Reborn In The Three Kingdoms

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The entire hall immediately burst into laughter, even Cheng Pu, who had been watching the exchange with the air of a man who was witnessing an impending disaster. Sun Ce, overhearing, raised a brow. ”You sparred with my sister, General?”

Ma Chao inclined his head. ”A friendly match, Marquis.”

”And what do you think of her skills, General?”

”She’s... have formidable skills, just like my younger sister. Maybe even more skilled than her.”

Sun Shangxiang preened. ”See? Even the mighty Ma Chao admits it, First Brother.”

Sun Jian at this time chimed in as he sighed. ”A-Xiang, must you torment our guests?”

”Torment?” She feigned innocence. ”I’m just being hospitable, Father.”

Ma Dai, who had been silent until now, let out a chuckle as he mumble to himself. ”If this is hospitality, I’d hate to see your battle tactics if you ever go to battlefield.”

The night continued in much the same manner, filled with laughter, challenges, and the unspoken understanding that the southern campaign would be a massive success and will shape the Hengyuan Dynasty as a whole. And, perhaps, something more blossom in the process.

Meanwhile, back in Xiapi, the man who become the se facto leader of the Gentleman’s Concord or the Anti Lie Fan Faction after proposing treason, stood on a hill overlooking the city, the lights of Xiapi twinkling like distant stars.

”Soon,” he murmured.

Behind him, some men from the mercenaries he hired stood behind him, their weapons gleaming in the moonlight.

”Soon, the Emperor will learn what happens when tradition is discarded.”

What he didn’t know was that Lie Fan was already waiting, and that the lesson would be his and the entire rebels to learn in painful way.

Days passed, and the Gentleman’s Concord had amassed a sizeable army, 15,000 men made up of mercenaries and bribed soldiers. Their growing presence was becoming harder to conceal outside Xiapi, so the faction leader began collecting more money from his conspirators.

He used the funds to rent several houses and small estates in the outer city, and even rooms in several inns within the outer city.

The greatest mistake? Renting several rooms in the Serenity Inn, completely unaware that it was the Oriole Agents’ main bases of operation. Some of his mercenaries took up residence there, unknowingly living among Lie Fan’s most elite spies.

Through merchant allies, weapons were smuggled into Xiapi and hidden at predetermined locations. These caches were meant to equip the mercenaries when the time came.

More bribes were handed to Imperial Guard officers and low ranking military personnel, in an effort to gain their support or at least ensure they wouldn’t stand in the way.

But the faction’s financial well ran dry quickly. The upkeep for 15,000 men, combined with weapons procurement, bribes, and supplies, became unsustainable.

The nobles and merchants who had initially invested began grumbling. They didn’t want to keep spending. They pressed the leader to initiate the uprising earlier than planned.

The man, already on edge from managing such a vast conspiracy, lashed out.

”You’re all asking for something reckless and foolish!” he snapped during a heated gathering in one of the outer city estates. ”If we move too soon, the Emperor will catch wind of this. Do you want yourself to be killed and your entire clan be exterminated?”

That shut most of them up. A heavy silence fell over the room until one merchant, putting up his face to be pale like he was facing some big stress, spoke up.

”We are not being reckless and foolish. We simply can’t continue sustaining the costs while pretending everything is normal. Supplies, soldiers, and bribes, combined with our own families expenditure, it’s not sustainable.”

The faction leader scoffed inwardly. He knew the truth, they were all hypocrites, just like him. None of them wanted to pay more. And yet, he too had sunk a fortune into this cause, dreaming of becoming Chancellor if the coup succeeded. Victory would justify every coin spend by him.

Still, he needed their support in this.

Reluctantly, he sighed and relented. ”Very well. We’ll move sooner.”

At once, the mood shifted. Smiles spread across the room. Greedy and self assured smiles, believing they had bent him to their will. But now the gears of treason spun faster.

And so, under the cover of night, the pieces began to move. Mercenaries and soldiers, bribed and or hired, retrieved their hidden weapons. They began advancing toward the palace in the inner city, their first goal to seize the checkpoint gate separating the inner from the outer city.

What they didn’t know was that the Oriole Agents had been watching them from the very beginning. Reports concerning their movement reached Lie Fan in real time consistently. Every movement, every shipment, every whispered meeting, they knew it all.

In response, the Emperor had deployed Imperial Guards and even units from the elite Qilin Army to stage an ambush.

The trap was set.

Lie Fan have dispatched some of his general, Zhao Yun, Ji Ling, Chao Bo, Chao Bai, and Zang Ba personally led detachments hidden near the inner city gate. Every alley, rooftop, and building in the area was occupied by loyal forces, waiting in the shadows.

As the rebel force reached the checkpoint and prepared to seize it, a sudden roar shattered the silence.

”NOW!”

Imperial forces struck like thunder. From above, archers loosed volleys into their ranks, soldiers surged from hidden alleys and rooftops. The rebels, caught off guard, panicked. What was supposed to be a swift takeover turned into a bloodbath.

Zhao Yun and Ji Ling led the vanguard, their spears carving through the rebels like a scythe through wheat. Chao Bo and Chao Bai flanked him, their spears darting like vipers. Zang Ba brought up the rear, cutting off any hope of retreat.

