Fortunately, at that moment, the two of them remembered the talisman given to them by the Crown Prince Henry Lewis before their departure. With a mindset of "it can't hurt to try," during one of the battles, when they saw the enemy using magic again, they brought out the talisman. Unexpectedly, as soon as the talisman appeared, the raging wind and flying sand instantly vanished, and the beans scattered by the enemy no longer transformed into thousands of elite soldiers, but instead simply clattered to the ground without making a sound—being too far away, even if there was any noise, they couldn't hear it.

Jason Johnson and Samuel Harper were overjoyed at the sight, knowing that with this talisman for protection, the sorcery of these bandits would no longer work, and they would have to fight head-on, which was something they did not fear. As a result, in the days that followed, the armies led by the two of them swept through the Yellow Turban rebels like a hot knife through butter, utterly defeating them and bringing another period of peace to the land.

After returning to the capital in triumph, both men were rewarded. However, Jason Johnson and Samuel Harper both knew that without the talisman given by the Crown Prince, the battle would not have gone so smoothly, and it would not have taken just over half a year to quell the rebels. So, both of them made time to personally thank Henry Lewis, and thus Henry Lewis established a good relationship with these two influential and renowned generals at court.

This time, Jason Johnson was once again ordered to lead an expedition. The thought of having to deal with the remnants of the Yellow Turbans and face their evil magic gave him a headache. The talismans given by Henry Lewis back then had long since been used up—did he now have to go to some Daoist temple or monastery to seek more items to ward off evil?

Unexpectedly, before he even left the imperial city, he ran into the Crown Prince Henry Lewis. Jason Johnson was overjoyed and took the initiative to greet him, and as they walked together, he proactively explained the situation this time.

After leaving the imperial city, Henry Lewis also learned that Jason Johnson was to deal with the largest remaining force of the Yellow Turban rebels. If these bandits were left unchecked, it would damage the prestige of the court, not to mention that their rampage in the provinces was intolerable to those in court who actually did their jobs. Naturally, they needed to be eradicated as soon as possible, which was why the renowned general Jason Johnson was sent to lead the army.

"This is simple. I happen to have some talismans for warding off evil with me—I'll give them all to you, my lord!"

The more generous and magnanimous Henry Lewis appeared, the more Jason Johnson felt close to him. Moreover, as he expressed some passionate and patriotic sentiments, Jason Johnson, who was extremely loyal to the Han dynasty, naturally grew even more fond of him. In the future, if the opportunity arose and Master Johnson were to lend him a little support, the benefits would be tremendous.

Besides, if Henry Lewis wanted to ascend the throne, he couldn't do it without capable people under his command, and in these troubled times, the most useful people were naturally those who held military power.

Currently, there were not many people in the court who held military power: Grand General James Harris was the foremost, and his younger brother Matthew Harris also commanded a considerable force.

Then there were the two famous generals, Samuel Harper and Jason Johnson—but unlike James Harris, these two were loyal to the Han dynasty and had no intention of turning the imperial troops into their own private armies. After every campaign, they would return the tiger tally and would not go out of their way to build relationships with the soldiers.

However, these two had immense prestige. If they were to call for action, more than half of the troops in the capital would likely respond. The key was whether they were willing.

In addition, the Ten Attendants also controlled a portion of the palace guards, which was what Henry Lewis feared most—he knew the Ten Attendants supported his third brother Alex Lewis, and it would be very difficult to win them over. The only way was to find someone who could counterbalance them.

Apart from these, the newly established Eight Colonels of the Western Garden, set up by his nominal father the emperor, also held military power. However, in name, the Eight Colonels of the Western Garden took orders from the minor eunuch Jian Shuo, so it would be difficult for Henry Lewis to make any moves there.

Watching Jason Johnson leave in high spirits, Henry Lewis took Paul Carter and wandered around a bit more, eventually making their way to the Western Garden Army—since it was stationed in the Western Garden of Luoyang and had no special title, it was simply called the Western Garden Army or the Eight Colonels of the Western Garden.

Before they even got close, they could hear the sounds of military drills. Henry Lewis stopped, listened quietly for a while, thought things over, and finally made up his mind to step forward. But before he could get very close, he was stopped by the soldiers—naturally, one could not approach a military camp at will.

But since he was already there, Henry Lewis was not about to leave empty-handed, so he said, "Please inform Colonel of the Army, Gentleman Consultant Cao, that a family relative has come to visit!"

The soldier saw that Henry Lewis had an extraordinary appearance, was tall and well-built, and was not dressed like an ordinary person, so he was polite and did not act roughly. Upon hearing whom he wished to see, the soldier did not dare delay, left his companion to stand guard, and went inside to report.

Seeing the soldier go in, Henry Lewis took a step back to show he had no other intentions, then turned to Paul Carter and said with a smile, "It's quite a hassle to see your relative!"

On the way there, he had already figured things out: although the Eight Colonels of the Western Garden nominally took orders from the minor eunuch Jian Shuo, the eight commanders themselves did not have much affection for the eunuchs, so they mostly followed James Harris's orders—in the later chaos of the Ten Attendants, the Western Garden Army was the main force in slaughtering the eunuchs.

Besides, he and Colonel Carter had some connections, so it was best to start by building a relationship!

"If I can win over this outstanding hero of the age, even if I can't smoothly inherit the throne, I will still have a chance to seize it in the future." He thought to himself, "But isn't this going to be rather difficult?"