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"Because in the end, Wenruo… the dream was never just about me on a throne, or the banner of Wei flying alone. The dream, the one that kept us going through all the blood and the betrayal, was a united land. A end to the chaos. Peace. Order. If I cannot be the one to give it… then I do not want the men who served me, men of brilliance and integrity like you, to be excluded from it. I do not want your exile. I would want… for you to be a part of the peace we all fought for, even if it wears another family's name."
Xun Yu's jaw went slack. He could only stare, his mind struggling to process the enormity of what Cao Cao was implying. This was not the defiant warlord, the proud emperor planning his last stand.
This was a man who had already seen the end of the board, who was measuring the cost of his final moves not in victory, but in the legacy of those who had followed him. He was speaking of an unwinnable war.
He was acknowledging that the massive, well supplied armies of Hengyuan, controlling nearly the entire chessboard, had made this last redoubt at Tong Pass not a fortress, but a final square before a possible checkmate.
The loyalty in Xun Yu's heart warred with the cold, strategic truth he saw reflected in his emperor's tired eyes. He could find no words. He simply bowed again, lower this time, a gesture of respect, of shared sorrow, and of a dawning, terrible understanding.
The next day, far to the south, the theory of that unwinnable war was being rendered into brutal, bloody practice.
Hanzhong was dying. The once proud city, gateway to the rich lands of Shu, was engulfed in the final, furious tempest of Fa Zheng's southern campaign. The air was a solid wall of sound, the thwump and crash of trebuchets, the hissing volleys from hwachas pinning defenders to the walls, and the constant, deafening roar of clashing steel and dying men.
From his command post, Fa Zheng observed the storm with the calm of a master calligrapher, each order a precise stroke on the parchment of battle. Meng Da stood beside him, translating those strokes into specific commands for messengers who dashed to and fro like frantic ants.
But the true artistry was on the walls themselves. The initial, coordinated shock and awe that had broken Jianmen Pass had given way to a more direct, grinding assault here. And leading that assault were the six blades Fa Zheng had honed for this purpose.
Yan Yan and Zhang Ren, the old lions of Shu, fought together as one unit, becoming the twin fists of the assault. Yan Yan was a whirlwind of sheer, experienced fury, his glaive shearing through Wei shields and helms with economical brutality.
Zhang Ren was more controlled, a rock around which the enemy waves broke, his movements deliberate, each parry of his spear created an opening for the man beside him.
To their left fought Meng Huo, the King of the Nanman. He was a force of primal nature, his roars drowning out the battle cries around him. He wielded a massive, spiked club, not with finesse, but with terrifying, overwhelming power, crushing armor and shattering bones.
He was followed by a wedge of his fierce tribesmen, their unfamiliar tactics and wild ferocity breaking the disciplined Wei formations.
On the right, the younger generation proved their worth. Li Yan and Wu Lan fought with the disciplined aggression of rising stars, their coordination seamless. And Zhang Ni, the local recruit, was everywhere, his knowledge of the wall's layout allowing him to lead daring, pinpoint strikes against command nodes and artillery positions.
These six men, a blend of veteran grit, foreign fury, and ambitious youth, had become an unstoppable spearhead. They had fought their way onto the main wall and now held a widening beachhead of carnage.
Around them, the Han turned to Hengyuan troops swarmed, their morale sky high, their confidence absolute. They were not just taking a city, they were proving that the southern army was every bit the equal of the imperial force that had taken Hongnong.
The Wei defenders under Zhang Lu fought with the desperate courage of the doomed. They knew Hanzhong was the last bulwark before the plains leading to Chang'An.
They knew surrender to this southern host, with its savage king and relentless generals, might not offer the "mercy" Lie Fan was proclaiming in the east. So they fought, and they died, in heaps.
From his post, Fa Zheng watched the relentless advance. He saw Yan Yan and Zhang Ren drive a wedge toward the main gatehouse tower. He saw Meng Huo clear an entire section of the parapet with a series of roaring charges. He saw the Wei command flags on the inner keep begin to waver.
He turned to Meng Da. "Send word to the reserves. Prepare to flood the city the moment the gatehouse falls. Our objective is not slaughter. It is control. Secure the granaries, the armories, and the government halls. Hanzhong is not just a city, it is the key to the road to Chang'an. We take it intact, or as intact as possible."
As the order went out, Fa Zheng allowed himself a moment to look north, past the smoke and fury. Soon, he would turn his gaze northeast, toward Chang'an itself. And he knew, with cold certainty, that from the east, another army, led by the emperor who had forged the very cannons that had broken Hongnong, would be doing the same.
The pincer was not just a strategy on a map anymore. It was becoming a physical, inexorable reality, closing around the last, gasping breath of the Wei Dynasty.
Meanwhile the roar of battle did not reach the governor's castle as a single sound, but as a thousand fractured echoes, steel striking stone, men screaming in pain or rage, the distant thunder of siege engines, all of it bleeding through the thick walls like a persistent, inescapable heartbeat.
