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

On the banks of the Yellow River, Liu Bei led several thousand personal guards and hundreds of carts of relief supplies to the heart of Ji Province.

All I saw along the way were displaced disaster victims and barren fields.

The once prosperous Ji Province was already devastated.

Whenever Liu Bei entered a county, he would first open the granaries to distribute grain and appease the displaced people, and then summon the local elders and gentry to comfort them with gentle words.

The decree of the Great Han Dynasty was proclaimed: past transgressions will not be punished, taxes and levies will be reduced, and agriculture and sericulture will be pacified.

Many small and medium-sized aristocratic families had long intended to return to the Han Dynasty, and upon seeing Liu Bei, they resolutely decided to rejoin the Han!

Soon, most of the counties and prefectures settled down and submitted to the authorities, each fulfilling their duties to protect the city and its people.

Only the major cities and prominent families in the prefectures remained in a wait-and-see attitude.

They held the power to defend the city and kept a close eye on the movements in Ye City.

As long as Yecheng remained unconquered and Hebei was not yet pacified, they refused to surrender completely, always leaving themselves room to maneuver and watching the situation change.

The heartland of Jizhou was becoming more stable, while along the Yellow River...

The trio of moral exemplars took action with just a few glances.

……

Beneath the walls of Ye City, the setting sun casts its last rays.

Zhang Fei withdrew his troops temporarily, but remained under the city walls, his armor still covered in mud and grime from the city walls, his anger simmering with nowhere to vent.

He happened to see a soldier leading a group of people carrying a ladder who was half a step slow. He went up, grabbed the soldier by the collar, and lashed him with the whip.

"************! Haven't you eaten?! You're so slow setting up a ladder, you've caused the deaths of several brothers!"

With one lash, a bloody welt immediately appeared on the soldier's back, and he gritted his teeth, not daring to utter a sound.

Zhang Fei grew angrier with each lash, the whip cracking loudly, while the surrounding guards all lowered their heads, not daring to intervene.

But as he was whipping, Zhang Fei's whip suddenly stopped in mid-air. A flash of inspiration struck him, and he lashed down even harder!

"what!"

The soldier tilted his head to the side and fell asleep.

Zhang Fei, however, kept glancing at the high city walls of Ye City out of the corner of his eye. His big eyes rolled around twice, and suddenly he slapped his thigh!

They forcefully swallowed back the word "had it"!

He threw down the whip, wiped the sweat from his face, turned and rushed towards the central command tent, shouting as he went:

"Withdraw the troops! All back to camp! Where's Lü Bu? We need to speak with him!"

The soldiers left behind looked at each other, completely bewildered. Had the general... gone mad?

……

Lu Bu was polishing his halberd in his tent; the tip of the halberd shone brightly in the candlelight.

He didn't even raise his head when he heard Zhang Fei stride in:

"What? Didn't manage to take it again? Or do you want to drink again?"

"No!" Zhang Fei leaned closer, his large face extremely close, looking mysterious:

"Fengxian, I have a plan! It's guaranteed to take Ye City!"

Lu Bu paused, looked up and sized Zhang Fei up and down, his face full of disbelief:

"You? You, Zhang Yide? You have another plan?"

In his mind, Zhang Fei was all about charging into battle and shouting insults; playing mind games was something for Li Dadu and Jia Wenhe!

"Hey! What kind of talk is that!" Zhang Fei glared at him, pounding his chest loudly.

"I, Zhang Fei, am fierce in battle, but I'm not stupid! Even my fourth brother says that I, Zhang Fei, am incredibly resourceful most of the time!"

Although I don't know what my fourth brother meant, he must be praising me, Zhang Fei!

"Just tell me, are you going to listen or not!"

"You speak first." Lu Bu leaned his halberd to the side, crossed his arms, and looked like he wanted to hear what he had to say.

Zhang Fei stepped forward, pulled out an old feather fan that Li Chang didn't want, and walked a few steps around the camp while fanning himself.

Upon reaching the door, he tucked the feather fan into his chest, then suddenly turned around and looked at Lü Bu!

At this moment, even Lü Bu held his breath. "Holy crap, is Zhang San really going to do this? Does he still have a plan?"

