Battle Royale of the Sinners

Pengcheng County, west of Xiapi.

This was one of Xu Province's most prosperous cities, which was also the largest city in this region.

In historical records, this city was burnt down, and all civilians were slaughtered by Cao Cao.

It began in 193 when Cao Song, Cao Cao's father, wanted to retire from his job and live to his son. At that time, Cao Cao established a firm base on the central plain, so Cao Song wished to reunite with his successful son.

Unfortunately, one of his escorts which was sent by Tao Qian, Zhang Kai, was a former Yellow Turban bandit. He desired Cao Song's wealth, so he murdered Cao Song and everyone else.

The death of Cao Song enraged Cao Cao. He invaded Xu Province, seeking vengeance. During the campaign, his force slaughtered over 100,000 civilians and 10,000 garrison soldiers for the sake of replenishing his army's rations.

Pengcheng was one of the victim city that Cao Cao burnt.

However, in this world, Cao Song had already been secured by Pu Jing's men ever since he had begun serving Cao Cao. Cao Song was now living comfortably in Xuchang, enjoying his retirement with his riches from his past career as a Grand Commandant.

The murder of Cao Song did not happen!

Still, Pengcheng was a territory of Yuan Shao, which Mi Zhu and Zhang Kai were protecting.

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June 15th.

Cao Cao's 45,000 soldiers from Xiaopei reached Pengcheng City.

As they had planned with Guo Jia, Mi Zhu opened the gates and surrendered. Zhang Kai did not know anything about this arrangement, so he stood in shock and baffled. Still, he followed through with Mi Zhu's lead to survive.

Five thousand garrisons joined Cao Cao, which increased his troops to 50,000!

After the authority handover had been completed, Cao Cao called Mi Zhu and Zhang Kai to meet them.

In Pengcheng government hall, Cao Cao sat on the main seat, looking at the two surrendered officers.

"Mi Zhu, Mi Zizhong, greets Marquis of Wei."

"Zhang Kai greets Marquis of Wei."

Cao Cao nodded at Mi Zhu with a smile, but he glared at Zhang Kai with hatred. He had learned about the alternate history timeline from Pu Jing about how Zhang Kai started a war between him and Tao Qian.

Cao Cao wanted to kill this former bandit right away, but it would have caused resentment among the surrendered minor officials and soldiers.

Although he could not kill Zhang Kai, Cao Cao had a thousand ways to kill a commander of five thousand-man-army.

"Welcome. I hope that you can work your utmost best for the people. You have chosen the right side."

Mi Zhu nodded and bowed, "Thank you, Marquis! My strong suit is finance. If you leave the financial task to me, I promise you that your territories will prosper!"

"HAHAHA! Don't worry, Mi Zizhong. I'll give you plenty of works. For now, how about the title of secretary of finance sounds?"

Mi Zhu was astonished. He just bootlicked Cao Cao out of courtesy and presented him with what he excelled. No one would have expected a sudden promotion of out the blue.

"T-Thank you, Marquis. I'll do my best!"

Cao Cao nodded.

Meanwhile, Zhang Kai revealed a bashful expression, thinking that he would get a promotion as well.

Cao Cao turned to Zhang Kai with a cold smile.

"Zhang Kai. I'll send you back to Yuan Shao as a spy! I want you to release a piece of fake news that I'll mobilize to attack Xiapi within the end of the month!"

"S-Sir?"

"Didn't you hear me? Do I need to explain your tasks?"

"I-I don't understand, my lord. I've never been a spy-"

Pu Jing coughed and patted his shoulder, "I'll explain everything. Follow me."

Zhang Kai looked around in confusion. He followed after Pu Jing, dejected.

Afterward, Pu Jing gave him a scroll, which had details about how Zhang Kai should act within Yuan Shao's ranks. He also explained how he should report to Yuan Shao when he returned.

Pu Jing shoved a leather bag with 30 gold nuggets in it to Zhang Kai.

"Serve our lord well, and you'll get more gold."

Looking at the gold, Zhang Kai laughed, "Of course, I understand everything now. You can count on me!"

.

June 20th.

Zhang Kai returned to Xiapi and reported the loss of Pengcheng.

Everyone was panic because Xiapi would be surrounded from all sides, and they were the next target that Cao Cao would attack.

Despite the noisy and the restless of everybody, Yuan Shao remained indifferent.

"Don't be a fool. Losing a few battles is nothing. What matters is that who will win the war, not small insignificant battles."

Hearing their lord's encouragement, all officers regained their sense.

"Right! My lord is right!"

"That's correct. It's not over yet!"

"As long as we can kill Cao Cao, we can take all the cities back."

The buzzing noise died down. Yuan Shao turned to Tian Feng, "How many cannons we have?"

"Fifty, my lord."

"Ammunition?"

"Two thousand!"

Yuan Shao smiled, "Repeating crossbows?"

"100,000!"

"Arrows?"

"Over ten million!"

Yuan Shao turned to his officers, "We have 70,000 soldiers in this county, and we have rooms to draft militias to help us defend the walls. Yan Liang, conscript 30,000 civilians and train them to use our repeating crossbows!"

Yuan Shao threw a command token stick to Yan Liang.

Yan Liang stepped forward and bowed before he took the command token from Yuan Shao.

"Zhang Kai!"

Zhang Kai stumbled when Yuan Shao shouted his name, "Y-Yes, lord?"

"You will command those 30,000 militias. Their lives are in your hands!"

Hesitated, Zhang Kai bowed and took the command token.

