If you want to read 15 Chapters ahead and more, be sure to check out my Patreon!!!
Go to https://www.patreon.com/Tang12
___________________________
Hearing what Kuai Liang had just said, Liu Bei could only nod his head and tell Kuai Yue to draft the letters to both Liu Zhang and Yuan Shao asking them to be his allies, what purpose Liu Bei had for the alliance, and lastly, the terms that he gave to the two of them what kind of benefits they will receive and his promise that he would give some land to the two of them, Yuan Shao from Cao Cao lands and Liu Zhang from Liu Biao lands.
Everyone agreed with what Liu Bei said except for the last part, as they didn't need to specify that Liu Bei would give some land to them, where he would have a piece of written evidence that would make some obstacles for them in the future.
Kuai Liang and Kuai Yue immediately protested these terms, saying that it doesn't need to be written and just a verbal argument would do.
This would only hinder their maneuver and give Liu Zhang and Yuan Shao a choice on what land they want, which would be their loss because the two of them court take the bigger and better town and lands.
Leaving them with the town and lands that don't have any benefits, and would only be a burden for their economy and agriculture because they had to improve and feed the people of the town and lands.
Ju Shou and Wang Xiu also agree with what Kuwi Liang and Kuai Yue said, causing Liu Bei to be angered by the imprudence of his advisors but he managed to hide it well, not even Kuai Liang noticed the changes.
He calmed himself down before addressing his advisors, using the utmost compassion he could, and said to his advisors that he would rather be cheated than be the one doing the cheating and lying to people.
If he lied or cheated to gain what he wanted, it would go against all of his beliefs which would impact his consciousness, and that's something that he would never do in a million years.
He would rather lose everything even his life than go against his beliefs and way of life, and Liu Bei's extreme passion through his acting skills that he had accumulated over the years managed to persuade his advisors.
The passion that Liu Bei had carefully cr As ted and mastered over the years touched the hearts of his advisors, even Kuai Liang who had years of experience in life managed to be tricked.
Liu Bei's words managed to overthrow the protests that his advisors had over his decision, one that he began to somewhat regret after hearing what his advisors said, but decided to go forward with it.
If he had backed down on the decision he had made, he is sure that his advisors would have small doubts about the personality that he had painfully created over the years, something more precious than losing lands and towns that could be taken back.
Seeing that there were no protests and his advisors agreed with his decision, Liu Bei told Kuai Yue to immediately draft the letter and then send it to Yuan Shao and Liu Zhang as soon as possible.
Kuai Yue cupped his hand and left the hall to do the assignment given to him, while the others with Liu Bei continued the meeting discussing the development of Xiangyang and the entire Northen Jing Province.
The news that Liu Bei wanted to create an alliance with Yuan Shao and Liu Zhang was informed to Lie Fan, m through the Oriole in Xiangyang, and this move somewhat alarmed Lie Fan.
The reason is that if Liu Bei managed to ally himself with Yuan Shao, then his Western campaign against Cao Cao would have more variables come into play, with Liu Bei and Yuan Shao suddenly attacking Cao Cao as well.
Even though he knew that Yuan Shao wanted to advance to the west and eliminate Zhang Yan first to truly unify the north, he had the army to attack Cao Cao whose army had been distracted by his army.
Combined with Liu Bei from the south, their pincer attack posed a potentially high threat that could jeopardize his Western campaign, especially since he only planned to unify the central plains and almost overthrew Cao Cao just yet.
Cao Cao still holds some sort of value, where he could become a shield in the West against the Ma Clan and also Liu Zhang by proxy since Lie Fan is sure that Zhang Lu would begin to decide whose side he would join sooner or later.
Lie Fan couldn't think of the possibility of this threat to happen how big, so he gathered all of his top advisors in a meeting inside his office to discuss this.
All of them were surprised by the news that Liu Bei could possibly ally himself with Liu Zhang and Yuan Shao, of course, Liu Zhang isn't that much of a threat but Yuan Shao on the other hand is a different matter.
Liu Zhang didn't have any access to them whatsoever, and Liu Bei definitely wouldn't allow his army to pass through his lands, but Yuan Shao on the other hand had access to their domain and had a large army to back it up.
Jia Xu then gave his opinion that there was a high chance that the alliance could happen because Yuan Shao needed an ally in the South, and Liu Bei was the right choice for Yuan Shao.
