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

"From now on, your name will be Wang Jiang."

He then explained in a language they could understand: "Da Niu means strong and powerful! Jiang means stubborn. The character is composed of 'strong' on top and 'ox' on the bottom."

It means that once you've set your mind on something, you'll never give up, no matter how difficult it is. Your ability to distinguish left from right and to fight on the battlefield relies on this stubbornness!

He handed the carved wooden plaque to Wang Jiang: "Work hard, and in the future, rely on your own abilities to become a centurion or a chiliarch, and let everyone see how capable you, Wang Jiang, are!"

Wang Jiang held the wooden plaque in both hands, tracing the characters on it. He couldn't read, but the two characters seemed to be forever engraved in his heart.

Tears could no longer be held back and streamed down her face.

He knelt down with a thud, kowtowed three times to Li Chang, and choked out:

"Thank you, strategist! Thank you, strategist! My life, Wang Jiang's life, now belongs to my lord and you, strategist! If I have a son in the future, please name him!"

Li Chang laughed and helped him up, teasingly saying, "Alright, but if your son still can't tell left from right by then, I won't take the child."

The entire audience burst into laughter, and the atmosphere became extremely lively.

The entire day was dedicated to distributing all two thousand wooden plaques.

When the last villager returned to his unit with the wooden plaque, the atmosphere in the entire drill ground changed.

No longer the loose, aimless group of refugees, they have become an army with a sense of belonging, cohesion, and a soul.

Many of the local militia members had tears in their eyes. They had only joined the army to make a living and never imagined that they would be valued so much.

At this moment, they truly considered themselves as part of this army.

In everyone's eyes, there was an added determination and loyalty!

Watching this scene, Jian Yong exclaimed, "Xuande meeting a wise man is truly a blessing for the righteous army!"

Standing on the earthen platform, Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei looked down at the transformed army below, their hearts filled with emotion.

It was late at night, destined to be a sleepless night. The villagers held their own wooden plaques, muttered their own names, and tossed and turned, unable to sleep, nor did they want to.

Liu Bei and Guan Yu thought of their local militia and their fourth brother, and their eyes reddened.

……

At noon, inside the military camp, Guan Yu led two thousand men in training. The sound of stomping and shouting shook the ground.

"Fourth brother, we only have two thousand men. Wouldn't it be too fake to call ourselves five thousand? How about we call ourselves three thousand?" Liu Bei said, looking at his men who were training in an orderly fashion.

He only counted them briefly and felt that these five thousand people were too fake and too unreal.

"Alright." Li Chang nodded, choosing to believe the prevailing view of the time. "Let's compromise and just call ourselves four thousand men! When the time comes to collect the rations, we can get an extra portion."

"good!"

Liu Bei was overjoyed. Within a few months, he had everything he needed: men, money, and soldiers. It was like a perfect example of a wish-fulfillment novel!

Li Chang followed behind, feeling like he was just a cannon fodder sidekick to the main character.

Time flies, another month has passed, and news came from the front that Cheng Yuanzhi led 50,000 Yellow Turban soldiers to attack Ji County, the capital of Youzhou.

Upon receiving the news, Li Chang's eyes lit up, and he called out to his three older brothers.

"The time has come; let us rise up today!"

The four men, leading their troops, marched north from Zhuojun and arrived in a grand procession at the city of Ji.

Riding on horseback, Li Chang was seeing this era for the first time. The city walls, nearly ten meters high, were so grand, even though it was just the capital of the remote Youzhou.

Looking up, they saw men on the city wall, swords drawn, treating them as enemies.

After Liu Bei's introduction, the four of them successfully entered the city and went to the governor's mansion.

Nothing happened that led to anyone looking down on him or showing off, so Li Chang didn't get to use the words he had prepared, which was a real pity!

At this moment, Liu Yan, the governor of Youzhou, was looking at the map with great concern.

At this time, the prefects in various places were all defending their own counties and had no time to help him, the governor who only had the power of supervision!

Now, with 50,000 Yellow Turban rebels attacking, he had no soldiers or generals and didn't know what to do for a while. He had no choice but to retreat into the city, since the Yellow Turban army didn't have much ability to attack cities anyway.

As for the people outside the city?

They joined the Yellow Turbans voluntarily! They're all Yellow Turban traitors! Rebels!

Just then, someone came to report.

"The governor reported that a man from outside the city came, claiming to be a member of the Han imperial family and a descendant of Liu Sheng, the Prince of Zhongshan, who led four thousand elite local warriors to help him."

"Four thousand? Is that true?" Liu Yan was a little skeptical about the accuracy of the number.

"It's so real, so incredibly real! They claimed to have four thousand people, but I roughly counted, and there were at least two thousand! And the ranks were extremely orderly!"

"They are all highly trained elites, lined up in perfect formation, and look even more imposing than our county soldiers," Zou Jing said excitedly from the side.

Great! It seems like they can be saved!

"What?! There are actually over a thousand people!" Liu Yan's eyes widened.

Ever since he issued the order to approve the recruitment of local militia, many people have casually recruited three or four hundred people and dared to claim that they have three or four thousand!

Half of them are elderly, weak, sick, or disabled; some don't even have a walking stick, yet they come here to freeload!

They completely disregard him!

"As expected, we still have to rely on my Han imperial relatives!" Liu Yan immediately beckoned to his men, "Quickly, invite in that descendant of Liu Sheng, the Prince of Zhongshan!"

