Vol 9 Chapter 41 (1/2)

VOLUME 9 CHAPTER 41: DON’T TELL ME THIS IS THE DEPLOYMENT TO XINYE (8)

Li Dian POV

Personally, I do not have anything against slightly closer-than-normal familial relations like this but such sentiments can only be detrimental pn the battlefield. Warriors often have to make decisions which are risky and their emotions can come into play here.

Of course, there’s no point mentioning this at this juncture when nothing serious has happened. We also have a lot of work to do. Because we were forced into a duel right from the get-go by our ultimate superiors, we have not been able to discuss anything with regards to our invasion.

Now that everything is clear, it’s time to get to business.

“Lord Shen Pei, Lord Lu Xiang and Lord Lu Kuang.” I called out as I tidied up the seat cus.h.i.+ons with my spear, “My lord commanded us to carry out our invasion as swiftly as we can. Time is of the essence here so shall we begin discussing our operations?”

“That’s right. We never expected this show at all.” Cao Ren smiled. Looks like she does not seem to mind what just happened very much, even though she was imperiled at one point.

“I understand.”

“Okay~ We’re getting tired of waiting here in the city anyway.”

Lu Kuang and Lu Xiang said as they sat down.

“Did you all arrive here early?” I asked Shen Pei who also sat down.

“Ah… Ah! Yes.” Shen Pei nervously raised her hands and nodded, “We’ve been here for some time now, probably about 5-6 days.”

“If I remember correctly, Lord Shen Pei should be garrisoned in the north right?”

“Yes, but our lord sent us here ahead of time.” Lu Xiang swiftly interjected.

I looked at Shen Pei and she nodded, “Un, our lord sent us here to look for Imperial Uncle Liu. We garrisoned here about 2 weeks ago before sending out search parties but to no avail. A new set of instructions came a few days ago and so we pulled back to Fan city and waited for you all.”

“I see.”

I cannot believe that Yuan Shao actually sent troops thousands of miles to search for Imperial Uncle Liu. If I had not heard it myself, I would not have believed it. Looks like Yuan Shao and Imperial Uncle Liu’s relations were a lot deeper than I thought.

“We’ve been rehearsing the act all this while, sp much so that my legs hurt from hanging in the rafters.”

“Yes, I had to practice being silent.”

Lu Xiang and Lu Kuang complained. Did they really not do anything at all apart from rehearsing for this since they came here? Doing this all day is… But the fact that they worked hard is praiseworthy so I will give them 70 points for that.

“Well then, let’s begin, shall we?” Cao Ren clapped and smiled as she looked at Yuan Shao’s generals. Lu Kuang and Shen Pei calmed down but Lu Xiang continued fidgeting about.

Ahem, Cao Ren cleared her throat as I sat down as well and dove into the main topic.

“Because it is our lord’s wish for the campaign to proceed as soon as possible, I won’t bother with formalities and dive into the main topic now that we have resolved our earlier misunderstanding.” Cao Ren took out a thick piece of silk cloth as she said so and laid it out in front of us, “This is a map of northern Jing state which was stored in the Imperial Treasury. Because of the importance of our campaign, our lord has specially made a copy you see here.”

As she said so, Cao Ren pointed towards a small city named Xinye which was not too far from Fan city, “This is Xinye. Our lord specially mentioned it in her letter. And so this is

our first point of attack.”

“Xinye should be where Imperial Uncle Liu’s remaining forces are stationed…” Shen Pei said a.s.suredly, trailing off at the end.

“Yes, I know that as well from our lord.” Cao Ren nodded and folded her hands across her chest, “How do I put this? Our lord wishes for us to persuade Liu Bei’s forces to surrender and join us as soon as possible. This will further bolster our campaign as we proceed south.”