Because he is much stronger than Liu Bei which puts him in the position of the leader of the alliance, and also strategically Liu Beu could help him in attacking both Cao Cao and their domain.
Jia Xu then continued his words by making an important addition that this would happen if only Yuan Shao's advisors could get on the same page, something with a small possibility of happening.
Everyone agreed with Jia Xu's words, as all of this would go according to whether Yuan Shao's advisors could get on the same page or not, and as Lie Fan was having a meeting with his top advisors, something happened at Wuling that shook Liu Biao's entire force.
Liu Biao who was healthy as an ox and didn't get sick during his long retreat from Xiangyang, got sick with an unknown disease after staying in Wuoing for some time, causing a huge uproar.
If it's just an ordinary sickness maybe it would have caused such a huge uproar, but it was an unknown disease and very deadly because Liu Biao couldn't do anything but stay in his bed.
This caused Lady Cai and several handmaidens to take care of the sick Liu Biao, with doctors coming almost every day to find out what disease Liu Biao got and reduce the pain that Liu Biao felt.
With Liu Biao bedridden, Liu Cong as his heir replaced him to govern what remained of Liu Biao's domain, with Cai Mao and the Cai Clan assisting Liu Cong in his governance of Liu Biao's domain.
All of the clans that targeted the Cai Clan were surprised when Cai Mao was appointed to assist Liu Cong because this meant Cai Mao and the Cai Clan returned back to the position of power.
Tru to their thought, the next day after Liu Cong replaced Liu Biao, Cai Mao was reinstated as the Grand General of Liu Biao's army, and the Cai Clan's members were returned to the position of power.
Zhang Yan who was the maternal uncle of Liu Cong and one of the Cai Clan's supporters, was made the enforcer of the law or constable and all of this caused the entire clans that targeted the Cai Clan, to rise together protesting this move by Liu Cong.
Liu Cong who was leading for the first time was flustered as the news was being protested left and right, Cai Mao and Zhang Yan who saw this immediately used their power to silence them either by money or force.
The two of them caused a bloodbath in Wuling as they also used this chance to take revenge, taking many influential clans down in the process which caused a vacuum of position and power.
Many smaller clans that curried favor with the Cai Clan and stood by their side during the Cai Clan crisis, clamored to fill the positions that were emptied due to Cai Mao and Zhang Yan's bloodbath.
This caused Wuling chaotic situation to be further chaotic since the smaller clans joined in on the fun, and Cai Mao allowed this to happen even though Liu Cong at first tried to stop it but Cai Mao told him to let it happen.
He grimly smiled as all of this happened around him because what no one doesn't know is that he was the one who caused this to happen, he and his sister Lady Cai were the ones who caused Liu Biao to be sick.
This was the plan that he and his sister four after several days of secret meetings and believed this was the only way the Cai Clan could rise again, especially since Liu Biao didn't accept any diplomatic approach.
So he and his sister gather any components of diseases they could find and mix them together, before serving them to Liu Biao inside his dishes without anyone even the chefs noticing it.
Maybe because it was Lady Cai who put the ingredients and said that it was a tonic, causing the chefs to think that it was for Liu Biao and Lady Cai's night activities so they ignored whatever Lady Cai doing, even disappear so that Lady Cai doesn't need to be shy.
All of this was done by him so that they could put Liu Cong in the seat of power, reinstate the Cai Clan to positions of power, and silence all opposition that dared to oppose them easily because the ultimate power was in the Cai Clan's hand.
As Cai Mao was watching all of the chaos with relish, Liu Biao was accompanied by Lady Cai in their chamber, where he was lying down on his bed taking some tonic from Lady Cai who was feeding him.
His entire body was riddled with pain from top to bottom, and it was only the tonic from his wife that reduced the pain he was feeling, and all the care that was given by Lady Cai touched his heart causing him to rethink his choices that caused the Cai Clan to suffer a lot of losses, as he is oblivious that all of this was planned by his wife and brother in law where they even had planned for him to be bedridden forever.
_______________________
Name: Lie Fan
Title: Three Heroes Who Defeat Lu Bu
Age: 31 (198 AD)
Level: 16
Next Level: 462,000
Renown: 825
Cultivation: Yin Yang Separation (level 9)
SP: 1,121,700
ATTRIBUTE POINTS
STR: 936 (+20)
VIT: 598 (+20)
AGI: 583 (+10)
INT: 587
CHR: 96
WIS: 509
WILL: 397
ATR Points: 0