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(A/N: Don't forget to give those power stones to Skyrim everyone!)
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"What is happening?" Grand Concubine Bian gasped, wiping her tears, a fresh wave of terror gripping her heart. "Are they coming for us? Did Lie Fan change his mind?"
The heavy oak doors of the sickroom were suddenly thrown open.
Standing in the doorway, breathing heavily, their faces flushed with a mixture of sheer disbelief and overwhelming, tearful joy, were Cao Pi's younger brothers,Cao Zhang and Cao Zhi.
"Mother! Second Brother!" Cao Zhang shouted, entirely ignoring the terrified imperial physicians. "You will not believe it! The guards... they just brought someone through the gates!"
Before Cao Pi could demand an explanation, the two younger brothers stepped aside, practically dragging a figure into the dim, medicinal light of the bedchamber.
The man was haggard. He wore simple, rough spun clothes that hung loosely on his frame. His hair was slightly disheveled, and his face was drawn and pale from weeks of captivity. But despite the exhaustion, his posture remained unbroken, carrying the undeniable, noble bearing of the firstborn son.
It was Cao Ang.
Lie Fan, in a display of absolute, unassailable confidence and calculated psychological grace, had ordered the release of the Wei heir from the military prison in the outer camps. He had permitted Cao Ang to be reunited with his doomed family within the gilded cage of the Wang estate.
"Eldest Brother!" Cao Zhi wept, clinging to Cao Ang's arm. "You are alive! The ancestors preserved you!"
Grand Concubine Bian let out a sharp, piercing gasp. She clamped both hands over her mouth, her eyes widening to the size of saucers. Though Cao Ang was the son of Lady Liu, he had been raised by Empress Ding, and he was beloved by the entire household as the golden, perfect heir. To see him standing there, alive and unharmed, felt like a hallucination born of grief.
Cao Pi spun around from the bedframe. He froze entirely.
He stared at his older brother, the man who had willingly stayed behind at Tong Pass, facing a tide of monsters with his own body just to buy Cao Pi the time to escape. Cao Pi had spent weeks carrying the crushing, agonizing survivor's guilt, mixed with the dark, venomous ambition of finally stepping out of his perfect brother's shadow.
For a fraction of a second, the complex, treacherous political animal inside Cao Pi registered the reality, he is back. I am no longer the heir. I am the second son once again.
But as he looked at Cao Ang's exhausted, sorrowful face, a face that held no resentment, only profound sadness for the fall of their house the ambition shattered. The dynastic politics didn't matter anymore. There was no throne left to inherit. There was only this room, this cage, and their blood.
"Brother..." Cao Pi whispered, his voice cracking entirely.
He abandoned all courtly dignity. Cao Pi ran across the room and threw his arms around his older brother, burying his face in Cao Ang's shoulder, weeping with genuine, unadulterated relief.
"You are alive," Cao Pi sobbed, his fingers gripping Cao Ang's rough tunic. "I thought Lie Fan had executed you. I thought I had killed you by leaving you behind."
Cao Ang closed his eyes, wrapping his arms around his younger brother, offering the same steady, protective comfort he always had. "Hush, Pi. I am here. You did your duty. I did mine. We survived."
Cao Ang gently pulled away from his weeping siblings and stepped toward the massive wooden bed. The physicians parted respectfully, bowing their heads.
Cao Ang fell to his knees beside Grand Concubine Bian. He looked at the translucent, dying face of his father. The mighty Chancellor, the man who had seemed larger than the mountains themselves, was fading into the dark.
"Imperial Father," Cao Ang said softly, his voice thick with unshed tears. He reached out, gently taking his father's cold hand. "Your unfilial son... has returned."
Cao Cao's cloudy eyes slowly shifted, finding the face of his beloved firstborn. For a moment, the agony etched into the warlord's features seemed to smooth out. A faint, almost imperceptible spark of warmth, of profound paternal peace, touched his eyes.
"Ang..." Cao Cao whispered, a weak, rattling breath that sounded almost like a sigh of relief. "You... came back. My boys... are together."
Cao Cao did not have the strength to say anything more. He simply lay there, his hand resting weakly in his eldest son's grip, surrounded by his weeping family.
Outside the thick walls of the mansion, the heavy boots of the Hengyuan guards marched in a relentless, rhythmic patrol. The banners of the Black Dragon snapped in the wind over the captured city of Chang'An.
But inside this room, the brutal politics of the era faded away, leaving only a broken family finding a tragic, agonizing solace in their shared survival, waiting together in the twilight for the final breath of the titan who had shaped their world.
The days immediately following the fall of the inner fortress were a masterclass in the ruthless, terrifying efficiency of the Hengyuan administrative machine.
The smoke that had choked the skies of Chang'An was slowly blown away by the crisp, cool winds descending from the western mountains, revealing a city scarred by artillery but undeniably alive.
The chaos of the siege was swiftly replaced by an iron clad, systemic order. Hengyuan heavy infantry patrolled the grand avenues, their black and gold armor gleaming in the sun, ensuring that the strict martial law was observed without a single deviation.
The granaries were opened, the fires were extinguished, and the terrified civilian populace slowly began to emerge from their cellars, realizing that the Black Dragon had not come to slaughter them, but to rule them.
Within the historic walls of the Imperial Palace, the transition of power was absolute. Lie Fan sat upon the ancient throne of the Western Han. Now, it belonged to a new dynasty.
Having spent several days consolidating their immediate grip on the capital, receiving the formal surrenders of the remaining Wei magistrates, and ensuring the absolute containment of the captive Cao clan, Lie Fan decided the time had come to turn his eyes eastward. The heart of his empire lay in Xiapi, and an Emperor could not govern a newly unified continent from a frontier encampment forever.
