“Is there still no news?” Liu Bei asked as he walked up and down impatiently for Pang Tong’s letter in Nanyang as the situation grew more urgent due to dwindling food supplies. It was like those years where Liu Bei lived a wretched life. There was also the shocking news that Liu Mang and Liu Biao had form an alliance.
It could be said that Liu Bei and Liu Mang shared the same hardship. They both required provisions however, Liu Mang needed provisions for the citizens while Liu Bei needed provisions for his army. Pang Tong was the hope of everyone in Yuzhou.
“Milored, there isn’t any news yet!” Jian Yong replied. He was in charge of collecting intelligence but have already handed over most of his men to Pang Tong. Those people did not have any time to send reports. On the other hand, information of Liu Mang and Liu Biao’s alliance was bought by Jian Yong. Without this information, they would be completely ignorant of the outside world.
Jian Yong was no longer as willful and intimate towards Liu Bei due to the previous incident. That was why his reply was short and to the point.
“No news? There are no reports from your men in the past few days! Have they all died? What a waste of the thousands of gold I invested!” Liu Bei cursed angrily.
“This subordinate deserves to die!” Jian Yong replied. All of his men were being controlled by Pang Tong but it was not like he could argue.
“Milord. It seems like the Military Advisor cannot be relied on!” Sun Qian laughed. He wanted Pang Tong to fail. If Pang Tong was useless then Sun Qian could obtain a better position.
“Hm?” Liu Bei raised his brows while Jian Yong looked over fearfully.
Liu Bei knew that Pang Tong and Sun Qian did not get along but it was not time to fight amongst themselves.
“Milord. We are already running out of provisions. We do not have the time to wait for the Military Advisor. What we need to do now is to make a plan!” Sun Qian advised without saying anything bad about Pang Tong. Doing that would only make Liu Bei look down on him as a slanderer. Instead, he tried to make himself look more useful than Pang Tong. Saying Pang Tong cannot be relied on could have many different meanings to it so it did not count.
“Hmm, we should start to make plans.” Liu Bei agreed. Hearing Sun Qian’s words, he now thought that Sun Qian had no intention of discrediting Pang Tong. At the same time, his favorability towards Pang Tong dropped because Pang Tong could not provide during times of an emergency.
“Milord, our provisions would not last. Other than the Xiliang Cavalry who are still fed twice a day, the other soldiers are already given less food. Although this can reduce our food expenses, it will not last for long. In half a month, we would need to start borrowing from the common people!” Sun Qian explained the situation.
“Borrowing provisions again?” Liu Bei immediately felt uncomfortable. The reason Liu Bei could obtain a territory and have the support of the citizens is because he had the reputation of a benevolent person. Borrowing provisions from the people would have negative effect on his reputation since he had borrowed provisions from them before.
“Milord. Your reputation is indeed important but it would be useless if our soldiers starve to death! If only the Military Advisor could have brought back provisions!” Sun Qian lamented. His words created a sense of hatred in Liu Bei. Liu Bei needed to choose between his reputation or his ambition. The cause of this is because of Pang Tong’s failure.
“Sun Qian!” Jian Yong was frightened. Since when was Sun Qian able to do this? He would have fallen for Sun Qian’s misguidance and also feel dissatisfied with Pang Tong if he had not been vigilant of Sun Qian.
Liu Bei gritted his teeth as he considered his options. He had to borrow provisions or his army would not have enough food. Both Cao Cao and Liu Mang would prefer him dead so if he were to be defeated, he would not meet a good end.
Meanwhile, Sun Qian was pleased to see Liu Bei struggle with his decision as discrediting Pang Tong was only the first step. Sun Qian was not without skill. Otherwise, he would not have been recommended by Zheng Xuan, nor would he have been able to support Liu Bei until Pang Tong arrived.
“Milord. Borrowing from the citizens may also not be feasible as the citizens would not have much as well. At most, their provisions could sustain our army for another half a month. Unless Milord is willing to extort the citizens, or if the Military Advisor manages to provide the provisions. Without those provisions, we would be finished.” Sun Qian added. This was simply a fact. Without the provisions, the enemy did not even need to attack to get rid of Liu Bei. The Xiliang Cavalry full of Qiang barbarians would do the job for them.
“What should we do?” Liu Bei was at a loss. He did not want to give up but borrowing provisions would only postpone the inevitable. Unfortunately, the people civil and military officers he looked to for advice weren’t miracle workers. They could not conjure provisions for Liu Bei. As a result, they simply tried to avoid his eyes.
Liu Bei’s expression turned darker when he did not get a reply. Jian Yong noticed this and quickly said. “Sun Qian. You must already have a plan if you have thought so far ahead. Why don’t you tell us?”
“Gongyou. What should we do?” Liu Bei immediately looked at Sun Qian after the reminder.
“Milord. We borrow provisions from Cao Cao.” Sun Qian suggested.
