Chapter 2: Heroes of the Realm Emerge

  Second watch of the second night

  ——

  Longcheng is the largest city I have ever seen in this life.

  It's just a small town after all.

  Compared with the city hundreds of miles away, Lucheng? It's just a small town.

  That city had an ancient name, Xianyang.

  Witnessed and buried a short-lived empire that was extremely prosperous and brilliant, but also extremely luxurious and corrupt - Qin.

  When Emperor Gao of Han first established the country, he also convened his ministers to discuss the location of the capital. The capital of Qin was Xianyang, but Emperor Gao had intended to make Luoyang in Henan the capital. However, Zhang Liang, a founding minister with extraordinary insight, used his influence to persuade Emperor Gao to change his mind and establish the capital at Xianyang instead, renaming it Chang'an, which means "long-lasting peace".

  After the establishment of the Han Dynasty, although there were repeated disturbances: first, the Lü clan's usurpation of power and the Seven Kingdoms' rebellion, followed by the unworthy Changyi and Huo Guang's overthrow, later the powerful minister Wang Mang's tyranny and chaos, even to the point of usurping the throne and changing the name, trampling on the Han dynasty's legitimacy. However, after all, it was still possible to experience several hardships and be revived by Emperor Guangwu - although after this revival, more than a dozen emperors were only mediocre and had no remarkable achievements worth recording, but barely maintained nearly two hundred years of relative stability, which is already a rare and precious thing.

  However, as of today, the four-hundred-year-long national fortune that has been barely maintained seems to have finally come to an end. The Yellow Turban Rebellion swept across the eight directions, and after the country's forces were exhausted in suppressing it, the eunuchs and imperial relatives took control of the court, throwing the nation into chaos. When the two sides had fought each other to the death, they brought out the wolves lurking in the north.

  When the emperor is confused, the minister becomes strong. This law seems to have been repeated in the history of power games in successive dynasties, and all participants are tirelessly performing.

  It seems that no one has ever been tired of it.

  In times of good governance, there will never be a shortage of capable and virtuous officials, while in times of chaos, heroes and treacherous ministers will emerge one after another. Dong Zhuo is a perfect example. He was a local tyrant in the northwest, but then he came out to join the army and enter politics - if we can't be a virtuous official, can't we at least be a powerful minister? For over 2,000 years, his name has been renowned, and he continues to be villainized in various films, TV shows, and games. Even though there have been attempts to rehabilitate his image, few people have tried to restore the true historical and literary image of Dong Zhuo, probably because his achievements and reputation are too illustrious, making it impossible for anyone to erase them.

  It's too prominent, and there will always be someone who comes to challenge your authority.

  This has nothing to do with whether you are good or not.

  You can never conquer all men.

  So it needs to be eliminated.

  Thus all the vassals of the empire rose up.

  First town, later General of the Southern Yang, Governor of Nanyang, Yuan Shu.

  The second town, Ji Zhou Mu Han Fu.

  The third town, Yu Zhou governor Kong You.

  The fourth town, Liu Dai, governor of Yanzhou.

  The fifth town, Hanoi Governor Wang Kuang.

  The sixth town, Chenliu Governor Zhang Miao.

  The Seventh Town, Dongjun Taishou Bridge Huan.

  The eighth town, Shayang Taishou Yuan Yi.

  The ninth town, Ji Bei Xiang Bao Xin.

  The tenth town, Wu Cheng Hou Changsha governor Sun Jian

  The eleventh town, Guangling Taishou Zhang Chao.

  The twelfth watch, Liangzhou herdsman Ma Teng.

  The thirteenth town, Shangdang Taishou Zhang Yang.

  The fourteenth town, Qi Xiang Hou Bohai Taishou Yuan Shao.

  The Fifteenth Town, General Cao Cao of the Striking Warriors.

  There were fifteen routes of troops and horses, with the number of soldiers ranging from 20,000 to 30,000 for the more numerous ones, and 7,000 to 8,000 for the less numerous ones. They jointly promoted Yuan Shao as the alliance leader and agreed to attack Dong.

  According to my poor and almost non-existent historical knowledge, the novel claims that there were eighteen vassals who joined forces to rescue the emperor, including the respected Governor of Beihai, Kong Rong, the Governor of Pingbei, Gongsun Zan, who brought Liu Guanzhang with him, and another one I don't remember. As for Ma Teng, he wasn't among the vassals who rescued the emperor in history either, I think that's because: originally, if he hadn't annexed Han Sui's troops, Han Sui's forces would have been stronger, and at this time, Han Sui and Ma Teng wouldn't have dared to go against Dong Zhuo's will, they only dared to join forces and attack Chang'an after Dong Zhuo died, but were defeated by Li Jue and Guo Si of Dong Zhuo's army. How could they possibly form an alliance with the likes of Yuan Shao, who would have looked down on them as rebels?

  But now, old dad has indeed received an invitation letter.

  Oh no, formally it's called "Discussion of Dong's Edict".

  This should be entirely thanks to the great victory of Jin City.

