Insufficient balance

  On the top of the mountain, a faint firelight flickered, and Ma Yue's statue-like figure stood on the rocks, his eyes gleaming like knives. In front of Ma Yue, Guan Hai and Pei Yuanshao stood shoulder to shoulder, both with their hands on the hilts of their swords, their faces full of murderous intent. Not far away, Liu Yan's slender figure stood elegantly under a solitary pine tree, her small mouth pouting, her face full of resentment.

  Under the rock, more than 1,000 Yellow Turbans who escaped from Wan Cheng gathered together and formed a scattered formation along the mountain.

  A strong aura of banditry is intertwined between Ma Chao's eyebrows, things have come to this, what else can be said? If you want to be a thief, then be a thief, sacrifice your body and dare to pull the emperor off his horse. This rebellion will surely succeed! Even if all the aristocratic families in the world despise him, it doesn't mean there won't be an opportunity for a comeback!

  At the end of Han Dynasty and during the Three Kingdoms period, there were also warlords who originated from bandits. Didn't Han Sui of Western Liang start as a rebel bandit?

  Where you come from is no big deal, just make something up.

  No land is no big deal, can first be a vagrant, the world is so big, always can find a place to settle down.

  But there must be a force that absolutely obeys Ma Chao's leadership.

  Why did the Yellow Turbans fail? The main reason is that they were a loose collection of individuals, with each group fighting separately and unable to form a unified force, which allowed the government troops to defeat them one by one.

  "Clang!"

  Guan Hai drew out his treasured sword with a reverse grip, and shouted in a stern voice: "From tonight on, Ma Yue will be the leader of our group. Whoever dares to disobey his orders will have to deal with me, Guan Hai. I swear to kill him!"

  Like Pei Yuanshao, Guan Hai also deeply admired Ma Chao. In his military career, he had never seen anyone who could achieve what Ma Chao did - leading a scattered and defeated Yellow Turban army to launch a successful counterattack in a desperate situation. Guan Hai sincerely admired him and was willing to die for him - it was worth it!

  On the mountain top, the crows and sparrows are silent, only the whistling mountain wind blows by, blowing off the snowflakes on the treetops, dancing in the sky.

  Ma Yue looked around, and in front of him was still the familiar mob, although they had escaped for hundreds of miles overnight, eliminating all the old, weak, women and children. The remaining were all robust men, but these men were also tattered and worn out, with many people not even having a decent weapon, some simply empty-handed. Their expressions were dull, their faces bewildered, not knowing why they lived or why they fought.

  Their eyes did not have the aura of killing, even if they held the sharpest treasure sword in their hands, they were still a group of farmers who only knew how to dig food from the ground. They were just a flock of sheep eating grass, and all it took was one wolf to chase them away in a flurry, until the hungry wolf stopped its pursuit after being full of their flesh and blood. Only then would they stop trembling with fear and continue eating grass, grateful that they were not the ones eaten by the wolf.

  To think that relying on this group of sheep to survive in this chaotic world and eventually become a warlord who controls one side is just a huge joke! These farmers must be trained into a pack of fierce wolves! Reorganization? Intensive training? Improving weapons? All are useless! Seize a piece of land, develop slowly? Don't be ridiculous, even if you can take it down, you can't defend it at all.

  Before these sheep transform into ferocious wolves, all of this is useless.

  In a chaotic world, human life is cheaper than a dog's. Being a sheep will only get you eaten, but being a wolf allows you to survive by eating the sheep. It sounds cruel, but it's just for the most basic requirement - survival.

  The Yellow Turbans rebelled because they were hit by successive natural disasters and had no way out.

  Even animals will instinctively pursue survival and avoid death, let alone humans?

  In the cold and dark night, amidst the howling cold wind, Ma Chao achieved his initial transformation from a mere knife shield to a general. From the dull and stunned eyes of the Yellow Turbans, Ma Chao accurately captured their most humble desire - they did not want to die, they wanted to live on!

  "I don't want to die, I want to live!"

  This was Ma Chao's opening remark, but it immediately grasped the hearts of the Yellow Turbans. Yes, they didn't want to die; no one wants to die!

  "I want to eat big chunks of meat, I want to drink large bowls of wine! I also want to wear a suit of silk and satin, the gold and silver at home are spent but not exhausted, the grain in the warehouse is so abundant that it can't be finished even after several generations!"

