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(A/N: Don't forget to give those power stones to Skyrim everyone!)
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"The fundamental challenge of a northern campaign is not the enemy cavalry, Your Majesty, it is the sheer, unforgiving vastness of the terrain and the impending winter," Sima Yi explained smoothly, his mind a flawless abacus of grain and blood. "To sustain a massive invasion force deep in the steppes, we cannot rely on a single supply line. We have established a trident formation for our logistics."
He tapped three primary staging grounds located just south of the Great Wall.
"The western prong will launch from Bing Province, commanded by General Ma Chao and his heavy shock cavalry, supported by the Liang Province veterans," Sima Yi detailed. "The central, primary thrust will launch from Ji Province, driving straight up through the Dai Commandery. This will be the main anvil, composed of our heaviest infantry and the artillery trains. The eastern prong will launch from You Province, pushing deep into the Wuhuan territories to prevent them from flanking our central column."
"Three distinct armies, marching simultaneously," Lie Fan noted, his eyes tracking the incredible scale of the deployment. "A massive logistical burden right before our eyes."
"It is, Your Majesty," Xun You agreed. "But it is necessary. By driving three massive columns into the steppes, we force the nomadic confederations, the Xiongnu and the Xianbei, to scatter their own forces to defend their herds. If they mass into a single horde to fight our central column, Ma Chao and the eastern forces will freely burn their winter pastures and slaughter their remaining livestock, starving them out. If they split to fight all three... they will be crushed by our superior numbers and heavy armor."
Zhang Liao stepped up, his calloused finger pointing to a specific, wide basin on the map, far beyond the initial borders.
"The vanguard strategy is ruthless pursuit, Your Majesty," Zhang Liao rumbled, a fierce, predatory grin on his face. "We are not marching to hold empty grasslands. We are hunting. We will use our light cavalry to flush their main camps, driving them backward. When they attempt to stand and fight, we deploy the heavy cataphracts."
Lu Xun, the brilliant young tactician, added the final, devastating piece of the puzzle. "And when they attempt their traditional tactic of feigning retreat to draw our heavy cavalry into an ambush... we will not pursue them blindly. We will halt the advance and immediately deploy the artillery."
Lu Xun tapped the small, black markers representing the terrifying new weapons of the empire.
"The foundries have completed the deployment orders for the Cannons, Your Majesty," Lu Xun reported. "We are mounting heavy batteries along the key mountain passes of the Great Wall to serve as an unbreakable defensive fallback line. But more importantly, we have requisitioned a massive train of mobile, carriage mounted field cannons to march with the central column. When the nomads attempt to kite our forces with their horse archers, we will blow them to pieces with high explosive shells from far beyond the range of their composite bows."
Lie Fan listened to the presentation, his mind running through the tactical scenarios. The trident formation, the logistical redundancy, the integration of heavy shock cavalry, and the devastating use of mobile artillery to counter the hit and run tactics of the steppes.
It was a flawless, brutally efficient war plan designed not just for victory, but for absolute, permanent annihilation of the enemy's war capacity.
"And the specific directive I issued?" Lie Fan asked, his voice dropping an octave, his eyes locking onto Xun You. "The ethnographic survey?"
"Integrated seamlessly into the Vanguard protocols, Your Majesty," Xun You assured him immediately, pulling a thick silk scroll from his sleeve and handing it to the Emperor. "Attached to every single cavalry division is a dedicated detachment of the Imperial Censorate's most ruthless scribes and Oriole intelligence operatives. As we shatter the larger confederations, they will move into the captured encampments."
Xun You pointed to the detailed orders on the scroll. "They are under strict command to interrogate the surviving chieftains, cross reference the tribal banners, and meticulously document the exact genealogy, the familial bloodlines, and the specific ancestral names of every single clan that comprises the horde. You will have a comprehensive map of their bloodlines before the first snow falls."
Lie Fan took the scroll, feeling a profound, terrifying sense of satisfaction. The plan was perfect. They would break the immediate threat of the Xiongnu and Xianbei, and they would actively hunt down the ancestral roots of the future Mongol Empire, neutralizing the apocalyptic threat of Genghis Khan centuries before he could ever be born.
Lie Fan set the scroll down on the edge of the sandbox table. He looked at the five men who had drafted the apocalypse of the north.
"The strategy is flawless," Lie Fan decreed, his voice resonating with the absolute authority of the Dragon Throne. "It is a masterpiece of logistics and slaughter. You have my absolute imperial approval."
He leaned forward, his hands resting heavily on the wooden frame, his eyes burning with the fire of the coming war.
"Issue the final mobilization orders to the provincial commanders," Lie Fan commanded, the air in the room growing heavy with the weight of destiny. "Empty the granaries of the north to feed the marching columns. Move the artillery to the staging grounds. We march before the autumn leaves finish falling."