He summoned his inner circle to the Great Hall, which had been meticulously scrubbed of the blood from the final battle, though the splintered pillars still bore the scars of Dian Wei and Guan Yu's weapons.
Lie Fan looked down at the gathering of the greatest minds and fiercest warriors of the age. Sima Yi, Chen Deng, Zang Hong, Pang Tong, Xu Shu, Meng Da, and Fa Zheng stood in a pristine, disciplined semicircle before the throne.
To their left stood the monumental figures of his Marshals, Zhang Liao, Taishi Ci, Huang Zhong, and Zhang Ren. Beside the throne stood Crown Prince Muchen, observing the mechanics of imperial logistics with quiet, intense focus.
"The central plains are secured, and the head of the Wei beast has been severed," Lie Fan's deep, resonant voice echoed through the vast hall. "But a beast with a severed head can still thrash, and the scavengers are already circling on our western borders. The time has come for the Imperial Court to return to Xiapi, to formally declare the unification of the central states, and to prepare for the final judgments. But Chang'An cannot be left unguarded."
Lie Fan unrolled a large parchment map of the empire, tracing his finger along the rugged terrain of the northwest.
"We will divide the host," Lie Fan declared, his tone leaving no room for debate. "Half of the Imperial Army will prepare to march back east to Xiapi with me. The other half will remain here in Chang'An, an immovable anvil against which any western aggression will be shattered."
He turned his gaze to the brilliant strategists arrayed before him. "Sima Yi, Pang Tong, Xu Shu. You will accompany the eastern march. Your minds will be needed to integrate the massive bureaucratic apparatus of Wei into our own courts in Xiapi."
The three named advisors bowed deeply, their hands cupped.
Lie Fan then shifted his eyes to the remaining scholars. "Chen Deng, Zang Hong, Fa Zheng, Meng Da. You four shall remain in Chang'an. You are appointed as the supreme military strategists for the western garrison. Your task is to maintain absolute stability in the capital and to keep a suffocating grip on the western passes."
Fa Zheng stepped forward, a cold, predatory smile touching his lips. "And what of the so called 'League of Northwestern Lords', Your Majesty? Those cowards... they sit in the mountains, watching us. Shall we devise a campaign to root them out?"
"Not yet," Lie Fan replied sharply. "You are to handle them, but not through immediate open warfare. We have just concluded the largest siege of the era. The men need rest, and the supply lines need to be solidified. I want you to manage them through the sheer, terrifying weight of our presence."
Lie Fan then turned to his Marshals. "To command this western host, I leave two of my most seasoned, unshakeable pillars. Marshal Huang Zhong, Marshal Zhang Ren. You will remain in Chang'An. Your bows and your spears will be the warning to the west. Marshal Zhang Liao, Marshal Taishi Ci. You will command the vanguard of the returning army. You ride with me and the Crown Prince back to the capital."
The four legendary warriors struck their breastplates in unison, the sound ringing out like a singular, massive bell. "By your command, Your Majesty!"
"There is one final matter of logistics," Lie Fan added, his voice dropping to a low, dangerous register. "The prisoners. The entire Cao clan, every son, daughter, concubine, and the fallen Emperor himself, will be brought back to Xiapi. They will face the formal transition of power in our capital."
Lie Fan looked directly at Sima Yi, who managed the medical and supply logistics. "Cao Cao is lingering on the edge of the Yellow Springs. I want a bespoke, heavily suspended carriage constructed for him. It must be lined with thick furs and equipped to minimize the shock of the road."
"I want the finest Imperial physicians working in shifts around the clock inside that carriage. Use the most expensive ginseng, the rarest herbs we liberated from his own vaults. He is to receive extra, unparalleled medical care. I will not allow him to die a quiet death on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere."
"I need him healthy enough to survive the journey, and strong enough to stand before the imperial tribunal in Xiapi to await his trial. Do you understand?"
"Implicitly, Your Majesty," Sima Yi bowed smoothly. "He will be kept tethered to this world by every medical miracle at our disposal."
"Then let it be done. The army marches in one day," Lie Fan commanded, waving his hand in dismissal.
The logistical capability of the Hengyuan Empire was nothing short of miraculous. Where a lesser warlord might have taken weeks to organize the division of an army and the transport of high value royal prisoners, Lie Fan's administration accomplished it in a matter of twenty four hours.
Granaries were tallied, supply trains of heavy ox carts were loaded with hardtack and dried meat, and the massive, gilded cage of the Cao family was prepared for the long road east.
The next morning, the sky over Chang'An was a brilliant, cloudless blue. The air was crisp, carrying the faint scent of frost.
Outside the towering eastern gates of the city, fifty thousand elite Hengyuan soldiers stood in perfect, terrifying formation. The black and gold banners snapped fiercely in the wind. The cavalry mounts snorted and stamped their hooves, eager to begin the journey home.
Lie Fan sat atop his magnificent warhorse, Pangu. The beast was a mountain of muscle and dark hair, radiating an aura of raw power that perfectly mirrored its rider. Lie Fan was dressed in his full, bespoke armor, his halberd resting casually across his saddlebow. To his right rode Crown Prince Muchen, sitting tall and proud, flanked by Zhang Liao and Taishi Ci.
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Name: Lie Fan
Title: Founding Emperor Of Hengyuan Dynasty
Age: 36 (203 AD)
Level: 16
Next Level: 462,000
Renown: 2325
Cultivation: Yin Yang Separation (level 11)
SP: 1,121,700
ATTRIBUTE POINTS
STR: 1,010 (+20)
VIT: 659 (+20)
AGI: 653 (+10)
INT: 691
CHR: 98
WIS: 569
WILL: 436
ATR Points: 0