"Return to Yingchuan, my ancestral home?"
Han Fu's heart initially leaped with raw joy, but it quickly quieted down as cold reality set in. Now that he had stripped himself of all political and military power, remaining in Ye City would mean living entirely under someone else's roof, forever dependent on their whims. A life spent walking on eggshells, constantly trying to please a conqueror, would be an agonizing existence.
Not to mention, he had actively offended Zhang Xin during the previous Qingzhou campaign.
Currently, Zhang Xin had no intention of moving against him because he needed to appease the newly surrendered Jizhou bureaucracy. But what about later? Once Zhang Xin completely won over the hearts of the local gentry and solidified his grip on the province, there would be a hundred quiet ways to permanently dispose of a former governor. A tragic slip into a deep pond, an embarrassing fall into a latrine, or a sudden, unexplained midnight illness...
Thinking of these grim possibilities, Han Fu's body trembled slightly. He desperately wanted to accept the offer to return home, but he was terrified that this was merely a lethal loyalty test devised by his new lord. If he stayed in Ye City, he might at least survive under house arrest. If he chose to leave, would he mysteriously cross paths with a band of lethal "mountain bandits" the moment his carriage crossed the border?
"This..." Han Fu hesitated, his voice shaking. "This humble commoner... wishes to remain here in Ye City."
"Lord Han, you need not overthink things."
Observing the erratic shifts in the older man's pale face, Zhang Xin instantly guessed nine out of ten of his paranoid thoughts. He simply smiled and spoke with complete, disarming plainness. "My words are not a test."
Zhang Xin leaned back, his tone casual and reassuring. "The military friction we had in Qingzhou earlier was entirely instigated and orchestrated by Yuan Shao. It was never your true fault. Now, you have willingly surrendered this entire province without spilling a drop of blood, saving millions of lives. Such massive merit is more than enough to completely wash away any past misunderstandings."
He poured a cup of tea and pushed it toward Han Fu. "I harbor absolutely no personal malice toward you. On the contrary, do you not remember our sacred alliance oath outside the gates of Luoyang? Back when we raised our grand armies to crush the tyrant Dong Zhuo, you were the one who tirelessly provided my legions with grain and fodder. We fought side by side to eliminate a national traitor. Thinking back on those days, I still feel a deep sense of shared nostalgia..."
Hearing Zhang Xin openly reminisce about their old camaraderie, the thick layer of terror masking Han Fu's face began to melt away.
"I know exactly what keeps you awake at night, but please, rest assured," Zhang Xin chuckled. "Whatever your heart truly desires, you can speak it to me with absolute honesty. I will not refuse you. Besides, let us be practical—if I genuinely harbored an intent to harm you, why on earth would a man of my military position need to resort to such tedious, convoluted political games?"
*Zhang Xin really is an upfront, honest man!* Han Fu thought, his chest completely relaxing as a massive weight evaporated from his shoulders.
"Since the Governor speaks with such profound magnanimity, this humble commoner begs to return to his ancestral home," Han Fu said, bowing his head with genuine gratitude. "I wish only to make a simple life of farming and scholarship my ultimate livelihood, never again to step foot into the realm of official politics. I humbly ask the Governor to grant this retirement."
Zhang Xin was completely right. If the conqueror wanted him dead, he could have easily thrown him into a dungeon the moment he took over the city walls. There was zero logical need to engineer a fake choice.
"Granted," Zhang Xin nodded warmly. "Then please, Lord Han, feel free to remain in the comforts of the State Prefecture for a few more days. Once I have fully stabilized the immediate administrative affairs of the province, I will personally organize an elite honor guard to respectfully escort you and your wealth safely across our borders."
"No, no, no..." Han Fu quickly waved his hands in a frantic panic. "The State Prefecture is now your official governing residence, My Lord. How can a simple commoner like me possibly continue to occupy the central chambers..."
"Just stay," Zhang Xin insisted with generous finality. "It is only for a few short days, and it would be far too much of a troublesome hassle for your family to move all your heavy crates twice. I will officially move my offices in only after you have begun your journey south."
