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

In the first two days after the notice was posted, there were very few applicants. Most of those who came were idle men who couldn't make a living in the tribe, and they were all skinny.

None of the real Qiang and Hu warriors showed up.

In this era, the Qiang and Hu people could barely get enough to eat, let alone have a balanced diet. In contrast, the Han people were generally much stronger than the Qiang and Hu.

Zhao Chang, watching anxiously from the city wall, went to find Li Chang.

Li Chang only replied with one sentence:

"No hurry, wait."

By the third day, everything had completely changed.

A large, dark mass of people surged into the entrance of the county government office, led by several renowned warriors from the nearby tribes.

One of them, named Mogi, had a neck thicker than his head, and both arms were covered in knife scars.

"Is that white-robed general here?"

Zhao Yun walked out of the county government office, dressed in silver armor and a white robe, his expression calm.

Moji stared at him for a few moments, then grinned:

"They say you killed Li Wen with a single shot, and they all say you're incredibly strong? I don't believe it! I'll fight you, and if I win, your horse is mine!"

"What if you lose?"

"I've lost. I'll take your surname and become your slave!"

Zhao Yun shook his head: "You don't need to take my surname. If you lose, you'll obey my orders from now on."

He took a white ash wood stick from a soldier next to him.

Moji's expression changed instantly. Was he being looked down upon?

"You don't use a gun?"

"To deal with you, no..." Zhao Yun, against his conscience, continued reciting the lines given to him by Li Chang, expressionless and devoid of emotion:

"To deal with everyone here, a stick is enough!"

Moji's face turned bright red, and he drew his scimitar!

He'd wanted to come for ages! If it weren't for wanting to make a good impression and memorizing a few more phrases of Chinese, he would have come on the very first day!

He never expected that his earnestness would be met with such humiliation!

"I'll show you the power of the Qiang warriors!" (Qiang language!)

It roared and charged forward.

But then I noticed that one point seemed to be getting bigger and bigger!

What is the reason?

Oh, so it's Zhao Yun's staff!

Zhao Yun flicked his wrist, and the end of his staff struck Zhao Yun's wrist, which was holding the knife, before Zhao Yun could react.

The scimitar flew out of his hand and landed on the earthen wall several feet away, its hilt still vibrating and humming.

Then I pinched his forehead!

The force was just right, leaving you dazed but not mentally taxed!

Moji knelt on one knee, sweating profusely from the pain!

I took a deep breath until I almost suffocated!

"General Zhao respects me so much! He even used a stick to beat me!"

The entire street was completely silent.

The second one fell to the ground with a single blow. The third one, another blow. The fourth one, still a blow.

No one could withstand a single blow from Zhao Yun's staff!

Those Qiang and Hu warriors who usually swaggered around were as fragile as paper in front of the white waxwood sticks.

Zhao Yun didn't even move more than three steps. The bluestone slab beneath his feet was spotless, without a single drop of blood on it.

Seeing all his brothers beaten to the ground, Moji stood up, clutching his bruised wrist, and walked to Zhao Yun, kneeling down on one knee.

"I'll go with you!"

Behind them, the Qiang and Hu strongmen who had been knocked down and those who hadn't, who had only come to watch the spectacle, all knelt down in a flurry.

Zhao Chang stood on the city wall, opened his mouth, and felt a little dry in his throat.

He had fought half his life and had never seen the Qiang and Hu people bow their heads like this!

Li Chang appeared beside him at some point, as if discussing a trivial matter:

"The Qiang people fear power but do not appreciate virtue. To win their respect, a hundred kind words are useless; one blow is enough."

Zhao Chang opened his mouth, wanting to say that not everyone gets to receive such a blow!

The Qiang and Hu people's hearts turned to the government faster than expected. Early the next morning, Moji led more than twenty young men from his tribe to the county government to report for duty, each of them wearing a standard wooden badge from the Han army.

Zhao Yun led them in daily training, and Moji took the lead in obeying orders, so the others gradually stopped daring to cause trouble.

But one thing made Zhao Yun unable to remain calm.

That afternoon, Zhao Yun led his team back from the training ground outside the city. As soon as they entered the city gate, they were blocked by a group of Qiang women.

The Qiang women, carrying milk wine, dried meat, and crookedly embroidered Han-style purses, chattered and surged forward.

