Ji: Tender Hugs and the March on Nanpi
Ji. It was a fairly well-known city in Youzhou. Thanks to its prime location on the border of Youzhou to the north and its favorable terrain for pushing into the Central Plains to the south, it was destined to thrive. Sure, it had a bit of a mid-sized city vibe, but it was still in Hebei after all. The position was excellent. 'And here... in a few hundred years, this place will skyrocket.' This very Ji would become Beijing, the capital of China itself.
"Kim!! Let's check that out!"
Guan Yu shouted excitedly from beside him, snapping him out of his reverie.
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Even in the midst of war, it was such a massive fortress that civilian life inside remained fairly bustling. Yeah. No matter how battered it got, it was still better than Takhyeon. But the heart of this prosperity was the government troops and the volunteer soldiers. Everywhere, soldiers were setting up drinking parties.
"By the way, sis. I figured you'd hang out with Lord Hyun-deok and Ik-deok."
He brought it up. Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei were a package deal, after all. Zhang Fei and Liu Bei had suggested they all hang out during the day. But... she'd turned them down. 'They're always boozing anyway.' Honestly, sticking with those guys just gave him heartburn. He liked drinking fine... but every single day? Nah.
"Hmm... it's a drinking party anyway."
Guan Yu seemed to have refused for a similar reason.
"And seeing their faces so much makes 'em kinda annoying. Yeah."
Guan Yu nodded as she said it.
"But sis, you see my face plenty too."
He pointed that out.
"Ah.... that's different!"
Guan Yu's face flushed red as she replied.
"Kim's... how do I put it... like someone who's gonna bail any second. You keep this subtle distance from us."
Guan Yu said it with a hint of disappointment.
"......"
Oh. Our Guan Yu was sharp. Had all that hardcore battle experience honed her intuition to a razor's edge?
"Haha. What're you talking about."
He laughed it off casually.
"Hmmm...."
Guan Yu eyed him suspiciously.
How to smooth this over... With that in mind, he cranked up the chit-chat engine.
"Y'know, I just feel uncomfortable."
"Uncomfortable?"
"If I get too close and a comrade bites it, it'd hurt like hell. Maybe that's why I keep my distance without thinking."
He wrapped it up roughly like that.
"Ah....."
Guan Yu's face fell into a sad expression.
"Plus, I've got this mission to avenge my parents. It keeps nagging at me, making me hesitate."
And just like that, he dragged out his nonexistent parents. It was his ultimate master key for ditching the Liu Bei army someday. A time-tested strategy—he'd pulled it on Jeon Ye and Seo Seo too, and it worked like a charm.
"I see. I was being thoughtless."
Guan Yu said, then glanced at him slyly.
Whoosh.
Suddenly, Guan Yu pulled a surprise move and yanked him into a tight hug!!
"W-Wait a sec.... Guan-gong."
He wriggled, trying to squirm free from her soft, smothering embrace.
Squish.
But the pillowy give of her breasts through her armor, the radiating warmth—it was so damn tempting he wanted to just melt into it...! This must be the Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation! No escape...!
Pat. Pat.
And then Guan Yu went full-on head-petting mode.
"......."
He'd kinda wanted to pull away, but those head pats sapped all his resistance. Time got fuzzy. But it felt like they'd been like this for a solid few minutes.
With his face buried in her chest in broad daylight... he was wondering if this was really okay....
Pat.
Guan Yu must've had the same thought mid-pet, because she yanked her hand back in a panic.
"S-Sor.... Kim!!! Sorry! I didn't mean to be so forward...."
Guan Yu's face went beet red as she flailed.
"N-No, it's fine."
Honestly? Great. When else in life would he get healed like this by a busty bombshell?
"I just... thought you were living such a tough life, and I... acted without thinking."
Guan Yu mumbled.
"No, that warmth got through loud and clear. Don't worry about it."
He shook his head with a grin. And yeah, he'd gotten a full measure of her overwhelming mammaries too.
"A-Anyway.... let's keep a proper distance!!"
Guan Yu's face burned crimson as she bolted ahead.
'Wanna cop a feel of that booty too....'
His eyes locked involuntarily on Guan Yu's plump, jiggling hips.
Man, she was a total knockout from top to bottom...
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Being alone on a date(?) with a beauty spiked his dopamine hard... but the surroundings were a total buzzkill. This was the ancient era—half-apocalypse mode. "Date means gourmet food!" didn't fly when the grub was this basic. No pepper, no sugar. Bland rice cakes wrapped in a single leaf for snacks, and "fancy" meat was just straight-up evenly grilled with zero flair. The booze? Takju that tasted faintly like piss. Food here was purely for filling the gut. No wuxia-style five-spice pork, no bamboo leaf liquor, no man-sized dumplings. You'd need to cryo-freeze a few centuries from now for that.
