Battle Royale of the Sinners

Changsha City, Sun Jian's territory.

A messenger from Tong delivered the letter, inviting him to join the coalition against the Xiongnu.

The content of the letter was written by Xun Yu. He included the intelligence about Xiongnu King's power and the possibility that the Xiongnu had been in contact with all tribes around China in secret during the invasion, judging from the sudden emergence of many tribes at the border during the chaotic Yellow Turban Uprising.

Sitting on the main seat, Sun Jian turned to his subordinates after reading the letter out loud.

Within the hall, all officers of the Sun Family all presented.

Cheng Pu, the Iron Serpent.

Huang Gai, the Indomitable.

Sun Fang, the Immortal Cultivator.

Li Jing, the Fairy Strategist.

Han Dang, the Pillar of the Sun Clan.

Sun Jing, younger brother of Sun Jian.

Wu Jing, the younger brother of Sun Jian's wife.

And the 11-year-old Sun Ce!

Sun Jian consulted with everyone without caring about his images in front of Tong's messenger.

"Tell me what all of you think honestly. Start with Cheng Demou!"

Cheng Pu stepped forward, "The action of Shanyue Tribes from the south is suspicious indeed. They knew about our movements, and they withdrew their force on time. This doesn't suit their culture! I think Xiongnu might be behind this since their King is an immortal. I agree with the coalition."

Huang Gai also voiced out, "I disagree with the coalition! We have our hand full watching over the south and the Shanyue. We don't have times and enough soldiers to join another war!"

Han Dang spoke calmly, "Currently, we are busy dealing with the southern tribes. At a glance, we should not move anywhere. But if we look at the big picture, we will notice that Zhang Tong and Zhang Jiao have been fighting to protect the northern borders, just like how we are protecting the southern borders. Since they are fighting to protect our country, and they are at the point that they have to request our help, we should agree."

Sun Jing shook his head, "Please don't forget that they started the Yellow Turban Uprising trends and caused so many bandits to copy them. I don't like supporting the rebels, so I'll disagree."

Wu Jing sighed, "We don't have enough information to make the conclusion that Xiongnu and Shanyue are in this together. Well, I'll abstain my comment.

Sun Fang harrumphed, "Zhang Tong is obviously wanting to use us as cannon fodders in his war! We should not stick our nose into the fight between immortals. I disagree!"

Li Jing frowned at Sun Fang. She walked to him and kicked his butt, "Opportunities come and go like the wind. They are asking for our help, so we should agree for now. We can also demand compensation and the remuneration for our trouble later. I wish us to join the coalition."

Everyone had said what in their mind, but the overall decision was not unanimous.

Sun Jian also could not decide. By his reflex, he glanced at his real eldest son, Sun Ce.

Sun Ce smiled at his father and spoke in a clear voice that every officer in the hall could hear it.

"Father, let's go and fight the Xiongnu! We're the Han loyalist. The Yellow Turban founders even took the helm and head-butting the Xiongnu. If we don't fight the invaders when the country is calling for it, what should we call ourselves?"

Hearing his son's comment, Sun Jian laughed.

"You're right, Bofu! We're going to shame our ancestors if we allow the Xiongnu to take our country!"

Sun Jian glared at Tong's messenger, "Tell your lord, we'll march north and assist him in this fight. Tell him to provide us provisions, weaponry, supplies, and gold for the remuneration!"

The messenger was taken aback. He bowed and left in a hurry.

Sun Fang turned to Sun Jian and protested, "Father, from what we heard, Xiongnu King is a dangerous opponent. Why don't we pretend to join the coalition and not fight the … *OUCH*."

Li Jing kicked Sun Fang again. This time, her tiptoe got into his butthole for a second.

Sun Fang collapsed on the floor, holding his butt in pain.

"Please forgive this foolish husband of mine. Fang, get your ass home. You're too stupid to attend an important meeting!"

Everyone laughed at the couple as it was the usual occurrence that Sun Fang always displayed something weird, and Li Jing would beat him up.

Sun Ce, however, gazed at Sun Fang in envy.

'I want a wife too.'

…

Sun Fang returned home with Li Jing. There, Sun Fang stopped playing the fool and asked his wife with a serious face.

"Why do you want Sun Jian there? Don't you know that this coalition is similar to the Anti-Dong Zhuo Coalition in history? If Sun Jian happens to find the Imperial Seal, Liu Biao and Yuan Shao will kill him!"

Li Jing chuckled, "History has changed. From what I know, Yuan Shao's influence has been destroyed by Zhang Tong since he occupied Ye City instead of the Yuan as in history. Without the Capital of Ji Province, Yuan Shao cannot comfortably expand his forces unless Zhang Tong dies. So I think Yuan Shao won't form an alliance with Liu Biao to attack Sun Jian as in history."

Sun Fang clapped his hands, "Right! I forgot about that."

"There's more. When we join the coalition, it won't happen like in the novel version where we would get stuck on the Hulao Gate with Lu Bu. Realistically, we will eventually join forces with Liu Biao and Yuan Shu in Wan City to attack the Wu Gate, so the southern forces can capture Hongnong while the other forces would be busy attacking Luo Yang and Hulao Gate."

"But, what if Yuan Shu betrays us and stops sending us supplies like in history."

