Vol 9 Chapter 96 (1/2)

VOLUME 9 CHAPTER 96: DON’T TELL ME THIS IS A TEMPORARY RESPITE BEFORE THE NEXT BATTLE (11)

Li Dian POV

“Alright,” In the end, I nodded and went along with it. However, I looked up, unwilling to give in completely, “But I would like to request to be allowed to remain in the city. In the event something extraordinary happens, I will be there to deal with it.”

“There is no need for that. If we are wiped out or achieve complete victory, we will just wait for the main body to arrive.” Cao Ren shook her head and looked at me, “I need you on the frontlines. So you can’t stay back in the city.”

“Haha.” I laughed but did not say anything. She is really similar to my lord in this aspect huh?

“Could it be that Lord Li Dian fears death?” Cao Ren said as she looked at me and gave a wry smile which made me laugh even more.

“How could that be?” I smiled as I closed my eyes and gave a relaxed expression unlike before as I slowly said, “I am a warrior after all.”

A warrior dying on the battlefield is something that is a given. Dying in battle as a general of the southern campaign’s vanguard sounds decent.

“That’s good then,” Cao Ren seemed pleased at my answer, “I can’t claim to be a warrior but I feel that I have the same resolve that you have.”

“Un.” I nodded. I know this already, having guessed as much before.

“Whether we win or not, the southern campaign will undoubtedly end in success so it’s fine even if we push ourselves here.”

Consider me won over, I said in my heart.

In the end, I found that I am Cao Ren’s inferior as a warrior. As a warrior, one cannot be too preoccupied with the past or future. As a warrior, one only needs to continue forging ahead bravely.

Cao Ren’s bravery is worth in excess of 80 points. As for myself, there is much improvement to be made.

“Hahaha!”

Un? Just as I was feeling impressed with Cao Ren, she suddenly started giggling. When I looked at her, I found that her laughter was sincere.

“By the way, is it alright for us to be like this?”

“Eh?”

“We haven’t even begun fighting yet and we know barely anything about the enemy yet why are we acting like we’re running headlong to our deaths? Puhahaha!”

“That’s because you started acting serious all of a sudden!” I said but felt that this entire exchange was indeed very comical. Our chances for victory were about 50-50 after all yet why are we being so pessimistic?

“That’s it for now then. We’ll deploy our troops out over the next 2 days and we’ll make the necessary decisions later on after we’ve set up camp.” Cao Ren gave the order as she heaved a sigh of relief.

“Understood.” I nodded, fully accepting the fate that we would be engaging the enemy in a full-on frontal clash, “What about our siege weaponry? Will we be bringing them along?”

“Yes, bring them along.” Cao Ren said and then sank into thought, “Speaking of which… I haven’t spoken to Lord Shen Pei on the logistics arrangements yet. I’m planning on leaving her with the responsibility for logistics operations between Fan city and the encampment.”

“Lord Shen Pei huh?” I asked, suspicious of Shen Pei’s ability to be able to fulfill the role. I personally think that she is only as capable as a county clerk and that letting run logistics operations would be overestimating her abilities. No, letting her be a part of the vanguard was a mistake to begin with.

I do not really

know Shen Pei but just being with her for a few days has led me to have this negative view of her. But even if I felt this way, I had no way of voicing it as there is no concrete evidence for how I felt.

“U… Umm…”

Un? A soft voice came from outside the room and drew the attention of both Cao Ren and I. When we looked over, we saw Shen Pei standing by the door with her sleeves in front of her mouth as she poked her head into the doorway timidly.

Perhaps it’s this sort of hesitant personality that has led to my negative view of her.

“Ah, Lord Shen Pei huh? I happen to have business with you which I did not clarify with you before.” Cao Ren smiled and spread her arms wide in a welcoming gesture.

“Ah… Un.” Shen Pei timidly nodded and ran over with small steps that made it seem as though she were floating, and sat opposite of Cao Ren and I. When she sat down, she suddenly looked up as though she thought of something and said, “Ah, Lord Lu Xiang has already relayed the order to the troops.”

“I see, I see. Thanks for your hard work.” Cao Ren nodded, “I was too focused on saying that we should attack and forgot something more important. Umm, I’ll be leaving you with the responsibility of our logistics operations, is that agreeable?”

“Ah… Un.” Shen Pei opened her mouth and did not speak for several seconds. After a long while, she finally closed her mouth and nodded wordlessly.

“Alright, I’ll be counting on you for that then.” Cao Ren said as she took out her tally, “This is my personal command tally. If you need any help from my troops, feel free to use any of my officers and any of the city’s official, as well as any other resources you may see fit to use.”

Eh? Is that really okay?

I looked at Cao Ren but she only nodded slightly at me. If I think about it carefully, I suppose it’s not really an issue. The 10,000 strong we brought have diminished in number by a fair bit already so there’s not much help we can render to Shen Pei.

“Ah, alright, I got it.” Shen Pei nodded and muttered under her breath. Looks like she’s reciting the orders she received to memorise them. She’s not very bright but at least she’s rather serious, and loyal to boot too. I suppose she’s not so bad after all.