Reborn In The Three Kingdoms

If you want to read 20 Chapters ahead and more, be sure to check out my P-Tang12!!!

______________________________

(A/N: Don’t forget to give those power stones to Skyrim everyone!)

...

Lie Fan watched them leave the study, the heavy rosewood doors clicking shut behind them. A quiet sigh of relief escaped him. The horrific, bloody burdens of the warlord era were finally beginning to fade, replaced by the brilliant, constructive challenges of a true sovereign. He had buried his past, he had deployed his armies to secure his future, and now, he was forging the economic and technological foundations of a golden age that would outlast them all.

​Now, as the Emperor, he required the one thing that imperial edicts and military campaigns could never provide, the simple, profound warmth of his family.

​Leaving the administrative wing behind, Lie Fan walked through the tranquil, winding corridors of the palace until he crossed the threshold into the Harem Palace.

The atmosphere here was a universe away from the blood and iron of the court. The air smelled of blooming jasmine and sweet incense, and the distant, joyous sound of children’s laughter echoed across the pristine courtyards.

​As he stepped into the main garden, he found them gathered together in the late afternoon sun. His wives, Ying Yue, Diao Chan, Lu Lingqi, Cai Wenji, and Zhen Ji, were seated around a low stone table, sharing tea and gentle conversation while keeping a watchful eye on the imperial children playing on the manicured grass.

His eldest son, Muchen, the undisputed Crown Prince, was currently brandishing a small, blunted wooden training sword, vigorously defending a patch of flowers from his younger sisters and brothers.

​When Ying Yue caught sight of him, her face instantly lit up. ”Husband!” she called out, setting her teacup down and rising to greet him.

​The political machinations, the executions, the shadow wars, they all evaporated the moment his family surrounded him. For the rest of the evening, Emperor Lie Fan was simply a father and a husband.

He sat on the grass with Muchen, gently correcting the boy’s grip on the wooden sword. He listened to Cai Wenji play a soothing, melodic tune on the guqin, and shared quiet, affectionate smiles with Diao Chan and Zhen Ji. He watched Lu Lingqi playfully demonstrate a martial arts stance to the children, her laughter ringing clear and bright.

​As the sun set and the lanterns were lit, casting a warm, golden glow over his family, Lie Fan felt a profound, unshakeable peace. This was why he carried the burden of the throne. This was why he had drowned the central plains in blood and forced the warlords to their knees. He had built an iron cage around his empire so that within it, his family could live in an eternal, untouchable spring.

​Slowly, methodically, the quiet days in the capital passed, turning into weeks, and then stretching into a full month. While the Emperor enjoyed the hard won peace of his court, the massive, grinding machinery of his military was in relentless motion across the continent.

​Far from the opulent halls of Xiapi, a river of dark iron and black banners flowed relentlessly westward.

​The twenty thousand elite soldiers of the Central Army, commanded by the newly integrated vanguard of seven legendary generals, Yue Jin, Li Dian, Yu Jin, Zhang He, Xu Huang, Pang De, and Gao Lan, marched with terrifying, synchronized discipline. This was not a chaotic warlord’s levy; this was the highly structured, perfectly supplied war machine of the Hengyuan Dynasty.

​For the seven former Wei generals riding at the head of the colossal column, the month long journey was a profound period of psychological transition. Every mile they marched away from the central plains was a mile separating them from the ashes of Cao Cao and Wei’s legacy.

The lush, fertile farmlands of the east slowly gave way to the rugged, arid, and imposing landscapes of the western approaches. The air grew thinner, the winds sharper, and the earth harder.

​”We are leaving the world we knew behind,” Li Dian murmured one crisp morning, his scholar’s eyes scanning the towering, jagged peaks that loomed on the horizon. His dark armor, polished to a dull shine, felt heavier than it had a month ago.

​”Good,” Pang De grunted from the saddle beside him, his fierce eyes locked onto the distant mountains. The desert wolf was returning to his natural habitat. ”The world we knew is buried in a tomb. The world ahead is filled with enemies who do not yet know the weight of our new banners. Let the past die, Li Dian. Keep your eyes on the horizon.”

