Talking about the Future

The next day arrived and the army was shoveling mass graves to bury the dead. Yun wasn't overwatching it since he was entertaining his two guests.

"Where is the army moving after everything is done around here?" asks Wei Mei trying to avoid talking about corpses in front of her daughter who was playing with a puppet at the moment since the halbert tip was out of her reach.

"We will be moving to Luoyang once everything is done around here," says Yun as he was looking at a map that his scouts made.

"We are going back home," says Huixiu happy and excited to meet her father again as Yun put the map away and walked towards her.

He pets her head as he smiled at her warmly since she remembers him of Mulan with her innocent thinking.

"Not really, little tigress. But you will meet him soon," says Yun as he let go of Huixiu's head when Tang Shi entered the tent.

"Yun, it seems that Sun Jian and his army has caught up with us," says Tang Shi as Yun looked at him seriously when he turns to Wei Mei.

"Stay in the tent and don't leave it. I don't have a good relationship with one of Sun Jian's sons. He could think of using you against me," says Yun as Wei Mei nods and Yun leaves the tent with Tang Shi.

He looks at the guards beside his tent and they nod understanding that if something happens to the people inside they will be punished.

Yun walks in front when he sees in the distance Sun Jian's army approach. He waited for them to arrive when he sees Sun Jian in the front with Sun Quan on his horse.

"General Zhao, why are you camping here?" asks Sun Jian surprised since Yun was marching towards Luoyang.

"We had some complications on our way. I had to fight the enemy off on this plain. We killed two of Dong Zhuo's Generals in the process but we are now burying the deads of yesterday before we march again," says Yun relaxed as Sun Jian was surprised that Yun fought off an enemy army.

"Is the enemy still around?" asks Sun Jian curious as Yun shakes his head.

"No, Lu Bu called for a retreat when he was defeated by me in a duel. He escaped before I could give him the killing blow," says Yun seriously as Sun Jian almost fell off his horse after hearing Yun say that.

"You fought the 'God of War' and not only did you survive but also defeated him," says Sun Jian surprised as he gets off his horse's back.

"Yes, he received quite a souvenir from me," says Yun joking about it as he looked at Sun Jian before looking at Sun Quan who seemed to have sparkles in his eyes.

"It seems your youngest son is quite excited from hearing that news," says Yun as Sun Jian looked at his son.

"He seems bewitched by your military prowess and I really can't tell him not to since you could be quite a role model. If he can aspire to become like you, I wouldn't have to worry about the future of my family because I had a wild and calm monster in my family," says Sun Jian with a smile.

"Let's hope so," says Yun as Sun Jian's army caught up with its lord.

"If you want you could camp here and we march together towards Luoyang to attack Dong Zhuo directly," says Yun as he wanted to buy more time for Lu Bu to leave Luoyang with Dong Zhuo and his army.

"You think my army will fail?" asks Sun Jian a bit angry being called weak but he didn't show it.

"No, I am just saying that it wouldn't take much time to conquer Luoyang if both of our armies attacked at the same time. If you attack alone you will most likely lose more men than when we attack together," says Yun as he didn't think that Sun Jian's army was weak.

He was just trying to waste time so Lu Bu could prepare his retreat from Luoyang with Dong Zhuo while saving men on both sides which would be lost if Sun Jian and Lu Bu were to meet.

Sun Jian began to think about it when his Commanders approached him and Huang Gai asks, "My Lord is something wrong?"

"No, I was just thinking about what our friend just told me," says Sun Jian seriously as he looked at Yun who looked at him seriously when he feels his son pull on his shirt from the horse.

Sun Jian smiled at him before saying, "Huang Gai, tell the men that we will rest here for today. Let them help General Zhao's men in burying the dead so we can march together towards Luoyang."

"Yes, my lord," says Huang Gai as he turned his horse around to inform everyone.

Sun Jian helped Sun Quan down from his horse before Sun Ce says, "We should attack now while they are weakened."

"If you want to can ride ahead but if you find yourself between a wall and a beast don't say I didn't warn you. Lu Bu is a Tiger and once he is cornered he will show his claws and kill anyone in his way. So be my guest and follow him," says Yun with a smirk since he didn't like Sun Ce at all.

