Chapter 1 of 10

Chapter 1

13 min read3,181 words

"Thinking of Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei, though of different surnames, having become brothers, they vowed to unite their efforts, rescue the distressed, and help the needy; to serve the state above and secure the people below. They did not seek to be born on the same day, month, and year, but only wished to die on the same day, month, and year. Heaven and Earth, truly witness this heart, and those who betray righteousness and forget gratitude shall be punished by heaven and man!"

...

"Liu Bei, I am Liu Yi, seventeen years old, an orphan from Zhuo Commandery, and a fellow townsman of yours. I heard that you are recruiting righteous soldiers, so I have come to join you. You and your brothers Guan Yu and Zhang Fei set up a sacrificial ceremony in the peach garden, and everyone found it very inspiring. So, everyone asked me to speak to you and suggest that we all take an oath together in this peach garden..."

...

"... Huang Zheng, Wu Yang, Zhu Shao ... Wei Jie, Liu Yi ... We, a total of 365 men, swear together in the peach garden! Now that we have joined the righteous army, we are brothers. From now on, we will unite our efforts, live and die together, fight bravely against the bandits, and defend our homeland! We will swear to follow Liu Bei to the death, advance and retreat together, and achieve great deeds! If we can return home in glory, we will also marry together!"

"Ha ha! Good! Brothers, let's drink this bowl of wine!"

"Drink! Ha ha..."

...

"Victory! Victory! Zhang Fei has pierced the Yellow Turban general Deng Mao! Guan Yu has beheaded the Yellow Turban commander Cheng Yuanzhi..."

"Another victory, but unfortunately, the Yellow Turban leaders Zhang Liang and Zhang Bao have escaped..."

"Great victory! Great victory! The Yellow Turban soldiers have surrendered, presenting the head of Zhang Bao, and we have captured Yangcheng!"

"Glory to the Han! The Yellow Turban remnants Zhao Hong, Han Zhong, and Sun Zhong have all been executed. We have won! Long live the Emperor! Long live the Han!!!"

...

"Liu Bei, we have fought more than thirty battles, almost winning every one. Especially our brothers Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, who are invincible in battle, have cut down generals and captured flags, leading us to countless victories. This time, the court's rewards must be substantial, right?"

"Yes, the court rewards based on merit. We have achieved so many victories, so the rewards must be substantial, right? Unfortunately, we have also lost more than a hundred brothers."

...

"Liu Bei, we have been waiting for the rewards in Luoyang for almost a month. When will the court's rewards be distributed?"

"What? Just register our names with the local authorities and wait for the rewards later? This, this is the same as no reward at all? Registering our names with the local authorities after returning home will get us rewards? Liu Bei, what should we do? Many of our brothers are injured and need money for treatment. Their injuries are getting worse, especially those with severe injuries, who are about to die. Liu Bei, has the court sent doctors to treat our injuries?"

...

"What? This two or three taels of silver is our severance pay? We are being disbanded? What about you, Liu Bei? What? You are going to take up your post in Anxi County, Dingzhou? What, what about us? What about the injured soldiers? Liu Bei! Wait, are you not taking us with you? You are abandoning us?"

...

"Liu Bei! We swore in the peach garden to advance and retreat together!"

"Liu Bei! Liu Bei! Don't abandon us!"

...

"Ahh..."

Liu Yi's head throbbed with pain, and he sat up with a loud cry. Strange information flashed through his mind like a movie, one scene after another.

"Oh, it's Brother Liu, Brother Liu has woken up."

"Brother Liu, don't move yet, don't move. You have too many wounds, and moving will make them bleed."

Liu Yi's body was pushed back down by someone.

When he lay back down, Liu Yi smelled a strong herbal scent. He wanted to see where he was, but before he could make out the situation, the intense pain from his body made him faint again.

"Brother Liu, Brother Liu, can you hear us?"

"Brother Liu, wake up!"

"Alas..."

The two people watching over him anxiously shook Liu Yi's body, but after a while, they sighed in despair and gave up calling out to him.

These two were the oldest in Liu Bei's volunteer army, the cooks Huang Zheng and Wu Yang.

Huang Zheng was tall and had a square, dignified face despite his dark complexion. He was thirty-nine years old and would turn forty next year. Wu Yang, thirty-seven, was thin and dark, with a sharp face that did not match his name, which suggested a sunny disposition. He could even be described as somewhat sleazy.

