Luyang

It took two weeks for Deathseekers to arrive at the main camp of Yuan Shu and Sun Jian which was Luyang to the south of the capital Luoyang.

Cheng Pu was with them the whole time since they passed through the camp in the east which was in Suanzao. Yun wanted to avoid another camp but couldn't since Cheng Pu said it was the fastest route.

"We are there," says Cheng Pu as they arrived at the small gate of the village Luyang when Yun looked at all the tents around the village.

"Then let us meet with Yuan Shu and Sun Jian," says Yun as he turned to his men to tell them to make their camp nearby.

Dian Wei followed Yun inside as he was to make sure that nothing happens while he is meeting the two big-shots of the south camp.

They arrived at a residence that normally would belong to the Leader of the village and finds Sun Jian with a young man almost the same age as Wei Yan and a boy that wasn't over ten.

Yun looked at them and could see the resemblance between Sun Jian and them making Yun conclude that they are his sons.

There was a man who was at least as tall as Sun Jian standing across from Sun Jian as they were looking at a map of the area when Yun and Dian Wei entered the room with Cheng Pu.

"My Lords, I brought you, General Zhao Yun," says Cheng Pu getting the attention of everyone in the room.

"Ah, General Zhao, it is nice to finally meet face-to-face," says Sun Jian as he gave a slight bow to Yun who returned the bow.

Sun Jian noticed that his sons weren't showing respect and grabbed their heads lowering them so they would show respect as well.

"I apologize for my sons. They haven't heard much about your past deeds for the Han Dynasty," says Sun Jian as Yun didn't really care about that.

"And their names are?" asks Yun as Sun Jian smiles.

"This is my oldest son, Sun Ce, and this one is my second son, Sun Quan. They will join me in this campaign against Dong Zhuo," says Sun Jian as Yun looked at them.

Sun Jian didn't know what Yun was thinking about when he hears Yun say, "They have a bright future before them."

"Thanks for the compliment," says Sun Jian feeling proud as his sons were praised by Yun.

"You must be General Yuan Shu, it's a pleasure to meet you," says Yun as he gave a slight bow to Yuan Shu.

"I hope you and your army are worth the gold I will lose from hiring you," says Yuan Shu as he didn't care about Yun's past glory.

Dian Wei wanted to move and bust all of his teeth out but opted not to do it since Yun only smiled at Yuan Shu and says, "You just need to provide the rations and this campaign should be over before you know it."

Yun then stepped forward as he approaches the table and asks, "What is the plan we are going to follow?"

"Right," says Sun Jian as he was back at the table with Yuan Shu.

"We want to take the town of Liangdong after the winter is over. It should make a fine outpost to keep Dong Zhuo's men in check," says Sun Jian pointing at the North of Luyang when Yun closes his eyes and began to think.

He opens them again and looks at the map looking for a location when he points his finger at it and says, "If you go for Liangdong, I will go for Yangren. If we initiated a faster advance we will put Dong Zhuo under more pressure and he will make more mistakes."

"I thought we would fight side by side each other since you only have five thousand men," says Sun Jian not knowing Yun real strength.

"You must be false informed about my real strength," says Yun as scanned the whole area on the map again and realized something that could be to his advantage when he says, "Dian Wei."

"Yes, my lord," says Dian Wei as Yun turns around seriously.

"Tell everyone to pack up our things. We are leaving right away for Yangren," says Yun which shocked everyone in the room except for Dian Wei and Cheng Pu who lived two weeks the life of a soldier inside Yun's regiment.

"Shouldn't you rest for today? Your men must be exhausted from all the marching," says Sun Jian as Yun points at Yangren again.

"I need to take Yangren before the winter falls and renders it impossible to get an unoccupied town," says Yun knowing that the city of Yangren was unoccupied at the moment.

The faster he gets to the town the faster he can strengthen the defense of the outpost and surprise the enemy when they try to get it since winter will be soon and almost all warfare will be reduced to small skirmishes here and there.

Dian Wei was already informing everyone about it while Yun was still in the house when he says, "Once the winter is over I would suggest that you try to take Liangdong. You can send me a messenger if you need assistance in taking Liangdong."

