308. Zhang Yan Defeated Zhang Yang, Yuan Shaotakes Advantages

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His Navy is the only reason he became one of the most powerful officials in Jing Province which even Cai Mao doesn't dare to offend, maybe if he were to change sides he could retain his position albeit slightly inferior to his current position, but at the same time, he already feel some sense of camaraderie with Liu Biao so both thoughts were fighting inside of Huang Zu's mind.

Huang Zu's conflicting thoughts caused some changes in his facial expression which was seen by Deng Long, he was happy that his words had caused Huang Zu to waver as he had a secret that no one knew.

He actually has long changed sides to Lie Fan and alleged his allegiance albeit secretly through the Oriole, the Oriole members don't report his allegiance to Jia Xu and Lie Fan before he can prove his loyalty.

So he thought of this plan, he knew that Jiangxia's atmosphere was shrouded with low morale and spirit as news of their defeat never stopped, there were small victories but soon overshadowed by a big defeat.

He was captured by a group of Oriole members when he was going out for some drinking at a restaurant called the Serenity Inn, when he was drinking the wine suddenly he felt sleepy, and when he woke up he was tied with a rope and chains were on his legs.

He was angry when he saw this, he called for the people who did this to him and said who he was so they should release him, but unfortunately for him, Oriole members who were experts in torture were the ones who answered his calls.

So he was tortured and drugged by the Oriole until his will was finally broken, and after being addicted to their drugs, he was told to do their bidding and great chaos at Huang Zu's command by any means necessary.

He finally causes some chaos now, well planting the seeds of chaos is more like it but if it could have Huang Zu change inside and pledge his loyalty to Lie Fan, then he may be freed from this horrifying drug addiction he has.

While thinking of the possibility of changing sides, Huang Zu then decided to follow Wen Ping's suggestion that for now, he called back all of his army to station their defense on the highest level at Jiangxia.

The meeting ended with no answer to their current problem, but more questions and decisions to be made especially for the ones who were intrigued by the prospect of changing their allegiance to Lie Fan.

Wen Ping and Su Fei as the leaders of should we say loyalist faction, were angered by the opinions of their comrades and began to persuade them to lose those thoughts because reinforcement would arrive soon.

Deng Long, on the other hand, spread the belief that they would inevitably lose to Lie Fan, their army wasn't much better compared to Yuan Shu and Liu Yao, worse compared to Dong Zhuo in terms of strength, and the Yellow Turbans in terms of numbers.

So even if the reinforcement comes, what makes it will be them who will win against Lie Fan, especially since their soldier's combat experience is much worse compared to Lie Fan's Army which was always in combat for the past several years.

Other than the fight against Sun Jian in the past, the only enemies they ever fought against were just bandits and criminals, sometimes barbarian tribes in the southwest of Jing Province.

All of them were much more under-equipped and under-experienced compared to Lie Fan's soldiers, and after saying all of that Deng Long could see that even some that chose to be neutral began to waver.

While Jiangxia was in turmoil due to Deng Long, on the border of Linyu and Yangle County the Zhuque Army and half of the Qilin Army met up since they had taken down their respective target.

The Zhuque Army under Taishi Ci's command and Bu Zi's strategic mind has managed to conquer and consolidate Lie Fan's control over Linyu and Junmi County, securing the border between Gongsun Du and Yuan Shao's domain.

With the help from the Orioles, they made sure that the borders were guarded by people they could trust, people who had converted to Lie Fan's side and been promised something in exchange for their loyalty by the Orioles, of course under Jia Xu and Lie Fan's agreement.

Both Taishi Ci and Bu Zhi then began their assault Eastward after securing the border and since the bulk of Gongsun Du's force was put on the border, Taishi Ci led the Zhuque Army to mow down the towns and villages of Linyu and Junmi County at fast speed.

After that, they headed toward the border between Linyu and Yangle County, where Zhang Liao and half of the Qilin Army were waiting for them after they mowed down Yangle and Liucheng County.

For Zhang Liao and His army, it was a lucky one due to the two counties located in the middle between the border of Gongsun Du and Yuan Shao alongside Gongsun Du's capital location, the number of soldiers was the lowest.

Due to that Zhang Liao and Gao Shun had a much easier time compared to Taishi Ci and Bu Zhi who were assigned to Linyu and Junmi County, after they managed to consolidate control over both counties they also headed to the border to meet with Taishi Ci, and the Zhuque Army.

Taishi Ci: "General Zhang! I didn't expect you to arrive first! You live up to the moniker as our third strongest in My Lord's rank of generals haha!"