  The city of Jincheng is under siege, and the two armies are arrayed before it. As the eldest son of Ma Teng, the Governor of Wuwei, I first behead the enemy commander's eldest son, then with one drumbeat, I kill the commander himself. After that, without losing a single soldier or officer, I successfully incorporate the 20,000 surrendered troops within the city into my ranks, effectively becoming the master of the northwest. Although the Liangzhou region is still within Dong Zhuo's sphere of influence, if we were to engage in all-out war, at least his forces would no longer have an absolute advantage in terms of military strength.

  Actually, the troops that originally belonged to Dong Zhuo's absolute leadership were not too many. There was an old story that when Dong Zhuo entered the capital, he was worried that his troops would not be enough to intimidate the officials, so he ordered his troops to sneak out of the city every night and re-enter the city in a big way the next morning, creating the illusion of endless reinforcements. Of course, this was the situation at the beginning when he dominated the court, but later he quickly eliminated obstacles and installed his confidants, basically controlling all the troops in Si-li. However, within the current Liangzhou area, it has become the world of the Ma family.

  However, what made the old man somewhat embarrassed was that we had not cultivated our own confidants and subordinates. In the past, at least there was Pang Yi who could be considered a versatile talent in both literature and martial arts. Whether he was sent to lead troops or to issue proclamations to comfort the people, he was a relatively trustworthy candidate. Unfortunately, there was only him, and he had died early. His two sons were 19 and 17 years old, respectively, and could only be considered barely out of their teenage years. They were not yet capable of taking on heavy responsibilities. At least, it was impossible to entrust them with the important position of governor. Pang De could only lead a team of soldiers, while Pang Hua could only assist his father in handling government affairs. Both were still in the learning stage.

  Although in theory, relying on the reputation of the state pastor and tens of thousands of troops can control the entire Western Xiaolong, the county magistrates and county commanders of various counties are temporarily unable to insert their confidants, which is also a hidden crisis and unstable factor. We can only be helpless, after all, we cannot arbitrarily take people from the horse house servant group to let them go up the mountain and down the countryside to arrange for them to engage in political and military work.

  As for my side, it's not like I can just grab any personal soldier and go on a rampage against the eighteen vassals and their powerful generals. Wait, no, why would I want to fight the eighteen vassals? They're still playing the role of loyalist heroes, even though they'll soon tear off their masks and reveal their ugly faces as they start to merge with each other. But for now, we seem to be allies, our enemy is Dong Zhuo! Dong Zhuo is the number one class enemy at this stage!

  Dong Zhuo is easy to deal with, after all, there are only a few powerful generals under his command.

  First of all, it was Lü Bu at that time. This... this doesn't need me to solve, aren't there still the three little rascals Liu, Guan and Zhang? What? The story of Liu, Guan and Zhang defeating Lü Bu is purely a fictional episode in the novel? Right, right, right, Gongsun Zan didn't participate in this battle, let alone his subordinates Liu, Guan and Zhang... This person, to be discussed.

  Secondly, the title and real power should belong to General Hua Xiong. This poor guy is a famous general, but it's obvious that he was just a stepping stone for later heroes. In Records of Three Kingdoms, Sun Jian killed him, while in Romance of Three Kingdoms, Guan Yu beheaded him after getting him drunk. Why should I worry about this?

  Again, it's the turn of Lü Bu's subordinates Zhang Liao and Gao Shun. These several... Aren't Cao Cao and Yuan Shao's men formidable warriors? It's your turn to take the stage!

  Who's next? Li Jue? Guo Si? Zhang Ji, Zhang Xiu? Xu Rong, Fan Chou? Li Meng, Niu Fu, Hu Zhi? Wang Fang, Duan Yi, Yang Feng, Han Miao, Hu Cai, Li Yue? How did over a dozen people suddenly appear! However, it's alright, they're all third-rate characters. Can't the Shandong warlords handle them?

  Wait a minute, I think I forgot who that was... feels like someone familiar though, seems to be an old acquaintance from my past life... thinking about the classic game of chess, Cao Cao's biography... Xu Huang? That's right! He was originally under Yang Feng's command, appeared in the level where you welcome the Emperor, but his troop type was archer and got suppressed by my overwhelming power, didn't even get to show off before being killed by Xiahou Dun. This guy should be put in the same category as Zhang Liao, but he's not famous and is under Yang Feng's miscellaneous troops, can't compare to Zhang Liao though.

  To sum up, I'll hand over Lü Bu to the powerful miscellaneous troops, and give Hua Xiong, Zhang Liao, and Xu Huang to Xiahou brothers or Yan Liang Wen Chou Sun Jian Sun Ce. As for other minor characters, let's have them practice with Pang Tong who is currently growing up, it should be no problem, right?

  Then we set off too.

  The Lanzhou city where I lived for just three months is gradually being left behind.

  This day is the fourth of the first month.

  I am on horseback.

  At the forefront of this group of people and horses.

  And in front of me, there was only one person.

  It's Ma Teng.