Battle Royale of the Sinners

All troops rushed into the camp like a tidal wave, engulfing the patrolling soldiers as they passed.

Soon, Tian Feng's men detected the chaos and the invaders.

"WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!!"

Sun Jian, Huang Gai, Han Dang, and Cheng Pu commanded 12,000 soldiers each. They attacked the camp from all directions, killing as many men they could find.

Meanwhile, Pu Jing located their reserved granaries, which hidden north of Tian Feng's camp. Both Cao Cao and Pu Jing Army burnt down their supplies and withdrew to surround Tian Feng's main camp, assisting Sun Jian and his men.

.

Tian Feng did not prepare for a battle today as he heard from the scouts that Cao Cao was retreating. He even thought that Cao Cao wanted to withdraw all armies to avoid the upcoming winter.

By the time Tian Feng realized that his army was surrounded, half of his soldiers had already died inside their tents. Moreover, he could see the trail of smoke and fire in the direction of his hidden reserved granaries.

The entire 24,000 soldiers were outnumbered and were defeated before the daybreak. Sun Jian and Cheng Pu managed to capture Tian Feng in his command tent.

On the morning of the next day, Sun Jian escorted Tian Feng to Cao Cao.

The warlord smiled at the strategist, "Nice to meet you, Tian Feng."

"… Well met, Marquis of Wei. Having fun mocking the loser?"

"No. I want to meet the strategist behind this water dam scheme. It was a good strategy, I say. Had I been in my early days, I would have jumped into the city, and you would have trapped me in Xiapi like an animal in a cage. You also have a good grasp of timing and the weather. Combining the rainy season and the future winter together into a stratagem like this is no easy feat."

"A failed scheme is worthless. Please stop talking nonsense. Kill me and get this over with."

"Don't blame yourself. I actually cheated, so you should consider yourself the real winner of this war. Still, serving Yuan Shao like this is a waste of your talent. How about it, won't you work for me?"

Tian Feng scoffed, "I have only one master. Kill me!"

"He doesn't even deserve to be called your master, though. Isn't he just an employer?"

"He took me from Luoyang when I'm still a worthless official. You didn't."

"True. But I have an otherworlder as my subordinate. Yuan Shao didn't have one."

"…"

"Last chance, strategist. Join me or die here."

"Kill me."

Cao Cao sighed, "Without a hesitation, eh?"

"What's there to think? Kill me."

"Don't you want to get back on Zhang Tong?"

Tian Feng gritted his teeth. When he began his career under Yuan Shao, his first nemesis was Tong. At first, he thought that Tong was just an upstart son of a cultist or a lowly noble.

Looking back, Tian Feng had many chances to kill Tong and his family. Unfortunately, he paid too much attention to Yuan Shao's reputation and repercussion of his actions to the point that he let Tong slipped away several times.

Now, Tong had become an emperor while Yuan Shao stayed as a fraud warlord, who had tried to enthrone his youngest son.

There was not a day that he regretted choosing Yuan Shao as his master. He wanted a more capable lord and more talented generals as his arsenal.

Tian Feng glared at Cao Cao, "Will you fight against Zhang Tong? I heard you swore allegiance to him to get the Marquis title."

"The title is just a decoration and a stepping stone to the greater height. I will have to fight him eventually since I don't agree with his government system. I don't plan to fight him in the open, though."

"What about your son? Isn't he in Ye as a hostage?"

"… If I fucked up and he died. He will understand my purpose in the afterlife. I'll honor him as the god-emperor of Wei Dynasty once I unified the land."

Tian Feng closed his eyes and sighed. This was a different trait between Yuan Shao and Cao Cao.

Cao Cao was willing to kill his son to achieve his goal, but Yuan Shao valued reputation too much that it influenced all his subordinates, blinding them from the most straightforward solutions to many problems.

Tian Feng knelt, "I, Tian Feng, Tian Yuanhao, sees the lord."

Tian Feng made his decision. He joined forces with Cao Cao!

.

.

Morning of the next day.

Cao Cao: "Miaocai, don't move or allow Yuan Shao to retreat. Wait in there until my force surround the city, okay?"

Xiahou Yuan: "I saw the fire in the north. Was it you?"

Cao Cao: "Yeah, Tian Feng surrendered, and all granaries have been burnt. The flood tactic won't happen this time. I don't want to restore the city from the flood. It's annoying."

Xiahou Yuan: "Will do."

After confirming Cao Cao's order from the chat, he turned to Guo Jia and passed on the messages. He told the strategist about the recent event.

As Guo Jia listened to Xiahou Yuan, he revealed a wry smile.

"He really wants to kill Yuan Shao and all of his family, isn't he?"

"Can you tell?"

"Yeah, he is meticulous with his moves as if he knew that Yuan Shao's sons would be troublesome."

"Will they?"

"I doubt it. If they had many territories like Zhang Tong, it will be a pain. But since he has only one city left, our lord is a bit over-paranoid."

"So, what's next?"

"Let's get ready to kill all the Yuan clan members. I'm tired of this farce."

.

Yuan Shao was in despair when he saw the fire from afar. He shouted at his strategists, Guo Tu and Shen Pei, "What happened to Tian Feng!? Why is it burning over there!?"

"T-That's impossible! They are so close to the river. How can their camps burn!?"

"W-We don't know, my lord! We lost our communication with Sir Tian Feng ever since the beginning of the siege!"

Yuan Shao's face lost all color. All plans that he and Tian Feng had prepared were in ruin.

They supposed to weaken Cao Cao's forces and break out of the city. Not only they could not handle their armies, but Tian Feng also could not escape from Cao Cao's night raid.

"It's over."

Yuan Shao fainted while half of his hair became white.

"M-My lord!"

"Call the physicians!"

