Battle Royale of the Sinners

Although Tong did not set an exact date for the gathering of the coalition, his mobilization was enough to make all warlords and governors sweat .

February 15th, 186 A . D .

It was a few days after the Chinese New Year celebration . However, all citizens in China stopped celebrating and paid more attention to the new grand battle .

The Immortal Legion of 60,000 soldiers, which had been training in Ganling, headed south toward Xuchang .

The 40,000 riders of Mountaineer Legion, led by Ding Yuan, marched from Jinyang to Henei .

The Ghost Legion in Henei had also increased its size . The entire legion now consisted of 60,000 soldiers as Ju Shou and Zhang He had been training to prepare for the next war . They gathered and made camp on the opposite shore of Luo Yang, north of the Yellow River .

The newly found legion of Friday, the Demon Legion, did not move . They stayed behind on the backline to protect Tong’s affiliate cities from any surprise attack from a possible backstabbing ally .

The same applied to the Silver Axe Legion in Nanpi . Xu Huang would not join the coalition as they placed themselves as the northern guard, watching the movement of Yuan Shao’s massive army and any possible attack from Xiongnu from the northern borders .

The news of Tong’s military movement was the trigger of the mobilization of other lords .

Gongsun Zan took 30,000 soldiers and militias from all of his affiliate cities with him . Lu Zhi, Zhao Yun, and Tian Yu also tagged along with this army as they were currently serving under the banner of the Gongsun Clan .

Kong Rong led his army of 15,000 soldiers from Beihei to Xuchang . Within his army, Wang Xiu assisted his lord as an aide . However, none of them realize that one of the great generals in history was with them, working as a one-thousand-man commander, Taishi Ci .

Liu Bei and his brothers took the 5,000-man troops of militia and volunteers to join the gathering . Jiang Man went along with them, so none of his stupid brothers could do something out of the line .

Furthermore, Jiang Man took Yuan Shao’s family members with Liu Bei’s troops as a part of the agreement with Yuan Shao that they would return his family in exchange for helping in this coalition .

Yuan Shao took all 100,000 soldiers with them along with his best generals and strategists, Yan Liang, Wen Chou, Tian Feng, Shen Pei, and Guo Tu . Though he did not want to leave Pingyuan City empty without protection, Jiang Man sent his order via the clan chat that he had another plan for them .

Other minor governors and warlords, such Zhang Miao, Kong Zhou, and Qiao Mao, each took an army of 10,000 of mixed militias, private troops of noble clans, and professional soldiers with them . As their army was damaged from the previous fight with the uprising bandits, they refused to send more soldiers .

Tao Qian, however, sent 30,000 men to Xuchang like Gongsun Zan . As a Viceroy of a province, he could not send lower than this even though he did not have any capable general in his army .

Oddly enough, Zhang Kai, the former bandit leader of the false Yellow Turban, was a part of Tao Qian Army as a thousand-man commander . He and many former bandits had disguised themselves and pretended to be one of Tao Qian’s men .

Cao Cao’s crippled army had only 20,000 soldiers who could fight . Despite the humiliation, his army prepared several encampments around his territories for the guests that would be coming this year .

Sun Jian, Yuan Shu, and Liu Biao did not move to Xuchang as everybody else . They gathered at Wan City as they could attack Xiongnu from the south .

Sun Jian’s original army of 30,000 troopers had increased to 50,000 as the surrendered bandits join their army .

Yuan Shu’s men, who had survived from the previous battles with Xiongnu and Dong Zhuo, were left with only 10,000 .

On the other hand, Liu Biao went all out . He took private soldiers of subordinate nobles in Jing Province with him as a grand army of 50,000 mixed troops marched to Wan together .

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May 17th, 186 A . D .

All allies gathered at their perspective locations .

The southern allies of Yuan Shu, Liu Biao, and Sun Jian rallied in Li County, west of Wan City and east of Wu Pass, which blockade the passage to Hongnong City . They were planning to retake Hongnong from Xiongnu, so Luo Yang would be isolated .

110,000 Men were ready!

Two legions of Tong consisted of 100,000 men, stationed at the north bank of the Yellow River, the opposite side of Luo Yang City . Their job was to attempt crossing the Yellow River and distract the troops of Luo Yang, while the other forces attacked the Xiongnu elsewhere .

These two legions brought new toys with them, which Li Feihong was proud of . Although he could not build many of these toys, he could not wait to see the shock face of his enemies .

At Mi County, directly east of Hulao Gate, the massive mixed armies of 260,000 soldiers gathered as ten warlords united to fight the Xiongnu . This was their main forces .

...

Mi County, the main tent of ally forces,

The huge tent of 3-meter-tall and 100 square meters erected inside the center of the encampment . Within there, nine seats were prepared for the participating lords .

As the owner of the territory, Cao Cao had prepared everything to host all lords . Although he was the host, he sat on the sideline as he did not enjoy taking the limelight in this grand-scale battle .