Yun then turns to Yuan Shu and says, "I will need provisions for at least twenty thousand men to survive the winter in Yangren."

"Twenty thousand...," says Yuan Shu in disbelief as Yun nods.

"Yes, I and my men will leave right away but I need your troops to bring me the provision before the first snowfall so the spies of Dong Zhuo can't connect Yangren to the Coalition," says Yun as they now understood Yun's logic in taking the town before the first snowfalls.

Yun left the house as he passed two people that seemed important figures but he didn't care as he needed to be going.

The two figures entered the house and find the shocked people there and the older one says, "It seems he ran away."

"No, he is already marching out before the winter begins," says Sun Jian as he looked at Cheng Pu who only coughs once before he walks kneels before Sun Jian and Yuan Shu.

"I think that he is far more than able to take Yangren. I think that he could march into Luoyang and end the war himself if he wished it," says Cheng Pu which surprised Sun Jian while Yuan Shu was shocked that Cheng Pu said that.

"You mean to say that he is that strong?" asks Yuan Shu as Cheng Pu shakes his head.

"No, I mean to say is that his soldiers are different compared to ours," says Cheng Pu as Sun Ce was now curious and steps forward.

"What do you mean with his soldiers are different?" asks Sun Ce as Cheng Pu looked at the young master.

"What I want to say is that it felt like I was moving in front of a giant monster ready to tear me apart instead of an army. I was guiding them but the aura around those men doesn't felt like farmers but people that were trained their whole life to be a soldier," says Cheng Pu as Sun Ce was confused with what Cheng Pu was saying.

"How about this, how many soldiers do you think are needed to take one of his soldiers down?" asks Sun Jian looking at Cheng Pu as he was now curious as well.

"I would say that a soldier of his would need to face three or four of ours but of hundred of them gathered together it feels like we would need at least four thousand men," says Cheng Pu as Sun Jian now didn't feel curiosity but a bit fearful.

"How many do you think are needed to defeat his whole army?" asks Yuan Shu as he saw a future threat in Yun.

"I think that it would need at least two hundred thousand of our men to take them down and even then I don't know if General Zhao will be able to die," says Cheng Pu as they all looked at him.

"What do you mean?" asks Sun Jian worried now.

"If his army feels like a monster what do you think what does my lord think it feels to stand beside him while marching?" says Cheng Pu as Sun Jian was thinking seriously about it.

"Is he like an even bigger monster?" asks Sun Jian as Cheng Pu nods.

"It felt like a Dragon was beside me ready to swallow me alive to never be seen again," says Cheng Pu as he explained everything roughly.

In the meantime outside Luyang, Yun was ready to leave Luyang to take Yangren and to reinforce it over the winter.

His men were ready to move out again when Pang Tong approaches him and asks, "Are we really going to march to Yangren now?"

"Yes, we will use the cover of the night to get there unseen. Yangren is just an insignificant town in the eyes of Dong Zhuo but for me, it will be an impenetrable fortress once the winter is over," says Yun as Pang Tong began to think about it.

They moved towards Yangren which took them two days because of the narrow path to get there. Once there Pang Tong knew what Yun meant.

The village looked like a normal town but it only had one entrance point making it easy to defend against since they would only need to defend one gate.

The city was taken without any trouble from the civilians. Yun then sent Shadow to scout the area for forests so they could cut some trees and created some barricades while some of the men began to dig trenches as Yun ordered from them.

Yun's orders were quite simple towards his men. No one should touch the civilians and if someone does he will be executed by his sword.

They knew that Yun would do that since he already killed some of his men in Zhending because they thought they were hot-shots.

The civilians continued with their everyday life as if Yun and his army weren't around while a week later the provisions arrived for Yun and his men.

Yun could feel that winter had arrived when the first snow fell. Exactly at that moment, no one except for the civilians was allowed to leave the city as the snow could reveal their position since their footsteps would sink deeper into the snow than those of the civilians.

Even Thunder wasn't allowed to leave and that pissed him off but Yun just gave him a stare that said everything making Thunder calm down.