Five Years

Five years have passed since Yun, with the help of Lu Bu and his army, took back parts of the Xu Province which makes this year 214 A.D..

Yun was sitting in his new office at the moment as the manor was completed after three years while the new defensive devices only needed two years.

Yun needed two years to fully adapt to his body again while training under Buddha his breathing technique and movement art as well as training his children.

Zheng also moved out after three years back to Jianye with Sun Ren as they got married to each other. Yun allowed it since Zheng could watch over his older sister and his nephews while staying there.

Rin and Yang were the next on the list to be married off with Yun having a headache because of Rin.

Yun couldn't find a suitable partner for her so he gave her free reign to find a husband herself. The problem was that she returned with their current unwilling guest, Cao Tai.

This complicated the situation a lot since he couldn't send Rin into Cao Cao's territory after what happened at the Battle of the Red Cliffs.

So he needed to sent a letter to Cao Ren explaining the situation surrounding his son who he thought died at the Battle of the Red Cliffs until he received a letter from Yun under the pseudonym Y.

Cao Ren wrote back that he was relieved that his oldest son was still alive but it would be better that Yun took care of him since he already made his second son, Cao Kai, the next heir.

It would also be impossible to explain the situation to his cousin, Cao Cao, that his son and his cousin's nemesis' daughter might get married.

It was already a hard hit for them when Xiahou Yuan's niece left with Zhang Fei that Cao Cao didn't need to know that his own son did the same just ten time worse.

Yun agreed with Cao Ren but still invited him since it was his firstborn son. He should be there even if he had to trick Cao Cao to do so.

Then there was still Yang who was promised to Guan Yu's daughter who was at the moment in Jiangling with her Father which made Yun quite nervous because of the war between Liu Bei and Sun Quan at the moment in which he wasn't summoned to join yet.

Then there were still Ai and Min who were still too young while Zhen Luo was pressured by her father to finally give Yun a son hoping to win some favor out of it not knowing that the succession was already dealt with his grandson Zhao Fan taking over as the next family head.

If he is too young to become the head then Zhen Luo and Huixiu would share the power equally until Zhao Fan was of age in Yun's eyes which meant until he was eighteen winters old.

Yang was also trained by Yun more intensely than all the other siblings before him which noticed as Yun did to him what Buddha did to Yun five years ago.

Hua could see that Yun really meant what he said before with making the Zhao Family branch out into the Murim with Yang. Yang didn't only learn spearmanship but also close-quarter combat from Yun to be precise Yang learned what Yun learned from Baldr.

Many were speculating if Yun wanted to created a Monster as strong as himself but Yun wanted Yang to be better than him by going a way he wouldn't be able to take since he took another path.

As said before Yun was sitting in his new office going over documents when Pang Tong enters the room with a boy strapped to his back.

"Yun, have you heard what happened in Hanzhong?" asks Pang Tong quietly as his boy was sleeping soundly.

"Did Liu Bei already take it back from Xiahou Yuan?" asks Yun already knowing what was going on.

Cao Cao waited for two years rebuilding his army before marching west instead of east as everyone believed surprising a lot of Warlords who all fell to him with the only one escaping being Ma Chao with his sister and cousin, Ma Dai.

Cao Cao was in control of the north of the Empire since spring 114 AD. He wanted to have a key position to be able to invade the Yi Province if needed.

What he didn't expect was Liu Bei's fast expansion from the southern Jing Province taking over the Yi Province while Sun Quan took over the Jiao Province.

Liu Bei couldn't lose Hanzhong to Cao Cao since it would give him two entrance points to invade the Yi Province so he sent his army out to take Hanzhong back.

"Yes, but haven't you heard that Xiahou Yuan died defending Hanzhong?" asks Pang Tong seriously as he sees Yun stop working something rare.

"What did you just say?" asks Yun wanting to be sure of what he heard.