Despite Han Fu's repeated, polite refusals, Zhang Xin remained unyielding. Seeing his new lord's firm, ironclad courtesy, Han Fu could only accept. Zhang Xin personally escorted the retired governor out of the main administrative wing, leaving Han Fu bowing repeatedly in deep, heartfelt appreciation.
---
### Ninety Percent Certainty
After seeing off Han Fu, Zhang Xin turned on his heel, his casual demeanor instantly vanishing as he sprinted back into the inner strategy war room to find Xun You.
"Gongda! Earlier, I instructed you to send a specialized guerrilla force to set up a tactical ambush in the Black Mountain passes. Did the detachment receive the military orders in time?"
"Lord, please put your heart completely at ease," Xun You grinned, his eyes gleaming with intellectual satisfaction. "The absolute second I caught wind of the internal civil brawl between Yuan and Han, I dispatched a high-speed rider to the mountain perimeter."
Xun You pulled up a geographical map of the ridges. "At that exact moment, Yang Feng and his massive contingent of Black Mountain Yellow Turbans had already descended the peaks to submit to us. With those local mountain raiders acting as flawless, literal pathfinders and guides, our elite strike force managed to plug every single viable canyon, pass, and hidden goat trail overnight."
Xun You flattened his palm against the map. "As long as Yuan Shao possesses the desperation to run through the Black Mountain range, he will find himself entirely incapable of escaping our net—even if the heavens granted him a pair of wings!"
He paused for a brief moment, mentally calculating the variables before adding a cautious caveat. "I hold at least a ninety percent structural certainty that we will successfully capture or execute Yuan Shao in those passes."
As a master strategist, Xun You knew better than to ever claim absolute certainty. What if the proud peacock had chosen a completely unpredictable alternative route? Or what if he stumbled upon a forgotten, unmapped hunter's trail that even Yang Feng's bandits didn't know existed? Leaving a ten percent margin for error was only logical.
"Ninety percent, huh..."
Zhang Xin took a deep, heavy breath, his eyes drifting out the window toward the dark, jagged silhouettes of the western mountains. His stomach twisted with a faint, anxious knot.
In the modern world he had left behind, there was a famous saying among gamers and strategists alike: *If a probability isn't literally one hundred percent, then even a ninety-nine point nine percent chance is effectively a coin flip.*
Yuan Shao was, after all, one of the titanic, historical overlords of this entire era. Such figures inherently possessed a bizarre, almost supernatural streak of sheer, cosmic luck. During their last major clash, the man had literally managed to outrun an elite cavalry pursuit while driving a broken-down peasant donkey cart. It was utterly surreal.
Right as the anxious thought crossed his mind, the heavy wooden doors were violently thrown open.
Dian Wei bounded into the room, his massive chest heaving with excitement, closely followed by a mud-splattered, sweat-drenched vanguard messenger.
"My Lord!" Dian Wei roared, his booming voice echoing off the rafters. "Jinglue has just dispatched an express rider from the front! He has captured Yuan Shao alive!!"
"What did you just say?!"
Zhang Xin's eyes instantly widened to the size of saucers. He ignored all courtly decorum, stepping forward to stare incredulously at the trembling, mud-covered soldier. "Yuan Shao... has been caught? *Alive?*"
"Yes, Governor!" The soldier nodded aggressively, a massive, proud smile breaking through the dirt on his face. He quickly reached into his chest armor, pulling out a sealed, tightly rolled leather missive. "Our forces successfully sprung the trap!"
Zhang Xin snatched the letter from his hands, ripping open the seal.
The elegant, precise script belonged unmistakably to **Wang Meng**. The young genius wrote that his ambush at Luoyuan Stream had achieved total tactical victory, completely ensnaring the entire escaping political party.
The tally of high-value captives was staggering. Beyond the grand lord Yuan Shao himself, the net had dragged in his eldest son Yuan Tan, his chief strategist Pang Ji, his top military general Chunyu Qiong, alongside the prominent civil officials Governor Shen and Xin Pi. Not a single soul from the entourage had managed to slip into the dark. Every last one of them was bound in iron chains.
Wang Meng noted that he was currently leading the vanguard to escort the prisoners back to the capital, estimating their arrival at the state gates by nightfall. He had sent this rider ahead purely to ease his lord's anxiety.
