"Say *what* now?"
Zhang Xin stared at the scout, wondering if the man had accidentally eaten some wild battlefield mushrooms. "Han Fu and Yuan Shao are throwing hands?"
The scout nodded so fast his helmet nearly rattled off. "Outside Ye City, my Lord! The sounds of battle are literally shaking the heavens! Han Fu has mobilized his entire army and is currently besieging Yuan Shao's camp!"
"Well, color me shocked," Zhang Xin muttered, his eyebrows climbing toward his hairline.
Han Fu fighting Yuan Shao? *This* was a plot twist he hadn't seen coming. *Am I really putting that much pressure on them?*
Zhang Xin knew that after the battle in Wei County—where he had utterly vaporized the garrisons of two whole counties—morale inside Ye City had probably tanked. But he didn't expect Han Fu to suddenly find a spine and swing it at Yuan Shao.
"Lord!" Dian Wei, standing by like a brick wall with an axe, beefed up his chest. "Han Fu and Yuan Shao are tearing each other apart. This is a golden opportunity! Should we order the Generals to prep for an absolute smash-and-grab?"
"Hold your horses," Zhang Xin said, shaking his head after a moment of thought. "Our boys are exhausted from back-to-back fights. In just one day, neither the soldiers nor the warhorses have recovered their juice."
He pointed at the map. "Wei County is still 160 li from Ye City. Even if we forcefully march them over there, they'll arrive looking like wet noodles. Zero fighting power."
"Plus," Zhang Xin narrowed his eyes, "how do we know this isn't a cheesy trap cooked up by Yuan and Han to bait us into a trap?"
Granted, a nasty breakup between Han and Yuan was inevitable after the Wei County disaster. Historically, Han Fu was a legendary coward. When Gongsun Zan merely rattled his sabers, Han Fu got so scared by Yuan Shao's sweet-talking silver tongue that he caved and handed over Ji Province on a silver platter, ignoring all his own ministers screaming *'No!'*
But Zhang Xin had been campaigning for a mere six days. In less than a week, he had snatched Liyang, flipped General Qu Yi to his side, crippled two elite cavalry units, and wiped out two county garrisons. Under that kind of suffocating pressure, Han Fu wanting to surrender made sense.
Yuan Shao, being a proud peacock, obviously wouldn't. So, discord? Yes.
An all-out, bloody brawl this quickly? Smelled fishy. Han Fu was a coddled product of the old gentry circle; those people valued 'face' more than life itself. Would he really discard all social etiquette to jump his own imperial guest?
"This has Pang Ji and Ju Shou's fingerprints all over it," Zhang Xin deduced. "If we rush Ye City with exhausted horses and fall into an ambush, we won't even have the stamina to run away. We'd be reduced to looking for donkey carts to escape."
"Lord's foresight is absolutely terrifying," Dian Wei flattered smoothly. In Dian Wei's book, Zhang Xin was a living cheat code who never made mistakes. If the boss said it was a trap, then by god, it was a trap.
"Keep a hawk-eye on Ye City," Zhang Xin ordered the scout. "Give me live updates. Do not slack off!"
"Understood!" The scout saluted and sprinted out.
"Guards," Zhang Xin called out. Two personal guards immediately stepped into the tent, fists cupped.
"Go to Liyang immediately. Tell the strategist to advance his troops to thirty li south of Ye City," Zhang Xin commanded. "Tell Xun You that regarding the Yuan-Han clown show, I am granting him full executive autonomy. Big or small, he can make the calls on the fly without waiting for my signature."
The main army in Wei County needed a nap, but the garrison in Liyang was fresh. Let Xun You lead them to park at a safe distance and grab some popcorn. If the brawl was real, Xun You wouldn't miss the chance to third-party it. Giving him absolute decision-making power was crucial; a round-trip message between Wei County and Liyang took a day and a half. On a volatile battlefield, waiting for approval meant missing the train.
Soon after, Guan Yu, Zhao Yun, and the rest of the gang caught wind of the news and trooped in, practically begging for a fight. Zhang Xin gave them the same reality check he gave Dian Wei.
"The Lord's caution is wise," Guan Yu said, stroking his magnificent beard thoughtfully. "However, whether this fight is real or a farce, we should at least poke it with a stick so we don't look back and regret it." He cupped his fists. "This General is willing to lead a vanguard to scout it out."
"I'm down to go too!" Zhao Yun chimed in.
"Count me in," Yu Jin and Gao Shun echoed.
"Relax, boys, I already unleashed our strategist," Zhang Xin said with a smirk. "Go back and get some sleep."