"Now, I want everybody to tell me how many private troops you have."

All officers began shouting, trying to outdo the others to gain an achievement.

"I, Gou Tu, have 2,500 men!"

"Shen Pei contributes 3,000 men!"

"I have 1,500 men!"

"I contribute 1,000!"

Voices kept coming from the nobles and wealthy officers. As for minor officials, they only had a dozen men as their bodyguards. None of them tried to show their meager personal assets.

In the end, Yuan Shao obtained 25,000 soldiers from the nobles. Combined with the yet to recruit 30,000 militias and 70,000 professional soldiers, they had 125,000 soldiers waiting for Cao Cao.

With a massive force that could intimidate Tong, Yuan Shao was not afraid.

'Come, Mengde! Let's see how you will cry after you lose to me!'

.

Cao Cao's movements stopped after he had taken Pengcheng. The attack at the end of the month did not come as Zhang Kai had reported, which discredited his influence.

July 10th.

At Pengcheng County, Sun Jian's legion of 50,000 soldiers arrived. Cao Cao stood before the gate to welcome this Han loyalist.

"Welcome, Tiger of Jiangdong."

"I don't deserve that silly nickname."

"You eliminated pirates for Jiangdong people. The title is the honor and the representation of people's respect."

"… Eh, whatever. Now that I'm here. What should I do next?"

"Get your men rested. We'll march to Xiapi in ten days."

Cao Cao had 50,000 soldiers waiting in Pengcheng. Combined with Sun Jian, they would have 100,000 men to attack Xiapi.

Cao Cao and Pu Jing also brought their cannons over. They were looking forward to testing their power against Yuan Shao's city walls.

.

.

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In Ye City, Tong received the reports about Sun Jian's changing sides, Cao Cao's mobilization, and the fall of many cities.

Tong held a conference in his clan chat as the usual.

Tong: "Does anyone has further information about Sun Jian's family?"

Li Feihong: "I have. What are you looking for?"

Tong: "Is Sun Ce and Sun Fang with Sun Jian?"

Li Feihong: "No. All of the Sun Clan's families are in Xuchang."

Tong paused to think and laughed.

Te Langpu: "If I were you, I would have bribed Sun Ce and make him rebel against Cao Cao."

Dong Bai: "Same. Sun Ce is an ambitious warlord like Lu Bu. Give him troops, and he will cause a scene."

Diaochan: "I suggest we give him enough gold to hire private troops. Then, we can watch the chaos."

Li Feihong: "I say, let me teleport there and kill Sun Fang for you. He's still weak ATM, and there aren't many guards in Xuchang."

All otherworlders gave their opinions this time. As Sun Ce was a famous warlord, everybody learned about him to the point that they could create a biography of Sun Ce.

Sun Ce had the title "Little Conqueror" in history. Before he reached 20, he betrayed Yuan Shu and conquered Jiangdong, setting a foundation for the Wu Kingdom.

Unfortunately, Sun Ce died at the age of 25. The cause of death was still disputed if he died because of Huang Zu or a Taoist priest, Yu Ji.

Still, Sun Ce's potential could not be denied. People sometimes compared him with Xiang Yu or Lu Bu as he was talented in battlefields.

Everyone wanted Sun Ce to join Tong, but there was a problem.

Sun Fang

This A-hole killed Hua Shi, and he still lived under the care of the Sun Clan.

However, Tong had long attained peace and got over her death. Although it pained him whenever the topic came up, he was not that depressed anymore.

Tong read through the clan chat and replied.

Tong: "I have a better idea. Let me abuse my emperor's mandate."

That day, Tong wrote an edict.

[According to the achievements from the previous Anti-Xiongnu Alliance, Sun Jian has displayed his abilities worthy of being praised. Thanked his prowess in battles, the Han Dynasty regains Hongnong and Luoyang from the Xiongnu.

Leaving such a talented general unrewarded is terrible to Han's reputation. Therefore, we shall bestow Sun Jian with the title, Marquis of Xu. Sun Jian shall have the authority to oversee the entire Xu Province from now on.

Because of this proclamation, Marquis of Xu and Marquis of Wei's territory will conflict against each other. To avoid such a problem, Marquis of Wei has to concede the Xu Province to Marquis of Xu.

Thirdly, a family of a Marquis should not lack education. Sun Jian shall send his sons, Sun Ce and Sun Fang, to Ye City Academy, so we can train them to be proper successors of such great Marquis.]

It was another demand to take in hostages.

After Tong had taken in Cao Ang as a hostage, Cao Cao had not moved against him. Thus, Tong wanted to try it with Sun Jian.

He also wanted Sun Jian to settle in Xu, so he could weaken Cao Cao's forces in the central plain. With two enslaved warlords at the south, Tong would not have to worry about his southern fronts for a while.

This was the perks of being an emperor. Tong could order all warlords as he wanted.

"With this, I'll have both Cao Ang and Sun Ce in my prison. While I'm at it, we'll kill Sun Fang."

After finishing the first one, Tong revealed its content to others in the clan chat.

Tong: "What do you think?"

Li Feihong: "Terrible. You're a tyrant."

Dong Bai: "Trashy emperor. Our ideas are better."

Te Langpu: "Evilly savage. I like it."

Diaochan: "Don't act like a villain, Tong."

Jia Xu: "I wonder if you're any better than Dong Zhuo now."

Xun Yu: "Don't overdo it, please. It's immoral."

Ju Shou: "Hostage is bad, your majesty."

Tong: "…"