02. Struggling to Prevent the Worst
02. Struggling to Prevent the Worst
[Sili Province] [Luoyang Department]
189 AD. The 6th year of Zhongping.
A full 2 years have passed since I fell into a virtual game and was reduced to a new resident of the Three Kingdoms world.
2 years!
If it were a game, I would have skipped through that amount of time and then some, but I spent it in real-time.
How miserable is this?
If I had been born as a person of this world from the beginning, I wouldn't be saying things like this.
I, who was clearly a real human, becoming a resident of a virtual game... it was driving me crazy.
"Gate Guard Colonel-nim!"
A soldier wearing armor ran up.
If it were a game, he would have been nothing more than a clone soldier I would have dismissed as an extra.
But this is a game, yet not a game.
For me, who was being forced to live a second life in the current game world, I had to be wary of and observe everyone around me. As if I, too, had become a person of this world.
"Why?"
"The Minister of Education is calling for you."
"Understood."
I nodded at the soldier's words.
The soldier, having successfully delivered the message, bowed his head and returned to his post.
'What does the old man want with me now?'
I was sponsored by the Minister of Education, Wang Yun.
In other words, I was a person with the 'backing' of the Three Excellencies.
It was thanks to my skill, Famous Teacher.
If you are a freelance warrior with no affiliation, you receive recruitment offers from ruler-type characters, and you can receive favorable treatment from figures who value reputation and character.
The Minister of Education, Wang Yun, has a stubborn personality, but he is a member of the pure-stream faction who values Benevolence and Righteousness above all else.
Thanks to that, I was able to benefit a little.
Wang Yun used my Famous Teacher skill to recruit me as a guest of his family, and through his recommendation, he even raised me to the rank of Gate Guard Colonel, having started as a Colonel of Luoyang.
'Of course, nothing is free. He probably wants to recruit officers who aren't under the influence of the General-in-Chief or the Ten Eunuchs to act as his loyal dogs.'
I started as a Colonel of Luoyang.
A general officer assigned to Luoyang.
During the 2 years I worked in Luoyang, I saw countless figures and heard stories related to them, and each time, I grew my ability to 'read the room.'
Luoyang, the capital of the Han Dynasty.
As a city connected to immense wealth and power, it was a place that reeked of rot.
I lived off 'reading the room' in this damn Demon Capital.
Growing up while eating my salary along with the 'food of reading the room,' I was busy reading the room again today under the umbrella of the Minister of Education, Wang Yun.
"I'm here because of the message from the Minister of Education-nim."
"Ah, Gate Guard Colonel-nim."
I arrived at the [Ministry of Education] where Wang Yun works.
The officer on duty was a man I was familiar with. It was inevitable that I would be familiar with him... since Wang Yun often called me for personal reasons, I naturally ended up coming and going from the Ministry of Education, and I came to know the faces of all the officers on duty.
"Is the rumor true, by any chance?"
"What are you talking about?"
The officer asked with a smirk.
At those words, I assumed it was some useless gossip from a clone general who wasn't even C-rank.
"About Wang Yun-gong's family and......."
"There is no such thing."
If we had met as enemies, I would have cracked his head open first.
When I spoke in a cold voice, the officer realized I wasn't joking and quickly shut his mouth.
Who do you take me for?
No matter how much I've fallen into a game world, I have principles. And one of those principles is.......
"You've come."
Wang Yun came out to see me personally.
Although it was just a brief step to the door, the fact that one of the Three Excellencies of the Han Dynasty came out to greet me meant that he favored me that much.
"Sorry to bother you while on duty. I had to call you urgently."
Wang Yun was an old man with a white beard.
His waist was bent and his skin was full of wrinkles, but his eyes were very sharp.
Perhaps because he was from the frontier and had been active as a general in the past, he didn't give the impression of being frail despite being an old official.
"Is it very bad?"
I asked.
At that, Wang Yun nodded.
"It is a hair-trigger situation. The clash between the General-in-Chief and the Ten Eunuchs is imminent. This palace will surely become a scene of political maneuvering and bloodshed."
The Minister of Education of the Han Dynasty sighed deeply.
At that sight, I finally felt that the 'Rebellion of the Ten Eunuchs' was not far off.
The great trunk that traverses the history of the Three Kingdoms.
Isn't the historical event known as the Rebellion of the Ten Eunuchs the very thing that acts as that trunk?
It begins soon.
The era of chaos caused by the assassination of the General-in-Chief He Jin, the fury of his subordinates, the fall of the Ten Eunuchs, and the emergence of the Xiliang warlords.
"Even a small spark eventually burns down a mountain. The best way is to prevent the causes of that spark in advance... but is that possible?"
"Impossible."
Wang Yun shook his head.
No one can stop the clash between the General-in-Chief and the Ten Eunuchs.
It would be impossible even if we called the old generals Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun.
He Jin is a person with an arrogant personality who relies on his younger sister, Empress He, to receive the Emperor's trust. There was no way such a He Jin would listen to the dissuasion of Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun.
Moreover,
The Ten Eunuchs go without saying.
Like a chariot without brakes, they will run endlessly and eventually fall into the abyss.
Not knowing that the abyss is right in front of them,
The Ten Eunuchs of the Han Imperial Court are just repeating their race for wealth and power today.
'The best way is to move the [Imperial Army].......'
The problem is the people in the General-in-Chief's Office.
