Once he realized that one and a half million had become five hundred thousand, Liu Cheng was visibly rattled. For all his earlier certainty, all his talk of ten years of national fortune, he truly did not know whether five hundred thousand exceeded Yan's limits.
His reason and his years of firsthand experience struggling through military life told him that five hundred thousand would not work either. That, too, would bring a tremendous collapse.
But at least it would not be the total collapse that one and a half million would cause, would it?
And had Wang Jian not destroyed Chu with six hundred thousand men?
Considering the most relevant precedent, Shi Hu's attack on Yan with six hundred thousand men, could mobilizing five hundred thousand itself be a normal outward manifestation of the collapse of a regime built on ruling Han with Hu?
That doubt undoubtedly strengthened Liu Cheng's desire to withdraw.
But withdrawing was not so simple. After reaching a preliminary agreement with Murong De, Liu Cheng immediately did two things: he wrote a memorial, then went in person to Yang Pass to visit Liu Zhuang, while summoning Zhuge You there as well.
The meeting at Yang Pass was the key.
After hearing Liu Cheng's general account, Zhuge You took it well enough, but Liu Zhuang was the first to grow anxious. "General of the Guards, I am the Administrator of Gaoping. If we abandon all the territory west of the Si River..."
"Before coming, I already wrote a memorial recommending you as Administrator of Langya," Liu Cheng answered immediately. "Jiankang may not approve at once, but they should merely ask Gentleman of the Palace Xi to submit another memorial, then approve it. In any case, if they ultimately refuse, I will go to Jiankang and argue it