Meng De POV

“… I understand.” I replied after taking a few seconds to relax.

*Ta*… *Ta*…

Ben Chu continued to walk out. I thought that she would leave at this and bowed respectfully.

*Ta*

But just then, the footsteps stopped and when I looked up, I saw that Ben Chu stopped with her back to me as she said, “… Meng De, don’t suppress your feelings too much.”

Eh?

*Ta*… *Ta*…

Before I could reply, Ben Chu wordlessly left. Her words continued to swirl in my head as I wondered if she was just playing mind games with me or if she actually saw through me.

This made me think better of her but it’s not important anymore. What’s important is that Ben Chu has agreed to reinforce me. That is enough.

Speaking of which, I am not the only one left standing in a daze in the room… Or am I?

As I thought so, I sighed and returned to my seat before speaking up, “Xun Yu, Cheng Yu.”

My voice was soft but if it’s either of them, they ought to have heard me.

“Xun Yu, Cheng Yu?!” I called out once more, louder than before.

“… Imperial Chancellor.” After a moment, a voice finally replied me from G.o.d knows where.

Even though she was around, she still tried to act huh? Hahaha, I just knew you were around. I smiled slightly, feeling pleased and relieved instead of anger.

“Xun Yu…” I maintained my smile as I shook my head, “Come on out, I have something to discuss with you.”

“Yes…” Xun Yu replied weakly, probably because she was afraid that I would berate her for spying on me.

Though I am not quite used to it, I most definitely will not berate them. At times like these, be it Xun Yu or Yuan Rang, they are existences necessary for providing mental relief. Besides, I do actually have something to discuss with Xun Yu.

“Xun Yu, did you hear our exchange from before?”

“… Apologies for that.” Xun Yu apologised as she dropped to her knees.

“That’s fine,” I waved and got Xun Yu to stand up, “At present, our preparations to begin our southern expedition has pa.s.sed the halfway mark and Cao Ren is almost at Fan city. Everything is proceeding smoothly.”

As I rocked on the seat, I smiled, “And now, Ben Chu has expressed a willingness to partic.i.p.ate in it. Moreover, she has handed me her troop command rights.” As I continued, I felt amazed at what had transpired, “Well then, we’ll have to make good use of them.”

“… What Imperial Chancellor means,” Xun Yu said and paused, “Is that we should use Lord Yuan Shao’s troops as much as possible right?”

As expected of Xun Yu.

“Yes, that’s what I meant.” I smiled and nodded as I continued in a softer tone, “As we discussed before, Ben Chu’s 20,000 strong will join with Cao Ren’s 10,000 troops at Fan city to form the vanguard before heading south.”

When I finished, I made a slas.h.i.+ng motion with my hand. I usually did not make many small actions but I was very excited at this moment.

“Xun Yu, though you’re an administrative official at present, I trust your ability to transmit information.” I said as I got up and made my way to where Xun Yu was, “Before news of this reaches Cao Ren by official channels, I want you to send a letter to her, telling her and Li Dian to make more use of Ben Chu’s troops so that they suffer more losses and we suffer less.”

Presently, Ben Chu s

till holds a numerical advantage over me. In the long run, eroding this advantage through the southern expedition is an imperative. When the time comes, it will make things easier after all.

“But remember that this must not be too obvious.”

Ben Chu is different from before. She is not silly and she is willing to communicate honestly with her subordinates. She has also left strategic and logistic decisions to her subordinates which means that if we do things too obvious, it will be difficult to explain ourselves when they detect it. When the time comes, it will be impossible to say that it was just a coincidence.

“I understand.”

“Alright, then go. G.o.dspeed, Xun Yu.”

Though I did not give every detail I thought through, this much should be enough for Xun Yu.

“But Imperial Chancellor,” Unexpectedly, Xun Yu did not immediately leave and instead took one step towards me before kneeling down. “Why do you have to do this to Lord Yuan Shao? You’re both retainers of the Son of Heaven and have agreed to an alliance. Doing such things under such conditions isn’t too good right?”

Un… This is the first time that Xun Yu has said such a thing. Knowing Xun Yu, this is probably the equivalent of a direct reb.u.t.tal. But I suppose this is something that I requested from her before, honest advice if my actions seem questionable to our cause.

Never mind, it is a good thing anyway for her to be direct and straightforward.

