A Request

Yun turned towards his men seeing that Dian Wei and Gan Ning were waking up and they saw Yun already awake and standing with an almost clean face before them.

"It seems I woke you up," says Yun apologetic to his two Generals as he tried to clean his short hair before saying, "I regret that I didn't wear my helmet in the last battle. Just thinking about how troublesome it would be if I didn't have short hair."

Both his Generals were chuckling from hearing him say that since they both have short hair because of the reason. It is hard to get blood out of your hair, now imagine having long hair that covers your back.

"Your brother would die as we cut his long hair because he can't get the blood out of it. He is lucky to not have participated in this massacre," says Gan Ning joking about Yun's current trouble by harassing his younger brother.

Yun began to laugh from hearing Gan Ning picturing his pretty boy younger brother struggling with blood on his hair.

They got a good laugh as they ate some dried meat for breakfast awaiting the troops to wake up. It was almost midday when the troops awakened when they hear noises coming from south of them.

Yun glanced in that direction and saw Liu Bei riding a white horse which drove Yun mad as he pulled his spear out of the ground and threw it in Liu Bei's direction.

The spear hit going by the noise of the horse and the screams of a man. Yun approaches them remembering that Liu Bei left his men to die his aura began to manifest around him.

Liu Bei's men couldn't even move out of fear when they hear Liu Bei say, "Help me out of here."

Yun was a step away from Liu Bei before he crouches down and looks at Liu Bei who was buried under his own horse.

"You don't deserve to have a horse nor do you deserve to lead men into battle if you only think of your own survival," says Yun coldly as he takes a hold of his spear and pulls it out.

Liu Bei couldn't even look at him so much fear he had for Yun at this moment when Yun grabs him by his chin and makes him look into his cold intimidating eyes.

"If you leave your men to die again, I won't kill your horse next time," says Yun letting go of Liu Bei before walking over to where his troops were again.

Xiahou Dun's men were quite intimidated but as well reassured that their General didn't see them as disposable as many others would.

Yun then left them so they can drag Liu Bei from under the horse when he suddenly hears a horse approaching him. He turns around and sees that someone was trying to attack him. Yun reacted immediately and coated his hands with Metal Qi.

It looked like a solid gray energy that covered his hands when he catches the incoming blade before twisting his body and throwing the person attacking him from his horse.

Yun then looked at who attacked him and sees Zhang Fei out cold on the ground. Yun was furious because they were supposed to be allies. The blade in his hand shattered into pieces from Yun's strong grip making everyone nervous again.

Dian Wei, Gan Ning, Pang Tong, and Xu Shu walked over to Yun before Xu Shu says, "My Lord, it won't help us if you kill him in your ire."

"He is right, you don't need to kill him. But a little punishment would be better like you did before," says Pang Tong suggesting to Yun that he should punish Zhang Fei by killing his horse as he did with Liu Bei just a moment ago.

"Or we just cut one of his hands off for attacking a superior," says Gan Ning finding his idea better than killing an innocent horse when another horse approaches them.

The rider stopped before them and dismounts from his horse before kneeling before Yun on one knee while covering his fist with his free hand.

"Please forgive my brother," says Guan Yu pleading for Yun to not punish his younger brother.

"Why should we forgive him? He attacked my Lord with the intention to kill him. He should at least be punished in some way," says Gan Ning annoyed by Guan Yu trying to use the soft spot Yun has for him.

"Please Lord Zhao, please forgive my stubborn younger brother," says Guan Yu going down on both knees now while looking at the ground.

Yun was thinking about what to do now since he couldn't let Zhang Fei go unpunished but if he wanted to drag Guan Yu to his side he couldn't punish Zhang Fei harshly.

He was thinking for a moment until he remembered something and he covers his mouth hiding his smirk before trying to calm down again.

