Zhang Ni was twenty-three years old and had never felt this alive. Not once.
His life had been nothing but a cycle of hunger, hard work, and hunger again.
The guy was just a dirt-poor bastard, plain and simple. He came from humble origins, the kind of poverty where you owned nothing but the clothes on your back. What little reputation he had, he earned the hard way, through sheer guts and a rare act of generosity.
Years back, he risked his life to rescue a local official's wife from bandits. After that, the government finally tossed him a low-level desk job as a gongcao, a Merit Evaluator. Basically, a minor bureaucratic post where he had to assess the conduct and talent of other officials. He took it with deep shame. Dude felt completely unqualified. A farmer's son judging scholars and nobles? It felt like a joke.
The Han Dynasty was rotting from the inside out. The world had turned into a chaotic meat grinder where warlords beat bandits, bandits trashed villagers, and villagers' lives just got more and more miserable. Up north, Cao Cao stared at the Shu region with hungry, ambitious eyes. Meanwhile, inside Yizhou, the regional governor Liu Zhang just sat on his hands and did absolutely nothing about the incoming doom. Seriously, all of this was basically his family business, dynasty stuff, but Liu Zhang just sat at home watching the world burn like it was none of his concern. If his ancestors could see him, they would crawl out of their graves and kick his ass.
Zhang Ni had resigned himself to a subdued, mediocre life. Fine, he figured. He would just do his paperwork and try his best to keep his neighbors and local village safe. In these broken times, he considered that a big win.
Then everything got flipped upside down. A single year changed the whole course of history. Liu Huangshu marched into the Shu region, kicked Liu Zhang off the seat of power, flipped all the tables, and the entire Yizhou shifted onto a radical new trajectory.
Somehow, the legendary Liu Huangshu heard about a lowly desk clerk named Zhang Ni. Liu Bei dragged him out of obscurity, bypassed all bureaucratic protocols, and placed the young man straight into his inner circle. And dude did not hold back. He poured everything into Zhang Ni, taught him military strategy like he was training a general, not a paper-pusher.
When desperate envoys from Jiaozhou arrived begging for help, General Wu Yi made a shocking move. He completely ignored the furious objections of Chief Clerk Sima and bypassed the traditional chain of command. He promoted Zhang Ni on the spot and gave him the title of Separate Command Commander, Bei Jia Sima.
Zhang Ni received a crystal-clear mission. Take a unit of seasoned shock infantry, march out of Yizhou through the treacherous Jincheng route, cut straight through Jiaozhou, and relieve the besieged forces in southern Jingzhou.
The troop numbers were small. But every single soldier was a hardened veteran who had spent the last year surviving the brutal pacification campaigns in the southern jungles. Zhang Ni asked for nothing else. He had his men. He had his orders.
Now, he was charging at the very front of the vanguard. His heart swelled with overwhelming gratitude toward Liu Bei. Think about it, it's just basic human trust, right? When someone gives you a hand, you repay tenfold to your savior. That's just how it works.
Sitting behind a desk? Settling petty fights between villagers? Keeping a handful of farmers from killing each other over a stolen goat? That was fine. That was safe. Honestly, it was just wasting his time back when he had nothing but free time.
Now this was everything. Charging into the fray, feeling the blood roar in his ears, watching enemy soldiers break and run before him. This was real life. It filled him with a wild, bright joy no words could ever describe.
---
Administrator Wu Ju stood on a small grassy hill in the rear. Perfect vantage point. He watched the carnage unfold below like it was prime entertainment.
Earlier that morning, Zhang Ni had looked like an elegant, soft-spoken scholar. Now? Dude looked like a god of death. A sharpened arrow piercing straight into the heart of the Jiangdong formation. Anyone stupid enough to step in front of his blade died instantly. He ripped a gaping hole right through the center of the enemy line.
The Yizhou veterans flooded into the gap behind him. They moved like they shared one brain, widening the breach and turning a small tactical advantage into a devastating wave of destruction. The Jiangdong officers threw men into the gap, trying desperately to seal it. Every attempt collapsed.
