also an ordinary physician and the other brother of his are Taoist priests. Zhang Tong even uses his power to create food for the people, but Liu Yan is shamelessly framing him.'

"Haiz."

'But Zhang Tong is not clean either. He massacred everyone in Liyang and many noble clans in his affiliate cities. How can he be a righteous ruler? He's just a spoiled young master!'

"Ai."

'Both of them are filthy! Liu Yan and Zhang Tong are hypocrites! They are just lying politicians that prey on people! Why should I serve the likes of them!? If I want to take up arms for the people, I should be the one leading the citizens, not them!'

"Haiz."

"VOOOOIIIIII!!"

Liu Bei jolted as the haughty roar of a man behind him terrified his wits.

"BRAT! WHAT THE FOOK IS WRONG WITH YOU!? WHY ARE KEEPING SIGHING!? HAVE YOU GONE SENILE!?"

The loud voice of the man made the crowd dispersed. However, Liu Bei stood still as his legs were petrified by the fear. He turned around to look at the loud man.

The guy behind him was muscular. He had a messy beard and tattered clothes. Scars covered his chest and his arms, showing that he was experienced in combat.

Liu Bei had to raise his chin to look at this man's eyes. The guy was half a head taller than him!

The bearded man grabbed the collar of Liu Bei and continued yelling at his long ears.

"VOOOIIIII! ARE YOU LISTENING!? I'M ASKING YOU WHY THE FOOK ARE YOU SIGHING!? DO YOU SPEAK CHINESE!? DO YOU EVEN UNDERSTAND A HUMAN LANGUAGE!?"

"P-P-Please calm down and lower your voice. You are disturbing the others."

The bearded man continued to glare at Liu Bei. Before he roared again, a rough hand grabbed on the beard man's wrist.

A young scholar stepped in and stopped the bearded man from beating Liu Bei.

"I also suggest you be a bit more civilized. This gentleman sighed because he has a lot in his mind. Isn't that right, sir?"

"Y-Yes. I was thinking of something and subconsciously sighed. I'm sorry if I disturb you."

The bearded man glared at the two before he released Liu Bei, "Ha! I'm tired of watching you sighed repeatedly! Pathetic!"

"My apologies, I'm just depressed that I don't have the power or gold to take arms and save this country."

"Oh, that's understandable. Sorry for my rash action."

"Haha! I don't mind. I'm Liu Bei, a merchant living in this city. And this gentleman here is?"

"I'm Zhang Fei, a wanderer! I see that you have a lot in your mind. Let's get a drink so you can tell me your story. You, too, scholar boy! You sure have good strength despite being a scholar. Come with us."

Zhang Fei dragged Liu Bei and the scholar, who had stopped Zhang Fei earlier.

The scholar followed after the two with a smile. He thought, 'It happens one year earlier than the historical event, but I've made it.'

The scholar was not a native of this world. If Zhang Yan were here, he would have recognized this youth.

He was Jiang Man, the ninja who terrorized Ganling City.

'Now, I'll be the fourth peach brothers, and I will get my revenge on Yuan Shao!'

'But damn! I can't recklessly kill the innocents in this world. That Zuo Ci is too scary!'

Tong was not the only one who had been warned by Zuo Ci, Jiang Man also had his lessons by the hands of the old cultivator. However, Zuo Ci was kind enough to heal the old injuries of Jiang Man, which caused by the system nerf backlash.

Furthermore, the recent skill wipe forced his hands that he had to make a deal with Lilim.

…

*********************************************

**Main Mission No.20**

Clear Condition: Kill one otherworlder.

Failure Condition: Time Limit exceeded.

Clearing Reward: Regain one of your lost skills randomly.

Mission Failure: You will die.

Time Limit: End of December 31st, 190 A.D.

Tips: You can either use assassins or subordinates to kill an otherworlder for you.

*********************************************

…

It was the same quest that Li Jing of Sun Jian Army had, which Lilim would restore one of the skills to Jiang Man if he killed one reincarnator.

