Chapter 2985

Chapter 1498 Two-pronged Attack

“Hey, hey~” Jing Teng’s voice startled Zu An from his reverie.

“Wipe your drool.” Black Jing Teng pouted, somewhat angrily, “You had that lewd look on your face just now, you must have been thinking about some lewd things.”

Zu An: “…”

He subconsciously wiped his mouth, found nothing, and immediately realized he had been tricked. He angrily pinned her to his knee and started hitting her wildly.

Who knew that Black Jing Teng would be hit so hard that she would look at him with seductive eyes: “So what if we’re sisters? We’re sisters too, want to give it a try?” White Jing Teng

immediately came online, blushing and scolding: “Don’t be ridiculous!”

“Tch, you clearly think the same thing yourself, but you’re too embarrassed to say it.”

“Nonsense, believe me or I’ll tear your mouth apart.”

“I don’t believe you, my mouth is your mouth.”

…

Watching the two sisters take turns coming online, bickering with each other, Zu An pulled her over and kissed her.

Just then, White Jing Teng came online, her face slightly red, somewhat shy, wanting to resist but also welcoming.

Black Jing Teng screamed wildly inside her, “My turn! My turn!”

Her sister was so cunning; every time she was made to be the bad guy, she always ended up getting the better deal.

She always got to eat what was left over—it was so annoying.

Fortunately, their senses were shared, so it wasn’t entirely unacceptable…

…

Zu An noticed that the Jing Teng sisters were very engrossed this time, seemingly comparing themselves. It wasn’t

until Black-Silk Jing Teng spoke her true feelings, “Throughout my life, Jing Teng has never been inferior to anyone,”

that he understood. The two sisters had been provoked by the Shang Liuyu sisters and were determined to prove themselves superior.

However, he was quite happy to be the judge…

The sisters’ companionship along the way diluted the gloom of their previous defeat, and Zu An felt his fighting spirit was even stronger than before.

Meanwhile, news from Luoyang kept arriving.

After the alliance between Cao Cao and Dong Zhuo destroyed the chaotic Yuan Shao, they divided Yuan Shao’s power, but soon after, they turned against each other.

Dong Zhuo, in his quest to eliminate the powerful, first secured the court’s recognition of his kinship with Empress Dowager Dong.

Then, using her name, he deposed the previous emperor, Liu Bian, demoting him to Prince of Hongnong. Simultaneously, he installed Liu Xie, Prince of Chenliu, as the new emperor.

Although Dong Zhuo was aware of this history, he was powerless to change it.

Emperor Liu Bian had been installed by He Jin and Empress He, and he bore too many of their traits. He Jin’s faction

still had considerable support. Dong Zhuo, on the other hand, had seized power by eliminating He Jin, creating an irreconcilable hatred between them.

The current emperor still wielded considerable influence, and many in Luoyang remained loyal. Keeping him around was like a ticking time bomb.

Furthermore, many families who had worked alongside him were waiting to reap the rewards, such as Fu Wan. He had no choice but to install a new emperor, one who had ascended the throne through his influence, and thus would inevitably be on his side.

Upon learning that the court had appointed Fu Wan’s daughter as the new empress, Zu An thought that Bi Linglong was truly born to be both a crown princess and an empress; she could be empress anywhere.

Tang Tian’er fared much worse, being demoted from Empress to Princess of Hongnong.

Fortunately, both emperors were still young, and with the two women’s abilities and methods, dealing with these puppets wasn’t difficult.

After Dong Zhuo installed a new emperor, he also used the tactic of “holding the emperor hostage to command the princes,” beginning to weaken Cao Cao’s power through the emperor’s edicts.

Cao Cao naturally wouldn’t sit idly by, and a fierce conflict ensued. However, Dong Zhuo’s forces were superior, and he controlled the emperor, holding the highest authority. Cao Cao was eventually defeated and fled Luoyang.

However, he seemed to have been prepared, and his forces weren’t severely weakened.

After fleeing to Chenliu, he called upon the princes of the land to attack Dong Zhuo.

A large number of people responded, though not reaching the scale of the historical eighteen warlord alliances, but nearly so.

Zu An hadn’t yet reached Youzhou, and the governor of Youzhou was somewhat of a figurehead, so he naturally couldn’t participate.

However, Yuan Shu, the governor of Nanyang, Han Fu, the governor of Ji Province, Kong Rong, the governor of Beihai, Ma Teng, the governor of Xiliang, Gongsun Zan, the governor of Beiping, and Sun Jian, the governor of Changsha, all responded. This time,

however, the leader of

the alliance was not Yuan Shao, but Cao Cao. The two sides fought several battles at Hulao Pass. This time, the allied forces lacked Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei, and Dong Zhuo’s side lacked the invincible Lü Bu, so neither side could gain the

upper hand. After returning to Youzhou, neither side had achieved a decisive victory, but the situation gradually began to turn against Dong Zhuo.

Many powerful families in Luoyang secretly supported Cao Cao, planning a coordinated attack from within.

Unfortunately, the plot was exposed, and Dong Zhuo was furious. After purging a group of people, he realized that these powerful families had deep-rooted control over Luoyang, possessing not only vast tracts of land but also countless tenant farmers. Each family could organize an army, ranging from a hundred to over a thousand.

Combined, they formed an extremely powerful force.

To eliminate Dong Zhuo, the only option was to make the same choice as in history: burn Luoyang, thus fulfilling the principle of annihilation, and then move west to Chang’an with his officials.

This action completely severed the roots of the powerful clans that had dominated Luoyang for hundreds of years, and temporarily resolved the problem of various warlords attacking them.

