Dynasty Warriors: The Rise of Sun

Chapter 6 of my Dynasty Warriors story, enjoy.

Reviews:

Wolfgirl2013: Thanks :) Oh, um...yeah.

Now onto the story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Dynasty Warriors or its characters.


Collapse of Han Authority

Sun Jian's fears came true alarmingly quickly, it had only just turned to the following year when the Han Dynasty found itself facing down another two rebellions, both springing up within weeks of each other. Declaring himself to be standing against the eunuchs and their corruption, Zhang Wen, despite his exile, rose up in Bing Province with a sizeable following. At the same time, Bian Zhang had convinced two influential leaders in Liang province, Han Sui and Ma Teng to join him in rebelling against the Han government.

These two rebellions and in particular Zhang Wen's stated reasons left Emperor Ling dithering and in shock, as if he couldn't fathom why anyone would be against the eunuchs, despite the obvious corrupt practices they followed and suffering they caused.

So of course it fell to He Jin to organise a response, unfortunately before he could a third rebellion sprang up. A bandit in Changsha named Ou Xing started calling himself the Bandit King and, aided by remnants of the Yellow Turbans, began running riot around Changsha.

This left the Imperial Army scrambling and Ou Xing was left to do as he pleased as the other two rebellions took precedent. Lu Zhi was sent to deal with Zhang Wen while Dong Zhuo was ordered to take down the Liang Rebellion. This sadly led to months of little success. Zhang Wen remained insistent of having the eunuchs removed while Dong Zhuo had little success and began constantly requesting reinforcements.

Sun Jian suspected he was trying the same trick he tried during the Yellow Turban Rebellion while another court official, Yuan Shao of the esteemed Yuan family, saw a way to end Zhang Wen's Rebellion without bloodshed.

So he made an impassioned speech before the Emperor that cast Zhang Wen's request to remove the eunuchs as simply stripping them of their noble titles and removing their authority to deal with state matters, while allowing them to still serve as the Emperor's attendants. This he explained would placate the people who were being harmed by the eunuchs mistakes in handling various policies while allowing Emperor Ling to keep his attendants.

Knowing death was the only alternative, the eunuchs pleaded with Emperor Ling to accept the proposal, which he reluctantly did so and with that, along with returning his former title to him and welcoming him with open arms, Zhang Wen returned to the Han Dynasty and ended his rebellion. Almost immediately however, Zhang Wen found himself being tested as he, along with Sun Jian, were to take their armies and reinforce Dong Zhuo at Liang province. So it was Sun Jian rode alongside Zhang Wen with Huang Gai, Cheng Pu and Han Dang riding behind them and their forces marching along behind them.

"So, Sun Jian, do you really think Yuan Shao's plan will work, will the eunuchs really accept being ousted from power like this?" Zhang Wen asked as they rode.

Sun Jian shook his head. "Of course not, it was a temporary measure that Yuan Shao, Cao-Cao and I came up with to try and ensure you would be able to return and regain your old rank. With you here Master Zhang Wen, I feel better about our chances of properly returning peace to the Han Dynasty."

"You flatter me, it'll be an uphill struggle regardless." Zhang Wen remarked. "Still you're right, we've got an opening with this temporary plan, we have a real chance to fix things."

They rode on in silence again.

Finally, as they neared Liang Province, looking for Dong Zhuo's forward base, Zhang Wen spoke up again.

"So, what do you think of Dong Zhuo?"

"He's trouble." Sun Jian said without pause. "He's a wolf in sheep's clothing. I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out that he doesn't actually need reinforcements and is just holding his troops back from fighting like in the Yellow Turban Rebellion."

Zhang Wen narrowed his eyes. "Why would he do something like that?"

"I can't say, but presumably he's trying to prevent himself from losing his troops, no doubt trying to save them for some end goal, whatever it may be." Sun Jian explained.

Zhang Wen narrowed his eyes at this but said nothing else as they rode on, finally seeing the forward camp.

Arriving they found that sure enough, Dong Zhuo's army was positioned and ready, yet did not seem to have been enduring much in the way of combat.

"About time you got here, you...Zhang Wen?" Dong Zhuo burst out before seeing the man himself.

Zhang Wen nodded. "I am here with Sun Jian, we are your reinforcements, so I hope you're ready to actually fight, Dong Zhuo."

Both men glared at each other, tension already thick and Sun Jian sighed, this was going to make planning their upcoming battle a problem.


End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.