Battle Royale of the Sinners

February 28th, 185 A.D.

A rare messenger, who came from the far west, arrived at Julu City.

The messenger's body was wounded by five arrows, which he could hardly breathe when he met Tong. The horse also died when it stopped its feet.

"Please … save our … lord."

The messenger stopped breathing when he managed to relay a critical message from Ma Teng, which astonished all officers and Tong.

"Search his body! Is there a letter?"

The nearest guards scoured the body of the messenger, and they found a scroll.

Tong took the scroll from the guard's hand and read it out loud for everyone.

[I'm Ma Teng of Wuwei. I'm writing to you to ask for a favor.

The Xiongnu Army has surrounded us and cut our path to escape. Please send a reinforcement. I don't care what kind of payment I have to pay you in the future. Please save us!

Signed: Ma Teng.]

Everybody frowned and shook their head. It was a request from an unknown man at the border city.

However, Tong and Hua Shi knew who this person was.

.

Ma Teng, the father of Shu Tiger General, Ma Chao.

In history, he was initially a person of Qiang Tribe. He became minor official from Tianshui, but he caused a scene and was fired from his post. Thus, he joined forces with Han Sui to start over.

Thanked the Yellow Turban Rebellion in 184, Ma Teng obtained recognition from his martial skills and rose in ranks.

After the grand commander of the Imperial Army, Huangfu Song, eliminated all the rebels in Liang Province, Ma Teng was mistakenly seen as one of the insurgents as he withdrew from the battle when Huangfu Song Army arrived.

Emperor Ling wanted to appease the rebels, so he bestowed military titles to the former rebel leaders, which Ma Teng was also promoted as he was misunderstood.

Benefitted from the title, Ma Teng and Han Sui joined hands and established a military force in Liang Province and expanded their dominance there.

The friendship between Ma Teng and Han Sui did not last long as both of them fell out on each other, killing the other's family members and utilized sinister plots to get rid of the rival, so one of them would be the sole owner of Liang Province.

During that time of the chaos, Cao Cao had defeated Yuan Shao in the Battle of Guandu. He became a mediator for both Ma Teng and Han Sui to obtain the peace for the Liang Province.

In order to stop the infighting and settle the country, Cao Cao invited Ma Teng and his family members to live in Ye City to avoid conflicts. To satisfy Ma Teng, Cao Cao promoted him into the Minister of the Guards.

Unfortunately, the unruly Ma Chao was left in Liang Province as he had to be in charge of protecting the borders from Qiang and Xiongnu. Alas, Ma Chao and Han Sui formed a secret rebellion organization and resisted against Cao Cao's government, threatening to destroy Cao Cao's peace restoration plan.

Cao Cao defeated both of them later at the Battle of Tong Pass in 211. Ma Teng and his families, who lived peacefully in Ye City and didn't know about this rebellion plan, were executed by order of the Emperor Xian as they were the family members of traitors.

Ma Teng's life ended tragically because of his son's action.

However, in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms 14th-century novel version, Ma Teng was portrayed as a Han loyalist. He plotted with Liu Bei to assassinate Cao Cao, who had been manipulating Emperor Xian when Liu Bei became the Viceroy of Xu Province after he defeated Lu Bu.

The first assassination plot failed. The scheme was discovered, and Liu Bei was chased out of Xu Province by Cao Cao Army.

Ma Teng reattempted to kill Cao Cao again when he was summoned to Xuchang in the later year. The plot still failed, and Ma Teng was murdered along with many of his sons.

.

Tong did not know if this Ma Teng was the tragic one in history or he was the grudgeful loyalist who did not hesitate to use bold moves.

By Tong's side, Jia Xu was rereading the letter. He grinned and turned to Tong.

"My Lord, please mobilize Mountaineer Legion and Silver Axe Legion into Xiongnu's territory. We'll expand our land outside of the Great Wall."

"What!?"

"You heard me right. Send the troops outside the Great Wall."

"We can't even rout them in our turf. How can we defeat them on the grassland in their territory!?"

"We won't be the only one that will be sending the troops to the north. Let Gongsun Zan take part of it too."

Listening to Jia Xu's crazy suggestion, all officers and soldiers stared at Jia Xu with widen eyes.

Xun Yu, who was at the site as well, raised his hand in protest, "You are the one who recommended us to not mobilize at all cost. Why are you jumping into a war now?"

"Did I say I want our men to fight in a battle? I said I want them into their territory, not to fight a war."

The face of Tong twitched. He and Xun Yu glared at Jia Xu, "Explain properly. No word game!"

"Xiongnu revealed their weaknesses during our previous fights. First, they can't find a way to deal with our heavy knights. Second, aside from their policy strategist, they lack proper commanders and battle strategists like us. If there were any in our previous battles, we would have been stuck in a prolonged war, and we would have had the chance to sit around in Ye."

Jia Xu drew a map of the northern areas, beyond the Great Wall, future Inner Mongolia.

