11. The Era of the Tyrant Arrives (1)
11. The Era of the Tyrant Arrives (1)
The legitimate son of the Yuan Clan of Runan, holders of the Four Generations and Three Excellencies.
General of the Household Yuan Shu was a man of narrow-minded character, a well-known wastrel famous for his extravagant debauchery.
However, he was a talent whose mind worked quickly.
"I must achieve merit before anyone else."
Claiming he couldn't lose to General of the Central Army Yuan Shao, who was nothing but a bastard daughter, he led his personal guards and raided the Southern Palace.
"Slaughter the eunuch faction! Kill them all, every last one of them!"
Yuan Shu's actions were extremely radical.
Even though the palace had been seized by the Ten Eunuchs, it was still the palace of the Han Dynasty where the Emperor resided, was it not?
However, Yuan Shu set fire to the palace.
He chose to use fire, claiming that a bold attack was more important than anything else to defeat the Ten Eunuchs.
"Kyaaaak!"
"Fire! The palace is on fire!"
The court ladies began to flee.
As dark-clad men kicked open the doors with spears and swords in hand, they were busy running away in shock.
Soldiers rushed in and cut down the eunuchs.
And not only did they cut down young scholars who hadn't grown beards yet, but soldiers who couldn't control their lust grabbed court ladies and committed atrocities like gang rape.
The soldiers under Yuan Shu were all elite troops.
However, blinded by looting, arson, and rape, they committed all sorts of evil deeds.
"Damn it, you idiots! Kill the eunuchs first right now!"
Yuan Shu roared at the military officers who were distracted by looting.
Right now, the Ten Eunuchs must be caught first.
Now that General-in-Chief He Jin had been murdered, the person who killed all the Ten Eunuchs would take the next position.
It is only fitting that I become the General-in-Chief.
Confident in his noble bloodline, Yuan Shu thought it was only natural that he fill the vacancy left by He Jin.
"Young Master, punishing the Ten Eunuchs is important, but shouldn't we first secure the safety of His Majesty the Emperor?"
General Zhang Xun advised Yuan Shu.
However, Yuan Shu dismissed it, asking what was so important about an Emperor who came from a butcher's background.
Rather, he wanted the young Emperor to die.
What kind of Emperor is a royal born from a lowly butcher?
An Emperor is a being permitted only to noble bloodlines.
Yuan Shu hammered home to his subordinates that a butcher could not be Emperor.
"We must kill the Ten Eunuchs first. We cannot fall behind Yuan Shao, or even Cao Cao. We must take their heads and hang them at the gates of the General-in-Chief's Office."
Yuan Shu was by no means seeking revenge out of sorrow for the death of General-in-Chief He Jin or anger at the Ten Eunuchs' treacherous assassination.
The one who avenges General-in-Chief He Jin,
can become the next General-in-Chief of the Han Dynasty.
To obtain the army of the General-in-Chief's Office, he had to use their desire for revenge to win their hearts first.
"Fire!"
"They are the traitors who set fire to the palace!"
Soon, troops armed with spears and swords arrived.
Yuan Shu thought they were reinforcements coming to help him, but the reality was the opposite.
Troops led by Minister of Education Wang Yun and General of the Guard Lu Zhi.
They had come to judge the ruffians who had burned the Southern Palace and committed looting and rape in the palace.
"Kuaak!"
"Ugh!"
Soldiers were hit by arrows and fell.
Yuan Shu's forces showed signs of exhaustion under the attack of the army charging with sharp spears lowered.
Their formation was in disarray from committing arson and looting. Therefore, no matter how elite the unit was, they had no choice but to be pushed back by Wang Yun and Lu Zhi's troops.
"You rascal, Yuan Gonglu! Do you recognize my face!!"
"What lowly bastard dares to..."
Yuan Shu raised his head.
He could see a man in the distance calling his name recklessly.
It was an old man with a long beard.
However, he boasted a stature so tall it was hard to believe he was an old man. His massive frame, reaching a staggering 8 cheok 2 chon (194cm), was enough to threaten Yuan Shu.
