Transmigrating to the Three Kingdoms as Lu Bu: I Have a Pseudo-Apocalypse System

On the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month, at the port of Liekou County, Lelang County, Youzhou (northern part of the Korean Peninsula).

When Yuan Tan's fleet arrived, it was already dusk. More than ten warships were anchored in the harbor, and camps stretched along the shore, clearly indicating that they had been prepared for this eventuality.

"Who goes there?" the guard on the shore shouted.

Yuan Xi stood at the bow of the boat: "I am Yuan Xi, the Prefect of Bohai, and I have come with my brother Yuan Tan to pay our respects to General Guan Tang, the Prefect of Lelang!"

The garrison commander said, "Prefect Guan has ordered that Yuan's fleet may rest in the port, but soldiers are not allowed to disembark. Any supplies needed can be exchanged for gold or silver."

Yuan Tan frowned: "What does this mean?"

Xin Ping whispered, "It seems that Gongsun Du is already on guard and dares not let us enter the country."

Sure enough, the next day Guan Tang personally came to the port and met with the Yuan brothers on a warship.

Guan Tang, around forty years old, with a dark face and short beard, spoke directly: "My lords, it's not that I'm intolerant, but rather that the situation forces me to. Duke Lü Bu of Jin has already pacified Qing and Ji provinces, and his next move will surely be Youzhou. My lord (Gongsun Du) is confined to Liaodong, with few soldiers and generals, and cannot stand alone. How dare we harbor the Yuan family? If Lü Bu finds out, he will surely raise an army to punish us."

Yuan Xi said urgently, "Prefect Guan, we only ask for a safe place to stay, and we will never implicate General Gongsun!"

Guan Tang shook his head: "It's not that I'm unwilling, but General Gongsun has given an order: we can provide food and fresh water in exchange, and we can also send guides to show you the way to the Three Hans and the Japanese islands, but the Yuan family is absolutely not allowed to settle in Lelang."

Having said that, he ordered his soldiers to bring over ten sacks of millet and twenty barrels of fresh water: "Consider these a personal gift from me, a small token of my appreciation. Gentlemen, the world is vast overseas; why confine yourselves to this corner of Lelang?"

Yuan Tan knew the situation was hopeless, so he could only bow and say, "Thank you, Prefect Guan."

Guan Tang added, "I have already sent a message to General Gongsun. If you two gentlemen are willing to wait, you may await further news."

The Yuan brothers exchanged a glance and nodded in agreement.

Three days later, Gongsun Du led three hundred personal guards from Liaodong and arrived at Liekou.

This Liaodong overlord was over fifty years old, with a dignified face and sharp eyes.

He met with the Yuan brothers at the county government office and got straight to the point: "Gentlemen, it's not that I'm unwilling to help, but that I simply cannot. Lü Bu is about to unify the north, and although I hold Liaodong, I must assess the situation carefully. If I were to harbor the Yuan family, I would be making an enemy of Lü Bu, and I cannot bear the consequences."

Yuan Xi tried to persuade him further: "General, Lü Bu is ambitious. Today he's taking Hebei, tomorrow he'll surely take Liaodong. Why don't you join forces with us to fight against Lü Bu?"

Gongsun Du sneered: "Join forces? With your three thousand remaining troops, how can you possibly withstand Lü Bu's hundreds of thousands of soldiers? I have been managing things in Liaodong for years, yet I still dare not speak of resisting Lü. Your words are rather naive."

He paused, his tone softening slightly: "However, I can assist you with something, young master. Lelang has fifty experienced sailors familiar with the sea routes, whom I can give to you as guides. I also have five hundred shi of grain and a thousand bows and arrows, which I will sell to you at a fair price. You can go to the Three Hans or the Japanese islands. The natives there are ignorant and their weapons are outdated. With your elite troops from the Central Plains, it will not be difficult for you to occupy them."

Having said all that, the Yuan brothers knew there was no room for negotiation.

"Thank you, General." Yuan Tan bowed.

……

After spending the New Year in Liekou County, in the first month of the sixth year of Chuping (195 AD), the Yuan family fleet replenished its supplies and, guided by fifty guides, sailed away from Lelang, heading south towards Sanhan (southern part of the Korean Peninsula).

Gongsun Du stood at the port, watching the departing fleet, and said to Guan Tang, "The Yuan brothers' trip to the Three Hans will surely stir up a bloodbath."

Guan Tang asked, "General, what if Lü Bu comes and asks about this...?"

