Marquis Ying, Luo Chuan, paid very close attention to this war between Yanzhou and Qingzhou.
His prestige throughout All Under Heaven was immense. Someone like him ought to have sat as securely as a fisherman on his terrace, but his identity forced him to descend from that lofty perch.
Atop the walls of Luo Ying City.
Luo Chuan gazed westward into the distance as the sun slowly sank. Luo Qian stood quietly beside him, dressed in a plain robe and skirt, a hairpin in her hair. Suddenly, Luo Chuan asked, "My lady, who do you think will win?"
Without the slightest hesitation, Luo Qian replied, "I don't know. Are you prepared for Liu Bei to fail?"
Liu Bei failing!
Luo Chuan said nothing. He merely reached out and gently stroked the gray bricks of the wall. They bore the marks of wind and rain, along with the traces of countless blades and the fires of war. Every brick and tile held the history of Marquis Ying's Marquisate.
People had attacked Marquis Ying's Marquisate at both the end of the Former Han and the end of the Later Han, because everyone knew it was "the Great Han's last iron wall." Anyone who wished to overthrow the Han Court would never leave it alone.
If Liu Bei failed and Cao Cao occupied Yanzhou and Qingzhou, would Cao Cao be a loyal servant of the Great Han?
If he was not, where would that leave Marquis Ying's Marquisate?
Luo Chuan truly did not know how to answer his wife. He had prepared for the possibility of Liu Bei's failure, because no one was certain to succeed. He had not prepared for the possibility of Liu Bei's failure, because he still did not know whom else he could turn to for support in upholding