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Is this a cover for changing up the council when you got back in control of Xiao Ru?
Barely. I actually didn't change much of the council. The AI has a revolving door when it comes to replacing advisors the second I stop playing him, though.
I love that everybody seems to want a piece of Liu Siyuan. Either they want to murder him or get him to work for them.

That clearly means he is going to be dead soon. Lol
To be fair, he has a lot of troops for a three counties guy,
 
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197-198: The Voyages of Pan Zheng, Part 2
197-198: THE VOYAGES OF PAN ZHENG, PART 2
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After more than a year of wandering around searching for a new home, Pan Zheng had finally settled in Taishan Commandery to start a new life, which seemed perfect for him. He lived under the care of an excellent and famous scholar, a man he highly respected. In Ying Shao, Pan Zheng had finally found a lord he wanted to serve, someone he could believe in. And the older scholar had proven to be quite a respectful lord. Unlike his previous employers, Ying Shao had not tried to force Pan Zheng in doing things that he didn’t want to, seeing the wisdom in letting him focus on his studies and writings. But that didn’t mean Pan Zheng didn’t want to help with the governance of the commandery. Having been offered a position at court, the scholar happily did his best to council his lord, giving sharp and wise advices that were generally welcomed.
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But Pan Zheng had also found a colleague, a genius with who he could have discussions on the same level. Sadly, while Zhuge Liang was an excellent strategist for his young age, it was also clear that his personal problems were getting in the way of his greatness. Instead of focusing on his studies like Pan Zheng had done at his age, the young genius kept coming back to his father’s death at the hand of Xiao Ru. This had driven him to angry bouts of insanities,, leaving him so focused about his vengeance that he became unmanageable, all while he suffered from depression. This caused a lot of tensions with his older brother Zhuge Jin, who was starting to get pretty fed up with his brother’s attitude. So the presence of Pan Zheng, which seemed to calm Zhuge Liang and allow him to act more normally, was all too welcomed by Zhuge Jin. The older brother took every opportunity to invite the scholar to Fei County in order to keep his brother from causing more problems.
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But this period of happiness would not last, as toward the middle of 197 Ying Shao came to them with an opportunity. As it turned out, the Imperial Court had sent envoys throughout the provinces in the hope of recruiting worthy scholars to come to Luoyang. Niu Fu and his supporters wanted good and competent men to help redress the Han Dynasty, a move that for once was supported by the Wang Clan (although they hoped these new officials would be loyal to them). Ying Shao, seeing it as an opportunity to help two young men, gave the names of Pan Zheng and Zhuge Liang as potential candidates. Soon enough, news came that they had been accepted and would be gladly welcomed inside the capital, at which point the two men were finally informed of the whole affair. Pan Zheng felt betrayed and refused to go. He went to Zhuge Liang, expecting him to support him in this call, only to find the younger man packing his bags. Zhuge Liang felt like he had no reasons to stay around, with Zhuge Jin and Ying Shao having done nothing to get back at Xiao Ru. If he ever wanted to avenge his father, rising at court seemed like a good opportunity to do so. But Pan Zheng still refused, and Zhuge Liang and his wife Fang Xia actually had to drag him away from the commandery, and it was only half the way through the trip that he finally agreed to go.
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When the three of them finally arrived in Luoyang (alongside the few servants that accompanied them), they were amazed at the sight of the great city. While it wasn’t at its greatest, especially considering the damages dealt during the fall of Dong Huang, it was still an impressive city to people who had barely seen of the world or had been raised in the savage south. Clearly a place of wonders for the newcomer. Pan Zheng quickly called it “the greatest city, one only worthy of the greatest dynasty”, an opinion he would not hold for long. However, they didn’t have much time to play tourist. Thanks to the gifts and wealth given by Ying Shao at their departure, they were all able to secure themselves living arrangements within the city, and good ones at that.
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Pan Zheng and Zhuge Liang were accepted as students at the imperial academy, which was headed by a scholar named Chen Xia. Chen Xia had read the work of Pan Zheng, but first wanted to see how much talent the younger man had in person. As for Zhuge Liang, he was still an unknown in the capital. So while they studied under Chen Xia and the other older scholars, the two men also received small official tasks within the academy. It was during those early months that the difference in their temper became clear, especially to their teacher. Pan Zheng was patient, hardworking, but also incredibly stubborn when it came to finishing the tasks he had started. Chen Xia was especially impressed by the younger’s scholar focus on his studies and writings. Meanwhile, Zhuge Liang proved emotionally unstable, even if he excelled in his duties and was one of the best military scholars of the academy. Chen Xia, who was afraid of giving such problematic young man a lot of influence, instead focused his attention on the oldest of the two.
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As it turned out, Pan Zheng had mixed feelings about his time at the Imperial Academy. It was obvious that he didn’t want to be there at first, although he had since reconciled with the idea. However, he was working among famed scholars and learning more alongside the great minds of the late 2nd century. Or at least that’s what he had hoped. As it turned out, many of the great scholars had been promoted out of the academy to other functions, like Ying Shao, leaving only a few that stood on par with Pan Zheng’s knowledge. He also didn’t enjoy the fact that he found himself stuck in a lowly position, as he for once wanted to do more than menial works if he was going to live in the capital. Zhuge Liang was often occupied, leaving him without his comrade most of the time (and that wasn’t considering how his wife was acclimating to the capital’s social life far better than he did). But he still had access to what was probably the biggest collection of books and writings throughout China. The academy was truly the perfect place to start writing on another work. So at the end of the day, his current situation left him split between disappointment and satisfaction.

Chen Xia saw potential in the young man, though. In early 198, he came to the Chancellor with a recommendation for the young scholar. Surely Pan Zheng would be better used in the government, serving loyally Niu Fu. But the Chancellor, who was at the time preparing for his campaign against the Prince of Liang Liu Mi, once again expressed his disapproval with the idea of forcing his influence on the court. Still, he agreed that someone as competent as Pan Zheng had to be given a better post. Soon enough, the scholar was told that he was being promoted to a position within the Censorate, so to ensure the morality and the righteousness at court. It was a good jumping board into imperial politics and a respectable job. Niu Fu signed on the appointment and Pan Zheng found himself once again taken away from his environment and thrown into a new position. This time, he didn’t complain, as this was a step up from the academy.
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This new assignment led to Pan Zheng meeting the Chief Censor and head of the Censorate, Jiang Xian. The giant official was an impressive man to look at, even if he wasn’t that intimidating in term of personality. While their first meeting stayed with Pan Zheng, he didn’t have high feelings for or against his boss. He simply wanted to do his new job and do it well. Meanwhile, Jiang Xian first suspected this newcomer to have been appointed by Niu Fu to limit his own authority, and so kept a close watch on him (all the while acting friendly and supportive). But Pan Zheng didn’t seem interested in the imperial politics, even if he was fully aware of the current struggles. His focus on improving the administration within the Censorate, something that had fallen apart under Jiang Xian’s mismanagement, impressed the taller man. Soon Jiang Xian began to envision recruiting Pan Zheng to help the Wang Clan in their struggle with Niu Fu. While Jiang Xian was an excellent politician, he lacked any administrative skills, which would make Pan Zheng extremely valuable to have by his side.
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The Chief Censor decided to use Pan Zheng in the middle of 198. Taking advantage of Niu Fu’s absence on campaign, the Wang Clan decided to implicate some of his close associates at court in a scandal of corruption. Planting a few evidences here and there, Jiang Xian then asked Pan Zheng to investigate these “claims” that the Censorate was receiving. Pan Zheng promised to be thorough and find out what was going. This pleased Jiang Xian, at least until he realized that the scholar was serious and competent enough to actually find out what was going on. As it turned out, Pan Zheng did such a good job that he was quickly able to throw the accusations out, instead finding a link to officials loyal to the Wang Clan. While Jiang Xian had covered his own tracks, Pan Zheng was able to accuse a few Wang aligned officials of conspiring to make false accusations against loyal officials. Jiang Xian tried to convince Pan Zheng to drop the issue, but he refused. By now he was suspecting that this was just another maneuvering between the powers at court. He didn’t care who came out on top, but he would be damned if someone stopped him from being thorough.

In the end, he implicated three dozen of officials with charges of corruption, conspiracy and factionalism at court. The charges were so tight that the Wang Clan could do little but watch their allies get the axe, often literally. The older Wang Mao was quick to complain to Jiang Xian that this newcomer was proving too much trouble and had to be removed. They were on the verge of becoming the imminent power in the Imperial Capital now that Niu Fu was absent, yet this scholar was getting in their way and ruining everything. Jiang Xian, who remained a lot calmer about the issue, pointed out that removing him now would make them look bad more than anything else. The man had just uncovered a lot of corruption at court and would surely get a recommendation. Trying to act against Pan Zheng now was political suicide. Better to let him have his few days of fame and then move against him once that was over.
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He was proven right when the Emperor himself asked to see Pan Zheng after one official praised him in front of the court. The young Emperor was curious to meet this man who has so quickly risen through the ranks and ridded his court of such corruption. While annoyed that he himself had never noticed it while Pan Zheng had fixed the problem so easily, the Son of Heaven still wished to reward him for his service. Summoned at court, Pan Zheng did everything that was asked of him, following protocol and saying the right words at the right time. This was an audience with the Emperor, after all. He didn’t want to ruin such an important moment in his life. For his services, the Emperor promoted him to assistant-chief to the Palace Branch of the Censorate, so he could continue to watch over the officials. After the meeting, Pan Zheng would privately express his disappointment. The young Emperor certainly had ambitions, but he was too headstrong to listen and jealous of others’ successes. With such a man at the helm of the Dynasty, Pan Zheng began to wonder if there really was a place for him in Luoyang.
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Still, there were some good news. It had become clear for quite a while that Feng Xia was finally pregnant with his child, something that brought him quite a lot of joy. Ever since the death of his older brother, the task of continuing the Pan Clan had fallen upon his shoulders, a task which he took on quite seriously. So when it became clear that his wife was with child, Pan Zheng could only express his joy. He had little time to spend with his wife due to his new work, however, which only soured his mood about his future in the capital. Still, his foul mood vanished once Feng Xia gave birth to a son in early November, a young boy that they named Pan Zhiyuan. Now the line was secured.
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But their joy was soon crushed by news coming from Yi Province. A few weeks after the birth of his son, Pan Zheng was surprised to received a letter from his father, soon followed by a letter from Governor Liu Fan of Yi Province. Since he left the province, his father Pan Wei had worked tirelessly to restore his Clan’s reputation. It seemed to have worked quite well, as in late 196 he was appointed to the Yizhou Commandery in the south of the province. While not really efficient in his new job, he was surprisingly well-liked by the Governor. After almost two years in his new job, however, Pan Wei’s health had started to decline drastically as he started to suffer from stomach pains. He knew that his end would soon arrive, and so wrote a letter to his son asking him to return home, lifting his “exile” from the family. He also pleaded Liu Fan that his son be allowed to be appointed as his replacement. He Xiaolong, the old man who held most power in the province, wasn’t took keen on the idea. He personally disliked Pan Zheng quite a bit, seeing him as an arrogant youngling who didn’t respect his elders. But Liu Fan, who wished to have such a respected scholar serving under him, agreed to the demand, and when Pan Wei died in early November, he sent a missive to Pan Zheng offering him to be the new Administrator of Yizhou Commandery.
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So Pan Zheng found himself with news of his father’s death, that he was allowed to return and that he had received an appointment. But what really motivated him to return was the fact that his father had left a pregnant wife behind. As the head of the Clan, it was now his duty to take care of her and the soon to be born child (a girl named Pan Yuyi). His father’s death gave him an excuse to resign from all his official posts and pack his bags to leave the Imperial Capital. Feng Xia wasn’t exactly happy to have to leave so soon after the birth of her child, but she had little choice in the matter as she was unable to convince her husband not to move again. In their trip, the family was also joined by Zhuge Liang. Unlike Pan Zheng, Zhuge Liang had failed to rise within the imperial bureaucracy, which only left him convinced that it was weak and working against him. So he chose to accompany his comrade south, hoping that he would be a strong lord to serve. The group quickly said their goodbyes and made their way south. After three years of wandering, Pan Zheng was finally coming home.
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______
PS: Coming chapters
  1. The first year of the big war north (197-198)
  2. First part of Yuan Shu's invasion of Yingchuan (197-199)
  3. Liang Province post-unification (198-199)
  4. The second year of the big war north (198-199)
  5. The first part of the revolt against Yang Weili (198-200)
  6. Niu Fu's war for Xuchang (198-200)
  7. Maybe a Xiao Ru Chapter, as I need to se up some changes in his administration here and there over that period (198-200)
  8. Niu Fu's campaign to make Xiaban tributary, which makes him fight Yi Province (200)
  9. Stuffs the loser of the big war north has to deal with (200)
  10. Second part of Yuan Shu's invasion of Yingchuan (198-200)
Unless I forgot something, these will conclude the 2nd century of the story, as the chapter after these will start getting in the 3rd century.