Realizing Zhang Xin was already three steps ahead of them, the generals relaxed and filed out. Left alone, Zhang Xin walked out of the main hall, staring into the western horizon. *Are they really tearing each other's hair out, or am I being baited?*
---
The next morning, Zhang Xin had barely opened his eyes.
"Lord," Dian Wei walked in, "we've got an envoy from Ye City."
"Oh?" Zhang Xin took a swig of saltwater, gargled loudly, and spat it out. "Yuan Shao's side or Han Fu's?"
"Han Fu's."
"Where are they?" Zhang Xin grabbed a towel to wipe his face.
"Waiting in the main hall."
Zhang Xin tossed the towel to a guard and grinned. "Let's go see what kind of comedy routine they're pulling."
Inside the hall sat a middle-aged scholar looking thoroughly disheveled, accompanied by a young man in his late twenties. Seeing Zhang Xin enter, the scholar scrambled to his feet and bowed low.
"Li Li, Administrator of Ji Province, greets the General of Chariots and Cavalry!" Li Li was internally screaming. He knew Zhang Xin was young, but seeing this fresh-faced kid in person was a whole different level of jarring.
The young man followed suit, bowing stiffly. "I am Han De, greetings to the General."
*Han De?* Zhang Xin's eye twitched. He suddenly had a hilarious urge to call Zhao Yun in here just to see if a historical prophecy would fulfill itself early. "And you are...?"
"General," Li Li chimed in quickly, aiming for maximum impact, "Young Master De here is the eldest son and heir of our Governor!"
Zhang Xin's eyes gleamed with amusement. "No need to be stiff. Sit, sit." He took his high seat, leaned back, and looked at Li Li. "When did you guys roll in?"
"Late last night," Li Li said, offering a tired, dust-covered smile. "You were sleeping, General, and we didn't dare wake the dragon, so we waited."
"Alright, let's skip the small talk. What does Han Fu want?"
Li Li straightened up. "Our Governor formally invites the General of Chariots and Cavalry to team up, form a coalition, and utterly demolish that treacherous snake, Yuan Shao!"
"Wait, isn't Han Fu practically Yuan Shao's cheerleader?" Zhang Xin laughed openly, throwing all diplomatic politeness out the window. "Weren't you guys just holding hands to attack my Qing Province a second ago? How did Yuan Shao suddenly become a 'treacherous snake'?"
He leaned forward, poking the bruise. "If Yuan Shao is a traitor, what does that make Han Fu? His sidekick?"
Li Li's face turned a delightful shade of beet red. "Our Governor was... tragically misled by Yuan Shao's propaganda! He has seen the light and wishes to join forces with you to purge the realm!"
He dramatically gestured to Han De. "To prove our absolute sincerity, the Governor is offering his precious eldest son as a hostage to completely erase any doubts from your mind, General!"
Zhang Xin's expression became wildly entertaining. "Let me get this straight... Han Wenjie is currently getting his ass kicked by Yuan Shao, isn't he?"
"Cough, cough, cough!" Li Li hacked violently, his face turning a deep crimson. "It's... a minor tactical hiccup! A minor hiccup!"
"Let me ask you a question," Zhang Xin said, leaning on his hand. "How many troops does Han Fu have left in Ye City?"
"Roughly... seventy thousand."
"And Yuan Shao?"
"Twenty... give or take twenty thousand."
Zhang Xin looked at him with pure, unadulterated judgment. "Seventy thousand guys can't beat twenty thousand? On home turf? And he wants *me* to bail him out?"
"Well..." Li Li looked like he wanted the floor to swallow him whole. "Our Governor is a man of culture and civil administration. He is naturally... not a tactical god of war like yourself, General."
Zhang Xin fell silent, contemplating the chess board. He didn't know Han De, but he had met Han Fu. Looking closely, the young man shared Han Fu's distinct aristocratic eyebrows. And that thick, posh Yingchuan accent—the exact same one Xun You used—couldn't be faked. This was definitely Han Fu's legitimate heir.
In history, Han Fu's eldest son had his legs broken by Yuan Shao's thugs. This was the guy.
Originally, Zhang Xin didn't buy the "Yuan and Han are fighting" rumor. But Han Fu offering his eldest son as a hostage changed things. If a ruthless warlord like Cao Cao or Liu Bei offered a son, Zhang Xin would have laughed and looked for the hidden daggers; to those guys, kids were expandable resources. But Han Fu? Han Fu was an old-school aristocrat who placed absolute, traditional weight on his firstborn heir. You didn't gamble your dynasty's continuation on a prank.
*So it's real. Han Fu is genuinely panicking because he's losing a 70k vs 20k fight,* Zhang Xin realized, suppressing a chuckle. The reason Han Fu was losing was because Zhang Xin had already killed or captured all of Han Fu's competent generals (Zhao Fu, Cheng Huan, Qu Yi) over the last six days.