"Xiahou Yuan has died defending Hanzhong," repeats Pang Tong seeing Yun shake for a moment before standing up.

'How can that be it was Huang Zhong who would have killed Xiahou Yuan but he is in my army and far away from the battlefield,' thinks Yun feeling bad when he asks, "Do you know who killed him?"

"It was the new General under Liu Bei, Ma Chao. It is also said that he took his time killing him as vengeance for Cao Cao killing his family three years ago," says Pang Tong seriously when he sees Yun point at his door.

"Go, I don't want to disturb your son's sleep," says Yun to Pang Tong who nods and leaves immediately knowing that Yun must be furious right now.

Once Pang Tong wasn't able to hear him he broke his desk with one clean punch feeling fury rush through his veins as he considered Xiahou Yuan a close friend of his with who he still exchanged letters.

'It is no wonder I haven't received a letter from him in a long time,' thinks Yun since the Battle for Hanzhong took place a month and a half ago.

'If I get my hands on Ma Chao,' thinks Yun wanting to do to him the same he did to Zang Ba five years ago.

Zang Ba's bones were still hanging from the south wall of Xiapi as a reminder to everyone what could happen to anyone that dares to invade the Xu Province.

Many even believe that it is the reason why Cao Cao hasn't attacked the Xu Province is because of them reminding him of what happened five years ago.

Yun, on the other hand, knew it better Cao Cao wasn't afraid of Yun. He was just calculating the possibility of winning against Yun without losing his territory to Liu Bei and Sun Quan after taking the Xu Province.

He knew that he would lose everything if he attacked Yun now since Yun would be stalling them so he decided to attack the next best option that why he fell over the west and took it over after three years.

'It will be difficult for me to go to the funeral but I will make sure that you are avenged,' thinks Yun seriously as he waits while his army only grows bigger with every passing day.

He hoped to recruit Ma Chao for himself but Buddha came between them which left Yun not option but to train to get a feeling for his body function.

He lost two fierce generals but thinking about it right now it was for the better since Cao Cao would have been able to fall over Liu Bei if he didn't have Ma Chao and Ma Dai.

But still they now carry the blood of Xiahou Yuan on their hands which made Yun feel mad all over again before he just sighs and says, "If you have time to spy on me, you should have time to train as well."

"I am sorry about that, father," says Yang as he brought Fang and Lin with him since they wanted to see their grandfather.

Yun looked at the both with a warm smile on his face as he asks, "And what can I do for you?"

"Play with grandpa," say Lin and Fang going straight for Yun as Lin grabs on to his leg not letting go of it while Fang did it in a more subtile way.

"So you want to play with grandpa," says Yun in a warm tone before picking both up.

"Yang, please take care of my desk," says Yun to his son before leaving his office as he carried his grandchildren out to the yard while asking a servant on the way to prepare a chessboard and figures as well as some tea for them or better said for Yun while the children received some juice.

"Your father loved to play this game," says Yun as they placed the pieces down with him playing as black.

He was going easy on his grandkids making intentional mistakes to see if they could find them and profit from them. But it seemed that the chess was only a game for the twins when Zhen Luo joined them with Ai, Min, and Huixiu.

"I can see that you are in a stalemate," says Zhen Luo knowing that Yun was going easy on them.

She sat down beside Yun with Huixiu joining her children's side. Ai and Min joined the twins as well when Lin blunders and the adults thought it was over when Yun blunders as well.

This surprised Huixiu and Zhen Luo as they know how merciless Yun is to his opponents when they looked closer on the board. Then they realized that the game wasn't over because the twins were good but because Yun was holding back giving them the opportunity to find flaws in the game.

"You are going easy on them something quite rare. If I remember correctly you stamped over me when I first started to play against you," whispers Zhen Luo into Yun's ears making a smile appear on his face which the twins misunderstood.

"Grandma is helping that is cheating," says Lin out loud saying that it was unfair making the adults laugh seeing the cute reaction as they knew better.