"Even if we surrender the city, his life is all that will be spared?"
Even with all Liu Yan's cultivated restraint, he could not keep a surge of fury from rising. The Yellow Turban Army completely disregarded the seventy to eighty thousand troops inside the city walls.
He rose indignantly. "I want to see this god of whom you speak!"
Zhang Jiao shook his head. "The Holy Sovereign will not see you."
"How could you know?!" Liu Yan demanded, holding back his wrath.
"Because the Holy Sovereign foresaw that you would sue for peace long before you did, and thus bestowed His divine oracle."
Liu Yan froze. "Foresaw it long before?"
"Before you ever shot your command arrow, the Holy Sovereign already knew," Zhang Jiao said with a nod.
A sudden chill crept into the hearts of all four men. Could this so-called god, Zhonghuang Taiyi, truly foresee the future? How could they possibly wage war against that?
Peace talks? The Yellow Turbans refused to negotiate!
Could their only choice be to surrender the city?
His heart heavy, Liu Yan confirmed one last time, "Is there truly no room for negotiation?"
Zhang Jiao shook his head. "Gentlemen, please return. Carry this divine oracle back to the pretender emperor. If he surrenders the city of his own accord, our army might spare his life."
Stung sharply by the words "pretender emperor," Liu Yan let out a cold snort and replied in displeasure, "Since your army is so haughty, we shall clash beneath the formidable walls of Luoyang and see if you have what it takes to bring down such a mighty fortress!"
Zhang Jiao's face remained placid, which only infuriated Liu Yan further—for the serenity of the strong was, in itself, a humiliation to the weak.
Flicking his sleeves, Liu Yan strode out, with Liu Bei and his brothers following closely behind.
"Great Virtuous Teacher, they were disrespectful. Should we seize them and teach them a lesson?" Huang Shao's gruff voice rang out.
Zhang Jiao said, "There is no need. They are merely the howling of the dying."
Rushing out of the Yellow Turban camp in anger, Liu Yan mounted his horse, only then realizing that he had broken out in a cold sweat. His soaked robes clung uncomfortably to his skin. Looking back at the sprawling, dark camp, a tempest of mixed emotions churned within him.
Liu Bei rode up beside him. "Chamberlain, it seems peace talks are out of the question."
Liu Yan let out a long sigh. "Indeed. There is nothing left but cold steel. The victor lives; the vanquished dies."
The two looked at each other in silence. Suddenly, Guan Yu's gaze fell upon a distant spot, and he asked in puzzlement, "What are those Moth Rebels doing? Piling up earth to build ramparts?"
Liu Yan and Liu Bei followed the direction of Guan Yu's gaze and saw scores of Yellow Turban soldiers digging up earth and heaping it together, seemingly constructing a high terrace.
"Perhaps they're raising an earthen mound so archers can shoot down into the city from above?" Zhang Fei guessed.
Liu Bei shook his head. "Where they are piling the dirt is quite far from the city walls. Arrows shot from archers on that mound could never reach the city."
"Perhaps it is for reconnaissance," Guan Yu pondered.
"That must be it."
Aside from this explanation, they could think of no other reason for the Yellow Turbans to pile up earth.
"Let us not dwell on it. We must return first and report the outcome of the peace talks to His Majesty."
Liu Yan gave his reins a tug. His steed neighed and carried him toward Luoyang, with Liu Bei and the other two following swiftly, their clattering hooves leaving shallow prints in the dirt road.
Inside the imperial palace, Liu Hong flew into a rage after hearing Liu Yan and the others' report. "The Moth Rebels are abominable! Abominable!!"
Liu Yan and Liu Bei bowed their heads in silence.
"Since the Moth Rebels refuse to grant Us a way out, let us see in whose hands the deer falls! The army in the city numbers a full seventy to eighty thousand. If We conscript some of the common folk, reaching one hundred thousand will be effortless. With an army of a hundred thousand, formidable walls, and sharp weapons, We do not believe Luoyang cannot be defended!"