PPS: Some might have noticed the lack of Liu Siyuan (@EtzelHoveri ) chapters in that list. That's because he spend the rest of the 2nd century mostly sitting around doing nothing, without much changes in his entourage. Some of the characters will get "sitting periods", and this is one of them. I'll cover it, but in a long chapter when we reach the end of it. Until then, his appearances will mostly be in others' chapters, like with Xiao Ru or Niu Fu recently.
 
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When you get a chance can you do a quick chapter with quick update on all of the reader characters? Thank you
Considering I did the last one in 195, I'll probably do the next one either at the start or the end of 200.
 
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197-198: A War for the North
197-198: A WAR FOR THE NORTH
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Gongsun Zan wasn’t surprised when he received messengers from the old Tan Weiping. Things had clearly been heating up in the north, with Lü Bu finally invading You Province. From what he heard of the man, it was clear that Lü Bu would not have been satisfied as the Inspector of Bing Province, that he would seek to gain far more powers and territories. So far, his actions seemed to indicate that Gongsun Zan would be the one attacked, which is why the general had put Tan Weiping on the defense of the border. Attacking Ji Province was a stupid strategy, but Lü Bu didn’t seem like the cerebral type. To learn that Lü Bu had not only aimed for the weaker Liu Yu, but had also timed it to attack just as Gongsun Zan fought south was a complete surprise. Once he cleared things south, the general found himself hesitant. He still wanted to present himself as a righteous defender of the Han, which meant that he couldn’t just attack a distracted enemy. He wished to help Liu Yu, but his former liege would never accept it. He even entertained the idea of going for the capital while his rivals were distracted, but Niu Fu’s righteous reputation would make him lose most of his Han loyalists.
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So he was quite relieved and happy when he received the messengers, who brought a missive that Liu Yu had sent to the border. It seemed that the Inspector of You Province was on his last leg. Unable to resists Lü Bu alone, he had finally asked his southern neighbor for help. Gongsun Zan couldn’t help himself from savoring that feeling, if only for an instant. But he had little time to lose. It was currently July, which meant that if he assembled fast enough, he might be able to achieve something before winter. Gongsun Zan summoned all his advisors and generals, with the exception of Tan Weiping, who was still guarding the frontier. He announced his intention to march against Lü Bu in order to save Liu Yu. However, many advised him not to take command personally, but to instead delegate that responsibility to another able commandant. While a few of them had eyes on personal glory, others were worried that their lord’s condition would be too much. After all, Gongsun Zan was now suffering from gout, which would make the trip to the frontline a living hell. But Gongsun Zan refused. “I was personally asked to come to Liu Yu’s help. How can I refuse that request? How can I insult our ally by not going myself?” he argued.
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With Gongsun Zan set on going, this left the question of who would be left in charge of the province in his absence. Two men were quick to ask for the position. Tan Weiping, who had expected that Gongsun Zan would want to lead the troops personally, had instructed his messengers to speak on his behalf. He was the eldest statesman of Ji Province and had showed that he was amply qualified for the task. Many in the province respected and trusted him. He was the safest choice. No, the only logical choice. His agents worked out to push that last point when they promoted his candidacy.
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But he wasn’t the only one wishing to be regent of Ji Province in its ruler’s absence. Yuan Tan had found himself outmaneuvered into the position of Chief Censor of the province last year, far away of any army. Well, now he had an opportunity to receive some civilian power and expected damn well to have it. Gongsun Zan had promised him power when he joined his side, so now was the time to pay up. And besides, who else was he going to nominate? Some old man? Bah! No, Yuan Tan fully expected to be left in charge of the province, an opportunity he planned to use for his personal advantage.
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Gongsun Zan chose neither of the two men, seeing the obvious red flags that they represented. Tan Weiping was indeed respected in the province, enough so that Gongsun Zan had always been careful not to give him so much power that he could become a rival. While the general trusted his older subordinate, he wasn’t blind to the dangers he could represent. When it came to Yuan Tan, trust was never even considered as a factor, because there was none to be found. Leaving Yuan Tan in charge was folly. No, that man was better left in a subordinate position. So instead, the Governor of Ji Province tapped in one of his oldest friends, Liu Bei. Liu Bei was a man known for his righteousness and his humility, someone that could be easily trusted and who could garner the respect of the provincial officials. Out of all his subordinate, Liu Bei was the one he trusted the most to remain loyal, and one he knew would do the job well.

So he ordered Tan Weiping to stay on the border with Bing Province and told Yuan Tan that he would instead have to obey Liu Bei in his absence. Liu Bei first tried to refuse the appointment, seeing himself as unworthy of such trust, but Gongsun Zan insisted. “I need a friend I can believe in”, he told him. Seeing how his lord was pleading for his help, Liu Bei could only accept the position of regent and hope that he was the right choice.
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With his rear secured, Gungsun Zan started to organize his forces into two. He would obviously command the main army that would go for Bing Province itself, but he also wanted a secondary army to go help Liu Yu in the north. For that secondary army, he entrusted a longtime subordinate that had followed him since his early days, the righteous Zhao Yun. Zhao Yun was the perfect man to trust with the command of a secondary army. He had already proved his military talent during the seizure of Ji province and in the dealing of some revolts last year. To assist him, Gongsun Zan also appointed one of Liu Bei’s sworn brother as a secondary commander, a brute named Zhang Fei. While Liu Bei had recommended him, Gongsun Zan was reticent to trust such a violent and brutish man with a large number of troops. But the scion of the Han vouched for him, and Zhao Yun could probably keep a tight leach on that man.
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But with so many people either left behind or commanding troops in the second army, Gongsun Zan found himself in need of a competent officer to command the important right flank of his army. He first approached his cousin Gongsun Yue, his closest advisor and head of his personal military staff. Not wanting to relinquish a position from which he could more closely help his more powerful relative, Gongsun Yue refused to take the command. However, he once again spoke in favor of Guan Yu, one of Liu Bei’s sworn brothers. Guan Yu had received an important command in the recent campaign for Jibei and had proven to be an excellent commander. Gongsun Yue, who had recommended Guan Yu that first time, was all too happy to once again help such a talented officer get the attention. He wanted his cousin to have the best generals possible at his disposal, and in his eyes Guan Yu was the best of all. Gongsun Yan, who also knew of Guan Yu’s talent, welcomed the suggestion and ordered the tall officer to come take command of his right flank.
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But sadly for Gongsun Zan, the recruitment of levies and the linking of his army took a lot more time than he would have wished. As his men were preparing themselves, Lü Bu was still within You Province, advancing and making quite a lot of progresses. When the warlord was informed that Gongsun Zan was assembling his troops to come to Liu Yu’s aid, he simply laughed. “What can he hope to do?” Lü Bu mocked. All this meant was that he would need to knock out You Province out of the war quickly (which he was already planning to do anyway) and then march south to annihilate the Ji forces. He could already see it in his mind. Yes, it would be that easy. Soon enough, he would not only control the northern border of China, but the whole north. Convinced that he was on the eve of his eventual triumph, Lü Bu ordered his men to quicken their pace toward victory.
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His subordinate and Commandant Zhang Yang still made sure that this new haste to finish the campaign didn’t turn into indiscriminate slaughter out of expediency. After all, these people would soon be the loyal subjects of his great lord, so there was no need to deal with them too harshly. It helped that some people did rejoice at the arrival of Lü Bu and his troops. Liu Yu and Wei Yusheng had fortified to resist an approaching Lü Bu, more or less abandoning the local people, and Ding Kai was occupied defending his easter commandery from the massive Wuhuan uprising. With the You forces led by the barbarian Tatabi Tanzhi, many felt that Lü Bu was a far more trustworthy protector. Of course, not everyone was trilled to see the approaching army, and many actually opposed the troops and refused to resupply them. This angered Lü Bu and his generals, who were quick to order reprisal out of anger. However, under the influence of Zhang Yang, the Inspector of Bing Province was starting to realize the use of keeping the local happy, and so tried to keep the violence to a minimum in order to protect his reputation.
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With the You forces collapsing in autumn 197, Lü Bu entered in contact with Ding Kai. The older general had already sent a missive indicating that he was open to the idea of Lü Bu’s takeover of the province. But said province would be greatly reduced if the barbarians were allowed to continue their rampage. Ding Kai had barely enough men to garrison key cities, and even then, the Wuhuans were progressing. Seeing it as both an opportunity to save You Province and a way for Lü Bu to expand his authority, Ding Kai asked the invading army for help. Lü Bu and Zhang Yang were all too happy to come to his aid. The warlord was particularly excited at the idea of crushing this barbarian force that had so far been undefeated. Lü Bu marched his troops so fast that the barbarians were actually surprised when they learned that his army was within two days of their position. Even with that time to prepare, they were unable to resist his raw military talent and his ability on the battlefield. The Wuhuans were crushed, and those that survived fled north, bolstering the ranks of the Xianbei Horde.
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The victory against the barbarians had the intended effect. Seeing how Lü Bu had stopped the menace while Liu Yu cowered in his provincial capital, most officials within You Province switched their allegiance to the invading army. Lü Bu could only smile at this as his victory became assured. Zhang Yang offered to go take the provincial capital for his lord, but was angrily rebuked. How dare he try to take such honor from the great Lü Bu? No, Lü Bu would take the city himself. And he did, on the first day of December 197, capturing Liu Yu and his entire court. The older Inspector of You Province was already sick when he was captured, so Lü Bu decided that he wasn’t worth keeping around and had him executed. Some were a bit shocked by how fast he had executed his opponent, but then again, he was the adopted son of Dong Zhuo.
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Many other courtiers were executed, but surprisingly, Wei Yusheng was not among them. Liu Yu’s main advisor was spared, in part because he secretly sent an offer of surrender to Lü Bu a few days before the city was taken. This was done in order to be sure that he would be kept alive, hoping that this would at least motivate Lü Bu to spare him long enough for him to convince the warlord of his usefulness. Ding Kai also vouched for his usefulness, as while the two men did not get along, the older general still recognized Wei Yusheng’s administrative talent. His record spoke for itself. Seeing some use in this man, Lü Bu freed Wei Yusheng and appointed as his main administrative advisor, something he desperately needed. Some were surprised by this, but Lü Bu was starting to learn the value of treating competent subordinates with respect.
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One subordinate who did not feel respected was Xuan Su, who had been left behind as regent of Bing Province while his lord went on campaign. A few years back, he had successfully managed to become Lü Bu’s right-hand man, only for the warlord’s impatience to cost him his power. While he was still Chief Censor of Bing Province, a position that gave him quite a lot of influence, he still remained barred from the frontline. He could only watch as Lü Bu and Zhang Yang conquered You Province while he was stuck behind. It left him enraged and infuriated. Why was Lü Bu so stupid? He was the warlord’s best asset, yet he was always wasted!

So when he learned that Gongsun Zan’s army was approaching, he saw it as an opportunity. He quickly wrote to Lü Bu, saying that with the threat of the invading Ji troops, Lü Bu would surely need reinforcements. Xuan Su would be all too happy to bring new recruits, which he hoped could be raised from the Xiongnus living on the northern border. While the Chief Censor fought the northern barbarians most of his life, he couldn’t deny their fierce drive for combat. The Inspector of Bing Province answered almost immediately, forbidding his subordinate of doing anything of the sort. No, the great Lü Bu would never lower himself to recruiting savages to fight his own battles! Xuan Su was starting to overstep his bounds, but due to the good mood following the annexation of You Province, Lü Bu allowed it to slide. Xuan Su could barely contain his anger at this reply. He had just worked out the perfect plan to ensure victory, and his lord was refusing it out of pride? What an idiot! But Xuan Su also realized that he had control over the northern border. With the provincial censorate also completely under his sway, it would be easy to hide things within his territories. Against orders, he started to secretly recruit barbarians anyway.
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Gongsun Zan had barely entered the mountains between Ji and Bing Provinces when he received news of what had happened north. Lü Bu had triumphed before they could do anything, and now Liu Yu was dead. This left the general in quite the predicament, as his casus belli had been about coming to his former liege’s aid. Now that he was dead, their campaign seemed a bit more tedious. First of all, he ordered the second army of Zhao Yun to join up with him, as there was now no need to go help You Province since it had switched side. This left him time to decide what to do next. Should he just abandon the campaign? This was a tempting choice. His gout had made the trip extremely difficult for Gongsun Zan, and he dearly wished to go home to relax instead of continuing through the mountains. But the encouragements of Gongsun Yue convinced him to push forward. His cousin insisted that the enemy capital was close. Once they passed the mountains, they would be within reach of Lü Bu’s seat of power, after which it would be easy to take over the province. Gongsun Zan thus decided to continue. Taking a few mountains and a capital was doable. He steeled his mind and pushed forward, even with the constant pain of his gout.
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When he linked up with Zhao Yun, Gongsun Zan redevised his army. He left Gongsun Yue and Guan Yu with 3000 men to secure some of the cities on the border. Meanwhile, the Governor would take the rest of the army, alongside Zhao Yun and Zhang Fei, to go fight the surely coming enemy force. Guan Yu opposed this, believing that only he was strong enough to fight Lü Bu. To this, Zhang Fei laughed, saying “Bah! Second brother doesn’t need to worry with vermin like Lü Bu! I’ll deal with him!” Guan Yu looked at his sworn brother, but in the end decided to trust him. “Make First brother proud.”, Guan Yu replied with a nod. “And you better bring his head back.” Zhang Fei could not stop himself from boasting at this. “His head? I’ll bring back his whole dead army!”
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As expected, Lü Bu did not leave such invasion of his territories without a response. The warlord had barely conquered You Province that he now had to turn around to go face the invading forces of Gongsun Zan. He left Wei Yusheng in charge of the newly conquered territories in his absence, not giving much thoughts to the issue. The man seemed competent, so he would surely be able to do the job. Ding Kai volunteered to come help his new lord, which Lü Bu accepted. Having already the competent Zhang Yang by his side, adding Ding Kai would surely make their army invincible. See Xuan Su? You aren’t needed here, so stop complaining. The three men advanced their army for a few months until they finally saw the enemy force on the horizon. The fighting started in March 198, when Zhang Fei, impatient to see some action, launched a first charge against the enemy.