"Because they cannot make a proper judgment on the spot, we can exploit it. If we send both of our legions across the Great Wall Mountain Range and travel west. This will create confusion from within the Xiongnu intelligence and agents, and they will withdraw back a portion of their frontline troops to protect their homeland."

Xun Yu nodded, "They're a bait to draw out the troops from Ma Teng's Liang Province?"

Jia Xu announced it with a loud voice and a grin.

"Eh, not really. Ma Teng is the one being a bait. We'll annihilate Xiongnu from the land permanently. Let's talk in details in a quiet place. There're too many ears here."

Jia Xu gestured every high ranking personnel to the private room behind the government hall. While he was at it, he typed his real intention into the clan chat.

…

"You hear that?"

"Yup, clearly. They're invading Xiongnu."

"Let's report this to our Lord."

Several spies from all organization moved as they caught the news.

…

Meanwhile, at Wuwei County.

Ma Teng and Han Sui stood in front of their city, raising white flags.

The front gate of the city opened wide with no soldier resisting the invaders. They had surrendered.

Xiongnu King, Khan Chanyu rode a giant red warhorse to the front of Ma Teng with his bodyguards.

Had Lu Bu been here, he would recognize this red warhorse. It was the Red Hare King.

Lu Bu's Red Hare King was still at Jinyang, but this horse belonged to Khan Chanyu.

Khan stared at Ma Teng, who humbly bowed to the victor.

"You were once a part of Qiang Tribe, so you should have no problem following my lead. Are you willing to serve me till death?"

Ma Teng sighed, "As long as you allow my family and my men to live, I'm willing to serve you."

Khan nodded. His fingers fiddled with the empty air in front of him before a transparent screen appeared in front of Ma Teng.

<<Clan Invitation>>

<<Will you join Khan's Clan?>>

<<Yes/No>>

"This?"

"This is my clan's invitation. Accept it, and I'll bestow you immortality. Your family members that swear the allegiance to me will get it if I deem them worthy."

"Immortality? So you are one of the immortals? Just like Zhang Tong?"

Khan snorted, "Don't compare me to that son of the rebel. I'm a self-made man. I don't need my father's help to dominate all tribes. Besides, I'm stronger than him by miles."

Listening to Khan's arrogance tone, Ma Teng revealed a bitter smile, "Please forgive my rudeness. I'll serve you until death."

Ma Teng pressed [Yes], and a new menu appeared. It was the clan chat menu.

The names of the members were few, but Ma Teng a couple of them.

Liu Yang

Guo Si

Li Jue

Pang De

And, Han Sui, his sworn brother!

Ma Teng turned around to look at his own brother in arms.

Han Sui grinned at him and patted his back.

"Don't sweat the small stuff. Now that we're in the same force, we can work together again."

"You … you were working for them all along!?"

"Wrong. I joined them a bit earlier than you. That's all."

Ma Teng pointed his trembling index finger at the face of Han Sui, wanting to tear him apart. He swallowed his anger and snorted.

Khan clapped his hands, "That's enough drama. Guide me into the city so I can solve your food shortage problems. All of you are now my subjects, so get along already."

"Y-Yes, Your Majesty."

"Ah, don't use the royal words with me. Use the common language."

"Yes, my lord."

Ma Teng guided Khan and his men into the city. As they were about to reach the city hall and the official resident area, a young boy dashed forward.

Ma Chao swung his halberd at Khan.

*Dong*

A transparent shield blocked the weapon, causing a vibrating sound of a bell.

[Qi Shield]

Khan looked at his status menu before him, "A bit over 300 lifespan damage from a child. That's impressive."

"What the?"

Ma Chao repeatedly stabbed the shields three more times, yet he could not break it.

Four bodyguards of Khan surrounded Ma Chao and aimed the tips of their spear on Ma Chao's neck.

Ma Teng cried in a panic, "No! Please don't kill him. He's just a naïve boy!"

Khan glanced at Ma Teng, "Is he your child?"

"Yes, my Lord. Please spare him."

"That depends. Well, what's his name?"

"M-Ma Chao, Ma Mengqi, my lord."

"Oho? So he's the one. Very well, child. If you swear allegiance to me like your father, I'll let you live. What do you say?"

Ma Chao glared at Khan, who looked like he was not even in his 20s yet. He spat at him, "Go to Hell!"

The spit was stopped by the transparent shield.

"A pity. Ma Teng, your son is quite reckless and thoughtless like the rumor said."

"PLEASE DON'T KILL HIM! I BEG YOU!"

"I can let him live, but he will have to be re-educated. Is that alright with you?"

Re-educate could have many meanings, such as torturing, punishing, or Ma Chao could be crippled.

Ma Teng shed tears of a father and kowtowed on the ground, "As long as he lives, I'm fine with anything."

Khan sighed. He did not feel very well for bullying the weak.

His eyes locked at Ma Chao, who was throwing a resentment glared at Khan.

"What should I do with you, I wonder?"