Zhang Liao: "General Taishi is jesting, it's because we have a much easier target compared to you so we finished earlier than expected, my strength has nothing to do with this."

Taishi Ci: "Humble as ever, so General Zhang and General Gao we will head out tomorrow toward Xuantu County to take it down before regrouping with My Lord right?"

Bu Zhi: "Hah Taishi Ci I have already told you that's what we will do, why do you say that just like I haven't informed and reminded you."

Taishi Ci: "Haha! I'm sorry Bu Zhi I really forgot, well then we need to rest today so we can full speed head toward Xuantu Countu, oh yeah by the way have the two of you heard about any news from the west?"

Gao Shun: "No we haven't heard of any news General Taishi, why is it something that needs our attention and something needs to be done?"

Bu Zhi: "No General Gao it's not an emergency or something like that, it's just that while we were at the border we received news that Zhang Yan attacked Zhang Yang and managed to defeat him, taking over his capital and killing Zhang Yang but then Yuan Shao takes advantage and take some of Zhang Yang territories."

Zhang Liao: "Such a thing happened while we were out on this campaign? Does My Lord know about this news? If not we need to inform him."

Bu Zhi told him not to worry, as Lie Fan and Jia Xu would surely receive the news about this, not as fast as those who were near the border at that time but they will definitely receive the news.

True to Bu Zhi's words, such important news sooner or later will reach Lie Fan and Jia Xu's ears, and the Oriole works at the fastest speed to make sure that this important news reaches the two of them as soon as possible.

The moment Lie Fan and Jia Xu received the news, they were sieging a town when they took it down half of Xiangping County would be in their hand, and from there they went up to this town to wait for Taishi Ci and Zhang Liao to arrive.

Lie Fan was surprised as to why suddenly Zhang Yan attacked Zhang Yang since they had been allies previously and because of this Yuan Shao took advantage and attacked Zhang Yan taking some lands from Zhang Yan.

Jia Xu, Xun You, and Chen Ging were also surprised by this news, Jia Xu then continued to read the letters yes there's more than one, and when he read it everyone finally knew the reason.

It turns out that Zhang Yang sent almost half of his men to support Zhang Ji when he was attacked by Cao Cao, but it backfired as Zhang Ji in the end surrendered to Cao Cao, and all of his armies couldn't return.

Zhang Yan sees this as an opportunity to backstab his ally no former ally, since he was disappointed that he didn't receive any land after helping Yuan Shao take down Gongsun Zan.

Now that his neighbor was much weaker than him, it turned from a turtle shell to turtle meat, so Zhang Yan in the middle of the night attacked Zhang Yang with the entirety of his Army taking Zhang Yang by surprise.

When Zhang Yang and his retainers responded it was already too late as Zhang Yan had managed to take control of almost half of his army by relying on the element of surprise and his newly built cavalry after taking horses from Gongsun Zan as loot.

After that, Zhang Yang gathered all of his men and had a showdown with Zhang Yan on the Plains of Fuhai, Zhang Yan's army was smaller compared to Zhang Yan who came with full force.

The decisive battle lasted for around a week before Zhang Yang's Army number began to dwindle crazily, not just due to the number of casualties rising but also deserters as they didn't see any hope for Zhang Yang to come out victorious.

In the end, Zhang Yang was defeated, and after being tied up he was brought upon Zhang Yan who demanded that he surrender to only receive a spit on his face, angered by this Zhang Yan took his sword and sliced Zhang Yang's head off.

So it was the end Zhang Yang died at the hands of Zhang Yan, a former Yellow Turbans commander who could be said to be truly successful as he managed to establish himself as a warlord.

Unfortunately for Zhang Yan, his victory celebration was cut short as he soon received news that Yuan Shao attacked him, sending Yan Liang and Wen Chou his strongest generals to lead the army and manage to take some lands from his original territories.

Zhang Yan then led his army to return at the tastes speed, but it was too late for him as those lands that were taken by Yuan Shao, were guarded by Yan Liang, and Wen Chou who didn't advance anymore after taking down those lands, Zhang Yan knowing that they stopped and there's a huge disparity between the number of his army and Yuan Shao's Army, decided to let go and returned to his capital.

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Name: Lie Fan

Title: Three Heroes Who Defeat Lu Bu

Age: 29 (196 AD)

Level: 16

Next Level: 2,462,000

Renown: 725

Cultivation: Yin Yang Separation (level 9)

SP: 1,071,700

ATTRIBUTE POINTS

STR: 936 (+20)

VIT: 598 (+20)

AGI: 583 (+10)

INT: 587

CHR: 93

WIS: 509

WILL: 397

ATR Points: 0