The two leaders were the boldest; they tilted their heads back, held the milk wine directly in front of Zhao Yun's horse, and said a few words in broken Chinese.

Instead, Zhao Yun felt embarrassed.

His wheat-colored smiling face was particularly dazzling in the sunlight, and his smile was frank, straightforward and wild.

The interpreter, standing behind Zhao Yun, blushed and stammered as he translated:

"General, they say... they say you are a true hero and want to offer yourself to me tonight."

He had tried his best to make the obscene words as subtle as possible!

But Zhao Yun's ears instantly burned, as if he had heard something burning.

"The army has its own rules. I appreciate your good intentions, but this is absolutely unacceptable."

When the translation was completed, the Qiang women not only didn't feel embarrassed by the rejection, but laughed even harder.

A girl with a thin braid looked up at Zhao Yun, pointed to herself, then to Zhao Yun, and said in broken Chinese:

"General in white robes, I'm waiting for you!"

Then, he casually hung the purse on Zhao Yun's saddle and turned to leave.

Other Qiang women followed suit, leaving behind a string of clear laughter.

And the embarrassed Zhao Yun.

Moji looked at the row of purses hanging on Zhao Yun's saddle, and after holding back for a long time, he finally couldn't help but comfort him in even more broken Chinese:

"General, this is...a good thing! We Qiang people only give our best girls to our best warriors."

Zhao Yun took a deep breath, rode back to camp without a word, and said kindly to Moji, "I also have good news! Moji, you have the makings of a great general!"

They practiced for two extra hours on the training ground that day.

Upon hearing this, Li Chang nearly spat out his tea, then shook his head with a smile:

"Talented people are rare, and it's even rarer to find someone as shameless as a warrior who can defeat ten thousand men."

But then again, I think the Qiang woman is also... cough cough."

The news of the Qiang people's return to the capital spread throughout Qian County, causing an uproar in the county's military camp.

A group of Han soldiers gathered around the drill ground and started making a fuss. They wanted to go up and try, so they pushed and shoved a man who looked like a garrison commander forward.

The man was in his thirties, with a square face and tightly pursed lips.

"Old Xu, you're the perfect candidate! You're the toughest guy in our village! Why don't you go and take a few hits? The whole village will benefit!"

The man shook his head: "That's General Zhao. My skills are nothing compared to his."

Despite this, his gaze remained fixed on the direction of the training ground.

Just then, the sound of horses' hooves sounded outside the camp.

Li Chang dismounted and scanned the crowd: "What's your name?"

The man stood up straight and clasped his hands in greeting: "Reporting to the military advisor, this is your subordinate, Xu Rong. A native of Liaodong."

Li Chang glanced at him again. The name sounded so familiar! He was from Liaodong!

"Why aren't you playing?"

Xu Rong was silent for a moment, then said only, "Isn't this for the Qiang people?"

Li Chang smiled and, before leaving, said, "Come to the central command tent in a couple of days."

Meanwhile, outside Ji County, at the rebel camp.

When the military report of Li Wen's death reached the tent, Bei Gong Boyu flew into a rage.

Han Sui took the battle report and examined it closely, his brows furrowing:

"Zhao Yun is said to be on par with Guan Yu and Zhang Fei. Li Wen's willingness to charge at him is truly courting death."

Bei Gong Boyu said coldly:

"How much trouble can Zhao Yun cause? On the contrary, Liu Bei brought 20,000 men. The Han court is really willing to invest."

"Even more difficult to deal with is the military advisor Li Chang who accompanies the army."

Han Sui said, "This man is cunning and treacherous. I've heard he's a god descended from heaven, capable of summoning wind and rain and turning beans into soldiers! Even Zhang Jiao died at his hands!"

Bei Gong Boyu: "???"

The first part is reasonable, but the second part... Han Sui, did you drink too much horse urine?

Bian Zhang explained for Han Sui: "It's just a case of misinformation spreading, getting more and more exaggerated. In my opinion, it's just that Zhang Jiao himself was about to die!"

He said these things to reassure the Qiang people, lest they actually believe these superstitious tales.

But these two people, each saying something, left Bei Gong Boyu somewhat confused.

He shook his head and decided not to think about it anymore!

……

(P.S.: I'll make a diagram and put it in the comments section.)