Liu Bei POV

“Haha, I guess. But Yun Chang has already explained things to me.” I smiled stiffly and felt worried as I looked at the 2 at them, “… Umm, will you both be alright?”

“Eh?”

“Alright?”

Feng Xian and Wen Yuan looked at each other and seemed puzzled at my question.

“Our troops will be split in half, right? You’re going to be up against the enemy’s full forces, will it really be alright?”

Based on what Yun Chang just told me, that would mean that Feng Xian and Wen Yuan would have to deal with an enemy that had twice their numbers. If that’s the case, the battle will probably be very harsh.

“Hahaha, my lord, you don’t need to be worried about that~” Wen Yuan broke into peals of laughter when I finished and slapped my back, making me cough. When I looked at them, I saw that they both had confident smiles on.

“Who does my lord think we are!” Wen Yuan roared. Well, I guess that’s true.

“Yes.” Feng Xian agreed whilst stroking Red Hare. It was very surprising to me as this was the first time that I have heard Feng Xian say such confident words.

“Xuan De,” Feng Xian said as she saluted me, “I hope that you can watch me in the upcoming battle.”

There did not seem to much light in Feng Xian’s eyes but unlike the dead emptiness I saw when we first met, I could see a thin light in her eyes, a light that shone a way to her path.

“Un, I’ll be counting on you.” I said and saluted as I nodded. Overall, I would say that I am not very worried about these 2. The difference in strength may be great but all I can do is pray for them.

Now that I was done with Feng Xian and Wen Yuan, I made my way to Yuan Zhi, taking care to go around anyone to avoid getting entangled in anymore conversations.

“Yuan Zhi.” I called out as I stepped out from behind Yuan Zhi and sat down beside her to the left.

“Ah… Un?” Yuan Zhi jolted when she heard me. Looks like she was brooding about stuff. She turned to look at me and when she saw that it was me, she relaxedly turned back and picked up her bowl of sugar water, “Xuan De, are you here to ask me about what I was talking about during the meeting?”

Eh? I am surprised that Yuan Zhi would ask me this the moment I came over. This is the 3rd person now, after Feng Xian and Wen Yuan.

“Yuan Zhi.”

“Un?”

“Was it that obvious that I was dozing off just now?”

“Of course it was. Your head was practically on the table.” Yuan Zhi shrugged as she said so and blew some particles off her sugar water, “Of course, that is what I saw from my seat.”

“Then why didn’t anyone wake me up?”

“That huh?” She said and took a sip of sugar water before letting out a sigh, and looked at everyone with a dazed look, “I don’t know.”

“I see…”

Yuan Zhi seems to have given me a casual answer without seriously thinking about it. But at the same time, I realised why when I asked. I could feel that everyone was showing me some sort of kindness and understanding. Probably.

“So if you’re not here to ask me about what happened during the meeting, then you must be here to give your opinion on the strategy I proposed.” Yuan Zhi said as she brought her bowl to her lips but did not sip. Looks like she is going to wait for my answer before drinking.

“I wouldn’t call it an opinion…”

I do not know how Yuan Zhi f

eels now but she should be rather nervous. In the battle before, I could see that Yuan Zhi was very harsh on and demanding of herself. She probably will be very worried about my view on her strategy. Perhaps she would be sensitive to even someone calling out to her at this time.

And so, I felt a bit hesitant about voicing out my worries but after a moment of thought, I felt that I ought to do so. If everything makes sense then it should be fine for me to ask her some questions and allay any concerns I have.

“Actually, I would just like to ask why you chose this strategy.” I said, doing my best to sound as relaxed as possible and not appear as though I was questioning her. When I looked up, I saw that she had begun sipping her sugar water, “That is to say, why did you get Yun Chang and her troops to raid Fan city? After all… Our troops are not many and we aren’t clear about their numbers as well.”