"Just tell the truth," Gongsun Du said calmly. "I did not take in the Yuan family, so Lü Bu will not blame me."

On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, along the coast of Mahan, at the port of Tamjin.

Yuan's fleet landed here.

Mahan is one of the Three Hans, located in the southwestern part of the Korean Peninsula. Because it is far from the war-torn Central Plains, it has tens of thousands of households and hundreds of thousands of people.

Yuan Tan led 500 elite soldiers ashore. The defending troops tried to stop him, but dozens of them were shot down by a volley of arrows, and the rest scattered.

"So weak, yet dares to call itself a nation?" Yuan Tan sneered.

Yuan Xi, however, remained cautious: "Brother, do not underestimate the enemy. Although the Three Hans are weak, they have a large and powerful force. We are newcomers here, so we should proceed with caution and prudence."

The two occupied Danjin, using the port as their base. Yuan Xi commanded his soldiers to build camps, while Yuan Tan led his troops to sweep through the surrounding tribes.

Initial progress was smooth.

The elite troops of the Central Plains were completely outmatched by the indigenous people of the Three Han states. Yuan Tan led his army to capture three cities in succession, seizing a thousand bushels of grain and hundreds of livestock. The captured indigenous men were enslaved, while the women were distributed among the soldiers.

But problems soon arose.

Due to the language barrier—the locals spoke Korean, which none of Yuan Jun's men could understand—they could only communicate through gestures.

Due to the change in environment, many soldiers suffered from diarrhea and fever, resulting in severe non-combat casualties.

Most importantly, although the natives were weak, they were unwilling to be enslaved. Within a month, three slave revolts occurred, which were suppressed, but more than thirty soldiers died.

"This can't go on." Yuan Xi summoned everyone for a meeting. "We have few soldiers, and every one who dies is one less we have, but the natives keep coming in."

Xin commented: "The most urgent task is to establish rule. We can select natives who understand Chinese to serve as interpreters and form a native servant army to control Korea with Koreans."

Guo Tu added: "We also need to arrange marriages with the local nobles. The two young masters can take the daughters of the local tribal chiefs as concubines to show their appeasement."

The Yuan brothers adopted the suggestion.

In February, Yuan Xi took the daughter of the chieftain of Danjin as a concubine, and Yuan Tan also married the daughter of a tribal chief. Through these marriages, the two gained the support of some local nobles and formed a thousand-strong local servant army.

But the good times didn't last long.

In March, King Mahan summoned a coalition of more than ten tribes from the central and eastern regions, totaling about 20,000 men, to besiege Damjin.

The Yuan brothers held their position in the village. The local allied forces were poorly equipped and lacked the ability to attack fortified positions. After suffering over a thousand casualties, their morale collapsed, and they retreated on their own.

In April, Jinhan, Byeonhan, and Mahan joined forces to form a 30,000-strong allied army and attacked Damjin again.

This time, the allied forces learned their lesson and instead of launching a direct attack, they surrounded the city from all sides, cutting off all communication between Danjin and the outside world.

The siege lasted for two months.

Food supplies in Danjin City were dwindling, and the morale of the soldiers was low. To make matters worse, the summer heat brought an epidemic, and soldiers were dying of disease every day.

In June, Yuan Xi counted the number of men and found that there were less than two thousand who were capable of fighting.

"We can't hold out any longer," Yuan Xi said to his elder brother. "We must break through."

"Where to?" Yuan Tan asked.

Xin presented a map: "About a hundred li to the south, there are islands of Japan. According to the guide, Japan is divided into more than a hundred small countries, weaker than the Three Han states. We can cross the sea to Japan and find another place to settle down."

The Yuan brothers had no other choice.

In mid-June of the sixth year of the Chuping era (195 AD), Yuan's army burned down their camp and broke out by boat. The allied forces of the Three Han tribes were not skilled in naval warfare and could only watch helplessly as the fleet sailed away.

After ten days of sailing, they arrived at the northern coast of Kyushu Island in Japan.

When Yuan's fleet landed at the port of Yindu Kingdom, it was early morning. The Japanese on the shore saw the huge fleet and were so frightened that they scattered and fled.

The Yuan brothers led their troops ashore, easily defeated the army of Yindu, and occupied Yindu.

This tribe has only about three thousand people. They live in thatched huts, use stone tools to farm, wear simple linen, and the adults are no more than six feet tall (about 1.4 meters), with sallow and emaciated faces.