Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Chapter 14: The Real Flame War

The next day, dawn.

The Yellow Turban camp sprawled messily for several miles.

Compared to the well-organized camp established by Liu Bei and Guan Yu's soldiers, the Yellow Turban camp looked more like a gathering of refugees. It lacked any semblance of order, and even basic tents for rest were absent.

Scattered groups of seven or eight Yellow Turbans huddled together for warmth, still shivering in the early spring chill of Youzhou.

As the morning sun rose on the horizon, many of the elderly, weak, women, and children would never wake up from their sleep again.

Aside from the sorrowful cries of a few relatives, the rest of the Yellow Turbans were clearly numb to it all.

Only in the very center of the Yellow Turban camp were tents set up for men wearing yellow headbands to rest.

As the Yellow Turban bandits began to light fires and cook, the aroma wafting through the camp caused the elderly, weak, women, and children to open their eyes and look longingly at the nearest Yellow Turban.

Although these people knew that the fragrant millet porridge had nothing to do with them, and that they would only be given half a hard, stale cake each day, their instinctive desire still made them look at the millet porridge.

As the Yellow Turbans began to eat, a unified slogan echoed three times throughout the camp.

"The Azure Sky is dead, the Yellow Sky shall rise! In the year of Jiazi, great fortune under Heaven!"

"The Azure Sky is dead, the Yellow Sky shall rise! In the year of Jiazi, great fortune under Heaven!"

"The Azure Sky is dead, the Yellow Sky shall rise! In the year of Jiazi, great fortune under Heaven!"

Among them, some Taiping Daoists, wearing simple bright yellow robes in addition to yellow headbands, would carry a bowl of millet porridge, followed by dozens of Yellow Turbans dragging dark, stale cakes. With compassionate expressions, they directed the Yellow Turbans to distribute the cakes.

Before each elderly, weak, woman, or child received a small piece of cake, they had to piously recite, "The Yellow Sky is above, gratefully receiving the grace of the Great Virtuous Teacher, may the world of Great Harmony arrive soon."

As for the Taiping Daoists in their robes, their eyes constantly scanned the surrounding "willing" followers of the Yellow Sky.

Then, they would stop in front of the strong and sturdy young men, testing their faith in the Yellow Sky.

If they passed, they would be given millet porridge grown under the Yellow Sky and a yellow turban blessed by the Great Virtuous Teacher, and they would be accepted into the Taiping Dao.

Under this system, many "willing" followers gradually forgot that the so-called millet porridge had actually been plundered from their own homes.

Waking up every morning and being driven by the Yellow Turban bandits until they were allowed to rest at night had long exhausted these followers both physically and mentally.

Enticed by bowls of millet porridge, the Yellow Turbans constantly assimilated young men from among those who had been forcibly absorbed into their ranks.

In front of a large tent in the very center of the camp, a Yellow Turban strongman with bulging muscles and patterns not found on ordinary Yellow Turban bandits held a tray with three dishes and a soup, and respectfully said,

"Chieftain, breakfast is ready."

A somewhat lazy and deep voice echoed from within the tent.

"Come in."

"Yes."

The Yellow Turban strongman lifted the curtain, lowered his head, and squeezed his burly body into the tent, carefully avoiding looking at the large bed in the center of the tent, so as not to offend the chieftain who had lectured the ignorant believers all night.

Then, the Yellow Turban strongman placed the tray on the table and quickly bowed and retreated out of the tent.

The aroma emanating from the rich dishes on the tray also awakened the naked young girl who had been sleeping soundly on the bed.

Instinctively, the starving girl crawled and rolled to the table, grabbing the food with both hands and stuffing it into her mouth.

This action angered Cheng Yuanzhi, the Yellow Turban chieftain lying on the bed, wearing a yellow headband, and as strong as a tiger or bear.

Cheng Yuanzhi slowly stood up, picked up his long-handled broadsword from the bedside, and suddenly slashed down at the young girl who was kneeling on the ground with her back to him, gobbling down the food.

"Ugh!"

The girl, sliced in two, still had food in her mouth as she died. Before she could even let out a scream, she died completely with a whimper. Splattered blood dyed half the tent red.

This commotion also alarmed the Yellow Turban strongmen guarding outside the tent.

Two Yellow Turban strongmen wielding broadswords quickly rushed in.

"Chieftain!"

Cheng Yuanzhi kicked away the half of the corpse blocking his way, sat down directly at the table stained with blood, and said as he enjoyed his meal,

"This chieftain is fine. It's just that this believer was ultimately possessed by an evil spirit, controlled by the Azure Sky, and had to be killed on the spot. You all take care of it."

"Yes."

