Wan Liang slid into a slight rest. His body exasperated, relieved at the final resting hour. The sky a fluorescent midnight blue. The stars gleamed down revealing bare shadows of the night. He laid next to the Yin river near his village of Xia Cai. Listening to the relaxing sounds of the river edging itself on the banks as the cicadas whistled in unison. A slight breeze formulated and reigned through the river. Wan Liang loved the sound of the open river. It soothed even the most ravaging of beasts. He had long fought for supremacy in the court but was disposed of by the ten eunuchs. He was thrown out of the court for disagreeing with them and attempted to assassinate them. The river was his only solace now. He trained in the art of war and weaponry ever since that long day. He cursed himself for his lack of strength and vowed to kill all of the tyrannical eunuchs. Wan Liang woke from his slumber an hour later by what seemed like an earthquake. He rubbed his eyes to try and cope with the change in lighting.
He saw dust rise up from a ways away. The yellow turbans were moving again. He quickly ran to Xia Cai and gathered his equipment to engage with the bandits. He wielded a large battle axe nine spans long. He saddled one of his horses and raced towards the dust near Huai Nan. As he came up to the peak of a hill he heard the sound of bombardment and noticed another force ambush the yellow turbans. It was a force led by Cheng Pu. Cheng Pu wielded a broad sword and girded dark crimson red armor. With him was Zu Mao. Cheng Pu engaged with the subordinate of the commander. Not even after one exchange he was slain by Cheng Pu. The men's morale dropped as their lieutenant was killed in one stroke. The commander Bian Xi let out a roar and charged Cheng Pu. Cheng pu was unaware. Wan Liang saw it commence and fitted an arrow to his bow. He let it fly and it struck true. It hit Bian Xi on his shoulder and he fell from his mount. His men retrieved their fallen leader and retreated back to Xiao Pei. Cheng Pu looked at the observer and sprinted toward him. Wan Liang waited patiently. Cheng Pu reached him with Zu Mao following behind. "what is your name warrior" questioned Zu Mao. Wan Liang answered back "I am Wan Liang of Xia Cai." Cheng Pu dismounted and bowed and gratefully gave his thanks to Liang for his help. "I am glad you were here. If you weren't I would have been slain. I am Cheng Pu and this is Zu Mao. We both serve under Lord Sun Jian. We would like for you to come with us and tell our lord of your deed and maybe serve under him as well. Your skill is needed in this time of war." Wan Liang accepted and followed the men and the soldiers to Xia Pi.
It was dawn when they arrived. Zu Mao led Liang to guest housing. " I ask you to stay here while we set up an appointment with our lord to see you. He is real busy so it may be awhile. You have full reign of the city." Zu Mao left and Wan Liang fell dead asleep on the bed. That evening he woke up and wandered around the city. He went to the armory to check the weapons of all the generals. He noticed a female officer in front of him when he reached the armory. She glared at him and reached at her side and unsheathed a short sword. Liang was irritated. He had left his blade in his quarters. He slowly moved to a nearby weapons rack. She caught his movement and lunged at him but he swiftly dodged and grabbed a spear from the rack and stood in ready position. The woman struck again and Liang once again dodged but hit his opponent in the back bit the blunt end of the spear making her fall to the ground. Her put his knee on her back and pulled her arms backwards in a dominating position. "why did you attack me?" asked Liang. He waited for a response but she only let out a grunt as she tried to set herself free but to no avail. A candle light lit the room as another officer emerged from the dark hallways of the barracks. It was Cheng Pu. "Stop at once. This is our guest Li Li." Liang released his grip and helped Li Li up. "why" she asked "didn't you tell me?" "I was ready for a fight." Li Li apologized profusely even though Liang constantly excused the incident. Cheng Pu guided Liang back to his guest room. "I apologize for her behavior. She is still young." "no harm done. I knew I would win. I can normally sense the skill level between opponents." Cheng Pu looked at his guest awkwardly. Liang threw his head back and laughed. Both men resigned for the night.
