Battle Royale of the Sinners

March 18th.

Night time.

Te Langpu had been bandaged while Gao Lan's weapons were confiscated by Tong. The two were sleeping, exhausted from today's events.

Tong, on the other hand, was busy texting to the clan chat.

"That's my report."

Tong had reported his deeds about the capture of Gao Lan and Te Langpu along with Gao Lan's confession.

Jia Xu texted back, "Nice work. Heck, that's beyond my expectation. Please return to Anping for now. We've got a rare chance to rest."

"We can make Liu Yan and Yuan Shao fight each other. Why won't we misinform them and make Liu Yan occupy Nanpi?"

"It's a good idea in theory, but our domestic foundation can't handle another long-term war. Our forces have been through many wars and expansion recently, so we have to rest and develop our cities. If we continue fighting nonstop, Gongsun Zan and Yuan Shao will destroy us in two to three years by simply taking down one of our city at a time to wear down our soldiers. In the end, all of our armies will be crippled from long battles of attrition."

Jia Xu continued explaining in chat. Many of Tong's counties and cities had yet to integrate into his policy system. Aside from Julu, nobles and merchants were still roaming in the cities with their private forces, refusing to disband their men or submit to Tong's non-private-army policy. As a result, they still had the potential to stage a revolt or take over their cities.

Furthermore, Tong's current domestic foundation was weak as it was over-reliant on his [Create Food]. Before they expand further, all cities were required to reinforce their agriculture domain and ensure that every city could be self-sufficient, or Tong's reserve granaries would be emptied in a few years.

And lastly, the drought was in full swing this year. Every city and county lacked water and food, which they still imported grain from Julu to support their civilians. Until their farms recovered, Tong and Jia Xu could not support any more troops.

"So, we have to compromise with Yuan Shao and play in his game?"

"Yes. Please be patient. More chances will come eventually."

Tong turned to Te Langpu and Gao Lan, frowning.

"Fine. Let's improve our finance, agriculture, and our order. How long are we going to hibernate?"

"Three years at the minimum. Agriculture takes at least two years to show its result since we have to recover from the drought. Finance takes a year to stabilize, but establishing our main non-private-troop policy will be complicated. We don't have the absolute power and people's trust like in Shangdang and Zhongshan, and we have to keep some of the nobles alive. If we keep purging the rebelling nobles, you can expect the citizens of other cities to turn into the same as Liyang. So, please give me three years to reform the system."

Tong's face sunk as he was reminded of Liyang incident. The resistance of ordinary peasants had become a trauma that Tong was wary.

Although Tong and Jia Xu could simply slaughter all those who would refuse to comply with the reformation, they would suffer backlashes from the constant killing as every noble in the country would be hostile toward them, and all peasants would see them as warmongering butchers.

Killing all the nobles was the simplest solution, but it would not always work every time.

Thus, Jia Xu planned to take time and convert the resisting nobles, hoping to compromise with them first. Instead of killing and wasting human resources, Jia Xu wanted to absorb all private troops of noble forces into the central army. Since this method took times, Jia Xu requested three years period of reformation.

"Alright. Do whatever you can in these three years. As for the army, I'll hold the fort in Anping."

…

…

March 20th.

Guangchuan County.

A messenger returned to Yuan Shao, giving him a piece of bad news.

"Gao Lan and Te Langpu are missing? Feng Ji is dead?" Yuan Shao's face darkened.

"Y-Yes, my lord."

"Do you know who ambushed them?"

"N-No. There isn't any trace of the ambush party."

Tian Feng, who was listening at the side, questioned the scout, "Did you check our men's bodies? How did they die?"

"All of them was either killed by swords or arrows."

"Have you tried pulling arrows out of their bodies?"

"Err … yes. We cleaned their corpses and buried them there …"

"Then, did arrows disappear when you pulled out the arrows?"

"Eh? Err … yes. Come to think of it, they did."

Tian Feng sighed and turned to Yuan Shao, "We have to retreat to Nanpi as soon as possible."

Yuan Shao raised his eyebrows, "Why?"

"The ambush party should be Zhang Tong and his men. The characteristic of Hua Shi and Zhang Tong's arrows are magical. Both of them can create arrows from nothingness and shoot at anyone without missing a target. Also, the arrows usually disappear when they are pulled out of the victim bodies."

Tian Feng had researched through Tong and his family's background, including all skills they had displayed in the past before this battle. Every small detail had been drilled inside Tian Feng's brain.

Combined with Tong's last known location and this incident, it was not hard for Tian Feng to come up with this deduction.

"Are you sure it's him?"

"It's certain. Zhang Tong is probably chasing after Liu Yan Army, but he met our transfer unit by chance. I think he has already captured Gao Lan and Te Langpu since we didn't find their dead bodies or receive a report from them."

Yuan Shao held his head as he had a severe headache. He also tried to predict the future if they were to continue stationing their forces in Guangchuan.

"Without a negotiator, Liu Yan can easily take Nanpi. Then, we will be trapped in this county with our front facing Zhang Tong and our back facing Liu Yan?"