After two days of fighting, Gongsun Zan was starting to feel nervous. They had the numerical advantage, yet the outcome of the battle seemed uncertain. Wishing to prove his strength, Zhang Fei declared that he would go challenge Lü Bu to a duel in front of the men and kill the bastard. Gongsun Zan was hesitant at this, and looked at Zhao Yun for advice. The younger officer told his lord that if someone could defeat Lü Bu, it was probably Zhang Fei. From what he had seen of the man, Zhao Yun confirmed that Liu Bei’s sworn brother was an exceptional fighter, if a bit too aggressive.

So Gongsun Zan agreed, allowing Zhang Fei to ride in front of the troops screaming: “Lü Bu! Come out, you coward! Come face your death! Come be slaughtered like a pig!” While Lü Bu was too far in the rear working on strategies to hear it, Zhang Yang definitively did. Angry at the insults thrown at his lord, Zhang Yang took a horse and rode in front of the Bing forces. “How dare you insult our lord!” he answered. “What kind of idiot are you?” Zhang Fei laughed at this, which only prompted an angry Zhang Yang to challenge him to a duel, which the brute accepted. The ensuing duel, fought right between the two army camps, was seen by most of the troops. And they saw how easily Zhang Fei was playing with Zhang Yang. The Commandant of Bing Province did block most hits at first, but it quickly became clear that there was a heavy difference of skills between the two. After a few minutes of this routine, Zhang Fei sped toward Zhang Yang and sent his snake lance through Zhang Yang’s neck, leaving him to bleed out for a few moments before the brute swung to cut his head off. He paraded it in front of the Bing troops, joyfully screaming: “Lü Bu! This will be your fate! Hahahaha!”
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When Lü Bu was finally warned of what was happening, it was too late to save Zhang Yang or challenge Zhang Fei, who had returned to his own camp to present the head of the defeated general to his lord. Angered and infuriated, the warlord ordered an immediate assault on the enemy position, against Ding Kai’s advice. The old general could see how demoralize the men were after such a show. They needed to wait, perform the funerary rites for Zhang Yang and then motivate the troops to go out there and avenge their dead Commandant. But Lü Bu was only focused on the insult to his honor and wanted revenge now, damnit! The morale of his troops, lowered by the death of Zhang Yang, left them unmotivated and quite a bit scared. They certainly ran at the sight of Zhang Fei. At the end of the day, this first battle at Duxiang was a victory for Gongsun Zan and his forces, forcing Lü Bu to retreat and regroup.
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As the battle was being fought and lost by Lü Bu, Xuan Su was handling another important event in the provincial capital of Bing Province. As part of his policies to increase his power, Lü Bu had arranged a marriage for his eldest daughter Lü Lingqi, who was now 16 and all readied to get married. She would probably had been married earlier, had Lü Bu ever thought about the issue of her marriage before 196. Xuan Su, who was the regent of Bing Province, was to welcome the in-laws for the marriage in the absence of his lord, who seemed to have forgotten this important day while campaigning against Gongsun Zan. The groom was Cao Ang, the eldest son of the small warlord Cao Cao. This was an alliance that Xuan Su had not been keen on, believing that he could have gotten a far better match for the girl if he had been involved in the selection process. First of all, Cao Cao had become famous by trying to assassinate Dong Zhuo, which made things extremely awkward. But then there was the fact that for all his talent, Cao Cao had not achieved much over the last decade. Other than a failed attempt to reclaim the territories of Henan around the Imperial Capital (to which he was beaten by the then Administrator Niu Fu) and coming to the help of Dong Huang against the barbarians, Cao Cao had not expanded or won major battles. Still, a man of such wasted talent might prove useful as an ally.
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Xuan Su did his best to be the greatest host he could for the guests. In particular, he made sure to ingratiate himself to the groom, Cao Ang, something that Cao Cao did not fail to miss. The marriage proceeded without a hitch, and things were going relatively smoothly with Xuan Su in charge. But Cao Cao was no dupe, and so decided to confront their host about his all too friendly attitude toward his son. Xuan Su first feigned ignorance, but the Colonel made it clear that while he admired their host’s ability to hide his intentions, he was only willing to tolerate it for so long. Frustrated, Xuan Su dropped the façade and came forward with a proposition. Surely Cao Cao didn’t want his family to be restrained to a simple county. And if something was to happen to Lü Bu over the campaign, well Cao Ang would surely prove the best choice to succeed him. After all, Lü Bu’s eldest son Lü Sun was only 6, so he couldn’t really rule. And besides, there was precedent to a son-in-law succeeding, Xuan Su pointing to the example of Yao Shuren succeeding Guo Si. But Cao Cao could see where this was headed. Xuan Su wanted a puppet, not a master, and his son was the perfect candidate for this. He also knew that Lü Bu would not take well to this succession, since he actually had sons to pass his power to. So against the pleas of the regent, Cao Cao refused to let his son stay in Bing Province to “prepare him for successions” and brought the new married couple back with him to his territories.
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Gongsun Zan, already happy with the recent victory, was doubly pleased when he received news from Guan Yu and Gongsun Yue. They had taken a few cities in the mountains, creating a launching base to invade the rest of Bing Province. While he was tempted to stay where he was, as his gout was acting once again, Gongsun Zan still chose the ride back and go meet the secondary army. Well, “ride” was a strong word. He spent most of the trip in a carriage, as riding a horse was starting to be extremely painful for him. When he arrived, he congratulated Guan Yu and his cousin for their successes and advised them to advance while they regrouped in Yuanshi. Surely, they could take a few moments to rest and prepare for a more active push against Lü Bu, now that the warlord had been defeated.

But Lü Bu was not the kind of man to abandon easily. Instead of regrouping and recruiting new soldiers, he decided to push forward. Appointing Ding Kai as his new Commandant (something that enraged Xuan Su as he was once again passed over), he asked him the best way to take Gongsun Zan and destroy him. Ding Kai suggested that with their reduced forces (and Lü Bu’s refusal to take time to recruit new men), the best way was to take the enemy by surprise. So this is exactly what Lü Bu did. He quickly ordered his army to storm down into Ji Province to attack Gongsun Zan from behind. That led many of his demoralized soldiers to desert, but he didn’t care. He was on a path to victory. He stormed through the border defenses of Tan Weiping. The old man was still in charge of protecting the border, but with Gongsun Zan on the offensive he didn’t expect to be attacked like that. Surprised and unable to resist, he was never the less able to inflict some damage to Lü Bu’s army, killing three hundred men before being forced to flee.
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Lü Bu was able to advance quickly, intercepting any messengers sent by Tan Weiping to warn Gongsun Zan. So while the army of Gongsun Zan was still in Yuanshi, they were surprised in June to hear that Lü Bu and his forces were within range. They quickly prepared for battle and readied themselves for the fight. However, Gongsun Zan’s gout prevented him from taking direct command. Zhao Yun thus led the troops for the first few days of fighting, using a defensive strategy as advised by Gongsun Zan. And they were not trying to destroy Lü Bu in one stroke, like the warlord was trying to do with them. That was because Gongsun Yue and Guan Yu were not that far. They hoped that the secondary army would be warned of what was happening and come back to help them, thus striking a severe blow to Lü Bu’s army, a blow from which he might not recover. This strategy worked out in the end, as after two weeks of resistance, the forces of Guan Yu and Gongsun Yue appeared at the horizon and joined in the fighting. Attacked on both sides, the forces of Lü Bu collapsed and fled the battlefield.
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Lü Bu and Ding Kai were forced to flee the area and retreat within Bing Province proper. Gongsun Zan, who now had his full army behind him, decided to pursue his enemies. With some luck, he might even be able to crush them. If things went well, he might even be able to capture Lü Bu. So Gongsun Zan rode forward, even if he was in pain due to his gout. Zhang Fei offered to lead a cavalry vanguard, to which Gongsun Zan agreed. He was starting to like this violent man for his willingness to always push forward, no matter the situation. They were eventually able to catch up to Lü Bu’s retreating forces in August, leading to a battle where the Bing forces were at a clear disadvantage. Once again, Gongsun Zan was able to score a victory, but Lü Bu still escaped his grasp, and this time, his less than a thousand men army was able to quickly flee before it could be pursued.
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Xuan Su received news of these defeats with growing concerns. Lü Bu was supposed to be the greatest warrior of his time, yet he was losing each encounter, with massive casualties to that. If Lü Bu actually lost Bing Province, what would happen to him then? He lived his whole life in the province and had banked a lot on supporting Lü Bu over the last decade. He wasn’t calmed by Lü Bu’s request that he sent the entire garrisons of the province to fight on the frontline. This was insane and would leave the whole province defenseless. Forget about Gongsun Zan. What if the barbarians or the central government decided to use this opportunity to strike? And besides, this would not be enough to face Gongsun Zan. Maybe with the secret barbarian recruits, but that would require admitting that he disobeyed orders. So instead, the regent of Bing Province made sure that his lord’s orders happened to be lost in the mail.
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Lü Bu now only had 800 men at his disposal. But he was confident that these low numbers were temporary. He sent Ding Kai to You Province to supervise the recruitment of new conscripts, and Xuan Su was supposed to send him the garrisons of Bing Province as troops to fight. Until he received these reinforcements though, he was pretty vulnerable. For the next few months, he used the small size of his army to avoid the Ji forces, which had once again been divided between two armies. This cat and mouse game might have been fun for Lü Bu, had he been the cat. But being the mouse was making him boil down inside, his anger waiting for an outlet. In late December, he got sick of waiting for reinforcements. He decided that if he couldn’t face his enemies in open battle, he could at least attack them at night and hurt them considerably. Yes, and maybe he could even kill that damned Gongsun Zan.

On the night of December the 31st, as 198 was becoming 199, Lü Bu and his men launched a night assault on Gongsun Zan’s camp. The Ji forces were at first taken by surprise, as most were sleeping. But as soon as the troops started to react, it became clear that the Bing troops were not numerous enough to successfully carry out this night raid. Their situation was made worst by many people, like Zhang Fei, rushing out like madmen at the defense of their camp without even taking the time to equip themselves. Zhang Fei was actually nude at the time, with only his spear in his hands and running around searching for Lü Bu. This time, he was able to get the warlord’s attention, who charged at this naked man screaming his name. They exchanged strikes, but neither was able to land an actual blow on the other. Lü Bu would have probably stayed to make Zhang Fei regret his insults had his men not started to run in panic. Forced to abandon his duel, the warlord fled with his remaining troops. In this attack, he had lost more than half his men, and now the Ji forces were once against pursuing them. If things continued like this without some serious change, who knew how long Lü Bu could keep this up? Who knew how long until defeat finally came to the greatest warrior of China?
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197-199: Time for Expansion
197-199: TIME FOR EXPANSION
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The barbarians had been pushed out, Zhang Lu and his strange cult had been removed and Yi Province had been kept at bay. Yuan Shu could only smile at his success. Everyone tried to take him down, yet he had persevered and gotten through thanks to his talents, his army and his wealth. And also some decent enough subordinates, but they barely mattered in the grand scheme of thing. All they had done was simply do what Yuan Shu had planned for them. And he always planned things perfectly. Some might argue that things had gone south at various points, but Yuan Shu just saw it as temporary setbacks on his road toward his grand destiny. After all, he still held great territories. Meanwhile, his brother Yuan Shao was dead and his son was subjected to another warlord. No, Yuan Shu was doing just alright.
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There was still the issue of his Commandant, the heated scholar Feng Zian. Unlike Sun Jian or Tan Zilong, Feng Zian was easy to manipulate when you pushed the right buttons. And at first, he had proven loyal and servile to Yuan Shu’s cause. But over the years, Feng Zian had started to prove a bit too “confident” about his role in the hierarchy, even going as far as bully his own lord to get the position of Commandant. What kind of respected scholar did that? Yuan Shu had appreciated the man’s willingness to fight while they were all in danger, but now that the situation had calmed… Some might argue that Yuan Shu was a bit paranoid when it came to his successful subordinates, seeing enemies where there wasn’t and turning against him competent individuals that would have been fine staying under his command. But those that said such things were idiots who lacked Yuan Shu’s wisdom and perception! Sun Jian would have certainly revolted had he not pushed him into revolt, and Feng Zian needed to be reminded who was truly in charge of the troops.

