Hostage Exchange

Chapter 62 – Hostage Exchange

A letter from Tian Feng arrived in Tong's hands which Tian Feng refused the demand of one million gold. However, he apologized for Feng Ji's actions, which he disobeyed Yuan Shao's order and betrayed Yuan Shao's original intention. Tian Feng offered a chance for the renegotiation for trading between the families, hostage exchanged and a truce for both families.

Tian Feng had set a date for a hostage exchange. It was December 15th at Anping County where Tong had fought Guo Dian there.

Tong frowned as he read the name of the sender of the message, Tian Feng.

This person was a heavyweight class strategist which was on par with Ju Shou. Unlike Feng Ji who made judgments based on his own emotion and greed, Tian Feng had higher EQ and was more mature. He was also an opportunist who was not shy away from any underhanded tactics for the sake of his lord.

Just like in this situation, he did not allow Tong to take advantage of the Yuan family. At the same time, he remained neutral in the conflict between Tong and the Yuan family, but he retained his purpose for the best interest of the situation and the future of Yuan Shao in the long run.

Unlike the greedy Feng Ji, the instinct of Tong told him that he could not push Tian Feng too far. He was afraid that Tian Feng would not hesitate to kill Zhang Jiao to protect Yuan Shao's reputation.

Tong took the letter and consulted it with his two uncles and Hua Shi.

"I think getting your father back should be your priority. Don't be greedy."

"We have too many enemies already. Don't create a new one."

"If he dies, we die too. Get him back ASAP!"

The three of them gave out their thought instantly. It was an unanimous decision that they should reconcile with the Yuan Clan.

However, Tong did not like to play the game normally. He asked Zhang Bao for an errand.

"Second uncle. I need you to make a trip to Luo Yang and get an audience with the Emperor."

"YOU WANT ME TO DO WHAT!!??"

Zhang Bao panicked because Tong asked him out of the blue.

"I want you to take the elite troops and 100,000 gold with you. Once you get there, tell the officials or the guards that you've come to pay tribute to the emperor. Make sure you report that Julu Governor Guo Dian attacked our family unjustly to rob our tribute. And don't forget to act humble and offer my father as a candidate for the new governor."

Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang opened their eyes wide. Did tong want to buy a position from the emperor himself? And what did Tong mean by acting humble but shoving up a relative for an official rank? From their understanding, it was more like acting shamelessly instead.

"Dealing with Tian Feng will not be simple. It's best that we have an extra card on our hand. And the official title as a governor can help us."

The two uncles nodded. Seeing that both of his uncles agreed, Tong unloaded 100,000 gold for them to transfer to Luo Yang.

"Oh, I almost forget. Second uncle, if you can find Ma Yuanyi, tell him to come back and don't enter Luo Yang."

"Huh? Why?"

"I don't want him to get caught plotting a rebellion."

"Ah, we forgot about him. I'll do that."

Ma Yuanyi was Zhang Jiao's spoke person. He had been sent to various regions to spread the Taoist teaching and gather Taoist followers. However, the Imperial Court would notice him in the future and connect the story with the Yellow Turban Rebellion, so Tong had to summon him back as soon as possible.

…

After Tong and the rest settled the plan, Zhang Bao made the preparation for the trip to Luo Yang.

Meanwhile, Tong dragged Hua Shi with him to his warehouse. He wanted her to buy him another cooking utensils to make more beer.

However, she only bought one cooking utensil because she spent one of her two shopping tickets to buy another skill.

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[Supreme Nightsight] Cannot be leveled up

- Host can see in the dark.

- Host's vision can be zoomed in or out. The maximum distance is two kilometers

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Tong was reminded by Hua Shi that he should buy more skills when he could because it was limited merchandise. If the skills were all sold out, then he might have to hunt down other reincarnators or might have to wait for them to die, so that the new skills could show up in the shop.

Tong looked at the skills that remained in the listing of the system shop. Afterward, he picked two skills which were the most useful for him right now.

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[Create Food] LV.1 (0/10,000)

- Create a food product or raw food ingredient.

- 1kg of food can be created from one usage.

Skill Cost: 1 Lifespan

Skill Restriction:

- Host cannot create food that the host has never eaten before.

- The number of food increases by 10 times after each level up.

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[Aura Mastery] LV.1 (0/10,000)

- Host emits an aura that will give status effects to allies and enemies.

- The skill can be turned on and off.

- The active skill [Calming Aura] will be applied to the host once the skill is equipped.

Skill Cost: 1 Lifespan per one second of aura activation.

Skill Restriction:

- Effects cannot be applied to host.

- Aura radius is 100 meters around the host. Effect applied to all allies and enemies.

[Calming Aura] Cannot be leveled up.

- All living beings in the radius become calm.

- Remove all negative and positive emotion from the affected targets.

Skill Restriction:

- Can only be used when [Aura Mastery] level 1 or higher was activated.