The five generals slammed their right fists over their hearts in perfect, thunderous synchronization.
"We march to break the world for you, Your Imperial Majesty!" they roared.
"No," Lie Fan corrected them softly, a terrifying, predatory smile touching his lips. "We march to ensure the world never breaks again. Dismissed."
After the final, chilling dismissal from Emperor Lie Fan, the stifling, hyper focused tension within the Grand Military Strategy Room finally broke.
The five titans of the Hengyuan military apparatus bowed with deep, crisp reverence, their minds already spinning with the monumental logistical and tactical calculations required for the total annihilation of the northern steppes. Everyone, including the Emperor himself, immediately left the room to begin the massive, continent spanning preparations for the impending northern campaign.
Lie Fan stepped out through the heavy oak doors, trading the war room's stifling heat for the cool, polished marble expanses of the inner palace corridors. The transition was immediate and stark. The moment his boots struck the corridor floor, the terrifying Yellow Ghost Bodyguards seamlessly detached from the shadows.
They formed a tight, impeccable, and utterly lethal diamond formation around him, following closely behind in absolute, synchronized silence. Their dark armor absorbed the light of the corridor lanterns, turning them into a moving wall of impenetrable obsidian.
As Lie Fan headed back toward the main palace to review the mobilization decrees, a sudden, rapid cadence of footsteps broke the rhythmic march of his escort.
Sima Yi, having deliberately separated himself from Xun You and Zhang Liao, hurried down the corridor. His dark robes fluttered around his ankles as he closed the distance, his sharp, predatory eyes entirely focused on the Emperor's back.
"Your Imperial Majesty!" Sima Yi called out respectfully, his voice echoing slightly off the high, gilded ceilings of the corridor. "If I may beg a moment of your time?"
At the sound of the Minister of War's voice, the Yellow Ghost Bodyguards instantly halted. The rearguard pivoted, their hands dropping to the heavy hilts of their broadswords with a terrifying, metallic clack, forming a physical barrier between the Emperor and the approaching minister.
Lie Fan stopped his stride. He turned around, raising a single hand in a smooth, calm gesture. The Yellow Ghosts immediately parted, lowering their hands and stepping back into the shadows, allowing Sima Yi to approach.
Lie Fan, of course, nodded his head and offered a warm, relaxed smile that entirely contrasted with the apocalyptic war he had just ordered. "Yes, of course, Zhongda," Lie Fan said, addressing him by his courtesy name to soften the formality of the corridor.
Lie Fan looked at his brilliant Minister of War, a man who also happened to be his brother in law, a vital, intimate familial connection that bound the powerful Sima clan directly to the imperial bloodline. "What is it that you would like to talk about with me, my brother in law? Is there a logistical hurdle with the Bing Province supply lines that you did not wish to raise before the others?"
Sima Yi stopped a respectful three paces away, bringing his hands together and offering a deep, flawless bow. When he rose, his dark, intensely intelligent eyes met the Emperor's.
"The northern supply lines are secure, Your Majesty. I speak not of grain or cavalry today, but of the future. Of bloodlines and legacy," Sima Yi began, his voice dropping into a smooth, deeply earnest register. He chose his words with the meticulous, surgical precision of a master politician playing a very long, very delicate game.
"I come to you not as the Minister of War, but as the patriarch of the Sima family," Sima Yi continued, taking a slow breath. "I would like to make a formal request regarding my younger brothers. As you know, our father blessed our house with eight sons. While the elder brothers have already found their places, the three youngest are currently coming of age within the capital academies."
Sima Yi looked up, his ambition for his family shining through his carefully constructed mask of humility. "I would like to have my younger brothers become His Majesty's personal pages and messengers."
Lie Fan's expression remained perfectly pleasant, but his dark eyes sharpened infinitesimally. He listened without interrupting.
"To study ancient texts in an academy is one thing," Sima Yi explained, his hands gesturing subtly to emphasize his point. "But to learn right under your wing, to carry your decrees, to witness the absolute peak of governance and martial virtue firsthand... there is no greater education in the known world. I want them to truly understand the heavy burden of the throne. I want them to be forged by the Dragon, so that they may become the absolute embodiment of the perfect advisors and scholars that serve the Hengyuan Dynasty."
Sima Yi paused for a fraction of a second, delivering the ultimate, foundational anchor of his request. "And in the future, when the time comes, they will be perfectly molded, unconditionally loyal instruments to serve Crown Prince Muchen. That is, of course, if Your Majesty agrees to take them into your court."
Hearing that deeply loaded, multi layered request, Lie Fan went entirely silent.
