Fueling The Fire

Lie Fan is thinking that with the army called back to Luoyang it means that the central government is going to delegate its power to the local government to eliminate the Yellow Turbans which means that in 4 years maximum the battle between He Jin and 10 attendants will start resulting both of them died while Dong Zhuo will seize power.

Improving his power base and securing Xu Province will be his main goal as that will become his seat of power, flaming the fire of a conspiracy battle in the court is also important that the 10 attendants and those officials focus on each other leaving him more room to act freely.

While thinking of that, Lie Fan reaches his study and enters the room greeted by everyone there. Everyone except the generals on the battlefield right now is present, Sun Qian, Xu Kai, Chao Bo, and his Bodyguards.

Lie Fan: "Everyone Good Morning, please take a sit as this meeting will discuss our next course of action here in Luoyang."

Everyone takes their seat, except for Liu Pi and Bo Cai who was standing behind Lie Fan while Zhang Mancheng, and Zhao Hong standing beside the door.

Lie Fan: "So our next course of action is to strengthen ourselves while waiting for the chaos that happens by first Xu Kai you will expand Oriole members to reach 100 by the end of this year and train them expertly to be sent building networks in Luoyang and Xu Province."

Xu Kai: "100 Big Brother?! Right now I only managed to recruit 20 stray youths, with our original 10 members now our members are 30 people, I need to put on an all-nighter then."

Lie Fan: "Bring Chao Bo with you to help recruit more members, recruit between the age of 15 and 18 years old men or women it's fine, they have to agree to likely never see their family again but they can send allowance to them, go check in the slums as people are desperate there for jobs."

Chao Bo: "Yes My Lord! Leave this to me and Little Xu we are experienced in reading people"

Lie Fan: "After both of you managed to recruit the quota I assign and trained them with adequate skills, Some will be sent to the palace and sent to high-ranking officials Manor, while the rest will be spread across Xu Province."

Xu Kai and Chao Bo heed Lie Fan's order and discuss among themselves that today they will start recruiting more people but silently so do not to attract attention

Lie Fan: "Next Master Sun Qian please act as my mouthpiece, visit the officials of the court, and nudge them to think that the 10 attendants position is now too strong and they need to do something about it."

Sun Qian: "But My Lord, doesn't everyone at the court already think like that?"

Lie Fan: "Yes they are but Master Sun Qian they are thinking individually or just a small group of 2 or 3 people, what if those people managed to unite under one banner of a certain Chief General who will lead it if there's a rumor that the crown prince position appointment is influenced by the 10 attendants?"

Sun Qian: "Then they will fight in and outside the court, and both factions will slowly sabotage each other to assign the Crown Prince of their preference!"

Lie Fan: "That's right! And what if the Emperor suddenly died of illness what do you think will happen?"

Sun Qian: "An all-out war between both factions! But Emperor Ling is still healthy and nothing is wrong with him My Lord from what We know."

Lie Fan: "Yes that's true, but yesterday at the banquet I heard a rumor that Emperor Ling is sick and there's no cure for it except to prolong his life."

What Lie Fan said is true, when he hosted the guest when Sun Qian was bringing Wang Yun, Jia Xu, and Xun You to the study he heard this from a group of Imperial Doctors who attend the Banquet.

Sun Qian: "Then I Will do as you say My Lord"

Lie Fan: "Master Sun Qian can improvise your action, I trust your skill better when you act freely"

Sun Qian: "Okay My Lord."

Lie Fan: "Next I will pressure Jia Xu to join our side, with his family on the way here to Luoyang escorted safely and His Mother's sickness can be cured by a pill I have sooner or later he will join us as his poisonous means is needed for our plan to work"

Lie Fan began to announce more parts of the plan, when Serenity Inn and Dragon's Fang branch for Luoyang ha opened then they will have a more secure Information gathering means which his mother is working on currently

Zhang Mancheng and Zhao Hong will be sent to Qing Province where they disguise themselves joining the Yellow Turbans' remnants there and climbing rank until they were in a high position to lead armies and then persuade the soldiers to have them join his side

Zhang Mancheng: "How many do we need to recruit My Lord?"

