Chapter 894: The Beginning of the Hegemony

"General Wen!" Yuan Tan cried out in despair. Seeing the faint smile on Wen Chou’s lips and the gaping wound on his body, he knew exactly what had happened. Wen Chou, one of Hebei’s most renowned generals, was dead.

Under the advice of Shen Pei, Xun Chen, and Xu You, the generals Gao Gan, Jiang Yiqu, Jiang Qi, and the Lü brothers all rallied behind Yuan Tan to inherit Yuan Shao's titles and positions. They gathered Yuan Shao’s, Tian Feng’s, and Wen Chou’s bodies, mourning as they retreated to Xindu. Yecheng was no longer safe, and the Xuanyuan Cauldron had to be moved.

At the same time, Yuan Tan, to prevent another attack from Liu Bei, sent emissaries to negotiate with Liu Bei to recover the bodies of their fallen ministers while also preparing for war. According to Shen Pei's suggestion, they would fortify their territories into an immense fortress, ready for any potential attacks.

On the other side, Li You, moving at a steady pace, was soon caught up by Hua Xiong and Zhao Yun. Upon seeing Li You, they both broke into smiles, instantly understanding how Yuan Shao had met his end.

"Greetings, Military Advisor! Greetings, Deputy Governor Li!" Hua Xiong and Zhao Yun, along with Hua Xiong’s soldiers, clasped their fists in salute. Interestingly, they addressed Li You differently from each other.

"No need for formalities. This is the venerable General Huang, the one who shot and killed Yuan Shao," Li You introduced casually, crediting Huang Zhong with the accomplishment. In Li You’s eyes, even without his unparalleled martial skills, Huang Zhong had shown himself to be a worthy general.

Furthermore, having only recently met Huang Zhong, Li You quickly realized the man’s loyalty and integrity. With the northern territories soon to be stabilized, Liu Bei’s forces would enter a period of great prosperity. When any force transitions from its early growth phase to a peak period, it needs a solid system to maintain itself.

In other words, from this point on, opportunities for exceptional promotions would steadily decrease, eventually disappearing altogether. A force that has become stable in structure would find that excessive promotions, especially from external recruits, could foster resentment and disrupt the established order.

After this battle, to maintain long-term stability, promotions would no longer be a matter of a single word from Liu Bei or the veteran leaders like Chen Xi. They would have many considerations to weigh.

Without this critical achievement, even if Huang Zhong had joined Liu Bei, his exceptional abilities would have only earned him a starting position of a seventh-rank assistant general. At best, he might have started as a vice general and would have needed to slowly accumulate merit over two or three years to command a force of his own.

Historically, it took Huang Zhong five or six years after joining Liu Bei to attain the position of General Who Conquers the West, just under the Three Excellencies, and that was only after slaying Xiahou Yuan with Fa Zheng’s help. If he had been forced to "wait his turn," Huang Zhong might never have risen past the fourth rank before his death.

This shows how unreliable "waiting one’s turn" can be. Li You calculated that by having Huang Zhong kill Yuan Shao, and with his and Jia Xu’s support, they could easily convince Chen Xi to award Huang Zhong a command of his own.

Though his official rank might not exceed the fourth rank, having a military command in hand would make many things easier. Even Wei Yan, with Liu Bei’s and Guan Yu’s support and occasional advice from Guo Jia, had spent over a year before rising to his position under Guan Yu.

Huang Zhong, unaware of these intricacies, felt somewhat uncomfortable with the respect shown to him by Zhao Yun and Hua Xiong. He could only respond with silence, feeling that the task had brought him too much undeserved attention.

"Enough. No more questions. Let’s go see how Yun Chang is doing," Li You said with a glance at Hua Xiong, not saying more. Hu Feng, Hu Zhen, and the others, standing nearby, were dumbfounded at seeing Li You alive. Though they were shocked into silence, they knew better than to speak out of turn.

Li You’s group, all on horseback, traveled quickly and soon arrived at the site where Guan Yu had fought Wen Chou. Guan Yu stood alone, waiting.

"Greetings, Deputy Governor Li!" Guan Yu was momentarily surprised upon seeing Li You but quickly bowed in respect, understanding who had killed Yuan Shao.

"Were you injured?" Li You asked, tilting his head.

"Thank you for your concern," Guan Yu replied with a bow. "It’s just a piercing wound. Wen Chou gave his all—he was a worthy opponent."

"Good to hear. Let’s go. We need to inform the lord of this victory. It’s also time to activate our contingency plans in Hebei. As for Yecheng, we’ll send a light cavalry to seize it later—the defending general there is already one of ours," Li You said casually.

As Li You and his group returned to camp, Chen Xi, Jia Xu, Guo Jia, Lu Su, Liu Ye, and Xu Shu were already waiting for him. Originally, only Jia Xu and Guo Jia, who had sensed Li You’s arrival, had planned to go out and greet him, but once Chen Xi joined, the others followed.

"Hey, Wenru, judging by the look on your face, Yuan Shao’s already been dealt with, right? Don’t tell me you let him trick you again like in Xuzhou," Chen Xi joked as he reached out to give Li You a hand.

"He’s dead," Li You said, his tone filled with nostalgia. He still remembered seeing Yuan Shao stand tall against Dong Zhuo in Chang’an, the ministers cowering like dogs before him. He also recalled Yuan Shao’s majestic presence at Hulao Pass, sword in hand, pointing towards Chang’an. Yet now, Yuan Shao was dead, brought down by their careful calculations.

"Of course it was you who finished him off," Guo Jia said with a shake of his head. "Now, time to divide the spoils!"

"It wasn’t me. General Huang here shot him with a single arrow," Li You said, pointing to Huang Zhong. Chen Xi’s eyes flashed with recognition.

"Well done! I didn’t expect the general to still be in such prime form. I’ve heard of your famous battle against Lü Bu at Jiangling—truly a hero! Now, please, come with us," Chen Xi said with a smile, making a gesture that clearly invited Huang Zhong into Liu Bei’s inner circle. This was undoubtedly Huang Zhong’s best chance to solidify his position within the army.

Chen Xi gave a thumbs-up behind Li You’s back, already planning to allocate a military command to Huang Zhong and thinking of ways to help him build up his merit. After all, killing Yuan Shao was an achievement worthy of significant reward, even if there were some concerns about him being an "outsider." With Huang Zhong’s ability, he would surely command respect.

"Let’s go inform Lord Xuande of this good news," Chen Xi said with a wave, and the group rode into camp. Only such high-ranking officials could ride horses inside the military encampment.

"I doubt anyone in the world would have expected us to cement our claim to the throne with this single battle. The foundation of empire is laid, and now the world must contend with us! I wonder who will rise against us next? Perhaps we should leave a small weakness on purpose?" Liu Ye laughed. Only someone of the imperial Liu clan could speak such bold, rebellious words in public.

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