Keyboard Immortal - Chapter 2947

Chapter 1460: The Yellow Turban Saintess

It’s taboo to openly demand generals from others, especially since the two women in question are said to be stunning beauties.

Dong Zhuo’s public demand is practically an insult.

Liu Biao and the other generals frowned slightly, but Yuan Shu seemed somewhat gloating; it would be best if neither of them could have the two beauties.

Zu An coldly replied, “There’s no such rule in the army. Besides, they are not only my sworn siblings but also my confidantes. I cannot comply!”

Dong Zhuo’s face darkened. “They are all officials appointed by the court, not your private troops. What right do you have to take them for yourself? Furthermore, the court has ordered me to command the entire army and to dispatch various generals as needed. This is within my authority!”

Zu An knew that Dong Zhuo was taking the opportunity to retaliate against him. He would never back down on this matter. “They are not officials appointed by the court. They are simply following the court’s orders and recruiting volunteers to fight against the Yellow Turban Rebellion. A few days ago, they heard that the court’s army was locked in a stalemate with the main force of the Yellow Turbans, so they came to help.”

“Your actions will surely discourage all the righteous men in the world and affect the court’s overall efforts to quell the rebellion. Even if you are the commander-in-chief, you probably cannot bear the responsibility!”

They were all making grand accusations, as if anyone could do that.

The other party was originally a true god; he wouldn’t need to go through all this trouble to deal with anyone.

Now that he had chosen this method to launch his attack, he must have had many concerns, so he had even less reason to be afraid.

The two were on the verge of battle, and the atmosphere in the tent suddenly became extremely tense, as if a fight was about to break out at any moment.

At this moment, the cavalry commander Fu Wan suddenly spoke up to smooth things over. On the one hand, he affirmed that Dong Zhuo, as commander-in-chief, had the authority to deploy troops; on the other hand, he argued that with a formidable enemy at hand, peace should be valued above all else. Finally, he proposed a compromise: let the two female generals decide for themselves whether to stay or leave, and if they wished to advance further, Zu An should not obstruct them.

Although ostensibly to save face for Dong Zhuo, everyone could tell he was trying to appease Zu An.

It turned out that Fu Wan came from a prestigious family; not only were his ancestors high-ranking officials in the court, but he also held a hereditary marquisate, and his wife was Princess Yang’an, daughter of the late emperor.

From the perspective of the upright gentry, he was closer to Lu Zhi and already somewhat dissatisfied with the sudden change of government to Dong Zhuo;

from a family perspective, he was related to the imperial family by marriage, naturally siding with Liu Bei.

With him taking the lead, Liu Biao echoed his sentiments, and several other Northern Army generals followed suit.

They were all high-ranking generals from the capital, of noble birth, while Dong Zhuo was merely a crude and uncouth military man from the frontier. His arrival had immediately put them in a bad light, which had already made them resentful.

Several of Dong Zhuo’s trusted generals were furious and about to launch an attack, but Dong Zhuo raised his hand to stop them: “I was merely testing Liu Bei’s character, to see if his previous achievements were genuine or fabricated. Now, I see he indeed has some backbone. Good, very good!”

His trusted men seized the opportunity to shower him with flattery. Although the Northern Army generals knew what was going on, they couldn’t completely break ties with their commander, so they echoed his sentiments.

Dong Zhuo laughed heartily, no longer seeking the opinions of the two female generals, as if nothing had happened.

“What do you all think? How should we quell the Yellow Turban rebels led by Zhang Jiao?”

…

After the military meeting, everyone was assigned their respective tasks.

Zu’an was assigned the most arduous and dangerous task: to hold off Zhang Bao’s Yellow Turban army at the front lines, freeing up the others to deal with Zhang Jiao’s forces.

Everyone could see that Dong Zhuo was deliberately targeting him. Zhang Bao’s side had nearly 100,000 troops. Although their soldiers were of slightly lower quality, even a few thousand men could drown Liu Bei’s few thousand.