Yuan Shu was quick to recall Feng Zian, ordering him to come back alone in advance of the returning army. Separating the Commandant from his troops was an important part of Yuan Shu’s plan. But when he received the letter, the scholar barely read it before discarding it. Feng Zian was in the middle of the army camps, where his fair treatment of the men garnered him a lot of love from the troops. Feeling bolstered by his successes and his men, he felt like this order didn’t really apply to him, or that he needed to follow it. Surely, he had won the right to take a bit of a break, right? So he refused the order and continued with his army back home. This was followed by a second letter asking once again that he return in advance. This time, the letter got him angry and annoyed. While his subordinate Chang Nu agreed that his Commandant was not being well treated and shared in his anger at the request, he still pleaded that Feng Zian should obey. Going against their lord was a bad idea and would only follow in the precedent of the traitor Sun Jian. Chang Nu even promised to whip the army into a forced marched, so they could arrive faster if something went wrong.
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Not wanting to be compared to a disgraceful scum like Sun Jian, Feng Zian decided to follow the letter and rode back to his lord, putting his trust both into Yuan Shu and in Chang Nu’s ability to bring the army faster. This left him time alone with his mind and his new conflicting opinions. On the one hand, he never entertained the idea of directly going against Yuan Shu like Sun Jian had done. This was not something he would ever consider, as he had invested too much in fighting for him to just switch side. But damn was Yuan Shu getting on his nerves! By Heavens, why was he recalling him before everyone to their capital? Feng Zian, not the most familiar in the art of backstabbing and court politics, could only guess that it was a stupid decision on his lord’s part, one made out of idiocy and incomprehension. Still, he couldn’t stop himself from remembering the way Sun Jian had been treated before, and how the older general had revolted. While he continued to deny that he would ever go down that path, he slowly wondered if he would do what Sun Jian had done, should he be pushed into a corner.

Upon arrival, Feng Zian was welcomed by Tan Zilong, the tall general who had served as Yuan Shu’s right hand man over the recent years. While Feng Zian was away campaigning and going on the offensive, Tan Zilong had remained behind and organized the defense of their territories. He had also proven an excellent administrator, being the sole reason why the coffers of Yuan Shu were still full after all these years of war. He had done such a good job that he now stood as Yuan Shu’s main administrator, doing more work in that department than their lord himself. Tan Zilong noticed how riled up Feng Zian was about his sudden summon. This made him worried, and he rightly suspected that things would get worst once he realized that Yuan Shu wanted to act against him. So the tall man did his best to remind his colleague of their duty to their lord, and the loyalty they had always showed to him. This did put Feng Zian’s mind at ease, if only temporarily.
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But it seemed (at least at first glance) that they didn’t have to worry about anything. Instead of being critical or arrogant, Yuan Shu welcomed his Commandant with praises and celebrations, thanking him for the good work he had done so far. They celebrated all day and had multiple private banquets over the following weeks. During those, Yuan Shu forbit the relatives and family of his officials to attend, instead bringing prostitutes and escorts he had hired to “entertain” the guests. This was greatly appreciated by Feng Zian, who was afraid that his return home would mean the end of his fun. He could relax at these celebrations while still acting as a family man at home (not that he was really good at it). Feng Zian even started to wonder what he was so worried about? After all, Yuan Shu had treated him like a true prince since his arrival. Surely this meant that all his fears were for nothing!

But this was exactly the kind of reaction Yuan Shu wished for. He had planned all this in order to lead Feng Zian into a false sense of security. Those celebrations were all traps to make him lower his guard, the fool! No, Yuan Shu planned to have him removed from command now that he was away from his troops, after which he would humiliate him in front of the court for all his disrespect. This plan would have clearly been perfect and obviously successful, had it not been for the sudden arrival of the rest of the army, still led by Chang Nu. Chang Nu had forced marched the troops as fast as he could, which allowed him to arrive far earlier than Yuan Shu had anticipated. Yuan Shu scrambled to organize a welcome ceremony for the troops. But as he came to inspect them, they shouted “WE AWAIT OUR COMMANDANT!” Taken aback and scared by this demonstration, Yuan Shu immediately abandoned any plans to remove Feng Zian, instead calling the Commandant to go review the troops himself.
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Now, this fast-paced advance had left a lot of troops unable to follow, so over the rest of 197 Yuan Shu was surprised by the constant arrival of troops that had been “slowed down by unexpected conditions”. This was annoying to the warlord, as he was hoping to expand and wanted his troops ready as soon as possible. Some might argue that after fighting on the defensive for so long, a few years of peace and prosperity might be beneficial. But those people couldn’t see the big picture like Yuan Shu! No, Yuan Shu decided that now that he was no longer threatened by his enemies, it was time to go on the offensive. He spent the rest of 197 having his advisors and generals write battle plans for their eventual invasion. All that was left was to pick a target, and he had a perfect one in mind: Yingchuan Commandery.

Yingchuan Commandery was still ruled by Ban Ning, who had been in charge of the commandery ever since the fall of Yu Province. He had come to China’s attention after Duan Wei’s failed campaign, which ended with Ban Ning executing the Chancellor in a show of force. The local administrator felt quite good about this, to the point where he reaffirmed his control over the commandery by officially calling himself “the Lord of Yingchuan”. But if he hoped that his execution of Duan Wei would have convinced others to leave him alone, then he was soundly mistaken. This blatant execution of the Han Dynasty’s highest-ranking official painted a target on his back. Avenging Duan Wei had become the perfect excuse to attack Ban Ning and conquer his territories. By the time Yuan Shu declared war against him in late December 197, Ban Ning was already facing six other invasions from all sides, his defeat already assured.
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Among those already attacking Ban Ning was Sun Jian, Yuan Shu’s former right-hand man who revolted and went his own way a few years back. While he had spent the last few years solidifying his hold on the county he controlled, Sun Jian also understood that he couldn’t just sit around waiting for Yuan Shu to attack him. He needed to expand and gain new territories if he wanted to resist his former lord. So Sun Jian, like everyone else, saw an opportunity in Ban Ning’s execution of Duan Wei and his challenge for anyone else to dare try. With his son Sun Ce leading a vanguard into Ban Ning’s territories, the Sun army started its invasion of Yingchuan Commandery, quickly becoming the most likely winner of this all-out race to defeat Ban Ning. News of this only motivated Yuan Shu to attack, unwilling to let Sun Jian outperform him, or any of the other invaders for that matter. No, Yingchuan Commandery would be his, and his alone!
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It wasn’t long before Feng Zian was sent at the head of an army to go march against the enemy. He didn’t need much motivation either, as he really wanted to test his own skills against Sun Jian. The two had never gotten along when they were on the same side, and Feng Zian was still frustrated that he had been unable to stop his former commander’s revolt. A chance to prove that he was the better general was not something he would ignore. But finding Sun Jian in the mess of the many invaders was difficult, as was the fact of attacking Ban Ning’s bases, most of which were already under siege by other armies. Feng Zian was getting quite frustrated by the situation, and had Chang Nu not found a way to some of Ban Ning still free cities, he might have just packed home out of anger. The cities quickly surrendered, already quite demoralized by the failure of their lord to protect his domain. No need to risk their life for a man who had already lost, after all.

Feng Zian did eventually meet an army in April 198, but it was neither Ban Ning’s or one of the invaders’ armies. Instead, it was an army led by Xu Shao, who was fighting a civil war against his liege Xiao Ru. The Chen Commandery was in the middle of a struggle over Xiao Ru’s personal power, and the rebels had to organize and outmaneuver their weakened lord. Mistaking them for another enemy army, Feng Zian ordered an assault against the troops of Xu Shao. Chang Nu volunteered to lead a flanking maneuver on the unexpecting force, a demand that was granted. It was only in the middle of fighting that they realized that they were attacking an unrelated force. After what proved to be a decent victory, captured soldiers were able to confirm that these were indeed soldiers completely unrelated to the current conflict. Xiao Ru, who was happy when he learned of this unexpected good news, wrote a letter to Yuan Shu praising Feng Zian. “A subordinate of that caliber is worth more than any of us could buy. What sadness this truth brings met, as I am left with the sole option of envying your luck for having such a man in your service.”
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By July, things went just as many predicted. Sun Jian was able to remove many of his rivals and defeat Ban Ning decisively, claiming Yingchuan Commandery for himself. When this became known, many of Feng Zian’s officers hesitated. They had fought alongside the colonel before, and were now seriously wondering if they couldn’t just return home instead of fighting their former ally. This situation was made more difficult by the arrival of Cheng Pu, Sun Jian’s most trusted advisor. Cheng Pu came with an offer of peace that went in the same sense as the officer corps. Why fight? They were all great generals wishing to fight righteous wars. They didn’t need to fight. In fact, the only one that wasn’t righteous was Yuan Shu. That snake was trying to make them fight and pocket what was left. Cheng Pu thus offered Sun Jian’s support if they wanted to remove Yuan Shu, or maybe even defect to their side. His words seemed to be getting through until Feng Zian made it abundantly clear that this was not going to happen. In fact, anyone who even thought of deserting would be punished like any lowlife deserter and hanged. There was no way Feng Zian was going to betray his lord for Sun Jian, or work with the colonel in any way. Cheng Pu tried to appeal to the rest of the officers, but Feng Zian’s presence scared them enough to refuse politely. Seeing how his efforts were coming to naught, Cheng Pu returned to his lord to prepare for war.
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But the two armies refused to face each other, with Sun Jian knowing that he didn’t have the numbers and Feng Zian warry that Sun Jian might lay a trap. Because of this, no battle was actually fought over the span of 198 between the two sides, which mostly focused on them besieging and retaking cities. This left Yuan Shu quite annoyed and suspicious of his Commandant. Why wasn’t he fighting? He had the numbers! With Xiao Ru’s letter already putting him on edge, he was now starting to be increasingly worried that his subordinate might not be working in his best interest. It didn’t help that Feng Zian’s support within the army made Yuan Shu jealous. All these feelings and suspicions grew over the months, and by early 199 the warlord decided that he needed to replace Feng Zian. He summoned Tan Zilong and appointed him as the new Commandant. Tan Zilong tried to dissuade him, but Yuan Shu staid firm. At the very least, the tall new Commandant was able to have Chang Nu appointed as temporary commander in his absence, so that the army would be left without leadership.
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A small group of envoys was thus sent to tell Feng Zian the news, and when they arrived, he was not happy about it. They wanted him to return while he was fighting a war? Were they idiots? What kind of orders were that? Chang Nu and many other officers also opposed this. Showing once again a bit too much arrogance, Feng Zian refused to leave, seizing the temporary command given to Chang Nu and saying that he would give control of the army… when Tan Zilong showed up for it. The envoys had little choice by to acquiesce. Still, they had brought another surprise for the former Commandant, one he arguably found even worst. The envoys had brought with them his eldest son, the nine years old Feng Yong. His mother believed that it was damn time for his father to teach him in the art of war. With Feng Zian already a high ranking general, this might be the first step in a military career for Feng Yong. This did not please Feng Zian one bit. He enjoyed three things: commanding troops, studying texts of philosophy and strategy, and having “fun” with the ladies. Being a father was none of those things. And besides, he wished for his sons to become scholars, not officers. But with his son around, he had no choice but to take him in.
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But having learned from their war with Jing Province, Sun Jian decided to use the same tactic that had cost them so much time and attacked the supply lines of Feng Zian. This left their army stuck in enemy territories, with the Sun forces between them and their home. Because of this, the envoys were unable to return to Yuan Shu, and the warlord’s efforts to send Tan Zilong to take over the troops were foiled by Sun Jian and his men. This left everything in a difficult situation. The army was cut off, left in the command of a man that had technically been relieved of his functions and was quite pissed off about it. Sun Jian, while leading a smaller army, was still a dangerous threat that could either strike at the isolated force of Feng Zian or the undefended territories of Yuan Shu. And worst of all, Feng Zian was stuck with his curious brat following him everywhere! How was he supposed to lay with women when his son was around?
 
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6 on 1, the AI does like to dog pile. Teach the boy that momma does not need to know anything about army camps!
AI dogpiling seems to be a trend in this mod. Although Ban Ning won't get any sympathy from me on that one (He killed Duan Wei! I liked Duan Wei. :mad: ).
 
