"Attack Mount Tai?"
Lü Bu asked in considerable surprise at Yuan Shao's words, "Your Majesty, our army has the advantage here. Why not take the Han Army in one vigorous push?"
Yuan Shao replied, "My lord, there is something you do not know. After the great battles against Gongsun Zan and Yan State, our Zhao State's grain reserves in Jizhou are nearly exhausted. Only last year's bumper harvest allowed us to muster our army and march south.
"Now Jizhou supplies forty percent of our army's grain, while Qingzhou has to supply sixty percent instead.
"The troops gathered at Guandu now number over three hundred thousand, including over sixty thousand cavalry, with two hundred thousand horses. Feeding these hundreds of thousands of men and horses costs an astronomical amount.
"Without Qingzhou's grain and fodder, relying on Jizhou alone, we would run out of food within three months.
"How long the Han Army's grain and fodder can last, however, remains unknown.
"If we cannot break through the Han Army's camp within three months, the consequences are something I dare not imagine.
"I truly do not wish to take that risk."
Unwilling to take risks?
Lü Bu was somewhat astonished.
Who in all the land did not know that Yuan Shao excelled at staking everything whenever a major matter arose? Almost every great victory since he first emerged had come because he dared to put everything on the line.
What had happened now?
Could it be that, with such vast holdings, he had lost that boldness?
Even Lü Bu had sensed something amiss. How could clever people like Luo Yan and his companions fail to notice?
The others were still bewildered, unaware of what had happened, but Luo Yan knew. His heart lurched, and he knew things were bad. The Book of Man's