"Young Master, it is General of the Guard Lu Zhi!"
"Lu, Lu Zhi...?!"
One of the heroes who defeated the Yellow Turban Rebels.
Even a wastrel like Yuan Shu had heard of that name.
He had heard that he was demoted by the Ten Eunuchs.
When had he returned as General of the Guard?
At the sudden appearance of Lu Zhi, the Yuan Shu army began to waver and look to Yuan Shu for cues.
'How can we beat Lu Zhi!'
'He's the old man who mercilessly sliced through those demon-like Yellow Turban Rebels!'
In terms of troops, Yuan Shu was far ahead.
However, the soldiers were terrified by Lu Zhi's appearance.
Huangfu Song, Zhu Jun, Lu Zhi.
These three old generals were like living legends of the Han Dynasty military, heroes who saved the country from the brink of destruction.
Against such heroes,
there could be no one bold enough to dare wield a spear or sword.
"Ptooey! I will step up, Young Master!"
General Ji Ling stepped forward.
When no one else would step up, Ji Ling boasted that he would go out and cut off the old man's head.
"Shut up, you idiot!"
Yuan Shu shouted at Ji Ling.
General of the Guard Lu Zhi must never be killed.
The reason for trying to punish the Ten Eunuchs in the first place was to win the hearts of the Han Dynasty military.
However, if he killed Lu Zhi here,
he would be ostracized and attacked by all the military officers who revered and respected Lu Zhi. That is how absolute Lu Zhi's reputation was in the Han military.
"General of the Guard, it seems there is some misunderstanding. We only occupied the Imperial Palace for a moment to punish the Ten Eunuchs; we had no other intentions."
Yuan Shu showed a conciliatory attitude to Lu Zhi first.
He must not touch Lu Zhi here.
His brilliant mind moved quickly this time as well, making calculations.
"We raised an army for the great cause of punishing the Ten Eunuchs. So, General of the Guard, please lead us. You must also have quite a grudge against the Ten Eunuchs... How about it, will you join us?"
Let's use Lu Zhi as a pretext instead.
In that short time, Yuan Shu came up with a plan to use General of the Guard Lu Zhi to punish the Ten Eunuchs.
If Lu Zhi's reputation was absolute,
then he just needed to use that reputation to punish the Ten Eunuchs. Putting Lu Zhi's name at the forefront was a bitter pill for the vain Yuan Shu, but he judged that it was a time when he had no choice but to give up.
"You puppy of a rascal, withdraw your troops from this Imperial Palace at once! Even your uncle Yuan Wei and your brother Yuan Ji dare not act against me, yet you dare to try and deceive me!!"
Lu Zhi shouted in great anger.
Yuan Shu couldn't help but flinch at that lion's roar.
He was terrified by Lu Zhi's words mentioning his uncle and brother. Yuan Shu was still just a young brat acting tough, and in front of a veteran of a hundred battles, he was just a puppy.
"Ugh...!!"
Yuan Shu raised his hand.
Then, the soldiers simultaneously stepped back and reorganized their ranks.
They lowered their spears and sheathed their swords.
After putting down the goods and treasures they had painstakingly stuffed into their bags, they also had to release the court ladies they had kidnapped, claiming they would make them their concubines.
'Damn it, just you wait! You damn old geezer. How long do you think you'll live? When you die, I'll raze your family to the ground!'
Yuan Shu gritted his teeth.
Then, he ordered his soldiers to retreat and turned his back on Lu Zhi.
Minister of Education Wang Yun and General of the Guard Lu Zhi stopped the Yuan Shu army.
Upon hearing the news, I turned my army around and tried to head to where the Emperor was. It was to quickly secure the safety of Emperor Liu Bian and Prince of Chenliu Liu Xie, who were being held by the Ten Eunuchs.
"Giddy up!"
"Hurry! Don't fall behind!"
Mounted military officers crossed the Imperial Palace.