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Just seventeen more posts and Liu Siyuan will be back in action.
If it helps, he does a lot once we get back to him. Just be patient, it will be worth it. ;)
 
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198-199: Liang United
198-199: LIANG UNITED
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After more than a decade, the Liang rebels had finally been crushed. Yao Shuren could only smile at this thought. He had been only sixteen years old when his father brought him along during the early stage of the imperial response. His father Yao Huan had served under Dong Zhuo during these campaigns, helping push the rebels to their western territories. Even then, his father insisted that he learned strategy and warfare on the battlefield. This paid off in the early 190’s, when he helped Guo Si take out the rebel Ma Teng. He had done so well during the campaign that he had been awarded Ma Teng’s territories. And now, after all these men that had preceded him, Yao Shuren had finally put the final nail in this rebellion by vanquishing Han Sui’s forces. It wasn’t to say that some rebels didn’t escape. His scouts told him that Chenggong Ying was planning to hold up in the mountains and resist to the bitter end with loyal followers. But this was worthless, as they were little more than brigands now. No, this page of history was over. Still, it didn’t stop him from feeling bitter at the cost. He would have done without the loss of his eye and the damages to his face.
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Now that the fighting was over, Yao Shuren had to admit that he was happy to return to the task of administrating the province. While most rebels fled, either in the mountains or more often out of the province, some had wisely surrendered to him. Though most were executed, a group of competent rebels had been kept around to be integrated in the provincial administration, head of which was Mo Jie. At first, he wasn’t sure what was the deal with that man. But the weird speaking rebel did lead a successful defense against the Liang troops, and information gathered on him indicated that he was one of Han Sui’s closest advisors. Having such a man around was quite useful, and Yao Shuren didn’t waste any minute dangling him around as a proof of his generosity. In the first weeks after the reunification of the province, the administrator was used as a tool to draw out his fellow rebels out of their hiding place.

This fact and the fate of those rebels (often the one reserved to traitors of the Han) was kept hidden from Mo Jie, who was still confused about his new situation. It took him a while to understand what he had signed for. When he did, he played with the idea of suicide or of joining Chenggong Ying in the mountains. Once again, miscommunication had resulted in a situation he didn’t wish for. However, he settled on the idea of serving under Yao Shuren out of consideration for his pregnant wife Ma Yunlu. The girl was pregnant with his child, so fleeing or killing himself out of loyalty would leave her vulnerable and alone. He had refused to abandon his duties to Liang, but he also had duties to his wife, and to general Ma Teng who entrusted her in his cares. So he would stay and try to help the people of Liang from under this master.
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But the return home was not all joys. The former rebel territories had been the epicenter of a smallpox epidemic, which had started to spread in the army camps. This plague did have the beneficial side effect of killing Chenggong Ying and some of his remaining supporters, ending any hope that the rebels might come back as a cohesive force. However, Yao Shuren was struck by this plague in a far more personal way. His pregnant wife Guo Yuyi hadn’t been feeling well recently, which most people attributed to the fact that she was in the last months of her pregnancy. But the symptoms of smallpox quickly began to appear on her body in early July. While Yao Shuren wanted to be with her, he also understood that the disease was dangerous, and so instead only communicated with her through letters written by a scribe. As her force began to fade, she did manage to request one last meeting with him. Knowing full well how ruthless her husband could be, she managed to make him swear to keep all her children safe (including her bastard son Guo Bian). Guo Yuyi died on July the 11th, at the age of 24.
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Yao Shuren was heavily shaken by her death. It is debatable if they had ever been in love, but they truly cared for one another. And more importantly, she was the one person who truly understood him, the closest advisor he had at all times. To this was added the horror that she had died before giving birth, dooming what Yao Shuren would always believe to be his “true heir”. Throughout the rest of his life, he would always reminisce on this double loss. The memory of his perfect companion and the son she never gave him would poison his new relationships, as in his eyes nothing would really equal what he had lost. The return home, which was supposed to have been a moment of happy celebration after their victory, turned into a funerary procession for those that had died of smallpox.

With Guo Yuyi dead, he did have to face the issue of Guo Bian. His late wife had always wanted him to adopt the child, but now that she was gone, he saw no point in it. In fact, the boy was more trouble than worth due to his parentage. Hu Zhen, always loyal to his lord, advised him to dispose of the child. But Yao Shuren couldn’t do this to his late wife, and so kept him around (although Guo Bian lost a lot of the privileges he had as the governor’s son-in-law). Guo Bian’s career from that point on would be benign and irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. At the age of thirteen, in 204, he would be made Magistrate of Xiping County. In 213, he changed his name from Guo to Han, wisely embracing anonymity, and would eventually die in 222 at the age of 31 from illness, leaving three sons behind.
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Even if the Governor of Liang had been his mortal enemy a few months back, the kindhearted Mo Jie couldn’t stop himself from being sad for the man. After all, Yao Shuren had just loss his beloved wife. He at first entertained the idea of trying to say some words of sympathy to his new lord, but his wife Ma Yunlu told him that they should instead exercise patience. Mo Jie took it as meaning that Yao Shuren would probably prefer to deal with this loss alone and needed time. What she really meant was that it was already hard to handle the pregnancy without the stress of her husband mistakenly putting them in danger through his bad speeches. That didn’t stop Mo Jie from trying to approach Yao Shuren on multiple occasions in the following weeks. Thankfully, the warlord understood it as Mo Jie seeking a job as had been promised to him. So in August, he gave him a small administrative position under Hu Zhen. Hu Zhen still served as his Chief Clerk, even if it was widely understood that Yao Shuren was the one making the decisions. Mo Jie came out happy with the unexpected reward.
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Mo Jie thus started to settle in his new life as a small official at court, handling basic administrative duties around the provincial capital for Hu Zhen. But while his talent was praised, his mind wasn’t really into it at first. No, all he could think about was the incoming child that his young wife was carrying. Just like all men, he dearly hoped for a son to carry out his name once he passed away. It was in late October that he was told while working that his wife had gone into labor. The issue was that he was focused on an important review of the local education spending (Yao Shuren had decided to sponsor the local scholars of Liang and their schools in the hope that it would produce him competent subordinates and advisors). He raced to his superior Hu Zhen and pleaded to be allowed to leave to go attend his wife, but was denied the chance to meet him. Undeterred, he managed to get his way in an hour later. Sadly, he found Hu Zhen in one of his insane rages, which meant that he wasn’t receptive to Mo Jie’s request. Undeterred, Mo Jie raced to the great mansion of his lord, asking to be temporarily relieved of his duties to attend to his wife. But he was once again denied entry. He waited for hours until Yao Shuren was finally notified of his presence. At first, he denied his request, no understanding why the birth of a child was so important (he could just see the child after he was born). But the still vivid memory of his pregnant wife made his finally agree to it. Mo Jie raced to his home, only to find out that he was late. Ma Yunlu had already given birth to a daughter, Mo Daiyu.
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Yao Shuren had no time to waste on the birth of his subordinate’s daughter, or on his own mourning for that matter. As Ma Yunlu was giving birth to Mo Daiyu, the Governor of Liang was tackling news of a massive threat appearing on the northern border of his province. In September, news had arrived that barbarian horsemen had started to be a bit too bold, sacking cities that laid at the far northern limit of his territories. He first expected it to be another Khan trying his luck, like it had been during Guo Si’s time. Who knew, maybe it was even the same one giving it a second try. But as of mid-October, reports were indicating a far scarier prospect. The first indication that it was not a simple Khan was envoys from the Han Court. Niu Fu had been notified by Xuan Su (who was still regent of Bing Province in Lü Bu’s absence) that hordes of Xianbei horsemen were moving West on the border. Xuan Su had done so in the hope that Niu Fu might provide aid if Bing was the target, but Niu Fu still informed Yao Shuren of it. While the Chancellor didn’t like neither Lü Bu nor Yao Shuren, he would be damned if he allowed their provinces to fall to the barbarians.
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Shortly after the imperial envoys arrived, Yao Shuren began to prepare his troops on the border, sending Hu Zhen to prepare a strong defense just in case. Hu Zhen made sure to bring Mo Jie with him, as Mo Jie had been both a fortification architect and a siege expert. If they were going to fight horsemen, then a man able to prepare strong walls would be quite useful. Mo Jie took the assignment and went on the northern border. Hu Zhen arrived in haste and immediately put everyone to work, inspecting the garrisons and making sure that everyone was ready. Mo Jie did his own inspection of the fortification, finding them whole fully inadequate and madly maintained. It turned out that Guo Si had used a lot of the money supposed to go for the border fortifications to prepare his campaigns, first against the rebels and then the central government in Luoyang. And now without the Han Court sending money to repair those fortifications, things were a mess. Yao Shuren was actually hoping to finally get through the books and find how he could optimize taxations and incomes for his province when he learned of the incoming barbarians.
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Scouts confirmed that a massive barbarian force was amassing beyond the border, with at least a few Khans among them. This was extremely scary to the garrison forces, even as they were reinforced by regular conscripts. Hu Zhen, unsure how to proceed, decided to send a request for direct orders to his lord. But before he could finish writing it, soldiers came to tell him that the barbarians had sent envoys. Xianbei horsemen came in requesting to speak with the “lord of Liang, servant of the southern throne”. Hu Zhen explained that he was his representative and would arrange that their message be sent to his lord, which seemed to be enough for them. Hu Zhen thus sent their demands with his own, making sure to mention who had sent them. Yao Shuren, who was on his way to the border when he received these messages, was appalled. The Xianbei horsemen demanded a few territories and that he become their tributary. But most of those territories were key to the trade routes to the West. Giving control of this to the barbarians was unimaginable, especially as the wars and the devastation stopped him from benefiting from that trade, which had mostly stopped since the 180’s. But then again, the one demanding was none other than Budugen the Great, Khagan of the Xianbei Confederation.
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Budugen Khagan had gained quite the reputation up in the northern plains. Born in 165, he came in control of the Xianbei Confederation in 187, overthrowing his older brother Kuitou. Kuitou would fail to stop his brother and flee the steps, working for the rest of his life as a mercenary captain for various Chinese lords (including Xuan Su, who previously hired him when he needed barbarian mercenaries). Budugen could have been satisfied with the fact that he was the strongest nomadic leader in the northern plains. But he had greater ambitions. He wanted to match the power of the old Xiongnu Horde, which four hundred years ago had been so strong that they forced the nascent Han to become its tributary and nominal vassal. To get closer to this dream, he started to expand east, taking territories from the Wuhuans and You Province, at the time still controlled by Liu Yu. These territorial gains were done through brutal and violent warfare, with Buguden slaughtering everything that stood in his way, often preceded by massive amounts of raping and pillaging on the part of his men. It was said that he one day lost his hand in battle, only to use it to bludgeon his opponent to death. Through his raids and accumulation of wealth, it was rumored that he was as rich as the Son of Heaven himself.
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This was the man standing at the door of Liang Province. Yao Shuren had no choice but to take care of the matter himself, sending all his troops on the northern border and praying that things wouldn’t get bad. He also immediately sent envoys to Budugen, offering to open talks in order to avoid fighting. He heard how cruelly the prisoners were treated and had no which to end up like that if he loss. Thankfully, Budugen proved open to the idea of negotiations. The Great Khagan didn’t really plan to invade, only building up this preparation for war in order to keep his vassal Khans occupied and under his watch. He was also receiving news that in the east the remnants of the Wuhuan were starting to make some waves, and that the Buyeo Kingdom might be a far easier target for conquest. After two months of negotiation, a deal was struck between Yao Shuren and Budugen the Great in January 199, with alcohol playing a big role in those negotiations. A massive one-time payment would be made for the Khagan to leave, an amount big enough that Yao Shuren would spend the whole of 199 bleeding the populace dry for it. Also, if trade with the West ever restarted, Budugen wanted a part of the gains. Finally, in order to avoid any new invasion if Budugen changed his mind, Yao Shuren was able to secure a betrothal between their two families. Budugen’s second son Xibaxiong would be betroth to Yao Xiangjun, Yao Shuren’s second daughter. The marriage was arranged mostly as a way to safeguard Liang Province. At the time, Yao Shuren had no idea how important that marriage would be, or that this two years old child he betroth his daughter to would one day outshine his father to the point of earning the nickname “the Despoiler”.
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After the crisis was averted, Mo Jie went back to the provincial capital, and by early 199 he had started working once again on all that education financing that he had been tasked to survey. He quickly approached the Head Scholar of the province, a man named Duan Zuo, asking for books and accounts on the issue. However, Mo Jie came out sounding aggressive and a bit too accusatory to Duan Zuo (even if it wasn’t Mo Jie’s intention at all), leading to the scholar refusing to divulge any of the financial records of the various schools. This ticked off Mo Jie the wrong way, and he asked on multiple occasions again over the following months. But Duan Zuo continued to refuse for some unknown reason. Mo Jie ended going through the proper channels, asking for Hu Zhen that he procure him the books to do his job. But Hu Zhen, who knew what the problem was and trusted that his lord was already aware of it, refused to do anything without Yao Shuren’s explicit order. He did transmit the request to the Governor, however. Yao Shuren, who was at the time working to build up the payment to Buguden, sent orders to Duan Zuo that he sent his financial books to the clerks, hoping they would find some useless expanses to cut off.

