Three Kingdoms: Let Yuan Shen be great again

Chapter 29 Saving Private Liu Bei

"Mr. Zizhong, I know that you have made a fortune in Xuzhou, your business is doing very well, and you are living a very good life."

"With powerful generals like Xuande and Guan Yu and Zhang Fei protecting you, you don't need to associate with someone like me."

"But now you come to me saying, 'Young Master Yuan, please send troops to help save Magistrate Liu.'"

"You have absolutely no respect for me. You don't treat me like a friend. You won't even call me Grand Commander!"

After Yuan Yao finished speaking, Mi Zhu felt utterly ashamed.

Because he really has no point in this matter.

Months earlier, before Yuan Yao had even taken office, he expressed his goodwill during his first military campaign, hoping to form an alliance with Liu Bei against Cao Cao.

He repeatedly mentioned the matter afterward, sending an average of one and a half letters per month, demonstrating his sincerity.

But what about the results?

Liu Bei believed that Yuan Yao came from the Zhong clan's puppet regime and was the son of the usurper Yuan Shu, so he resolutely refused to associate with such a treacherous official.

Moreover, even disregarding the alliance between the two sides, Yuan Yao himself had done Liu Bei a favor.

When Yuan Yao deliberately revealed the news of the leaked imperial edict, it seemed to be to force Liu Bei to retreat and even extort money from him. However, in reality, it did serve as a warning to Liu Bei in advance, allowing him to seize Xuzhou before Cao Cao could react.

Not to mention that when Liu Dai and Wang Zhong first attacked Xuzhou, Yuan Yao, disregarding past grievances, magnanimously agreed to sell grain at a price only three times higher than usual.

Unfortunately, Liu Bei, obsessed with restoring the Han dynasty, was too obsessed. Since he believed that Yuan Yao was a traitor who was causing chaos in the Han dynasty, he resolutely drew a line between them and Yuan Yao, refusing to listen to any of Yuan Yao's good advice.

Yuan Yao had already taught Cao Cao the Burning Technique, and Cao Cao was currently locked in a stalemate with Yuan Shao at Guandu. The window of opportunity to attack Xuzhou was very narrow. All Cao Cao needed to do was to fortify his defenses, hold out, and wait until Yuan Shao could react, thus securing Xuzhou.

But Liu Bei didn't think so. He wanted to go out of the city and fight Cao Cao head-on.

Of course, Liu Bei was a remarkable man of his time, and he wasn't so incapable of understanding right from wrong that he would insist on doing the opposite.

There are some misunderstandings involved.

Firstly, Liu Bei had fought against Yuan Yao on the battlefield to some extent and could roughly tell that the other party's military skills were mediocre, so he naturally did not trust Yuan Yao's judgment.

Secondly, Liu Bei at this time also misjudged Cao Cao's abilities.

Prior to this, Liu Bei and Cao Cao had been both adversaries and allies, and thus had a fairly good understanding of each other.

Liu Bei asked himself honestly, although Cao Cao was strong, he was not ignorant of military strategy, and he also had two invincible brothers to help him. If they really fought, he might not be without a chance of winning.

Unexpectedly, when the number of troops was a few thousand, Cao Cao and Liu Bei were probably roughly equal in skill level. However, when the number of troops reached tens of thousands or more, a clear difference in their skill levels emerged.

Until half a month ago, due to a servant's betrayal, the secret edict in the belt was exposed, Cao Cao executed Dong Cheng and others, and belatedly realized the truth of Liu Bei's betrayal. He was furious and decided to personally lead an expedition against Liu Bei.

Liu Bei, on the other hand, thought that Cao Cao had known about this all along, but had been holding back until today. He also felt that he had been preparing for battle for half a year and was ready to fight, so he launched an attack.

Then he suffered a crushing defeat, and his eyes instantly cleared.

But by then it was too late to hold out. Even the entire Xuzhou was cut off by Cao Cao's army, and communication between the north and south was cut off. Liu Bei, who was stranded in the north, was forced to join forces with Chang Xi of the Taishan Army, while Guan Yu was stationed in the south to defend Xiapi.

At this critical moment, Mi Zhu finally remembered Yuan Yao's advice and placed his hopes on him. He rushed from Xiapi to Wancheng overnight to ask Yuan Yao to send troops to his aid.

Mi Zhu grabbed Yuan Yao's sleeve, tears streaming down his face in regret: "Young Master Yuan, I was entirely incompetent and underestimated your great talent. I am willing to submit to your will, but Xuzhou is in imminent danger. Please, for the sake of mutual support, send troops to help us!"

"..." Yuan Yao was silent for half a second, then said, "Mr. Zizhong, please calm down. I will summon the ministers to discuss this matter. Lord Yang, please take Mr. Zizhong to rest first."

On the way back to the Governor's Mansion, Huang Yi asked worriedly, "Your Highness, are we really going to support Xuzhou?"

Yuan Yao honestly shook his head: "I don't know."

