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(A/N: Don't forget to give those power stones to Skyrim everyone!)
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No Emperor in the entirety of recorded history actually did these massive campaigns as much, and as incredibly fast, as him. He had unified the chaotic, warring central plains in record time, and before the blood had even dried on the southern conquests, he was already hurling his legions at the northern steppes. It was a pace of conquest that defied human endurance.
Of course, the advisors also deeply, profoundly acknowledged that the past dynasties' emperors didn't have the immense, unfathomable advantages that their current Emperor possessed.
Lie Fan was not merely a military commander. He was a polymath of impossible proportions. He literally excelled in absolutely everything he touched, and he had personally helped introduce, make, or figure out countless revolutionary, world altering advancements.
They looked at him sitting on the throne, and they saw a god of knowledge. He had given them the blueprints for the wagonways that now began to crisscrossed across the empire. He had introduced the sanitary miracles of soap and shampoo that reduced both sickness and bad smells.
He had found the schematics for the Black Dragon Cannons through his connections, and just days ago, he had effortlessly revealed the philosophical and mechanical secrets of the steam engine, a technology that would soon render human muscle obsolete.
Naturally, these brilliant, unparalleled minds of the third century were entirely confined by the reality of their own era. They didn't know, they could not possibly even begin to fathom, that the miraculous, world breaking things he found, made, or introduced were actually all derived from his past life's knowledge.
They did not know that the Emperor possessed a modern mind, or that his flawless technological leaps were directly pulled from his mysterious, otherworldly system that gave him unfettered access to the Book of Knowledge.
To the advisors, Lie Fan was simply blessed by the heavens themselves, possessing an innate, divine intellect that allowed him to see the hidden mechanics of the universe. He was a singularity, a man chosen by destiny to elevate humanity from the mud.
And because of all these unprecedented, heaven defying advancements, the usually crippling, empire destroying matters of military logistics, the very things that had terrified the elderly official from Ministry of Rites, were simply not hard to solve at all for this campaign.
The ancient Han armies had starved in the steppes because they relied on fragile, horse drawn supply trains moving over muddy, freezing roads, attempting to haul grain that rotted in the damp weather.
But the Hengyuan Dynasty was operating on an entirely different plane of existence.
Thanks to the revolutionary agricultural reforms Lie Fan had aggressively implemented years ago, the introduction of advanced crop rotation, highly efficient iron plows, specialized natural fertilizers, and the massive, state sponsored irrigation networks managed by the Ministry of Work, the empire was currently experiencing an agricultural golden age.
The Hengyuan Dynasty now actually possessed a bountiful, utterly overflowing reservoir of harvests. The massive, towering stone granaries across the central and northern provinces were literally bursting at the seams with surplus wheat, millet, and rice.
The new salt monopolies and advanced preservation techniques allowed them to stockpile thousands of tons of cured, salted meats and dried vegetables that would never rot in the snow.
They had all kinds of agricultural produces to easily, effortlessly feed an expanding army of hundreds of thousands of men, even in the dead of winter.
The iron wheels of the wagonways would ensure that hot meals and thick, newly manufactured wool coats reached the vanguard divisions faster than the enemy could even comprehend.
Lie Fan sat upon the Dragon Throne, looking out over the silenced, submissive hall. His Inner Council had completely annihilated the opposition without him needing to lift a finger. The bureaucracy was terrified, the army was fed, and the technology of the future was firmly in his grasp.
"The debate is concluded," Lie Fan announced, his voice carrying the finality of a falling executioner's blade. "The grain is secured. The cannons are positioned. The orders have been given. Let the historians record that on this day, the Hengyuan Dynasty did not wait for the barbarians at the gates. We brought the gates down upon them."
The entire Imperial Court dropped to their knees once more, their voices uniting in a deafening roar of absolute obedience.
"WE OBEY THE DRAGON THRONE! LONG LIVE THE EMPEROR!"
The die was cast. The invincible, industrialized war machine of Lie Fan's creation turned its terrifying gaze northward, ready to march into the freezing grass and permanently rewrite the history of the world in blood and iron.
With Lie Fan already having given out the absolute, irrevocable order, and the Imperial Court tremblingly accepting the unquestionable decision of their Emperor, the massive, continent spanning machinations of war belonging to the Hengyuan Dynasty began to turn with a terrifying, industrialized ferocity.
