Chapter 509 (2/2)

“Quick! Bring the letter over!” Liu Bei was overjoyed since they had been waiting for so long.

“Milord…!” Sun Qian was dumbfounded. He did not even have a chance to speak.

“Gongyou. Postpone your suggestions. Let us read this letter first.” Liu Bei interrupted him with a smile.

“It is that Pang Tong again!” Sun Qian thought to himself hatefully. Yet, he could not do anything except withdraw.

When Liu Bei read the letter, hesitation and doubt appeared on his face.

“Milord, what’s wrong?”

“Xianhe. Come and look at this.” Liu Bei handed the letter to Jian Yong.

“This is… What is the Military Advisor thinking?” Jian Yong asked. Sun Qian also took a peek at the letter and understood that Pang Tong wanted Liu Bei to attack Fancheng.

“Hahaha!” Sun Qian laughed. If Pang Tong approved of this then Sun Qian would not. He was still angry at being interrupted by Pang Tong’s letter when it was supposed to be his time to shine.

Sun Qian’s laughter was so loud that Liu Bei felt uncomfortable. “Gongyou. What is your opinion of this?”

“Milord. This is not me having a complaint against the Military Advisor. However, this man wants to bring us all down!” Sun Qian bowed as he replied.

“That’s right! We cannot attack Fancheng!” Some of the officials objected as well. Attacking Fancheng would mean offending Liu Biao.

“Milord. Fancheng is not only heavily guarded. It is also a place that is naturally hard to attack. Over a hundred thousand soldiers will be needed to capture Fancheng.” Sun Qian explained. The amount of soldiers Liu Bei needed to capture Fancheng was his entire army. The losses would be too great.

“Milord. Even if we manage to obtain Fancheng, we would not escape death! Cao Cao is to the North and Liu Mang is to the East. If we make enemies with Liu Biao now, we would have enemies in all directions. Doesn’t that mean that the Military Advisor wants us to die as well?” Sun Qian’s explanation was well received by the civil and military officers. Liu Bei was not like Cao Cao who had a vast army. He could not afford to be surrounded by enemies.

“This…” Liu Bei frowned. He himself knew the risks stated by Sun Qian and did not want to attack Fancheng. Even domesticated dogs would bite off your bone if you irritated them too much, much less a warlord like Liu Biao.

“Milord. I think everyone is exaggerating too much.” Jian Yong suddenly said.

Sun Qian narrowed his eyes at Jian Yong. He still had some trust towards Jian Yong when the man slandered him in front of Liu Bei. However, he was now more certain that Jian Yong had allied with Pang Tong. Of course, this was just a misunderstanding. Jian Yong was wholly loyal to Liu Bei. He would only accuse those he thought was suspicious.

“Xianhe. What do you think?” Liu Bei asked Jian Yong.

“Milord. Fancheng is a strategic location for Liu Biao. Sun Qian is right when he says that we would offend Liu Biao by taking it. He is also correct when he says that we cannot fight three enemies at once. However, he has forgotten that Liu Mang and Liu Biao have already formed an alliance. There is no difference even if we were to offend Liu Biao now!” Jian Yong replied.

“That’s right! Liu Biao and Liu Mang and now allies!”

“As a matter of fact, Liu Biao’s heart is not in the alliance. The alliance is just for show!” Sun Qian’s words were correct. Liu Biao only wanted peace and had no intentions of being enemies with Liu Bei.

“Milord. Another point is that by capturing Fancheng, we would be right beside Jingzhou. More importantly, there are provisions in Fancheng. As a strategic point, it would be full of provisions!”

“Provisions!” Liu Bei’s eyes glinted.

“No Milord! We can borrow provisions from Cao Cao! We just need to…”

“Gongyou. There is no need to say anymore.” Liu Bei had already made his decision. All he needed was provisions to get through the crisis. He did not want to think about Cao Cao at all.

“Xianhe. How will we capture Fancheng?” Liu Bei asked.

“Milord. Fancheng is big but it has a weak point. Its weakness is that the gates are hard to close.” Jian Yong replied. A large city meant a large gate. While this gate was hard to breach, it was also hard to open and close.

Liu Bei thought of this and then called for Hu Che Er.