Vol 9 Chapter 152 (1/2)

Chapter 152

VOLUME 9 CHAPTER 152: DON’T TELL ME THIS IS THE SIEGE OF XINYE (1)

Li Dian POV

After seeing off Guan Yu, I returned to the encampment and saw Cao Ren and Shen Pei looking in different directions silently. Naturally, I knew why they were in conflict.

“Quit standing here, you both.” I said to the 2 of them as I went over and pointed around when neither of them reacted, “Look, there is no tent around here. Do you both plan on enduring the cold, bitter winds?”

The tent had been completely torn apart by Shen Pei’s troops. I looked about and saw that they had not withdrawn yet and were waiting for further orders from Shen Pei. I then looked at CO Ren and saw that she had a stormy expression on her face. Well, i cannot blame her as I too am rather angry at what just transpired.

Cao Ren is definitely angry at just 1 thing, that is how Shen Pei did not tell us anything beforehand about her ambush. To use the sound of a falling cup as a signal… Looks like she had really thought things through huh?

“Lord Shen Pei,” I spoke up on behalf of Cao Ren as I could not hold back any longer, “Why didn’t you notify us of the ambush beforehand? We are very troubled by your unilateral actions.”

“Because I was afraid that you both would be too soft-hearted.” Shen Pei said as she looked at me and covered her mouth, “So I decided to prepare all of this and on my own. When the time came, I didn’t want to scramble and look for back-up.”

Shen Pei seemed to not find any fault in what she did and frowned as she continued with her back towards us, “Lord Li Dian… And commanding officer… Why did you have to stop me just now? Didn’t we agree beforehand? That if we felt that their defection was insincere or fake, we would kill them?”

“No, we still don’t know if they are our enemies right?”

“T-they’re already acting like this… How can it not be fake?” Shen Pei turned around and weakly protested.

“Look at how you backed them into a corner. How could they not be tense and nervous?” Cao Ren said as she squeezed out a stiff smile and suppressed her anger as she continued in a level tone, “And besides, you said it yourself. The enemy let Lu Xiang go.”

“That’s…”

That was indeed the truth, despite all of our suspicions, and she could not refute it. That was also one of the major reasons why Cao Ren and I did not support Shen Pei.

Shen Pei did not continue to argue with us and merely waved and dismissed her troops. There are only about a thousand or so of Yuan Shao’s troops in this encampment but they have shown remarkable unity and obedience to their own general.

“Now then, Lord Li Dian, do you have an opinion yet?”

“Me?” I asked as I looked to the side and saw Cao Ren and Shen Pei looking at me.

I shook my head right away as I have not yet been able to come to a conclusion, “I haven’t come to a conclusion yet but overall, I am inclined to believe them. All of their reasons for defecting are legitimate and the troops they can bring over will be very helpful. Yet they do not seem particularly excited. It just… Feels off somehow.”

“You said everything there is to say about them.” Cao Ren said and looked at Shen Pei, “Lord Shen Pei, let’s leave everything aside for now. Just tell me one thing, are you ready to move out for Xinye city in 3 days?”

“Wu…” Shen Pei sank into deep thought. Even though she was so forceful a while ago, it seems like she cannot be that decisive once her calm state has been dispelled.

“Umm&h

ellip; Lord Li Dian…” Shen Pei called out to me just as I was waiting for her to give her answer and looked at me, “What do you think about this?”

“Me?” I asked, surprised that she would toss it to me. My mind then began to whir at top speed as I searched about for an answer. The problem was that I could not disentangle my personal desires and so I could not view this whole problem objectively.

“I…” I really have no idea how I ought to answer this.

Under this sticky situation, if I were to choose to stand with my faction’s viewpoint, it would not be difficult to persuade Shen Pei to our faction’s viewpoint. But if I were to choose to not believe in Guan Yu’s words, then it’s not like we lose too much either. At the most, we would only lose a chance to take the city more quickly, and also 3 generals.

Yet, will things really go in our favour? I began to think of the last conversation I had with Guan Yu before she left.

“I–”