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

Qiequ and Gudu exchanged a glance, and then Qiequ bowed: "Your Majesty, we are wise. Yizhi is a small country with few people and only six hundred soldiers. We are willing to await the command of the Chief Administrator's Office."

Gudu also said, "Pule has seven hundred soldiers who are willing to serve the King of Jin."

Lü Bu nodded: "In that case, each of your two countries shall send five hundred soldiers to report to Liuzhong before the beginning of next spring and be incorporated into the 9th Army of the Chief Administrator's Office."

Qu and Gu exchanged a glance, not daring to say anything more, and could only agree.

After the two left, Hu Landi reminded him, "Prince Jin, Yizhi and Pulei are quite far away and have always been estranged from us. Their quick agreement this time is probably due to the pressure from Prince Jin's military might, and they may not be truly loyal."

Lu Bu said calmly, "Whether they are sincere or not is not important. Once they have engaged in battle, they have no choice but to continue."

……

The third matter was to conquer the four kingdoms of Yanqi.

Lü Bu took out a scroll of silk: "This is a copy of the correspondence between King Long'an of Yanqi and Xubu Danghe, provided by Tuoba Wuer. It also includes the time when the Yanqi envoy arrived at Jinwei Mountain and the list of his entourage. The evidence is conclusive."

He handed the silk scroll to Su Yan: "Prefect Su, please make several copies for use in Yanqi."

Su Yan took it, examined it carefully, and said angrily, "King Long'an of Yanqi has received the Han's favor for generations. His father was even granted a title by the Han court. Yet he dares to collude with the Xiongnu to slaughter his fellow vassals. This is truly a heinous crime!"

Wei Bing was also furious: "Back then, this old minister followed my father to guard the Western Regions, and the envoys from Yanqi came to the Prefectural Governor's office every year to pay tribute, showing utmost respect. Now that the court has been in turmoil for several years, these villains have revealed their true colors!"

The three kings of Hulandi were filled with resentment.

Himita gritted his teeth: "Yanqi people, if we don't avenge this, I, Dongqie Mi, will be ashamed before my fallen clansmen!"

Du Lujian, tears streaming down his face, exclaimed, "The lives of thousands of people from the Cheshi Kingdom were taken by the Yanqi people through a proxy attack..."

Lu Bu raised his hand, and the crowd gradually quieted down.

"Tufa Wuer has gone to Yanqi and sent a message to Long An and others: Within ten days, they must personally go to Liuzhong to plead guilty, hand over the mastermind, relinquish military power, compensate the six kingdoms of Cheshi for their losses, and become a vassal state of Han forever, otherwise—"

His voice turned cold: "The fate of Xubudanghe is the fate of the four kings, dukes and nobles of Yanqi."

Ma Chao stepped forward: "My lord, this humble general is willing to lead the 9th Army as the vanguard and march upon Qin Hai!"

Lü Bu waved his hand: "Mengqi will be stationed in Liuzhong, where he will reorganize the new army of Cheshi and consolidate the Western Regions Prefectural Office. I will personally go to the four kingdoms of Yanqi."

He looked at the three kings of Hulandi: "Would the three kings be willing to accompany me?"

Hu Landi was the first to kneel down: "Your subject is willing to serve as the vanguard for the King of Jin, to demand an explanation from the four kingdoms of Yanqi, why did they harm my Cheshi people!"

Himita and Durujian also knelt: "We are willing to go!"

"Alright." Lü Bu stood up. "On the 22nd of the 11th month, the army will march west from Liuzhong, along the northern Silk Road, towards Qin Hai."

……

On the 22nd day of the 11th lunar month, the west gate of Liuzhong City was opened wide, and Lü Bu led four thousand elite cavalrymen slowly out of the city.

Guan Yu and Zhang Fei served as attendants on either side, while Dian Wei and Xu Chu followed closely behind.

The three kings, Hulandi, Himita, and Dulujian, each led several dozen personal guards and accompanied the army.

Ma Chao, Su Yan, and Wei Bing, along with officials from the Chief Secretary's Office, escorted them to a place ten miles outside the city.

Ma Chao dismounted and bowed respectfully: "My lord, I am unable to accompany you on your journey. I hope you will take care."

