Romance of the Three Kingdoms
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- Unfortunately, the guards were up to no good. They were originally criminals who were given a second chance by the benevolent governor, but their evil habits died hard. One day, the guards murdered Pian-te Ren and fled with his treasures, including gifts Ch'en Chin-chi had given him. Lien-te Kue was furious upon hearing this news. In his tantrum, he blamed the governor for his father’s death and led a great army against Haiyang City. The governor had no chance against the vast army. He knew he was ruined. Just then, Pian-te Chin, who was residing with the warlord Masaki/Masa-aki Oshima at the city of Binzhou, decided to rescue the old man. He set off with his tiny band of militia and send his younger brother Akira Enoki to negotiate peace with the general. He had no intention of signing a treaty, but events worked out in the negotiator’s favor. Just then, Sun He, now a warlord without land, invaded the general’s capital base at Dezhou. Pretending to accept the peace terms, the general quickly returned to the city where he did battle against the warlord.
- The revolutionaries now approached Jiaozhou, and Teng Ts’ao felt defeat was imminent. So he ordered all the imperial Song graves to be exhumed, and he also took the treasures from the wealthy noble families and ordered everyone in the capital to evacuate to Laishan District. Kosuke Ando urged the revolutionaries to invade, as there was no point resting on their laurels in the now-captured capitol. However, Manabu Takeda was a complacent man, and he insisted on staying. The arrogant general then invaded on his own, but was ambushed and defeated by Ho Ts’ao. He managed to return to the city and was welcomed by the commanding general, but by then, he was disgusted by the commander’s lack of leadership qualities, so he left. Without his presence as the charismatic glue of the revolutionary army, they quickly fell apart. So this is how the revolution ended: an empty victory with the capture of the capitol, but the enemy remained firmly in control of power.
- He Hsiahou, Ryo/Ryoske Sasaki’s wise son-in-law and advisor, went to talk with his father-in-law: “Master, we can’t win this war with Liu Baozhuan by Takeru Kamei’s side. Our of our generals, Fumiya/Fumiaki Aoyagi, is a friend of his son. Tell him to convince the man to our side and shower him with gifts.” “Will he betray his own father for us?” the general asked. His advisor said: “He is a great warrior, but he is not cunning.” So the general followed his advisor’s advice. He ordered his men to take great treasures to the son of his enemy.
- Yuske Iwasaki then sped off with the horse. After a long time, he still didn’t return, so Tetsu/Tetsuo Fujioka got worried. Just then, Gongsun Xin, the general’s son-in-law and advisor, entered the room. The general discussed his servant’s strange behavior with his advisor. After much consideration, they felt that he was actually conspiring to kill the general, so they placed out an arrest warrant for the man. By then, he had already fled quite a far distance, but at one village, he was finally captured and brought to the officer Gongsun Kao. The administrator was a good and thoughtful man, so he asked, “I heard that you are one of the Minister’s favorite. I wonder why you have tried to betray him.” The fugitive stated, “I am descended from seven generations of nobles, and we are loyal to the Ten Kingdoms. I’m not merely serving a tyrant just for my own good.” The administrator was deeply touched, so he said, “I too am a loyal servant of the Empire. I will join a great man like you.”.
- The brothers then flee from the governor district office. Some men eventually free the magistrate who orders an arrest warrant for Lien-te Shao and Cao Zan, but they are not caught. At first, the eldest planned to return home, but his mother rebuked him for lack of ambition and reveals that his ancestor was the Marquis of the East who fell from favor and left the Imperial Palace. With no place to go, he returns to his sworn brothers. They join the minor warlord Saburo Chiba’s army. The brothers are back at their ambition now. From patriot to official, and back to being vagabounds.