Vol 9 Chapter 36 (1/2)
VOLUME 9 CHAPTER 36: DON’T TELL ME THIS IS THE DEPLOYMENT TO XINYE (3)
Meng De POV
“… I understand.” I replied after taking a few seconds to relax.
*Ta*… *Ta*…
Ben Chu continued to walk out. I thought that she would leave at this and bowed respectfully.
*Ta*
But just then, the footsteps stopped and when I looked up, I saw that Ben Chu stopped with her back to me as she said, “… Meng De, don’t suppress your feelings too much.”
Eh?
*Ta*… *Ta*…
Before I could reply, Ben Chu wordlessly left. Her words continued to swirl in my head as I wondered if she was just playing mind games with me or if she actually saw through me.
This made me think better of her but it’s not important anymore. What’s important is that Ben Chu has agreed to reinforce me. That is enough.
Speaking of which, I am not the only one left standing in a daze in the room… Or am I?
As I thought so, I sighed and returned to my seat before speaking up, “Xun Yu, Cheng Yu.”
My voice was soft but if it’s either of them, they ought to have heard me.
“Xun Yu, Cheng Yu?!” I called out once more, louder than before.
“… Imperial Chancellor.” After a moment, a voice finally replied me from G.o.d knows where.
Even though she was around, she still tried to act huh? Hahaha, I just knew you were around. I smiled slightly, feeling pleased and relieved instead of anger.
“Xun Yu…” I maintained my smile as I shook my head, “Come on out, I have something to discuss with you.”
“Yes…” Xun Yu replied weakly, probably because she was afraid that I would berate her for spying on me.
Though I am not quite used to it, I most definitely will not berate them. At times like these, be it Xun Yu or Yuan Rang, they are existences necessary for providing mental relief. Besides, I do actually have something to discuss with Xun Yu.
“Xun Yu, did you hear our exchange from before?”
“… Apologies for that.” Xun Yu apologised as she dropped to her knees.
“That’s fine,” I waved and got Xun Yu to stand up, “At present, our preparations to begin our southern expedition has pa.s.sed the halfway mark and Cao Ren is almost at Fan city. Everything is proceeding smoothly.”
As I rocked on the seat, I smiled, “And now, Ben Chu has expressed a willingness to partic.i.p.ate in it. Moreover, she has handed me her troop command rights.” As I continued, I felt amazed at what had transpired, “Well then, we’ll have to make good use of them.”
“… What Imperial Chancellor means,” Xun Yu said and paused, “Is that we should use Lord Yuan Shao’s troops as much as possible right?”
As expected of Xun Yu.
“Yes, that’s what I meant.” I smiled and nodded as I continued in a softer tone, “As we discussed before, Ben Chu’s 20,000 strong will join with Cao Ren’s 10,000 troops at Fan city to form the vanguard before heading south.”
When I finished, I made a slas.h.i.+ng motion with my hand. I usually did not make many small actions but I was very excited at this moment.
“Xun Yu, though you’re an administrative official at present, I trust your ability to transmit information.” I said as I got up and made my way to where Xun Yu was, “Before news of this reaches Cao Ren by official channels, I want you to send a letter to her, telling her and Li Dian to make more use of Ben Chu’s troops so that they suffer more losses and we suffer less.”
Presently, Ben Chu s
till holds a numerical advantage over me. In the long run, eroding this advantage through the southern expedition is an imperative. When the time comes, it will make things easier after all.
“But remember that this must not be too obvious.”
Ben Chu is different from before. She is not silly and she is willing to communicate honestly with her subordinates. She has also left strategic and logistic decisions to her subordinates which means that if we do things too obvious, it will be difficult to explain ourselves when they detect it. When the time comes, it will be impossible to say that it was just a coincidence.
“I understand.”
“Alright, then go. G.o.dspeed, Xun Yu.”
Though I did not give every detail I thought through, this much should be enough for Xun Yu.
“But Imperial Chancellor,” Unexpectedly, Xun Yu did not immediately leave and instead took one step towards me before kneeling down. “Why do you have to do this to Lord Yuan Shao? You’re both retainers of the Son of Heaven and have agreed to an alliance. Doing such things under such conditions isn’t too good right?”
Un… This is the first time that Xun Yu has said such a thing. Knowing Xun Yu, this is probably the equivalent of a direct reb.u.t.tal. But I suppose this is something that I requested from her before, honest advice if my actions seem questionable to our cause.
Never mind, it is a good thing anyway for her to be direct and straightforward.