And even if Liu Bei was a formidable fighter, how long could a few thousand men last?

By then, not only would his own troops be exhausted, but Dong Zhuo could also use his failure to hold the line to convict him—a truly certain death.

But there was nothing that could be done openly. Dong Zhuo was the commander-in-chief, and he did have the right to assign tasks. Zu’an couldn’t very well say it was a suicide mission and send other units to take its place.

The other generals were even less likely to say anything, fearing they would be implicated and assigned the same suicide mission by Dong Zhuo.

After leaving the tent, Zu’an secretly thanked Fu Wan, Liu Biao, and the others for their righteous words in the tent.

Fu Wan sighed, “We can’t help you with your mission. You’d better take care of yourself. But if he dares to use this to punish you later, we will definitely report to the court and plead for you.”

Liu Biao, standing to the side, didn’t say anything. He was naturally a shrewd and diplomatic person, and his earlier agreement in the tent was already the limit.

He actually thought Fu Wan was too straightforward, and that going against the commander-in-chief like this was unwise.

Zu An smiled slightly, “Thank you for your concern, General Fu. Although this mission is difficult, it’s not necessarily hopeless.”

Fortunately, he had the title of “Deceitful One,” so Dong Zhuo couldn’t find out about his relationship with Princess Nihuang.

Fu Wan was taken aback, then laughed, “Haha, indeed, heroes emerge from among the young. I almost forgot that you also defeated the Yellow Turbans several times with the weak. Maybe you can create another miracle this time.”

Yuan Shu, who was passing by, snorted, “Whether he can save his life is still uncertain, let alone create a miracle.”

Zu An ignored him completely. He didn’t have time to deal with him now; he had more important things to do.

Back in his tent, he mustered his troops and headed to the front lines to stop the Yellow Turban Army. On the way, he told Yun Jianyue and Tingxue about the incident. Yun Jianyue was furious: “That guy surnamed Dong is really going too far!”

Tingxue’s expression was also icy, clearly harboring murderous intent.

“The most troublesome thing isn’t that, but his identity.” Zu An recounted that he might be a partial projection of the Ancestor of Annihilation.

Even Tingxue’s expression changed slightly. Yun Jianyue thought for a moment and said, “Logically speaking, a true god wouldn’t need to go through so much trouble to deal with you. Right now, he’s probably restricted by this world. Why don’t the three of us join forces and find an opportunity to kill him?”

Tingxue glanced at him, seeing his enthusiastic expression, and thought to herself, “As expected of the leader of the Demonic Sect, so decisive in killing that she even dares to slaughter a god.”

Zu An chuckled, “I did have that idea, but there’s no need for the three of us to take the risk. We have readily available help.”

Yun Jianyue’s heart stirred, “You mean the Yellow Turban Army?”

Zu An nodded, “Before, because Lu Zhi was my teacher, I couldn’t help the Yellow Turban Army deal with him. But this guy…”

After the group set up camp at the front line, Zu An secretly slipped into the Yellow Turban Army’s ranks. The entire battlefield was now teeming with talented individuals, some possessing great supernatural abilities, and some even stronger than him. But to blend into different factions so easily without being noticed was something only he could do.

Seeing his arrival, Princess Nihuang, who was about to leave, was overjoyed and grabbed his hand, “You’ve come at the perfect time. Come with me to see someone.”

“Who?” Zu An was taken aback.

“The person I told you about last time.” Princess Nihuang smiled mysteriously, offering no further explanation.

Zu’an’s heart skipped a beat. She’d mentioned knowing someone here before; could it be Zhang Jiao who was making her so solemn?

But she immediately dismissed the idea. As the leader of the Yellow Turbans, Zhang Jiao was under the watchful eyes of both sides; he couldn’t possibly be here.

Just as she was wondering, a burst of fervent salutes came from ahead: “Greetings, Holy Maiden!”