Reborn In The Three Kingdoms

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His eyes shifted knowingly toward Jia Xu and Xun You, who both inclined their heads with quiet pride. A shared history bound them, years of campaigns, reforms, impossible gambles, and victories that would one day be written into the chronicles of the empire. ”Rest now,” Lie Fan said. ”Tomorrow... the next step begins.”

He turned and strode toward the door. The Yellow Ghosts, silent as shadows but deadly as coiled serpents, fell into formation around him, escorting their emperor from the chamber. The council remained standing until the last flutter of his robe vanished beyond the threshold.

The next day, dawn spilled golden light across Xiapi’s sprawling palace complex, reflecting off the glazed tiles and the lacquered pillars like embers awakening from slumber. Officials and courtiers streamed into the Great Hall in orderly waves, robes whispering, jade pendants clinking, murmurs filling the vast space in steady, rising currents.

They knew today would be decisive.

The Han envoy’s offer had stirred the empire to its core. Now the emperor’s answer, his official stance, would define the future of the continental balance.

When Lie Fan entered, the entire court sank into a sea of bows.

”LONG LIVE YOUR MAJESTY.”

He took his throne with the ease of a man who commanded not only a kingdom, but the era itself.

His gaze swept across the hall calm, steady, and unhurried. Then he spoke.

”Bring forth the response.”

Jia Xu, already prepared, stepped forward with the scroll resting upon both palms. The hall fell into a silence so deep it felt carved from stone itself. He bowed to the emperor, then turned toward the assembled officials.

”By decree of His Majesty Hongyi, Emperor of Hengyuan, this is the response to Emperor Xian of the Han.”

He unrolled the scroll.

The brushwork gleamed.

And he began to read.

The letter’s tone was balanced with masterful precision, firm without cruelty, authoritative without mockery, benevolent yet unmistakably superior.

It acknowledged the Han’s offer.

It accepted the proposed marriage.

It stated clearly that Hengyuan would ”guide the Han’s future,” since the Han had sought survival under Hengyuan’s wing.

It set expectations, cooperation, transparency, obedience in political dealings.

It declared the intention to dispatch a delegation to Chengdu to ensure smooth proceedings and stability in the region.

Each sentence was crafted like the stroke of a calligrapher’s sharpest brush elegant, cutting, and impossible to misinterpret.

When Jia Xu reached the end of the letter, he rolled the scroll closed with deliberate calm, then bowed.

”This concludes the response His Majesty shall send to Emperor Xian.”

For a heartbeat, no one moved.

Then—

A wave of murmurs surged through the hall.

But unlike before, these murmurs carried agreement rather than confusion.

”It is perfect, decisive yet not excessive.”

”This is the correct stance, His Majesty demonstrates benevolence while affirming his rightful superiority.”

”Truly, this letter reflects the strength of our empire.”

Even those few who secretly held objections did not dare voice them. Their influence had waned dramatically due to Lie Fan’s reforms over the years, reforms that had stripped excessive power from nobles, dismantled corrupt familial networks, crushed the old collusion between merchants and scholars, and demolished the rotten pillars that once held the Han system together.

The court of Hengyuan was cleaner, sharper... hungrier.

In such a place, no one would dare challenge the emperor over a matter so politically delicate and so elegantly handled.

Lie Fan nodded once.

”Good. If no one objects, I shall now appoint the leader of the delegation entrusted with carrying this response to Chengdu.”

The hall fell silent at once.

Even the faintest shuffle of robes stilled.

Choosing this envoy meant selecting the face of Hengyuan’s authority, the man who would stand as the emperor’s voice, eyes, and shadow in Chengdu. It required intelligence, calm, ruthlessness, diplomacy, and a deep sense of imperial vision.

And Lie Fan already knew exactly who fit.

He lifted his scepter.

”For this task,” he declared, ”I appoint Zhuge Liang, Minister of Personnel, to act as chief envoy and leader of the delegation.”

Gasps scattered through the court, not of shock, but of recognition.

Zhuge Liang was, after all, one of the empire’s brightest minds. His steadfast rise, his elegant strategies, his reputation for immaculate judgment made him the ideal choice. No one doubted his capability.

But the emperor wasn’t finished.

”And as his second in command,” Lie Fan continued, ”I appoint Lu Xun, advisor to the Grand Administrator of Lujiang.”

The murmurs returned, this time genuinely surprised.

Lu Xun was brilliant, yes. He was also a prodigy that have trained under the respected masters and advisors to his majesty himself. One of the first graduating class of the Imperial Academy, alongside Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi themselves.

But he had remained in Lujiang for years, silent, unobtrusive, practicing, studying, and most possibly according to rumours, waiting.

Many had whispered that his talent was being wasted.

As for Lie Fan, he of course knew Lu Xun’s potential that’s why he have his Lu family be brought under his rule, and he let Lu Xun stay there because he wanted to repay his Grand Uncle, but he have longed for him to enter the capital.

And today, he acted on it.

”I further promote Lu Xun,” the emperor said, ”to the position of Grand Bailiff of Xiapi.”

A sharply drawn breath echoed somewhere among the officials.

Being brought into the capital’s administrative core was no small matter.

Zhuge Liang, hearing this, allowed himself a rare, genuine smile, warm and touched by personal joy. He had long admired Lu Xun’s brilliant mind, and the two had once studied side by side alongside Sima Yi, sharpening each other through debate, challenge, and shared ambition.

Lu Xun’s promotion meant another pillar of the future had been brought into its rightful place.

Lie Fan leaned back in his throne, surveying the hall.

”If there are no objections—”

There weren’t.

Not even a whisper.

”—then this court is dismissed.”

The officials bowed deeply.

”LONG LIVE YOUR MAJESTY.”