The next morning Liang was called to meet with lord Sun Jian. "I heard you saved my friend Cheng Pu. I am grateful toward you. He has served strong under me for a long while. I also heard you had an encounter with Li Li. You handled yourself very well from what I heard. You didn't even have the intention to kill her. I wish to see more of your good deeds if you were to become a loyal vassal of mine." Liang thought on the matter noticing that Li Li was staring at him. He glanced over at her and she turned her head quickly to avoid his look. " I accept Lord Sun Jian. I look forward to serving you." Sun Jian was very pleased and held a banquet in Liangs honor. It lasted all the way till the evening. He had thoroughly familiarized himself with all of the officers and had befriended them. Later that evening after all was well and done Sun Jian called his men to council. " I have called you all to discuss the matter on attacking Xiao Pei. Any suggestions?" Zhu Zhi rose from his seat and presented his plan. "We should set up camp at Peng Cheng. From there we can launch concentrated strikes and force the enemy to move out and attack us head on. Then when the gates are opened Han Dang can take a force and race into the city securing it and capturing the yellow turban force in a two pronged attack." All of the officers seemed to agree with the plan except Liang. "My lord that is a sound plan but let me set mine on the table. What we do is, yes, make camp at Peng Cheng but have a force at the same time wait in ambush at Mt. Jiu Li. Then we have the force at Peng Cheng attack Xiao Pei on all sides but the northern gate. They will retreat to Pu Yang knowing they are defeated. When they cross through Mt. Jiu Li Han Dang will ambush them. They will be demoralized. They will continue to retreat with heavy casualties, and wounded, and exhausted men. It is then Huang Gai emerges from Ju Ye and goes in for the kill." All of the officers were amazed at the strategy. Wan Liang was made the warlord of the attack and made sure that all went as according as planned.
The army marched on and set up camp at Peng Cheng. A messenger was sent as soon as both Han Dang and Huang Gai were in position confirming that all preparations were taken care of. Sun Jian had left Sun Jing and Zhu Zhi back at Xia Pi to take care of the city in case any threat should occur. Wan Liang sent Cheng Pu to attack the eastern gate, Zu Mao to the southern, and he himself to the western gate. Guan Hai the prefect of Xiao Pei was alarmed and held council. "what shall we do?" One of his officers suggested his plan. It was Bian Xi, "Let me, Gao Sheng, and Zhang Mancheng break the siege. We have enough men to easily defeat the enemy." Guan Hai adopted the plan and gave each man five thousand soldiers. Zhang Mancheng took the eastern gate and was beat back by a hail of arrows from Cheng Pu's archers. Gao Sheng charged out of the southern gate. The soldiers clashed and fought. But the overwhelming force of Zu Mao's men was too much and Gao Sheng also fell back. Bian Xi took the southern gate. No one soldier was there. He saw a battalion of soldiers retreating and he pursued the enemy. He soon heard the bombardment and was locked in between Li Li and Wan Liang. Bian Xi was Slain by Li Li during the confusion and his head was sent back to Guan Hai. Guan Hai now afraid beat a quick retreat with his handful of soldiers and his remaining officers. They reached Mt Jiu Li. Gao Sheng presented his argument on where to go, "my lord go through Liu and not on the pass. It will wear out our men and slow us down." Gao Sheng was countered by Zhang Mancheng "No they will expect that and if we do go through Mt Jiu Li we will fool the enemy and safely arrive at Pu Yang upon which we will have a chance to redeem ourselves." Guan Hai agreed with Zhang Mancheng. They went through the pass and were ambushed by the fresh soldiers of Han Dang. The Yellow Turban band put up a valiant effort hacking and slashing fighting for their very lives but they soon were severely fatigued and retreated toward Ju Ye were the camped and rested their men. But before they could set up their pots for food they were surrounded on all sides by Huang Gai. The men tried to get away but were unable to do so. Gao Sheng was felled by Huang Gai's sword after a brief exchange. Zhang Mancheng was stabbed and cut up into little pieces by Huang Gai's soldiers and Guan Hai was bound up and given to Huang Gai with the surrender of the rest of his men. He set the men free and they went back to Pu Yang. News reached the camp of Liang's at Peng Cheng and the men cheered at the brilliance of Wan Liang. Sun Jian held a major banquet in honor of Wan Liang's achievements.