"promise!"

Upon receiving the order, his subordinates quickly invited Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Li Chang in together.

During this time, Liu Yan made Liu Bei recite the family genealogy. Liu Bei was not worried at all, nor was he afraid of being investigated. He was absolutely certain that it was genuine!

After Liu Bei finished reporting, Liu Yan was overjoyed and immediately recognized Liu Bei as his nephew!

With the addition of two thousand elite troops, Liu Bei's influence in Ji County was greatly enhanced.

It wasn't until evening, when Liu Yan and Zou Jing, along with prominent figures from Ji County, joined Liu Bei and his three brothers for a banquet, that they began to discuss serious matters.

"Nephew," Liu Yan, seated at the head of the table, raised his cup in invitation, "Now that the Yellow Turban leader Cheng Yuanzhi is leading 50,000 Yellow Turban rebels to attack, what should we do?"

"It's alright!" Liu Bei stood up, bowed to Liu Yan, and then, following Li Chang's instructions, said, "The claim of 50,000 Yellow Turban rebels is an exaggeration by the Yellow Turban rebels; at most, there are only 25,000 Yellow Turban rebels."

Excluding the elderly, children, and women, there were at most ten thousand Yellow Turban rebels left. Of these ten thousand, less than five thousand were soldiers capable of fighting; the rest were merely laborers.

The Yellow Turban rebels have always only fought when they have the upper hand; once they lose, they are sure to collapse!

After saying this, Liu Bei glanced at his two brothers behind him, and everyone followed his gaze.

Sure enough, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, sitting there upright, looked every bit the fierce generals!

And that thin scholar... why does he look so eccentric? More like a Taoist priest than a scholar?

Could they be Zhang Jiao's rebels?

At this moment, Liu Bei bowed again, saying, "My two brothers are both capable of fighting ten thousand men, and my fourth brother is unparalleled in wisdom. If you lend me a thousand elite soldiers, combined with my four thousand elite local militia, then five thousand against fifty thousand, the advantage is in my hands!"

With the governor's assistance, and under the leadership of my four brothers, we will surely annihilate them in one fell swoop!

After he finished speaking, the entire banquet fell silent, with only the sound of swallowing food and drink.

Those people looked at Liu Bei with a mocking gaze in private, but on the surface, they were full of admiration!

These are aristocratic families that have been passed down for so many generations, and some of them are high-ranking officials. Putting aside everything else, their acting skills are top-notch!

At this moment, they all had only one thought: to send the fearless Liu Bei to the battlefield.

As long as the governor sends Liu Bei to his death, he can't send him to his death again!

As for Liu Bei's analysis, in their opinion, it was excellent; they shouldn't do it again! Who doesn't know these things?

But who could defeat the Yellow Turban vanguard? A warrior capable of taking on ten thousand men? Where are warriors capable of taking on ten thousand men so easy to find?

Thinking of this, they all stood up and looked at Liu Bei with admiration.

"Brother Liu is indeed a man of great talent!"

"With Brother Liu and several other brothers here, Youzhou will surely be safe!"

They seemed to say something, yet they also seemed to say nothing at all; they neither supported nor opposed anything.

Liu Yan, who was in the lead, was well-prepared; it was a problem if these people could support him.

Finally, with a pleased expression, he said, "My nephew is indeed a man of great talent! I, the governor, bestow upon you three thousand elite troops! Hundreds of fine armor and weapons; I hope you will decisively defeat the Yellow Turbans!"

As the highest-ranking official, Liu Yan had to bear responsibility no matter what.

However, sending Liu Bei, who was not an official under his command, could result in a victory if he knew how to use people well, but if he lost, Liu Bei would just be a commoner, and it wouldn't have much to do with him.

At most, we'll only lose some armor and weapons, but three thousand elite troops—they'll practically be offering themselves up for free!

He's guaranteed to win this round!

In the end, the three parties reached an agreement, and the three thousand rabble, mixed with Liu Bei's four thousand "elite" troops, formed seven thousand monsters and demons, calling themselves an army of fifteen thousand!

the next day.

Inside Ji County, at Liu Bei's military camp.

Bang!

Zhang Fei slammed his fist on the table in anger, cracking the table slightly, and roared.

"Brother! That Liu Yan is a complete scoundrel! What hundreds? He only has a few dozen elite armored soldiers, and only ten of them are good! And that so-called 'three thousand elite troops' is nothing but a rabble!"

As Zhang Fei talked about these things, he became angrier and angrier.

I went to collect the armor and manpower early in the morning, and this is what happened!

"Brother, those so-called elite troops are just old, weak, sick, and disabled local militia from all over! They have a mere three hundred men, yet they dare to call themselves three thousand!"

"!!!"

Liu Bei's eyes widened upon hearing this. He had already been mentally prepared for what was to come after discussing it with Li Chang the previous night.

However, this was something Liu Bei never expected. He originally thought that his two thousand men, while claiming four thousand, were somewhat misleading.

As it turned out, the others were even more ruthless!

Li Chang was taken aback: "So, you really only gave us a mere three hundred men?"

At this moment, Jian Yong stepped forward with the roster, "It really was three thousand, two thousand of whom were rabble, most of whom could only get a wooden fork."

The remaining five hundred are barely usable, but the last five hundred are county soldiers, and we probably can't command them.