Three Kingdoms: Ten Times Speed, Diao Chan Says I'm Too Fast

The school in front of the Fa family mansion in Mei County, Youfufeng.

Several boys, around ten years old, were kneeling inside the school.

Each boy looked at the elderly man, who was holding a bamboo scroll and hunching over as he recounted the text at the front of the class, with a very upright expression.

The old man had gray hair, wore a tall mountain-shaped crown, and wore a clean, slightly worn gray robe. Although he was hunched over, he exuded a dignified and awe-inspiring presence.

“Fazheng, what is the meaning of the story of Boyi and Shuqi refusing to eat Zhou grain recorded in the Biography of Boyi in the Records of the Grand Historian?”

Fazhen's gaze fell on a boy at the very front of the many students in the school.

The boy was a little over ten years old, dressed in a white scholar's robe. He had regular features, thick eyebrows, and big eyes, and knelt behind the desk with his back straight.

Upon hearing Fazhen's question, the boy looked up at Fazhen and said, "Sir, this story tells of how, after the fall of the Shang dynasty, the people sought refuge on Shouyang Mountain, subsisting on wild vegetables, and composing a song that said, 'Replacing violence with violence, unaware of its wrongness,' and ultimately starved to death."

Fa Zhen slowly nodded and said, "Although the Shang dynasty was tyrannical, Bo Yi and Shu Qi believed that the Zhou king's use of violence to control violence was an act of a subject killing his ruler. Everything in the world should respect the rites and laws."

Both men, of equal high moral character, ultimately starved to death by refusing to eat Zhou's rice, demonstrating their noble spirit—a noble virtue you should all emulate.

Fa Zheng, who was sitting below, frowned slightly, thought for a moment, and then spoke: "Sir, I have a question."

Fazhen turned to look at Fazheng: "Speak."

"But if the world is suffering, the people are starving, and the ruler is licentious and tyrannical and cannot distinguish between loyalty and treachery, then shouldn't we use military force to punish him? How should we govern the world?"

Before Fazhen could answer Fazheng's question, a series of hurried footsteps could be heard outside the school.

A middle-aged man entered the school, holding a document from the imperial court.

“Father, an imperial document has arrived from Chang’an, requesting that you be appointed as one of the Three Dukes.”

Fa Yan, dressed in a gray robe, bowed and addressed Fa Zhen.

Fazhen frowned.

News of the Liangzhou troops' capture of Youfufeng, Chencang, and Chang'an had already spread far and wide.

Mei County is located on the only route between Chencang and Chang'an, and the county magistrate has long since submitted to Duan Yu.

With the declaration of war against the traitor issued, everyone in the world now knows what Duan Yu is up to.

He established the Western Capital in Chang'an and used the eldest son of the emperor, Liu Bian, to oppose the court in Luoyang.

"absurd!"

Fa Zhen roared angrily, slammed the bamboo slip in his hand onto the table beside him, and frowned, saying, "This action is tantamount to rebellion, replacing violence with violence, and we are unaware of its wrongness. If this continues, the world will surely be in chaos. If I follow the summons, wouldn't I be following a traitor?"

Fa Yan looked troubled, as if he had something to say, but dared not say it.

His father was known for his aloofness.

He was not surprised that he would definitely refuse Duan Yu's offer of service.

But that person is Duan Yu.

Such a straightforward refusal is tantamount to showing no respect to Duan Yu whatsoever.

Right Fufeng is now under the control of Liangzhou. If they don't comply... then Duan Yu will definitely target certain aristocratic families.

Will his father's firm refusal provoke Duan Yu's retaliation?

Fa Zheng, sitting below the hall, looked at his father Fa Yan, his eyes thoughtful.

..............

Five days passed in the blink of an eye.

A thin layer of mist rises from Taiye Pond in the early morning, resembling a fairyland.

Duan Yu, dressed in a black robe, sat on a chair by the lake, holding a bamboo pole and leisurely fishing.

Next to it was a small table with hot tea and pastries on it.

Several meters apart stood guards in armor and Zhao Yun, dressed in white robes with a sword at his waist and a precious carved bow on his back.

"Here it comes, serve the fish!"

Seeing the float in the water move slightly, Duan Yu smiled and lifted the rod, which immediately bent into an arc shape.

Zhao Yun and the guards beside him all looked at Duan Yu, who had stood up to fish.

In the distance, a black carriage slowly approached.

It stopped a few meters away from Duan Yu.

Li Ru stepped down from the carriage and shook his head helplessly when he saw Duan Yu fishing.

Since arriving in Chang'an, Duan Yu seems to have become obsessed with fishing.

Every morning and evening, I would spend time by the Taiye Pond, which felt somewhat like I was neglecting my duties.

"My Lord".

"Dry!"

Duan Yu slapped his thigh, and a long line shot out from the water as he cursed, "It's come off the hook again!"

"Zilong, bring me my bow."

Zhao Yun twitched the corner of his mouth and then stepped forward to hand the precious carved bow to Duan Yu.

The bow was drawn to its fullest extent, and the golden arrow shot out, causing a splash in the Taiye Pool in the next second.

Then a large fish that had been shot with an arrow flipped belly up.

Duan Yu smiled and then handed the precious carved bow to Zhao Yun with satisfaction.

“My lord, stop playing around.” Li Ru stepped forward.

Duan Yu turned to look at Li Ru.

"My lord, the recruitment notices have been sent out for so many days, yet very few have come to answer the call. Are you not worried at all?" Li Ru said, shaking his head.

Duan Yu walked back to the chair, sat down, and poured himself a cup of hot tea.

"It was expected, what's the rush?" Duan Yu said with a smile. "Some of these aristocratic families are just pretending to be high-minded, some are genuinely afraid, and some are waiting for the right price. They are all just waiting."