Figures like Yuan Shao and Cao Cao are supporting He Jin, and a time bomb named Yuan Shu might do something at any moment.
Countless people gathered around the power of He Jin.
In the era of chaos that would later be called the era of warlords, young talents who would become rulers of one faction were gathered so densely in the General-in-Chief's Office.
"There is something I would like to ask of you."
"What is it?"
At my words, Wang Yun's eyes shone.
The Minister of Education, Wang Yun, favors me. He firmly trusts that I, an officer of the Han Dynasty, am a loyal subject for the Imperial Court.
It was an arrangement that had been going on for 2 years.
The fact that I had been under the old man all this time and had used my future knowledge to suggest numerous brilliant plans was paying off.
"Move the General of the Guard."
"The General of the Guard?"
Lu Zhi, who was the Northern Zhonglang General, had once been dismissed due to the eunuchs' schemes.
But after that,
He was reinstated thanks to the strong recommendations of high-ranking imperial officials, including the Left Zhonglang General Huangfu Song. And currently, after being reinstated, Lu Zhi has been promoted repeatedly and has risen to the position of General of the Guard, who commands the Imperial Army.
With the military power of the General of the Guard, it is entirely possible.
As the highest-ranking military officer in charge of palace defense and overseeing the Emperor's protection, the General of the Guard could easily suppress the General-in-Chief He Jin and his faction.
"So that is why you strongly recommended Lu Zhi for the position of General of the Guard to me."
"Yes, that is correct. The General of the Guard's loyalty is known to all under heaven. If the General of the Guard firmly guards the palace, the reckless General-in-Chief and the Ten Eunuchs faction will not dare to approach."
Let's rack my brain as much as possible.
Think of a way to avoid the damn event called the Rebellion of the Ten Eunuchs.
This is a damn game without save or load.
It is a single world that boasts 100% realism, an inescapable virtual game.
'There is only one way for the event not to proceed. It is to remove all the causes that provide the trigger for the event.'
It is a fact that every Three Kingdoms user knows.
The conditions to prevent an event from happening.
Let's take Zhuge Liang's 1st Northern Expedition as an example.
As everyone knows, the 1st Northern Expedition ends in the failure of the Shu Kingdom.
The cause of that is the Battle of Jieting,
Because the Shu Kingdom's mountaineer, Ma Su, ignored the Prime Minister Zhuge Liang's orders and went up the mountain. That is why he was surrounded by the Wei general Zhang He and suffered a crushing defeat, unable to move on the mountain.
The defeat at the Battle of Jieting (Weeping over Ma Su).
That is a very terrible event for the Shu Kingdom. However, there is a way to avoid even such a terrible event.
'If you dismiss Ma Su, who brags about having a winning strategy, and appoint Wang Ping, who is appointed as a deputy commander, as the commander and place him in Qishan, then the weeping over Ma Su won't happen. Because Ma Su, who would do useless things, wouldn't participate in the Battle of Qishan.'
That is exactly what I want.
To bury the event called the Rebellion of the Ten Eunuchs underwater so it never happens.
The Ten Eunuchs' assassination of He Jin.
If I can just interfere with that, He Jin won't die, and I will be able to prevent the Demon King named Dong Zhuo, who is entrenched in Xiliang, from appearing.
'Everything is for my survival. The Han Imperial Court? The peace of the Han? Well, if that's possible, that would be good. Since long live the Han court, which pays my salary regularly.'
If I cannot escape from this world,
If it is my damn fate to live in this world forever.
It has been a full 2 years.
I lived the game world like the real world for 2 years.
At first, I struggled and screamed,
And even vented my anger, saying this was just a dream.
But after doing that, all that remained was regret.
No matter how much I cried and made a fuss, in the end, I am still trapped in the game world.
If so,
I will change this world into 'the best place for me to live.'
A woman with ebony-black hair holding a sword was looking at one place.
The Gate Guard Colonel was visible.
An amazing newcomer who received a recommendation from the notoriously picky Minister of Education, Wang Yun.
He is the #1 recruit for the General-in-Chief's faction.
What kind of position is the Gate Guard Colonel? Isn't it a military position that is in charge of one of the 12 gates of Luoyang and holds the powerful authority to move the troops stationed at the gate in case of an emergency?
The Gate Guard Colonel's authority rivals that of the Colonel of the Capital.
If the Colonel of the Capital is a position that oversees the administrative and military power of Sili Province, the Gate Guard Colonel is a position that can lead troops through Luoyang in wartime.
"Cute."
The woman burst into laughter.
As the woman walking in front suddenly stopped, the burly giant behind her poked his head out and asked.
"Mengde, didn't you say the General-in-Chief called for you? Shouldn't we go quickly?"
Xiahou Dun made a bored expression.
His cute younger sister, who he wouldn't mind putting in his eyes, is interested in some guy who doesn't look like much. As an older brother, he couldn't help but worry.
"It's fun."
The woman called Mengde.
She was the woman who was appointed as the Colonel of the Vanguard among the Eight Colonels of the Western Garden by the Ten Eunuchs.
Her name is Cao Cao. Her courtesy name is Mengde.
She stopped walking toward the General-in-Chief's Office and watched the back of the man who was walking around the palace.
"The way he's running around trying to stop the fire somehow."
Is she teasing him, or praising him?
Xiahou Dun, who had seen her for a long time, clicked his tongue, saying he couldn't tell her true intentions.