Mythical Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1540: Chapter 1483: Once and for All

As a result, not a single person spoke up about staying in Chengdu; even the most loyal to Liu Zhang, like Wang Lei, Zhang Ren, and Liu Gui, remained silent.

”Ahem, let’s all go together. This time, the Southern Barbarians’ invasion is extremely large-scale. It will take at least a dozen strategists, several dozen capable generals, and an army of over a hundred thousand to resolve this in one fell swoop,” Zhang Song glanced at everyone and immediately understood the situation, so he coughed twice to give everyone a way out; besides, he didn’t want to stay in Chengdu either.

Anyone watching Liu Zhang, who used to be so meek, now erupting in explosive tirades every day, insisting on sending out troops, finds it unacceptable. More importantly, it’s not that they don’t want to send out troops, but they simply can’t. To the north of Yizhou are all mountains; no matter how capable they might be, they can’t just send out troops at will!

”Indeed, this Southern Barbarian invasion is a counterattack by dozens of states and tribes in the Southwest, a massive endeavor requiring no less than 150,000 troops to quell,” Zhang Su said gravely, and the others all wore solemn expressions.

In the following days, Zhang Song and the others once again endured Liu Zhang’s relentless scolding, so much so that none of the high-ranking civil and military officials even wanted to speak. The only things they did besides exchanging glances with Zhang Song to inquire about progress were organizing troops, stockpiling provisions, and preparing for an expedition.

Of course, this was all just to fool Liu Zhang. As for going north, even if Liu Bei were the monarch instead of Liu Zhang, embarking from Chengdu to the northern prairies would take half a year.

A large group of high-ranking civil and military officials worked together to deceive Liu Zhang, and they did it convincingly, especially since hardcore loyalists like Wang Lei and Huang Quan were involved, ensuring smooth progress.

One day, Liu Zhang once again berated all the officials like dogs, and this time even Yan Yan was spit on extensively, feeling utterly fed up with the situation.

”Finally, there’s a result. Tomorrow, it’ll be easy for everyone,” Zhang Su, exhausted and on leave for nearly ten days, finally returned to Chengdu. Seeing the dark circles under the eyes of the brothers who had originally discussed matters with him, he knew they, too, were under tremendous pressure.

”Are you sure we can deceive so many barbarians?” Yan Yan felt his hair turning white, not because of the war, but because of the scolding.

Therefore, when he saw Zhang Su looking like a dying dog, Yan Yan, somewhat agitated, grabbed Zhang Su by the collar, while the other officials appeared on the verge of exploding.

”Rest assured, we’ll gather more rather than less. Lyu Kai did a great job; the Cave Master of the Thirteen Caves can only leave with us this time,” Zhang Su didn’t mind their behavior, knowing from their expressions that they had suffered greatly during this period.

The next day, Zhang Su, half-dead, came to report to Liu Zhang. As usual, Liu Zhang began inquiring about the progress on troop and provisioning matters with Yan Yan, Zhang Ren, Leng Bao, Deng Xian, Liu Gui, and others, and soon lost his temper again.

”Thank you for your hard work,” Zhang Su said with a bitter smile through voice transmission.

”We finally made it to the end. Are you sure the news will arrive today?” Wang Lei asked, heart heavy. He finally understood the meaning of ’a day feels like a year.’

”Don’t worry, the grand show is about to start,” Zhang Su replied via voice transmission. Upon hearing this, everyone involuntarily looked outside the hall, eagerly, yet nothing was there.

It wasn’t until Liu Zhang angrily scolded Zhang Ren for being too slow that a messenger, covered in blood, rushed in, ”Regional Inspector, over a hundred foreign barbarian tribes in the Southwest have rebelled, amassing tens of thousands of troops to attack Yongchang. The Yong Clan, a major clan in Yongchang, has already rebelled. The Yongchang Prefecture Governor fought his way out and has withdrawn to Yizhou Commandery, but Yizhou Commandery has also rebelled!”

”The Jianwei and Yuexi counties are in turmoil, and Zangke County has also seen a large number of barbarian troops. The Southern Barbarian King, Zhurong of the Southern Barbarians, friend to our Yizhou, is suppressing the internal rebellion while requesting aid from our army!” the messenger quickly reported.

One moment he was scolding Zhang Ren, and the next Liu Zhang felt oppressed by a heavy mood in his chest, ”Damn Southern Barbarians!” he roared furiously, collapsing backward. A crowd of civil and military officials immediately rushed to him. Yan Yan, quick-witted and close by, caught Liu Zhang, ordering someone to fetch a healer.

After some rescue efforts, luckily, Liu Zhang was young and was only overwhelmed with anger due to the massive Southern Barbarian invasion, so nothing serious happened, though the officials were indeed panicked.

”Those damn Southern Barbarians dare to join forces with the Northern Huns to invade the Han Dynasty’s beautiful land. I must personally lead the army to crush them!” Liu Zhang shouted after waking up but was quickly dissuaded by a group of people. Yan Yan, Zhang Ren, and others pledged that the Southern Barbarians would perish where they came from.

After much persuasion, Liu Zhang declared he would spare no expense to teach the Southern Barbarians a lesson. Naturally, all civil and military officials firmly vowed that the dignity of the Han Dynasty would remain intact, and the Southern Barbarians would be taught a lesson. With assurances made, Liu Zhang finally relaxed, and feeling weary after the tension, he was helped back to rest, prompting the officials to sigh in relief.

”Jun Jiao, you played your hand too heavily this time,” after Liu Zhang left, the officials all looked at Zhang Su. Finally, Huang Quan, frowning, spoke up, ”It was just about causing discord among the Southern Barbarians. Did you really need to go this far? The lord almost succumbed to anger.”

”It’s not that I went overboard, but it happened coincidentally. Didn’t I say that I had already subdued the Cave Master of the Thirteen Caves near us? Furthermore, their lives have improved significantly due to our mutual exchanges, whereas this is not the case elsewhere, creating the root of the conflict,” Zhang Su said with a sigh.

”So, if we didn’t provoke it this time, it would have erupted eventually?” Zhang Song raised an eyebrow questioningly, though it still seemed it shouldn’t have escalated this much!

”Ahem, originally if not provoked, it wouldn’t have become this severe. Those barbarians were hesitant to rebel and couldn’t easily unite, so even if they did rebel, the impact wouldn’t have been this large.” Zhang Su coughed, admitting some responsibility.

”So you turned a manageable problem into this,” Yan Yan remarked with a dark expression.

”No, I think I understand my brother’s intention,” Zhang Song said solemnly. ”My brother’s intention is to completely seize control of the entire Southern Yizhou once and for all, rather than letting the barbarians govern autonomously as before, but to wield true control!”

”Indeed, that’s precisely the meaning. We’ve always wanted to solve this problem but have been continually interrupted by various issues. This time, we are finally free to address it. We don’t need to worry about Zhang Lu or Sun Ce; with this opportunity, we can resolve the issue completely,” Zhang Su stated with a serious expression.

”Taking this opportunity, we will muster our full strength to clear them out once and for all. Previously, we only controlled Northern Yizhou, and Hanzhong wasn’t in our hands. This time, we’ll seize the entire Southern Yizhou!” Zhang Su, with a grand gesture, pressed his right hand on the desk, exuding a formidable aura.