The last preparations needed for the grand northern campaign were being executed with a speed that defied human history. The newly established Wagonways Department, under the brilliant and tireless direction of Huang Yue Ying, operated day and night.
The heavy, rhythmic clacking of flanged iron wheels echoed across the central plains as massive, horse drawn timber and iron carriages hauled thousands of tons of grain, salted meats, thick winter wool, and the devastating Black Dragon Cannons toward the northern staging grounds in Ji, You, and Bing provinces.
The foundries in Xiapi never slept, their towering brick chimneys vomiting black smoke into the autumn sky as hammers rang out in a ceaseless, deafening symphony, forging the spearheads and heavy plate armor that would soon be bathed in the blood of the nomadic confederations.
Everything was moving precisely according to the flawless logistical blueprint crafted by Sima Yi and Xun You.
But amidst this flawless, mechanical perfection of statecraft, there was a sudden, deeply human complication. There was a bit of a problem actually, one that could not be solved with a stroke of a calligraphy brush or a stamp of the imperial seal.
In the high born district of the inner city of the capital, within the heavily fortified and lavishly appointed walls of the Ma Clan's residence, the fierce cavalry commander of the west was making his final preparations for war.
Ma Chao, the Splendid Ma Chao, whose very name struck terror into the hearts of the desert tribes, was standing in his armory. Alongside him were his younger brothers, Ma Tie and Ma Xiu, and their steadfast, brilliant cousin, Ma Dai.
They were getting ready to depart to the harsh, freezing wastelands of Liang Province. Their specific, highly critical mandate was to join the Imperial Army stationed there and take direct command of the western prong of the invasion force.
They were to lead the elite shock cavalry, men born in the saddle, veterans who possessed the crucial, irreplaceable experiences of facing against the lightning fast hit and run tactics of the Xiongnu and the Wuhuan. The western flank of the entire invasion depended on their immediate departure.
Ma Chao was strapping the heavy, silver plated greaves to his legs, his mind already racing hundreds of miles away to the mountain passes of the west, when a sudden, frantic pounding echoed through the halls of the manor.
A panicked maidservant threw open the doors of the armory, her face pale, her chest heaving as she gasped for air.
"General Ma! It is the Lady! Lady Shangxiang!"
Suddenly, weeks before the royal physicians had predicted, his wife, Sun Shangxiang, had gone into intense, agonizing labor.
Ma Chao completely abandoned his armor, the heavy silver plates clattering loudly against the wooden floorboards. He sprinted through the sprawling corridors of his estate, his heart hammering a frantic rhythm against his ribs that no battlefield had ever induced.
For the next several hours, the fierce, untamed warrior of the west paced the outer courtyard of his wife's private chambers like a caged tiger.
Ma Tie, Ma Xiu, and Ma Dai stood nearby in silent, anxious solidarity, their own departures entirely delayed. The sounds of Sun Shangxiang's pained cries echoed through the paper lattice doors, each one twisting a cold knife of terror into Ma Chao's gut. This was a battlefield where his spear was entirely useless.
But finally, as the afternoon sun began to dip toward the horizon, casting a warm, golden glow over the capital, the piercing, healthy cry of a newborn shattered the tense silence of the estate.
The doors slid open, and a beaming, exhausted midwife bowed deeply. "Congratulations, General. The heavens have blessed your house. Your wife has given birth to a child, and it is a perfectly healthy little boy."
The immense, suffocating wave of relief that washed over Ma Chao nearly brought the towering warrior to his knees. He rushed into the room, finding his fierce, martial wife looking incredibly pale and drained, but smiling with a profound, radiant joy as she cradled a small, squirming bundle wrapped in fine red silk.
However, as Ma Chao looked down at his newborn son, a heavy, agonizing shadow of duty immediately fell over his heart. He was a general of the Hengyuan Dynasty. His vanguard was waiting for him in Liang Province. The northern steppes required his blade.
Yet, looking at his exhausted wife and his tiny, fragile son, the thought of mounting his warhorse and riding away into the freezing western winds felt like tearing his own soul in half.
News of the birth traveled with the speed of light through the capital, instantly reaching the inner sanctum of the Imperial Palace.
Sitting behind his massive mahogany desk, Emperor Lie Fan received the hurried report from an Oriole agent.
