Mythical Three Kingdoms

What an unexpected yet reasonable answer. It seems Yuan Shu plays with death eight times a year, but it’s truly a miracle he’s still alive and kicking at this age.

“Send a message to Yuan Gonglu, warning him to stop spreading nonsense.” Cao Cao rubbed his forehead. Yuan Shu really is something; he messes up every year but always bounces back, never causing any real trouble.

“It’s probably a slip of the tongue after drinking, bragging to others.” Cheng Yu sighed helplessly. Yuan Shu is too carefree, and more importantly, he has recently disappeared from the map.

When Cao Cao inquired about this matter, Yuan Shu had already built a cement factory and was preparing to build roads in Southern Yizhou. As for the roads in Northern Yizhou’s mountains, Liu Zhang’s legion, under the direction of Wu Yuan, vice president of the chamber of commerce, was flattening the mountainous terrain while paving with cement. The speed wouldn’t be very fast, but not too slow either. It’s estimated that construction could reach Hanzhong by mid-year.

Given that Yuan Shu wasn’t spending his own money while building roads in Southern Yizhou, Liu Zhang expressed that his previous dissatisfaction vanished. It’s the New Year, and Liu Zhang held a private banquet at home, inviting his most promising followers to drink with Yuan Shu.

Yuan Shu, of course, wouldn’t refuse such a face-giving event. Though he didn’t understand why Liu Zhang was dissatisfied with him, the fact that Liu Zhang set up a banquet personally and invited him along with important civil and military officials for a private drink left Yuan Shu quite satisfied. After all, it is about face!

Watching Liu Zhang rise to fill his glass, Yuan Shu stated, “Even though I don’t know why you were dissatisfied, just for personally filling my glass, I won’t hold a grudge.” Yuan Shu reciprocated by pouring Liu Zhang a drink, and both host and guest enjoyed themselves.

“I wonder how those unlucky kids in the North are doing?” Yuan Shu glanced toward the Northeast, where the Central Plains aristocratic families spent their first meaningful New Year.

“Who cares about them? Next year, it’s on you, Gonglu!” Liu Zhang, rosy-cheeked from drinking, raised his glass again upon hearing Yuan Shu’s words.

“That’s true; they prepared early and definitely won’t face any issues.” Yuan Shu nodded in agreement, noting that although Northeast is cold, its grain yield is high. With enough firewood for winter, one could just hunker down through the season.

On the Indochina Peninsula, having subdued several countries and forcibly extended the Han Dynasty’s borders to the Indian Ocean coast, Zhang Ren enjoyed the food and drink offered by the vassal tribes. It’s the festive season, and even the vassals on the Indochina Peninsula now recognize it as the most important festival of the Han Dynasty.

Now, most of the people from Kushan have withdrawn, although they are heavily guarded. Nonetheless, Zhang Ren heard some news from the indigenous people. Since the Han Dynasty’s generals stationed themselves in the Indochina Peninsula, all tribal vassals knew who’s the boss now.

Thus, all kinds of information don’t need the Han Dynasty to investigate personally; as soon as they ask, countries readily come to inform the Han Dynasty of anything they want to convey.

Upon hearing the news of turmoil within Kushan, Zhang Ren not only didn’t feel sad for his allies but also found the situation quite laughable. Zhang Ren harbors some negative feelings towards this country.

Although they were magnanimous during previous battles, and performed decently at Wenga, afterwards, whether it was alliances or other interactions, Zhang Ren felt they were sore losers.

During alliances, they played too many tricks and constantly wanted to overpower the Han Dynasty despite being defeated. It could have been overlooked considering their strength, which isn’t bad.

The problem was, they had previously agreed that if they lost, they would retreat five hundred miles and split Baisheng State in two, handing over a thousand li of fertile land to the Han Dynasty.

Though Zhang Ren and Yan Yan didn’t have high expectations in this regard, they found after defeating Kushan and gaining substantial patriarchal authority over all Indochina Peninsula countries, Baisheng State was essentially an enclave for the Han Dynasty.

Such shamelessness left Zhang Ren feeling indifferent towards Kushan. They could hardly be considered allies of the Han Dynasty now.

Therefore, when the indigenous peoples informed Zhang Ren of Kushan’s recent situation, he not only didn’t feel sad for his “ally,” but rather was filled with a sense of ridicule, seeing them as a country that deserved a beating.

Of course, as Kushan faced bad luck, Zhang Ren did feel like laughing. But even facing Kushan’s misfortune, Zhang Ren didn’t have the slightest inclination to seize the advantage first, since Zhang Ren had come to solidly recognize Kushan’s strength over this period.

Despite being petty and stingy, filled with small country mentality, their inner strength indeed warrants acknowledgment. The Great Yuezhi has indeed grown from a small country to a level standing as an empire, within their military might and national accumulation worth taking seriously.

Thus, during the festivities, the upper echelons of the Han Army on the Indochina Peninsula harbored a “sitting on a mountain watching tigers fight, standing at the bridgehead watching water flow” attitude, with leisurely detachment.

Fine, it’s more than leisure; it’s more about watching a spectacle, waiting for the Kushan folks to turn their brains into mush with dogmatic malice. But it’s their own fault since Kushan talked the talk but were distasteful when delivering their promises.