Then, a second betrayal hit them. Several of the bribed officers, Imperial Guards and low ranking army men, turned on the rebels. Drawing their swords, they began slaughtering those they had once accepted gold from.

They were never allies. They were plants, loyal to Lie Fan from the start.

”Traitors!” a mercenary roared.

”No,” one of the guards corrected coldly. ”Loyalists.”

It wasn’t a battle. It was a slaughter. Blood ran like rivers at the inner gate.

Meanwhile, outside Xiapi, at one of the rented estates where the leadership of the Gentlemen’s Concord had gathered to await good news, all was silent.

They sat tensely in candlelit rooms, sipping wine, speculating on how quickly their mercenaries would seize the gates. The leader sat at his chair, with a perfectly acted demeanor.

”Any word yet?” one noble demanded, pacing the floor.

The leader who sipped his wine, feigning calm when he hears that. ”Patience everyone. These things take time to—”

BOOM!

The doors suddenly burst open, slamming against the walls with a force that shook the foundations.

Torchlight flared.

Rows of Imperial Guards flooded in, blades drawn and eyes burning with purpose. Gasps erupted. Panic. Disbelief.

At the head of the soldiers stood a figure in resplendent robes, embroidered with a golden dragon.

Lie Fan.

His presence hit them like a thunderclap.

Silence.

Complete, suffocating silence filled the room.

The leader of the rebellion went pale. So did the others. They were too stunned to move, too terrified to speak.

Lie Fan stepped forward, his voice calm, cold, and cutting, as cold as ice, broke the silence.

”Gentlemen,” he said. The word dripped with contempt.

He took a slow step forward. The golden embroidery on his robes glinted in the firelight. His eyes scanned the room, calm and razor sharp.

”You seem to have forgotten one crucial detail.”

Another step. The clink of his boots echoed.

”This is my city.”

Some nobles fell to their knees at once. Others tried to sputter explanations.

”Yo... Your Majesty, this is all a misunderstanding—”

”Mercy, please!”

Lie Fan’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. ”A misunderstanding? Then perhaps you can explain why 15,000 men under your command are currently being massacred at my gates.”

The room collapsed into chaos. Some wept and some tried to flee only to be blocked by the Imperial Guards.

”You thought yourselves clever,” Lie Fan continued, ”but every step you took was already beneath my feet. You plotted treason in a city built on loyalty. You sent your men into the belly of a lion.”

The faction leader, trembling, tried to salvage his pride. ”I only acted because... because tradition—”

”—Has no place in blind corruption,” Lie Fan snapped. ”You speak of tradition while lining your pockets and selling your souls to greed.”

”You thought you could buy loyalty, raise an army, and usurp the mandate? In my capital? While living under my roof?”

The leader tried to speak, but Lie Fan silenced him with a look. There was nothing left to say.

Lie Fan turned to his guards. ”Bind them. Every one. Execute the lowborn mercenaries. Publicly. The bribed officers who revealed their true loyalties will be rewarded. The nobles... put them on public trial. Let all under Heaven see what happens to traitors.”

He glanced back over his shoulder.

”And this one... keep him alive.”

The leader flinched.

”He will live long enough to see everything he built crumble. To hear the cheers when I announce his sentence. To watch his name be erased from every record.”

He leaned in, voice soft.

”You wished to make history? I’ll grant your wish. But it will be as a lesson in failure.”

The guards dragged the man away, screaming.

And as the night wore on, the fires of rebellion were extinguished, its ashes swept away beneath the boots of the Qilin Army. The Gentleman’s Concord, once proud and confident, had crumbled like sandcastles beneath the tide.

The next day, the trials were swift. The evidence, letters, ledgers, testimony from captured mercenaries, an many more, was irrefutable.

One by one, the conspirators were dragged before the imperial court, their titles stripped, their crimes laid bare.

The punishments were merciless.

The nobles and merchants who had funded the rebellion were executed, their wealth confiscated, their families exiled to the farthest reaches of the empire.

The cloaked man, revealed to be a disgraced former official named Hao Shu, met his end last.

Bound in chains, he was forced to kneel before the palace gates, as his crime was told and the people here at them, while Lie Fan looked down from the walls.

”Any last words before your name will be erased from history?” Lie Fan asked to him with loud voice.

Hao Shu spat. ”You think this changes anything? Corruption will always return. Men like me will always rise.”

Lie Fan’s smile was razor thin. ”Then I’ll just have to keep cutting all of them down. Just like what I was doing yesterday. ” After saying that, he gave a nod to the executioner. Receiving the order, the executioner raise his axe and then swung it down.

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Name: Lie Fan

Title: Founding Emperor Of Hengyuan Dynasty

Age: 34 (201 AD)

Level: 16

Next Level: 462,000

Renown: 2325

Cultivation: Yin Yang Separation (level 9)

SP: 1,121,700

ATTRIBUTE POINTS

STR: 966 (+20)

VIT: 623 (+20)

AGI: 623 (+10)

INT: 667

CHR: 98

WIS: 549

WILL: 432

ATR Points: 0