Mythical Three Kingdoms

...

"Eighteen Feudal Lords, ha ha ha, as long as the Regent maintains his ambition, give me three months and I'll show you the disparity." Plans flickered through Li Ru's mind, and once again seeing hope, he had the energy to play the Eighteen Feudal Lords to death under Hulao Pass. However, all of these hinged on one condition, that Li Ru wouldn't discover that Dong Zhuo was just having a momentary lapse, and at other times he was still the greedy, brutish, and tyrannical fat man of Luoyang...

While Chen Xi was pondering how to deal with Dong Zhuo while expanding Liu Bei's reputation and power, Li Ru was also considering how to wipe out the Eighteen Feudal Lords within one or two months. In his opinion, this task was not particularly difficult.

"Lord Xuande..." Chen Xi, bleary-eyed and holding a bowl of wine, toasted Liu Bei who had just entered.

"Zichuan, wake up, wake up!" Liu Bei shook Chen Xi to rouse him.

"What is it, Lord Xuande?" Chen Xi responded somewhat sluggishly.

"Zichuan, wake up first, quickly now, there is something I need to ask you about," Liu Bei said urgently, his face flush with excitement and anticipation.

"What is it?" With that, Chen Xi's befuddled eyes suddenly regained clarity. He didn't have Guan and Zhang's ability to expel the alcohol with their qi, but summoning his spiritual power to clear his mind was still feasible.

Liu Bei quickly recounted the day's events to Chen Xi, who was taken aback, then scratched his head and said, "That's good news, isn't it? What's the problem with that?"

After mobilizing his troops, Liu Bei had directly targeted the large camps of Tao Qian and Kong Rong nearby, the two with whom he had recently formed good relations. Clearly, Tao Qian's men had some ability, as despite their camp being raided and thrown into chaos, the Elite Troops of Danyang remained steadfast in protecting the center. After Liu Bei's arrival and their combined forces, the army quickly stabilized.

As for Kong Rong's camp, the situation was much worse. While the Saint's Descendant found teaching and cultivating others a breeze, warfare was not his strength. Kong Rong's entire camp was in such astonishing disarray that, had it not been for a military general holding off two of the enemy's generals, Kong Rong might well have fallen amidst the chaos.

Because of this, Liu Bei's rescue could be considered as timely help in a snowstorm for Kong Rong. Since Liu Bei was already highly favored as a Han Imperial Kinsman, Kong Rong's goodwill was practically exploding. Thus, after repelling the troops that had attacked at night, Kong Rong, along with Tao Qian and Liu Bei, enjoyed tea in his own camp.

As the three of them chatted and the conversation turned toward their respective domains, upon learning Liu Bei was residing in the Youzhou Plain Kingdom, Kong Rong grandly offered to recommend Liu Bei as the Prefectural Governor for his neighboring region of Mount Tai Commandery. After some thought, Tao Qian also expressed his willingness to jointly recommend Liu Bei for the governorship.

With both men in agreement, the position was virtually assured as long as Liu Bei did not decline. Do not underestimate Kong Rong just because he was a scholar; his status lent considerable weight to his words. If the central authorities rejected Kong Rong's recommendation, he could easily build momentum for Liu Bei, ensuring his fame spread far and wide and compelling acceptance of the position eventually.

Furthermore, with Tao Qian, a Provincial Governor, willing to back him, even if the higher-ups were reluctant, some negotiation during these tumultuous times would see Liu Bei into that seat.

"Zichuan, you don't understand the situation in Mount Tai Commandery. Qingzhou has always had a valiant population, and with the chaos following the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the region is rife with banditry. Some powerful mountain bandits and thieves have even fortified cities. The only parts of Qingzhou that can be considered peaceful are a few prefecture cities," Liu Bei explained with a wry smile, feeling Chen Xi was not yet fully awake.

"Isn't it just some Yellow Turbans and mountain bandits and thugs?" Chen Xi retorted dismissively, "What's there to fear from these folks? With Mount Tai Commandery, we'll have our own territory, our own people, and a chance to grow. Managing Mount Tai Commandery, no matter how troublesome, is much better than being cornered in one place."

"Zichuan, are you sure you're sober?" Liu Bei said with a forced smile, "You probably don't realize how serious the bandit problem in Qingzhou really is."

"Alright, I'm not sober yet, tell me how serious it is," Chen Xi said indifferently.

"It's very serious. There are over a million bandit troops in Qingzhou, and if you include the civilians they've coerced, the total number could exceed two million. The Mount Tai Commandery alone has about three hundred thousand Bandits of Mount Tai!" Liu Bei told Chen Xi the information he had learned, his face grim.

"Two million?" Chen Xi scratched his head; he remembered that when Cao Cao dealt with Qingzhou, there were only a little over a million from which he selected three hundred thousand individuals in good physical condition to form the Qingzhou Army. How come there are now two million?

"Two million is an understatement. Including those civilians who pass messages for the Yellow Turban Bandits, you could say the entire Qingzhou is infested with bandits," Liu Bei explained with a headache. He truly coveted the territory of the Mount Tai Commandery, but the problem was that it was unmanageable! Bandits were everywhere, and his force of five thousand would barely make a splash if thrown into the fray!

"Alright, if there are bandits everywhere, then let's assume there are three million. So many people, all of them human, and even one-tenth of them have seen blood. With a bit of training, they could become young and able-bodied soldiers," Chen Xi said with a teasing look, but unfortunately, Liu Bei did not understand.

"Zichuan, now is not the issue of soldiers. Mount Tai Commandery was indeed a good place in the past, but now it's plagued with banditry, and without an army of a hundred thousand, it cannot be pacified! Moreover, we would always be at risk of a counterattack from the entire Yellow Turbans of Qingzhou, making it impossible to hold a position!" Liu Bei said helplessly.

"Lord Xuande, what's your ideal?" Chen Xi casually looked in a direction, "Is it still the same as before?"

"To restore the Han Dynasty! My ideal is to restore the Han Dynasty!" Although Liu Bei did not understand why Chen Xi changed the subject, he answered without a moment's hesitation.

"Does Lord Xuande have the backing that Alliance Leader Yuan has?" Chen Xi turned to look directly at Liu Bei as he asked.

"Obviously not, Benchu is a descendant from a lineage of Four Generations Three Dukes of the Yuan Family, with such profound resources that I cannot compare," Liu Bei shook his head.

"Then does Lord Xuande have the reputation that Kong Beihai has?" Chen Xi continued to ask with a smile.

"Not even close. Kong Beihai is a descendant of the Saint, a Great Confucian Scholar. How could I be mentioned in the same breath?" Liu Bei still shook his head.

"Then does Lord Xuande have the strength of Tao Gongzu?" Chen Xi looked at Liu Bei, who was still puzzling over it, with a calm smile on his face.

"I certainly do not. Tao Gongzu, possessing the wealthy Xuzhou and the Elite Troops of Danyang, is not someone people can normally compare to," Liu Bei shook his head again as he spoke.

"Then how is Lord Xuande going to restore the Han Dynasty?" Chen Xi asked with a smile.

"That's, that is…" Liu Bei opened his mouth but found himself unable to say his usual line about recruiting talents.

"Lord Xuande, you have nothing at all," Chen Xi said softly.

"Nothing at all..." Liu Bei murmured to himself, and at that moment, he realized that ever since the Yellow Turban Rebellion, he, Liu Bei, had still achieved nothing over the years. Although he could now sit among the Feudal Lords, command the world's elite forces, and wield the strongest generals, on closer reflection, he indeed had nothing at all.