Duan Zuo, trusting his lord that nothing would be found out, finally gave his books to Mo Jie, who tirelessly compared them with the other financial records at his disposal. After a month of checking everything multiple times to make sure he wasn’t wrong, Mo Jie was horrified at his conclusion. Duan Zuo and all the scholars serving him had been skimming money out of the schools and the temples, pocketing most of what was supposed to help others in order to enrich themselves. Duan Zuo was especially guilty of this, spending it either to help promote his disciples or to hire women to entertain him. What kind of scholar did that? Mo Jie was quick to report it to Hu Zhen, hoping to have Duan Zuo exposed and arrested. But Hu Zhen was already quite aware of the scholar’s avarice, as was Yao Shuren. The Governor had picked him as his main scholar despite being aware of this, as the man was talented in his erudite knowledge. So for the time being, Yao Shuren buried this whole affair, insisting that Mo Jie focus on working on his report.
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But Mo Jie didn’t listen, as he was too disgusted by Duan Zuo’s actions (and also lacked any political survival skills, having never been a member of an actual court). Instead of producing a report explaining what was to be cut and what was to be kept, as Yao Shuren had expected, Mo Jie wrote a long article on how to reorganize education spending to make it more efficient and less wasteful. This way the money would go to the right places and wouldn’t be wasted or taken by corrupt scholars. That last part went into a long rebuke of Duan Zuo and his associates, which was more than enough to tipped off the scholar about Mo Jie. While Duan Zuo petitioned his lord to ignore this whole report, Yao Shuren actually listened to some of it. After all, good scholars needed some financial support to handle their housing and books. And the fact was that upon his return he did find some complains that had been lodged while he was on campaign. Yao Shuren decided to have administrative officials under Hu Zhen handle the financing of schools from that point on, meaning that Duan Zuo and his ilk lost access to that source of revenue.

Angered at this, Duan Zuo made sure to come back at Mo Jie. In a petition to his lord, he did convince Yao Shuren that Mo Jie should be removed from the education finances. He argued that a man who helped build a policy should not be allowed to close to its implementation, out of fear that he would use his innate knowledge of the policy to enrich or empower himself. This made sense, and Yao Shuren hadn’t taken this money out of the corrupt hands of Duan Zuo only to see Mo Jie fund a new rebellion with it. While Mo Jie was proving useful, it didn’t mean that he had the full trust of his lord yet. So the former rebel was instead reassigned to work on the massive payment to the Xianbei Khagan, in particular when it came to the barbarians, both within the province and those paying tribute to Yao Shuren. His fondness for the barbarians and his kindness for the people in general made him far less efficient at this new task, as he was hesitant to go extort them as Yao Shuren wanted.

During the summer of 199, Yao Shuren decided to make a trip to his southern border to receive the annual tribute from the Di tribe living there. Hey had been forced to submit to Liang Province back when Guo Si was in charge. When Yao Shuren had taken over, the tribe leader Dan Shu smartly continued to pay tribute to the new governor, fearing what a break up of relationship would mean for his people. Normally, Yao Shuren had just shrugged and allowed the tribute to be sent to his provincial capital, but with the big payment to Budugen the Great due for the end of the year, he wanted to personally supervise it and go take it himself. Who knew when bandit could strike up, after all? He took Mo Jie with him, mostly because as a rebel he must have been familiar with the local barbarian tribes.

Duan Zuo opposed this, suggesting to instead approach the barbarians following the ideas of the scholar Pan Zheng, whose text the Nánfāng Yěshòu about southern barbarians had been read a lot in the border regions. “Savages are savages,” Duan Zuo argued, “so why waste your time lowering yourself at their level by meeting them?” But Yao Shuren didn’t agree with it. Not that he had any morale quarry about slaughtering barbarians into submission, but simply that he found the whole idea quite impractical. Better to make them think that they are equals, at least. So Mo Jie did his best (which wasn’t great) to explain to Yao Shuren how the Di barbarians lived and how to get on their good side. In the end, the Governor simply treated them as subject, and everything went smoothly as he recuperated his tribute.
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As summer was making way for autumn, Mo Jie was still working as an administrator under Hu Zhen, although his talent was starting to get recognized. One night, while working at home, he received a surprising visit from his past. In his home as a guest was Cheng Lihua, the widow of his former rebel companion Chenggong Ying. Back when the rebellion was crushed, Lady Cheng had fled into the mountains with her husband and daughter, only to see him die of smallpox soon after. After that, she had spent the year bouncing from places to places, trying to find sympathetic individuals to host her, or just people who pitied her enough. However, in order to secure some decent future for her daughter and herself, she had often used these stays to steal from her hosts to survive, which had forced her to stay continuously on the move. By now this was becoming an increasingly impossible lifestyle. Hearing that Mo Jie was still alive and working as an official, she came to him in the hope that he could help her. Living as the widow of a rebel was becoming unbearable, and she wanted some stability to raise her daughter. She pleaded Mo Jie and his wife Ma Yunlu on her knees, asking for their help.

Mo Jie, who cried as she told her story, promised to do everything in his power to help her. After a few weeks of trying (and failing due to misunderstandings), he was finally able to obtain an audience with Yao Shuren for Lady Cheng, with the promise that she wouldn’t be arrested and executed because of her late husband. She made her case in front of the Governor, pleading for his forgiveness (although, just like Mo Jie, she didn’t prove to be a great communicator in public). But Yao Shuren barely listened to her speech, instead focusing on how useful she could be. The taxes he had levied to pay Budugen had left many in the province with a lot of resentment for their governor, something that could easily be exploited by the former rebels to start a new revolt. After all, there were still a few of these idiots holding in the mountains.

But Chenggong Ying had been popular with them, as was Lady Cheng out of the fact that she was his wife. Finding a way to associate himself to her might help bring these potential enemies to his side. It had now been more than a year since the death of Guo Yuyi. Since then, Yao Shuren had taken concubines (something he hadn’t done while his wife was alive), but he had yet to remarry. Deciding that this was a chance that couldn’t be wasted, he informed Lady Cheng a few days after her appearance at court that she would be pardoned and her daughter protected. One condition, though. She was to marry Yao Shuren. Pleasantly surprised at his request, she found herself blinded by the dream of all the wealth this marriage would involve, far more than she had as the wife of a rebel commander. She barely hesitated before accepting, marrying him in October 199. As predicted, what opposition was left rallied under Yao Shuren, now that he had both Lady Cheng and Mo Jie as proofs of how well he could treat former rebels. As for Mo Jie himself, he was given recommendations and gifts for unknowingly arranging this marriage, accidentally helping his career.
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Oh it’s good man. Just thought it was funny. It went from everybody wants a piece of him to Siyuan goes on a year and a half vacation to restructure his broken mind. Lol
 
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199: Rise and Decline
199: RISE AND DECLINE
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Lü Bu was on the run, pursued by the forces of Gongsun Zan. He could only curse at the failure of his plan. Damnit! Why had it failed? He should have been able to defeat them thank to his surprise attack, even if he had far less men. It was probably Ding Kai’s fault for leaving him without support! Yes, his plan would have worked had his Commandant been present! After all, the great Lü Bu couldn’t be defeated that easily. His temper only got worse as a small force of a hundred reinforcements were sent from You Province by Ding Kai, who was trying to raise as much men as possible to come to his lord’s help. Only one hundred? That was so little! He needed more men! And on that note, why hadn’t Xuan Su sent any of the garrisons as demanded? They were supposed to have arrived so long ago! But Lü Bu could do little but complain about his small number of recruits, or the fact that he was forced to run away in his own lands.
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For his part, Xuan Su was weighting where his future was. He wasn’t as keen on his lord as he was before, and he hadn’t been that keen on him for a while anyway. Lü Bu had barred him from any military campaign, which was immensely frustrating. It was clear that he wasn’t really valued by his lord, especially when it came to his advices. On the other hand, Lü Bu had been pretty tolerant of his landgrabs over the years, allowing Xuan Su to secure quite the territory on the northern border. But it didn’t change the fact that Lü Bu was currently losing, which seemed to make him even less calm than usual. His orders were starting to be more threatening and erratic. It might be time to consider a future without the warlord around. Just in case, Xuan Su began to assemble the barbarians he had levied or hired, with plan to bring them to the provincial capital. After all, who knew when he might need to use their services?
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Meanwhile, Gongsun Zan was pursuing Lü Bu with all the momentum of victory behind him. With the competent Zhao Yun and the brutish Zhang Fei by his side, he seemed destined to win. Which is why it was so frustrating when news from his provincial capital forced him to slow down. The first missives came from Liu Bei, who had been left in charge of Ji Province while Gongsun Zan went on the offensive. Liu Bei had done a good job ruling the province in his absence. Most official were respectful and obedient of the regent, and he proved kind toward them in return. Even Tan Weiping, who on the border felt that he could still go through Gongsun Zan directly, sent reports to Liu Bei so that the regent could keep tab on what was happening. Really, it seemed that there would be no problem at all. But there was one official who was proving unmanageable, and that was Yuan Tan.
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Yuan Tan had ostensibly been left in charge of the provincial censors, a post which had been given to him with the express goal of limiting his actual power. But even there, he had started to cause problems, ordering Liu Bei to give him more responsibilities and demanding that he receive more power. He also butted heads with Gongsun Xu, Gongsun Zan’s son and heir. Unlike his father, Gungsun Xu had little time nor the talent to deal quietly with this problem. So instead, he made his case to Liu Bei, arguing that Yuan Tan was reckless and unworthy of holding an office. He made quite a speech, which was enough to convince Liu Bei that Yuan Tan had to be removed temporarily. Yuan Tan angrily shouted that they couldn’t do this, but they did it anyway. Still, Gongsun Xu and Liu Bei made sure to write to Gongsun Zan immediately after the fact, hoping to explain why they had to take this step without consulting him.
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If that had been the end of it, then it would have been alright. But Yuan Tan continued to ruminate and complain in private, angry that he was always being left out of the action. He often hung out with the soldiers left behind as garrison, men who were getting more disgruntled as reports of new victories arrived. Yuan Tan was also sick of the stress of daily work (he was still given menial duties of paperwork and had to rule his commandery). He was just sick of all this, and one morning he decided to simply leave and go take command of troops without prior authorization. Many of the garrison, wishing to see some action and spoils for themselves, followed him, against the orders of Gongsun Xu. The heir then quickly alerted Liu Bei, who immediately ordered that a missive be sent to Gongsun Zan about the situation. The Governor of Ji Province found himself in a pickle. He didn’t like Yuan Tan taking such liberties, but he also knew that refusing Yuan Tan might lead to a revolt, and he couldn’t have that spoil his soon to be victory. So instead, he sent envoys to Yuan Tan’s little force, ordering them to go fight under Guan Yu. This chance to see some of the war would mollify Yuan Tan, for now.
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Gongsun Zan finally caught up with Lü Bu around the beginning of May. The warlord was trying to stay in the mountains between Ji and Bing Provinces, still awaiting the reinforcements he was convinced would arrive any day now. Lü Bu, realizing that he was about to be found out again, started to harass the Ji army from his position in the mountains. These little attacks were nothing more than an annoyance, but it did rile up the troops enough that Zhang Fei and other hotheaded commanders dropped all strategy. Thankfully, Zhao Yun was able to stop them before they made some stupid decision. “How dare you endanger our victory? How dare you challenge our lord’s ultimate success?” This was enough to convince them to fall back in line, and Gongsun Zan was able to easily dislodge the enemy force from his mountain position with almost no losses whatsoever. Lü Bu meanwhile loss half of his men once again, this time choosing to retreat deeper within Bing Province.
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But soon enough, Gongsun Zan’s seemingly unstoppable advance was once again forced to halt to dealt with a problem within its own ranks. This time the fault laid solely at the feet of general Zhang Fei, Liu Bei’s sworn brother and probably the most violent man under Gongsun Zan’s command. Zhang Fei had been among those most annoyed at Lü Bu’s little attacks, left bitter over the fact that their enemy had once again escaped. Angered, Zhang Fei passed his frustration through alcohol, which then led to him beating and mistreating his men. Training turned in a beating session for the soldiers, who were nothing more than punching bags for their drunk commander.
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This was already starting to be a problem when an official named Mu Zi arrived at the camp. Mu Zi had been a close associate of the old Tan Weiping and promoted to Magistrate of Nangong by Gongsun Zan as a reward for the old man’s years of service. He arrived at camp to bring a report of Tan Weiping about the northern frontier. It mentioned that while Ding Kai was trying to recruit soldiers, he couldn’t do much to come help against Gongsun Zan. In fact, Lü Bu was actually dealing with a revolt in the region. Unlike Ding Kai, the Wuhuan general Tabati Tanzhi had been satisfied under the rule of Liu Yu, serving him loyally until the end. Now he found himself with a lord he had all the reasons to fear, convicned that Lü Bu would try to have him removed. With his territories already isolated from the rest of the province due to the Xianbei Confederation’s expansion under Budugen the Great, he decided that now was the time to strike. In June, Tabatai Tanzhi revolted and declared himself independent from Lü Bu, convinced that the weakened warlord wouldn’t be able to do anything to stop him.
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Once Mu Zi had delivered his message to Gongsun Zan, he made the mistake of staying with the troops of Zhang Fei. The soldiers quickly confessed the terrible “training” that they were receiving from their commander. Seeing an opportunity to both further his career and his influence (both in the army and with his lord), Mu Zi agreed to help the soldiers. He publicly declared that Zhang Fei had committed many crimes and should be brought in front of their lord to explain himself. Gongsun Zan was unsure about this, as he had started to appreciate the brute for his uses. Before he could make his mind how to proceed, Zhang Fei confronted Mu Zi in a heated argument that turned deadly. In a fit of anger against the well-spoken accusations of the official, Zhang Fei struck Mu Zi with his snake spear, leaving him to die bloodied on the ground.
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Needless to say, this caused quite a stir both at camp and within Ji Province. Zhao Yun immediately jumped Zhang Fei and had him put under arrest, a decision that was quickly confirmed by an annoyed Gongsun Zan, who was recovering from his worsening gout when he learned of the incident. Needless to say, Tan Weiping demanded justice for one of his former subordinates, asking Gongsun Zan to reward the guilty general “the same way anyone who killed a loyal official would be treated”. On the other side, Liu Bei wrote some letters asking for clemency for his brother, and letters from Gongsun Yue indicated that Guan Yu might entertain the idea of rebellion if Zhang Fei was executed. Using his gout as an excuse (even if it was a real issue for him), Gongsun Zan was able to push back the issue for as long as possible, only dealing with it in early August. What tilted his decision was Liu Bei’s letter, requesting that he and Guan Yu be at least allowed to die with Zhang Fei, as they had sworn to die on the same day. Refusing to lose three talented subordinates over this issue, Gongsun Zan played dirty. He had Zhang Fei receive thirty lashes for his crime and “demoted” him from general to captain of his personal bodyguards. While some saw it as a sleezy decision to avoid dealing real justice, it still ended the issue without too much fuss (although it did stain Gongsun Zan’s reputation from that point on).
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For his part Lü Bu was not even yet aware of the revolt in You Province, and probably would have dismissed it as nothing urgent compared to the army of Gongsun Zan. While they stopped for a while due to unknown reasons, they were now marching once again into Bing Province. But Lü Bu had the fastest horse and the smaller army, allowing him to maneuver easily toward his provincial capital. There he would take over from this bumbling idiot Xuan Su and assemble an army to push back Gongsun Zan and destroy him! He quickly sent envoys to his seat of power warning them of his approach. He expected a grand welcome with Xuan Su on his knees. Instead, he barely dodged an arrow to the head, with the two men flanking him not as lucky. The gates of the city were closed and it looked like barbarians were mending the walls. What was going on? Lü Bu and his men were forced to stop in their advance, judging the situation. Atop the walls, he finally noticed the silhouette of Xuan Su, smiling at him.