Wine was passed several times. Zhu Zhi angrily rose from his seat. He went into a drunken rebuttal of Wan Liang, "you no god swine. You were lucky you did what you did. You have no talent. I should kill you right no for your insolence and wasting our time." Zhu Zhi drew his sword and stumbled toward Liang. Wan Liang took his chair he was sitting in and broke it across the face of Zhu Zhi and knocked him out. Sun Jian dismissed everyone and had the guards drag Zhu Zhi to his quarters. Wan Liang drank very little and started to talk to Li Li. The conversation lasted into the wee hours of the night. She finally realized that her hand was on his clasping it. She was enveloped in his conversation in his gray dark eyes. She excused herself before she would o something she shouldn't. Li Li ran to her quarters her cheeks a deep red. She was embarrassed that she ran off like that. She closed her door and slipped into her bed and feel asleep. Sun Jian was woken up by one of his subordinates, "My Lord" he whispered, "great news. Zhang Jiao has died. The Yellow turbans were discouraged and many left. They only have a handful of officers and now have set up a defense Ping Yuan." Sun Jian jumped out of his bed and readied himself. He sent soldiers all around to wake the officers. He called everyone to council. "As you have heard from the soldiers Zhang Jiao is dead. His brothers Zhang Liang and Zhang Bao have taken refuge in Ping Yuan. Grand General He Jin is marching toward Ping Yuan and we should to. We will meet with Kong Rong in Bei Hai and then march onto Ping Yuan." All officers voiced their agreement and suited up. Sun Jian formed an army of thirty thousand. He himself led the vanguard with Wu Jing. On the left was Cheng Pu and Zu Mao, the right was Huang Gai and Wan Liang, in the center was Han Dang and Li Li and bringing up the rear was Zhu Zhi and Sun Jing. They met up with Kong Rong in Bei Hai who had an army of ten thousand. He was accompanied by Taishi Ci, Wang Xiu, and Wu Anguo. Wan Liang eyed Taishi Ci. He was only 19 but was well disciplined. He never left his masters side. "I received a letter," clarified Kong Rong, "saying that White Horse General Gongsun Zan was also going to be in this battle with a relative of the Emperor's Liu Bei. They say his two brothers are remarkably skilled." Sun Jian was excited. This was the last fight against the Yellow Turbans. They arrived in Nan Pi just north of Ping Yuan. Sun Jian with Wan Liang and Huang Gai went ahead and scouted the area and analyzed the enemy formations. "my lord," began Liang, "from this point we have the advantage. We have a downhill charge and if Gongsun Zan were to attack from De Zhou we would cut off all retreat. Kong Rong will attack from the south were Zhang Bao is at while He Jin attacks the west. Gongsun Zan will take the north as we bombard the east. Sun Jian sent messengers to the other armies. They responded in agreement to the plan. Gongsun Zan arrived in De Zhou and pitched camp there. He had ten thousand infantry and fifteen thousand cavalry. His officers consisted of his strategist Tian Yu, his younger brother Gongsun Yue, his cousin Gongsun Fan, and Zou Dan. He Jin set up camp half way in between Ping Yuan and Ying Tao. Leading his vanguard was general Zhang He and his lieutenant Wang Kuang, the rear was brought up by He Jin, Xun You, and Chunyu Qiong. All me were in position. "my Lord" asserted Wang Kuang, "why let these common officers give you orders. Why not strike now you are Grand General you should show them who is in the lead." He Jin saw the point. He ordered his men to eat on the third watch and march on the fifth. He Jin reached the walls of Ping Yuan. Troops swarmed his position. He was surrounded and was unable to escape. Zhang He took the reins of He Hin's mount and hacked and slashed his way through the fray of men. He sustained many injuries but was able to guide his lord to safety. Xun You escaped into a nearby forest and me up with He Jin back at camp. "where is Qiong" queried He Jin. Xun You looked down in shame. He abandoned Qiong to save himself and for that he died. He Jin cursed Xun You and was about to execute him but with the pleas from Zhang He held off and stripped Xun You of title and demoted him to commoner status and sent him back to Luo Yang. He Jin soon rebuked Wang Kuang for his insolence. Wang Kuang from then on feigned illness. A messenger arrived shortly after and gave He Jin a parchment that read
I caught wind of your attack on Ping Yuan. I'm sorry for any losses. When you commenced your attack you directed all attention to yourself and the rest of the forces were able to converge of the two Zhang brothers. Ping Yuan has been captured and all followers of the Yellow Scarves have been bound. The brothers have been executed. The remaining officers verdicts still await them. The officers are Guan Hai, Bo Cai, Zhao Hong, He Yi, Han Xian, Pei Yuanshao, and Yan Zheng.
He Jin was glad that the action of his own stupidity and went to Ping Yuan. He gave all of the officers a chance to redeem themselves by serving as a loyal vassal to the Han. Only two accepted, He Yi and Pei Yuanshao, and the rest were executed. Thus the Yellow Turbans were eliminated. Emperor Ling called all forces that were involved in the alliance against the yellow turbans to come to the capital and receive their reward.