Even though the Indochina Peninsula’s come under control, just with Yizhou, their small arms have sufficed. Talking about occupying half of Baisheng Dynasty is mostly nonsense.

Even if the Kushan Empire generously offered to give half of the Baisheng Dynasty to the Han Dynasty, the forces in Yizhou would still assess their military strength and consider abandoning it on the grounds that the other side still treats them as allies.

Having promised, now they act as if they are dead. Even if Yizhou originally couldn’t obtain that thing, there is still a feeling of swallowing a fly, hence the relationship between Yizhou and Kushan suddenly turned cold after learning the truth.

This is why Zhang Ren clapped his hands in approval upon hearing that Kushan was experiencing internal strife between Central Asia and South Asia, for the foolish Kushan people truly deserved a beating in the eyes of the Han Army; sooner or later, they’d strike when the Han had free hands!

Of course, Zhang Ren did not believe that the internal war in Kushan would cause much damage. After all, isn’t it normal for an empire to occasionally have some internal conflicts?

Over the past two hundred years, the Later Han itself had experienced various civil wars, from the Imperial Guard of Emperor Heu of Han clashing with the trusted aide of Dou Xian, leading to the complete destruction of both armies, to the chaos caused by Dong Zhuo in Chang’an, and even later the war between Yuan Liu, where both sides deployed their Military Spirit Legions, yet the Han Empire still thrived vigorously.

Thus, when Zhang Ren heard from the indigenous peoples of the Central and Southern Regions that a large-scale war had erupted among the aristocrats of Kushan’s Central Asia and South Asia, he initially thought the forces on either side had reached over two hundred thousand, but upon inquiry, it turned out to be less than one hundred thousand troops gathering on both banks of the Indus River.

At that moment, Zhang Ren chuckled, unsure whether to say that the indigenous peoples of the Central and Southern Regions were inexperienced or that the Kushan Empire was making a big deal out of nothing. Over less than one hundred thousand troops for an internal war, is it necessary to act as if a major event has occurred?

If you really want to talk about it, last year in Yizhou and with the Southern Barbarians, that was also considered a civil war, but the combined force of both sides was much more ferocious than the so-called civil unrest in the Kushan Empire; at least the combined forces of Yizhou and the Southern Barbarians exceeded one hundred thousand in the end.

Therefore, Zhang Ren inexplicably looked down on Kushan, as the useless Kushan had focused the entire nation’s attention on a mere less than one-hundred-thousand-strength war. How many years had it been since there was an internal war?

In fact, Zhang Ren had completely misunderstood the situation; Kushan was indeed experiencing a major event this time, otherwise, Vasu Deva I would not have refrained from making any comments about the Han Dynasty detaining the Kushan Diplomatic Mission till now.

Of course, the originally intended Kushan alliance with Rome now also had no further developments, all because this wave of unrest among Kushan’s Central and South Asian aristocrats had completely exploded.

Both sides erupted into a fierce clash due to culture, religion, status, and power not long before.

The scale may not seem significant, but the quality is immensely high; simply put, none of the over eighty thousand soldiers amassed on the banks of the Indus River had less than Dual Talent.

The elite troops north of the Indus mainly consist of Central Asia’s Desert Camel Riders, Desert Scimitar Wielders, the Cavalrymen of the Royal Clan of Great Yuezhi, Bactrian Guard Infantry, and the King Sai’s Warriors of the Sai Ethnicity. All these legions are of Dual Talent.

The elite troops south of the Indus mainly consist of South Asia’s Kushan Elephant Soldiers, Heavy Crossbow Group, Kshatriya Warriors, as well as Kushan’s currently sole Military Spirit Legion.

Both sides are now facing off on the banks of the Indus River, ready at any moment to cross and launch a war that could determine the fate of the Kushan Kingdom. Incidentally, the aristocrats of Central Asia and South Asia are both riding on a tiger they cannot dismount.

More importantly, once these core imperial legions clash, the Kushan Empire will be on the brink of a full-scale civil war. Various vassal states, principalities, counties, cultural supporters from all regions, and religious forces may all erupt following this wave.

Indeed, historically, the complete division of the Kushan Empire is said to have started from this wave, and as for how this particular battle actually turned out according to official history, there is no record. After this battle though, Central and South Asia in Kushan had completely turned hostile to each other.

Now, although Vasu Deva I has forcibly suppressed the internal situation in the Kushan, these conflicts have not disappeared. Instead, because of Vasu Deva I’s harsh suppression, they become even more frenzied upon eruption.

Kushan itself was the descendant of the Great Yuezhi, who came all the way from Central Asia, and through conquest, obtained the heritage of many top-tier kingdoms, hence they suddenly became an empire upon reaching South Asia.

But such a nearly acquisitional manner left behind hidden dangers, which are not to be underestimated.

The legacy of Bactria, the legacy of the Sai Ethnicity, the legacy of Tiaozhi descendants, the legacy of the Sarmatians, as well as the legacy of the Peacock Dynasty wandering in India.

Therefore, it is not without reason that Kushan could become an empire. They collected bodies, and helped bury bodies, which gained them many things.

Of course, as the price, the Kushan Empire had to accept the mutual cultural conflicts among these top-tier kingdoms and proto-empires.