Yun Chang POV

Advancing with troops and advancing normally is completely different. I’d had a vague impression of how troublesome it was but I’d never been in charge of logistics before so I wasn’t prepared for how troublesome it would be.

Especially when we stopped to rest and eat.

“Lord Guan, may I ask how many people can each cauldron cook for? And how much rice should be apportioned for each cauldron? Our cauldrons are not uniform so we need have a new standard for this.”

“Lord Guan, a few sections in 1 of the newly formed platoons have gotten into a fight, please come and take a look.”

“Lord Guan, may I ask how long more do we have to go? Some of the people have begun to complain.”

A continuous rapid fire stream of questions came at me at which I really couldn’t handle at all as these weren’t questions which I had answers to immediately. All our previous armies were rather well-established and had their own basic rules and standards to follow so everything went smoothly. But now that we are starting from ground up, it’s a little too much to handle.

This is probably what it means to intensively develop something.

“So embarra.s.sing, Lord Guan Yu~” Chen Gong gave a ‘hmph when she saw sweat streaming down my face and walked over with her hands behind her backs to the soldiers with issues and began to resolve them. As expected of a provincial magistrate, her help is really appreciated here.

But it’s a pity she’s so infatuated with officialdom.

“Heaven!!! General of Heaven!!!!”

“Shh! Don’t call me that!!”

Un? A very emotionally-charged exclamation came from elsewhere. I turned and saw Zhou Cang prostrating before Hua Tuo and kowtowing profusely.

What’s going on?

I feel like something’s not right and hurriedly ran up to them and asked them what happened, “Zhou Cang, what are you doing?”

“Sister Guan, you’re finally here. Please save me.” Hua Tuo seemed to be very relieved when she saw me, “Please… Ah! Stop grabbing the hem of my skirt, my robes are going to be pulled off soon.”

“The General of Heaven still lives! We all thought you were dead!” Zhou Cang tearfully cried out as she tightly held onto Hua Tuo and refused to let go. When you look at her, it’s almost like a caricature of a wife who is tearfully hanging on to her husband who is taking the place of his father in the draft.

But did she say the General of Heaven? — Ah! I almost forgot… Hua Tuo has always been living under the name of Zhang Jue.

“Hua Tuo, could it be that…”

Was Zhou Cang a Yellow Turban before?

“Probably.” Hua Tuo nodded, and then she frowned, “But I don’t know this person as the Yellow Turbans operate as a marauding force after all. Many comrades in the south were defeated and dispersed before they could meet up with us.”

No impression huh…

“By the way Hua Tuo, I’m standing over here. That’s a sandstone formation.”

“Ah ah ah! Sorry.” Hua Tuo apologised as she deeply bowed.

But looking at how Hua Tuo is like, she probably can’t recognise her even if she did knew her before.

“But why is the General of Heaven here? Could you be planning to use these peoples’ strength to revive the Yellow Turbans? C, c, could it be that our army will become the Yellow Turban army soon?!”

There’s no way that’s happening.

“No no no, no way of that happening at all.” Hua Tuo shook her head so vigorously it seemed like she was like a rattling doll while her hands swung up and down rhythmically as well.

“Then, then this is…”

“Un, how do I put it? I’ve left the Yellow Turban army. That’s all.”

“Eh?”

“Please don’t call me by that t.i.tle anymore. The General of Heaven of the Yellow Turbans is already dead and the one standing before you is someone called Hua Tuo.”

Hua Tuo, you’re not looking at her at all.

“I see, so the Yellow Turbans have failed huh…” Zhou Cang didn’t seem to mind and was more preoccupied with a painful regret as she slammed her fist on the ground.

But to think there was someone with this level of loyalty in the Yellow Turbans huh. And she was committed to being responsible for the refugees from the very beginning. She really is someone huh.

Well, she’s definitely much better compared to Chen Gong.

“Don’t be too sad, Zhou Cang. There will always be things that are lost. It’s like this in troubled times.” I said as I clapped Zhou Cang’s shoulders.

Zhou Cang sank into silence as she knelt on the ground before nodding after a long while. She sighed and sat on the ground.

“I’m really sorry about just now. When I saw the General of, ah no, Lord Hua Tuo, I got too emotional.” Zhou Cang rubbed her eyes before she continued, “I’ve always admired Lord Hua Tuo. Even though she’s tiny, weak and powerless, she’s always appeared before us as the General of Heaven.”

“That’s a little too overboard…” Hua Tuo smiled stiffly, and then squinted as she looked ahead before finding Zhou Cang’s shoulder with some difficulty, “But you’re right. I am indeed weak and powerless. But in my head, I hold the knowledge by which I can save people with. You’re in charge of killing while I’m in charge of saving. I think that’s where my path lies.”

Hua Tuo flashed an innocent smile when she finished. Indeed, to dedicate onself to saving lives in troubled times is probably an arduous path to follow.

“Lord Guan Yu…”

Un? I turned around when I heard someone call me and saw Lu Bu with an irritated look.

“What’s the matter, Lord Lu Bu?”

“Someone’s here.”

Eh? What does she mean?

“You look like you’re doing well. Not only did you manage to hack and slash your way through, you’ve even managed to gather this many troops?” Just as Lu Bu finished, a familiar high-pitched voice could be heard from afar.

“Eh? General Xiahou Dun?”

Lu Bu stepped aside, and revealed a one-eyed girl with an eyepatch who came forward. Just from her standing there, I could feel her domineering aura.

She was bringing a horse by the reins with her, and some troops were behind her. As she walked forward, she swept back her hair that had become messy from the ride.

“You’re pretty quick huh. It took several days and nights of continuous travel to get here,” Her eyes gleamed when she said so, but I wasn’t sure if it was out of animosity.

