Chapter 798: 761. New Round Of Undercurrents & Ju Shou
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Several minutes passed before Jia Xu returned, this ti with deliberate purpose. Flanking him were several shadowy figures cloaked in muted tones, their presence unassuming yet unmistakably dangerous. At their center walked Xu Kai, commander of the Oriole Agents, the unseen blade in Lie Fan’s arsenal.
Xu Kai’s presence was calm but coiled with restrained energy. He walked with a quiet confidence, a man long accustod to the murk of alleyways, the thrill of whispers, and the finality of a dagger in the dark. As he and his agents ca to a halt before Lie Fan, they dropped to one knee with practiced fluidity.
“My lord,” Xu Kai greeted, his voice respectful, asured. “What would you have your hidden eyes, mouths, ears, and hands awaits your command and execute your bidding.”
Lie Fan turned at last, the faint smile on his face anything but warm.
“Xu Kai, I want you to personally oversee our operations inside Cao Cao’s domain,” Lie Fan said, his tone even but iron underneath. “The west is where he intends to march next in his long plan as his ultimate goal. Let him have Hanzhong. That is acceptable. But the Gansu Corridor and the Qinghai Plateau? No.”
His voice sharpened, eyes narrowing.
“Sabotage his preparations. Accidents at supply depots. Fires in his granaries. Stir unrest among the border towns. Anything that hinders or delays his ability to move west, I want it done. Quietly. Discreetly. Make it look like misfortune, not malice.”
Jia Xu, standing slightly apart, stroked his beard thoughtfully. “A direct confrontation would be unwise at this stage. But subtlety has always been our strength. I wholeheartedly support this plan, my lord.”
Xu Kai listened, absorbing every word with the quiet intensity of a man who made his living in silence. Before he then let out a smirk. “A few overturned grain carts here, a mysteriously collapsed bridge perhaps… I’ll make sure Cao Cao’s preparation for his western campaign becos a nightmare, my lord.”
Lie Fan continued, stepping closer, his voice lowering slightly. “As for Yi Province, coordinate with Fa Zheng, Zhang Song, and ng Da. They know their land and Liu Zhang’s army. Use them. Strengthen resistance where it counts. And to further muddy the waters, I want our agents embedded across Yi Province to start causing small disturbances. A missing supply train here. A sudden rumor of desertion there. Slow Cao Cao’s advance with confusion and fear.”
Jia Xu folded his arms, adding with a calculating smile, “If Cao Cao wishes to walk the path of conquest for Yi Province and hinder your plan my lord, making his path lined with thorns is an absolutely beautiful sche.”
Xu Kai nodded. “Understood, my lord. When do we begin?”,
“As soon as possible,” Lie Fan said, stepping back. “Ti is not our ally. But it will be our weapon. We have plenty in our arsenal after all.”
Xu Kai stood and gave a crisp salute. Without another word, he turned and departed with his team, lting into the shadows of the fortress like ghosts returning to the fog.
Jia Xu lingered a mont longer beside Lie Fan. “Choosing a asured response and not a direct counterstroke, wise choice my lord.”
Lie Fan’s gaze returned to the horizon. “Cao Cao thrives in direct confrontation. He prepares for war, not decay. Let him unknowingly march into a campaign built on sand.”
Jia Xu chuckled. “He’ll curse the heavens before he realizes the earth itself was shifting beneath his feet.”
The strategist bowed and followed Xu Kai down the steps, leaving Lie Fan once again alone on the high wall, watching the west, waiting for the wind to change.
On the other hand, on Luoyang, Cao Cao’s envoys departed for Hanzhong, bearing generous terms for Zhang Lu’s surrender. The response was swift, Zhang Lu, pragmatic as ever, accepted vassalage without protest. Hanzhong’s gates opened without bloodshed, and Cao Cao’s banners flew over its walls.
But, deep inside Luoyang, unaware of the seeds of discord already being sown beneath his very feet, Cao Cao began laying the groundwork for his western campaign.
In the northern sector of the city, craftsn and blacksmiths worked around the clock, forging weapons, fitting horseshoes, and reinforcing wagons. Supply lines were being redrawn.
Quartermasters barked orders. New officers were appointed to oversee provisioning for the western armies. Maps were redrafted. Roads surveyed.
Yet soon, subtle oddities began to surface.
A weapons shipnt bound for Chang’An vanished sowhere near the border, only to be discovered days later, half burned, half pillaged, its escort murdered. The incident was chalked up to local bandits, but the timing was inconvenient.
A granary fire erupted in a border town that had long supported the western deploynts. Initial investigations found no traces of sabotage, and yet, the fire had started at three separate points simultaneously. The flas devoured three months’ worth of rations.
In another town, a sudden outbreak of illness, food poisoning, they thought at first, sidelined over a hundred soldiers bound for the western command. It took ten days to isolate and recover.
None of these events, on their own, raised more than passing concern.
But Guo Jia, the watchful and sensitive strategist, began to frown.
“It’s too convenient Wenruo,” he murmured to Xun Yu during one council session. “Too consistent. It may seem happening at different interval and at random ti, but I could see the pattern of convenient.”
Xun Yu leaned forward, brow furrowed. “You suspect enemy spies, Fengxiao?”
