Bai Xiaowen thought his argument made perfect sense.
Guan Yu disagreed. He shook his head and said, "If the House of Han cannot be restored, the realm will never know peace, and the common people will have no way to survive. Without a rightful claim, your words carry no weight; without that, nothing you attempt will succeed. You hold the emperor captive and have usurped his authority. You mean to seize the Yan Han's four-hundred-year legacy, but the heroes of the realm will never accept you, and the wars will never end."
Guan Yu went on, "If you truly care for the people, surrender your military command, invite my elder brother to court to assist in governing, and return power to the emperor! If you do that, the Sun Clan of Jiangdong will be too weak to resist the court, and the likes of Shi Xie in Jiaozhou will hardly matter. The realm could be united and at peace in no time! But of course, you would never do that. You raised an army to fight for the realm for your own sake."
Bai Xiaowen shook his head inwardly.
Trying to persuade Guan Yu from the standpoint of the common people had been a poor choice.
For the scholars and generals of the Three Kingdoms Plane, the legitimacy of the House of Han mattered most. The welfare of the people mattered too, of course, but the idea of putting the people first had not taken root as deeply as it would in later ages, nor had it become a shared conviction.
Bai Xiaowen said, "If I did as you say and surrendered my troops, the emperor's first act would be to kill me and remove a future threat."
Guan Yu said nothing.
Bai Xiaowen continued:
"Once I take the realm,