The moment Yuan Shao collapsed from the shock, the onlooking soldiers spread the news. Like wildfire, everyone learned about the burning granaries to the north and Yuan Shao's health. The army morale sunk to the abyss once more.

Yuan Tan, Yuan Xi, and Yuan Shang gathered all officials and Xiahou Yuan, trying to rally their soldiers. Everyone gazed at Xiahou Yuan as he was their last hope.

"General, do you think we can win?"

Xiahou Yuan glanced at Guo Jia, who stepped forward, "Allow me to answer that question."

"And you are?"

"I am Feng Xiao. I'm the strategist of Sir Miao Cai Army, just in case you've forgotten."

Yuan Tan remembered the scholar, "Oh, right! My apologies. Do you have an exit plan in this situation?"

"It depends on whether my lord is willing to place yourself in troubles, or you will give up fighting for the hegemony."

"What do you mean?"

"First, you can get an easy way out by surrender to Cao Cao. As a courtesy, Cao Cao will bestow you a title or a position for your cooperation."

Yuan Tan frowned. He did not like serving Cao Cao.

"I'm against surrendering. Do you have another way?"

"The second choice, which is the last option, we'll fight them to the death."

"…"

Yuan Tan and others stared at Guo Jia.

"Are you serious? There is no other plan?"

"No. However, we can assign all of our strongest bodyguards to protect everybody here, if you would like our army to provide you our best men. We'll also send our strongest warrior to Lord Yuan's side."

Yuan Tan, Yuan Xi, and Yuan Shang stared at Guo Jia, suspicous of this strategist. They turned around and huddled together, whispering.

"How about we let them fight to the death. When shit happens, we surrender?"

"Great idea! How about we kill someone and pretend that it is a general's head?"

"That good, too. Well, I think Cao Cao knew our father, so we can't fake his corpse."

"I heard Cao Cao is workaholic. Usually, workaholics seek women more than ordinary men. How about we offer him a few good looking girls and pretend that they are wives of some big-shots?"

"Genius! Let's do that!"

The three Yuans turned around and agreed with Guo Jia."

"O-Of course. Please give us your best soldiers. We'll pray for your victory from here."

Guo Jia smiled and bowed, "We will give you our best."

With all the formality, Guo Jia and Xiahou Yuan assigned a thousand men to guard all officers inside the inner city. Meanwhile, Xu Chu went to Yuan Shao's side, acting as his new bodyguard. However, they reassigned all private troops of the nobles to the frontline.

Half a day later, Cao Cao, Pu Jing, Sun Jian, and all generals surrounded the city once again.

When the preparation was ready, Cao Cao gave Xiahou Yuan a signal by telling him in the clan chat.

"Open the gates for us. It's time."

Xiahou Yuan was protecting the west gate today. He sent a messenger to Xu Chu and the thousand soldiers inside the city.

His message was simple, [KILL].

As soon as Xu Chu obtained the order, he killed all bodyguards who were protecting Yuan Shao and rushed into his room.

Guo Tu and Shen Pei were still there at Yuan Shao's side, looking at Xu Chu in shock.

"You … what are you doing!?"

"…"

Xu Chu did not reply to the men. He swung his blade and beheaded the two.

The super bodyguard walked to Yuan Shao, who was sleeping on his bed.

*SEOK*

The blade penetrated into Yuan Shao's heart. The warlord woke up in shock and stared into the eyes of the killer.

As Yuan Shao lost his heart and all blood pressure, his strength escaped him. He died with his eyes open as he watched Xu Chu leaving the room.

Meanwhile, the one thousand soldiers also took out their weapons and murdered every officer that they were protecting, including Yuan Tan, Yuan Shang, and Yuan Xi.

In one move, all officers under Yuan Shao were slaughtered.

The one thousand soldiers rushed to Yuan Shao's manner afterward and began killing all females, elders, children, servants, and everyone who had ties with the Yuan Clan.

Yuan Shang, Yuan Xi, and Yuan Tan did not survive the slaughtering.

An hour later, Xu Chu and all soldiers visited Xiahou Yuan at the west wall. Their bodies covered in blood and sweat, which attracted the attention of the garrison soldiers.

"It's done," Xu Chu confirmed his kill to Guo Jia and Xiahou Yuan.

"Alright," Xiahou Yuan turned to Yuan Shao's infantries on the wall, "Open the gate! We're surrendering to Cao Cao!"

The garrison soldiers widen their eyes in disbelief.

"S-Sir, Lord Yuan said we have to protect the city …"

Xiahou Yuan smirked, "I've received a new order from Lord Yuan. We're surrendering! Anyone that resists will be killed!"

Hearing that it was an order from the lord himself, no one dared to make a fuss.

Xiahou Yuan, Guo Jia, and Xu Chu rode out of the west gate to meet the invaders while garrison soldiers on the wall raised white flags.

Cao Cao, who stationed at the west, also rode forward to meet with his trusted generals and strategist. Also, Tian Feng was next to Cao Cao when they reunited.

Just like when Zhang He killed Han Fu and surrendered Ye City to Tong, Xiahou Yuan destroyed Yuan Shao's forces and gave Xiapi to Cao Cao.

"Mission accomplished. Took you a while, Mengde."

"I messed around for too long. Sorry about the stupid fight the other day."

"Meh, it's fine. How did you know that Yuan Shao would try to kill me?"

"A hunch. Fortunately, this strategist at my side isn't in the city. Or else, you three would have been dead."

Xiahou Yuan turned to Tian Feng, who had a wry smile on his face. Judging from Cao Cao's words and Tian Feng's expression, it was not hard to tell that Cao Cao spoke the truth.

"It's my mistake to lead a force outside the city. I should have let Yan Liang handle it, but I didn't trust that birdbrain general," Tian Feng sighed in regret. He could have done better.