Guo Jia nodded slowly. “I do. Not Sun Ce. Not Liu Zhang. This reeks of Lie Fan’s handywork.”
Across Luoyang, the suspicion began to fester,not a loud alarm, but a creeping itch at the back of the mind. A pattern too scattered to prove, but too deliberate to ignore.
Still, Cao Cao pressed forward for his plan.
anwhile, in Yi Province, events began to spiral.
Fa Zheng received the first coded ssage from the Oriole Agents under Xu Kai’s direction, written in the simplest of phrases on the back of an ordinary trader’s manifest. He read it once, then burned it in a brazier, lips tightening.
“Master Zhang Song and ng Da,” he muttered, calling over his long ti allies and friends. “The ti had co for us to defend Yi Province for Lord Lie Fan.”
Together, the two of them began the delicate dance of fortifying Liu Zhang’s northern defenses while maintaining the illusion of normalcy.
ng Da, on the other hand, began coordination with Yan Yan and Zhang Ren drilling the provincial army harder, replacing low and middle ranking officers known to favor surrender with those loyal to resistance.
Fa Zheng have also began coordinating with ng Huo who still wants to sit in the fence and doesn’t pledge his allegiance to Lie Fan, to join in on the defence of Yi Province by leading his Nanman tribesman to battle, in exchange for riches and more favorable livelihoods conditions of his people.
As all of this was happening, back in Xiapi, the morning sun filtered through the latticed windows of the palace office, bathing the room in a warm, golden light.
The scent of fresh parchnt, incense, and steeped tea hung in the air. Seated behind his lacquered desk, Lie Fan maintained his calm and composed deanor, his eyes sharp yet courteous as he regarded the man seated opposite him.
Ju Shou, once the loyal advisor of Liu Bei, now sat with hands folded on his lap, posture upright, though the tension in his shoulders betrayed the storm within.
His hair had grown more disheveled from the days spent in his cell after his last eting with Lie Fan, but his eyes retained their clarity, a scholar’s gaze, contemplative and proud. Today, though, they held sothing more, resignation and a trace of reluctant resolve.
Lie Fan, ever the courteous host, took a sip from his porcelain teacup. The silence lingered for a heartbeat before he gently set the cup down with a soft clink and motioned toward Ju Shou’s untouched tea.
“)”Please, Master Ju Shou,” he said, voice smooth like flowing water. “It would dishonor the host if his guest refused his hospitality.”
Ju Shou inclined his head and lifted the cup, the rim touching his lips for a brief sip. He did not particularly crave the tea, but he understood the ritual, the unspoken language of courtly respect and veiled intentions.
The mont the cup returned to its saucer, Ju Shou straightened. His tone was steady, restrained. “My lord… I have made my decision.”
Lie Fan, caught mid motion as he reached for another sip, paused. He smiled, genuine but edged with calculation, and placed his cup down with deliberate care. “Ah, finally. A mont I’ve been awaiting with anticipation. And so, tell , Master Ju Shou, will you accept my offer, or do you refuse it?”
Ju Shou lowered his gaze briefly, exhaled a soft sigh, then looked up with resolve. “I accept your offer, my lord.”
A beat of silence followed. Then Lie Fan laughed, not mocking, not triumphant, but warm, as if to welco an old friend to the hearth. “Marvelous. Truly marvelous. You have chosen not just for yourself, but for the people who depend on you, and for that, I comnd your wisdom.”
He rose from his seat and stepped forward, offering his hand, not as a victor to the vanquished, but as a ruler acknowledging an esteed servant.
“You are a man of loyalty, Master Ju Shou. That you still hold mories of Liu Bei speaks of your character. But in choosing to serve , know this, your past shall not haunt your present. You begin anew, and I shall judge you solely on your deeds from this day forward.”
Relief flickered across Ju Shou’s face. He bowed deeply. “Then allow to offer my thanks, my lord. For your magnanimity, and for granting a path to serve once again.”
And so it was decided. Ju Shou would take on the role of Governor of Langye, replacing Lie Shang, Lie Fan’s own father, who was stepping down for retirent. A formal letter bearing Lie Fan’s seal was sent out the sa day, and word spread swiftly through the court.
Two days later, Ju Shou, now clad in the modest yet dignified robes of a provincial governor, departed Xiapi with his family. His heart was a strange tangle of emotion, guilt, pride, anticipation, but he left with purpose.
That very afternoon, Lie Fan found himself enjoying a rare mont of solitude, reviewing reports from Xu Kai’s operations and evaluating troop rotations, when one of his Yellow Ghost bodyguard guard knocked briskly on the door of his study. “My lord,” it was Pei Yuan Shao who cos in, bowing. “General Ma Chao has arrived. Alone.”
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Na: Lie Fan
Title: Overlord Of The Central Plains
Age: 34 (201 AD)
Level: 16
Next Level: 462,000
Renown: 1325
Cultivation: Yin Yang Separation (level 9)
SP: 1,121,700
ATTRIBUTE POINTS
STR: 951 ( 20)
VIT: 613 ( 20)
AGI: 598 ( 10)
INT: 617
CHR: 96
WIS: 519
WILL: 407
ATR Points: 0
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