During his previous efforts to leverage political influence in Youzhou, Wei You had been the one to advise Zhang Xin to seek Liu Yu's backing. Yet, when Han Fu's envoy, Zhang Jingming, ran to the Youzhou court and began weeping bitterly, the easily swayed Liu Yu had faltered, nearly upending the delicate balance.
It was only under Wei You's relentless, dying persuasion that the Grand Governor finally recommitted to his earlier stance.
The following morning, Liu Yu acted decisively. He first expelled the weeping Zhang Jingming from his sight, then summoned Sun Qian to explain his shift in perspective. To solidify this alignment, he instructed Xianyu Fu to accompany Sun Qian back to Qingzhou to hammer out the logistics of deploying a Youzhou auxiliary force.
Overjoyed by this miraculous turn of events, Sun Qian dared not delay for a single moment, immediately setting off on the return journey to Pingyuan.
Listening to the full report within the main hall of Pingyuan, Zhang Xin felt a profound surge of sorrow and respect.
Wei You had been ravaged by a severe, bedridden illness when word of the crisis reached him. Yet, despite his failing body, he had ordered his servants to carry his entire bed through the midnight chill to confront Liu Yu, pouring his final ounces of strength into correcting the Governor's path.
Whatever his ultimate political calculations, Zhang Xin thought, the old man risked his life to secure my flank.
"I shall never forget this profound kindness," Zhang Xin murmured. He quietly rose, walked out into the open courtyard of the state prefecture, and bowed deeply toward the northern horizon.
"Master Wei is a man of peerless righteousness and immaculate wisdom!"
When Zhang Xin stepped back inside the hall, Xianyu Fu greeted him with a warm smile. "Lord, Governor Liu Yu explicitly noted that you are a peerless warrior whose martial fame echoes across the realm. He stated that the manner in which the Youzhou forces deploy should be entirely up to your tactical discretion; his columns will do their absolute best to cooperate with your vanguard."
"Xianyu Fu."
Zhang Xin looked at his former Chief Clerk and smiled gently. "Please convey my deepest gratitude to Grand Governor Liu Yu for his immense goodwill. However..."
"Hmm?" Xianyu Fu looked up, visibly stunned.
"I once served as the Colonel Protector of the Wuhuan, and I know firsthand how grueling and fragile life is for the common folk of Youzhou," Zhang Xin sighed, his voice tinged with righteous passion. "In years past, the nomadic raiders and the rebelling Wuhuan ravaged those northern lands, subjecting the people of Youzhou to catastrophic disasters year after year. They have barely enjoyed a handful of peaceful harvests since those dark times. How can I bear to drag them back into the meatgrinder of a civil war?"
"It is more than enough that the Grand Governor remains neutral and denies his aid to Yuan Shao."
This was the exact same calculating logic Zhang Xin had used when politely declining Sun Jian's military reinforcement.
Liu Yu already wielded legendary political prestige across the northern realm. Zhang Xin had absolutely no intention of allowing the Grand Governor to extend his military footprint into the fertile plains of Jizhou. To establish his own absolute, undisputed authority across the empire, he had to conquer Ji Province single-handedly.
Furthermore, Qingzhou currently boasted thirty thousand elite regular troops—twenty thousand of whom were seasoned veterans of the Tuntian Army (agricultural garrison army), soldiers who would be considered frontline shock troops in any other warlord's territory. Supplementing this core were over one hundred thousand eager warriors from the Black Mountain Yellow Turbans.
If an operational force exceeding one hundred thousand men couldn't systematically dismantle Jizhou, Zhang Xin figured he might as well march back to Yuyang and spend the rest of his days farming.
"Lord... your righteousness knows no bounds!" Xianyu Fu was deeply moved by the statement. He cupped his hands and bowed low. "The people of Youzhou are truly blessed to have had you as their Colonel Protector..."
Zhang Xin laughed heartily, stepping forward to slap Xianyu Fu warmly on the shoulder. "Xianyu Fu, you have traveled an immense distance to deliver this news. Why rush back? Stay here in Pingyuan for a few days and rest your bones."