“Cao Cao?” All the others start to discuss amongst themselves as they all knew what kind of person Cao Cao was. More importantly, they knew that Cao Cao was Liu Bei’s mortal enemy.
Liu Bei’s expression turned bad again. Cao Cao wanted him dead so why would Cao Cao give him provisions? It was more likely that Cao Cao would rejoice at his predicament.
“Milord. There are three reasons why…”
“Milord! We received a report from the Military Advisor!” A messenger suddenly appeared and interrupted Sun Qian just as Sun Qian was about to give his reasoning.
“What?” Liu Bei quickly stood up. “The Military Advisor’s letter? Does that mean we got the provisions?”
“That’s great! We can now expand our army!” The others also cheered. A bigger army also meant more positions for them to fill.
“Quick! Bring the letter over!” Liu Bei was overjoyed since they had been waiting for so long.
“Milord…!” Sun Qian was dumbfounded. He did not even have a chance to speak.
“Gongyou. Postpone your suggestions. Let us read this letter first.” Liu Bei interrupted him with a smile.
“It is that Pang Tong again!” Sun Qian thought to himself hatefully. Yet, he could not do anything except withdraw.
When Liu Bei read the letter, hesitation and doubt appeared on his face.
“Milord, what’s wrong?”
“Xianhe. Come and look at this.” Liu Bei handed the letter to Jian Yong.
“This is… What is the Military Advisor thinking?” Jian Yong asked. Sun Qian also took a peek at the letter and understood that Pang Tong wanted Liu Bei to attack Fancheng.
“Hahaha!” Sun Qian laughed. If Pang Tong approved of this then Sun Qian would not. He was still angry at being interrupted by Pang Tong’s letter when it was supposed to be his time to shine.
Sun Qian’s laughter was so loud that Liu Bei felt uncomfortable. “Gongyou. What is your opinion of this?”
“Milord. This is not me having a complaint against the Military Advisor. However, this man wants to bring us all down!” Sun Qian bowed as he replied.
“That’s right! We cannot attack Fancheng!” Some of the officials objected as well. Attacking Fancheng would mean offending Liu Biao.
“Milord. Fancheng is not only heavily guarded. It is also a place that is naturally hard to attack. Over a hundred thousand soldiers will be needed to capture Fancheng.” Sun Qian explained. The amount of soldiers Liu Bei needed to capture Fancheng was his entire army. The losses would be too great.
“Milord. Even if we manage to obtain Fancheng, we would not escape death! Cao Cao is to the North and Liu Mang is to the East. If we make enemies with Liu Biao now, we would have enemies in all directions. Doesn’t that mean that the Military Advisor wants us to die as well?” Sun Qian’s explanation was well received by the civil and military officers. Liu Bei was not like Cao Cao who had a vast army. He could not afford to be surrounded by enemies.
“This…” Liu Bei frowned. He himself knew the risks stated by Sun Qian and did not want to attack Fancheng. Even domesticated dogs would bite off your bone if you irritated them too much, much less a warlord like Liu Biao.
“Milord. I think everyone is exaggerating too much.” Jian Yong suddenly said.
Sun Qian narrowed his eyes at Jian Yong. He still had some trust towards Jian Yong when the man slandered him in front of Liu Bei. However, he was now more certain that Jian Yong had allied with Pang Tong. Of course, this was just a misunderstanding. Jian Yong was wholly loyal to Liu Bei. He would only accuse those he thought was suspicious.
“Xianhe. What do you think?” Liu Bei asked Jian Yong.
“Milord. Fancheng is a strategic location for Liu Biao. Sun Qian is right when he says that we would offend Liu Biao by taking it. He is also correct when he says that we cannot fight three enemies at once. However, he has forgotten that Liu Mang and Liu Biao have already formed an alliance. There is no difference even if we were to offend Liu Biao now!” Jian Yong replied.
“That’s right! Liu Biao and Liu Mang and now allies!”
“As a matter of fact, Liu Biao’s heart is not in the alliance. The alliance is just for show!” Sun Qian’s words were correct. Liu Biao only wanted peace and had no intentions of being enemies with Liu Bei.
“Milord. Another point is that by capturing Fancheng, we would be right beside Jingzhou. More importantly, there are provisions in Fancheng. As a strategic point, it would be full of provisions!”
“Provisions!” Liu Bei’s eyes glinted.
“No Milord! We can borrow provisions from Cao Cao! We just need to…”
“Gongyou. There is no need to say anymore.” Liu Bei had already made his decision. All he needed was provisions to get through the crisis. He did not want to think about Cao Cao at all.
“Xianhe. How will we capture Fancheng?” Liu Bei asked.
“Milord. Fancheng is big but it has a weak point. Its weakness is that the gates are hard to close.” Jian Yong replied. A large city meant a large gate. While this gate was hard to breach, it was also hard to open and close.
Liu Bei thought of this and then called for Hu Che Er.