Unfortunately, Jiang Man did not have a kind partner like Sun Fang. He had to complete this mission alone.

'I'll use Guan Yu and Zhang Fei to kill that Zhang Tong. Then, I can get my skills back.'

…

Liu Bei, Zhang Fei, and Jiang Man entered a tavern and ordered several bowls of wine. Liu Bei began narrating his thought about the situation as he kept the truth about Tong and Liu Yan a secret.

A few minutes later, Liu Bei finished his story.

"That's my thought on this. I'm merely a poor merchant without gold and strength. I'm just feeling powerless when we hear about the corruption and the bandit news."

As Liu Bei finished talking, a tall man with a red face and a long beard turned to them.

"Mind if I join your table?"

Jiang Man looked at the red face man. He did not have to ask for this person's name because he could easily guess it.

'Guan Yu!'

The fateful meeting of the peach brothers which should have happened next year happened today. Jiang Man was elated as he was about to take part in it.

"My name is Guan Yu. I'm impressed with your interesting viewpoint of the country. I couldn't help myself but want to join your conversation."

Zhang Fei laughed, "Of course, come sit! Let's order more wine so we can continue chatting. Say, Liu Bei, what are you planning to do after this? Will you join Liu Yan Army?"

Liu Bei shook his head, "I'm afraid I can't. Liu Yan wants to use the conscripted soldiers as pawns so we can't allow ourselves to be manipulated by him. I want to raise a volunteer force, but I don't have enough gold to do so."

Guan Yu nodded, "I agree with this. Officials are known to be corrupted. The moment crisis is at hand, instead of mobilizing the nobles and professional soldiers, they recruit civilians and take advantage of us. We should not join the army, but we should raise a volunteer force."

Zhang Fei also commented, "Right, those no good bastards are only good at extorting taxes from the civilians. As soon as I have arrived at this city gate, a noble actually demanded a city entry tax from me! I've been through many cities in this land, but I've never seen a city that demands an entry tax! What a joke!"

The three hit it off and chatted for an hour, leaving Jiang Man out of the loop.

The otherworlder, however, did not look troubled as he had expected this circumstance.

As the conversation heated up by the emotions and momentum, Liu Bei declared, "That's it! I'm going to raise a volunteer force to fight the rebels and correct the land! I want to stop them from harassing the innocent people."

"Good! I'll join you as well."

"Me, too."

Guan Yu and Zhang Fei decided to join Liu Bei's volunteer force. However, the three still lacked gold, supplies, and troops.

Because this event happened one year earlier than the actual historical event, several merchants and blacksmiths who supported Liu Bei in history were not here!

However

"I'll be joining you three as well. I have 1,000 gold as my saving, I'll donate all of it to you for our cause."

"Sir Jiang, you …"

"Hahaha! You're rich! I like you!"

"Such determination, I admire your sacrifice."

The three was astonished by Jiang Man declaration. They smiled and laughed as they thought that he was part of the gang, even though he hardly talked during the conversation.

"How about this? Since we're about to embark on our great journey, let's swear an oath to join hands and work together from now on!"

Hearing Zhang Fei's proposal, everybody laughed.

"An oath of a brotherhood? Sounds good, let's do that."

"I know a good peach garden that is suitable to our ceremony. Let's do it there."

"I'll prepare food and wine then."

…

The four gathered at the peach garden within Ji City. They placed food and wine on the ceremony table and bowed to the sky.

"We were born from different mothers, we may have different surnames, but today, we have come together as brothers! From now onward, we shall fight side-by-side for the people and save them from the crooked bandits and officials who threatened the innocents!"

"We may have been born from a different date, month, or year, but we hope that we can live and die together as one! May the gods and Heaven be a witness of our vow. Should one of us betray another, may the heaven and the people punish the traitor!"

Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Jiang Man bowed to the sky with their wine cup raised high above their head.

From this day one, the peach brothers had begun taking the first step into this troubled world.