Zhang Fei spoke:

"Fengxian, think about it. Shen Pei is hiding in the city, relying on the high walls and thick walls, he just won't come out. If we attack head-on, we'll suffer too many losses."

We have too few soldiers and cannot completely block the four gates of Ye City. We just don't know why they haven't broken through.

But that doesn't matter!

Why don't we put on a show for him?

Tomorrow we'll continue the siege. I'll deliberately pick a fight, first attacking my own troops, and then intentionally attacking your lowly soldiers.

Then, in front of both armies, we had a huge argument. I, Lao Zhang, was unhappy that you were the vanguard and were stealing credit. You, in turn, were unhappy that I, Lao Zhang, had hit your men.

In short, the bigger the commotion, the better, so that everyone in the city can see it and know that we are at odds.

Zhang Fei continued to imitate Li Chang's mannerisms, paused, and his eyes gleamed:

"At the third watch of the night, we pretended to have a commotion in our camp. Torches flickered wildly, men shouted and horses neighed, and weapons clanged, but we didn't make contact. We just said that there was infighting and a fight had broken out."

Shen Pei has been cautious for so long, but can he really stand it when he sees us in internal strife?

He'll definitely lead his troops out to raid the camp!

We'll have our men lying in ambush, trapping him like a turtle in a jar. Once he comes out, we'll seize the city gate!

Song Xian and the others standing nearby immediately got goosebumps!

Could Zhang Fei still have a plan? Will the riot in the camp turn into a real riot?

Such a tactic? And wouldn't Shen Pei see through it?

They looked at Lü Bu again, but breathed a sigh of relief; General Lü would definitely not agree.

But after hearing this, Lü Bu's eyes widened even more, and he slammed his hand on the table, making the candlelight flicker.

"You, Zhang Yide! I thought you were only good for fighting and killing, but I didn't realize you actually had a brain!"

He was a straightforward person, and immediately made the decision: "Okay! Let's do it!"

If you're going to act, act it out! Tomorrow I'll have a real argument with you, the more heated the better!

At this moment, Lu Bu looked at Zhang Fei and felt an even stronger sense of camaraderie!

He patted Zhang Fei on the shoulder repeatedly: "Well done, Yide! I never expected you to have such a plan!"

For a time, the two were truly kindred spirits!

Upon hearing this, Song Xian, Wei Xu, and the others turned pale with fright!

Oh no, General Lü actually agreed!

"General Lü! General Zhang! You mustn't!" Song Xian rushed forward and cried out urgently.

"The riot is no joke!"

The most feared thing in the army is a mutiny in the camp. Once chaos breaks out, soldiers can't distinguish between real and fake soldiers, and they start killing each other. The morale of the army collapses, and that's no joke!

"If this charade turns into reality, we'll be thrown into chaos first. Instead of attracting attention, we'll collapse on our own!"

Wei Xu quickly nodded, "Yes, General! That was too risky! Perhaps we should think of another way."

It wasn't that they didn't believe Zhang Fei's plan; it was that they simply didn't believe it at all!

And how could their General Lü possibly agree?

Zhang Fei glared, his booming voice almost making dust fall from the tent roof:

"What's there to be afraid of! I, Old Zhang, know what I'm doing!"

We've already informed all the battalions that only our two personal guard battalions should make a scene, while everyone else should remain still. We'll just light up the torches, shout a couple of times, and clash our weapons, but no one is allowed to actually fight!

"It's just a show for the city walls! How chaotic can things get?"

Lu Bu waved his hand, looking confident: "It's alright. I know what I'm doing."

It's settled then. Tomorrow during the day, we'll perform a skit about discord, and a few days later at night, we'll perform a skit about a mutiny.

Song Xian, you lead your men to ambush on the left flank; Wei... never mind, Cheng Lian, you lead your men to ambush on the right flank.

"As soon as the inspectors leave the city, charge in immediately and don't let a single one go back!"

"This..." Song Xian and Wei Xu exchanged a glance. Seeing that Lü Bu had made up his mind, they dared not persuade him any further and could only bow and accept the order.

"Here you are."

The two were feeling very uneasy, completely lacking confidence!