"I shall gladly obey the Lord's wishes," Xianyu Fu readily agreed. Since Zhang Xin had officially declined the need for Youzhou reinforcements, there was no longer a pressing tactical need to rush back to the northern border.
That very evening, Zhang Xin hosted a lavish banquet within the state prefecture to honor his former subordinate, ensuring he spent the subsequent two days touring the commandery. Under the meticulous administrative oversight of Zhang Xin's top civil officials—Hua Xin, Guo Yuan, and Ren Jia—Pingyuan had blossomed into an incredibly prosperous commercial hub. The bustling streets, overflowing granaries, and structured markets drew repeated exclamations of sheer awe from Xianyu Fu.
After two days of hospitality, Zhang Xin arranged a heavily armed escort to guide Xianyu Fu back to Youzhou.
Crucially, the legendary physician Hua Tuo accompanied the northern caravan.
Zhang Xin had calculated the political variables meticulously. As long as Wei You drew breath, even if the naive Liu Yu strayed off course, the old master could always drag him back to reality. But if Wei You were to pass away, the erratic Grand Governor might easily become a tool for Zhang Xin's rivals.
Therefore, the longer Wei You remained alive, the more secure Zhang Xin's northern border would be.
Qingzhou's fledgling medical corps was already functioning smoothly under structured protocols, meaning Hua Tuo's temporary absence wouldn't disrupt their operations. In the event of an emergency, elite disciples like Dr. Fan A and Dr. Wu Pu were fully capable of managing the field hospitals. In terms of raw clinical skill, even Hua Tuo had remarked that his two premier students were rapidly approaching his own level.
Panic in Ye City
Meanwhile, within the grand administrative capital of Ye City, Han Fu sat slumped in his high seat, his face pale as he processed Zhang Jingming's catastrophic diplomatic report.
For Yuan Shu to march north and provide aid, his legions would have to carve a path directly through Sun Jian's hostile territory in Yanzhou and the surrounding marches. Given the ironclad brotherhood between Sun Jian and Zhang Xin, the southern forces would undoubtedly unleash everything in their arsenal to halt any such relief column. Yuan Shu's reinforcements were effectively a fantasy; they would never reach Jizhou in time.
The only neighboring power capable of projecting immediate, decisive military force to alter the outcome was Liu Yu. And now, the Grand Governor of Youzhou had not only abandoned Han Fu to his fate, but was actively aligning his political weight behind Zhang Xin.
The stark reality left Han Fu in a state of absolute, trembling panic.
"Ju Shou! Ju Shou!" Han Fu turned his pleading, desperate eyes toward his chief strategist. "Do you have another plan? Is there any other brilliant strategy we can employ?"
Ju Shou's brow was locked in a deep, agonizing furrow.
What brilliant strategy could he possibly conjure out of thin air? He was a mortal tactician, not a miracle-working deity. Every diplomatic lever had been pulled, every defensive asset had been mobilized, and every political connection across the realm had been exhausted. At this late stage, all that remained was for man to propose and for fate to dispose.
Nevertheless, he knew he had to stabilize his lord's fracturing mental state. With a massive, existential campaign looming on their doorstep, allowing the supreme commander's sheer panic to leak out to the rank-and-file would utterly vaporize the army's morale.
"Lord," Ju Shou began, forcing his voice into a calm, reassuring cadence. "Though Governor Liu Yu has declared his political support for Zhang Xin, he remains an administrator utterly unversed in the art of war, and his heart bleeds excessively for the common folk. You need only dispatch a capable general northward to form a defensive line."
"Governor Liu Yu is a man of profound compassion; the moment he sees an entrenched army blocking his path, he will recognize that an advance means catastrophic bloodshed. He will inevitably halt his columns to prevent the ravages of war from consuming the border. Youzhou will not march an inch further south."
"Good... good, excellent," Han Fu muttered, completely bewildered and desperate for assurance. At this point, he would blindly validate whatever words fell from Ju Shou's mouth.
"Where is... Gao Lan?!"
"Your general is present!" A battle-hardened commander, roughly thirty years of age, stepped forward from the ranks, his armor clanking softly as he saluted.
"I grant you twenty thousand troops. Mobilize and march north immediately..."