“Xuan Su? What is the meaning of this?”

But the man stayed silent.

“ANSWER ME! I am your lord!” he screamed as he approached.

His horse was stopped by a few arrows landing before him, making it clear that he was not to advance.

“My lord…” Xuan Su answered before laughing uncontrollably. “My lord? I follow a victorious lord, a lord who will reward me for my loyalty. And this man is not you, ‘lord’.”

“Xuan Su, how dare you?”

“I dare because I can, you imbecile!” Xuan Su shouted.

“Traitor! Come face me in a duel instead! Or will you coward behind your walls?”

Xuan Su seemed to really consider this. After all, Xuan Su was known to be a good duelist, having fought barbarians on the border multiple times and triumph against each of his opponents. Sadly for Lü Bu, Xuan Su was not stupid enough to endanger his current position.

“Shoot again at this idiot.” he ordered his men.

By the time Lü Bu arrived, Xuan Su had already been set on defecting to the winning side. Had Lü Bu been winning, he would have tolerated the way the warlord was treating him. But since he was losing, he could survive the regime change and get a bit of cold served revenge. He had the local garrison arrested and replaced by his barbarian recruits and mercenaries. Once upon a time, he might have slaughtered them, but living as their commander for years had made him fond of them, even if he couldn’t truly count on their loyalty. Bribing them might have worked, but Xuan Su had proven a bit stingy wen it came to opening the coffers. Still, he was able to get everything ready for Lü Bu’s arrival. The warlord had almost fell into his trap, and would have probably died here had his horse not been the fastest in all of China.

He immediately ordered a pursuit of Lü Bu, which he led personally. That allowed him to stop his former lord from reaching other Bing officials, although he was unable to capture the great warrior. Lü Bu’s family, which had been kept hostage until then, used this opportunity to flee and join him in You Province, which was still firmly in his control. Frustrated at this, Xuan Su returned to the provincial capital and prepared himself for the arrival of his new lord. He immediately dispatched envoys to Gongsun Zan, welcoming him and telling him how he had chosen to switch side. Still, he did make sure that the letter did paint him in a more altruistic light, so that he didn’t come across as the frustrated opportunist that he was. He even sent his own troops to pacify the province, so that no revolt against the new administration could rise up to disturb his plans.

In December 199, two years after the start of the war, Gongsun Zan entered the provincial capital of Bing Province. The gates had been left open and a small reception awaited him. Having been left with a lot of free time, Xuan Su also had the financial records falsified to show how good of a job he had done as regent of the province. This seemed to work on Gongsun Zan, who shortly after being acclaimed Inspector of Bing Province appointed Xuan Su as his new chief clerk. He saw how good of a job the northern official had done, and how his support had allowed a peaceful conquest of this large territory. This shocked most of the Bing officials, who saw Xuan Su for the snake that he was. But they could do little, as he had maneuvered himself into the inner circle of their new lord with ease.
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This great war north was now over. When it had started, three men stood in the region, each vying for power over the others. Now Liu Yu was dead and buried, and Lü Bu was left in control of You Province with his weakened forces. Meanwhile, Gongsun Zan now controlled two provinces, his power and might now noticed by everyone throughout China. Some with envy, others with fear. But everyone now knew the name Gongsun Zan.
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_______________________

PS: So we officially finished the first decade of the story! Things changed quite a bit, didn’t it? Also, as requested, here is the current situation of each characters at the start of 200, although it will be vague at times as I haven’t caught up with all the storylines up to 200.
  • Liu Siyuan (@EtzelHoveri ): As of 200, he is still the independent Magistrate of Xincai, Chengfu and Shansang, making him a small warlord (although he does have some control over the important waterways of the Han River and the Yangtze). He just had his first son (Liu Tao, 199) with his wife Lady Hao.
  • Xiao Ru (@Ixarys ): A warlord within former Yu Province, controlling Chen and Runan Commanderies. Currently has five children, a daughter (Xiao Xiaowen, 191) and three sons (Xiao Tung, 193, Xiao Bin, 196, and Xiao Dang 199) from his wife Lady Xia, as well as a son (Xiao Hanhe, 196) from a concubine.
  • Jiang Xian (@Massinissa the Wise ): Still an important official within the imperial court as of the end of 199, holding notably the position of Minister of teh Imperial Household. He has a daughter (Jiang Chang, 191) and a son (Jiang Wenguan, 198), all from his wife Diaochan.
  • Feng Zian (@Idhrendur ): Is the highest ranking general under the warlord Yuan Shu (although if he is still Commandant is debatable). Currently fighting a war with Sun Jian for his lord. Has two sons (Feng Yong, 189, and Feng Guo, 194) and two daughters (Feng Yunxian, 191, and Feng Nuwang, 199), all from his wife.
  • Xuan Su (@HistoryDude ): Xuan Su now controls four commanderies, although now under Gongsun Zan instead of Lü Bu, also serving as his Chief Clerk. He has one daughter (Xuan Zhenfeng, 196).
  • Hu Zan (@patpekala ): Hu Zan is the administrator of Jiujiang Commandery, serving under Inspector Yang Weili. He also serves as Master of the Hunt, designated regent and as one of Yang Weili's main generals in the current civil war. He has two sons, Hu Da (191) from his first marriage with Feng Ai, and Hu Weizhi (198) , from his second and current marriage with Zhu Fanjing.
  • Yang Weili (@Specialist290 ): Yang Weili is currently the Inspector of Yang Province and the Governor of Jing Province, having inherited these titles from his predecessor Chen Wen. While the biggest warlord south, he is currently fighting a civil war with Lu Jun for control of Yang Province. Has three children with his favorite concubine Linfeng, two daughters (Yang Jicong, 191, and Yang Nenniang, 197) and one son (Yang Boran, 193), as well as one son with his wife (Yang Qub, 197).
  • Yao Shuren (@binobo ): Yao Shuren is currently the uncontested ruler of Liang Province, after defeating the Liang rebels in 198. Has two daughters (Yao Ki, 194, and Yao Xiangjun, 195) from his late wife Guo Yuyi.
  • Mo Jie (@Midnite Duke ): Mo Jie currently serves as a rising official within the administration of Yao Shuren, the Governor of Liang Province. He has one daughter (Mo Daiyu, 198) from his wife Ma Yunlu.
  • Pan Zheng (@Dunaden ): After a long period of travel, Pan Zheng is currently serving as administrator of Yizhou Commandery in his home Yi Province. He has one son (Pan Zhiyuan, 198) from his wife Fang Xia.
 
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198-200: From Bad...
198-200: FROM BAD
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Lu Jun had spent most of the decade being ordered around by Chen Wen, who more often than not ignored his advices in favor of Yang Weili. He had tolerated it as it brought great successes for Yang Province. But once Chen Wen died, the old man simply couldn’t understand how Yang Weili was the one to succeed him as Inspector. Chen Wen had been blinded by friendship and made a terrible mistake. This was quickly right proven when Yang Weili put the provincial capital under Lu Jun’s control. A man who couldn’t rule the provincial capital didn’t deserve to be in charge of the province. Then the new Inspector started to replace old and loyal men for younger ones, with Lu Jun suspecting that he was himself among those soon to go. And let’s not mention his military mishaps. By June 198, Lu Jun had enough. Convinced that he could rule the province far more effectively than Yang Weili would, he rose into revolt against his new lord. The fact that the provincial capital celebrated his decision and opened their doors to him said a lot about the mood in the province.
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Lu Jun had some small support among the two provinces, but he barely got two or three commanderies to rally his cause, still leaving most of the territories in the hands of Yang Weili. But it didn’t change the fact that the old official had amassed a large army to defeat his enemy. Still, most of the good generals stayed loyal to the Inspector of Yang Province, and Lu Jun had no knowledge of military affairs whatsoever. But the old man had a remedy for that. Ever since the death of Chen Wen, or maybe even since independence from Xu Province, Lu Jun had been hiring and recruiting former rebels and bandits into his service, making the greatest of them his genera ls. The Han Dynasty had been rocked by a lot of revolts over the last decades, starting with the Yellow Turban Rebellion, so there were a lot of experienced rebels willing to take his offer.