"Hahahahahahaha! Magnificent! Utterly brilliant!"
Zhang Xin burst into a roaring, unrestrained laugh that shook the very walls of the war room. He slapped his thigh in pure ecstasy. "Wang Meng, oh Wang Meng... you truly have lived up to the legendary name of *Jinglue* that I bestowed upon you!"
"A magnificent triumph, My Lord. Your grandest wish has been flawlessly fulfilled," Xun You offered with a sweeping bow and a wide, genuine smile. Internally, the strategist let out a massive sigh of relief. *Thank the heavens. My flawless record remains unblemished.*
"Congratulations, My Lord!" Dian Wei grinned, pounding his massive fist against his chest armor.
"Excellent..." Zhang Xin took a long, deep, euphoric breath, the final lingering knot of strategic tension in his shoulders completely dissolving.
His mind briefly drifted away from the bloody map of Hebei, thinking fondly of his beautiful wife back home, Wang Rou. Once this chaotic campaign was fully wrapped up and he returned to his home base, he would have to spend some quality time doting on her. Though, considering she was currently carrying his unborn child, the truly extravagant doting would probably have to wait until the next year.
Thinking of his expanding family, a sudden, warm wave of homesickness hit his chest. *I really miss my wife...*
Shaking his head to clear the romantic thoughts, Zhang Xin turned back to his attendants, his voice crisp. "Guards! Inform every single civil and military official currently present within the capital—we hold a grand, celebratory state banquet inside the Prefecture tonight!"
---
### The Countdown
Under Zhang Xin's executive command, the entire State Prefecture instantly transformed into a hive of frantic activity. Servants rushed through the corridors, lighting massive brass braziers, polishing long lacquer tables, and unsealing jars of the finest vintage wine.
As the heavy curtain of night fell over Ye City, the various officials wrapped up their immediate administrative duties and began filing into the grand hall one after another. Once the room was fully packed and every cup was filled, Zhang Xin stood up from the principal seat and publicly announced the absolute capture of Yuan Shao.
The main hall instantly exploded into a deafening uproar.
The reactions split the room cleanly down the middle. The original loyalists of Zhang Xin's faction—General Geng Wu, Min Chun, Ju Shou, and Li Li—applauded with raw, roaring joy, raising their cups to toast their lord's terrifying efficiency.
On the other end of the aisle, Han Fu's face turned a complex, highly anxious shade of gray. The fall of his former rival forced him to confront the sheer, terrifying reality of Zhang Xin's absolute dominance.
Zhang Xin remained seated quietly at the high table, a faint smile on his lips as he patiently allowed the Hebei bureaucracy to whisper, gossip, and process the massive geopolitical shift amongst themselves.
> "Report!"
A heavily armored guard sprinted into the center of the hall, dropping to one knee. "Military Officer Wang's vanguard escort has officially arrived twenty li outside the city gates!"
*They're coming,* Zhang Xin's chest tightened, his pulse noticeably quickening.
> "Report!"
Barely a fraction of an hour later, another messenger burst through the doors. "Military Officer Wang has crossed the ten-li marker outside our walls!"
> "Report! The vanguard has successfully entered the city gates and is currently marching down the grand avenue toward the State Prefecture!!"
Zhang Xin's fingers unconsciously clenched into tight, powerful fists against his knees. The entire hall grew progressively quieter, the celebratory chatter dying down as the weight of the impending arrival settled over the room.
> "Report! Military Officer Wang Meng has officially arrived outside the grand gates of the State Prefecture palace! He humbly requests an audience with the Governor!!"
"Let them enter," Zhang Xin spoke slowly, his deep voice vibrating through the silent hall, carrying a faint, unmistakable tremor of intense anticipation.
A few tense moments ticked by. Then, the rhythmic, heavy clattering of iron-clad boots and the unmistakable, metallic scraping of heavy prisoner chains echoed from the stone courtyard outside.
More than ten silhouettes stepped out of the darkness, framing themselves against the bright torchlight illuminating the massive main doors of the grand hall.
Zhang Xin sat up completely straight, his dark eyes burning with absolute focus as he stared eagerly into the light, waiting to look upon his defeated rival.
---