Brilliant solution, absolutely top-tier.

Luan Yi was just about to eat something hot to settle the liquor in his stomach when he saw Zhu Jun sway over with a bowl raised in salute.

“Ziqi, you have truly opened this old man’s eyes today. I have fought in wars for many years, yet never have I seen anyone as fierce as you. Come, let this old man toast the warrior.”

“This… Lord Right Central General, you flatter me far too much!” Luan Yi waved his hands repeatedly. Though he had no desire to drink any more, he could only force down another bowl with his stomach already full of wine. Drunkenly, he said, “I hardly count as a warrior. My elder brothers, as well as Brother Zilong, Brother Ziyi, and Brother Zhongkang—that’s who’s truly bull-tough!”

“Bull-tough?” Zhu Jun asked, bewildered. “What does that mean?”

“Bull… tough means…” Luan Yi stumbled over his words. A moment later, his mind cleared somewhat, and he nearly slapped himself. Then his eyes shifted as an idea came to him.

“It means that when an ox plows the fields, its strength is immense, far beyond what human effort can match. But where does that strength come from? From the farmer driving it on. If the plowman did not lash its back and haunches, how could the ox summon such tremendous power? Thus, I believe an ox’s strength is forced out of it. That is where the phrase ‘bull-tough’ comes from.

“Speaking of this reminds me of people. Everyone knows that comfort breeds laziness. As the saying goes, once people are warm and well fed, their minds turn toward indulgence, and they become extravagant. Yet those who constantly face danger are driven by the need to survive and often display talents beyond those of ordinary men.

“From this, I surmise that pressure, when danger arrives, can drive people to improve. People grow by surviving one crisis after another. A person’s abilities do not simply sprout for no reason, like the branches of a tree. They are forged under pressure, squeezed out by necessity! And so the phrase ‘bull-tough’ came to describe those who grow amid pressure and possess extraordinary abilities!”

“Oh… so that is what it means!” The refined and elegant Huangfu Song nodded repeatedly, his eyes lighting up. “Bull-tough? What a splendid expression! This old man and Gongwei have also seen our share of the world. Would that make us bull-tough men as well?”

Luan Yi was mortified. Suppressing his laughter, he nodded and agreed helplessly. “Yes! Everyone seated here today is bull-tough.”

“Hahaha!” Cao Cao threw back his head and laughed. “Come, let us drink to being ‘bull-tough’!”

“What?” They were still drinking?

Luan Yi swallowed another bowl. When he finished, he felt the last mouthful of wine lodged in his throat. If he drank any more, he would surely end up drunk senseless. He immediately claimed that he needed to relieve himself and escaped by pretending to urinate.

He had only just left the main hall and had not yet managed to slip back to the rear courtyard when he heard Cao Cao calling after him.

Thinking Cao Cao had come to force another toast upon him, Luan Yi turned and ran. But he was already hopelessly drunk, and his unsteady, lurching steps could not possibly outpace Cao Cao.

Cao Cao lifted his robes and came charging after him on his short legs, pounding across the ground until he caught up.

Luan Yi pulled a miserable face. “Brother Mengde, I truly cannot drink another drop today. If I do, I shall vomit up my very bile. If you do not mind, I shall host another banquet some other day and drink myself senseless with you then.”

“Oh, my! Ziqi, you have mistaken my intentions. Look…” Cao Cao spread his empty hands and laughed. “I did not come to persuade you to drink. It has simply been a long time since we last met, and in recent days we were too occupied with fighting to spare a moment. I only wanted to have a word with you.”

“Then that is fine!” Luan Yi’s heart finally settled. So long as he was not made to drink, he would do anything. “Shall we take a stroll through the rear courtyard?”

He dared not remain in the front courtyard. If anyone saw him there, they would surely drag him back and make him drink for another round.

“After you.”

“No, elder brother, you first.”

“Ziqi, with your wedding delayed, have your two beautiful wives grown angry with you?” Cao Cao asked with a broad smile, his hands clasped behind his back.