Wu Ju did not even bother to turn his head. His eyes stayed glued to the slaughter. "Tell the cooks to prepare a grand feast. We need to reward these men."
His personal bodyguard, Qu Jing, stood nearby and offered a cautious warning. "General Wu, the battle is still going. The outcome is not yet decided. Perhaps we should order our men to prepare for a reinforcement charge instead."
Wu Ju let out a relaxed laugh and shook his head slowly. "You are blind, Qu Jing. General Zhang has already won."
The battlefield proved Wu Ju right.
The hole Zhang Ni tore into the Jiangdong formation grew wider by the second. The Yizhou soldiers fought with terrifying coordination, crushing every desperate counterattack the Jiangdong officers managed to scrape together.
Zhang Ni deflected a spear thrust and severed the attacker's throat. He looked up just in time to see a Jiangdong soldier drop his weapon, let out a pathetic shriek, and sprint in the opposite direction.
A sharp-eyed Jiangdong military judge stepped forward and executed the fleeing coward on the spot. It did nothing. Panic was highly contagious, and the execution only made things worse. In seconds, the rout infected the entire battlefield. Jiangdong soldiers lost all hope, turned their backs, and ran for their lives in every direction.
Zhang Ni threw his head back and laughed. The sound echoed over the screams of the dying.
He raised his blood-soaked sword high into the air.
"Beat the war drums! Pursue them for ten miles! Leave no survivors!"
Southern Jingzhou was heavily mountainous. Fleeing soldiers could easily vanish into the dense foliage.
More importantly, these defeated troops needed boats if they wanted to escape across the river back to Jiangdong territory. A ten-mile pursuit would guarantee the capture of their river transports.
If Zhang Ni stole their boats, the fleeing soldiers could not head north. The entire enemy detachment would be permanently wiped off the board.
Zhang Ni grinned. Today was a good day.
---
A short time later, Zhang Ni returned to the command tent. The transformation was jarring. The bloodthirsty frontline butcher was gone. He had washed his face, adjusted his armor, and looked exactly like a polite, refined gentleman once again.
Wu Ju sighed internally. You truly could not judge a book by its cover.
Wu Ju treated the young man with immense reverence. He enthusiastically guided Zhang Ni to the seat of honor, poured drinks, and offered his own tactical assessment of the situation.
"General Zhang, you achieved a magnificent victory today," Wu Ju said with a warm smile. "The Jiangdong high command will not learn of this disaster for quite some time. I suggest we use this precious window to rest your troops and build our strength before their reinforcements inevitably arrive."
Zhang Ni picked up the bronze wine cup, brought it to his nose, took one sniff, and placed it firmly back on the table.
He waved a hand at an attendant and requested a simple cup of hot tea instead.
He listened to Wu Ju's advice, picked up the steaming teacup, and stopped it halfway to his mouth.
He froze in that exact posture for a long moment, staring into space, his mind calculating variables at lightning speed.
Zhang Ni turned his gaze back to Wu Ju. "Administrator Wu, do you have men capable of piloting river warships?"
Wu Ju blinked in surprise. "I do."
Zhang Ni leaned forward and laid out a completely insane tactical plan. Wu Ju listened with growing dread and amazement.
"The strategy is entirely viable," Wu Ju admitted nervously. "But General Zhang, you have been fighting all day. The physical toll on your body will be immense. Surely you need sleep."
Zhang Ni placed the untouched cup of tea back onto the wooden table and cupped his hands in a formal, respectful salute.
"There's an old saying, saving people is like putting out a fire. You don't stop to rest while the house burns, right?" Zhang Ni said firmly. "I will go prepare my soldiers. Administrator Wu, please get your sailors ready to depart."
Wu Ju looked at Zhang Ni's receding silhouette, then down at the untouched wine, then at the perfectly arranged plates of hot food. He let out a long, heavy sigh.
Every man dreamed of becoming a legendary general in his youth. Wu Ju slapped the table. To hell with it. He was in.
He kicked the tent flap open and stepped into the evening air.
