The Three Kingdoms: The Oath of the Peach Garden, the Rise of the Han Dynasty

The next day, at the crack of dawn, outside Quyang City, after the army had been reorganized and dispersed.

Then came the sound of barely orderly marching.

Liu Bei personally led the entire army to attack, leaving only wounded soldiers to assist in defending the city.

The army broke camp and headed straight for Guangzong.

He sat astride his horse, his silver armor glistening with morning dew, his brow furrowed.

Li Chang's words from yesterday were still weighing on his mind, keeping him up all night!

I wish I could rush to Guangzong immediately to stay by my mentor's side.

But Liu Bei also knew that the only way to live up to his mentor's painstaking efforts was to manage his troops well and achieve great merit!

The army marched to a point seventy li outside Guangzong City, where they set up camp, facing Lu Zhi's main force from a distance.

Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned. No sooner had the camp been set up than a light rain began to fall, which continued for days on end.

Inside Guangzong City, atop a high altar, Zhang Jiao, clad in a Taoist robe and holding a peach wood sword, closed his eyes and chanted scriptures.

His hair was mostly white, and his face was deeply lined with wrinkles. In a short period of time, he had aged several times over and was already in a state of exhaustion.

Around the altar, dozens of Taiping Dao followers stood solemnly in the rain, holding torches.

Zhang Liang stood beneath the altar, watching his elder brother's swaying figure, his heart filled with anxiety and heartache.

A moment later, Zhang Jiao swung his sword downwards, a flash of light appeared, and the rain suddenly intensified.

He vomited a mouthful of blood, his body went limp, and he collapsed.

"Brother!" Zhang Liang rushed forward to support him, choking back tears, "Brother, please stop casting spells! This is draining your energy; your body can't take it!"

Zhang Jiao leaned against Zhang Liang's chest, breathing heavily. He opened his eyes and looked around. His gaze was cloudy, but his mind was made up.

"Even if we can't hold on, we have to. Lu Zhi's army has besieged Guangzong for three months. If it weren't for my continuous prayers for rain to slow down the siege, Guangzong would have fallen long ago!"

I know that my fate with the Way of Peace is sealed. But every day I prolong the journey, the more hope the poor people of the world have, and the more unpredictable the chaos of this world becomes!

He looked up at the gloomy sky and murmured to himself, "Perhaps, heaven has left a glimmer of hope."

Looking at his elder brother's pale face, Zhang Liang finally couldn't hold back his tears.

"Sigh..." He sighed and looked in the direction of Quyang City, still wondering about Zhang Bao's situation!

The rain outside the city intensified, and the muddy roads made it difficult for the government troops' siege equipment to advance.

Lu Zhi had no choice but to order a halt to the attack and to hold his camp.

In Liu Bei's camp, the soldiers were also filled with frustration. The continuous heavy rains made it difficult for the main army to move out, so they could only send small groups of cavalry to wipe out scattered Yellow Turban followers in the surrounding area.

Zhang Fei paced back and forth in his camp every day, stamping his feet in frustration: "This wretched weather! When will it ever clear up! My eighteen-foot spear is about to rust!"

Guan Yu squinted his phoenix eyes, looked in the direction of Guangzong, and remained silent.

Li Chang would climb the high platform in the camp every day and look out over Guangzong City.

Catching the raindrops that had been falling from Guangzong's head for days, he murmured, "Is this the rainy season in Jizhou?"

Calculating the time with his fingers, he thought, "It's June now. If the climate has remained roughly the same for two thousand years, it should be in the Jianghuai region, right? Probably the area around present-day Yangzhou, northern Jingzhou, and southern Yuzhou!"

As Li Chang continued calculating, he began to doubt himself. "Have I forgotten all my high school geography knowledge? Or has too much changed in the past two thousand years?"

Or perhaps…

Li Chang looked up, thinking again of his master and the runes he had seen before: "Does that old fox Zhang Jiao really know how to summon wind and rain? Perhaps we should look into the 'legacy' my master left behind?"

……

The heavy rain lasted for seven days before it subsided slightly.

That afternoon, a troop carrying the emperor's banner sped from Luoyang and entered Lu Zhi's camp.

The leader was a young, clean-shaven eunuch in brocade robes and a jade belt; he was none other than Zuo Feng, a favored eunuch of Emperor Ling.

Upon hearing that an angel had arrived, Lu Zhi immediately tidied his clothes and led his troops out of the camp to greet him.

Zuo Feng sat upright on his horse, looking down at Lu Zhi with utter disrespect, and shouted in a shrill voice, "Lu Zhi, receive the imperial decree!"

