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

"This...this is Japan?" Yuan Tan exclaimed in disbelief.

He had heard that Japan was a wild and uncivilized country, but he never imagined it would be this desolate.

Xin Ping captured a Japanese man who could speak Chinese—this man had been to Youzhou on a merchant ship and had learned some Chinese.

Through halting conversation, the Yuan brothers learned that there were more than thirty kingdoms (tribes) on the island of Kyushu, ranging in size from several thousand to several hundred people. These kingdoms were independent of each other and frequently fought each other. Their weapons were mostly wooden spears and stone axes, with only a few nobles possessing bronze swords imported from Youzhou, which they considered sacred national treasures.

"Heaven is on my side!" Yuan Xi exclaimed with delight. "With these short, barbarian foes, my two thousand elite troops are more than enough to sweep across the entire island!"

Yuan Tan's fighting spirit was rekindled: "Second brother, let's join forces, first conquer the nine provinces, then take over this province!"

In early July of the sixth year of the Chuping era (195 AD), Yuan's army began its campaign against the Japanese islands.

The process went more smoothly than I had imagined.

When the Japanese indigenous people saw the well-armored and well-equipped Central Plains army, most of them surrendered without a fight. Those who resisted were routed by a volley of arrows.

The Yuan brothers divided their forces into two routes: Yuan Tan led troops to sweep through the east, while Yuan Xi campaigned in the west.

By the end of October, all thirty-odd tribes on Kyushu Island had submitted.

The Yuan brothers built a city at the port of Yindu State and named it Ji City, using it as their ruling center, in remembrance of Ji Province.

In November, the two discussed the establishment of a nation in the city.

As for the name of the state, neither of the Yuan brothers held a noble title. Their father, Yuan Shao, had either self-proclaimed or been granted a title by Dong Zhuo, which was neither legitimate nor justifiable, so neither of them dared to use it.

However, the Yuan family had produced four generations of high-ranking officials and had a profound cultural heritage. Their ancestor, Yuan An, had been enfeoffed as the Marquis of Huanxiang by the Han Dynasty, so the name of the state was Huan. Neither of them had any objection to this.

But naturally, there will be a struggle over who will be the king and who will be the prime minister.

Yuan Xi claimed that he had more troops and supplies when he went to sea and that he had contributed more to the conquest and establishment of the country, so he wanted to become king and appointed Yuan Tan as prime minister.

Yuan Tan argued that as the eldest son of the Yuan family, he should rightfully be the King Huan, and that Yuan Xi, as the Chancellor, was the legitimate ruler, thus uniting the civil and military officials who had come from the Central Plains.

After neither side was willing to concede, the two argued endlessly about the size of the Japanese territory they were fighting for, the population, and the spoils of war.

Xin Ping, Shen Pei, Guo Tu, and others tried to persuade them, but neither of them listened.

The two brothers had a long-standing feud—back when they were under Yuan Shao's command, they had openly and secretly fought for the position of successor.

Now that they've arrived overseas, they've temporarily united for survival and jointly conquered Japan. However, when it comes to establishing a nation and becoming king, and who is the master and who is the subject, conflicts erupt completely.

Finally, unable to reach an agreement, Yuan Xi slammed his fist on the table and declared, "In that case, let's divide the city! The east will belong to you, and the west to me!"

Yuan Tan sneered: "Fine, let's split it!"

In the twelfth month, Kyushu Island officially split: Yuan Tan occupied fifteen kingdoms east of Jicheng and the eastern part of Kyushu Island, and called himself the King of the East; Yuan Xi occupied eighteen kingdoms west of Jicheng and the western part of Kyushu Island, and called himself the King of the West.

Both men established their capitals in Ji City, recruited Japanese servants to join their armies, built walls within the city as boundaries (similar to the Berlin Wall), heavily guarded the city, and were always ready to attack the other half of the city, with the goal of completely occupying Ji City and becoming the true King Huan.

In the Spring Festival of the seventh year of Chuping (196 AD), Yuan Xi wanted to take advantage of Yuan Tan's holiday to launch a surprise attack.

He led 3,000 Japanese servants to join the army to attack the eastern streets of Jicheng, but Yuan Tan was prepared after being reminded by Xin Ping. He did not actually take a break. When Yuan Xi came to attack, he immediately sent 2,000 servants to meet him.

The two armies fought fiercely in the streets of Jicheng.

It was described as a fierce battle, but in reality it was Japanese fighting amongst themselves. The Yuan brothers both valued their elite troops from the Central Plains, so they only allowed them to stay in the rear and supervise the battle, rather than personally charging into battle.