But Guan Yu was a total local.
"Here!! Fresh-grilled horse meat!!! Volunteers battling Yellow Turbans, come chow down!! On the house!!"
Right then, the butcher bellowed to drum up business.
Looked like meat from warhorses that'd croaked mid-campaign, slapped on the grill. Dead horses weren't good for much else anyway.
"Ooh!!! Perfect timing, I was starving!!"
Guan Yu's eyes sparkled as she scurried over.
Other soldiers were already hunkered down, ripping into it.
'Honestly kinda chewy...'
But humans adapt. Tough horse meat still packed protein, so he tore in.
Nom nom.
Guan Yu grinned cutely as she chomped away.
Even a beauty's eating face is adorable. He plopped on a nearby table and dug in too.
Yeah. No seasoning, tough as hell... but damn tasty.
"Eh?! Kim showed up!! Sniffed out the meat?!!"
That's when Zhang Fei barged in.
"Hahat!!! Heroes all love meat and booze, right?!"
And Liu Bei jumped in too.
"....Ah."
Guan Yu looked disappointed.
Ah. Hates the drinking part, huh.
"Uhahat! If we're meeting anyway, should've done it together from the jump!! Let's party!!"
Zhang Fei slapped his shoulder laughing.
"Hehe. Feels like I crashed your little tête-à-tête."
Liu Bei smirked, glancing between him and Guan Yu.
What the—? Were they in elementary school? Man and woman together = instant romance?
"N-Not like that at all!!"
But the childish jab got under Guan Yu's skin. She was surprisingly weak to teasing like that.
Anyway, the usual drinking bash kicked off.
Yeah. Classic Liu Bei army. 450 troops, but if you tallied their collective liver stats, a million-man army wouldn't faze 'em.
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Meanwhile, in Nanpi Castle.
"Elder. Time to make a call, yeah?"
Zhang Yuanzi, one of the Yellow Turban chieftains, leered with a sleazy grin at the local gentry leader, Bu Dae-in.
"A call? You think you're worthy of a private chat with me?"
Bu's face hardened.
"Some lowly bailiff gets a promotion and suddenly acts like hot shit."
Bu shot him a scolding glare. This drunk who'd gotten booted from bailiff duty for beating people had wormed into the Yellow Turbans and now strutted as a chieftain or general.
"Elder. Bloodlines mean jack now. He who seizes the moment rules, right?"
Zhang Yuanzi bared his yellowed teeth in a cackle.
"You know we could wipe Nanpi off the map if we felt like it."
Zhang Yuanzi's hand rested on his sword hilt.
"....You bastards."
Bu's eyes twitched in fury.
The local officials had been slaughtered ages ago. The other gentry had handed over their wealth to the Yellow Turbans and bought their lives. Bu was the last holdout... but he was alone now.
"You're a Nanpi native too. Don't you care about the people here? Just play nice, and there's no issue."
Zhang Yuanzi glanced slyly beyond the gate.
"Your lovely daughter... hand over little Miss Bu Yong-hwa, and I'm good."
That was Zhang Yuanzi's demand. Give him Bu Dae-in's daughter, Bu Yong-hwa, and they'd stop looting and killing the civilians.
"You animals.....!"
Bu was about to curse him out.
Shing.
The Yellow Turbans whipped out their weapons, brandishing them threateningly.
".........."
That folded Bu like paper.
'These are the end times....'
Tears welled in Bu's eyes.
'Someone... anyone... save Nanpi...!'
Bu wailed inwardly. Was there no one to rescue Nanpi?
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A week passed.
"Oho. Looks like they're geared up for war again already."
Everyone's morale was higher than expected. Thanks to Zhang Shiping and Xiao Shuang hustling, they'd scored some decent-quality weapons and gear. It finally looked like a real army.
"Mm. Nanpi's civilians are suffering. We must hurry and save them."
Liu Bei stated it flatly.
Yeah. They'd cleared a bunch of petty Yellow Turban remnant quests so far, but without retaking Nanpi Castle proper, it was pointless. The bandits were holed up there, clinging tight because they trusted their backup.
"Yeah!!! Time to play heroes!!"
Zhang Fei pumped his bulging fist with a grin.
'It's about that time.'
He sensed the massive Nanpi assault drawing near and tensed up a bit.
And about a day later, Liu Yan ordered the full army to march on Nanpi.
Liu Yan clearly knew retaking it was crucial too—he scraped together every last soldier from Ji and mobilized.
Naturally, the full volunteer force joined the column.
The Battle for Nanpi had begun.