Lie Fan: "Between 5.000-10.000 is enough, also if there is a Yellow Turban officer that can join our side it's good too, just do it slowly and cautiously to not alert the Yellow Turbans"

Zhang Mancheng: "Yes My Lord! When will we be going to Qing Province My Lord? "

Lie Fan: "Next Week both of you will go to Qing Province, if you can recruit more than what I want that's okay but remember to pick the high-quality one"

After that Sun Qian suggested that they also include Wang Yun and Xun You in this plan but Lie Fan disagree as both of them still have affection for the Han Dynasty, Xun You will be easier to lower his affection for Han Dynasty but Wang Yun will never stop restoring the Han Dynasty

Lie Fan thinks that this is enough for the first phase of their action, Sun Qian from the side agrees as many things that they do can divert their focus causing them to go wrong or even be found out by others

Ending the meeting, everyone began to do their task that was given by Lie Fan except for Liu Pi and Bo Cai who will continue their duty as Lie Fan's bodyguards protecting him in Luoyang

Two months pass by after their summit, Zhang Mancheng and Zhao Hong already left Luoyang to go toward Qing Province and join the remnants of the Yellow Turbans, Sun Qian acting as Lie Fan's mouthpiece began to plant seeds of anger and greed in the heart of court officials

Many Court Officials are beginning to fight back against the influence of the 10 attendants but they are managed to be squashed by the 10 attendants as they are fighting alone or in a small group, this infighting was noticed by General He Jin who arrived at Luoyang alongside the other armies in the past 2 months

The rewards that were given to the higher-ranking generals were the same as in history, He Jin become the Grand General and have high influence in the court where the 10 attendants feel threatened

So He Jin who was attacked by the 10 attendants first decided to make his faction fight against the 10 attendants whereas like in history Cao Cao, Yuan Shao, and Yuan Shu joined the faction becoming core members

Especially when he heard that the Crown Prince position is put on the table and the 10 attendants wanted to use this opportunity to put the prince of their choice in the position of his Nephew Prince Liu Bian that was born from his sister Empress will be ousted from the position

Lie Fan received an invitation to join the faction but he refused with the excuse that he needs to go back to Xu Province and eliminate the Yellow Turbans' remnant there he give full support to their cause, He recommend Wang Yun and Xun You join the faction but Xun You rejected the invitation while Wang Yun immediate joined up

The Imperial Court now has begun to become a battleground for the Eunuchs Faction and He Jin's Faction to fight for power to influence the Emperor's mind, Lie Fan was happy with the condition now as he is swimming in the current like a shark waiting for his food to arrive now

Yu Yan has managed to complete the renovation of the 2 buildings and officially opened the Serenity Inn and Dragon's Fang Tavern at Luoyang, which become an absolute hotspot attracting many customers to come and try the new exotic Fruity wine and Beer that was imported from Huai'An

Lie Fan takes out the Golden Plaque he got and put it on the Serenity Inn as its name plaque becoming a customer magnet with its benefits, Xu Kai and Chao Bo sent 20 oriole members which was adequate with their skills to infiltrate the Palace and Officials Houses while some become servants in the Inn

They haven't reached the quota of 100 members, but they have recruited 40 people increasing their number to 70 and needing 30 more to reach 100. The 40 new members are still under training and with a limited rest time just to rest their body and eat then continue training

Lie Fan also visited Jia Xu a couple of times, where Jia Xu is still stalling for a time thinking about how to free his family but at the same time he wanted to cure his mother so on the third visit Lie Fan visited him Jia Xu ask for some gifts first before he considered joining Lie Fan

Lie Fan agrees and spends 5.000 SP to buy herbs that can be used to cure Jia Xu's mother's illness which needed time and not an immediate cure after that Lie Fan hasn't visited Jia Xu and wait for him to come to him just like Huang Zhong and at the time Jia Xu family from Wuwei finally arrived at Luoyang

In the passing 2 months, Emperor Ling was persuaded by the 10 attendants to suggest to Emperor Ling to levy a heavy tax of ten grams from every 614 M² of farmland to raise funds for rebuilding the palace.

Emperor Ling then ordered the officials in Taiyuan, Hedong, and Didao commandaries to transport wood and patterned rocks to Luoyang as construction materials to rebuild the palace as as a sign to symbolize their victory againts The Yellow Turbans

__________________________

Name: Lie Fan

Title: Yellow Heaven Subjugator

Age: 17 Years Old (184 AD)

Level: 13

Next Level: 912.000

Renown: 125

Cultivation: Art Of War (level 7)

SP: 181.700 -> 176.700

ATTRIBUTE POINTS

STR: 355 -> 365(Training) ->385 (2 STR Potion)

VIT: 125 -> 145 (2 VIT Potion)

AGI: 132 -> 152 (2 AGI Potion)

INT: 145 -> 165 (2 INT Potion)

CHR: 90

WIS: 100 -> 120 (2 WIS Potion)

WILL: 75 -> 95 (2 WILL Potion)

ATR Points: 10 -> 0