90 There was another commotion in the square outside the shelter. With news traveling slowly, the people outside had no idea that the political deliberations beneath the great canopy had already entered a new stage.
In fact, Dan Tonghai's sneer had not shaken Li Shu in the slightest.
As a top Guanlong aristocrat who had received a complete education in military affairs, politics, cultivation, and letters-who had herded cattle outside the Western Capital, stood guard inside the Eastern Capital, played chess beside the Three Luminaries Pillar, rebelled alongside the Zhong clan of the realm, lived in exile overseas, and ranged across the Great River and Ji River-and who had reached his present age, what had he not experienced? What had he not seen?
Thus, the moment he saw that chart, where the specific leaders' names had clearly been changed at the last minute but the left and right wings had unquestionably been written in beforehand, he had already begun calculating.
Li Shu understood perfectly well that he was unlikely to gain much from today's leadership deliberations, even when faced with a demand like this.
Yet unlike Xu Shiying, this dragonhead had never believed that Zhang Xing could gain an overwhelming advantage simply by appealing to the crowd. That was merely a somewhat cleverer technique. What truly made Zhang Xing unstoppable today was his victory at Mount Li. A victor had the right to claim the spoils, internally and externally alike.
Under these circumstances, if he held fast to the overall objective everyone anticipated-a second Eastern Expedition to swallow up or nibble away at the six commanderies-invoked "the gang's common interests" in everything, then handled each specific matter individually and divided the pie as evenly as possible, who could defy him?
He could not. Xu Shiying could not. Xiong Bonan could