Initially, Han Fu had intended to anchor Gao Lan's defensive force within Hejian Commandery. Yi County, positioned directly north of Hejian, faced Zhuo County and Ji County of Youzhou. If Liu Yu's forces chose to strike, that frontier represented the fastest operational corridor.
However, looking at the map, Yi County sat nearly eight hundred li (roughly 260 miles) away from the capital of Ye City. Han Fu grew terrified that if the frontline fractured or if Zhang Xin executed a breakthrough elsewhere, Gao Lan would be positioned too far away to march back and defend the capital.
After an agonizing moment of hesitation, Han Fu altered the directive. "Alter your course and establish your garrison at Julu."
Julu Commandery sat directly north of Wei Commandery—a vastly shorter distance that would allow Gao Lan to act as a flexible strategic reserve for Ye City.
"By your command," Gao Lan replied, cupping his hands before stepping back.
With those final deployments locked in, the defensive posture of Jizhou was set. All that remained was to unleash a swarm of scouts and outriders to obsessively monitor the assembly areas of Zhang Xin's approaching juggernaut.
The Call to Arms
The fifth day of the fifth lunar month marked the arrival of the traditional Dragon Boat Festival, and the vast plains stretching outside the walls of Pingyuan City were alive with structured energy.
This ancient iteration of the festival bore little resemblance to the thunderous dragon boat races of later centuries. During the Han Dynasty, the people of northern China observed the day by foraging for specific medicinal herbs, boiling them into concentrated baths to systematically cleanse the body and ward off malevolent spiritual influences.
Among these botanical varieties, the wild orchid was universally prized for its rich, purifying aroma, cementing its status as the premier choice for the population. As recorded in the Book of Rites: "In the fifth month, the people gather orchids for the sacred bath." The timeless verses of the Book of Songs echoed the sentiment: "I bathe in orchid-scented waters and steep my skin in fragrant streams; I don garments of brilliant hue, blooming like a flower in mid-summer."
Within his private estate, Zhang Xin partook in the traditional, steaming orchid bath before joining his children to consume bowls of dark, fragrant millet. This ancient culinary staple, known as Wujiaoshu, served as the ancestral precursor to the modern zongzi.
The brief moment of domestic tranquility vanished with the festival's end.
On the sixth day of the fifth month, a colossal military apparatus assembled across the sprawling plains outside Pingyuan City. Steel glinted beneath the morning sun as thousands of veteran infantrymen, heavily armored cavalry units, and support echelons formed into flawless, terrifying blocks.
Zhang Xin strode up the steps of the massive wooden command platform. He reached into his robes and unfurled a sweeping, venomous manifesto penned specifically for this day by his premier scribe, Chen Lin.
Taking a deep breath, Zhang Xin began to read, his powerful voice carrying across the silent ranks with burning, impassioned intensity. Chen Lin's prose was legendary for its razor-sharp vitriol; when paired with Zhang Xin's thunderous, charismatic delivery, the words struck the Qingzhou legions like a physical blow.
The manifesto painted Yuan Shao and Han Fu not merely as political rivals, but as degenerate, backstabbing tyrants who had actively broken their holy oaths to the Emperor, sabotaged the salvation of the Han Dynasty, and bled the peasantry dry through catastrophic extortion. The soldiers of Qingzhou listened as their souls caught fire, utterly convinced that their impending march was not an act of territorial conquest, but a holy crusade of liberation.
"Today, we march to crush the treacherous vipers, avenge the betrayal of the realm, and restore absolute peace to the soil of our ancestors!"
Reaching the climax of the speech, Zhang Xin stood tall at the edge of the platform. His hand snapped down to the hilt of his ceremonial Zhongxing sword, drawing the blade toward the heavens with a deafening screech of steel. He roared into the morning air:
"Revenge!"
The response from the assembled host was instantaneous, a terrifying wall of sound that shook the very foundations of Pingyuan's walls as tens of thousands of throats screamed in unison:
"Revenge! Revenge! REVENGE!"
The sheer, concentrated morale of the Qingzhou army rippled across the valley like an incoming storm. Seeing his legions primed for slaughter, Zhang Xin sliced his blade through the air in a single, authoritative arc.
"Deploy the vanguards! Forward march!"