  Ma Chao's speech continued, and the eyes of the Yellow Turbans were no longer dull. Ma Chao painted a wonderful blueprint for them that they didn't even dare to dream of. Who wouldn't want to live such a life?

  "I'm going to marry another ten or eight beautiful concubines, sleep with one every night, and it'll take a year and a half to get around to all of them!"

  The Yellow Turbans burst into loud laughter, which was also the life that every man yearned for. Only Liu Xian, who was standing on the side, curled up her small mouth and flashed a hint of displeasure in her beautiful eyes.

  Ma Yue turned his words around and began to get to the point.

  "But gold and silver are for the rich, food is for the rich, even ten or eight beautiful concubines are for the rich. We have nothing! We can't eat our fill, we can't dress warmly, every night we sleep with stones and still have to be careful not to get our heads chopped off by the government army at any moment. We're all men, but why do they get to live a comfortable life while we struggle to survive? Why?"

  The Yellow Turbans initially burst into loud laughter, followed by expressions of discontent that began to seep out from their eyes. Perhaps they had never thought about such a question before, in the rigid hierarchical ancient society, diligent and kind farmers generally would not have such "treasonous" thoughts. But not thinking about it didn't mean they didn't want to.

  Human nature is evil; people are born greedy.

  "Are you willing to continue living this kind of life?"

  Ma Yue loudly shouted and asked.

  "I don't want to!"

  The Yellow Turbans responded in droves.

  "What should we do then?"

  The vast majority of Yellow Turbans remained silent, only a small number of mountain bandits-turned-Yellow-Turbans responded loudly: "Go loot!"

  Ma leaped with a fierce gaze and shouted: "Right, grab his mother's!"

  "Rob him blind!"

  The Yellow Turbans followed with a loud howl, as if they had returned to the White Dragon Wharf. Ma Chao waved his arms and shouted, and they responded wildly. The emotions of the Yellow Turbans were fully mobilized, and the scene was no longer as dull as it was earlier, with some atmosphere finally emerging. This was only the first step in Ma Chao's wolf plan, turning these farmers who only knew how to suffer into bandits who would burn, kill, and plunder.

  Ma Yue thought so and planned to do so. Don't talk about benevolence, morality, and virtue; we can barely survive, what's the point of talking about benevolence and morality? Survival is the only reality, no one's life is more precious than others. The Yin rich family was innocent, but in a chaotic world, it has always been a dog-eat-dog society, if you don't rob them, who will?

  Ma Yue naturally knew that doing so would offend all the aristocratic families, but he couldn't care less. What's important now is to survive and keep his life intact - isn't that the most important thing? As for the future, well, that can be dealt with later. Besides, those who succeed become kings and nobles, while those who fail become bandits. When Ma Yue becomes the most powerful warlord in the future, they will naturally come crawling back to him like dogs, and even if he were to hold a knife to their throats, they wouldn't be able to leave.

  Seeing the originally depressed soldiers becoming spirited, Guan Yu and Pei Yuan Shao exchanged a glance, they both saw admiration in each other's eyes. Only after a famous general had leapt onto his horse could he, under such difficult circumstances, boost the army's morale and fill them with fighting spirit.

  "Alright!" Ma Chao shouted loudly, waiting for the excited Yellow Turbans to calm down before continuing in a loud voice, "However, if we want to go and burn, kill, loot, find women, and live our desired life of luxury, we must first get rid of those annoying government troops at the foot of the mountain. Whoever dares to block our way, we'll chop off their head, even if it's the Emperor himself from Luoyang!"

  The Yellow Turbans were initially shocked and frightened to death, but as soon as they came back to their senses, they immediately erupted into cheers and shouts like a boiling pot.

  Zou Yuniang, who was tied up like a shrimp and thrown to one side, was scared half to death by Ma Chong's words. She thought that this "thug" was truly rebellious and dared to say such heaven-defying things. If the authorities found out, she feared he would be punished with being torn apart by carts and subjected to severe torture.

  Ma Yue took a deep breath and finally said: "Now hurry up and rest, those with weapons polish them brightly, those without hurry to cut wooden clubs, if you really don't want to move then sharpen your teeth, wait till dawn, follow me down the mountain, use your knives, use your guns, use your teeth, get rid of those annoying government troops, and go demand our livelihood!"

  "Good!"

  The Yellow Turbans responded with a loud shout, their eyes burning fiercely, as if the wonderful life was already beckoning to them.