Did You Really Come Alone to Defect? Leizhenzi's Disgust, Ji Chang: Never Entrust Him with Important Office

"You came to the western lands alone, abandoning all your influence."

"You gave up the connections, relationships, and everything else you built over so many years in Chentang Pass. Isn't that a losing deal?"

"You said you came alone. What meaning is there in that?"

"Who are you planning to lead? If I parachuted you into another place as an official, would the local officials submit to you?"

"If I made you a feudal lord over a realm, how would you raise a capable force without any men under your command? Without trusted confidants, how could you get anything done?"

"If you had to cultivate them anew, how much time would it take to settle this matter?"

"Now that I've put it that way, don't you understand much more?"

Seeing Li Jing's face darken.

Ji Chang immediately returned to his gentle, calm tone. "Of course, Commander Li, if you return and discuss important matters with your subordinates before bringing people over to defect, we would still welcome you."

"Besides, without any confidants, how could you possibly receive an important position after coming to West Qi?"

"You have no one you can use, right?"

"I also believe Commander Li's influence in Chentang Pass is not insignificant. Why not spend the next few days properly learning about Great Zhou here in Chentang Pass?"

"Once you feel that Great Zhou is worth serving, you can go back and think it over carefully."

"What do you say?"

Those words could be considered a way of preserving Li Jing's dignity.

Yet they left Li Jing's face flushed red with embarrassment.

Go back first, then make plans? Carefully consider whom he could persuade to defect to West Qi?

How long had he already been gone??

After all this time, that letter of severance had surely long