The river camp was already half asleep. A few lanterns swayed on the masts of moored transport boats. His sailors lounged in clusters along the bank, mending nets, playing dice, roasting fish over a driftwood fire. They looked up when they heard his boots on the gravel.
Wu Ju did not waste time on introductions.
"All hands. Listen up."
The dice stopped. The fish sizzled unattended. Thirty odd faces turned toward him.
"We sail at first light. Every boat we have, I want it loaded and rigged by sunrise." He pointed at a thick armed man near the fire. "Old Gou. The flat bottoms. Strip the cargo holds. We are carrying soldiers, not grain."
Old Gou blinked. "How many soldiers, boss?"
"Three thousand."
A murmur rippled through the group. Someone choked on a fish bone.
Old Gou's mouth opened. Closed. Opened again. "Boss. We have eleven boats. Eleven. Three of them are flat bottoms that barely hold fifty men each on a calm day. The rest are troop barges. You want to move three thousand soldiers with that?"
"I want you to figure it out," Wu Ju said. "Tie the flat bottoms in pairs. Lash planks across the gunwales. Put the heaviest men in the center and the lightest on the edges. I do not care if they have to sit shoulder to shoulder the whole way. They fit, or you row back alone."
Old Gou stared at him. Did not blink. Did not argue. Just stared.
Another sailor raised his hand. "Where are we taking them?"
"North. Past Shenting."
The murmur turned into a groan. Past Shenting meant past the patrol line. Past Shenting meant arrows.
Wu Ju let them groan. He waited. Then he spoke again, quieter this time. Not shouting. Just talking.
"For six days, I told myself this was not our fight. We are sailors. Someone else would handle it." He looked toward the river. "Nobody came."
The groaning stopped.
Old Gou set down his fish. Wiped his hands on his trousers. "You are serious about this."
"I would not be out here in the cold if I was not."
Old Gou held his gaze for a long moment. Then he stood up. "I will need every spare hand to lash the flat bottoms. And I am taking the good rope. The new rope. Not that frayed garbage we used last season."
"Take whatever you need."
"And you owe me a drink. Several drinks. A river of drinks."
Wu Ju grinned. First real grin in six days. "Done. Now move. I want ropes checked, oars counted, and every leak plugged before dawn. Anyone found sleeping before the boats are loaded gets thrown in the river."
The camp exploded into motion. Sailors scrambled to their feet. Ropes were dragged out of storage. Lanterns multiplied along the waterline. Someone started singing a work chant, off key, and three others joined in because misery preferred company.
Old Gou was already down by the flat bottoms, barking orders at a pair of younger sailors who had made the mistake of standing still for too long. "You. Get the lashings. You. Start clearing the cargo holds. If I see either of you standing around again, you can explain to three thousand angry soldiers why their boat is not ready."
Wu Ju stood at the water's edge, arms crossed, watching them work. The river was black and wide and indifferent. Somewhere up there, past the bend, past the reeds, past the patrol lines, three thousand men were waiting for a ride north.
He exhaled. Rolled his shoulders.
Half an hour later, the Yizhou army was fully reorganized.
Under Zhang Ni's strict orders, the soldiers marched down to the riverbank and boarded the captured Jiangdong warships in orderly lines.
They stripped off their own armor and put on the bloodstained uniforms of the dead enemy soldiers.
Then they climbed down into the dark wooden holds, found comfortable spots on the floorboards, closed their eyes, and immediately went to sleep.
The rowers were the toughest men from Wu Ju's personal Cangwu garrison. These guys had spent their entire lives fighting brutal skirmishes against wild mountain tribes. They thought they were the hardest killers in the south. Then they watched the Yizhou infantry fight.
The Cangwu veterans were thoroughly humbled. They put away their heavy ring-pommel swords without a word, grabbed the wooden oars, and rowed with incredible care. They tried to keep the ships perfectly steady because they wanted the terrifying men sleeping below deck to get a good afternoon nap.
The captured fleet moved swiftly, riding the rapid currents of the deep river.
