Chapter 49: The General's Aura

  Jia Xun walked slowly into the back hall of Deyang, his hands clasped together. From a distance, he heard the sound of a guqin. The sound was intermittent and uneven, sometimes light and sometimes heavy, without any melody or beauty, it was simply noise.

  However, when heard separately, each note is beautiful, with clear and bright sound quality, without any impurities.

  The piano is good, but unfortunately, the person playing it is too bad.

  Jia Yu sighed bitterly and raised his head, then let out another sigh.

  The Yuan brothers fled because of the Emperor's indecisiveness. A great disaster was looming, yet the Emperor was still practicing his zither, despite clearly having no talent for it. Heaven knows whether he was actually playing the zither or just flirting with the music teacher.

  It is said that the Emperor has been inseparable from Cai Yan these days... learning to play the zither. I wonder if he still has the heart to do so after hearing the news of the Yuan brothers' escape. Jia Xun can almost imagine what the Emperor would be like, and couldn't help but start worrying about that zither.

  Jia Xun hesitated for a moment, then sighed inwardly, gathered his spirits and walked into the grand hall.

  In the end, he hoped to leave a good impression on the Son of Heaven, a good impression on Luoyang, and a good impression on the spirit of the former emperor in heaven. It was not that he did not work hard, but the Son of Heaven was not a wise ruler.

  Liu Bian was sitting on the stage, studying the piano seriously. Unfortunately, his fingers were too stiff and his musical sense was poor. Although Cai Yan, who taught him piano, was very dedicated, the sound of the piano still didn't form a melody.

  "Your Majesty." Jia Xu stepped forward and bowed, saying in a low voice: "The Yuan brothers have left the city."

  "What does it mean to go out of the city?" Liu Bian pressed down on the strings, and the sound of the guqin came to an abrupt halt. The attendants and Cai Yan beside him couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. Princess Wan's expression changed, wanting to speak but stopping herself. Liu Bian furrowed his brow, tilting his head: "Ran away?"

  The hall was silent, Princess Wan's face turned pale, and Tang Ying's eyes were also somewhat flustered, her two hands clenched tightly together. The attendants didn't say a word, but their faces also showed irrepressible tension, and the gaze they cast at Liu Bian became somewhat unusual.

  It was clear to all that the escape of the Yuan brothers from Luoyang meant a disaster no less than the Yellow Turban Rebellion was imminent. The emperor at the time, although foolish and incompetent, had been on the throne for over a decade and had some experience and authority. Although he faced many yellow turbans, they were just a mob. In contrast, Liu Bian had only been emperor for a few months and had no prestige to speak of, yet he was going to fight against the powerful Yuan family, who had produced four generations of high officials, and against Yuan Shao, the leader of the heroes of the empire.

  Does he have a chance of winning?

  "Yes, Yuan Shao to the east and Yuan Shu to the south." Jia Xu said calmly, after a moment, he added: "I was remiss, the number of people arranged is too small, not enough to intercept, otherwise..."

  Jia Yu let out a regretful sigh, and Liu Bian understood his meaning. If they had enough manpower, Jia Yu would not have opposed disguising themselves as bandits and killing the Yuan brothers in the wilderness.

  This guy is really ruthless. However, this is indeed a good method.

  Liu Bian suddenly laughed and couldn't stop laughing.

  Jia Xian looked at Liu Bian who was laughing non-stop, silent, with a gaze that had pity, regret and a hint of helplessness.

  "Coward!" Liu Bian suddenly stopped smiling and cursed with disdain, spitting out a mouthful of saliva in a very ungraceful manner.

  He recalled the historical figure of Yuan Shao fleeing in defeat. At that time, Dong Zhuo used 3,000 troops to repeatedly stir up trouble, intimidating Yuan Shao, who surrendered his military power with a bow and uttered a harsh remark before hastily escaping. Now, Dong Zhuo was being controlled by himself and couldn't stir up any waves, yet Yuan Shao still fled without even having the courage for a head-on battle.

