Mythical Three Kingdoms

When Shen Pei left, he actually felt a deep sense of helplessness. As he stepped out of Changli City, he suddenly felt a wave of fatigue wash over him.

”What’s so-called war is sometimes nothing more than a misunderstanding driven by personal desires. Sadly, because the sides involved stand too high and wield too much power, affecting too many people, issues that could have been settled through talks amongst the common folk can only be resolved by the fall of one party to save face.”

The moment Shen Pei set foot outside, he couldn’t help but recall a phrase once said by Ju Shou, a sentence he had seen in the classic books at the Book Pavilion of Mount Tai, which he had long forgotten, but now resurfaced clearly in his mind.

”Gongsun Bogui...” Shen Pei looked back at Changli City, where he saw the ancient city walls marked with patches and streaks of mottled traces, as well as splotches of dark red blood, belonging to both the Hu People and the Han.

This place had once seen the worst of the Hu invasions, and one could even say that it once belonged to the Hu People. However, after the Han Dynasty rose to power and defeated them, this territory was occupied. For over a hundred years, battles raged ceaselessly until Gongsun Bogui thoroughly defeated the Wuhuan and the area was finally secured.

”Perhaps you had your own selfish reasons, but your actions indeed protected the Han people behind you,” Shen Pei stood under the setting sun, feeling the howling east wind. Compared to the spring days of the Central Plains, it was still bitterly cold here.

Shen Pei gave a slight bow to Changli City, then slowly straightened up. ”Gongsun Bogui, I believe what you said. Perhaps my lord was wrong back then, but nobody is perfect. My lord has erred, so be it. The dominance over the world is only to improve the lives of its people, ’to kill one to save a thousand’ must be done!”

The events in Youzhou had little impact on the Central Plains. Of course, if Gongsun Zan had been persuaded by Shen Pei, that would be quite interesting; Yuan Shao would definitely wage a war unexpectedly, putting Liu Bei in a very passive position.

Lyu Bu departed from Yanzhou, leaving behind issues that Liu Bei and Yuan Shao ended up splitting between them. But just because it was split, it didn’t mean that Yuan Shao was satisfied with the outcome. Though there were orders to prevent a large-scale conflict, such vague commands couldn’t deter the likes of Yann Liang and Wen Chou, Yuan Shao’s favored generals.

Moreover, to avoid being outwitted by Chen Xi and others again, Yuan Shao sent not only two valiant generals to Yanzhou, but also Tian Feng and Xuu You, as well as a great number of middle- and lower-ranking military generals and civil officials.

By now, both sides had some understanding of each other. Clearly, Guo Jia was the type full of ingenious strategies, while Chen Xi was firmly prudent, never taking unnecessary risks and usually dominating by sheer force.

That’s precisely why Yuan Shao sent Tian Feng and Xuu You to counter Chen Xi and Guo Jia. Tian Feng aimed for stable victory, while Xuu You sought surprise to gain an advantage, and in terms of abilities, they complemented each other perfectly. Of course, it must be acknowledged that these two didn’t get along in terms of personality, but with Yuan Shao’s authority, no issues arose.

”So the opponents are Tian Yuanhao and Xuu Ziyuan, huh,” Chen Xi said, pulling at his mouth, ”It’s up to you now. I can only play a defensive game, but if it’s Tian Yuanhao, I’ll take over. Leave Xuu Ziyuan to you.”

”How can there be such spiritual talent?” Guo Jia said, pulling at his mouth.

If the intelligence hadn’t been extremely reliable, Guo Jia would never have believed in the existence of such spiritual talent.

Tian Feng had no interest in comparing intellects with others; he simply reduced everyone’s intelligence to that of a fool’s, then competed on who had the richer experience. Who could compare with someone who had been constantly training in such a situation for years?

This was even more nauseating than Sima Yi’s sealed Spiritual Talent, at least to the likes of Guo Jia. Sima Yi’s abilities wouldn’t degrade much with his Spiritual Talent sealed, but facing Tian Feng was utterly disgusting.

”So I’m truly relieved that guy didn’t activate his Spiritual Talent last time, but I can assure you he’ll definitely remember to activate it this time. This is a bona fide precognitive Spiritual Talent,” Chen Xi said with a smile. He wasn’t particularly affected by Tian Feng’s Spiritual Talent; though powerful, it had too many restrictions.

Chen Xi’s group had come to possess Tian Feng’s Spiritual Talent because Cui Jun had infiltrated Yuan Shao’s inner circle. Those capable of partnering with Zhuge Liang, Pang Tong, and Xu Shu were no simple characters. For instance, after Cui Jun returned to Jizhou, he made sweeping changes, splitting the Cui Family into two, giving birth to the Cui Family of Boling.

Subsequently, to the disbelief of all the aristocratic families, he defected to the Yuan Family, directly dooming a host of Jizhou aristocratic families. The alliance of Jizhou noble families had already been ravaged by the Zhen Family and then struck by Yuan Shao, but it was completely shattered by the betrayal of the Cui Family of Boling.

The Jizhou aristocratic families had considered the possibility of defection among them, but they never imagined that the defector would be the leading Cui Family. The strongest alliance always falls apart from the inside, unable to withstand destruction from the top down.

After Cui Zhouping delivered a fatal blow to the heart of the aristocratic alliance, before the various Jizhou families could react, Yuan Shao began a major crackdown, dividing, and co-opting them, causing utter chaos in Jizhou, to the point where some Jizhou families colluded with Wei Yan to counterattack along the Bohai Sea.

In the end, the struggles of Jizhou aristocratic families were all in vain, as Yuan Shao took advantage of the situation to completely control the power in Jizhou, except for the Zhen Family’s shops scattered throughout Jizhou. Of course, in Yuan Shao’s view, with the Zhen Family being so deeply rooted, it was impossible for them to break away from Jizhou, and naturally, from his control.

As a result, as the designer and executor of the plan to subdue the Jizhou aristocratic families, Cui Jun became an important figure in Yuan Shao’s ranks, comparable to the top five strategists, the moment he stepped into the limelight. No one doubted the role he played.

It was because of this that Chen Xi learned of Tian Feng’s seldom-seen Spiritual Talent, and knowing this, he intended to handle Tian Feng himself. To be honest, if Guo Jia were to face Tian Feng without prior knowledge, he would undoubtedly be defeated by Tian Feng, and even with knowledge, it wouldn’t be easy.

Tian Feng’s Spiritual Talent, as it turned out, was quite simple. According to intelligence from Jizhou, Tian Feng’s Spiritual Talent enabled him to preemptively detect the enemy’s schemes within a certain range. Of course, it wasn’t the complete process but simply an advance sensing of the outcomes that the enemy’s schemes would have on his side.

Even with just an outcome, conventional strategies essentially failed against Tian Feng. At his level, knowing the result and deducing the process, the likelihood of counteracting was very high... then a countermeasure...

Of course, if the conspiracy was too sophisticated, Tian Feng might sense it but still be unable to see through it and therefore could not counteract it. After all, not everyone had an unconventional intelligence of 120 like Chen Gong. Following a certain process without a certain degree of intellect was unfeasible.

However, Cui Zhouping also pointed out the downside of Tian Feng’s Spiritual Talent: an important condition was that it was only effective against enemies. According to Cui Jun’s reasoning, this notion of the enemy should be defined by the ’Lord,’ and Tian Feng’s Spiritual Talent had to be attached to a ’Lord.’

(To be continued. If you like this work, feel free to vote, recommend, and support on Qidian ). Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)