In Luo Xiao's army.
Many Canal Commanders did not understand what the Great Teacher of the Way was doing or why they did not charge straight into Luoyang. After holding back for so long, they finally could bear it no longer and went to Luo Xiao's tent to ask.
Luo Xiao gazed at the map of the Great Han hanging on the wall. Compared with the Former Han's map, this one had shrunk somewhat.
A great swath of the Protectorate of Liaodong in the Northeast had been occupied by the powerful Yan State.
The Yan State had been founded by Han people and secretly aided by the Luo Clan. They possessed culture and civilization, and surviving in that cruel land of ice and snow had made the Yan soldiers terrifyingly formidable in battle. Four words summed them up-fierce, fearless of death!
In that cruel environment, they could die at any moment anyway. Who would still cherish life?
Their failure to advance further over the past few years was due to serious conflicts among the Yan State's major clans. It had not come to armed infighting, but it had tied up much of their energy.
Hearing the Canal Commanders' questions, Luo Xiao sighed with feeling. Pointing at the map on the wall, he said, "What a mighty Han Dynasty. Count every power around it-not one could be considered its match.
"Such a powerful dynasty, yet its insides have rotted to this extent. Still, with three centuries of accumulated might, no one would ever imagine the Han Dynasty falling.
"How does one break the Han Dynasty's Mandate of Heaven?
"Would merely capturing the emperor suffice?
"Perhaps everyone under heaven would think the emperor was a muddleheaded ruler to begin with and no longer represented the Han Dynasty.
"I have thought it over