Lu Zhi led his generals to kneel and receive the imperial edict.

Zuo Feng unfurled the imperial edict and loudly proclaimed:

Imperial Edict

Beizhonglang Jiangzhi:

During the Battle of Guangzong, the siege of the enemy lasted for more than three months. You, with your troops, did not fight, but procrastinated and wasted military resources. Now you are hereby stripped of your official rank and titles, taken back in a prison cart, and handed over to the Court of Justice for trial.

The troops under his command were temporarily placed under the command of Dong Zhuo, the General of the Eastern Central Army.

The summer of the first year of the Zhongping era, in the sixth month.

After the imperial edict was proclaimed, the generals in the camp were in an uproar.

"This is outrageous! General Lu fought valiantly, routing over 100,000 Yellow Turban rebels. How can he claim to have achieved nothing? This must be a frame-up!"

The generals were enraged and drew their swords, glaring at Zuo Feng.

Zuo Feng turned pale with fright, took several steps back, and screamed:

"How dare you! Are you plotting a rebellion?!"

"Stop!" Lu Zhi shouted sternly, stopping the generals.

He stood up, looked up at the gloomy sky, and sighed deeply.

Without uttering a word of protest or offering any resistance, he calmly extended his hands, allowing the Imperial Guards to cuff his wrists.

"General Lu!"

"General!"

"Lord Lu!"

As the generals watched Lu Zhi's retreating figure, they all knelt down and wept bitterly.

Lu Zhi turned to look at the crowd, his gaze still firm:

"After I leave, you shall guard the camp strictly, obey orders, and not act rashly. Remember, as soldiers of the Han Dynasty, you shall fight to defeat the enemy!"

After saying this, he turned and boarded the prison cart.

The prison cart wheels rolled on, heading towards Luoyang.

Zuo Feng watched the prison van drive away, a smug smile playing on his lips.

His visit to Guangzong was at the behest of the Ten Attendants, who were tasked with extorting bribes from Lu Zhi.

However, Lu Zhi was upright and refused to give him a single penny, even rebuking him severely. He harbored resentment and upon returning to Luoyang, he slandered Lu Zhi before Emperor Ling, falsely accusing him of holding back his troops and deliberately delaying the war!

Now, my wish has finally come true.

……

Two hours later, the news reached Liu Bei's camp.

"What? My mentor has been escorted back to the capital?"

Liu Bei suddenly stood up, and the teacup in his hand crashed to the ground and shattered.

His face was deathly pale, his whole body was trembling, and he turned and walked out without saying a word.

"Brother! Where are you going?" Zhang Fei hurriedly grabbed him.

"I'm going to save my mentor!"

Liu Bei shook off Zhang Fei and choked out:

"My revered teacher has been loyal and virtuous all his life; how can he suffer such an unjust injustice! I absolutely cannot watch him be escorted to Luoyang! Prepare the horses! All cavalry, follow me!"

Li Changli stood by without interfering.

He knew he couldn't stop Liu Bei at all.

Moreover, if Liu Bei were to stand idly by at this moment, would he still be Emperor Zhaolie?

"Zilong, you take a hundred cavalrymen and escort your elder brother there. Remember, no matter what, your brother's safety must come first. I will follow shortly."

"Yes, sir!" Zhao Yun accepted the order and immediately assembled the cavalry.

A moment later, Liu Bei led over a hundred cavalrymen out of the camp and galloped toward Luoyang.

Li Chang watched the crowd depart, then turned to Guan Yu and said, "Second Brother, you stay and guard the camp to prevent a Yellow Turban attack. I'll be right back."

After saying this, he mounted his horse and, with several personal guards, followed closely behind.

The prison van bumped along the muddy road, moving slowly.

Zuo Feng rode alongside the prison cart, occasionally leaning closer to make sarcastic remarks:

"Lu Zhi, weren't you always upright and incorruptible? Didn't you look down on us eunuchs? How did you become a prisoner now?"

If you had known this would happen, why were you so stubborn back then? If you had just been willing to give some money to our family, you wouldn't be in this state now.

Lu Zhi leaned against the prison cart with his eyes closed, completely ignoring Zuo Feng's mockery.

Just then, a white line appeared on the distant official road, dust rose, and soon after, the sound of rapid hoofbeats came.

Zuo Feng's expression changed drastically. He hurriedly reined in his horse and shouted in alarm, "Who goes there? Are you a Yellow Turban rebel?"

The accompanying imperial guards immediately mobilized their troops and stood ready for battle.