Over three thousand Northern Army soldiers stood in neat ranks, clad in armor.

"Is this the Northern Army?" Cao Zhen said in disbelief. Just the strict order alone was already comparable to the elite troops led by Cao Cao.

"The entire Northern Army is gathered. Please order, General!" Feng Kai replied according to protocol, ignoring Cao Zhen’s question.

Initially, the orders from Liu Yu and Fuu Wan were that if someone came with a seal ribbon and jade pendant, regardless of who they were, their commands must be followed!

This is why Feng Kai did not doubt Cao Zhen at all, but even if he did, it wouldn’t matter; their orders were to obey the holder of the seal ribbon and jade pendant.

In fact, this army originally belonged to Liu Yu. Although Liu Yu was inexperienced, it didn’t mean his subordinates were. A batch of veterans from Youzhou was selected and sent here in groups.

At first, Xianyu Fu and others merely guaranteed Liu Yu’s safety. After all, during that period, Li Jue was in power. Although Li Jue hadn’t acted against Liu Yu, his reputation was poor. Having previously suffered because of Gongsun Zan, Liu Yu’s followers voluntarily prepared a Personal Army for Liu Yu.

But as the number of veterans under Liu Yu grew, Liu Yu found it difficult to handle, and when Fuu Wan accidentally learned about it, he thought of training a personally loyal army for the Emperor and informed Liu Yu.

Liu Yu did not consider Liu Xie to be problematic back then, and when Fuu Wan brought this up, Liu Yu, who was worrying about how to deal with these veterans, transferred all the veterans to Fuu Wan without hesitation.

Afterward, Fuu Wan found a skilled drill instructor, namely Feng Kai, who then maneuvered himself into the position of Imperial Guard Commander.

Naturally, he registered the Northern Army camp under his name and began closed training. The camp was very remote, and additionally, Fuu Wan intentionally refrained from refurbishing its periphery, allowing the camp to almost deceive everyone successfully.

Moreover, since Li Jue was focused on redeeming his reputation, he paid no attention to the Northern Army, so no one knew about it; by the time Cao Cao entered Sili, Fuu Wan intended to activate the Northern Army, but events changed too quickly, and Zhang Ji was already executed before the Northern Army could take action.

Fuu Wan’s Northern Army remained hidden, and by the time Cao Cao arrived, Fuu Wan, still serving as Imperial Guard Commander, kept the Northern Army under control, quietly assembling it right under Cao Cao’s nose, thanks to his skillful recruitment from Chang’an’s Ren Xia community, almost fooling everyone with a clever maneuver.

Although Xun Yu detected problems from population and resource analysis, he pretended not to notice, made some adjustments, and labeled discrepancies as waste expenditure, warehouse supplements, so no one else could detect anything wrong. Fuu Wan even believed it was the spirit of the Late Emperor aiding him.

Afterward, when Liu Yu was hurt by Liu Xie, the Northern Army camp was entirely handed to Fuu Wan, and over the years, soldiers originally from Youzhou veterans, coupled with continuous diligent practice, maintained combat effectiveness even in the snowy winters by purging bandits.

The combat effectiveness of the entire Northern Army was elevated to the elite level, but reaching this extent, even with the veteran foundation and continuous diligence, without battlefield experience, it’s the limit—it can’t grow any further.

However, for Fuu Wan, this Northern Army was sufficient. Maintaining these three thousand men nearly depleted his family’s resources.

This was an ancient surname, capable of boasting from the time of Xuanyuan, used after Hua Xu by Fuxi and Nuwa’s descendants, a surname worth boasting of wherever it went.

Of course, in ancient, middle, prehistoric, and Pre-Qin times, they were nobles, and even by the Two Han periods, they didn’t significantly decline. By the time it reached Fuu Wan, although only a few hundred people remained due to family issues, it can’t be said to have declined.

Since the Western Han founding, his family was of a Marquis rank, and even Fuu Sheng was honored with sacrifices after his death. The Eastern Han is another story; by the time of Fuu Wan, they were Marquis for seven generations, accumulating wealth beyond mere talk.