"He feigns aloofness, his body is on the rivers and seas, but his heart is in the imperial court."

"I am truly terrified that my defeat will bring disaster upon myself and my entire clan."

"To put it bluntly, everyone is just watching and waiting."

Li Ru gently stroked his beard and nodded, "That's about it."

"So, how does Your Lordship intend to deal with these aristocratic families?"

Li Ru looked at Duan Yu, who seemed calm and composed, as if he already had a plan.

“Gentle approaches won’t work on these people,” Duan Yu said slowly, taking a sip of hot tea. “I’m just waiting for them to refuse, waiting for them to feign arrogance, waiting for them to expose their inner fears.”

"One victory is enough to deal with them."

"If by then there are still those who refuse to comply, then you can't blame me."

Duan Yu put down his teacup and slowly stood up.

"Zilong, prepare to return to Chang'an and muster troops to head to Hangu Pass. I imagine Zhu Jun and Huangfu Song outside Hangu Pass have already received orders from Luoyang."

"Furthermore," Duan Yu said to Li Ru, "didn't we talk about building up Chang'an before? Wenyou, draft a letter for Dunhuang and send it to them, saying that all the monks from the Western Regions, as well as the people from those small countries that rebelled before, should be escorted to Luoyang."

"If we don't use so much free labor now, when will we?"

Upon hearing this, Li Ru nodded repeatedly: "This is a good idea. There are hundreds of thousands of monks in the Western Regions. Using them to repair Chang'an would be perfect. We don't need to pay them, and it will save us a lot of money."

Not long after Duan Yu returned to Chang'an, hundreds of heavily armored cavalrymen galloped eastward toward Hangu Pass.

............

"rush!"

Zhu Jun stood at the front of the formation, his sword drawing a line in the ground as he shouted, "Send another three thousand supervisory troops and three thousand soldiers. Anyone who dares to retreat beyond this line will be punished according to military law!"

After Zhu Jun gave the order, the army behind him began to be mobilized again.

A dense swarm of archers began to draw their bows and approach Hangu Pass.

However, due to the narrow terrain in front of Hangu Pass and the obstruction of the Hongnong River, only a small number of soldiers could attack the pass each time.

For Huangfu Song, Zhu Jun, and Yuan Ji, who commanded an army of over 200,000, attacking Hangu Pass offered absolutely no advantage in terms of troop strength.

On the other hand, look at Hangu Pass.

With the help of the towering walls, the Liangzhou garrison on the city walls was as solid as a rock under Dong Zhuo's command.

Wearing heavy armor and carrying a horizontal sword, Dong Zhuo looked at the densely packed Han army outside the pass without showing the slightest panic.

At this time, the area below the city gate was already covered with a layer of corpses left behind by the Han army after their attack on the city.

"With such meager skills, they think they can breach our city gates? Hmph." Dong Zhuo scoffed disdainfully, "Even if we fight until this time next year, they won't be able to touch the city walls."

"Men, give it your all! Tonight we'll treat you to some good wine and meat!"

Inspired by Dong Zhuo, the soldiers on the city gate immediately roared and drew their bows, suppressing another wave of Han troops that had just pushed forward.

Inside the city gate, the soldiers who were not involved in the defense were moving arrows and boulders toward the city walls.

Dong Zhuo was on the front wall of Hangu Pass, while Tie Shitou and Wang Erhu were on the left and right walls leading soldiers to guard the pass.

The battle lasted from dawn until dusk.

Outside Hangu Pass, countless corpses of Han soldiers lay piled up in layers.

Even the Hongnong River was dyed a light red.

Zhu Jun, who had been attacking Hangu Pass for a day, stared at the pass in the distance with bloodshot eyes, gritting his teeth and gripping the hilt of his sword tightly, listening to the laughter and mocking voices coming from Hangu Pass.

"Gongwei, withdraw the troops."

Huangfu Song slowly walked up behind Zhu Jun.

The two looked at Hangu Pass in the distance and said, "Back then, even with hundreds of thousands of troops from the six states, we still couldn't break through this pass. It will be no easy task to conquer Hangu Pass."

"If we continue to wear down our morale like this, it will be even more detrimental to the battles to come."

Zhu Jun turned his head unwillingly and said, "It's all Ding Jianyang's fault. If he hadn't failed in his defense, how could Duan Yu have occupied such a formidable pass?"

Huangfu Song shook his head and said, "We can't blame Ding Yuan entirely. Duan Yu came from the Hangu Pass Ancient Road. Without the Hongnong River blocking the way, Duan Yu could have led a small group of people to cross the plateaus on both sides. But from our current position, even sending a small group of people to cross the plateaus is not an option. We can only launch a frontal assault."

"The terrain here is narrow, making it impossible to exert our numerical advantage. Unless they take the initiative to come out from Hangu Pass to fight, even if we have two million troops, we will probably have a hard time taking Hangu Pass."

"Duan Yu's Liangzhou army will provide continuous support from the rear. Without the trouble of manpower and food supplies, we have no way to take Hangu Pass."

"However, the daily food and rations consumed by our 200,000-strong army may become a burden on the imperial court."

Huangfu Song said earnestly.

With more than a month to go before winter, it will be difficult to break through Hangu Pass within that timeframe!

Just as a somewhat discouraged Zhu Jun turned around to return to camp with Huangfu Song, a series of loud shouts suddenly erupted from Hangu Pass behind them.

Zhu Jun and Huangfu Song turned around and found that, at some point, the Hangu Pass behind them was covered with large banners bearing the character "Duan".

When they saw the large black banner with the character "Duan" fluttering in the wind, both Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun's pupils immediately narrowed.

Duan Yu is here!

Duan Yu is here!