Tears of Vengeance

Let’s think this through.

What’s the best way to shoot down an operation that everyone else is enthusiastically supporting?

Simple. Lay out a logical explanation for why it won’t work, present a superior alternative, and give people a righteous cause they can rally behind.

But that’s easier said than done.

How am I supposed to logically dismantle a plan that even I can admit sounds pretty solid? A better alternative? If I had one of those, I wouldn’t be tearing my hair out over this in the first place.

And worst of all, I don’t even have a moral high ground to stand on.

“If we don’t take the Yellow Turban main camp, the imperial army will loot my family’s wealth as spoils of war, so we can’t do that”? The second those words left my mouth I’d be branded a selfish bastard.

Still, I have to convince them.

If I fail and they go through with Zhang Fei’s plan anyway… I’ll either leave the Liu Bei Army penniless and die an anonymous death somewhere, or I’ll end up clinging to their coattails, watching them lose every battle until I eventually get killed in the chaos.

Yeah. It’s a hellish balance game, but the outcome is the same.

Death.

I need to come up with something better than Zhang Fei’s plan and persuade everyone to follow it. And that plan has to involve five hundred and forty soldiers storming the Yellow Turban main camp where Cheng Yuanzhi is stationed and seizing it.

…How the hell am I supposed to do that?

I don’t know.

Still, I should at least buy some time by saying something.

“U-um… sorry for shouting all of a sudden, but that plan won’t work.”

“What the hell, Bang Yeol! What part of my brilliant strategy pissed you off so much that you’re screaming and throwing a tantrum?!”

Zhang Fei’s irritated retort already left me speechless, but I had to force something out.

“…If things go according to that plan, the Yellow Turbans will all rally back to their main camp. In that case, how are we supposed to kill Cheng Yuanzhi who’s holed up there?”

“What were you even listening to? That’s exactly why I’m saying the opposite. Look, the government troops in Zhuo County and the suppression force coming from Luoyang will wipe out everyone in the main camp anyway, won’t they?”

But then those bastards will take my money as spoils of war!

I wanted to scream it out loud, but doing so would turn me into the trash who was shoving his allies into danger for personal profit.

…Honestly, that description was accurate, but there was no need to advertise it.

“That means we won’t get to kill Cheng Yuanzhi with our own hands. We’d be handing him over to them…”

So what?

Was there any real reason for the Liu ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Bei Army to be obsessed with taking Cheng Yuanzhi’s head?

No, not at all.

These people had only gathered to protect Nusang Village. They’d be perfectly satisfied without marching all the way to the enemy’s headquarters and turning it into a wasteland.

Unlike me, whose entire fortune was tied up in that camp.

Honestly, even the men from Dontou Village who had followed me as their leader would probably be content as long as Cheng Yuanzhi died, even if they didn’t have to stain their own hands with blood…

So why was I the only one opposing this so fiercely?

Excluding the real reason—money.

…Ah! That’s it!

Cheng Yuanzhi.

The man who had served in the frontier armies of You Province, committed crimes, deserted, fled to Dontou Village, and lived as a servant in the Bang family household. Not only did he betray the kindness shown to him by stealing his master’s wealth and becoming the leader of the Yellow Turbans in You Province, he even massacred the entire family.

Since those people were Bang Yeol’s family, Cheng Yuanzhi was Bang Yeol’s mortal enemy. And since I had possessed Bang Yeol, that made him my mortal enemy too, right?

Not just any enemy, either. He was the murderer of my parents and siblings.

To personally slay the enemy who slaughtered one’s family.

In this era, in this twisted society that worshipped Confucianism above all, wasn’t that the highest virtue imaginable?

And yet here I was, opposing the plan because I was afraid my comrades might die?

Any self-respecting scholar-official of this time would probably shower me with curses the moment they heard it.

In that case, there was only one thing left to do.

“…Huh? H-hey, Bang Yeol… are you crying right now?!”

I burst into loud, ugly sobs, tears and snot pouring ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠down my face.

This was my chance.

“Aaaah! Cheng Yuanzhi murdered my family! How can I possibly follow that plan when I must slay him with my own hands to ease my parents’ lingering resentment?!”

I was supposed to lift my head now and appeal to them with tear-filled eyes, but…

…No tears were coming out?

Quick, think of something sad.

Something sad… Bang ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Yeol’s parents…

Not only did no tears appear, I didn’t even feel a hint of mucus.

Then something else sad… the family I’ll never see again…

That didn’t make me sad either?

Was I really such an unfilial son?

Swallowing my self-loathing, I desperately searched for another sad thought…

If thinking about parents and family wouldn’t produce even a single tear, what else was there?

Hmm… my computer back home?

The computer I would never see again.

Ah, and inside it, the “Blackbird” folder and all those erotic games waiting for me.

Suddenly the tears poured down like a waterfall.

Snot dripped freely.

With tears and mucus streaming down my face, the perfect image of a filial son weeping for his slain parents was complete.