They were both well-known ruffians in Zhuo Commandery. Liu Yi, an orphan from Zhuo Commandery, was also a small-time ruffian who had known them for a long time and had some connections with them. They had once gone to the local gentry's house to beg for food. Later, they all joined Liu Bei's volunteer army to fight the Yellow Turbans and took an oath of brotherhood in Zhang Fei's peach garden.

Although Huang Zheng and Wu Yang were ruffians, they were quite righteous. After joining the volunteer army, they changed their old habits of petty theft and became kind and generous, getting along well with everyone. As the oldest in the volunteer army, they were called "Big Brother" and "Second Brother" by the soldiers, and over time, they gained some respect among Liu Bei's troops.

Now, they were organizing the care of the injured soldiers in the camp. Without them, the camp would have fallen into chaos after Liu Bei left, and the severely injured soldiers would not have received any care.

"Big Brother Huang, what should we do? It's been two or three days, and Brother Liu has only woken up once and is now unconscious again. The other severely injured brothers also wake up only briefly and probably won't last much longer," Wu Yang said, unable to bear looking at Liu Yi, who was covered in wounds on the military bed, and pointed to the other severely injured soldiers on the other military beds in the tent.

"Alas... The doctors say they can't be saved. We can only do our best for them..." Huang Zheng's square face showed a pained expression. "When they wake up, we should ask them if they have any last words..."

"But, but I'm afraid we don't have time to wait. If we don't leave, we won't even have a place to stay." Wu Yang said, somewhat at a loss. "The imperial eunuchs have already announced the imperial decree, ordering us to disband before the New Year and to dismantle the camp immediately. It's already the sixteenth of December. If we don't disband before the New Year, we will be treated as Yellow Turban rebels and punished by the court."

"Let's not worry about that for now. We can delay it as long as we can." Huang Zheng patted Wu Yang's shoulder and turned to leave the tent. At the tent door, he turned back and said helplessly, "It's late. Let's go to sleep. Tomorrow, I'll go into the city and see if I can bring a doctor. For Brother Liu and the other severely injured, we can only do our best, but for the lightly injured, we must treat them. Otherwise, in this cold weather, if we are forced out of the camp, we won't even be able to walk back to Zhuo Commandery."

"Damn it! I thought following Liu Bei would give us a better life, but he just left us in this dilapidated camp to fend for ourselves. What a joke! The court treats us like we're not human. We are soldiers with war merits, and they don't even give us a place to shelter from the cold. What a bunch of crap!" Wu Yang, seeing that Huang Zheng did not respond, jumped up in anger and cursed.

However, seeing that Huang Zheng did not respond, he could only grumpily add more charcoal to the fire pit in the middle of the tent before leaving. It was mid-December, and heavy snow fell almost every day, making the cold unbearable. Without the warmth of the charcoal fire, the injured soldiers on the military beds might freeze to death.

Just as Huang Zheng and Wu Yang left, Liu Yi, who they had been unable to wake, suddenly opened his eyes. His eyes showed even more anger and dissatisfaction than Wu Yang's, and he muttered, "Damn!"

This guy had only been unconscious for a short while and had woken up again. The continuous images flashing through his mind made Liu Yi realize that he had traveled through time, and unfortunately, to the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Three Kingdoms era.

Liu Yi felt not only anger and dissatisfaction but also a strong urge to cry.

What the hell is this! This is not fair. I was living a comfortable life, and now I'm suddenly in the Three Kingdoms era? And not only that, but I'm also severely injured and on the verge of death.

Thinking of himself, he was at least a stuntman in the film industry, a minor but well-known stuntman. Although he didn't have the chance to seduce beautiful actresses, his charming and handsome appearance earned him the admiration of many actresses, and he often went on dates and had romantic moments with them... Life was good. But now? Sigh... It's all gone, my beautiful actresses...

Liu Yi remembered that he was on a film set, shooting a scene of Zhao Yun rescuing A Dou at Changban Slope. After the scene, the actress playing Lady Mi realized she had lost her new solar-powered phone. She gave him a few flirtatious glances, and he volunteered to go back to the set to find the phone. After finding the phone, he accidentally fell into a dry well covered with overgrown grass... That was his last memory.

Liu Yi didn't know that the well was the same one where Lady Mi had entrusted A Dou to Zhao Yun and then thrown herself in. He became the second soul to haunt the well for a thousand years, and he became a severely injured soldier abandoned by Liu Bei.

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