As they parted like a tide drawing back into the sea, Lie Fan gestured for Zhuge Liang to remain.

The Minister of Personnel stepped forward, fan folded, eyes serene.

”Minister Kongming,” Lie Fan said, ”you will lead the delegation. Begin preparations immediately. Wu Tai shall return to Chengdu ahead of you to announce our acceptance and pave the way.”

Zhuge Liang bowed.

”As Your Majesty commands.”

”And Lu Xun,” Lie Fan added, ”will meet you at Wan. He departs from Lujiang.”

Zhuge Liang’s smile grew faintly wider.

”I understand, Your Majesty.”

Lie Fan nodded once more, satisfaction glimmering in his eyes.

The pieces were already moving.

Everything, Yi Province, the Han court, the political shift of the era, was falling neatly, inevitably, into place. And this was only the beginning.

Preparations moved through the palace like a controlled storm, silent, precise, but relentless in their forward momentum. Once Lie Fan dismissed the court and entrusted the mission to Zhuge Liang, the entire capital seemed to shift its pulse. What had been theoretical yesterday was now action. What had been the emperor’s intention was now unfolding reality.

Zhuge Liang himself wasted no time. The moment he returned to the Ministry of Personnel, his steps already held a rhythm of purpose. His attendants scrambled to keep pace as he issued instructions to the scribes, the logistics officers, the quartermasters, and the internal aides who would accompany him. His calm voice cut through the bustle like a steady bell, no sharpness, no panic, only clear direction.

By the end of the first hour, he had established the framework of the delegation. By the second, he had already selected the guards. By the third, the Palace Logistics Office knew exactly which supplies, documents, seals, and ceremonial items they were to prepare.

The emperor had said, ”Begin preparations immediately.” Zhuge Liang did not simply begin, he advanced.

He started with the guards. Zhuge Liang was not a fool. Chengdu was, at least on paper, offering peace, marriage, alliance. But power was never so simple, and Fa Zheng’s earlier maneuver had thrown the Han court into a state of chaotic transition. A single panicked faction in Chengdu could try to seize Wu Tai. They could try to intercept the letter. They could try to use the delegation as leverage.

No. Zhuge Liang would not allow even the opportunity for such a possibility.

He selected the elite of the elite, men from the northern frontier who had survived brutal winters, men with enough discipline to remain statues until commanded and enough lethality to cut down an entire assassination squad in seconds.

Fifty guards, small enough to be diplomatic, large enough to be deadly.

Each one handpicked.

Each one loyal.

Each one wearing the dark blue armor of Hengyuan’s envoy escort, its lacquered plates painted with cloud motifs representing imperial mandate beyond borders.

After the guards came the ceremonial gifts. Zhuge Liang studied the list sent by the Imperial Workshop, his brows lowering a fraction.

”Too generous,” he murmured.

The intention, as Lie Fan had decided, was subtle insult, appropriate gifts, not cheap, but certainly not luxurious. Nothing that suggested true reverence. Nothing that reflected equality between Hengyuan and the Han.

Zhuge Liang removed two items and replaced them with slightly inferior versions. A jade carving with minor impurities instead of a flawless one. A silk tapestry with simpler weaving instead of the palace’s finest.

Appropriate. Polite. And unmistakably dismissive once Emperor Xian’s ministers examined the craftsmanship.

Perfect.

Next was coordination.

The Han delegation under Wu Tai was still gathered in Xiapi, waiting for instructions. Zhuge Liang personally made his way to the guest quarters, robes fluttering lightly behind him.

Wu Tai was already waiting in the courtyard, somehow sensing the moment Kongming would appear, as if Fa Zheng himself had drilled such anticipatory precision into the young man.

When the two met, their greeting was formally polite, but beneath the courtesy, both men carried a mutual respect forged from the political events of the last few days.

”Master Zhuge Liang,” Wu Tai bowed deeply, ”I await your guidance.”

Zhuge Liang nodded faintly. ”We leave tomorrow at noon. You will lead the Han delegation at the front, as befits the host envoy returning to Chengdu. My group will follow directly behind. When we arrive in Wan, we will receive Lu Xun and merge under a single formation.”

Wu Tai straightened. ”Understood. Preparations will be complete on my side.”

Zhuge Liang studied him for a moment. He could see Fa Zheng’s influence in the young man’s posture, Zhang Song’s political steadiness in his breathing, Meng Da’s sharpness in the way his eyes shifted, registering details.

But there was also something else, something quieter yet sturdier. A determination born from being shaped by three masters and entrusted with a task grand enough to shake the legitimacy of the Han.

”You have done well,” Zhuge Liang said calmly.

Wu Tai stiffened in surprise, then bowed again, deeper this time.

”Your praise is too great.”

”It is not,” Zhuge Liang replied. ”If it were, I would not say it.”

After finalizing their coordinated departure time, Zhuge Liang returned to the administrative compound. The sun set, lamps were lit, and still he worked, reviewing maps, marking routes, confirming which inns were loyal to Hengyuan, which towns had hidden Oriole agents, and which areas were prone to banditry or potential loyalist interference.

Only when everything was ironed smooth did he allow himself to close his eyes for a brief rest.

The next morning, the sky was bright and windless.

At noon, the two delegations assembled near the eastern gate of Xiapi. Banners fluttered, Hengyuan’s phoenix crest in bold gold, the Han envoy banner in faded maroon. The contrast was stark, symbolic.

Wu Tai took his place at the front of the Han group.

Zhuge Liang mounted his horse at the head of the Hengyuan formation. The elite guards stood in immaculate rows. The great gates opened. Hooves struck the earth. The delegation departed Xiapi, beginning the long journey toward Wan and ultimately, Chengdu.

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Name: Lie Fan

Title: Founding Emperor Of Hengyuan Dynasty

Age: 35 (202 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