Chapter 128 The Golden Opportunity (1/2)
Chapter 128 – The Golden Opportunity
July 5th, 182 A.D.
A strange letter arrived at the government hall in the middle of the morning assembly today. The writing in this letter was rough as if it was written without a proper ink and brush.
”Ganling City is suffering from the bandit Zhang Yan and his mysterious boss. The previous governor and all his troops have been killed by Zhang Yan. The surrounding villages on the region outskirt were thoroughly plundered, and the city itself is about to become a ghost town.”
”I'm sending this letter to ask Lord Zhang Jiao to dispatch a troop to assist the remaining citizens of Ganling. I've already sent several letters to the neighbor lords, but all of them ignores my plea. Please help us.”
”Signed… Zhao Tian.”
The official finished reading the letter and passed it toward Zhang Jiao.
Hearing the name of Zhang Yan, Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang gritted their teeth in resentment. Because of this man, thousands of good soldiers died or crippled in the battle of Anping.
Tong shut his eyes tight to maintain his neutral emotion, but he failed to keep his killing intent from leaking out. He opened his eyes and looked at the messenger.
”The sender of this letter, is he still here?” Tong asked the messenger.
”Yes. He is resting at the guard infirmary depot.”
”Huh? Why is he resting there? Aren't there messenger guest houses?”
Tong glanced at his radar map to see the location of the letter sender by instinct. As soon as he read the name of the person, Tong's sight locked onto the name with his eyes wide opened.
”Reporting, the messenger's body is covered with fresh wounds. We afraid that he might die from blood loss, so we took them there for the emergency treatment.”
”…Fair enough. Go tell the messenger that I will dispatch the troops to subjugate that bastard Zhang Yan.”
”Yes, sir!” The messenger bowed and left.
Zhang Jiao and Lu Zhi stared at Tong after he declared that he would dispatch troops. This was a big move which Tong had not yet consulted with everyone. It was an inappropriate and reckless action.
”Son, we agreed that we have to talk to each other first before we act. Why?” Zhang Jiao reprimanded Tong.
”I have my reasons for this. I'm sorry, father.”
”Then let's hear it. Let the others know it, too. You shouldn't keep it all to yourself all the time.”
A wry smile appeared on Tong's face as he glanced at his radar map. In the infirmary depot, the name of the messenger shocked Tong to the point that he lost his rationality.
The name of the person was Zhao Yun!
He would become one of Liu Bei's Five Tiger General in the future! This person had too many achievements in the history that could not be described in a few pages. He was also one of the few generals in the turbulence time that died from old age.
'I'd be a fool if I refuse the plea of Zhao Yun! To get him into my clan, even if I have to dive into a fire sea, it is still worth it!'
'I don't know why he faked his name in the letter. Does he not trust me?'
'It doesn't matter. For now, what kind of excuse am I going to tell everyone?'
'Fudge!'
Tong sighed while his brain processed to make up a random story.
”Now that we have Lord Ding Yuan as our ally, we don't have to worry about the neighbor warlords. It's time for us to establish our reputation as a glorious righteous army. The plea of Ganling citizens coincides with our goals and Zhang Yan is also our sworn enemy. We should take this chance as our causes to go to war.”
Lu Zhi stepped up to stop Tong. ”But we still don't have the intelligence of the mysterious helper of Zhang Yan. Isn't it too rash?”
”That's true. It's rash. It's stupid for many reasons. But because it is stupid, no lord dares to make a move against Zhang Yan. And that's our golden opportunity to make a name for ourselves. In order to raise a new dynasty, we need enough prestige. We need the trust of the people. We want our reputation to rock sky high. That's why we have to risk it! If we don't risk it now and Zhang Yan is defeated by somebody else, this golden opportunity won't appear ever again.”
The face of Lu Zhi twitched the moment Tong had said, ”In order to raise a new dynasty”.
”Have you made your mind, disciple? Are you going to rebel against the Han no matter what?”
The complexion of Zhang Liao, Gao Shun, Zhang Ji, and Zhang Xiu paled. It was their first time to hear that Tong was planning to rebel against the Han Dynasty.
Ding Yuan, however, remained indifferent toward the declaration. He did not have faith in Liu Ping, so why he should bother serving him when he could gain semi-immortality by serving Tong instead.