Inside the main hall of Hanzhong's Governor Castle, that heartbeat felt louder than any drum of war.
Inside the main hall, the air was thick with the smell of cold fear and stale sweat. Zhang Lu, the Governor and master of the Five Pecks of Rice sect, paced like a caged animal, his once imposing spiritual authority stripped away by the brutal reality of military collapse.
He had not slept. None of them had. Maps lay spread before him, marked and re marked until the ink bled into a mess of desperation. Every path north was cut. Every path south was burning.
Around him stood the last pillars of his authority.
General Zhang Wei, broad shouldered and armored even here, paced back and forth like a caged tiger, his hand never straying far from the hilt of his sword.
Yang Ang stood more still, his expression rigid, jaw clenched so tight it looked as though it might crack. On the civil side were Yan Pu, calm, grave, hands folded within his sleeves, and Yang Song, the spymaster, thin lipped and sharp eyed, a man who always seemed to carry secrets heavier than armor.
"Again, I ask," Zhang Lu's voice was strained, "is there any word from His Majesty? Any scrap of hope? A single division he could spare?"
Yan Pu inclined his head slightly. "The response remains unchanged, my Lord."
Zhang Lu's fingers tightened.
"He says," Yan Pu continued carefully, "that he cannot spare a single soldier. His Majesty is facing the bulwark of the Hengyuan Army himself. The battlefield has merely shifted. Hongnong has fallen. He is now fortifying Tong Pass, concentrating everything there to hold back Lie Fan's main force."
For a moment, Zhang Lu said nothing.
Then the breath left him in a slow, defeated exhale.
"So… this is it," he murmured. "We asked for men. For time. For anything. And the answer is silence."
Zhang Wei slammed his fist against the table. "Damn it all! Even a token force, five thousand, ten thousand could stiffen the walls, buy us days!"
"Days that will still end the same way," Yang Ang said grimly. "Look outside, Zhang Wei. The walls are already breached."
Zhang Lu closed his eyes.
Hanzhong. The mountain gate. The land he had ruled, balanced, protected, endured through chaos and shifting banners. And now it was being crushed between giants.
It was then that Yang Song, his eyes sharp with the intelligence gleaned from whispers and fleeing messengers, cleared his throat. "My Lord… there is more. Information from the… the aftermath of Hongnong. It is… grave."
All eyes turned to him. "Speak," Zhang Lu commanded, though he dreaded the words.
Yang Song stepped forward, lowering his voice as though the walls themselves might be listening. "I have received reports from the Hongnong front. From multiple sources. When His Majesty retreated… several of Wei's most important generals were captured."
The air in the hall seemed to thicken.
"Who?" Zhang Wei demanded.
"Xu Chu," Yang Song said. "Cao Ren. Cao Hong. Li Dian. Yue Jin."
The names fell like hammer blows.
Yang Ang's face drained of color. "Captured?"
Yang Song nodded. "Taken alive by the Hengyuan Army."
A murmur rippled through the hall, shock, disbelief, and fear.
"And there are rumors," Yang Song continued, carefully, "that Cao Ang… the Crown Prince… was also captured."
Silence.
Absolute, suffocating silence.
Yan Pu was the first to break it, his voice hushed. "How reliable is this?"
"Seventy five percent. Perhaps higher," Yang Song replied. "The pattern fits. The sudden, catastrophic collapse of the defense. The silence from the Cao clan generals. It explains why His Majesty's retreat was so… complete."
Zhang Lu buried his face in his hands. The strategic picture, already bleak, now revealed its true, horrifying depth.
"So that is why," he murmured into his palms. "He didn't just push him out. He broke his arm and stole his son. The God of War came down from his throne… and now there is nothing left to stop him."
Yan Pu saw the despair and recognized it as the turning point. He stepped forward, his tone shifting from reporter to persuader. "My Lord… given this new reality, the calculus has changed. Drastically. Our duty is no longer to a failing dynasty, but to the people of Hanzhong, and to the survival of our sect."
Zhang Wei, the soldier, bristled. "What are you suggesting, Yan Pu? Capitulation? We swore oaths!"
Yang Ang stepped forward as well. "That would brand my Lord as a traitor for all time! A turncoat who abandoned Wei at the moment of trial!"
"I am suggesting survival!" Yan Pu shot back, his voice rising. "And reason! History is not written by the loyal dead, General Zhang, General Yang. It is written by the victorious living! Who do you think will be writing the history of this year? Cao Cao, hiding behind the walls of Tong Pass, his heir apparent in chains? Or Lie Fan, who holds almost the entire land and marches on the remaining ones he haven't got control of?"
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Name: Lie Fan
Title: Founding Emperor Of Hengyuan Dynasty
Age: 35 (202 AD)
Level: 16
Next Level: 462,000
Renown: 2325
Cultivation: Yin Yang Separation (level 9)
SP: 1,121,700
ATTRIBUTE POINTS
STR: 966 (+20)
VIT: 623 (+20)
AGI: 623 (+10)
INT: 667
CHR: 98
WIS: 549
WILL: 432
ATR Points: 0