These warlords, each with their own agendas, now had Luoyang destroyed and Dong Zhuo defeated, losing their common goal. They retreated one after another, beginning a period of infighting and annexation.

Of course, the downside of eliminating Dong Zhuo was also obvious: it made him an enemy of the powerful clans.

Zu An learned that the Lu and Qiao families had also been affected. Fortunately, Cai Yong had a good relationship with Dong Zhuo, and with the protection of Cai Wenji, the goddess of memory, those old acquaintances were not in mortal danger.

He couldn’t help but sigh inwardly, no wonder that after Dong Zhuo’s death, the powerful clans that regained power in history were unwilling to forgive Dong Zhuo’s remnants, leading to a counterattack by them.

Dong Zhuo’s army had been burning, killing, and looting in Luoyang, plundering the wealth and women of powerful families. How could they possibly forgive such a deep-seated hatred?

Having lived in this world for a while, he finally understood the immense power of these powerful families.

After reuniting with Yun Jianyue and Tingxue, they spent their time in Youzhou recuperating and training their troops. They realized that training soldiers wasn’t difficult; the real challenge was supporting a massive army.

The daily cost of money and provisions was astronomical. Initially, they had recruited many soldiers, but eventually disbanded them, leaving only the eight thousand most elite men.

Even the expenses for these eight thousand men caused the two women considerable worry every day.

Zu An had originally planned to promote chemical fertilizers to increase food production, but later discovered that ordinary people in this world possessed the strength of low-level cultivators from other cultivation worlds. Therefore, the army didn’t eat ordinary rice, but rather spiritual rice imbued with the essence of heaven and earth.

Such spiritual rice cannot be cultivated using modern methods like chemical fertilizers; it requires cultivators to expend their vital energy, sweat, and time to slowly nurture it.

However, the Han Empire, having enjoyed a long period of peace, was rife with corruption, leaving government granaries largely empty. The vast majority of spiritual rice was controlled by powerful clans.

These clans, having accumulated wealth over centuries, possessed vast spiritual fields and large tenant farmers who helped cultivate the rice, becoming incredibly wealthy over time.

Xie Daoyun and Princess Nihuang led the remaining Yellow Turban rebels to the Black Mountain region. Although they diligently cultivated the land, the barren mountain fields could not compare to the yields of the fertile fields controlled by the powerful clans, making it impossible to support their large population.

This forced them to frequently lead their troops down the mountain to plunder the powerful clans of Ji Province, earning them the deep hatred of the local government and various clans, who called them the Black Mountain Bandits.

The cooperation between the powerful clans and the government made their raids difficult, barely enough to keep their people from starving.

Yun Jianyue couldn’t help but sigh, “No wonder Jiemie Dong Zhuo couldn’t resist robbing the powerful families of Luoyang. I’m even tempted to rob those families myself.”

As she spoke, she took out a booklet containing a list of the major clans in Hebei, including their approximate military strength and wealth.

Zu An’s eyebrows twitched as he read it. This woman had investigated so meticulously; if he had returned any later, she probably would have already made her move.

Yun Jianyue’s eyes lit up: “Why don’t we pull off a heist too? Join forces with Sister Xie and the others, storm Jizhou, and rob them!”

Tingxue snorted coldly: “As expected of the leader of the Demonic Sect, all she thinks about is robbing, robbing, robbing.”

“You’re so great, can you figure out a way to solve the army’s food supply problem?” Yun Jianyue gritted her teeth; even with her amnesia, this Ice Stone Woman still loved to oppose him.

Zu An said in a deep voice, “It seems I need to visit the various clans.”

Of course, he couldn’t just rob them like Jiemie did; that would make him a target of everyone’s anger.

He knew that the power of the aristocratic clans in this world was something that couldn’t be resolved in a short time. Since that was the case, he could only go with the flow.

Fortunately, he had the advantage of being a disciple of Lu Zhi. The Lu clan of Zhuojun was already a prominent family in Hebei, and historically, the Lu clan had an even more prestigious name: Zhuo County was later renamed Fanyang, hence the Fanyang Lu clan.

Furthermore, the Colonel of the Archers, Ju Jun, was loyal to him, and the Ju clan of Guangping was also a well-known family in Hebei.

With these two introductions, he naturally entered the circle of Hebei’s gentry.

While he was visiting various gentry families in Hebei, changes were taking place in the Central Plains.

Dong Zhuo had dispatched Liu Biao to Jingzhou to consolidate his power and begin dealing with Yuan Shu, who was entrenched in Nanyang.

Meanwhile, Yuan Shu and Cao Cao, who had always been at odds, were also being targeted by Cao Cao.

Yuan Shu initially managed to hold on, but after the death of his general Sun Jian, his army collapsed completely, and his demise seemed inevitable.

While fighting to eliminate Dong Zhuo and protect Cao Cao, they also didn’t let go of Zu An, their sworn enemy. They used their respective channels to incite Han Fu, the governor of Ji Province, and Gongsun Zan, the prefect of Beiping, to unite against him.

Han Fu was already dissatisfied with Zu An’s frequent contact with the Hebei gentry, feeling like his man had been poached.

Gongsun Zan, although from the same school as Zu An, always believed his military achievements made him a worthy candidate for governor of You Province, only to have Zu An steal his thunder.

Faced with self-interest, even brothers can turn against classmates, and Zu An’s situation instantly became dire.

–Writing

so much about Luoyang, I suddenly realized that this year’s Zongheng Annual Meeting is also in Luoyang; it feels like a twist of fate.