Super Cultivation System of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 570: Recruiting New Generals
Shen Pei was in a daze the whole way and had no idea how he got down the mountain. When he came to his senses, it was already completely dark.

"Master, why did you come back just now? I have been waiting for you here for a long time. If you don't come back, I will go up the mountain to find you. Hey, where is the third young master? Didn't he come back with you?"

A voice pulled Shen Pei back from his chaotic thoughts. He looked carefully and found that it was one of his followers.

"Why are you here?"

The attendant looked anxious: "There is an urgent report from Hejian Prefecture, saying that someone from Beiping wants to see you, saying that there is something urgent and wants to visit you in person."

Shen Pei was in no mood to discuss these matters. He waved his hand and said, "Since you have official business to discuss, you can just send your visiting card to the lord's residence. Why are you looking for me, Shen Pei? I am a poor old man with no talent or virtue. Humph, what use can I be?"

The attendant said, "The messenger said that he was not looking for the governor of Jizhou, but for you, the master of the family. Otherwise, how could I be so anxious?"

"Huh?" Shen Pei was shocked all over, and his thoughts finally came to mind.

"You just said that you were from Peking?"

"Yes, it is Peking."

Shen Pei pondered and said, "This is strange. Beiping and Jizhou have always been enemies. My lord wants to seize Youzhou, and Beiping wants to take Bohai. Why did he come to me privately?"

The attendant shook his head repeatedly: "The messenger did not say it clearly, but only said that he would not discuss it in detail unless he saw you, the head of the family. He also said that this matter concerns the prosperity and decline of the entire Shen family. I saw that the man did not seem to be joking, so I hurriedly came to report."

Upon hearing this, Shen Pei's face suddenly turned disgusted. "Humph, since you are an enemy, it is definitely not a good thing for you to meet with my Jizhou staff in private. I, Shen Pei, am loyal to my lord. How can I be a traitor? I won't see you."

"Yes, I know. I will rush back to Hejian overnight."

The follower turned and left, and just after he took a few steps, Shen Pei suddenly called him back.

"Wait a minute!"

"Does the Patriarch have any other instructions?"

Shen Pei lowered his head and pondered for a long time. Finally, he turned around and looked at the mountains behind him.

"Let's go back to the city first. After I meet the lord, I will immediately set off back to Hejian. I don't care what Beiping wants to see me for. I just want to borrow their swords."

In Jinyang City, two soldiers escorted a man who was tied up and had his head covered with a black cloth out of the prison gate.

The man did not struggle and seemed very calm. He said coldly, "Why, you have held me captive for so long and only want to chop off my head today? It seems that Liu He has not been idle these days."

The two soldiers around him heard what he said but ignored him.

The three of them soon arrived at a house. After walking around for a while, they entered a house. Then, two of them untied the knot of the rope behind the man and quickly retreated.

The man felt that the temperature around him seemed to have risen a lot, and he became confused.

He threw away the ropes on his body and then took off his hood. He saw that what was in front of him was not a place of execution, but a brightly lit room with a brazier on each side. He was immediately filled with doubts and was very puzzled.

At this time, a voice suddenly came from the side of the room: "General Zhang, nice to meet you. I have heard a lot about you."

The man was startled by the sudden sound and turned around to see a young man who was obviously taller and more powerful than him standing in front of a weapon rack in the corner of the room.

"Who are you? You were able to bring Zhang out of prison. You must be someone extraordinary. What advice do you have for me?"

The man pulled a double-edged dagger from the weapon rack and weighed it in his hand.

"No need to weigh it. It is one of my personal weapons, weighing 47 kilograms. But how did it end up in your hands?"

The man held the short halberd and slowly turned around. "Zhang Junyi of Hejian is good at using both long and short halberds. He is skilled in archery and horse riding, and can shoot an arrow through a willow tree from a hundred paces away. He can be regarded as a good general in the world. However, this long halberd is common, but there are not many people who use this double-edged short halberd as a weapon. On the battlefield, an inch shorter is an inch more dangerous, which is really not good."

When Zhang He saw him commenting on his weapon, he couldn't help feeling dissatisfied.

"Humph, judging from your demeanor, I thought you were a man of extraordinary insight, but I didn't expect you to be just an ordinary person."

The man was not angry. He walked to the opposite side of Zhang He and pointed to a seat next to him.

"I was just about to ask the general for advice."

Zhang He was not polite and sat down on the seat. He looked at the short spear in the man's hand with a somewhat arrogant expression.

"This short halberd has its own wonderful uses. In a horse battle, long weapons should be given priority, but in a foot battle, short weapons are more flexible. If it is a street battle in the city or a battle in the woods, the longer the weapon, the more difficult it will be to use, and you will run into obstacles everywhere."

The man retorted: "Is it true that shorter weapons are better? Then why not use a dagger? Wouldn't it be lighter and more flexible?"

Zhang He sneered, "Why do you say such vulgar words? A dagger is only good for stabbing, how can it be used in a refined hall? This short halberd has two edges and is quite heavy. It is flexible and easy to use against long spears, long halberds, and long spears. It can easily knock the opponent's weapons away with its heavy force when fighting against long swords and broadswords." At this point, he held his head high and looked very confident, "I am not boasting, but if you can teach me to train an infantry army with double-edged short halberds, then the outcome of the battle at Shangdang that day is still unknown."

"Oh? General Zhang is so confident? Then why is there no such strong soldier in your army?"

