Battle Royale of the Sinners

May 15th, 190 A . D .

Chen Qun worked fast . His dispatched envoy reached Xuchang and visited Cheng Yu .

The envoy did not know about Chen Qun’s real status, so he went through the formality . He also offered the negotiation about Sun Jian Army’s service .

Cheng Yu did not mind it as he knew about the ploy . However, he wanted to extort this innocent envoy a bit .

"How much for the buy-out?"

Yuan Shu’s officer was astonished, "B-Buy out?"

"Yes . How much will I have to pay if I want to hire all of them permanently?"

"S-Sir, you must have jested . We can only offer a temporary service . This matter is something I cannot decide . "

"Is 200,000 gold do?"

"Eh?"

"How about 300,000?"

"N-No, I meant-"

"500,000 . I won’t give more than this . "

The officer gulped . He began calculating in his mind .

Sun Jian’s troops consisted of 50,000 elites with fully equipped armors and weapons .

In the past, it took less than a 1,000 gold to hire 10,000 militias without a weapon, armor, or training . Combined with the equipment costs, a lord had to waste two to three gold nuggets to equip a soldier with an Imperial armor set, and a well-crafted weapon .

In common practice, all militia had to prepare their own weapons and armors as they had to take care of their life . Most warlords refused to support their equipment and weaponry to save their budget .

In summary, he required roughly 5,000 gold to hire a replacement of 50,000 militias and 150,000 gold if Yuan Shu wanted to gear them .

They could make 345,000 gold of profit!

The officer wiped his sweat, yet his face revealed a bright smile .

’What a lucrative business! Why haven’t I thought of this!?’

Greed clouded the officer’s mind . He could tell Chen Qun that he succeeded in renting Sun Jian for 200,000 gold while he kept 300,000 gold for himself . Once Sun Jian switched sides, he could say to Yuan Shu that Sun Jian betrayed them .

The embezzlement plan was completed!

Laughing, the officers nodded five times in a row . He could not wait to get his hands on those gold nuggets .

"Of course . We can make some changes!"

"Good . I’ll give you 50,000 gold first as a promised money . Once Sun Jian and his army come to swear allegiance to us, I’ll give you the rest . "

"Yes, yes! That will do!"

Both of them drafted an agreement paper on the spot . The negotiation about Sun Jian’s permanent transfer was done without the need of Cao Cao’s presence .

.

May 20th .

The officer brought back the negotiation result to Yuan Shu . He also gave the down payment of 50,000 gold to him as well .

Yuan Shu laughed and praised the negotiator, "WELL DONE! Now, our problems with fund shortage are solved! What’s your name?"

"Han Yin, my lord!"

"Good! You’ll serve as my secretary of foreign affair!"

"Thank you, my lord!!"

Han Yin turned to Chen Qun and sneered at him . Instead of being grateful toward his boss, he revealed a hint of pride .

’Now, you can’t order me around, brat!’

Han Yin had never had faith in his former boss as Chen Qun was younger than him . He always dreamt that he could prove his worth and put Chen Qun in his place .

Now, his first goal was completed . With the additional 300,000 embezzled gold in the future, he could build a prominent private army and become a powerhouse in Yuan Shu’s forces .

Chen Qun could read through Han Yin’s expression . Instead of getting angry by the sneer, his eyes curved up, mocking Han Yin .

’You can play around as long as you want, senior Han . The one who has the last laugh wins . ’

.

May 22nd .

A messenger arrived at Hulao Gate and informed Sun Jian about his relocation and his new assignment .

At the camp behind the gate, Sun Jian read through the instruction in his tent .

Learning that he had to serve Cao Cao, Sun Jian questioned Yuan Shu’s motive .

"What the hell are they doing!? Am I their property now?"

Cheng Pu laughed, "Yeah, we are . Do you know how many golds they got?"

"How many?"

"50,000 . "

"..."

Sun Jian was on the verge of anger . He was frustrated about how Yuan Shu treated him as livestock and merchandise .

He served Yuan Shu because he had no place to go, not because of loyalty .

Fortunately, Yuan Shu sent him to garrison Hulao Gate, and their entire family was here .

"I think Cao Cao will send more gold to Yuan Shu after we have gone to Xuchang . The deal should be around 200,000 gold to 300,000 for our entire army . "

"This is insane . "

"Yup, that’s politic for you . Something that you hate . "

Sun Jian did not know what he should do . He wanted to use his strength for the Han Dynasty, but the politicians were playing with them .

