Only then did Yuan Shao realize that the writing on the secret letter looked like ants crawling across the page.
Even when he had first begun learning to write, his handwriting had been better than this!
Wild with delight, Ju Shou continued, "It seems both your earlier suspicions and mine were wrong, my lord. He is certainly not the Son of Heaven!"
Yuan Shao nodded in wholehearted agreement.
Deep down, he had never wanted to believe that Liu Xie was the Son of Heaven.
Now, with the handwriting as further evidence, it was all but certain that he had merely been overthinking things.
Taking the secret letter from Ju Shou and burning it in the fire, Yuan Shao asked, "But why did Cao Cao, Yang Biao, Fu Wan, and Dong Cheng send men to Ye City?"
Freed from his fear of the Nine-Clan Eradication Game, Ju Shou instantly recovered his former poise.
A smile appeared at the corners of his mouth as he said calmly, "There is no hurry to resolve that. You have many informants in Cao Cao's camp, my lord, so we can gradually uncover the truth later. Our most urgent task is to retake Ye City!"
"You could send Cui Yan a letter asking whether Yuan Xi truly intends to strip Zhang Liao of his military command."
"If that is true, you can reap the fisherman's reward, seizing Ye City while Yuan Xi and Zhang Liao struggle against each other!"
Cui Yan came from the Qinghe Cui Clan, a great clan of Ji Province.
In his youth, he had studied under the great scholar Zheng Xuan alongside Liu Bei, and he was also a core member of Yuan Shao's circle of advisers.
He was also an adviser whom the three brothers Yuan Tan, Yuan Shang, and Yuan