297. Li Jue's Demise

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Gongsun Du was touched by the words of his sons, he agreed to take a rest and told the two of them to be cautious in preparing these talents, to not be known by these officials, and after saying those words he left for his room, where while heading there his deep ambition for his future rule was also growing form a seed now a young tree who was fearless, he hoped to desperate from the Han Dynasty and found his own kingdom not knowing that his dream would never be achieved.

In the original timeline, Gongsun Du also had the ambition to found his own Kingdom and pushed for more land to conquer, especially toward the Korean Peninsula but unfortunately, before he could realize it he passed away.

His eldest son Gongsun Kang succeeded his position and in the same year he inherited his father's position, Balgi the older brother of King Sansang of Goguryeo the strongest Korean Kingdom, went to Gongsun Kang and requested 30,000 soldiers to invade Goguryeo so that Balgi could become king.

The attack failed as Goguryeo managed to repel the attack, where Balgi was killed and Gongsun Kang's army was forced to retreat. Several years after the failed attack, Gongsun Kang attacked Goguryeo once again where the succeeded.

He seized some of its territory and weakened Goguryeo who was the strongest Korea Kingdom in the three kingdom period of Korea. Pressure from Gongsun Kang forced Goguryeo to move their capital from the Hun River valley to the Yalu River valley near Hwando.

When Gongsun Kang died, his younger brother Gongsun Gong succeeded him because his sons were still young at the time. Gongsun Kang's son Gongsun Yuan took back control of Liaodong for Gongsun Du and declared the founding of the Kingdom of Yan.

It had a short reign as the Cao Wei Dynasty sent Sima Yi to subjugate them, and the Kingdom Of Yan was no more, so Gongsun Du's dream was already a failure that awaited him in the future.

As the whole land was focused on Lie Fan due to the rumor, in the Northwest of China a fierce battle ensued between Ma Teng and Han Sui agents Li Jue with Cao Cao's army attack Li Jue on Tong Pass.

Li Jue waking up from his faint, began to coordinate with his retainers to abandon Tong Pass and let Cao Cao have control over it, sacrificing Tong Pass for Tianshui and Anding was worth it in Li Jue's mind.

Some of his readers immediately tried to persuade Li Jue to not abandon Tong Pass, as it was a strategic location and whoever controlled it would benefit either as a defense or to attack.

Li Jue ignored their advice a sin in his mind Anding and Tianshui provided a large amount of tax and horse farms were abundant there, while Tong Pass doesn't give much tax, and other than its strategic location, doesn't offer any more benefits.

So with Li Jue's mind already made up, a messenger was soon sent to Tong Pass Defenders, informing them to retreat and abandon Tong Pass, this news caused the defenders shocked which soon turned to anger.

Many of them were natives of Tong Pass, their families lived there and their entire livelihood started from Tong Pass, clouded by anger they killed the messenger, and with a unanimous decision, they opened the gate and surrendered to Cao Ren and Zhang Ji.

Both of them were confused as to why the defenders who fought fiercely suddenly surrendered, but then didn't care about that for the moment and entered Tong Pass with their entire army.

After doing some digging, they finally found the reason why the defenders surrendered which was that Li Jue decided to abandon Tong Pass, Jia Kui using this reason began to incorporate the defenders promising them supplies and monetary aid to increase the livelihood in Tong Pass in return for their loyalty to Cao Cao.

In Chang'An on the other hand, after receiving the news that Tong Pass surrendered to Cao Cao's army and joined them, Li Jue was angered by the insubordination and threw the cup of wine in his hand.

Knowing that Li Jue was in anger, some of his retainers tried to calm him down and appease him, as they knew that they couldn't act recklessly In this matter, especially since Tong Pass was now in Cao Cao's hand, he had direct access to head toward Chang'An.

Since Cao Cao's purposes were only for Tong Pass, they didn't need to antagonize him any further and focused on Ma Teng and Han Sui who kept attacking Anding and Tianshui relentlessly.

Li Jue: "You told me to calm down?! Those bastards dared to disobey me, killed my messenger, and joined Cao Cao?! Raise whatever men we have and go attack Tong Pass!"

General A: "My Lord calm your anger, we lack the manpower to attack Tong Pass, and since Cao Cao's only purpose was Tong Pass let him have it, didn't antagonize at further."

Advisor A: "That's right My Lord, right now we should focus on Ma Teng and Han Sui repelling their attack in Anding and Tianshui, after that, we can recuperate our army and supplies to take Tong Pass back."

Li Jue: "Humph! Fine! But we will not only repel Ma Teng and Han Sui, we will counterattack the two of them and take some land from them!"

Advisor B: "That is achievable My Lord, as long as we don't antagonize Cao Cao which would have us battling on two fronts!"