Military officers daring to ride horses through the Imperial Palace—normally, this was something that should never happen. But now was not the time to worry about such things, so we had to hurry as much as possible.
"Hahaha! To think I'd be riding a horse in the Imperial Palace, it's just a series of shocks!"
Lu Bu burst into laughter.
She was galloping at the very front.
Perhaps because she was from the frontier, her horsemanship was superior to anyone else's.
"To keep such an ill-mannered girl by your side, your taste is quite unique."
There were thorns in Cao Cao's words.
Where did you bring such a ruffian-like woman from?
Her red eyes seemed to be questioning just that.
"Her martial arts are superior to anyone else's. She is a fierce general that no one can stop. Isn't she the talent we need most?"
Although she doesn't listen...
Lu Bu was a woman who could be called a human weapon, a living war machine, without any exaggeration.
She betrays her lord with a high probability.
If she didn't have such a headache-inducing skill, it wouldn't have been a bad idea for her to operate in the Cao Cao army.
"Where is His Majesty!"
Soon, we arrived at the Emperor's bedchamber.
I knocked on the door roughly, but the remaining court attendant told me that the Emperor and the Prince of Chenliu had already been captured by the eunuchs and dragged away as if kidnapped.
The Ten Eunuchs had kidnapped the Emperor and the Prince of Chenliu.
Hearing the attendant's words, the military officers raised their voices, saying we must hurry and pursue them to punish the Ten Eunuchs.
"How dare a mere eunuch take His Majesty!"
"You must pursue them at once! The state altars of the Han Dynasty depend on our hands!"
Of course.
We must pursue them and rescue the Emperor and the Prince of Chenliu.
"Mount Beimang... They must have gone to Mount Beimang."
I pulled the reins.
I hurriedly turned the horse's head to the north.
"Is there no proof that they went to Mount Beimang?"
Cao Cao asked.
Just as she said, I hadn't secured any proof that they had gone to Mount Beimang.
But I know.
Because it is at that very Mount Beimang that the Emperor and the Prince of Chenliu, kidnapped by the Ten Eunuchs, will join Dong Zhuo, who will be called a great traitor.
"Then back off, kid."
Lu Bu threw a mocking smile.
Cao Cao's expression began to crack at that teasing tone.
The emotion of anger rose in her red eyes.
Like a slowly spreading flame, she began to glare at Lu Bu as if to kill her.
"Then we will go by ourselves. Let's go!"
Not even half a day had passed yet.
But for some reason, an unknown anxiety washed over me.
The fear that I might not have met the set time, and the presence of Dong Zhuo, who must be slowly approaching.
These things kept tormenting my mind.
"Hey, underlings. Follow me!"
Lu Bu shouted.
About 100 cavalry troops headed toward Mount Beimang.
Perhaps suspicious of me suddenly heading to Mount Beimang, Cao Cao did not follow behind.
Watching Cao Cao stop,
Lu Bu burst into a laugh bordering on a smirk.
"Serves you right. You acted all high and mighty, and look at you, you can't even move your feet because you're scared."
It seemed Lu Bu and Cao Cao were born with fates that were polar opposites.
Should I say their personalities just didn't match?
Surely their compatibility with each other would be the worst. If one were to organize the relationship chart of each character based on compatibility, Cao Cao and Lu Bu would clearly boast the worst compatibility.
"What is that?"
Lu Bu, who was running at the front, muttered.
I realized what she muttered only a beat later.
A large-scale cavalry began to arrive.
An excellent cavalry unit of thousands had already reached the place we were heading to.
Flags packed densely.
There were soldiers from the barbarians wearing fur, as well as military officers covered in dirt and dust.
It was already too late.
Witnessing the large-scale army, I felt the strength drain from my entire body.
Dong Zhuo had snatched the Emperor first.
Not even a full day had passed, yet Dong Zhuo had passed through the plains at full speed and reached Mount Beimang.
"Fucking hell--!!!"
I shouted, throwing the helmet I was wearing on my head.