Lu Bu nodded: "The Western Regions Prefectural Office is newly established, and Mengqi bears a heavy responsibility. The reorganization of the six kingdoms of Cheshi, the defense against the Xiongnu counterattack, the extermination of the Xiongnu remnants, the training of the new army, and the settlement of farmland and pastures all require your concerted efforts with Prefect Su and Advisor Wei."

Ma Chao clasped his hands in a fist salute: "This humble general will certainly not fail the great trust placed in me by my lord!"

The army set off.

Four thousand iron cavalry, their hooves thundering, rolled westward.

Fox Lan Di rode his horse in the middle of the group, looking back at Liu Zhongcheng who was getting further and further away, and then at the back of Lu Bu in his golden armor in front of him. He felt a mix of emotions.

Himita rode closer and whispered, "With the King of Jin's four thousand iron cavalry, he's going west this time, enough to flatten the Qin Sea. Do you think the four kingdoms of Yanqi will surrender?"

Fox Orchid shook his head: "I don't know."

"What if they don't surrender?"

After a long silence, Hu Landi said, "The mound of Xiongnu corpses outside Jinman City is the final resting place of the four kings and nobles of Yanqi."

Himita nodded slightly and said nothing more.

The journey westward was fraught with biting north winds.

As Lü Bu gazed at the vast Gobi Desert ahead, his mind was clear.

The four kingdoms of Yanqi are merely a piece in the game of the Western Regions.

If we take over their troops, establish their counties, and integrate their people, then the entire northern route of the Western Regions will be under our control.

When the Protectorate of the Western Regions is rebuilt, both the northern and southern routes of the Silk Road will be under the banner of the Han Dynasty.

Then--

His gaze drifted into the distance.

That area was home to the Wusun, Dayuan, Kangju, and even the Yuezhi (Kushan Empire).

It is the vast Western Regions that the Han Dynasty's iron hooves trampled across three hundred years ago and has gradually faded away.

"It has been more than three hundred years since the Marquis of Champion sealed the Wolf-Dwelling Mountain," Lü Bu murmured to himself. "It's time for someone to once again demonstrate the might of our nation."

Guan Yu rode closer, only catching the last half of the sentence, and asked, "What did my lord just say?"

Lu Bu withdrew his gaze and said calmly, "I say, the wind in the Western Regions is much colder than in Chang'an."

Guan Yu stroked his beard, gazing at the endless yellow sand: "It is indeed cold, but the men of Han have guarded this place for hundreds of years, year after year, generation after generation."

Lu Bu was silent for a moment, then said, "Yun Chang, when General Huo Gu died in battle, did he harbor any resentment?"

Guan Yu thought for a moment and said, "This humble general has never met General Huo, but this humble general believes that he has no grievances."

Why?

"If he harbored resentment, he wouldn't have been proud of being a Han Chinese, nor would he have stood leaning on his sword with his eyes wide open in anger until his death." Guan Yu's voice was deep. "His resentment was for the Xiongnu invasion, the fall of the city, and the deaths of its inhabitants, not for his twenty-three years of guarding the border."

Lü Bu shook his head: "No, he would resent, he would hate, but his sense of responsibility to his country outweighed his resentment and hatred towards the court, and he ultimately chose to die a heroic death for his country, which is all the more commendable. Therefore, I want to avenge him, posthumously honor him, and build a Jingguan (a mound of skulls) for him. Not only because he needed these things, but also because future generations need to remember him."

He paused, then said, "Remember that there was someone who guarded the border for the Han Dynasty for more than twenty years, thousands of miles from Chang'an, and finally died on the battlefield, his body wrapped in a horse's hide."

Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Dian Wei, Xu Chu, and others stood solemnly.

The army continued westward.

Behind them, Liu Zhongcheng was gradually becoming a black dot, while Qin Hai was still a thousand miles away ahead.

Lu Bu knew that this step he took would completely change the millennia-old landscape of the Western Regions.

From the establishment of Wutugu County, to the upgrading of the Western Regions Prefectural Administration, to the surrender of military power by the Six Kingdoms of Cheshi, and now the westward expedition against Yanqi—

Every step was transforming this vast territory from a tributary state into a vassal state of the Han Dynasty.

This is not something that can be accomplished overnight, but he has plenty of patience.

The system determined that this was the end times, so he used this end times as a foundation to sweep away all rivals and expand his territory.

Once the world is unified and the Western Regions are won over, Lü Bu will have lived up to his time-traveling adventure.