Thirty minutes later, they sailed directly past Yingpu County.
---
The Jiangdong garrison at Yingpu was severely confused.
The defeated army had originally marched out from this exact location. They had been locked in a stalemate against Wu Ju for over ten days. Supply ships passed through Yingpu constantly, so the garrison guards knew the silhouette of these specific warships like the back of their hand.
A guard leaned over the wooden watchtower railing and scratched his head. The garrison had received a large grain shipment only yesterday. Why were the transport ships already coming back empty? Made no sense.
The fleet was enormous. The ships did not slow down. They bypassed the Yingpu docks entirely and sailed straight downriver at maximum speed. Even the dumbest guard on duty realized something was seriously off.
"Did the front line collapse?" a nervous spearman asked.
"Impossible!" a sergeant snapped back. "I talked to the supply crews two days ago. They said we were winning the stalemate!"
The sergeant clenched his jaw. "We cannot take any chances. We need to send an emergency warning to Quanling immediately."
The Yingpu guards argued in circles, panicked like headless flies, completely unable to come up with a coherent plan. The reality of their situation was brutal. Quanling was located further down the Shenshui River. Sending a warning meant using the waterways. A messenger boat would have to follow the same river, which meant overtaking the suspicious fleet or passing straight through its rear guard. Either way, the messenger would likely be captured and killed before reaching Quanling.
They knew a disaster was unfolding. They were utterly powerless to stop it.
Quanling was roughly one hundred miles downstream from Yingpu. It served as the administrative heart of Lingling Commandery. The Shenshui River merged with the mighty Xiang River right outside the city walls, and the water flowed north into the vast Yunmeng Marsh.
It was a critical strategic chokepoint for the entire southern region.
---
The sun began to dip below the western horizon. The sky turned a bruised purple.
Wu Ju walked down into the ship's hold and gently shook Zhang Ni awake. The young general sat up, rubbed his eyes, and walked out onto the main deck. No aristocratic nonsense with this guy. The towering stone walls of Quanling loomed in the near distance.
Zhang Ni turned his head and offered Wu Ju a bright, friendly smile. "Are you going to tie yourself up? Or would you prefer I do the honors?"
Wu Ju kept his expression stoic. "Do whatever you must, General."
Zhang Ni felt a genuine admiration for the older man's guts. He cupped his fists in respect. "In that case, I will not hold back."
A few minutes later, Wu Ju realized Zhang Ni was dead serious.
Zhang Ni used thick, coarse hemp rope and wrapped it around Wu Ju's torso.
He pulled the knots tight until the man looked like a bound rice dumpling, the rough fibers biting into his flesh.
Zhang Ni stepped back, tilted his head, and studied Wu Ju's face with a critical eye.
Wait. Something was missing. Ah. He knew what.
Without warning, Zhang Ni stepped forward and punched Wu Ju in the right cheek. The crack echoed across the deck.
"Hey, hey! Slow down!" Wu Ju gasped. "Not too hard, General!"
Zhang Ni ignored him and delivered a left hook straight to his eyebrow.
When the fleet anchored beneath the walls of Quanling, Wu Ju's face was a swollen, bruised, bloody mess.
He looked exactly like a battered prisoner of war.
The arrival of the fleet caused a stir. The ships flew Jiangdong banners and the design was unmistakably Jiangdong. Still, the garrison commander stayed cautious and ordered the heavy wooden gates sealed shut.
Zhang Ni wore the dirty armor of a common foot soldier and grabbed Wu Ju by the ropes. A clever, fast-talking soldier with a flawless Jiangdong accent took Wu Ju's other arm, and together they shoved the swollen Administrator toward the base of the city wall.
One of the soldiers, Cang Yi, opened his mouth to deliver his rehearsed lines.
He never got the chance.
A wildly arrogant voice echoed down from the top of the ramparts. "I am the Supreme General of Lingling under Lord Sun! My name is Xing Daorong! Identify yourselves! Wait. Is that Administrator Wu? Did Cangwu finally fall?"
