Vol 9 Chapter 136 (2/2)
“Me,” Just then, Zi Long raised her hand, “During the pre-battle yelling in the first battle, the enemy tried to persuade me.”
Ah, they actually started since that early?
“Un un, Lord Zhao Yun huh?” Yuan Zhi repeated.
“And me, also during the first battle when I was fighting with Li Dian.” Yun Chang said as she raised her hand, “But why are you asking this?”
“Ah…” Wen Yuan uttered as she raised her hand, “I wonder if I count.”
“Eh? Wen Yuan was persuaded as well?”
“Ah… I guess so…” Wen Yuan smiled stiffly, “But… When they tried to persuade me, they weren’t asking me to leave my lord (Liu Bei) but they were asking me to leave you my lord (Lu Bu).”
“Me huh…” Feng Xian nodded in a daze which made both Wen Yuan and I rather anxious.
“But I didn’t! I absolutely did not choose to join them!” Wen Yuan exclaimed.
“I know that of course… Why are you being so anxious…” Feng Xian seemed to have gotten a shock and mumbled with a frown. Now that I think about it, I do remember Wen Yuan telling me about this.
… Ah, I am remembering what happened again. The sound as the curtain crashed to the ground, and what I saw then made my heart skip a beat.
“Un? Xuan De, what’s wrong?”
“Ah! No, it’s noting!”
Feng Xian seemed to realise that I was thinking about her and she turned to look at me. I instantly blushed and hurriedly turned around but found that Yun Chang was looking at me with suspicion so I had no choice but to lower my head.
“Un, I understand the situation now.” Yuan Zhi nodded and raised a finger as she pointed at several people in the room in quick succession, “Lord Chen Gong. Lord Zhang Liao. And Lord Guan Yu. Please surrender and join the enemy!”
…
When Yuan Zhi finished, the room descended into silence. After that, the 3 people mentioned reacted in quick succession.
“Eh? What do you mean?”
“Surrender?”
“Lord Xu Shu, I don’t understand the meaning of this.”
Apart from these 3, another person spoke up as well.
“Eh? What about me?” Zi Long asked as she pointed at herself.
“It’s fine if Lord Zhao Yun doesn’t surrender.” Yuan Zhi smiled as she spoke to Zi Long, “Lord Zhao Yun has no reason to do so anyway.”
“Un…” Zi Long grunted but was still befuddled. At the same time, I too was befuddled. Why is she asking them to surrender?
“I understand now.”
“So that’s what you mean huh…”
“Could it be…” Wen Yuan seemed to understand and she grabbed the table as she carefully leaned out, “… That you want us to fake a surrender?”
“Yes, the enemy would not distrust you lot too much if you do so,” Yuan Zhi nodded as she said and continued with 1 finger in the air, “Since the enemy has been trying to persuade our members in every battle, that means that they have a genuine desire to recruit our members. This will further lower the difficulty of a siege battle for them and if they do accept our members who fake a surrender to them, we can be the ones who decide how the battle will go.”
Oh~ So that’s what she means! But…
“That’s not quite right.” I finally spoke up after not contributing for a long while, “The enemy has Shen Pei who will likely be able to see through this. Even if she doesn’t, there is still Li Dian and Cao Ren, who are by no means idiots and will be suspicious of anyone who surrenders.”
“Yeah, n.o.body’s stupid.” Zhou Cang added.
Wait, I think I just completely left out Lu Xiang in what I said.
“You don’t need to be worried about that. No matter what, Shen Pei and Cao Ren belong to different factions. One is Cao Cao’s and the other is Yuan Shao’s.” Yuan Zhi said as she extended another finger, “If we can get Cao Ren and Li Dian to approve, then no matter what Shen Pei says, it will seem like she is hindering Cao Cao from collecting more capable generals.”
“But… Why will Cao Ren and Li Dian believe us?” Yun Chang asked, “Is it because we are about to lose?”
Be it Yun Chang or me, we both still had substantial doubts about this. It feels like Yuan Zhi has not given due consideration for this plan.
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