Those engaged in close combat on the front lines were all Japanese servants forcibly conscripted from their respective territories.

Among these Japanese, there were also some mid- to low-ranking officers who were highly valued by the Yuan brothers. They were used to control other Japanese with other Japanese, and were rewarded with a lot of gold, silver, and Japanese women. As a result, they were very obedient to the Yuan brothers.

In addition, the Japanese islands were scattered and had never been a unified country before, so they had no concept of family, country, or nation. After being bought off by the Yuan brothers, these low- and middle-ranking Japanese generals used the iron swords that the Yuan brothers rewarded them with to urge their Japanese soldiers to fight to the death. However, if anyone retreated, they would kill them with a single blow, without giving the Yuan brothers' elite soldiers from the Central Plains a chance to do so.

After the battle, the two sides were evenly matched, but the Japanese suffered more than a thousand casualties, while the elite troops brought by Yuan from the Central Plains each suffered only a few casualties.

After this battle, Yuan Xi and Yuan Tan discovered that this method was brilliant: using Japanese to fight Japanese not only depleted the potential resistance of the local people, but also preserved the elite troops they had brought from the Central Plains.

From then on, Kyushu Island became the arena for the Japanese.

The Yuan brothers frequently waged war, each time forcing thousands of Japanese servants to fight amongst themselves. When a batch of Japanese died, they would simply conscript another batch from their respective territories. Since these weren't elite Han Chinese troops they had brought from the Central Plains, they felt no remorse whatsoever.

Even if the injury is slightly serious, they don't bother to treat it and simply leave it in the wild to fend for itself.

In just two years, thanks to the deliberate and coordinated attacks by the Yuan brothers, nearly half of the able-bodied Japanese men on Kyushu Island died.

The women were assigned to soldiers in the Central Plains as concubines or maids, and gave birth to mixed-race children. These mixed-race children were then carefully cultivated by the Yuan family as the foundation of their future rule.

Two years later, Yuan Xi, with more soldiers from the Central Plains under his command, personally led a thousand elite Central Plains troops and five thousand Japanese slaves to join his army, launching a major eastern expedition. Yuan Tan was defeated and retreated from Ji City, where he was pursued by Yuan Xi all the way to Honshu Island.

Yuan Xi unified the nine provinces, proclaimed himself King Huan, and established his capital in Jicheng.

After Yuan Tan regrouped on Honshu Island and conquered dozens of smaller indigenous Japanese tribes, he also proclaimed himself King Huan and built a city called Qingcheng (in memory of Qingzhou), which stood in opposition to Yuan Xi across the sea (the Guanmen Strait).

In the event of conflict, the two would continue to use their old methods: inciting the Japanese to fight each other, while preserving the strength of the elite troops in the Central Plains.

Several years later, when Lü Bu sent his navy to Japan to conquer the island, the island's original population of nearly one million Japanese slaves had been reduced to just over 300,000 old, weak, women and children by the Yuan brothers. If it weren't for the need for women to boost morale and reproduce, the Japanese would probably have become extinct long ago.

Faced with the navy sent by the Central Plains court, Yuan Tan and Yuan Xi knew they were no match for the enemy and had nowhere else to go. In addition, their soldiers from the Central Plains were homesick and had no fighting spirit. Therefore, they were forced to surrender and then reported the basic situation of Japan and what they had done in Japan over the past few years.

When Lü Bu learned of the Yuan brothers' deeds on the Japanese islands, he didn't find them cruel; instead, he felt a sense of satisfaction. Moreover, the Yuan brothers had, in a way, avenged the time travelers and expanded their territory. Therefore, Lü Bu spared their lives and did not pursue them to the end.

Not only that, Lü Bu also appointed Yuan Xi as the governor of Kyushu Island and Yuan Tan as the governor of Honshu Island, ordering the two to continue to govern the Japanese people, to conscript Japanese men to do hard labor, and to make Japanese women concubines and maids.

Of course, if the Japanese truly surrender and wholeheartedly serve the government, and are able to ruthlessly suppress the resistance, the government will allow their children to learn Chinese characters and speak Chinese.

If a family has no history of illegal or criminal activity for three generations, the fourth generation can register as Han Chinese and, after strict review, can travel by sea to the Central Plains for tourism (within a certain period).

Thus, after four generations, the pure-blooded Japanese were almost wiped out, and the Japanese islands were entirely inhabited by Han Chinese or people of mixed race, completely becoming Han territory.