  In fact, the combined forces of Yan Province and Liang Province were only around 5,000 to 6,000 men, while Yuan Shao's brothers had control over more than 20,000 men. Adding those unregistered wandering warriors, Yuan Shao's actual strength far exceeded his. Otherwise, he wouldn't have resorted to taking the initiative to attack first.

  However, before he took action, Yuan Shao himself ran away and gave up his existing advantages to go to Shandong. It seems that he is a dragon returning to the sea, a tiger entering the deep mountains, with a broader world from another perspective, he is timid, without the confidence to win, without the courage to fight to the death.

  The Battle of Guandu, if Yuan and Cao swapped positions, I'm afraid Yuan Shao wouldn't be able to achieve what Cao Cao did in the battle against the river.

  Jia Xu raised an eyebrow and stared at Liu Bei, unsure whether he was cursing the incompetent coward, Yuan Shao, or himself, Jia Xu.

  "Your Majesty?"

  Liu Bian's smile froze, and he glanced at Jia Xian. Jia Xian's eyes flickered, and he knew that his confidence had been shaken. "Wen He, if you were Yuan Shao, would you stay in Luoyang, using the military power in your hands to advance step by step, or would you escape from Luoyang?"

  Jia Xu's expression changed slightly, and he immediately understood Liu Bei's meaning. The corner of his mouth twitched, a hint of a smile flashed and disappeared, and the look in his eyes towards Liu Bei brightened a little. In this situation, not only did Liu Bei not panic as he had expected, but instead lightly ridiculed Yuan Shao, allowing him to see a glimmer of hope again after having already given up.

  No, Yuan Shao is indeed a coward. If he had enough courage, there would be no need to leave, and with the power in his hands, he could control the situation in Luoyang. Is it that the Son of Heaven does not adopt my plan, guessing that Yuan Shao will retreat without a fight, voluntarily escape from Luoyang, and hand over the military power?

  "Yuan Shao has fled and that's it, he'll never amount to anything. Liu Bei waved his hand as if shooing away a fly: 'What about Cao Cao?'"

  "Cao Cao......" Jia Xu felt some regret: "Cao Cao only brought two attendants out of the city, his family was all in the city, there was no unusual situation at all, and the people monitoring him thought he went out to hunt, who knew that...he also escaped. When he left the city, the Yuan brothers had not made a move yet. Your Majesty, I was careless, please punish me."

  "Never mind, we both miscalculated. We didn't expect Cao Cao to be so ruthless and Yuan Shao to be so weak. A hero is a hero, a coward is a coward." Liu Biao leaned against his cheek, thought for a moment: "It seems that a big war can't be avoided. Wen He, we need to make preparations for the battle."

  "Will Yuan Shao start a rebellion?" Jia Xu was not quite convinced. Even someone as clever as Jia Xu was somewhat perplexed. Since Liu Bei thought Yuan Shao was a coward, why would he also think that Yuan Shao would rebel? This didn't seem very logical. "What reason does he have?"

  "He will have a reason to." Liu Bian smiled. Lu Zhi had been worried that he would give Yuan Shao a reason to start an uprising, but now that he hadn't taken action yet, Yuan Shao had already fled. It was easy to imagine that even if he wanted to smooth things over, Yuan Shao would still find a reason. "First, take control of the Southern and Northern Armies, as well as the eight regiments of the Western Garden. Get our military equipment in order and prepare for battle. Summon Dong Gong, I want to discuss some arrangements with him."

  Looking at Liu Bian, Jia Yu was both surprised and delighted. Liu Bian's self-confidence was a bit inexplicable, but it was precisely this inexplicable self-confidence that changed Jia Yu's mind. Jia Yu had a strong feeling that although Liu Bian seemed to have no temper and appeared indecisive, he would definitely be able to persevere in the face of real difficulties. The greater the difficulty, the stronger his fighting spirit.

  "Agreed!" Jia Yu loudly responded: "I will go invite Dong Gong right away."

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