"Did Han Wenjie offer anything else?" Zhang Xin asked, curious to see how delusional the man was.
Li Li exhaled a massive sigh of relief. "Our Governor is willing to gift you Yuan Shao's head on a silver platter in exchange for your total military withdrawal from Ji Province!"
"...That's it?" Zhang Xin blanked.
Was Han Fu living in a parallel universe? Yuan Shao was currently trapped like a rat. Taking his head was a matter of *when*, not *if*. Han Fu was basically offering to buy a house using the buyer's own money.
"Of course, there's more!" Li Li added sweatily. "Besides cleaning up the traitor, our Governor promises to respect your voice in future affairs and send you a metric ton of gold and treasures!"
"So," Zhang Xin interrupted, his voice dropping into a dangerous purr, "Han Fu thinks his little invasion crimes are just going to be swept under the rug with a few shiny trinkets?"
Li Li clogged up. Everyone with half a brain knew Han Fu was finished as Governor of Ji Province. Keeping his head attached to his neck would already be a miracle. But Han Fu had completely botched Ju Shou's advice, arrogantly assuming Zhang Xin *needed* him to govern the local gentry.
Suddenly, Han De stood up, puffing his chest out with the unearned confidence of a rich heir. "General! Though my father made a misstep, he is an imperial official appointed by the Emperor himself. With all due respect, while your rank is high, you don't actually have the legal authority to depose him, do you?"
Li Li's soul nearly left his body. *Why would you say that right now?!*
Zhang Xin blinked, genuinely amused. The father was clueless, and the son was a certified idiot. No wonder this kid didn't even get a footnote in the history books.
Zhang Xin stood up and smiled warmly. "Young Master Han, come with me. I want to show you two something neat."
---
Confused and nervous, the duo followed Zhang Xin out of the city gates, arriving at a sprawling, massive complex: the POW camp.
"The men living here," Zhang Xin pointed casually, "are all the soldiers your father abandoned."
Li Li and Han De looked around, expecting to see miserable, chained skeletons. Instead, as Zhang Xin walked through the rows, the prisoners stood up orderly, their eyes lighting up.
"Greetings, Lord!"
"Good morning, Lord!"
The sheer, genuine adoration radiating from the captured soldiers made Li Li's jaw drop. *It's only been two days! How has he completely brainwashed our men?!*
Zhang Xin walked up to the commander's podium, looking down at the massive sea of men. "Beat the drums. Assemble everyone."
*Boom! Boom! Boom!*
The thunderous war drums echoed, and within minutes, tens of thousands of prisoners sprinted out, forming flawless, disciplined squares without a single chaotic shout.
"Brothers!" Zhang Xin shouted, pointing a finger at the trembling Han De and Li Li. "These two gentlemen right here are envoys sent directly by Han Fu!"
The front-line soldiers repeated his words, echoing them back until the entire camp of tens of thousands heard it. Instantly, the crowd erupted into angry mutters.
"Han Fu sent them here to ask me to take my army and go back to Qing Province!" Zhang Xin yelled with a cheeky grin. "What do you guys think? Should I pack up and leave?"
"WHAT?!"
"Hell no!"
"Lord, you can't abandon us!"
The camp exploded into an absolute frenzy.
"Han Fu is a tyrant! All he does is raise taxes and draft us into misery! He literally ordered our family crops to be burned just to spite you! If you leave, we starve!"
"If the Lord leaves, who protects us from that old bastard?!"
"We don't want Han Fu! We only recognize *you* as the rightful Governor of Ji Province!"
The roaring voices of tens of thousands of men merged into a singular, deafening wave of sound, demanding the head of Han Fu.
Zhang Xin casually raised a single hand.
*Snap.*
The entire ocean of tens of thousands of angry men fell into instant, pin-drop silence.
Li Li and Han De felt their knees turn to jelly. The sheer level of absolute control Zhang Xin possessed over these men—men who were Han Fu's soldiers just 48 hours ago—was terrifying.
Zhang Xin turned around, looking directly at the pale, sweating Han De.
"Young Master De, you're right. Logically and legally, I don't have the right to punish your father." Zhang Xin's eyes flashed like cold steel as his voice boomed across the square. "But this is the will of the people. And who am I to argue with forty thousand angry men?"
He leaned in close. "I didn't march into Ji Province for a personal grudge. I came here to crush tyrants and give the people their lives back."
Han De looked into Zhang Xin's terrifyingly sharp eyes, his aristocratic pride instantly evaporating as he submissively lowered his head, unable to utter a single word.