Luan Yi scratched his head sheepishly. “To be honest, I do not know whether they are angry. My grandfather handled the postponement of the wedding date. I knew nothing about it.”

He gently stroked the ridged bark of an old tree in the courtyard and said mournfully, “It has already been more than half a year since I last sent them a letter.”

“Ah… all because of those rebels!” Cao Cao’s smile faded, and he sighed.

Luan Yi had known Cao Cao must have followed him for a reason. Asking about his marriage had been a conversational technique known as beginning with a familiar topic. In simpler terms, Cao Cao was trying to establish a friendly rapport. Once he had drawn Luan Yi in, he would turn to the real subject.

Luan Yi quietly guessed what Cao Cao intended to say next. Unfortunately, the wine was now taking full effect. His mind had become a muddy swamp; he could barely maintain a clear train of thought, much less make any predictions. He could only let matters unfold and respond as circumstances required.

Cao Cao leaned lazily against the old tree Luan Yi had been fidgeting with, his hands still behind his back, and spoke as though to himself.

“Ziqi. Three years ago, you said that within ten years the realm would descend into chaos. Now your prediction has come true! Over the past several months, General Huangfu has won battle after battle, turning the tide of war throughout the land. The imperial court has seized the initiative, while the rebels grow weaker by the day. The complete destruction of the Yellow Turban forces is now within sight. When that day comes, will the age of peace you spoke of finally arrive?”

“Chaos? Peace?” Luan Yi rubbed his face vigorously and groaned. “Brother Mengde… the age of chaos has not even begun yet!”

“What?” Cao Cao started in shock. He sprang away from the tree as though electrocuted and stepped in front of Luan Yi. “The Yellow Turban rebels have thrown the Nine Provinces into turmoil, and the flames of war stretch for a thousand miles. How can that not be great chaos?”

Luan Yi patted Cao Cao on the shoulder. “Brother Mengde, do not be so hasty. It is true that Zhang Jue has caused a tremendous disturbance, but his abilities are limited. At most, this Yellow Turban Rebellion will batter the Han until it is bruised and battered. It will not be enough to kill it.

“Remember this well: the true source of the Han’s chaos is not among the people, but within the court. In those grand halls where ministers cry out ‘Long live the emperor,’ they are the ones who will one day tear away the last scrap of modesty covering the state. Unless that root is eradicated, the age of chaos will never end. Never!”

As he spoke, Luan Yi felt his head growing heavier. Perhaps the night breeze after drinking had caused the alcohol to surge through him. His legs were becoming increasingly unreliable, soft as cotton.

He was unbearably sleepy. It was as if all the exhaustion accumulated over the past several days had erupted at once. In a daze, he leaned against the tree trunk, then slid down it as though descending a slippery slide.

With a heavy thud, he landed on the ground.

“Eh? Ziqi, do not sleep here! Get up, get up… I have not finished asking my questions!”

Cao Cao patted him several times. Seeing that Luan Yi remained motionless, he could only sigh. After rolling up his sleeves, he struggled to pull Luan Yi upright.

“Good heavens, why are you so heavy?”

His old face flushed crimson with effort. With one arm he hoisted Luan Yi over his shoulder, while the other clung to the wall. Summoning every ounce of strength he possessed, he finally managed to carry Luan Yi back to his room and lay him flat on the bed.

Looking at the handsome young man lying there, Cao Cao still refused to give up.

“The source of chaos lies within the court, not among the people! Ziqi, tell me quickly! How can we uproot this calamity and restore clarity to the Han?”

In the haze, he thought he saw Luan Yi’s lips move. Delighted, he pressed his ear close to Luan Yi’s mouth and repeated the question.

“Tell me, Ziqi. Together, we brothers shall save the Han from fire and water.”

“Bring peace to the whole realm by first bringing order to one land. Use violence to counter violence!”

“Hm?” Cao Cao froze.

Seize peace? If he meant peace, why pair such a gentle word with the violent verb “seize”? What exactly did Ziqi mean?

“Ziqi, what are you saying? Wake up… wake up!”