However, over these years, Fuu Wan’s family savings were essentially exhausted, and had he not borrowed hundreds of millions of money from Liu Yu, Dong Cheng, Wang Fuu, he might have been unable to sustain the essential duty of maintaining the army.

Sadly, the saying "man proposes but heaven disposes" holds true. Over the years, nurtured since Li Jue’s era, relying on their relentless efforts, it was finally about to flourish, but Liu Xie’s rashness led to its complete loss of meaning.

This army initially used to confront Li Jue, later to protect the Emperor, and eventually to break through encirclement and restore territories, belonging to personal troops, was handed over as Fuu Wan died under betrayal.

In the palace, Fuu Wan did not commit suicide simply to avoid leaving a stain on Liu Xie, nor did he wish for Dong Cheng and others to waver after learning about it, nor did he want this incident to be associated with Cao Ang.

Although the Emperor’s actions disheartened Fuu Wan, by now, the Emperor hasn’t shown any signs of awakening, wisdom, calmness—all qualities the Emperor needs haven’t emerged in Liu Xie—but Liu Xie is still the Emperor.

Liu Xie cannot be saved, but the Han Territories must be saved. With despair, Fuu Wan helped Liu Xie adjust the Imperial Crown, Black Clothes, watching as Liu Xie gained a few Emperor-like traits, he silently lamented, gold and jade on the outside!

Having done all this, spoken all this, Fuu Wan fulfilled his duty as a subject, teaching Liu Xie all he could. After performing the utmost courtesies, what remained was to see if his blood could awaken the Emperor.

Currently, Liu Xie is merely a commoner seated on the Emperor’s throne, lacking all that an Emperor should possess. After helping Liu Xie do what needed to be done, as Fuu Wan stepped forward calmly, his heart only harbored loyalty to the nation.

After all, the Southern Huns issue needed an explanation, the Emperor couldn’t explain it, only Fuu Wan could, and especially now that heartbroken Fuu Wan no longer wanted to continue.

Those he once hoped for crumbled, while those he considered enemies, in his despair, he could finally observe Cao Ang and Cao Cao with an outsider’s perspective.

Then he realized that he had merely supported a mediocre person, while those he regarded as villains actually possessed the spirit of a king, the demeanor of a conqueror—he was blind.

Thus Fuu Wan died, having been loyal to Liu Xie, conveying all his life wisdom; loyal to the Han Emperor, taking responsibility for the Southern Hun invasion, leaving his family a way out, for Cao Ang, indebted of today’s favor, will protect the Fuu family in future major events.

As for the three thousand Northern Army, it was Fuu Wan’s compensation for Liu Xie’s fault, although he was supposed to lead them himself, now Fuu Wan couldn’t ascend north, everything had to rely on Cao Ang.

"What a pity, back then, I was blind, only realizing today, what a pity." With that said, Fuu Wan fell on his sword and committed suicide.

Of course, Cao Ang was not aware of these events; all he saw were the three thousand elite soldiers pulled back by Cao Zhen.

Naturally, Xiahou Shang also saw the three thousand elites led by Cao Zhen, initially startled, then quickly ran over to persuade Cao Zhen, fearing his youth and lack of experience on the battlefield would waste these three thousand elite troops.

"Zidan, you’ve never led troops before, could you lead a detachment of soldiers for your first command?" Xiahou Shang, seeing Cao Zhen leading three thousand elites into his five hundred main unit, immediately advised.

"Cousin, you can’t be like this, it was agreed upon." Cao Zhen looked displeased as Xiahou Shang tried to persuade him. "It was clearly stated previously that I’d bring them into my camp."

Cao Zhen spoke while heading towards Cao Ang, soon reaching him with Xiahou Shang.

"Brother, Cousin Xiahou is reneging on his words." Cao Zhen complained as he approached Cao Ang.

"Zixiu, you really should have informed me. Who knew the Northern Army had three thousand elites? Zidan is young, lacking experience in commanding a large army, how can he calmly lead a detachment like this?" Xiahou Shang ignored Cao Zhen’s question, directly asking Cao Ang.