"You are correct, my lord. I know it's depressing, but please withdraw our forces back home."

Though both Liu Yan and Yuan Shao formed a coalition, Tian Feng and Yuan Shao knew well that, in this political world, everybody could renege all promises any time and any moment. Only naïve politicians believed in the nonexistence [Forever Allies] or [Eternal Enemies].

"Send a messenger to Anping and ask for a truce. As for our main force, we will abandon Guangchuan and head back to Nanpi in full-speed!"

…

Meanwhile, Liu Yan Army had camped inside Nanpi territory for two days. For courtesy, they did not move from their location to prevent a misunderstanding from Yuan Shao's side.

However, Liu Yan started to get impatient from the lack of communication from Yuan Shao. He sent many messengers to Nanpi, but he had not yet received any reply from the city.

Yan Yan, who acted as Liu Yan's grand general and advisor, appeased his boss.

"My Lord, Yuan Shao must have been busy trying to deal with the Yellow Turban at Anping. Maybe, should we march our force there instead?"

Liu Yan shook his head while his eyes fixated at Nanpi City location, "No. I'll wait for another week. If Yuan Shao doesn't return by then, I'll take over Nanpi."

"That would renege the alliance agreement. Are you sure?"

"It is an alliance base on interest. We will simply march into the city and claim that we will protect it instead of Yuan Shao since he is neglecting his duty as the governor. People will understand my point!"

Yan Yan frowned. He understood that politic world and the struggle for power between warlords were frequent, but his lord was about to betray someone unjustly.

'Are all politicians this immoral?' Thought Yan Yan.

"What about our relocation? Won't we move back to Chengdu?"

"We'll leave it as an alternative option. If Yuan Shao returns, we will move back as planned."

…

…

March 21st.

Tong, Gao Lan, and Te Langpu reached Anping. Surprisingly, Gao Lan and Te Langpu were cooperative in this journey.

Gao Lan was not stupid. He knew which side was more promising and more dominant, so he did not have a problem switching side to get Tong's favor.

Te Langpu was similar to Gao Lan. As a powerless otherworlder, his life was in Tong's hands. Thus, it was illogical if he resisted at this point.

As soon as Tong returned to Anping, Jia Xu and Friday stood in front of the fort to welcome him.

"It took you a while. I thought you had gotten lost, but the overachiever you ambushed Yuan Shao's convoy without telling us. Please tell me what you had planned next time."

Listening to Jia Xu's comment, Tong's face twitched.

Friday pointed at the prisoners, "So, are you going to kill them to complete those two's mission?"

Tong shook his head, "I think I'll buy their life. Say, how many lifespans do you have? I lacked a million to transfer to Feihong."

"Buying Gao Lan's life? Is he worth it?"

Hearing the weird discussion about the value of his life, the face of Gao Lan lost color.

Gao Lan prayed in his mind, 'Please, don't kill me!'

"If we keep hoarding lifespans, Lilim will try to steal it with another quest or another random nerf. I think it's better to spend it to make her happy for now. Besides, we lack capable generals who can assist Zhang He and Ju Shou in Shangdang. I'm planning to send him there to support those two."

As Tong spoke, he glanced at his remaining lifespans. He had a whopping 1,088,704 years, collecting from killing Zou Jing's soldiers at Ji City combining with his old stockpile. By donating a million of his lifespans to the clan, they would get 500,000 lifespans in the clan asset, which still was not enough to cancel Li Feihong's quest.

Friday narrowed her eyes as she glared at Gao Lan.

"You're lucky. Do your best to serve Tong, or else!" Friday snorted and opened her system menu.

At first, she had less than a million lifespans. Thanked the corpses of Yuan Shao's soldiers, she drained the life essence and got back to over a million again. However, she had to part with her collection because of this lousy general that Tong picked up.

Both of them transferred the lifespans to the clan asset and then gave a million years to Li Feihong.

Three seconds later, the chat menu alerted.

<<Ding>>

Li Feihong: "What's this?"

Tong: "Cancel your quest. I've recruited Gao Lan into our army."

Li Feihong: "WTF!?"

Li Feihong: "Are you sure? It's a freaking million."

Tong: "I already transferred it to you, so don't complain and cancel it."

Friday glanced at Te Langpu while Tong was busy explaining everything to Li Feihong in chat.

"What about the fatty? Isn't that Te Langpu?"

Te Langpu flinched. This time, it was his turn to pray for his survival.

"Ah, I'm thinking of recruiting him into the clan. I need his financial insight and his gunpowder formula. Are you willing to cooperate with us, Mr. President?"

A wry smile appeared on Te Langpu's face, "If you don't mind what I did, sure! Heck, I'll make your Julu great again!"

Tong and Friday chuckled by Te Langpu's catchphrase.

BADUMP

Tong's heart suddenly shook while the warning message from the automatic system followed.

<<You have conquered your [Greed], your sin shall now be cleansed>>

<<Your [Soul of Greed] will be born>>