That night, Cao Cao never managed to learn from Luan Yi what it meant to “seize peace,” nor what “using violence to counter violence” truly signified.

The following day, he lost the opportunity altogether. In order to exterminate the various rebel forces in the Central Plains as swiftly as possible, Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun held several consultations and decided to divide the army into three routes.

The first army, personally commanded by Huangfu Song, would lead ten thousand troops against the Kingdom of Chen.

The second, led by Zhu Jun and Cao Cao, would advance against Wan City.

The third, commanded by Luan Yi, would take his own troops south to reinforce Nanyang in Jingzhou.

At noon that day, the commanders of the three armies met to bid one another farewell. Over the nearly month-long campaign, Luan Yi and Huangfu Song had forged a good relationship, as had Luan Yi and Zhu Jun. It was no simple bond between superior and subordinate, but the fellowship of comrades-in-arms who had endured hardship together.

He had learned much from the two veteran generals: not only the principles by which great commanders conducted themselves, but also many of the essentials of military strategy. These were lessons no book could teach, experiences earned only through long trials.

Luan Yi was deeply grateful to them and had always treated them with the respect due to teachers. Now that they were about to part, he could not help feeling sorrowful.

But war was cruel. Its greatest cruelty lay in one separation between life and death after another. Compared with death, separation while still alive was almost a comfort.

After a lingering farewell, the men returned to their respective formations, broke camp, and set out toward their destinations.

When they were nearly at Nanyang, Luan Yi, riding atop a galloping warhorse, suddenly remembered that ever since the Yellow Turban Rebellion had begun, he had always been rushing to relieve besieged cities.

It had been the same in Yanzhou, the same in Qingzhou, the same at Changshe, and now once again he was on his way to reinforce Nanyang.

He could not help laughing inwardly. It seemed he truly had a strange affinity with breaking sieges.

At the same time, he gradually understood why Huangfu Song had sent him to relieve Nanyang.

So the old general believed he had abundant experience in this field!

Luan Yi absolutely could not disappoint General Huangfu.

After the army crossed the border between Yu Province and Jingzhou, Luan Yi dispatched scouts to investigate the rebels’ situation.

At nightfall, the scouts returned and reported, “Every county in Jingzhou remains in the hands of the imperial forces. No rebels have crossed the border, save in Nanyang Commandery, where the rebels have surrounded the entire region. Their assault on the city is fierce, and a section of the southern wall has collapsed. Only through the determined efforts of Governor Qin Jie and his soldiers has the city not yet fallen.”

Upon hearing this, Luan Yi immediately understood that the military situation was critical. He did not even set up camp to rest, but led the army onward through the night. By midnight the following day, they had reached a point thirty miles south of Nanyang City.

Luan Yi then divided the army into two forces.

The first, commanded by Xu Shu with Guan Yu as his deputy, included Zhang Fei, Huang Zhong, Taishi Ci, and Xu Chu. Leading six thousand soldiers, they concealed themselves and waited on the western side of the rebel camp.

The second army was led personally by Luan Yi, with Zhao Yun assisting him and Dian Wei supporting them. Taking more than thirteen hundred men, they arrived outside the rebel camp at the second watch and began shouting insults and issuing challenges.

War drums thundered without pause.

By then, word of Luan Yi’s drunken beheading of Peng Tuo had spread among the Yellow Turban rebels of every province through the mouths of deserters. Nearly every rebel knew that Luan Yi wielded a great lotus-shaped axe.

Even Luan Yi’s personal banner—the great standard of the Mother Goddess Church—was unlike those of ordinary religious troops. Instead of a simple blood-red cross, it bore a vivid image of the blood-red goddess Nuwa.

Thus, after clearly seeing the imperial banner outside the eastern gate and the weapon held by the leading general, the rebels immediately realized that Luan Yi himself had arrived with an army.

They hurried back to camp and reported the news to their commander, Zhang Mancheng.

“What? Luan Yi has come in person?” Zhang Mancheng’s heart lurched.

If the enemy commander had personally arrived, then a large army was certainly close behind.

“Pass down my order! Form ranks and meet the enemy!”