"That's why I demand remuneration in the meeting. Zhang Tong is good at managing food, so we will extort the supplies from his army first. Without the food, we will make an excuse that we are out of provision and won't move. This will force Zhang Tong to send us supplies instead of Yuan Shu."

.

In history, year 190, Sun Jian abandoned his Changcha Governor position and joined the Anti Dong Zhuo Coalition, becoming Yuan Shu's subordinate.

In 191, Sun Jian led his forces north toward Luo Yang City, but he was outnumbered and routed by Xu Rong's troops. As Sun Jian's soldiers were scattered by the assault, Lu Bu, Hua Xiong, and Hu Zhen led their forces to pursue Sun Jian.

Unfortunately, Lu Bu and Hu Zhen were not in a good term. Sun Jian exploited the weak coordination between Dong Zhuo's men and routed the pursuing army. In this battle, Sun Jian captured Hua Xiong and executed him.

With this deed, Sun Jian gained fame, and the piece of news reached Yuan Shu. Unfortunately, many envied of his glory and spread bad rumors around.

The rumor reached Yuan Shu's ears eventually. Because of Yuan Shu's envy and his paranoid nature, he suspected that if Sun Jian took Luo Yang, he would be able to control the Sun Clan anymore.

As a result of Yuan Shu's over-paranoid, he stopped sending supplies to Sun Jian's camp. Later, Sun Jian returned to Yuan Shu and scolded his lord for being shortsighted and foolish in front of his subordinates.

In shame, Yuan Shu resumed sending supplies to Sun Jian.

With enough supplies, Sun Jian continued his campaign north to Luo Yang.

Dong Zhuo attempted to bribe Sun Jian into a truce, but Sun Jian refused and continued chasing after Dong Zhuo Army.

By then, Dong Zhuo already bought enough times to loot everything in the Capital. He employed the Scorched Earth tactic by burning Luo Yang, so the ally forces could not gain anything from capturing the Capital City.

Upon getting inside Luo Yang, they encountered Lu Bu Army and routed them. Dong Zhuo also attempted to fight back against Sun Jian, but he was defeated and fled toward the west to Chang'An.

Upon surveying the damages in Luo Yang, Sun Jian discovered that tombs of previous emperors were robbed by Dong Zhuo. He ordered his men to reseal the tombs and restore the order of the city. During the process, they found the Imperial Seal inside a well in the south of the city.

Despite his success in the coalition, the ally forces no longer had any intention of continuing the war as they schemed to expand their territories.

Internal conflicted happened.

Turning his attention to his territories, Yuan Shao plotted with Gongsun Zan. They attacked Han Fu and forced him to surrender, taking Ji Province as his own.

At that moment, everyone retreated to their own territories to protect their home base from the greedy neighbors.

Yuan Shao did not stop expanding. He planned to destroy his own kin, Yuan Shu, so he allied with Liu Biao and sent troops to attack Yuan Shu.

Yuan Shu heard about the news. He allied with Gongsun Zan and attacked Liu Biao while Gongsun Zan attacked Yuan Shao. Sun Jian, who was Yuan Shu's subordinate at that time, was sent to attack Liu Biao.

Sun Jian managed to rout Huang Zu Army of Liu Biao forces. However, he was ambushed and killed when Sun Jian was alone.

Because of his death, Sun Ce, the eldest son of Sun Jian, had no choice but to continue serving Yuan Shu.

In the novel version, Sun Jian did not kill Hua Xiong, but Guan Yu did in a duel in front of Hulao Gate.

Sun Jian also did not rout Dong Zhuo Army to the point that Dong Zhuo fled west. Instead, Dong Zhuo fled Luo Yang first before Sun Jian Army arrived.

After Sun Jian found the Imperial Seal, this news leaked to Yuan Shao, which he demanded the seal from Sun Jian.

Hearing the unreasonable demand, Sun Jian refused and withdrew his troops back to Changsha.

In furious, Yuan Shao allied with Liu Biao and plotted against Sun Jian. They set up an ambush in Jing Province in Liu Biao's territory.

While Sun Jian was returned to Changsha, passing through the Jing Province of Liu Biao, Huang Zu ambushed his forces and killed him in the battle.

Sun Ce was still young and had no place to return to, he decided to join forces with Yuan Shu after that.

.

The history of the power struggle between lords was an important reference to the overall situation in the current timeline.

Li Jing could sense that Tong wanted to make the coalition battle happen again in this world, but he changed the actors from Dong Zhuo to Xiongnu King, and the leader of the coalition from Yuan Shao to himself.

With this understanding, Li Jing plotted to make use of this event to gain profits.

Instead of serving Yuan Shu, she wanted the Sun Clan to take the leading role and steal Luo Yang!

Since Dong Zhuo had been killed and the city had not been razed, it was possible for Sun Jian to restore it after he occupied it.

"Fang, what will happen if we help Sun Ce capturing Jianye and the entire Yang Province while Sun Jian happened to be a dominant figure in Luo Yang?"

"Won't Zhang Tong attack us? His borders will connect with ours, and his attention might shift to us."

"Well, that can happen if his army is in perfect condition. Say, how about we join the fight, but we sabotage Zhang Tong forces while we're at it?"