“Xun Yu, what you said makes sense.” I nodded, “But you must know that though benign for now, Ben Chu is still a latent threat. In the long run, while she holds troop command rights and territory, she might try to usurp the Han if it continues to weaken. What I am doing is reducing her strength. I have no intention of removing her command rights.”

What I said was more or less what I thought. n.o.body can predict what can happen in the future after all. Even me.

“Alright, I understand.” Xun Yu nodded when I finished and bowed like a Court official, “I’ll pa.s.s on the information as you said then.”

“Xun Yu,” Before she could move, I stopped her.

“Un?”

“Use the door.” I said as I pointed towards the door, “You still need to work on those habits of yours.”

Xun Yu wordlessly bowed and left.

Soon, my southern expedition will begin, I thought and grew agitated as I stared at Xun Yu’s back. I am not worried about whether or not I will achieve victory as it will happen. All I am worried about is how long it will take.

If possible, I wish to achieve victory as soon as possible.

The vanguard numbers 30,000 huh… 10,000 of mine and 20,000 from Ben Chu.

…

Hai… Even though Ben Chu sending more troops is a good thing, I do not know why this irritates me greatly, to the point where I cannot even sit still. What is going on here…

“Imperial Chancellor.”

“Un?!” An eerie voice that suddenly came gave me a shock and when I looked up, I saw that Xun Yu was still here, “Didn’t you just leave?”

“I did.” Xun Yu nodded and said, “But I have some things that I feel I should tell Imperial Chancellor.”

Is there any problem? Could it be related to Ben Chu from before?

“Go ahead and say it.” I nodded, suppressing my displeasure and waited for Xun Yu to speak.

“Imperial Chancellor, are you also attacking Jing state for the sake of avenging Lord Liu Bei?”

“… Eh?” I made a silly noise from surprise when I heard what Xun Yu said but I soon understood what she meant and feigned calm as I asked, “Why do you think so? You wouldn’t have believed that what I told Ben Chu at the start was real, did you? I was just using that as a reason to get Ben Chu to promise to reinforce our campaign.”

I did not usually have to elaborate this much when explaining myself but as I did so, doubt began to spring forth in my heart. In my heart of hearts, am I attacking Jing state so that I can avenge Xuan De?

Though it is true that I have to accelerate my pace now that I am the only one left who can save the world, do I also hope to avenge Xuan De deep down inside?

…

“I don’t doubt what you just said.” Xun Yu nodded as she said so and looked up before she continued, “But Lord Cheng Yu has suggested to you multiple times before to begin the southern campaign. Yet you only did so now, after Lord Liu Bei died after being pursued by a Jing state general. Are you–”

“Haha, that has no relation at all.” I smiled as I shook my head, “The reason why I’ve decided to proceed now is because the time is ripe. Besides, I wish to unify the world as soon as possible.”

Naturally, I did not believe in this. The reason why I smiled was because I got seen through by my strategist.

Yes, I want to avenge Xuan De. And I want to do so using my own power. Which is why I felt discomfort when I thought about how Ben Chu was supplying more troops. I felt displeased at myself for not being able to contribute more.

But… All this was not important anymore.

“It’s fine, Xun Yu. It’s fine even if you don’t believe me.” I shook my head and pointed into the air, “I have 1 more message for Cao Ren. Tell them to launch an attack as soon as they are ready on Xuan De’s faction garrisoned at Xinye. Now that their lord is dead, there will undoubtedly be internal turmoil. If we can seize the initiative and launch an attack, we can try to recruit Xuan De’s retainers to our cause.”

Will you finally believe me now?

When I finished, I found myself get more and more agitated as I said so and hurriedly reined in myself.

Xun Yu looked at me and closed her eyes after a moment before nodding and getting up, “I understand. I worried too much. I will notify them to attack Xinye. I believe that Imperial Chancellor decided on this for the sake of the big picture.”

“Un, definitely.”

This reply was not a lie, I did indeed believe so. I am not Ben Chu. My choices may be impulsive at the beginning, but I always consider the outcomes before following through.

“Xun Yu, let me be honest with you for a moment here.” I said slowly as I looked at Xun Yu’s back, “You can say that I have changed or I have grown anxious. But now that I’ve decided to hasten my plans, I will not change my decision in future.”

Even if Liu Bei is still alive.

Of course, this is impossible.

There were more words I had to say but I kept them in my heart, for I would never be able to tell the person they were intended for.