Theoretically speaking, since we are facing a threat from Sun Ce, we need to prepare for this battle with all our might and should not cause any trouble by interfering in Xuzhou.

On the other hand, Yuan Yao was also very clear about the future direction. If he did not interfere at all, Cao Cao would become a mere figurehead once he grew to his full potential.

He was undecided for a moment, emotionally inclined to save the person but not entirely sure, so he wanted to gather everyone's ideas and hear their opinions.

Soon, everyone gathered at Yuan Yao's residence and began a heated discussion about Mi Zhu's request for help.

Zhang Xun objected, representing the opinion of a large number of people in the military. His reason was simply that they were terrified of Cao Cao's army and dared not go.

Cao Xing supported him. He was Cao Cao's sworn enemy. For him, whether or not Liu Bei was saved was not important. As long as he could cause trouble for Cao's army, that was enough.

Yan Xiang objected, arguing that Liu Bei's defeat was inevitable and that it would be too late to save him now, so it was pointless and they should focus on Sun Ce instead.

Yang Hong supported this, as he had a good personal relationship with Mi Zhu and couldn't refuse. He suggested that Yuan Yao provide all assistance except for sending troops.

Huang Yi objected, but his opinion was unimportant; his military talent was inferior to Yuan Yao's, so there was no need to waste time listening to him.

Liu Ye objected.

Yuan Yao looked up in astonishment.

According to the data in the game, it would be difficult for any of Yuan Yao's subordinates to have an intelligence level above 80, while Liu Ye is the only top strategist with an intelligence level above 90.

Therefore, Yuan Yao valued the other party's opinion very much, more than all the others combined.

Yuan Yao frowned: "Ziyang, why are you against rescuing Liu Bei?"

Liu Ye hesitated, then glanced around at the people in his surroundings.

Yuan Yao understood and waved for the others to leave for the time being.

After everyone else had left, Liu Ye finally spoke: "May I ask, young master, what are your plans for the future?"

Yuan Yao asked, puzzled, "What do you mean?"

Liu Ye said solemnly, "Huainan is a tiny piece of land, surrounded by enemies on all sides. Today it's Sun Ce, but who will it be tomorrow? Doesn't the young lord think about a long-term plan?"

Yuan Yao wanted to explain that he had only led the Zhong clan to survive so far and was not qualified to talk about long-term plans. If he had to say something, he planned to wait and see if Sun Ce would die suddenly and see if he could take over Jiangdong.

He was stunned as soon as he opened his mouth.

He suddenly realized why Liu Ye had asked that question.

In Liu Ye's view, even if Yuan Yao were to defeat Sun Ce this time, it would not change the strategic deadlock. Huainan's potential was really limited, and being trapped here would only lead to a slow death.

More importantly, the current power dynamics lie between the two banks of the Yellow River. To the north lies Yuan Shao, who controls Hebei, and to the south lies Cao Cao, who holds sway over the Central Plains. Whoever wins will most likely become the ruler of the entire land.

Therefore, Liu Ye believed that since it was difficult to achieve great things in Huainan, they should start thinking about the future as soon as possible. One very realistic way out was to submit to the victor of the war between Yuan Shao and Cao Cao and become a wealthy man.

Given that Yuan Shao and Yuan Yao were related, everything would be fine if Yuan Shao won.

But what if Cao Cao wins?

Therefore, Liu Ye opposed supporting Liu Bei to avoid antagonizing Cao Cao. He believed that they should first concentrate on protecting Huainan, then observe the outcome of the battle between Yuan Shao and Cao Cao, and finally choose an opportunity to join the winner. They would still retain their title of marquis, and the country would be at peace and the people would be happy. Wouldn't that be wonderful?

Yuan Yao nodded: "I understand."

Then, with a look of shame, he said to Liu Ye, "I am grateful that Ziyang has considered my long-term perspective, but I am young and impetuous and always want to compete."

Having said that, he summoned everyone back.

Under everyone's watchful eyes, Yuan Yao announced his final decision: "My mind is made up. I will immediately send troops to Xuzhou to support Liu Bei!"

Everyone's expression turned serious.

Yuan Yao looked into everyone's eyes and said, "Cao Cao is a ruthless and ambitious man. If we let him run rampant today, he will surely sweep across the world one day. Only by uniting all our allies can we hope to stop him!"

Now that he had made the decision, no matter what the others thought in their hearts, they at least obeyed on the surface, and all withdrew to prepare to send troops to Xuzhou.

In the end, only Yuan Yao and Huang Yi, whose skills were so poor that no arrangements were made for them, remained in the room.

Huang Yi asked Yuan Yao with some fear, "Your Highness, do you really dare to launch a preemptive attack on Cao Cao?"

"If we don't attack now, we'll miss our chance." Yuan Yao shook his head and said, "This is probably the moment when the gap in strength between the anti-Cao camp and Cao Cao is the greatest. Every day from now on, this gap will narrow."

"Your Highness," Huang Yi couldn't help but correct, "Well... actually, we are the weaker party, so the gap is widening, not narrowing."