Vol 10 Chapter 12 (1/2)
Chapter 12
VOLUME 10 CHAPTER 12: DON’T TELL ME THIS IS THE CALM AFTER THE BATTLE OF FAN CITY (12)
Meng De POV
“My lord, about Lu Kuang and Lu Xiang…” Li Dian said weakly.
“Ah, I’ve already mentioned them in Court as well and the Son of Heaven has given his approval for recognition of their achievements. I haven’t decided on the exact awards yet but rest a.s.sured they will be good.”
“Ah, un.” Li Dian nodded, seeming relieved to hear this.
“But to think Li Dian would be this concerned about other generals. I’m really surprised.”
“Because they do deserve to be awarded.” Li Dian replied seriously, “And besides, Lu Xiang even saved my life. It is a duty of mine to ask this for them.”
“Oh, I see.”
So there was another layer behind it huh? I do not know of the details but it seems like the 5 generals who took part in this battle got along pretty well.
“How are the remaining troops?”
“Half of them were Lord Yuan Shao’s and we left them to Yuan Shao’s generals. Our troops were handed over to Man Chong and several others.”
“Alright, I’ll speak with them about this later.”
If possible, I would prefer not to merge their armies and keep them separate. This will give me a reason to ask for a bigger military budget to replenish my troops. This way, I can also close the numerical gap between Ben Chu and I.
“Alright, we should be done with all the not-so-important details by now.” I said and sighed as I got ready to move into the main topic at hand, “Now then, I have 2 questions for you both with regards to things you mentioned in the letter. Firstly, the enemy has 2 new generals, am I correct?”
“Yes.” Li Dian immediately replied, “1 is an administrative official called Xu Shu and the other is a warrior general called Shamoke.”
Shamoke? What a weird name.
“Is that Shamoke fellow a barbarian?”
“That is what he claims to be. And he does wear a hat which is reminiscent of the Nanman style.” Cao Ren described as she gestured about her head, “It was a hat with many leaves that made it difficult to see his face.”
I see. I have heard of the Nanman using face paint and the like but I have never heard that they use helmets to cover their faces.
“As for Xu Shu, it is as I have written to elder sister. Practically every aspect of their strategies were planned by her.” Cao Ren continued and paused, “My 8 Doors Golden Lock formation was broken by her as well.”
“Oh, Xu Shu huh?” Cheng Yu suddenly repeated.
“Cheng Yu, have you heard of this person?”
“I have but I need some time to recall who she is.”
“Un un, you do that then.” I nodded and turned to Li Dian, “About that Shamoke…”
“Ah, yes.” Li Dian knew what I was asking about and turned to me and nodded as she continued, “I should start from the very beginning. During the second battle, in the frontal battle, we mentioned Liu Bei’s disappearance during the pre-battle yelling. At that time, Lu Bu seemed pretty agitated and yelled something about Liu Bei not being dead but was stopped by her lieutenant.”
“Un un un.” I nodded. I have to admit here that my heart was still shaken when Xuan De was mentioned, “But that’s not enough for your hypothesis to stand on.”
“If it was only that,” Li Dian nodded and continued, “Thereafter Guan Yu and another 2 generals came to fake their defections. I later mentioned to Guan Yu that we would be wi
lling to search for Liu Bei but she did not seem particularly moved.”
“In fact, she did not even react.” Cao Ren added.
Un… If that’s the case, then it really is suspicious. But what happened then? Is Xuan De really alive? Did he make it to Xinye on his own?
“But…” I began to speak as I thought about this but Li Dian was not done and continued.
“My lord, dare I ask you, with 2 new characters appearing in a leaderless faction and said faction is united enough to pull off a strategy that involves fake defections, of which 1 is a talented strategist; who could be the other one?”
“A new leader. Or–” I frowned and was very reluctant to admit it but had to spit out that name nonetheless, “Xuan De huh.”
“Yes.” Li Dian nodded.
Yes, there is no way that bunch of generals can swear fealty to a random n.o.body in such a short span of time. I would very much like for them to defect to my side but it’s clear that there is only 1 lord in their hearts. And the only reason for their unity is Xuan De, but…
“No, I don’t think so.”