The Proper Way to Activate the White Horse Yicong (Part Two)

Liu Bei's movements were so frequent that Yuan Shao soon received word of them. As he looked over the intelligence gathered by his men, Yuan Shao's face turned livid, and he slammed a palm down hard on the desk.

"Liu Bei, you insolent bastard! How dare you!"

It was no wonder Yuan Shao was so furious. Wang Xuan had chosen an absolutely critical moment.

Yuan Shao was not yet the overlord of the north that he would become several years later. He was merely a warlord who had annexed Jizhou a little over a year ago. Relying on Jizhou's abundant resources, he had sent a hundred thousand troops to attack Bingzhou while also resisting Gongsun Zan's invasion for over a year. After suffering defeat after defeat, he had lost a third of Jizhou.

Over the past year, the troops restrained by Gongsun Zan, along with those killed or wounded, had already numbered more than a hundred thousand. On top of that, he had to guard against the bandits in the Taihang Mountains and Cao Cao to the south...

Two-thirds of Jizhou was supporting an army of more than two hundred thousand. Yuan Shao had truly exhausted himself. Now that Liu Bei had suddenly stuck his foot in, it would have been strange if Yuan Shao had not gone mad.

He was truly afraid—afraid that Liu Bei would get hotheaded and become fully involved. If that happened, the spoils Yuan Shao could claim from this great victory would inevitably shrink by a huge amount.

The problem was that the bad news did not end there...

"We've already suffered several attacks over the past few days. The greatest losses were at a granary and a grain transport convoy. Altogether, we lost more than a hundred thousand shi of grain." Xu You's expression