The arrogant voice cracked halfway through and turned into a squeak of shock.
Zhang Ni felt his stomach drop. Someone in this backwater garrison recognized Wu Ju by sight? This was really bad.
Cang Yi adapted on the fly. "That is correct, General! General Sun crushed the rebel army at Yingpu and captured the enemy commander alive! Open the gates! Our ships are loaded with plundered loot. We need to drop off this prisoner, unload the grain, and head back to pick up the rest of the treasure!"
A heavy stillness fell over the ramparts. Zhang Ni strained his ears and caught muffled arguing. Xing Daorong was debating someone else up on the wall.
A moment later, thick ropes creaked and a large wooden basket was lowered down the stone face.
Zhang Ni shoved Wu Ju into the basket and climbed in with Cang Yi.
Down in the dark holds of the ships, the Yizhou shock troops held their breath, gripped their weapons, and waited for the signal.
The garrison guards hauled the basket over the stone crenellations. Cang Yi stepped forward and offered a bronze military seal to the officer in charge.
The seal was genuine. Zhang Ni had pried it from the cold, dead fingers of the Jiangdong commander they slaughtered earlier that morning. It took furious scrubbing to get the dried blood out of the intricate carvings.
The garrison commander inspected the bronze seal and nodded. The credentials matched.
He looked up at Zhang Ni with a deep frown.
"I know most of the veterans in this unit. I have never seen your face before."
Zhang Ni shifted his weight and moved his hand closer to the hilt of his hidden blade. Ready to kill the commander and jump off the wall if things went sideways.
At that moment, a booming voice cut through the tension.
"What is so strange about that?" a large man scoffed.
Zhang Ni turned to study the speaker. The man was fat, with a round face and two tiny, beady eyes darting back and forth.
Xing Daorong.
"Administrator Wu is a formidable military trainer," Xing Daorong declared. "His skills are second only to my own. General Sun won the battle, but it was a horrific bloodbath. The men you used to know probably had their heads chopped off hours ago. These are just the lucky survivors."
The garrison commander frowned. Your logic was sound, General, but I still feel a nagging unease. Then again, I suspect you are too lazy to launch a formal investigation over a few unfamiliar faces, General. Screw it.
"Fine. The main army cannot enter the city tonight. Take a hundred men and unload the cargo. We will process the prisoner in the morning."
Zhang Ni let out a slow breath. The ruse had worked. Enough to get a strike team inside the gates. He opened his mouth to thank the commander.
Before he could speak, Xing Daorong took a casual step forward and positioned himself behind the garrison commander.
He drew his sword and chopped the commander's head off in one smooth motion.
The fountain of blood paralyzed everyone on the wall.
Zhang Ni stared in disbelief. What the hell just happened?
Xing Daorong kicked the headless corpse aside, swung his bloody sword, and cut down a Jiangdong guard nearby.
"Brothers, attack! Kill the Wu dogs! Take back Lingling!"
Zhang Ni was a man of decisive action. No time for questions. He drew his hidden blade, sliced the ropes binding Wu Ju, grabbed a captured ring-pommel sword, and hurled himself into the melee.
Xing Daorong's grand rebellion was going badly. Three furious Jiangdong guards were hacking the fat Supreme General to pieces. He had seconds left.
Zhang Ni hit them like a hurricane, his blade moving in lethal arcs, and cleared the wall of every hostile threat.
Xing Daorong slumped against the stone parapet, gasping and clutching his chest.
He glared at Zhang Ni. "Hey.. I was just about to chop off three heads! You stole my kills!"
With their commander dead and no one left to give orders, the garrison's discipline began to unravel.
Then the local Jingzhou conscripts who had surrendered to Jiangdong turned on their former captors, stabbing them in the back. The darkness made the confusion ten times worse.
Zhang Ni grabbed Wu Ju and Cang Yi. They fought their way down the stone steps and linked up with the mutinying Jingzhou troops. Together, they cut down the remaining guards at the main gate, seized the iron winch, and hauled the great wooden gates open.
Once those gates swung wide, there was nothing the garrison could do.