"I can see that there is tension between both of you because of what happened in Yangren but we need to pull from the rope on the same side," says Sun Jian feeling the tension between his oldest son and Yun.

"I was just warning him that he would be riding into his death if he were to follow Lu Bu now that he is retreating," says Yun looking at Sun Jian as Huang Zhong comes their way.

"My lord, the scouts have returned," says Huang Zhong as he could read the situation from where he was standing before.

Yun turns to Huang Zhong and nods before he looks at Sun Jian and Sun Quan while saying, "Duty is calling me. I will see you all later."

"Yes," says Sun Quan excited about it since his new idol was standing in front of him.

Yun smiles at the boy as Sun Jian was holding his head while shaking it before Yun leaves them followed by Tang Shi and Huang Zhong.

They walked for a distance when Yun says suspiciously, "As far as I know we didn't send scouts out since they returned yesterday."

"I just wanted to get you away from there since it seemed that the little kitten tried to annoy the Sleeping Dragon. We can't have our current friends turn their back on us just because of an argument," says Huang Zhong worried as Yun began to laugh.

"Don't worry, old man. Sun Jian isn't a petty man but someone that thinks about everything twice but never calculates for the retreating enemy to plan an ambush against him," says Yun with a smile on his face.

He wasn't angry that Huang Zhong pulled him away from the conversation with Sun Jian using a lie. They walked for a bit before they get some rice with a bit of game some soldiers caught in the morning.

They sat down on the ground beside Dian Wei and Wei Yan who were also eating after a little spar. Dian Wei was giving Wei Yan some pointers to overcome some of his flaws.

"Are you giving my student a lecture?" asks Yun joking about it.

"He thinks that he is a hotshot when he is only lucky enough to have a great teacher and a good foundation. But if he were to encounter a stronger opponent he will get killed," says Dian Wei seriously as he sees Wei Yan like a little brother since he was around him for almost six years.

"Why do you think I have him as a foot soldier at the moment," says Yun as he pets his student's head.

"He still needs to face some difficulties before I can promote him to the position of captain. Maybe after the campaign, we can promote him to it," says Yun as Wei Yan moved his teacher's hand away from his head.

"I am not a child anymore," says Wei Yan feeling embarrassed about being treated like a child by Yun.

"You will always be my cute and stubborn student," says Yun with a warm smile as Hua joined them.

"It seems Sun Jian will be joining us," says Hua as he sat down.

"Yeah, I convinced him to do so. We need to give Lu Bu some advantages or he will be killed by our combined attack when we reach Luoyang and that wouldn't be good for us," says Yun as his commanders looked at him curiously.

"What do you mean with it wouldn't be good for us?" asks Dian Wei as Yun smirks at them.

"It is quite simple, Lu Bu is the best person for us wherever he will appear in the future we might be called to fight against him and that will bring us a lot of money which we will use to build a bigger army," says Yun as he was already thinking about the future.

"And what are you planning for after building the army?" asks Hua curiously as he was the only one that dared to ask that question of all of them.

"We all know what we will be doing once we have a bigger army," says Yun seriously before he looks at the sky and he says, "We will seize the throne and reunited the country."

Huang Xu who was sitting with them almost choked on his food when he heard Yun. Dian Wei was tapped his back two times so he gets it out of his body which made the group forget for a moment what Yun said.

"But it depends on one thing," says Yun following up on his words.

"And that is?" asks Hua as Yun smiles at them.

"If there is nobody worthy of the Dragon Throne. But if there is I will join him in the future and help him ascend the throne since I don't want the Zhao family to die out because of my ambition," says Yun in a worried tone and all of them could understand him.

Many families raised up but eventually fell as time passed and when the change came many of the previous reigning families ended up dead if not extinct.

Yun didn't want that for his family as he says, "I would rather be known as the Protector of the Country than as its ruler. I would also tell my children to never try to claim the throne since that much power is a blessing and a curse at the same time."

"So we won't be seeing you on the throne?" asks Huang Zhong as Yun sighs.

"I hope so but if I were to ever sit on it I will have to create a branch family so the Zhao family name survives," says Yun with a heavy heart knowing that a Dynasty isn't created that simple as he began to eat silently with the others before they went their separate ways to fulfill their duties.