​And indeed, the horizon was spectacular.

​After a grueling, highly disciplined month of marching, passing through major provincial cities and navigating the complex, winding mountain passes, the vanguard finally crested the last great ridge.

​There, sprawling across the vast Wei River valley, was the ancient, impregnable fortress city of Chang’an.

​The seven generals pulled their warhorses to a halt, staring down at the sheer, staggering magnitude of the Hengyuan western military staging ground. Chang’An itself was a beast of towering stone walls and massive gatehouses, but the true awe lay in the endless ocean of military encampments surrounding it. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers were stationed here.

The smoke from tens of thousands of cooking fires blotted out the lower sky, and the absolute, geometric perfection of the tent formations stretched as far as the human eye could see.

​It was a stark, physical reminder of exactly why they had lost the war. They had fought a desperate, brilliant defense against a dynasty that could casually summon the population of an entire nation to its borders.

​”Form up the ranks!” Yu Jin barked, his voice cutting through the wind, ever the strict disciplinarian. ”We do not march into the western capital looking like road weary stragglers! Dress the lines! Unfurl the imperial banners!”

​With the sharp blare of war horns, the twenty thousand elite central troops tightened their formations, their spears aligned perfectly, their armor clanking in terrifying unison.

The seven generals spurred their horses down the wide, paved approach toward the massive eastern gates of Chang’An.

​As the colossal column approached the primary gatehouse, a heavily armed reception committee was already waiting for them beneath the towering stone archways.

​Sitting atop a massive, fiery roan warhorse was Marshal Huang Zhong. Despite his advanced age, the legendary veteran was a terrifying sight. His thick, majestic white beard blew in the wind, and slung across his broad back was a massive, terrifyingly heavy longbow that most young men could not even string, let alone draw.

Beside the old tiger sat Chen Deng, the brilliant, sharp eyed momentary Governor of Chang’An and the Army Strategist, looking perpetually calm and impeccably dressed in his official civil robes.

​As Yue Jin, Li Dian, Yu Jin, Zhang He, Xu Huang, Pang De, and Gao Lan rode forward to present themselves, they prepared for a formal, stiff military greeting.

​Instead, Huang Zhong threw his head back and let out a booming, highly eccentric laugh that echoed off the stone walls of the fortress.

​”Well, well, well! Look at this!” Huang Zhong bellowed, his voice rough and loud enough to be heard by the first three ranks of the marching infantry. He aggressively stroked his white beard, his eyes gleaming with unapologetic, brash amusement. ”How the mighty have finally fallen, eh?! The great, terrifying vanguard of Wei, the dogs of Cao Mengde, marching up to my gates wearing the black armor of Hengyuan!”

​The seven generals instantly stiffened in their saddles, their jaws clenching.

​”Do not look so sour, boys!” Huang Zhong continued to gloat, completely ignoring military decorum in favor of his usual, highly irritating bravado. ”We all stand under the exact same banner now! We serve the same Emperor! But I will have you know, I saw this coming decades ago! From the very moment I swore my sword to Emperor Hongyi, back when he was just a young governor fighting in the mud, back before he was a great power, I knew! I looked at him and I said, ’That boy is going to rule the entire earth!’”

​Huang Zhong gestured broadly with a massive, calloused hand. ”Cao Cao was a great man, I will give you that! He was a brilliant bastard, tricky as a desert snake! But let us be honest here, he was never as great as our Emperor! He didn’t have the mandate, and he certainly didn’t have cannons! Now, you finally get to serve a real master!”

​Yue Jin’s knuckles turned white on his reins. Beside him, Zhang He forced a painfully stiff, entirely artificial smile onto his face.

​Every single one of the seven former Wei generals felt a massive, collective headache blooming behind their eyes. They respectfully cupped their hands and bowed their heads in greeting to the old Marshal, but internally, they were screaming.

