Chapter 52

"Great rivers flow eastward, waves wash away, and heroes of the past are gone..."

Zhao Futu gazed into the distance at the surging Yellow River, inwardly sighing. He had seen the Yellow River in reality before, but the Yellow River that had been tamed several times did not give him the same sense of awe as the one before him. The mighty eastward rush, the perilous waves crashing against the shore, and the historical vicissitudes that had accumulated over time all bore witness to the rise and fall of heroes in the Central Plains!

It was a very peculiar feeling. For a cultivator, the experience of personally witnessing the vicissitudes of history further solidified his resolve.

"The sea changes and mulberry fields grow where the sea was, nothing surpasses this!"

Just by glancing at the surging Yellow River, Zhao Futu felt as if he had been transformed.

...

After a long journey, Zhao Futu selected the elite soldiers from the army as scouts. He then ambushed a group of soldiers and seized over ten warhorses, finally breaking out of the encirclement around Wan City. He headed north to the Yellow River, planning to cross it and enter the territory of Ji Province to directly seek out the great virtuous teacher Zhang Jue. During the Three Kingdoms period, Ji Province was the foremost of the Nine Provinces, with a vast territory and was the core area of the Yellow Turban Rebellion. General of Heaven Zhang Jue had gathered hundreds of thousands of followers and had already taken control of a large part of Ji Province.

By now, Zhao Futu had spent five days in the "Yellow Turban Rebellion" mission world. If he could not receive a core battlefield mission to extend his stay, he would automatically return to the Nightmare Space in two days. At this point, the famous generals of the Han army were beginning to show their prowess. On his journey north, Zhao Futu had heard names such as He Jin, Lu Zhi, Huangfu Song, Zhu Jun, Dong Zhuo, Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, Gong Sunzan, Cao Cao, Sun Jian, Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei.

Hearing this string of names, Zhao Futu knew that the Yellow Turban Rebellion was not far from defeat.

However, within these few days, events had changed drastically. Many things had deviated from their original historical course, leading to an unpredictable future.

First, not long after Zhao Futu withdrew from Nanyang, the Yellow Turban leader Zhao Hong in Wan City was assassinated by a group of mysterious figures!

Rumors spread that the assassins were extraordinary individuals from the court who could summon wind and rain and spew fire. These mysterious figures infiltrated Wan City and assassinated Zhao Hong, though they did not succeed immediately, Zhao Hong was poisoned and died a few days later. As a result, the Yellow Turban general Han Zhong replaced Zhao Hong and was re-elected as the new leader. However, the morale of the Yellow Turban forces near Nanyang was already extremely low, and they gathered to defend Wan City, refusing to engage in battle.

On the other hand, the other Yellow Turban forces near Nanyang were also being besieged and had to begin large-scale transfers to other regions. Most of them started moving north and east not long after Zhao Futu broke out of the Nanyang encirclement, heading to join other Yellow Turban leaders. The Yellow Turban forces in Qing Province grew stronger, surpassing those in Wan City and becoming the second-largest Yellow Turban force after Ji Province. Subsequently, it was rumored that Huangfu Song and the cavalry commander Cao Cao combined their forces and defeated the Yellow Turban leader Bo Cai. Although Bo Cai was defeated, he was not killed and instead led his remaining troops to join the General of Man Zhang Liang.

This battlefield space was not isolated. Once a mission was issued, other contractors might also receive tasks and enter this battlefield space.

However, what their missions were and which factions they were assigned to, Zhao Futu could not guess. But one thing was certain: a powerful contractor had been incorporated into the Han army, and they were not far from Wan City. Their appearance accelerated the collapse of the Yellow Turban forces in Wan City, causing the Yellow Turban forces in Nanyang to enter a state of collapse months earlier than expected.

However, while the Yellow Turban forces in the other six provinces were heavily hit, the forces led by the General of Heaven Zhang Jue in Ji Province grew even stronger.

First, the General of Heaven Zhang Jue defeated Lu Zhi in Ji Province. After Lu Zhi's defeat, the Han forces in Ji Province suffered a heavy blow, and the court dismissed Lu Zhi and sent Dong Zhuo to lead the army against Zhang Jue. Dong Zhuo suffered a major defeat as soon as he arrived. If it weren't for the timely rescue by Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei, the subsequent campaign against Dong Zhuo might not have happened.

Clearly, after a part of the powerful contractors was added to the Han army, a part was also added to the Yellow Turban forces. However, the contractors who joined the Yellow Turban forces, like Zhao Futu, reached a consensus: the scattered Yellow Turban forces were ineffective, and only by concentrating their strength could they achieve their goals.

Thus, the contractors scattered in other places all converged on Ji Province, abandoning the Yellow Turban forces in other regions to join the great virtuous teacher Zhang Jue, using his powerful mission influence to strengthen the Yellow Turban forces. This led to Zhang Jue's victories over Lu Zhi and Dong Zhuo, making the Yellow Turban forces in Ji Province even more unstoppable.

As for Qing Province, Zhao Futu estimated that there were likely some contractors there as well.

Based on Zhao Futu's reasoning, the contractors who joined the Yellow Turban forces were likely stronger than him, as this was a medium-intensity (Level 3) battlefield space. His main mission was the simplest skirmish, which the Nightmare Space arranged for him to familiarize himself with the battlefield. However, after a few battles, Zhao Futu was not content to return to the space and decided to head north to Ji Province, deviating from the initial skirmish mission.

The reason he chose to lead his troops north was that he, like the other contractors, had his own advantages.

That was, he had troops under his command!

Information spread slowly in this era. He only learned of these developments now, so it was certain that the other contractors had already joined Zhang Jue before he broke out of Nanyang. This meant that, apart from the contractors who initially appeared in Ji Province, the other contractors scattered in other regions had directly abandoned the Yellow Turban forces in the other six provinces and headed to Ji Province.

Therefore, they arrived there several days before Zhao Futu and directly participated in the battle between Zhang Jue and Lu Zhi.

...

Although Zhao Futu arrived later, he gathered a group of Yellow Turban remnants along the way when he broke out of Nanyang. Especially after his troops reached a thousand, he gained Yellow Turban reputation and was directly incorporated into the ranks of Yellow Turban generals. This was because, after lacking supplies, he led over three thousand people to capture a poorly defended county.

Because it was a large-scale battlefield with over a thousand people, Zhao Futu received very little reward, only 2000 points of Yellow Turban reputation.

In addition, he gained 1% plot twist.

The reason was that while Zhao Futu was gathering Yellow Turban remnants along the way, other Yellow Turban forces also withdrew from the Nanyang region, preventing the Han army from completely eliminating the Yellow Turban forces in that area. This allowed a significant number of Yellow Turban remnants to retreat to Qing Province and Ji Province. The entire Central Plains region was in chaos because the Han Dynasty allowed local recruitment of militia to quell the rebellion. It was during this time that Liu Bei received funding from merchants Zhang Shiping and Su Shuang, leading to his initial military achievements and his appointment as the county magistrate of Anxi.

When Zhao Futu led over three thousand Yellow Turban remnants into Ji Province, the fate of the Yellow Turban Rebellion was concentrated in this land.

For a time, the winds rose and the clouds gathered, and heroes converged!