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The only remaining skills in the shop were support skills as all combat skills were sold out already. However, the [Create Food] could be useful in the food shortage situation in the future. He suspected that the creator of this skill might have been starved to death in his previous life, or he would not create this kind of skill.

Secondly, the increment of food creation after the skill leveled up was huge. If it increased to level 2, the skill would create 10kg of food at once. Then level 3 would be 100kg, and so on. With this calculation, when the skill became max level at level 10, he could create a million tons of food at the cost of only one lifespan!

In summary, this skill could not be overlooked. He had to grab it.

Then, the [Aura Mastery] was a set skill which was similar to Hua Shi's [Homing Arrow] and [Bow Mastery] set skill. However, this skill seemed to have several additional hidden types of auras if the skill was at a higher level. Tong doubted that the previous owner of this skill was a simpleton that created a useless skill. He probably had created a growth type skill that would shine once the skill was at max level.

…

After they sorted their skills and used up their shopping tickets, Tong and Hua Shi attempted to take the last main quest together. But …

[I'm sorry. The last main quest will be issued to you guys later once everyone finished all tutorial quests and the current #19 quest.]

Hua Shi also wanted to take another Soulmate Quest, yet the system gave her another excuse.

[The Soulmate Quest can only be taken once a year or one at a time. You have completed it already, so please be patience, Okay?]

Tong sighed in relief. He was free from the quests till the end of the year. Thus it gave rooms for him to deal with the political issues with the Yuan family.

Hua Shi saw that Tong's mood got better after he heard that there would be no more mission this year, she asked Tong for his promised reward from the last battle at Anping.

"Can you stop calling me 'Zombie' and use my name instead? I've stopped eating it for almost a year now."

Tong was surprised. He thought that this girl would ask for something perverted, but she asked for something common instead.

"OK. What do you want me to call you? Shi'er? Hua Shi?"

Hua Shi smiled at him and told him the name of her previous life.

…

…

December 13th, 181 A.D.

Time passed by as both Tian Feng and Tong prepared for the meeting at Anping.

Tong arrived at Anping early to pick the best land to camp his troops. The fort that Tong had built to fight the coalition forces was still here in this county. He left only a few hundred guards inside the fort to repair it and kept it safe from the hands of bandits and other nobles.

Tong ignored the tourist activities. But he made his men collected a toll fee if there was someone who wanted to take a tour around the fortress. Tong thought that this place could be used as a tourist attraction for now to gain his popularity among the civilians, and he could get a small income overtimes.

…

December 15th.

Tong and his 3,000 soldiers met up with Tian Feng and his 5,000 elite escorts. Both troops stood on the different side while Tong and Tian Feng rode their horses and stopped in the middle of the standoff. Both Tian Feng and Tong had two bodyguards behind them.

"Greetings great immortal Zhang, it's the first time meeting you in person."

"Well met, sir butler Tian. I've heard of your name from the capital."

Tian Feng squinted his eyes. He did not remember about him having any notable achievement. Tian Feng thought that Tong just said that for the courtesy, so he ignored it.

"Then I won't waste your time. Let's release our people. I hope that we can still be friends." Tian Feng spoke with a humble tone.

Tong nodded. He waved his hand, and the bodyguards behind him, Zhou Cang, waved his flag. Afterward, Yan Liang and Wen Chou walked forwards with their 300 elite soldiers.

On the other side, Zhang Jiao also walked forward with his entourage that had gone to Nan Pi with him.

Both parties walked pass each other. They reached the other side without any mishap.

Tong gazed through Tian Feng's eyes while the other also did the same. It seemed that both parties were sincere and did not want trouble.

Tong nodded at Tian Feng and bid him farewell. He returned to his men and withdrew along with his troops.

Tian Feng watched Tong as he left. However, he frowned as if he was dissatisfied with something.

"Cunning bastard."

Tian Feng muttered. The news about Tong sending a convoy to pay tribute to the emperor was already known by Tian Feng. He was afraid that his lord, Yuan Shao, might be in trouble if Tong had the emperor as his back. Therefore, he chose to play it safe.

He also could not attack the convoy either. If the news got out, the emperor might get his attention on Yuan Shao and Tian Feng himself. He did not want to risk his life and career by having the emperor judging them as rebels.

"Gao Lan. Once we return, tell everyone not to seek trouble with Zhang Jiao and his family, especially Zhang Tong."

"Yes, butler Tian. But is it alright?"

Tian Feng shook his head.

"No, it is not alright. Zhang Tong is a dangerous man according to my analysis. He will be favored by the emperor. Now, he is building back his troops, and Julu will definitely fall into his hands soon. So if we don't want our lord to be called a rebel, don't provoke Zhang Tong for now."

Tian Feng looked at the departing Tong Army one more time as he muttered to Gao Lan.

"The timing is not right, but our chance will arrive eventually."