He did not want this!

Sun Jian sighed while he gazed at the country map . His eyes kept glancing at the north .

Huang Gai, who was with Cheng Pu, could read his lord’s thought .

"Do you want to serve Zhang Tong instead?"

Sun Jian had a wry smile, "To be honest, yes . "

"Even after your son killed his wife?"

"... Yes . "

Sun Jian leaned his head forward, sulking . He wanted to reconcile with Tong, but he did not know how he could achieve it .

Sacrificing Sun Fang was not an option . He had already recovered from the depression since the beginning of the year, and his health slowly improved .

A long time had passed since the incident . Although Sun Fang came back to his sense, he insisted that he wanted to keep circulating the news that he was a fool for the time being .

Sun Jian and others did not know why Sun Fang insisted of faking being sick, but they followed through with it . Only Huang Gai, Cheng Pu, Sun Jian, Sun Ce, and all Sun Fang’s clan members knew about it .

While Sun Jian and everyone was silent, Huang Gai thought of something and blurted out without thinking, "If you have a daughter, everything will be better . "

Sun Jian and Cheng Pu stared at Huang Gai with widened eyes . Then, they looked at each other .

"Should I adopt a girl and send her to Zhang Tong to apologize?"

"It’s immoral in many ways ..."

"Do we even have a choice? I don’t want to fight the emperor . I merely want to serve the people . "

"..."

The three agreed that they would find a promising young maiden, so Sun Jian could adopt her . Then, they would send her as an apology tribute to reconcile with Tong .

Once Sun Jian could appease Tong’s anger, they would think about their future later .

The Sun Clan’s prioritized on their survival in this chaos period as their goal .

.

June 1st .

Sun Jian, his army, his subordinates, and all of their family members relocated to Xuchang . Upon arrival, Cheng Yu and Dian Wei stood before the gate to welcome them .

Cheng Yu cupped his fist and bowed, "Welcome to Xuchang, Sir Sun Jian . "

Sun Jian bowed back, "Thank you . Please take good care of us . "

"Of course . Please get inside . We’ll handle about formality later . "

Every commander entered the gate while the rest of the soldiers camped outside of the city . As for the family members, they erected their camps nearby .

Wu Guotai and Sun Fang also camped outside the city .

At night, many spies from Cheng Yu scouted Sun Fang’s camp and tried to probe if he was sick .

Sun Fang lay still on his bed, not moving even after a spy infiltrated his resting tent .

The black cloth spy searched through his tent and found several bowls of medicines . He found nothing else but herbs, medicinal tea, and other raw materials for drugs .

Confirmed that Sun Fang was sick, the spy escaped from his tent without harming him .

After the black cloth person left, Sun Fang opened his eyes . He glanced at the direction that the spy had gone while his right hand put away a hidden dagger under his pillow .

A frown appeared on Sun Fang’s face, ’I wasted too much time sulking . Jing’er would have laughed at me in heaven by now . ’

Sun Fang sat up and circulated his inner qi inside the abdomen to heal his soul injuries .

At this moment, his injuries had stabilized, but it still annoyed him since they randomly caused physical wounds .

Sun Fang was determined . Once he got better, he would return to the war scene . For now, he would go with the flow and lay low .

.

In the same day, Cheng Yu’s spy returned to report his finding .

Reading through the report, Cheng Yu nodded, "Sun Fang is still crippled . He is not a threat to our lord . "

Dian Wei was interested in the matter, "Should we kill him?"

Cheng Yu shook his head, "Not now . We don’t want to stir a mutiny from Sun Jian . Killing his son will enrage him . "

"So, what are we going to do with them?"

"Haha! We’ll hold their family here, and we’ll the army to Xu Province . We need more troops there, no?"

"Right! Hahaha!"

.

June 10th .

After resting for a few days, a new order came for Sun Jian . Cheng Yu wanted them to support Cao Cao at Xiaopei, which they had planned to lay siege there .

Sun Jian, Cheng Pu, Huang Gai, Han Dang, and others marched with their 50,000 soldiers to Xiaopei as Cao Cao’s reinforcement .

Meanwhile, Sun Ce, Sun Fang, Wu Guotai, and other minor officers stayed behind to guard the families of the soldiers . All children and women were aware that they were the hostages . Had Sun Jian rebelled against Cao Cao, everybody here would be killed .

Sun Ce glared at the garrison guards . He vowed in his heart, ’One day, I’ll break free from here with my family . I’ll find Gongjin, and we’ll find new land for our family!’