At this, I hurriedly saluted her and wondered if she was here because we slew Lord Cao Cao’s subordinate generals. But if Lord Cao Cao wished to pursue the matter, she could have done so long ago.

“Hmmm, feels like there are quite a few new faces amongst the subordinate generals huh…” Xiahou Dun looked at Zhou Cang and Chen Gong, who was presently concentrating on resolving the troops’ problems. Guan Ping and Liao Hua weren’t here presently as they were in the rearguard with the girls.

I wonder what she would think if she saw Liao Hua who switched sides.

“We were in a hurry to cross the pa.s.ses before and did so without the permit so we seek General Xiahou Dun’s understanding about this.”

Whatever the case, it’s best to admit our mistakes first.

“No, that’s water under the bridge. Please don’t be so uptight, Lord Guan Yu. This is my usual demeanor.” Xiahou Dun relaxed her expression when she saw a look of seriousness on me, “I’m just here to collect the permit.”

“Eh? Collect the permit?”

“Un, we’ve notified any cities you may pa.s.s through from here on so even if you don’t have the permit you can pa.s.s. We can’t have you hold on to the permit as it doesn’t have an expiry date after all.”

I understand where they’re coming from, and so I took out the piece of silk from my pocked and handed it to Xiahou Dun.

“You could have saved the trouble and left this sort of thing to the gatekeeper general.”

“I just wanted to see how you were all doing. The Imperial Chancellor herself is very interested as well.” Xiahou Dun kept the permit as she said so and continued with her hands on her hips and a bright expression on her face, “It’s of no good to us whatsoever, but it’s nice to see that Lord Guan Yu is doing pretty well.”

Doing pretty well huh… I’ve had quite a bit of trouble along the way actually, I thought but didn’t say this.

“Is Yuan Rang here?”

“Oh? Long time no see, Wen Yuan.”

Wen Yuan seemed to have put down everything on hand and rushed over when she heard that Xiahou Dun had came here, and when she saw her, she ran up and hugged her.

“…”

“Ah–”

And immediately, Xiahou Dun reflexively threw Wen Yuan over her shoulder by her sleeve.

“Sorry! Wen Yuan, I did it instinctively again!” Xiahou Dun began to apologise while she clapped her hands together and bowed when she saw that she had thrown Wen Yuan mercilessly.

“It’s alright it’s alright~ It’s me who forgot.”

Everyone secretly knows that Xiahou Dun is afraid of pain and it is because of that fear which has led to her sheer martial prowess borne out of intensive training. And so, just touching her back will incite an instinctive attack.

“Oi, you better be careful.” Lu Bu let out a strange guttural sound as though she were about to go wild and lose reason when she saw her subordinate general get thrown.

Looks like she cares for Wen Yuan as expected huh.

“It’s alright it’s alright, I was careless.” Wen Yuan hurriedly explained when she saw this.

And Xiahou Dun went to help Wen Yuan up as well after she tidied the red scarf around her neck.

“Un…” Only then did Lu Bu exhale as though she was letting out the tension inside her and return to normal.

“So where are you all headed to?”

“Un, we are planning to head to Gucheng for a short break since it’s just up ahead.”

“Gucheng county huh. I heard that there’s a new magistrate sent there recently. Apart from that, I don’t know much else.” Xiahou Dun mounted her horse in 1 swift movement as she said so, “But since we’ve notified every city, you can rest easy and go ahead since she should know about you all.”

“Un, I understand. Thanks General Xiahou Dun.” I nodded and saluted.

“Will you be leaving now?”

“Yes, I have to go over to Ji state immediately. The Xianbei have infringed our borders and Meng De and Lord Yuan Shao are quite concerned about this so Meng De has sent me to deal with them.”

“Please take care then.”

“When I return and we get the chance again, let’s have a spar.”

“Yes, let’s.”

“Un, when we have the chance. But I won’t be sparring with Lord Lu Bu since the difference between us is a little too big.” Xiahou Dun smiled and saluted befoee leaving.

“Guan Yu, I have some issues here… Un? What’s everyone looking at?” Just then, Chen Gong came over and looked about, feeling puzzled at where we were all looking at, “Was someone here just now?”

“Un, a general called Xiahou Dun.” Zhou Cang said with an impressed look to Chen Gong.

“Oh, I see. Speaking of which, Guan Yu, I have some numbers here which relate to our resources.”

Looks like Chen Gong isn’t too interested. But the path she walks is an administrative one after all.

It was night by the time we reached Gucheng city.

“May I ask if the Administrator is around? We are Guan Yu’s group which has come from the north and we would like to borrow some lodgings as it’s dark out~~~”

It was me who decided to let Zhou Cang who was much louder than me do the shouting but I didn’t think about telling her what to say and she completely neglected to word it in a manner that was more polite.

After a short while, a small figure appeared at the city tower.

“I have learnt of this and permit you to enter the city and borrow lodgings here.”

Only after I heard this was I able to rest easy. I’ve had too many experiences of being rejected at the gates after all. But why do I feel like this voice is so familiar?

Just then, the small figure took a torch and looked at us below. At the same time, the torch lit up her face as well. It was a little far but I could clearly see what she looked like. Her small face, her well-defined features, and that forceful countenance.

Most importantly, she held a Serpent Spear that was even taller than she was.

In an instant, my mind went blank, and tears flooded my eyes as my body nearly collapsed from relief.

And so, I slowly closed my eyes and let my tears stream down. Words swam in my throat but all that came out repeatedly was a weak ‘little sister’.

Big brother, I’ve finally found her–

Our little sister, Zhang Fei Zhang Yi De.