Back in the Imperial Court, any one of Lü Bu, Guan Yu, or Zhang Fei could easily have cut off his head.
Even if Yan Liang and Wen Chou had been present, they could not have stopped it.
The problem was that killing Yuan Shao would do nothing to change the Son of Heaven's situation.
After Yuan Shao died, his sons would inherit his forces. The Son of Heaven would remain under their control, his circumstances unchanged.
Nor could they take the Son of Heaven out of Yuan Shao's stronghold. They would only lose their own lives instead.
"This is infuriating!" Lü Bu's eyes bulged with impotent rage.
He knew Liu Bei was right, but he could not reconcile himself to it.
He had brought only a thousand troops to escort Yuan Shu to Ye City this time. Fierce generals under his command, such as Zhang Liao and Gao Shun, were guarding the major cities of Xu Province and Yang Province. Even Chen Gong had remained in Shouchun.
Had he known, he would have brought tens of thousands of troops.
He would have stormed Ye City outright and cut off Yuan Shao's head, sending him on his way alongside Yuan Shu.
Liu Bei continued, "Yuan Shao is powerful entirely because he occupies Bing Province, Qing Province, and Ji Province, and has the prestige of the Yuan Clan's Four Generations of Three Excellencies behind him."
"At present, we lack the strength to rescue His Majesty. We can only build our strength gradually and defeat Yuan Shao openly and honorably in the future."
"We now hold Shouchun and some of Yang Province's cities. Once we drive Cao Cao and Sun Ce out of Yang Province, we will possess two provinces. Then, with Xu Province and Yang Province as our foundation, we can