Meng De POV

The moon outs.h.i.+nes the spa.r.s.e stars; the crows fly southward

As I stood on the terrace, these words sprang to mind for some reason. After thinking through for a long while, I decided that these weren’t from a pa.s.sage I’d read from some scroll or book and boldly concluded that they were a poetic line of my own creation. And so, I wrote these words down into my ‘new book’. The more I looked at them, the more I felt pleased. I didn’t know where my inspiration came from though. All I knew was that I was very pleased with it.

“Are you composing?”

“Ah, Cheng Yu is here.”

I don’t know where Cheng Yu sprang out from but I did indeed get a shock from her sudden appearance. It was a good thing that I was used to it already so my shock didn’t appear on my face. But when she looked at the poetic line I’d just jotted down, I calmly closed the book so that she wouldn’t be inspired by them to give me a lecture on language or whatever.

I don’t know if it’s just me, but ever since they switched from reconnaissance to administration– Perhaps they weren’t used to it at first– Xun Yu and Cheng Yu have shown remarkable capabilities in strategies, policy-making and other such areas.

And so, I have to admit that I have been neglecting talent for various reasons, and Feng Xiao really saved me with her keen eye for talent.

Perhaps I should have given these 2 more administrative, logistics-related, or strategy-related work earlier. The reason why I haven’t is probably because Feng Xiao was too effective working with these 2.

“What are you think about, my lord?” Cheng Yu tilted her head as she looked at me, her hands out of her sleeves by her sides. Cheng Yu didn’t smile and just looked at me wordlessly.

“No, nothing. I was just looking at the stars.” I said as I turned and looked upwards, and rolled the book before tucking it into my sleeve.

(TL: By stars, she means astrology.)

“The stars…” Seems like she was doubtful of my answer, but she did not ask me what I was doing. She then looked up at the sky before she asked me, “My lord, what do you think about the stars lately?”

Honestly, I only began to seriously study astrology after Ben Chu joined the Imperial Court so I’m not too knowledgeable about reading the stars. On astrology, I have to admit I’m not as knowledgeable on it as Yang Xiu and the rest who have just pledged allegiance to Xuchang.

But since she asked, I’ll give her a reply then.

“Un… The stars to the south are particularly bright. They are not uniformly bright but there is order amongst the chaos. This means that the south is still chaotic but is gradually strengthening. The stars seem to be gathered about a single point, which means we will be seeing a large-scale battle before long.”

“Large-scale battle? What would that be?”

“I heard that the Sun family of Jiangdong is about to invade Jing state for vengeance. The large-scale battle should be referring to that.”

“My lord clearly knows that the large-scale battle isn’t that sort of small skirmish yet my lord still lies so blatantly.”

Ah, looks like I can’t get it past her huh. Looking at Cheng Yu’s angry face, I know that she has seen through all that I just said. I wonder if she picked up the ability to see through my thoughts recently, or if she already had such a skill from her experiences. Whatever the case, it looks like I’ll have to be completely frank with her.

“I know what you want to say. Now that we have unified the north, we should quickly advance down south and take Jing state to further our ambitions. But the southern powers will not be easily defeated. Why not wait for them to weaken each other before making our move?”

“When 2 armies clash, 1 will win and 1 will lose. Between Jiangdong and Jing state, Jiangdong has the upper hand be it might or morals. Has it never crossed my lord’s mind that the Sun family could have both Jiangdong and Jing state while we’re resting? When that time comes, it will be too late for us to act.”

Un… I sighed as I sat down on a chair in the terrace. The chair was covered by a soft and warm piece of beast hide sent by a Wuhuan amba.s.sador. Just touching it made me feel warm.

Of course, I won’t forget the pain and suffering from the battles with them because of this. Some things remain etched in your memories even after a long time has pa.s.sed, and you never truly get over them.

“Cheng Yu, I understand what you’re saying but the Sun family is not as strong as you say they are.” I continued, “If Jing state is imperiled, we can immediately deploy troops into Jing state in the name of reinforcing them against Jiangdong. We can also launch a 2-p.r.o.nged attack on Shouchun and other areas from Xu state and Hefei–”

“My lord, I heard that Liu Bei has sought refuge with Jing state.”

“… Liu Bei huh? I see.” I did my best to remain calm and nonchalant while acting like I only just heard about this.

“My lord, you still can’t commit to eradicating Liu Bei?” Cheng Yu was clearly doubtful of my countenance.

“No such thing… When the time comes to advance south, I will do so. I have my own plans for this.” I said as I got up, and made to leave as I had no intention of arguing this point any further.

Perhaps Cheng Yu felt that it was enough for now, and didn’t say any further nor did she follow me. She only stood there on the terrace, perhaps she was looking at me, or at the stars, as she knew she had attained her objective.

I know that doing so makes me look like I’m running away but I have no intent of doing that. Cheng Yu, Xun Yu and the deceased Feng Xiao have continued to drive home the need to eradicate Xuan De. So the closer I get to this step, the more my personal feelings get in the way. Even if I don’t want to think about it.

I don’t feel like I’m intentionally giving leeway to Xuan De but I must admit that my time with Xuan De in Xuchang was a happy time, and also the only time I ever felt relaxed.

As I thought so, I did my best not to think about it as I stepped down the terrace and headed in the direction of my room.

“Meng De, are you going to begin the southern campaign?”

After just taking 2 steps, I heard a high pitched and elegant female voice call out to me. There aren’t many people I know who speak with such airs. Or perhaps, there is only 1.