Because of his preference, Cao Cao forbade the guards from introducing anyone that entered the tent since he wanted a quick and efficient meeting with Tong . Moreover, he decided to prank all lords a little to evaluate their wits and competence .

Cheng Yu and Pu Jing stood behind Cao Cao as their bodyguards . In this gathering, all lords were permitted to allow two armed bodyguards inside, so Cao Cao took Cheng Yu with him as an advisor while Pu Jing could take up roles as a strategist and a bodyguard at the same time .

Minor lords began entering the tent with their two followers .

Kong Rong, Kong Zhou, Qiao Mao, Zhang Miao picked their seats which located far away from the main seat at the end of the center carpet .

Yuan Shao, who had the biggest army, shamelessly sat on the center seat, which was the main seat prepared for Tong . Following after Yuan Shao, Tian Feng and Wen Chou stood behind him .

Tao Qian and Gongsun Zan sat at their perspective place, which located next to the main seat . As the only two Viceroys in this gathering, they had the honor of being next to the main guest .

Lu Zhi and Yan Gang, who was Gongsun Zan’s best general, stood behind their lord as well .

Behind Tao Qian, Cao Bao and Ze Rong, the best generals of Tao Qian Army, attended the meeting like the others .

However, as soon as they saw that Yuan Shao stole Tong’s main seat . They frowned .

Gongsun Zan wanted to protect his junior’s honor and face, he coughed and politely reprimanded Yuan Shao right away .

"Lord Yuan . That seat has been prepared for Zhang Tong . I think you have made a mistake . "

Yuan Shao chuckled, "No, Lord Gongsun . I think I’m sitting on the right seat . This seat has been prepared for the leader of this coalition, no?"

"Yes . But the leader of this coalition is Zhang Tong . "

"Since when has Zhang Tong become the leader of this coalition?"

Tao Qian coughed, "Lord Zhang has sent this gathering invitations and has renumerated us with the food supplies . Isn’t he the leader of the coalition by default?"

Yuan Shao was still laughing, "No, no . You are the one misunderstood something, senior Tao . The one that is responsible for running and donating supplies isn’t our leader but an errand boy . "

On Gongsun Zan’s face, traces of blood veins bulged as his anger soared . To Gongsun Zan, looking down on his family, friends, and juniors was equally looking down on himself .

"Don’t you dare to call my junior an errand boy, you loser! Don’t you think we didn’t know about your past grudge against him? How many times had you tried to attack Zhang Tong but you were chased back with your tail tugging between your legs!?"

This time, Yuan Shao was infuriated . However, he did not reveal in on his face as he had prepared his mental psyche for the political façade .

"This doesn’t change the fact that he has to tribute us his supplies for us to come here . It shows that who is superior and who’s not! Besides, I’ve contributed the most by bringing 100,000 men here . How many has Tong brought? Only a meager of 60,000 weak militias in weird clothes! Do you think someone who begged for us to help him fighting a barbarian tribe deserve to be our leader? Heck, I don’t think he has grown a hair yet . HAHAHAHA!"

Wen Chou sniggered, and Tian Feng smirked . While they were listening to the pointless quarrel, Tian Feng reported the incident to Jiang Man via clan chat .

Tian Feng: "My lord has stolen the main seat as you have ordered . It’s your turn . "

Jiang Man: "We’ll be right there . Tell the guards to let us inside . "

Tian Feng: "On it . "

Tian Feng walked to the sentry guards in front of the tent and whispered to the ear, giving the permission to allow a team of four men to enter the tent using the name of Yuan Shao .

Meanwhile, Lu Zhi peered at Yuan Shao with the corner of his eyes . Even though he and Yuan Shao were colleagues in the past, there was a limit on how someone could insult his proud disciple .

Gongsun Zan’s face also reddened while Tao Qian gave up bickering and sighed in resignation .

As Gongsun Zan was about to give Yuan Shao a good scolding, a group of four men barged inside the tent .

It was Liu Bei and his brothers .

The crowd got inside while everyone’s attention was on the quarrel between Gongsun Zan and Yuan Shao . Aside from Tian Feng and Wen Chou, no one noticed their arrival .

"Oh, look! Xuande, there’s an available seat . We can sit there!"

Zhang Fei pointed at the empty seat, which was designated for Yuan Shao .

"Alright . Let’s sit there and join the meeting . "

With a smile, Liu Bei strode to the table and sat on the prepared seat .

At this time, all lords realized the newcomer, but most of them had never met Zhang Tong face to face, so they thought Liu Bei was Zhang Tong .

’Did Zhang Tong yield the seat?’

’Is he Zhang Tong?’

’Is he a coward? Doesn’t he want to fight back for the seat of the commander?’

’Wait, he’s brought in three retainers? Hasn’t anyone inform him that he can only bring two!?’

All minor lords had a bad first-impression on Liu Bei, who they mistook as Tong, right away .