Upon hearing this, the Yellow Turban strongmen respectfully bowed, looking at the corpse of the girl possessed by the evil spirit with some disgust and hatred. One of them dragged half of the body away from the tent.

Outside the tent, a man wearing a yellow headband, and rare armor among the Yellow Turban bandits, happened to see this scene, and his expression couldn't help but be somewhat helpless.

The two Yellow Turban strongmen saw the man and stopped to salute.

"Greetings, Deputy Chieftain."

"You may go, bury this girl properly," Deputy Chieftain Deng Mao said, walking straight into the tent.

Cheng Yuanzhi looked at Deng Mao who came in, pointed to the seat next to him, and said,

"Junior Brother, you're here? Let's have a meal together."

"Thank you, Senior Brother, but I've already eaten," Deng Mao replied, then handed the bamboo slip in his hand to Cheng Yuanzhi and said,

"Scouts from Zhuo County report that a few days ago, Liu Yan, the governor of Zhuo Commandery, sent the bandit-suppressing officer Liu Bei to lead two thousand soldiers out of the city. Their whereabouts are currently unknown."

Cheng Yuanzhi paused with his greasy hands, grinned, and asked, "How many?"

"Two thousand," Deng Mao repeated.

"Hahahaha…" Cheng Yuanzhi couldn't help but laugh, saying,

"That Liu Yan is supposed to be a member of the Han imperial clan, yet he just sent two thousand soldiers out of the city to die? His brain is even worse than yours, Junior Brother. I just wonder what it would be like to use his body as a member of the Han imperial clan."

This sentence made Deng Mao's face slightly ugly, but he quickly returned to normal and reminded, "Liu Yan is over forty years old."

Cheng Yuanzhi said indifferently, "Forty years old also has its own merits. Junior Brother, you are too pedantic. Don't bring the old scholar ways to the Taiping Dao. Our Taiping Dao emphasizes equality for all, regardless of gender or age."

Hearing this, the rise and fall of Deng Mao's chest became obviously larger, reminding him,

"Senior Brother, if the Great Virtuous Teacher were to know of your behavior, he would be disgusted. Don't forget that Senior Brother's mother is still in Julu. If Senior Brother's mother knew that you violated the Great Virtuous Teacher's orders and were hated by the Great Virtuous Teacher, she might even commit suicide to seek the Great Virtuous Teacher's forgiveness."

Immediately, Cheng Yuanzhi's expression froze, and the look in his eyes towards Deng Mao was filled with murderous intent. His burly body exuded a terrifying aura, causing Deng Mao to instinctively step back.

"Hmph!" Immediately, Cheng Yuanzhi snorted coldly, his aura dissipated, and he continued to eat and drink, saying nonchalantly,

"The Great Virtuous Teacher is currently engaged in a fierce battle with the court troops led by the dog thief Lu Zhi in Guangzong County. If I lead the Taiping Dao to swallow half of Youzhou and bring hundreds of thousands of troops from the north to support the Yellow Sky and defeat the Azure Sky, how could the Great Virtuous Teacher care about such trivial matters?"

After a pause, Cheng Yuanzhi casually asked, "Junior Brother, how long until we reach Zhuo County?"

"We will arrive in Zhuo County in two days," Deng Mao replied.

"That annoying Yan man Zhang Yide, have you sent someone to take care of him? It seems like the march has been much quieter these past two days," Cheng Yuanzhi continued to ask.

"Huh? No," Deng Mao replied.

Just then, a thunderous voice echoed throughout the entire Yellow Turban camp.

"You bandits, your Grandpa Zhang is here!!!"

In an instant, the corners of Cheng Yuanzhi and Deng Mao's mouths couldn't help but twitch.

If the Yellow Turbans led by Cheng Yuanzhi had been incredibly smooth since entering Zhuo Commandery, then Zhang Fei was the only disgusting existence that made Cheng Yuanzhi and Deng Mao feel annoyed.

… …

At the same time, a hundred paces outside the Yellow Turban camp, Zhang Fei, leading the Eighteen Riders of Yanyun, shouted to announce his arrival, then took out a brocade pouch from his bosom and opened it to read.

The next moment, Zhang Fei's expression changed significantly as he looked at the brocade pouch, and even the palm of his hand holding the brocade pouch trembled slightly.

Zhang Fei, who had never feared anything, felt that his worldview seemed to be polluted and even feared by the words in the brocade pouch.

"Could this really have been written by Mr. Zikun?" Zhang Fei muttered with somewhat distracted eyes, and the image of Li Ji's sword-like eyebrows, starry eyes, and refined calmness appeared in his mind. He felt that the words in the brocade pouch seemed impossible to associate with the refined and easy-going Li Ji no matter what.