Seeing this news, Lie Fan leaned back in his high backed chair, a soft, genuinely warm smile touching his lips.
He was the Supreme Sovereign of the earth, a man currently orchestrating the eradication of entire nomadic civilizations, but he was not a machine. He possessed a deeply profound, unbreakable bond with the people who had fought by his side.
He knew, instantly and unequivocally, that he couldn't just force Ma Chao to go to the harsh, unforgiving west right now. The timing was entirely cruel.
Furthermore, Sun Shangxiang was not just the daughter of the Sun Clan and the wife of his general, to Lie Fan, the fiery, stubborn, and incredibly brave Sun Shangxiang was also kind of like his own precious little sister. He had watched her grow, he had seen her fight, and he refused to be the tyrant who tore her husband away from her mere hours after she had brought a new life into the world.
But the war machine could not be halted. The western prong of the trident needed a commander of absolute, terrifying repute to hold the Liang Province cavalry together.
Lie Fan decisively unrolled a blank imperial edict. He did not hesitate for a fraction of a second. He dipped his brush into the red ink of absolute authority.
He decisively ordered for the venerable, unyielding veteran Pang De to replace Ma Chao's role. Pang De was an immovable mountain of martial prowess, a man whose loyalty to the throne was forged in pure iron, and a commander deeply respected by the western cavalrymen.
The edict was stamped and sent immediately. Pang De was commanded to gather his armor and go to Liang Province immediately. However, he would not go alone. Lie Fan ordered that Ma Tie, Ma Xiu, and Ma Dai, who were not bound by the immediate duties of fatherhood, were to ride out alongside Pang De.
They would join the imperial army there, representing the fierce spirit of the Ma Clan in the vanguard, allowing their eldest brother the time he needed.
With the military logistics flawlessly resolved and the western flank secured under Pang De's massive shoulders, Lie Fan set aside his imperial brush. He stood up from his desk, motioning for the Yellow Ghost Bodyguards to stand down.
"Prepare a modest carriage," Lie Fan commanded his head eunuch. "I am leaving the palace."
Without the deafening fanfare of a grand imperial procession, Lie Fan went to personally visit the Ma Clan's residence. He wanted to see the newborn baby belonging to Ma Chao and Sun Shangxiang with his own eyes, to offer his blessings not as an Emperor, but as family.
When the imperial carriage pulled up to the gates of the Ma estate, the guards nearly collapsed in shock, scrambling to open the heavy iron doors. Lie Fan waved away their frantic prostrations, walking swiftly through the courtyards until he reached the private, incense filled chambers of the inner estate.
Ma Chao, who was sitting by the edge of the bed holding his wife's hand, immediately shot to his feet, his eyes wide with absolute astonishment. He hastily attempted to drop to his knees to offer the formal imperial greeting, but Lie Fan stepped forward quickly, catching the massive general by the forearms and stopping him.
"No kneeling today, Mengqi," Lie Fan smiled warmly, his dark eyes crinkling with genuine affection. "Today, there are no generals and no emperors in this room. There is only family."
Lie Fan stepped past Ma Chao, approaching the bed. Sun Shangxiang looked up at him, her usual fiery, tomboyish energy replaced by a soft, exhausted maternal glow.
"Brother Lie Fan," Shangxiang whispered, using the familiar, familial title she had always preferred in private. "You came."
"I would not have missed this for all the gold in the southern jungles,Shangxiang," Lie Fan replied softly, sitting carefully on the edge of a nearby wooden stool. He looked down at the small, sleeping infant resting in the crook of her arm. The boy had a head of thick, dark hair and possessed the undeniably strong, stubborn jawline of his father.
"He is beautiful," Lie Fan praised them, his voice filled with a quiet, profound reverence for new life. "The heavens have truly favored your house today. Have you chosen a name for the next great warrior of the west?"
Ma Chao stepped up beside his wife, looking down at his son with a mixture of overwhelming love and fierce, unyielding pride. He gently touched the baby's small, sleeping cheek with a calloused finger.
"We have, Your Majesty," Ma Chao said, his voice thick with emotion. He looked at Shangxiang, who nodded her head in agreement.
"We proudly give the baby the name Ma Yuan," Sun Shangxiang announced softly, yet her voice carried the unmistakable, underlying strength of a woman born to the Tiger of Jiangdong.
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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