The warmth did not leave his face, but the air in the corridor suddenly felt incredibly heavy, as if the atmospheric pressure had violently dropped.
Lie Fan stood perfectly still, looking at Sima Yi. Inwardly, the Emperor's mind was racing through the terrifying, blood soaked annals of a history that only he remembered. He looked at the brilliant man standing before him and saw the architect of the Jin Dynasty.
He saw the Sima clan, a family so incredibly talented, so deeply entrenched in the political fabric of the state, that in the original timeline, they had effortlessly usurped the throne from the Cao family, systematically executing their rivals and seizing the world for themselves.
Sima Yi was offering his youngest brothers as hostages, yes, to further cement his loyalty. But he was also making a brilliant, calculated move to embed the Sima bloodline into the absolute, intimate inner circle of the future Emperor, Muchen. If the Sima brothers grew up beside the Crown Prince, their influence over the next generation of the Hengyuan Dynasty would be unparalleled.
It was a double edged sword of the highest quality. They could be the greatest shield Muchen ever possessed, or they could be the dagger in his back.
After a long, agonizing moment of silence that felt like an eternity to the Minister of War, Lie Fan finally spoke.
"Of course they can," Lie Fan said, his voice smooth and calm. "After all, our two families are very close. Your sister sits within my inner courts, and our blood is already mingled. It is only natural that the younger sons of the Sima clan find their place within the heart of the imperial palace."
Sima Yi felt a massive surge of relief wash over him, a smile beginning to form on his lips.
But then, the atmosphere shattered.
Lie Fan did not raise his voice. He did not draw a weapon. He simply stepped one half-pace closer to Sima Yi, closing the respectful distance between sovereign and subject.
Lie Fan gave Sima Yi a deep, piercing look.
It was a gaze completely devoid of familial warmth, devoid of political courtesy. It was the terrifying, omniscient stare of the Black Dragon, a look that stripped away Sima Yi's flesh, bypassed his brilliant, calculating mind, and stared directly into the very soul of his bloodline.
In that single, suffocating look, Lie Fan projected an aura of such absolute, overwhelming violence and cosmic understanding that Sima Yi felt as if he had just been plunged into a freezing ocean.
Lie Fan did not speak the words out loud. He did not have to.
The silence was heavier than any execution order.
The unspoken message was transmitted with terrifying, crystal clear clarity, 'I know exactly how brilliant your family is. I know exactly how ambitious your bloodline can be. I am taking your brothers into my home, and I will elevate them. But if your family ever, in this generation or the next, attempts to overstep their bounds, if a single Sima ever looks at the Dragon Throne with greedy eyes, or attempts to manipulate my son, I will not just execute you. I will systematically, brutally, and permanently exterminate every single soul that bears the Sima name from the face of the earth, until history forgets you ever existed.'
Sima Yi was a genius. He was one of the most intellectually gifted men of the age, and he possessed an unparalleled instinct for survival. He felt the crushing, apocalyptic weight of that silent warning slam into his chest. He realized, with absolute, horrifying certainty, that the Emperor saw right through him, right through the centuries, and had already anticipated every possible betrayal.
The cold sweat broke out instantly across Sima Yi's forehead. The blood drained entirely from his face.
Sima Yi immediately nodded his head, his breath hitching slightly in his throat. He completely abandoned his carefully constructed political poise. He dropped entirely to one knee right there in the marble corridor, ignoring the Yellow Ghost Bodyguards standing in the shadows. He pressed his hands to the floor, bowing his head in a display of total, unadulterated submission.
"I completely understand what His Majesty tries to convey," Sima Yi said, his voice tight, stripped of all arrogance, trembling with genuine, profound reverence and fear.
He looked up, meeting the Emperor's eyes, and swore an oath that came not from a desire for power, but from a desperate need to ensure his family's survival.
"I swear it upon the spirits of my ancestors, and upon the very blood in my veins," Sima Yi vowed, his words echoing with absolute, unbreakable sincerity. "My family would never, ever think outside of the boundaries you have set. We know our place in the heavens. We will stay absolutely, fanatically loyal. Not just to the state of the Hengyuan Dynasty, but specifically, personally, and eternally to the Lie Clan. We are your swords, your shields, and your servants, until the end of time."
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Name: Lie Fan
Title: Founding Emperor Of Hengyuan Dynasty
Age: 36 (203 AD)
Level: 16
Next Level: 462,000
Renown: 2325
Cultivation: Yin Yang Separation (level 11)
SP: 1,121,700
ATTRIBUTE POINTS
STR: 1,010 (+20)
VIT: 659 (+20)
AGI: 653 (+10)
INT: 691
CHR: 98
WIS: 569
WILL: 436
ATR Points: 0