Zhang Fei even hesitated whether he should really act according to what the brocade pouch said.

However, as the faces of Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and many elders and villagers of Zhuo County appeared in Zhang Fei's mind, as well as the mistakes he had made before, and Li Ji's earnest entrustment.

[Yide, you must remember, our lives are all in your hands, remember to act according to the brocade pouch.]

If Zhang Fei had seen the contents of the brocade pouch before, he would have had to argue with Li Ji, but at this moment, Zhang Fei could only grit his teeth, take a deep breath, and the thunderous voice echoed throughout the entire camp again.

"Cheng Yuanzhi, I'm going to f*** your ancestors for eight generations!"

"Your ancestors for eighteen generations were all Han Chinese! Now, for some Great Virtuous Teacher, you betray the Han? Betray your ancestors of eight lifetimes? Did that Great Virtuous Teacher fill every eye you have, all over your body, including your mind, with something?"

"Don't think you're impressive with that Qu Shuai title you got by trading all the eyes on your body. In reality, you're just a pathetic wretch, weren't you unlucky in everything in the first half of your life, like a bug only able to crawl in a dark ditch..."

"So now that you've achieved a little success, you think you're different, that you're no longer an ordinary commoner, and you start constantly robbing and humiliating civilians?"

"Hahahaha..."

"I know you're from Julu in Ji Province. You wait for me. I'll ride there quickly. Don't think I'm joking when I say I'm going to fuck your ancestors for eight generations."

"If I find your mother, she's going to suffer!"

"And when I find your ancestral grave, I'll dig it up for sure. Since you like being a dog for the Great Virtuous Teacher so much, I'll bring a pack of wild dogs to your ancestral grave every night to feed them medicine and let them mate, so your ancestors for eight generations can all have an orgy."

"Speaking of which, I'm still at a disadvantage. Your mother didn't live up to expectations and gave birth to an unfaithful and unrighteous thing like you. I still have to go to the trouble of letting your mother experience the essence of loyalty and righteousness, and then give you a loyal and righteous younger brother to teach you, the older brother."

"But don't call me 'Dad' when that happens. I don't want a rebellious son like you!!!"

As Zhang Fei's voice went from somewhat stumbling at the beginning to increasingly fluent, Zhang Fei felt like he had opened the door to a new world.

So, this is the real war of words...

In the past, when Zhang Fei cursed people, he had to rack his brains and try to quote scriptures, scolding them for being unfaithful, unrighteous, unkind, and unfilial. No matter how hateful the scolding, it was just calling them things like house slaves, straw men for sale, or treacherous dogs.

However, now Zhang Fei suddenly realized that he could cross the river of morality and reason and directly deny the other party's existence from its roots.

This kind of cursing war that threatens the whole family's ascension to heaven completely made Zhang Fei seem to comprehend a new realm.

At first, Zhang Fei felt that cursing people like this was too dirty. Moral condemnation made Zhang Fei resist from the inside out, but after really opening his mouth, Zhang Fei unconsciously sank into the coolness of it, and could even integrate his own understanding into the rhetoric written in the brocade bag to create his own.

Especially with Zhang Fei's voice, which could carry for several miles and sounded like thunder, the entire Yellow Turban camp fell into a kind of dead silence for dozens of breaths. Everyone was almost stunned.

Normal, refined cursing battles were mostly only understood in general terms by illiterate commoners, but Zhang Fei's series of vernacular cursing battles undoubtedly allowed everyone to understand clearly.

In the big tent, Cheng Yuanzhi, who was stunned by the sudden scolding, reacted and was overwhelmed with anger.

"Puff!"

A large mouthful of blood spurted out directly.

But Cheng Yuanzhi did not fall. Instead, his eyes were red as if he were a devil. He picked up his long-handled broadsword, rushed out of the big tent, and roared hysterically.

"Zhang Fei, if I don't kill you, I swear I won't be human!!!"

"All the believers who can ride horses, gather immediately!"

Deng Mao, who was a step slow in reacting, rushed out and shouted, "Wait, Senior Brother..."

However, before Deng Mao could finish speaking, Cheng Yuanzhi kicked Deng Mao to the ground, pointed at Deng Mao with his long-handled broadsword, and gasped angrily.

"Whoever blocks me dies!"

...

In a mountain depression in Daxing Mountain, Liu Bei looked worriedly to the south and said.

"Zikun, can Yide really succeed? What is written on that brocade bag?"

The refined and easy-going Li Ji smiled confidently and replied, "Brother Xuande, don't worry. As long as Yide acts according to the plan, there will be no worries."