Three thousand veterans of the southern campaigns poured into the streets, seized the main intersections, and broke every pocket of resistance before the defenders could regroup.
Quanling fell before midnight.
An hour later, the city was secured. Zhang Ni sat in the command hall, poured a cup of water, and asked Xing Daorong the burning question.
"General, How did you see through my deception? How did you know it was a trick?"
Xing Daorong stared at him with a blank expression.
"What deception? What is that?"
Zhang Ni frowned. "The fake prisoner routine. Why did you think we were faking a surrender?"
"You were faking a surrender? Are you serious?" Xing Daorong gasped.
Zhang Ni stared at the ceiling. Damn.
He took a deep breath and asked a few more careful questions. The ridiculous truth slowly came out.
Xing Daorong had not seen through anything. He believed Wu Ju was a captured prisoner facing execution and launched a suicidal mutiny because he wanted to save the man's life.
"Liu Huangshu was a good man," Xing Daorong explained, puffing out his chest. "He cared about the people of Jingnan. He slashed our taxes over the last few years. Life got better for the farmers and the city guards. We had food to eat."
He spat on the floor.
"Then these Jiangdong rats occupied Lingling, and their first decree was a crushing tax hike. Everyone missed Liu Huangshu. We all know Administrator Wu is Liu Huangshu's oldest friend. Liu Huangshu showed mercy to Lingling. As the General, I must repay that debt. I could not let his friend die in a Jiangdong prison, right? It's just a normal thing."
Zhang Ni rubbed his temples and sighed. Damn. Normal your sister!
This was pure, terrifying, blind luck.
If Wu Ju had been captured for real, Xing Daorong's brave little mutiny would have achieved nothing. The fat general and Wu Ju would have been hacked to death on the wall together.
This ridiculous Xing Daorong held no official rank from Liu Huangshu and knew nothing about commanding troops in combat. Zhang Ni had no idea how much water was in the man's brain.
But results were results. The fat fool had handed them a fortified city on a silver platter.
Zhang Ni stood up, adjusted his armor, and offered Xing Daorong a formal, respectful bow.
"When I meet with Liu Huangshu again, I will personally ensure he hears of your contribution today."
Xing Daorong beamed, puffed his chest out further, and swaggered out of the hall.
It was the dead of night. Zhang Ni had managed barely an hour of sleep on the rocking boat, yet he looked refreshed.
His eyes burned with energy.
He pulled Wu Ju aside. "The tactical situation waits for no man. As soon as the sun rises, I must take my men and push north. I am leaving the defense of Quanling in your capable hands, Administrator Wu."
The night had provided enough near-death experiences to last a lifetime.
Wu Ju felt a deep respect for the relentless young commander and cupped his fists.
"The military situation is dire," Wu Ju agreed. "But when you return victorious, you must stop in Cangwu. I insist on hosting a proper banquet to celebrate your triumphs."
Wu Ju was not worried about holding Quanling.
According to Zhang Ni's intelligence, a young nobleman from Jiaozhou was marching a fresh army out of Yulin to attack Lingling from the opposite direction and draw enemy fire. Zhang Ni had inflicted two catastrophic defeats on the Jiangdong forces in a single day. The enemy network in Lingling was shattered. Holding the walls would be simple.
They exchanged brief farewells.
---
The next morning, the sky turned a pale, hazy gray. Zhang Ni led his three thousand seasoned infantry back out of the city gates.
They marched swiftly, traveling another hundred miles downstream to Yongchang. There they ditched their river transports, cut overland, and pushed through the wilderness to strike Zhaoling.
The Jiangdong garrison never saw them coming. The defenders fell in a brutal surprise assault, and Zhang Ni seized a fresh fleet of enemy warships at the docks. His men crammed onto the stolen vessels. Zhaoling sat right on the banks of the Zi River.
Zhang Ni ordered the fleet to launch. They rode the rapid currents northward. His next target was the heavily defended city of Yiyang.
And just beyond Yiyang sat the true prize. The center of the southern war. Hanshou.