“That huh?” She lightly nodded and took another small sip of sugar water before explaining, “Firstly, the enemy is the vanguard of the southern campaign. That means they will be an elite unit. This is supported by how they were able to break through the surround despite being in a desperate situation where they were outnumbered and their morale was low.”

“Then–”

“But, the elite vanguard cannot be the main body of the southern campaign.” Just as I was about to ask further, Yuan Zhi interrupted me and continued in a level and calm tone, “To be able to mount a full-scale invasion of Jing state, one would need at least several hundred thousand troops. Among these, there will be around 100,000 of whom who will be elite heavy infantry troops. If the vanguard is entirely composed of elite troops, then their maximum size is about 30,000. After the losses they suffered from the last battle, our troops might actually outnumber them. In the worst case scenario, we will be equal in number.”

When Yuan Zhi finished, she wiped her eyebrows with her bandana. I nodded as I listened quietly to her. To be honest, she did not speak too fast but because there was a lot, I only really heard the last bit.

“Equal in number huh?”

“We might even be superior. Of course, I… I think that we are equal.” Yuan Zhi said with a small pause in between. Looks like she’s thinking about things from the worst case scenario as expected.

“But if we’re equal, should we not stay and defend the city?”

In this scenario, we will have an advantage if we are the defending side after all.

“No, even if we win, the enemy will continue to come in endless droves. When the time comes, it will be impossible to stop them at all if all we have is Xinye city. Instead, we should be placing the bulk of our troops in Fan city which is much bigger and easier to defend. This will also give Jing state troops time to reinforce us.”

Jing state reinforcements huh…

From what Feng Xian and Yun Chang told me before, it seems like we have not severed relations with Jing state but there have been no communications with Xiangyang since what happened to me. The only news that came our way was about Liu Qi who went to Jiangxia. We had also received communications a while ago that Liu Qi would deploy troops to reinforce us but then soon after, there was news that Jiangxia had trouble with some mountain bandits again which meant that Liu Qi could not help us. This is probably the handiwork of Cai Mao.

At the same time, Liu Qi does not know that I am still alive. Doing this might not be too nice but we do not know if Cai Mao’s faction has any eyes in Jiangxia so there is no guarantee for my safety if we tell Liu Qi.

And now, I am embroiled in combat with Meng De once more for the sake of chivalry and honour. I am getting really tired of my personality by now. I never expected that I was this sort of person.

… Is it because I have gotten infected by these people? Or did my personality change to become like this after knowing that I was Liu Bei?

“Hu~” I sighed and felt that I had given myself a metaphysical problem to ponder yet again. Never mind, there’s no point thinking about this.

“But 10,000 huh?” I continued asking with a tinge of melancholy, “What if they do not deploy all their troops?”

“I have full confidence that the enemy will deploy their entire force.”

“Eh?”

“As the vanguard, after losing terribly in the first battle, they can either do 1 of 2 things. Either they stay in Fan city and wait for reinforcements or they go all in and push to take Xinye with everything they have.” Yuan Zhi said as she pointed outside the room in the direction of the city walls. This action, along with those words, would have seemed cool on someone else. But Yuan Zhi’s action seemed rather robotic and made her seem even more airheaded.

“So they will definitely come, and with all they got. When the time comes, Fan city will be practically empty and that is when we will strike.”

Un… I nodded but still felt worried. Would everything go that smoothly?

I looked around the room and my eyes stopped at Yun Chang, who was meditating with her eyes closed. Launching a raid on the enemy from behind? This is probably the first time Yun Chang is doing something like this. I neglected to ask her earlier if she feels that this is dishonourable.

“Ah yes, you used Feng Xian and Huang Zu this time huh?”

“Eh?” Yuan Zhi did not understand what I meant at first but then quickly nodded, “Ah, un.”

Yuan Zhi’s expression became complicated when she replied and she set down her bowl and sank into thought. Is she worried about something?

“Umm… Are you worried if Huang Zu and Feng Xian can fulfill their tasks?” I plucked up the courage and asked.