"Fine, I won't punish your younger brother but one day I will be standing before you and request something from you. At that time, you won't be able to reject it. Do you understand me?" says Yun seriously as he looked like a giant shadow with cold blue eyes in Guan Yu's vision.

"I agree with your proposal," says Guan Yu signing in relief when Yun turned around and walked toward where his men were.

The others follow and Xu Shu asks, "Was it wise to not punish his younger brother?"

"Our Lord seems to have already gained more by not punishing him," says Pang Tong having an evil smile that went from ear to ear.

"Did he?" asks Xu Shu in a worried tone since people could always go back on their word.

"I would be worried if it were someone else, but Guan Yu is a serious man that only has his honor and word. He would never go back on his word," says Dian Wei reassuring Xu Shu since he served beside Guan Yu under Yun for some years before they parted ways when Liu Bei left Zhending.

"Many things can change a man even he can change in a few years," says Xu Shu still not reassured since time can change people and no one was an exception.

"Xu Shu is right to be worried about what just happened since he doesn't know Guan Yu as well as we do," says Yun continuing walking toward their temporary camp.

Yun knows that he was gambling but if this gamble pays off he would gain something great when the time comes to reap the fruits of this gamble.

"Prepare the men to march. We will leave in an hour without delay. We need to lay siege on Xiapi before the fall arrives," says Yun to Dian Wei and Gan Ning as they give a slight bow before moving.

Yun then turns to Pang Tong and Xu Shu before asking, "What are the probabilities that we will be ambushed again?"

"Technically we weren't attacked before but the chances are low after the massacre from last night," says Pang Tong thinking hard about the probabilities before he says, "It should be between fifteen and twenty percent that we run into an ambush."

"I would say that the probability should be around twenty-five percent since it might be another General attacking us. They could be trying to chip away at our morale by ambushing us every night," says Xu Shu giving his opinion on this matter.

"He is right that could be their tactic since they would slow us down and buy enough time to stop us from reaching Xiapi before the fall season begins," says Pang Tong agreeing with Xu Shu's opinion.

"It could be, but for it to happen Lu Bu must either be listening to Cheng Gong's advice or he is left in the dark and this was orchestrated by some of his Generals," says Yun knowing that only Zhang Liao and Gao Shun had the guts to go against Lu Bu's orders.

But even they aren't crazy enough to fight Yun now since they could lose too many men which will make it obvious that they went against their Lord's orders of not engaging the enemy.

"So you are thinking that they are operating without Lu Bu's allowance?" asks Xu Shu as Yun smiles at the young strategist.

"That is what I believe but I could be wrong and they are really doing what Lu Bu commanded them to do," says Yun regretting to have lost his consciousness to Ysmrgra back then.

He could have found out if he just asked Zhang Liao in the middle of the battle by seeing the expression he would do after being asked.

'Well, we can't turn back time,' thinks Yun as he sighs when someone else suddenly talks to him.

'You might not be able to do that yet. But Yram, the Eternal One, he might be able to help you if you can tame him and his bad temper,' says Ysmrgra surprising Yun for a moment.

'And who might be that Yram out of all the Dragons?' asks Yun curious since he doesn't know them by name.

'Number eighteen, the Dragon you are always talking with and the King of us Black Dragons,' says Ysmrgra making Yun facepalm before sighing again a bit louder than before.

"Are you alright, Yun?" asks Pang Tong seeing Yun sigh that loudly.

"It's nothing, I was just thinking that I lost a chance to find out if Lu Bu ordered them to attack," says Yun speaking openly with Pang Tong and Xu Shu.

"We will find out soon," says Pang Tong not worried about it since time would tell them if Lu Bu ordered it or not.

After an hour they began to march again for five hours before stopping since the sky was red indicating that it would soon be night. They made their camp and Yun looked at his back seeing Liu Bei and his troops arrive.

'It seems he has changed his mind after what happened,' thinks Yun before concentrating on what was really important which was to study the map of the area since it contains many mountain ranges where they could be ambushed.