​They knew Huang Zhong’s brash, utterly irritating personality all too well. During the chaotic campaigns of the Warlord Era, they had faced him across the battlefield.

He was an absolute nightmare to fight. It wasn’t just his peerless archery or his terrifying physical strength, it was the fact that he never, ever stopped talking. He would curse at them, taunt their formations, and belittle their strategies from a hundred yards away while simultaneously shooting arrows the size of javelins through their shields.

​Given the choice, every single one of the seven generals would gladly choose to duel Emperor Lie Fan himself, or cross blades with the stoic, terrifying Zhang Liao, the demonic Dian Wei, the graceful Zhao Yun, or the honorable Taishi Ci. Those men fought with grim silence or martial respect.

Fighting Huang Zhong was like fighting a badger that possessed a vocabulary of exclusively creative insults. The curses and the condescending words that constantly spilled from the old general’s mouth were truly, agonizingly annoying to endure.

​But they were defeated men, and Huang Zhong was the supreme Marshal of the West. They swallowed their immense pride and maintained their respectful, rigid postures.

​”We greet Marshal Huang Zhong,” Yu Jin said, his voice clipped and painfully controlled. ”We are honored to join the western vanguard.”

​Chen Deng, sitting calmly on his horse beside the old tiger, could only shake his head with a long, weary sigh at the old general’s relentless antics. He shot Huang Zhong a subtle, amused warning glance before smoothly intervening to salvage the diplomatic integrity of the arrival.

​”Forgive the Marshal, Generals. He is... incredibly spirited today,” Chen Deng said smoothly, offering a polite, welcoming smile. He brought his hands together in a formal, respectful greeting. ”Welcome to Chang’An. On behalf of the Emperor, we are thrilled to have your unparalleled martial expertise added to our ranks.”

​Chen Deng gestured toward the massive inner city. ”Your twenty thousand men will be directed to the designated southern encampments by our quartermasters. The supply lines have already been established for them. As for the seven of you, you have marched for a month straight. You are to proceed into the city and rest for a few hours.”

​Chen Deng’s expression then shifted into the sharp, focused look of the supreme military strategist. ”However, the rest will be brief. You are to join the high command for a supreme strategy meeting later this afternoon at the former imperial palace here in Chang’An. The intelligence from Chancellor Jia Xu has arrived. We are finalizing the attack vectors against the League of Northwestern Lords.”

​Hearing the prospect of imminent combat, the irritation caused by Huang Zhong momentarily faded from the generals’ minds. This was what they had been sent here to do.

​”We understand, Master Chen,” Gao Lan nodded his head deeply, speaking for the group. ”We thank you for your hospitality. We will be present at the war council.”

​Chen Deng nodded, gesturing to a waiting cavalry officer. ”This captain will escort you to your designated quarters. Rest well, my lords. The peace is about to break.”

​With a final, gruff, and entirely unnecessary harrumph from Huang Zhong, the seven generals spurred their horses forward, following the Hengyuan captain through the massive gates and into the bustling, heavily fortified streets of Chang’an.

​They were escorted away from the chaotic military districts and led into the wealthy, aristocratic ring of the city. The captain brought them to a massive, sprawling mansion complex that had been entirely requisitioned by the military. It possessed lush courtyards, running water, and more than enough opulent rooms to comfortably accommodate all seven generals and their personal retainers in one highly secure location.

”These are your quarters, Generals. Food and hot water have been prepared inside. I will return at the designated hour to escort you to the palace,” the captain said respectfully, bowing before taking his leave. The heavy wooden doors of the mansion closed behind them, sealing them in absolute privacy.

______________________________

Name: Lie Fan

Title: Founding Emperor Of Hengyuan Dynasty

Age: 36 (203 AD)

Level: 16

Next Level: 462,000

Renown: 2325

Cultivation: Yin Yang Separation (level 11)

SP: 1,121,700

ATTRIBUTE POINTS

STR: 1,010 (+20)

VIT: 659 (+20)

AGI: 653 (+10)

INT: 691

CHR: 98

WIS: 569

WILL: 436

ATR Points: 0