…Even though thinking about my actual family hadn’t produced a single drop.

Anyway, it worked.

“Khrrk…! The grief chokes my throat so much I can barely speak!! Ah! Mother…! Please do not forgive this unworthy youngest son who cannot even avenge the grudge of your body being torn apart by wild dogs! Khrrk… Mother!!!”

Even though the man claiming he was too choked up to speak was actually spouting quite fluently, everyone kindly overlooked such a minor inconsistency.

No matter how chaotic the age, a Confucian society was still a Confucian society.

The moment I properly stimulated their filial piety sensors, the entire group fell into a solemn silence.

Look at them.

Liu Bei’s eyes were already reddening, probably thinking of the mother who had raised her through hardship after her father’s early death.

Guan Yu, whose sensitivity was on the level of a young maiden or possibly even lower, was already sobbing uncontrollably.

Even Zhang Fei wiped the corner of his eye, his voice softening.

Wow. My terrible acting was a massive success.

“Hey, Bang Yeol… We were all born from our mothers too, and we all have siblings. How could we not understand the sorrow of being unable to personally slay your enemy…? But what can we do? There’s no way to cut through that massive army and take Cheng Yuanzhi’s head.”

Zhang Fei was speaking in an unusually gentle tone to comfort me. If I presented another decent plan now, there was a high chance they would listen.

The problem was that I still hadn’t figured out how to break through all those Yellow Turbans, seize the main camp, and secure the spoils.

I looked again at the crude map Zhang Fei had drawn.

Ten thousand reserves. Five thousand in the main camp.

With only five hundred and forty troops, a frontal assault was impossible.

The silver lining was that Liu Bei had gathered far more volunteers from Nusang Village than expected (though it was still only about five hundred), that the complacent reserves were scattered across villages looting, and that they were all hastily assembled rabble with zero military training.

Those three points were all we had.

Of course, the fact that they had left the roads from Ji Province and Yan State completely unguarded could be considered an advantage, but since the Yellow Turbans had already conquered both regions long ago, it wasn’t particularly helpful.

Zhang Fei’s plan was to leave a small force in Nusang Village as bait. When the enemy came with a relatively small detachment, the rest of us would ambush them from the mountains, crush them, and shatter the morale of the entire reserve force in one blow.

However, that alone wouldn’t make the troops in the main camp flee. We needed another plan.

The ideal scenario would be to bypass the reserves and launch a surprise attack on the main camp, or lure the reserves somewhere else and strike the headquarters… but I had no idea how to accomplish either.

It would be nice if the suppression forces from Yan State or Ji Province came and wiped them out, but…

Wait a minute.

Weren’t those bastards leaving both of those routes completely undefended?

And the troops there were untrained rabble.

Maybe… just maybe, there was a way.

“…Ikdeok, Heonhwa. Would you be interested in going hiking?”

At my sudden mention of mountain climbing, both Zhang Fei and Gan Yong stared at me in utter confusion.

.

.

.

“This method should be able to lure away not only the reserves but even part of the main camp’s forces! …But are you sure this is okay? In this plan, you’d be left with far too few men, Bang Yeol…”

“If we don’t use this plan, I won’t be able to kill my enemy! What else can we do?! Aah… ugh…”

“Aigoo, fine, fine! We’ll go with this plan! Good grief… I can’t even get a word in…”

Cheng Yuanzhi was a former military officer who had spent his days skirmishing with barbarians in northern Ping of You Province.

Although he was a bit slow-witted and excessively greedy, his strong physique and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠fearless personality had earned him fairly good treatment.

The problem was that his greed was simply too much.

In the final years of the Han Dynasty, the plundering of civilians by frontier soldiers was somewhat tolerated, but Cheng Yuanzhi’s behavior went far beyond what could be overlooked.

He robbed people as viciously as the barbarians themselves, and he had even forced himself upon other men’s wives.

The fact that he was merely beaten and forcibly discharged, taking into account his previous merits, was actually a stroke of incredible luck.

However, a man who spent every coin he earned the same day and resorted to stealing when hungry had no one willing to hire him. He couldn’t find any work in northern Ping.

So he traveled far away and became a servant in the household of a wealthy family in the newly established Dontou Village of Daqu County. Although his strength earned him decent treatment, he was still ultimately a slave.

The resentment of a man who had once been a military officer only continued to fester.

Then, rebellions broke out everywhere. The group known as the Yellow Turbans began plundering villages and growing rapidly in power as they resisted the government forces. It was only natural that Cheng Yuanzhi incited the local thugs of Dontou Village, turned them into Yellow Turbans, and began looting.

In the process, he ransacked the wealthy household where he had worked as a servant and slaughtered every member of the family that had once employed him. Could there be any greater happiness?

With that wealth, he even won the hearts of the Yellow Turbans in You Province and rose to become their leader. Every night, Cheng Yuanzhi would boast that no one in the world was happier than him and fall asleep with a satisfied smile.

Well… at least that had been true until tonight.