Thirty-Three Feet Three Inches

"Even if we surrender the city, we are only guaranteed our lives?"

Even with Liu Yan's practiced composure, he could not help but feel a surge of anger. The Yellow Turban Army clearly held the seventy or eighty thousand troops within the city in complete contempt.

He rose indignantly, "I must see this god you speak of!"

Zhang Jiao shook his head: "The Holy Venerable will not see you."

"How can you be so sure?!" Liu Yan demanded, struggling to suppress his fury.

"Because the Holy Venerable knew you would seek peace long ago, which is why the divine oracle was handed down."

Liu Yan froze, "Knew long ago?"

"The Holy Venerable knew even before you fired the command arrow," Zhang Jiao nodded.

A chill suddenly crept into the hearts of the four men. Could this so-called Sovereign Yellow Absolute God truly foresee the future? How were they supposed to fight this war?

Peace talks? The Yellow Turban Army refused to negotiate!

Was the only option left to surrender the city?

Liu Yan's heart grew heavy as he made one last attempt: "Is there truly no room for negotiation?"

Zhang Jiao shook his head: "Gentlemen, please return. Take the divine oracle back to the pseudo-emperor. If he surrenders the city voluntarily, perhaps our army can spare his life."

Liu Yan was stung by the term "pseudo-emperor." He let out a cold snort and said unpleasantly, "Since your army is so arrogant, we shall clash beneath the sturdy walls of Luoyang and see if you have the ability to take such a massive city!"

Zhang Jiao remained calm, which only infuriated Liu Yan further, for the composure of the strong is, to the weak, a form of humiliation.

He flicked his sleeves and departed, with Liu Bei and the others following closely behind.

"Great Virtuous Teacher, they are rude. Shall we seize them and teach them a lesson?" Huang Shao's rough voice rang out.

Zhang Jiao replied: "There is no need. They are merely clamoring in their death throes."

As he stormed out of the Yellow Turban camp and mounted his horse, Liu Yan realized he was drenched in a cold sweat, the moisture clinging uncomfortably to his clothes. He glanced back at the dark, oppressive camp, his heart filled with a thousand conflicting emotions.

Liu Bei rode up beside him, "Governor, it seems peace talks are impossible."

Liu Yan sighed deeply, "Indeed. We can only meet with blades. The victor lives, the loser dies."

The two remained silent, looking at one another, until Guan Yu's gaze fell upon a certain spot. He asked curiously, "What are those Moth Bandits doing? Are they piling earth to build a fortress?"

Liu Yan and Liu Bei followed Guan Yu's gaze and saw many Yellow Turban soldiers digging up soil and piling it together, seemingly to construct a high platform.

"Perhaps they are building an earthen mound so their archers can stand atop it and rain arrows down into the city?" Zhang Fei speculated.

Liu Bei shook his head: "The earthworks are too far from the city walls. Arrows fired from such a mound could never reach the city."

"Perhaps it is for observation," Guan Yu mused.

"That must be it."

Beyond this explanation, they could think of no other reason for the Yellow Turban Army to pile up earth.

"Do not dwell on it. Let us return and report the outcome of the peace talks to His Majesty."

Liu Yan pulled the reins, and his horse neighed, carrying him toward Luoyang. Liu Bei and the others followed quickly, their horses' hooves leaving shallow prints on the dirt road.

Inside the imperial palace, Liu Hong flew into a rage upon hearing the report from Liu Yan and the others: "The Moth Bandits are hateful! Hateful indeed!!"

Liu Yan and Liu Bei bowed their heads in silence.

"Since the Moth Bandits will not grant Us a way out, then let us see who shall fall. There are seventy or eighty thousand troops in the city; if we conscript the commoners, we can easily reach one hundred thousand. With an army of one hundred thousand and the advantage of sturdy walls, We do not believe we cannot hold Luoyang!"

Liu Hong immediately issued a decree, ordering Grand Marshal Deng Sheng and General-in-Chief He Jin to conscript civilians into the army, the more the better. He wanted a soldier at every corner of the city walls to make the city an impregnable fortress.

Following this decree, the already restless Luoyang became even more chaotic. Brutal, savage soldiers roamed the streets, indiscriminately seizing able-bodied men, the elderly, and the young.

The able-bodied were made into soldiers, while the elderly and young were used for extortion.

If one wished to ransom their aged father or young child, they had to offer up a vast amount of family wealth; otherwise, the elderly and young could be forced into service as well. As for whether they would be fed with grain or blades once they became soldiers, that was another matter entirely...

Within a few days, Luoyang was in a state of boiling unrest, and the common folk were filled with fear and anxiety.

In contrast to the clamor of Luoyang, the Yellow Turban camp outside the city remained eerily calm. For several days, the Yellow Turban Army had not launched a single attack, focusing only on daily drills and the singular task of piling up earth.

"What exactly are the Moth Bandits planning? Why do they not attack?"

Yuan Shao was deeply suspicious. The news that the Yellow Turban Army demanded the "unconditional surrender" of the Han Court had already spread throughout Luoyang. Faced with their hardline stance, the ministers were terrified, believing that if they did not surrender the city, they would immediately face a relentless assault.

Yet, days had passed, and the Yellow Turban Army had not fired a single arrow at the walls, let alone attempted an infantry assault.

What puzzled them even more was that the Yellow Turban Army had not even constructed siege engines, focusing entirely on piling earth to build high platforms and nothing else.

"Do the Moth Bandits not intend to attack, but rather to lay siege and exhaust the city's grain?" Yuan Shao pondered. "No, that cannot be right. The city has ample reserves. Before the Yellow Turban Army surrounded Luoyang, Grand Marshal Deng transported a great deal of grain into the capital. Even if it wouldn't last three or five years, it would certainly last a year or more. The Moth Bandits cannot be unaware of this."

He had already secretly sent men to contact the Yellow Turban Army, informing them of the general situation within the city.

This was a path of retreat Yuan Shao had left for himself.

Moreover, Yuan Shao was certain that he was not the only one leaking information to those outside the walls.

If only they could control the city gates, it was entirely possible that on some dark night, the gates of Luoyang would suddenly swing open, and the Yellow Turban Army would easily slaughter their way inside.

"Perhaps it has something to do with the high platforms they are building outside..." Yuan Shao mused.

The Yellow Turban Army's earthworks had drawn the intense focus of He Jin, Deng Sheng, and the others. After all, it was far too strange for them to build platforms instead of attacking, and they could not help but take notice.

Yet, no one knew why the Yellow Turban Army was doing this.

Gongsun Zan, Sun Jian, Liu Bei, and other military commanders all submitted petitions to send a detachment of troops out of the city to destroy the earthen platform—regardless of what the enemy intended, stopping them was the right move!

Helplessly, Emperor Liu Hong refused, even issuing a strict order for all armies to hold their positions within the city, forbidding them from sallying out to engage in reckless battle, and commanding them to wait patiently for reinforcements that might not even exist.

Imperial orders were hard to defy, so everyone could only watch helplessly as the earthen platform rose from nothing to a height of thirty-three feet and three inches, with a square table placed atop it and earthy-yellow flags planted on all four sides, resembling an extremely crude sacrificial ritual.

No matter what that platform is, there will be a result within these next few days at the latest...

Yuan Shao had a strong premonition that on some upcoming day, something would inevitably happen that would be enough to change the entire situation in Luoyang and the trend of the world.

Therefore, I must make a few more preparations: the retainers and followers of my house, the dozens of soldiers allocated by Wu Kuang, the hundred sturdy horses, and the escape route in the direction of Dongyang Gate...