Liu Hong immediately issued an imperial edict ordering Grand Commandant Deng Sheng and General-in-Chief He Jin to conscript commoners into soldiers throughout the city—the more the better—ideally stationing a soldier at every corner of the city walls to make the fortress impregnable.
Following this decree, the already turbulent city of Luoyang grew even more chaotic. Brutal, ferocious soldiers seized able-bodied men as well as the old and young off the streets at will.
Able-bodied men could be made into soldiers; the elderly and children were used for extortion.
If one wanted to redeem an aged father or a young child, one had to surrender a substantial portion of family wealth. Otherwise, even the elderly and children could be sent to the ranks—and whether they would be fed grain or swords once enrolled was another matter entirely...
In just a few days, Luoyang seethed like a boiling cauldron, throwing both commoners and gentry into terrified unrest.
In sharp contrast to the turmoil within Luoyang, the Yellow Turban camp outside was exceedingly calm. Over those few days, the Yellow Turbans launched no attacks against the walls at all; they merely drilled their soldiers daily and devoted themselves wholeheartedly to piling earth.
"What in the world are the Moth Rebels planning? Why aren't they attacking the city?"
Yuan Shao was deeply perplexed. The news of the Yellow Turbans demanding the Han court's unconditional surrender had long since spread throughout Luoyang. Faced with the Yellow Turbans' unyielding stance, the officials were filled with dread, believing that failing to yield the city would instantly bring down ceaseless assaults from the rebels.
Yet several days had passed, and the Yellow Turbans had not loosed even a single arrow at the city walls, let alone scaled them in a full-scale assault.
What puzzled them even more was that the Yellow Turbans had not even constructed siege engines. They did nothing except concentrate on heaping earth to build a high terrace.
"Could the Moth Rebels have no intention of storming the city, hoping instead to starve us out?" Yuan Shao mused. "No, that's not right. The city has ample provisions. Before the rebels besieged Luoyang, Grand Commandant Deng had vast stores of grain shipped into the capital from various regions. If not enough for three to five years, it is certainly enough for six months to a year. There is no way the Moth Rebels don't know this."
He had long since sent secret emissaries to establish contact with the Yellow Turbans, leaking the general situation within the city to them.
This was an escape route Yuan Shao had prepared for himself.
Moreover, Yuan Shao was convinced that besides himself, there were certainly others sending clandestine intelligence outside the walls.
It was only because none of them controlled the city gates; otherwise, it was entirely possible that one night the gates of Luoyang would swing wide open, allowing the Yellow Turbans outside to sweep in effortlessly.
"Perhaps it has something to do with the high terrace being built outside..." Yuan Shao pondered.
The Yellow Turbans' earthwork construction drew intense scrutiny from He Jin, Deng Sheng, and the others. After all, eschewing siege warfare merely to build a terrace was far too bizarre; they could not ignore it even if they wanted to.
Yet not a single soul knew why the Yellow Turbans were doing it.
Generals like Gongsun Zan, Sun Jian, and Liu Bei all submitted memorials urging that a force be sent out of the city to destroy the earthen terrace—whatever the enemy intended, so long as they were thwarted, it would be the right move!
Alas, Emperor Liu Hong refused. He even issued strict orders commanding every army to hold the city fast and strictly forbade sorties for reckless battles, bidding them wait patiently for reinforcements that might or might not exist.
With imperial commands impossible to defy, everyone could only watch helplessly as the earthen terrace rose from nothing until it was built three zhang, three chi, and three cun high. A square table was set upon it, flanked on all four sides by earthy yellow banners, resembling an exceedingly crude sacrificial altar.
"Whatever that terrace is, the truth will come to light in the next few days at the latest..."
A powerful premonition stirred in Yuan Shao's heart: in the days to come, an event would surely unfold that would overturn the entire situation in Luoyang and reshape the balance of all under heaven.
"Therefore, I must make a few more preparations: my family's retainers and dependents, the dozens of soldiers assigned by Wu Kuang, a hundred fine steeds, an escape route toward Dongyang Gate..."
Chapter 33