Out of all of those, two struck out as the bests and quickly became his main advisors in military affairs. The first was none other than Zhang Yan, the former leader of the Black Mountain Bandits. After being defeated by Lü Bu, he had arrived in Yang Province right on time to help Chen Wen win the war for independence. Deciding to stick around after the victory, he was offered a place at Lu Jun’s side. Of all his officers, Zhang Yan was by far the most talented, acting as his de facto second-in-command when it came to the war. But their cooperation was hindered and fragile, as neither really trusted the other. Zhang Yan feared that Lu Jun would betray him once he had outlived his usefulness, while Lu Jun suspected that the bandit leader would use this opportunity to seize control of the province for himself. But whatever their opinion of each other, their mutual loathing for Yang Weili kept them working together.
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The other general was Sima Juhe, who had been one of the many leaders of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, commanding the forces on the coastline between Qing and Ji Provinces. His territories had eventually been conquered by the now dead warlord Kong Rong, forcing him to bounce from small rebellion to small rebellion. When he learned of Lu Jun’s offer, Sima Juhe jumped at the opportunity to gain some long-term security. While he was not in any way Zhang Yan’s equal, his past as a Yellow Turban Leader ensured that he had the loyalty of most of the rebel commanders, forcing Lu Jun to rely on this gruff no nonsense general to ensure that his officers stayed in line.
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Yang Weili was quick to send requests for support to all his officials in both provinces. Su Dai, the Commandant of the province, was on his way back to his own commandery when he received orders from to get back and assemble the troops. He was more than a bit hesitant about this. He didn’t feel competent enough to handle the war, and in fact would have certainly liked to leave it to someone more talented. His low opinion of Yang Weili (as even Su Dai disapproved of his lord’s actions over the previous year) eventually convinced him to go home. It was only there that his loyal subordinate Bu Baoxun chastised him for his decision and bullied him into going back. Su Dai was popular with the men and had a good shot at becoming the second-in-command of the whole province, and Bu Baoxun wasn’t going to let him waste that opportunity.
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Most chose to stay loyal to Yang Weili for now, or at the verry least stay put and watch the two men fight it out. That was certainly the case of Chen Gengguo. Still on the southern border, he saw little point in helping one side or the other, as he didn’t care much for the future of Yang Province. If Yang Weili won, then it was business as usual, and if Lu Jun won, then Yang Weili would still have support within Jing Province. Besides, it was better to be patient, should an opportunity present itself. So, he humbly answered that he couldn’t, in good conscience, get himself involved in this war, out of respect for his (self-proclaimed) cousin Chen Wen. Yang Weili pointed out that if Chen Gengguo was acting out of respect for Chen Wen, then he should clearly back up his chosen successor, but got no response whatsoever. Chen Gengguo preferred to stay south, talking with other local administrators about the future of their province. Just in case…
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Envoys requesting his aid both for and against the rebellion reached Hu Zan around the same time. Lu Jun hoped to rally such a commander to his side, promising him an important military position at his side (although his envoys didn’t utter the term “Commandant”). As for Yang Weili, he simply assumed that Hu Zan would be loyal and help, asking him to come lead troops and appointing him Master of the Hunts. This highly ceremonial title was not exactly what Hu Zan had hoped. He was convinced that surely Yang Weili would have seen his mistake by now and pleaded him to be his Commandant, to which Hu Zan would have gladly agreed, happy to be recognized and all too willing to put their previous issues behind them. Instead, he was just asked to come take command of some troops. That didn’t make the offer of the rebels any more interesting though, as Hu Zan had little love for the old grumpy Lu Jun. Chances were that any opportunity for expansion (and thus for personal glory) would disappear if Lu Jun won, even if he was given a higher position within the province.
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Hu Zan asked the envoys (who he received at the same time, in the hope that they would try to outbid one another) to retire for the day. He then discussed his options with his second-in-command Cai Zhong. Cai Zhong was far older than Hu Zan, being in his forties by the time of the revolt. At first annoyed at being passed over as administrator by this upstart, the two quickly got along as they realized that their goals aligned. Both were seeking greater power, and Cai Zhong decided that his best bet was to attach himself to the rising star of Hu Zan, who was proving an excellent master to serve, always kind and respectful of his subordinates, if a bit stingy on the money. Hu Zan also began to like the inputs of the competent magistrate, who was proving useful in all most affairs. The two had spent the last year building up the defenses with Xu Province in anticipation of a possible attack, and had done an excellent job at it.

Cai Zhong was surprised by the civil war, having expected nothing more than a few revolts against Yang Weili’s bad management. But even with this massive backlash, he advised Hu Zan to stay loyal to Yang Weili, at least for now. It seemed that Lu Jun had little support, which meant that joining him was a risky move. He also reached the same conclusions as Hu Zan, that Lu Jun could not really be trusted and that his victory would mean the end of any opportunity for glory and power. After all, Lu Jun presented himself as the protector of the old local nobility and the careered officials of the province, and Hu Zan was neither. Both thus agreed that it was better to stick with Yang Weili. Cai Zhong also advised that the rebel envoy should be executed and his head sent to Yang Weili as a proof of loyalty, but Hu Zan refused. Not only did he not support that kind of cruel betrayal, but he also felt that Yang Weili didn’t need proof of his loyalty. After all, he stayed, didn’t he?
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Su Dai and Hu Zan thus assembled with Yang Weili, both bringing their second-in-command with them as well as some reinforcements for the main army. Yang Weili put the rendezvous point in the center of the province, close to the southern rebel territories. This was a surprising decision for many, and one highly criticized by Hu Zan. They could have assembled faster in the north. Yang Weili’s seat of power was in the north, as was the provincial capital of Hefei. Even the rebel army was moving north! But Yang Weili quickly explained his odd choice and his overall strategy for this campaign: minimizing casualties. The northern part of Yang Province was both the most populated and the only one with a Han Chinese majority, with the rest of the province still populated by barbarians living in uncivilized wildlands. On a more practical front, while the center of the province meant that they were further from the action, it allowed the Jing troops to link up faster.

In that same way, both Bu Baoxun and Hu Zan were shocked when Yang Weili explained his next step. Most officers expected that the plan would be to run right at the rebel army, or at least to stay on the defensive. Instead, Yang Weili ordered a campaign of sieges in the rebel territories. This annoyed Hu Zan, who felt as if he was being deprived of the opportunity for glory. But Yang Weili explained that these rebels had been his men only a few months back, and he didn’t want to waste lives that could be used to protect the province. So instead, the strategist hoped that a prolonged campaign won through sieges would demoralize the rebels and push them to surrender. Hu Zan wasn’t convinced, but Su Dai (at the insistence of Bu Baoxun) sided with his lord, ending the debate fairly quickly.
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Ironically, the exact same debate was happening in the rebel camp. Lu Jun had decided to go on the offensive and ordered his men to besiege key positions on the northern border, hoping that it would push the local aristocracy to abandon Yang Weili as he proved incapable of protecting the province. But Zhang Yan wished to go on the offensive. Unlike what the loyal forces believed, the rebel army was two times bigger than reports indicated, which meant that it could be easy for them to crush Yang Weili and his generals. Zhang Yan argued hard for an offensive push against the enemy force to annihilate them fast. Yet, just as had been the case with Hu Zan, Zhang Yan was ignored and his ideas refused. But while Yang Weili had a strategic plan to offer as counterargument, Lu Jun simply refused to obey the suggestions of his subordinates. This created tensions within his high command, not helped by the growing rivalry between Zhang Yan and Sima Juhe.
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Over the months, Hu Zan became more and more dissatisfied with the strategy of his lord. The sieges were slow and often demoralizing, with some soldiers deserting when the city didn’t surrender fast. During one such siege in March 199, he was actually wounded by an arrow, forcing him to hand over the command to Cai Zhong for a few days. He also felt that he could do a better job of managing the war than Yang Weili or Su Dai, who was becoming more and more a puppet for Bu Baoxun’s ambition. News that his commandery was the one being conquered by the rebels only confirmed his belief that he was in the right and the others in the wrong. He talked of this with Cai Zhong, who advised him to make a stand and demand a change. But Hu Zan didn’t go that far yet, realizing that if Yang Weili called his bluff, he would be forced to go home, leaving him in a dire situation.

Things started to go worst and worst for Yang Weili over the span of 199. As Hu Zan was recuperating from his arrow wound, news came of a barbarian invasion. Seeing an opportunity in this civil war, the Shanyue chief Zu Shan led his army into Yang Province, ready to expand his territories and kill as many of those Chinese invaders as possible. While Yang Weili was worried by this, he still considered the rebellion the biggest threat, and so did little outside of sending reinforcements to the garrisons endangered by Zu Shan. Facing little to no opposition, the campaign of Zu Shan proved successful and brutal, many in the south falling to his assaults. It was so successful in fact that it inspired an uprising in August, with local barbarians in the south trying to throw off the yoke of Chinese domination. It was such a problem that Quaid Quach, the barbarian who had submitted to Yang Weili, asked him for help to quell this potential challenge to his authority. Once again, Yang Weili preferred to stick to his plan, even as their successes had slowed considerably by August, while that of the rebels continued uninterrupted.
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But Yang Weili wasn’t the only one receiving bad news. The most western parts of his territories, the former lands of the Celestial Masters, had sided with Lu Jun in the current civil war. Seeing how all the troops were centered in Yang Province, Governor Liu Fan of Yi province was convinced by his generals that they should exploit this opportunity to strike. Yi forces began to mobilize troops on their northern border in August, with clear intent to soon cross and invade the rebel territories. The local rebels asked Lu Jun for help, but the old man didn’t answer. His sight was only on Yang Province, so why should he care about some far away commandery? In fact, Yang Weili was far more troubled by this than his opponent. These were formerly his territories, left to him by Chen Wen to protect. Seeing his former lands being invaded by neighbors brought him absolutely no joy.
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All these barbarian revolts were starting to take a toll on the province, and support for Yang Weili was starting to wane down. Hu Zan was growing increasingly frustrated that he couldn’t got destroy these revolts and save the day and felt slighted after being ignored so often. In fact, he starting to discuss with Cai Zhong the possibility of simply going their own way. Bo Baoxun was trying to push his lord to take a more active role in the war, but Su Dai’s lack of ambition caused issues, and he was having difficulties recuperating from a wound he had received during a siege in July (in a similar manner to Hu Zan a few months before). Chen Gengguo spent most of the year receiving visits from administrators and officials of Jing Province, fearing that the chaos of Yang Province would spread to their home, to which Chen Gengguo often answered: “I could only sympathize with you, who would be willing to protect the province from its internal threats.” He was suspiciously vague about what threat he spoke of. And then there was Xiang Lang, the Chief Clerk of the province who was left to manage the bureaucracy in Yang Weili’s absence. His monthly reports were often accompanied by panicked letters and requests to be allowed to tax Jing Province more for the war effort, requests that were often denied.
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Su Dai’s situation turned for the worse as his wound didn’t heal, and the Administrator of Changsha Commandery eventually died on November 24th, 199, at the age of 39. He had been the first one to submit to Chen Wen in his expansion into Jing Province, after which he had been loyal to his new lord. During the war for independence from Xu Province, he served as Commandant after the capture of Yang Weili, a position he regained after Chen Wen’s death. His lack of talent or ambition didn’t stop him from cultivating the loyalty of subordinates like Bo Baoxun or the respect of the army for his defense of the provincial capital. He was arguably Yang Weili’s strongest defender in Jing Province. And now he was gone.
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Bo Baoxun made his way to his former lord’s commandery to get his affairs in order. He hoped that this show of loyalty would convince Yang Weili to appoint him as Su Dai’s successor, and indeed this was the Inspector’s original plan. But Hu Zan had grown tired of Bo Baoxun’s interference during the campaign and spoke heavily against the appointment, making it clear that he would not accept the angry general as his equal (although this was also to cut out Yang Weili’s main supporter from the war to leave himself as the real decision maker). Hu Zan was easily able to get the soldiers on his side, as many of them had grown frustrated with Yang Weili’s current strategy. Seeing the pressure he was facing, the Inspector of Yang Province agreed to instead appoint a man named Teng Dexia as the new administrator of Changsha Commandery. Teng Dexia’s credentials for the job were his complete lack of ambition, or talent, or skills of any sort. Needless to say, Bo Baoxun was infuriated when he learned about this.
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But if Yang Weili had hoped to placate Hu Zan by agreeing to the appointment of Teng Dexia, then he was soundly disappointed. Even worst, Hu Zan was in many ways proven right to have criticized the long siege strategy when two news arrived simultaneously in January 200. First, the unchallenged barbarians ravaging the south had been joined by another group. With Yang Weili refusing to go fight them, barbarians understood that it was their time, now or never. The Inspector received dozens of missives asking him to please handle the barbarian problem already. Wasn’t he supposed to protect them? Already bad, this was followed by news of a damaging blow to his cause. Sima Juhe had successfully besieged Yang Weili’s seat of power, conquering it for his lord Lu Jun, and in the process capturing Yang Weili’s whole family. The loss of his home base and his family hurt Yang Weili in the eye of his allies. With this disastrous turn of event, he now had no choice but to switch tactic if he ever wanted to turn things around. But was it even possible at this point?
 

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The Yang Province is just so f***ked. Like, I can't see Yang Willy is getting out of this one. This situation is... I don't know what to compare it to. Poland during WW2. Robb Stark North being attacked by Greyjoys and Lannisters. Maybe not as bad, but it seems to be headed in that direction.
 
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The Yang Province is just so f***ked. Like, I can't see Yang Willy is getting out of this one. This situation is... I don't know what to compare it to. Poland during WW2. Robb Stark North being attacked by Greyjoys and Lannisters. Maybe not as bad, but it seems to be headed in that direction.
I don't think he's Poland fucked (yet), but the AI did a poor job managing an already bad situation. I understand why it didn't focus on Lu Jun's army (it's twice his size), but not handling the barbarians made things worse. I should mention that As of early 200 I actually switched from Xiao Ru to Yang Weili, especially cause I wanted the challenge of seeing if I could save this or not (the results of my efforts will be shown at the end of 201).

Q: Who wrote how to turn the unloseable until into the unwinnable?

A: Yang Weili
It really went south fast, right? :p For all his lack of skills, Chen Wen did a far better job managing this than he did. Yang Weili was the most powerful warlord of China (at least before Gongsun Zan took Bing Province), yet he's getting pumelled from all sides right now.
 
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