General B: "I suggest that we increase the defense in Chang'An and raise the number of patrols between Chang'An and Tong Pass to keep an eye on any movement from Cao Cao's side."

Li Jue: "Fine we do as you suggest, now scram all of you! I want to enjoy my wine and beauty, Haha!"

Li Jue's retainer left the hall letting Li Jue enjoy his life of debauchery, which makes some of his retainer begin to dislike him and even hate him as Li Jue slowly turned to Dong Zhuo, even though previously he wasn't a good man either but he was still sane and knew what is important and had the aura of a general.

Now he is just like an overweight landlord drunk on his riches and beauty, not caring about the condition of his army and government, so without knowing Li Jue has caused many of his retainers to be dissatisfied with him.

Several days passed by and Chang'An was suddenly thrown into turmoil as the news of the frontline arrived, Anding and Tianshui had fallen to Ma Teng and Han Sui, while their army was defeated and half of them directly surrendered to Ma Teng and Han Sui.

This caused an uproar and Li Jue who heard the news began to panic, as he thought that his army could reel them, he ordered emergency conscription to all of the towns and villages that were still under his domain.

This caused large dissatisfaction among the populace under his rule, they were already oppressed by the large tax imposed on them and how lawless Li Jue's army was, now that there was a sudden conscription forcing them to participate causing riots to happen in several towns.

The riots in his land combined with the pressure from Ma Teng and Han Sui's Army who was heading to Chang'An while conquering towns and villages along its way, caused Chang'An to be isolated from the outside world.

Li Jue thrashed his court and cursed at his retailers every day when they held a meeting to discuss and find a way out, Li Jue's personality and temper caused many of his retainer's loyalty lowered every single day

Different from the bad atmosphere in Chang'An, Ma Teng and Han Sui's's sides were filled with high morale and spirit as after a fierce battle at Anding and Tianshui, they managed to take down both Town and incorporate some of Li Jue's men into their side.

After that, like there was no obstacle and like a fish in water they easily subjugated and consolidated their control over each town and village on their path, at first the two of them were confused but the more they drew near Chang'An they knew the reason.

Li Jue was almost left without an army to defend himself after losing at Anding and Tianshui, so he underwent a forced conscription which in turn caused many of the commoners to riot against him.

Such opportunity can't be left alone, they at first thought that they should head toward Wudou the Town that bordered Liu Zhang and Zhang Lu's territory, then head toward Chang'An.

But now knowing that Li Jue was left with a small army, Ma Teng and Han Sui sent some of their generals with 50,000 men toward Wudou and they together led the the rest head toward Chang'An.

At Chang'An, the information that Ma Teng and Han Sui alongside their army approached Chang'An at a fast speed causing chaos to ensue, Li Jue held an emergency meeting once again but none of his retainers had a solution.

Angered by this, he has some of his generals to be punished by having them whipped, and some of his advisors to be forced to stay in prison for a day or two, he hopes to use this to give his readers to find a solution and set an example.

What he doesn't know is that this not only doesn't work but backfires against him as his readers who received the punishment, have a secret gathering where they have enough with Li Jue and begin to plot against him, where they plan to hand Li Jue to Ma Teng and Han Sui.

The storm was brewing in Chang'An, and when Ma Teng and Han Sui's army finally arrived at Chang'An and began to besiege Chang'An, Ma Teng and Han Sui finally came face to face with Li Jue.

From the top of Chang'An wall, Li Jue lets out many curses and insults to Ma Teng and Han Sui, even cursing their ancestors and their future descendants, Ma Teng and Han Sui don't care about this as Li Jue will be killed by them sooner or later.

Their arny on the other hand was angered by the nurses and insults Li Jue let out toward Ma Teng and Han Sui, so with a burning spirit their attack on Chang'An became more fierce and Li Jue's small army couldn't hold the attack for a long time.

Seeing this reaction, not only Li Jue was afraid but he became more daring and continued to curse and insult both Ma Teng and Han Sui when suddenly a blade from behind beheaded Li Jue shocking everyone and Li Jue's retainer who was loyal to him seeing that it was one of their comrades wanted to retaliate, but the soldiers who were amongst them already on Li Jue's killer side and subdued them all.

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Name: Lie Fan

Title: Three Heroes Who Defeat Lu Bu

Age: 28 (195 AD)

Level: 16

Next Level: 2,462,000

Renown: 725

Cultivation: Yin Yang Separation (level 9)

SP: 1,071,700

ATTRIBUTE POINTS

STR: 936 (+20)

VIT: 598 (+20)

AGI: 583 (+10)

INT: 587

CHR: 93

WIS: 509

WILL: 397

ATR Points: 0