Vol 5 Chapter 7 (1/2)

VOLUME 5 CHAPTER 7: DON’T TELL ME THIS IS THE BATTLE OF GUANDU (2)

Liu Bei POV

“M, my lord, Gao Gan’s supplies h, have been stolen by the remnants of the Yellow Turbans, Zhang Pi and Gong Du.” Feng Ji stammered as her forehead glistened with sweat.

“Hmph! This must be the doings of Cao Cao.”

Ben Chu slammed the table, but did not raise her lowered head.

“Cao Cao must have sent her subordinates to convince these Yellow Turban remnants. The western parts of Ji state have begun to show signs of rebellion as well.”

“Un… Let Gan Lan quell them.”

“No, my lord, we cannot suppress any rebellion at this time with force.” Just then, Tian Feng stood up. Ju Shou, who sat beside her, was frantically pulling on Tian Feng’s sleeves but Tian Feng flung away Ju Shou’s hands and continued, “My lord, only by following the way of the kings can one hope to rule the world. Now that we are locked in mortal combat with an enemy, and are faced with a potential rebellion back home, we must act as benevolent rulers and appease the people where possible.”

“Shut it, who are you to alter our lord’s orders?” Shen Pei who had been hiding behind Feng Ji perked up, “Now that our enemy is at our doorstep, how are we supposed to convince the rebels who will see this as a prime opportunity?”

She spoke loudly, but she still hid behind Feng Ji.

“Speaking of which, the routes by which the supply caravans were to take were all decided by you, Tian Feng. You yourself said that it would be perfect and no caravans would be lost. How come they were so easily stolen away now huh?”

“The route from Bing state to here is long. I had instructed the caravans to slow down, disguise themselves and take off-road routes to avoid Cao Cao. This should have slowed them down such that the journey should take twice as long.” Tian Feng stared at Feng Ji as she said so, making Feng Ji jump, “If they did as I said, General Gao Gan should have only reached 10 days later, yet he is already here. Has Feng Ji Feng Yuan Tu done something?”

“N, nonsense!”

“Yuan Hao, that’s enough.” Ju Shou said as she pulled Tian Feng aside, “What’s important now is how we deal with Cao Cao. There’s no point for you to argue with Feng Ji here.”

“Stop pulling me, Ju Shou!”

“This…”

Tian Feng flung Ju Shou’s hands away again and saluted Yuan Shao before leaving.

Just then, I looked at Yuan Shao and saw that while she looked calm, she held her head with one hand and her eyes were half-closed.

From just now till now, Ben Chu had no said anything.

And now, she sighed once more before she spoke up, “Ju Shou, what do you think is the appropriate response to Ji state’s rebellion?”

“Eh?” Ju Shou was at a loss at the sudden question that came her way, “Ah, your retainer feels that using negotiations first would be for the best.”

She was very careful with her words. Even though Ju Shou and Tian Feng were the same type of person, Ju Shou was clearly a lot more tactful.

“Un…” Ben Chu sank into thought, “Ju Shou, go with Gao Lan and try to persuade them first. Let them give their conditions, and if they can’t be appeased, have Gao Lan mobilise troops from the neighbouring cities and quell them.”

Ben Chu finished and got up and retreated to the back of the tent without waiting for a reply.

…

Silence filled the tent.

“… Feng Ji, did you tell Gao Gan to hasten the delivery?”

And now that Ben Chu was gone, Ju Shou carefully raised the topic that led to Tian Feng’s departure.

At this, regret filled Feng Ji’s face. It was obvious what the answer was. “I won’t hide it, I found that our supplies were very low 2 days ago when I did a stock check so I wanted to have more supplies so that the troops could be more at ease.”

“Un… How much do we still have?”

“Less than 2 weeks’ worth.” Shen Pei said as she poked her head out.