There was an obvious hint of sarcasm in this person's tone, and Zhang He immediately fell silent.

"Ah..." He sighed heavily.

"I only regret that the lord appoints people based on personal connections, and my Zhang family has fallen into decline. Our reputation in Jizhou is far behind that of the Yan, Wen, and Gao families. I have made suggestions many times, but the lord has never listened. Instead, he... sigh... that's all..."

He sighed again, looking very depressed.

The man continued his words, "On the contrary, Yuan Shao obeyed almost everything Gao Lan said, even after he was defeated and returned to Jizhou, he was reused and promoted to a higher position than you, Zhang He. You are very dissatisfied, right?"

Zhang He looked at Liu He with some surprise, but soon he looked as if he understood.

"It seems that you know a lot, but what does it matter? My talent is not fully utilized, and my ambition cannot be realized. At this point, I only wish to die."

The man's eyes moved, and then a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

"I don't know that it's that serious. If I'm not mistaken, when the general was first captured by our army, what he was thinking about and looking forward to day and night was that Jizhou would send someone to redeem him, right? But after an entire autumn, there was no news, so the general became depressed and decided to die."

Zhang He's eyes widened: "You...how could you..."

He immediately shook his head and said, "No, don't talk nonsense. My lord has always treated me well. He must have been busy with the affairs of Jizhou and forgot about it for a while. But Zhang is already a defeated general. I have no face to serve Lord Yuan anymore, so I just want to die."

The man smiled and said, "Is that so? But if I tell you, General, that your ambitions can still be realized, your talents can still be put to good use, and this short-spear army can be trained at any time, and you can lead it yourself, I wonder if you are still willing to die?"

"This...how is this possible!" Zhang He was even more shocked this time. He looked at the person in front of him repeatedly.

"You... who are you? Are you Liu He's lobbyist, asking me to surrender? But how dare you make such a boast?"

The man suddenly stood up and walked in front of Zhang He. "General, you guessed correctly. I came here to ask for surrender. But I am not boasting, but guaranteeing. General, you are such a martial artist, and you are so loyal to Yuan Shao that you fought for him until the very end. In addition, Bingzhou has sent many people to persuade you to surrender over the past few months, but you have not been moved. You have already repaid Yuan Shao's kindness."

"Yuan Shao is not good at judging people and has a short-sighted vision. He is definitely not a wise leader. After the news of the general's capture was reported back to Jizhou, Gao Lan escaped to Jizhou with the help of Zhang Niujiao and belittled the general in front of Yuan Shao. He pushed all the blame on the general. Yuan Shao just let it go and ignored the general, not to mention sending someone to redeem the general. How can the general still be loyal to such a mediocre leader?"

Zhang He's expression was moved for a while, but he finally said: "I thank Mr. Liu for his kindness. But a loyal minister should not serve two masters. Even if Mr. Yuan is not clear, I, Zhang He, will never betray my master. Please thank Mr. Liu on my behalf. If you are willing, please use this halberd to personally send me off."

The man shook his head and said, "I didn't expect the general to be so pedantic."

Zhang He was somewhat displeased: "Loyalty, filial piety, benevolence and righteousness have been the great virtues of the ancients. How can you call it pedantic?"

"Okay, in that case, I have a question for you. What is loyalty?"

Zhang He laughed when he heard the question: "Haha, your question is really strange. To the country and the king, it is loyalty. To the father and the mother, it is filial piety. Even a three-year-old child can understand it."

"Well said." The man praised and then stared into Zhang He's eyes.

"Then may I ask, General, the country you are talking about now, is it the Han Dynasty or the Jizhou Dynasty? Is the ruler you are talking about, the Han Dynasty court or the Jizhou governor?"

Zhang He was stunned: "This..."

"I know that your Zhang family is full of loyal and brave people. Since your great-grandfather, he has joined the army and served the court. Later, your grandfather and your father, two generations, shed their blood for our Han Dynasty and died on the battlefield. The court recognized your merits and granted your Zhang family a mansion, so that you can have generations of glory. Why did the general rebel against the court and help the tyrant to commit atrocities?"

"This...I..." Zhang He was speechless for a moment.

The man's voice became more and more fierce. "Yuan Shao is ambitious and greedy. He killed the governor of Jizhou appointed by the imperial court and established himself as the governor of Jizhou. His brother Yuan Shu even led his army to attack Luoyang. The Yuan family is a family of treacherous people and traitors. It would be fine if the general did not want to serve the country, but why did he help the traitors and plot to usurp the throne? Is this the way of loyalty and righteousness of a saint?"

"Plop..." Zhang He knelt down with a very conflicted expression on his face.

The man stretched out a hand, helped him up, and then handed him the halberd with both hands.

"Today, I, Liu He, am willing to return this halberd to the general. I only hope that the general can display his strengths and make more contributions to the Han Dynasty to comfort the heroic spirits of our ancestors."

Zhang He's body trembled, and he looked at the person in front of him in surprise: "You...you are..."

The man smiled and said, "Yes, I am the great general of the dynasty, Liu He. I didn't have time to announce my name just now, so I hope the general will forgive me."

Zhang He was terrified and knelt down again. "General, you are so noble, yet you have condescended to come to see me, a mere vulgar person. You are so broad-minded that you will not allow Zhang He to not surrender!"

"Well, I got Junyi, it's a gift from God, hahahaha!"

(End of this chapter)