This Liu Biao Was Utterly Useless!

Jiangdong.

Sun Ce, who had only just established a foothold here, watched the last words slowly fade from the Heavenly Screen, his brows drawing tightly together.

Beside him, Zhou Yu, his younger brother Sun Quan, and veteran minister Zhang Zhao all wore grim expressions.

In fact, they looked a little panicked!

"Heavens!"

Sun Quan, the youngest, was the first to lose his composure and cry out.

"This Cao Cao... he's actually that ferocious!"

He counted on his fingers, his face filled with shock.

"Yuzhou, Sili, and then Qing Province, Bing Province, Xu Province, You Province, and Ji Province!"

"The entire north has actually fallen into his hands!"

"How... how are we supposed to fight him now?!"

Zhang Zhao looked deeply worried as well. He let out a long sigh, his voice heavy.

"Indeed. Cao Cao was difficult enough to deal with before, and now he's swallowed Yuan Shao's territory. His strength has soared. He's practically unstoppable!"

"The Heavenly Screen said he'll fight us at Red Cliffs next!"

"I hate to sound defeatist, but with Jiangdong's current strength, I'm afraid... our chances of victory aren't high!"

At those words, the atmosphere inside the tent immediately grew even more oppressive.

Hearing this, Sun Quan became frantic. He slammed his hand on the table and turned his accusations on someone else.

"It's all Liu Biao's fault!"

"That old fellow is utterly useless!"

"He's an old bag of bones sitting on such a fat piece of meat, yet he simply handed it over to Yang Feng, that former slave in Yizhou!"

"What right does he have?!"

"The Great Yang Empire? What a joke!"

The more Sun Quan spoke, the angrier he became, his face full of indignation.

"If he had any brains at all, he should have given Jing Province to us in Jiangdong!"

"Only by joining forces could we stand against Cao Cao's million-strong army!"

"But instead, he just gave it to some fellow he couldn't reach with an eight-foot pole! Isn't that screwing us over?!"

Everyone chimed in, voicing their fear of Cao Cao and dissatisfaction with Liu Biao.

Pessimism permeated the entire command tent.

Yet just then, a sudden gleam flashed through the eyes of Zhou Yu, who had remained silent all this time!

He seemed to have thought of something crucial!

"That's not right!"

Zhou Yu spoke abruptly. His voice was not loud, but it instantly drew everyone's attention.

"You've all overlooked the most important thing the Heavenly Screen said!"

Sun Ce also seemed to realize something. He turned to his close friend and asked.

"Gongjin, you mean..."

Zhou Yu smiled faintly and spoke with complete confidence.

"The Heavenly Screen said that tomorrow would officially raise the grand curtain on the realm's division into three!"

"The realm divided into three!"

"Think about it. What does that mean?"

At those words, Sun Quan and Zhang Zhao, who had been wearing worried expressions, froze.

Of course!

The realm divided into three!

Zhang Zhao's mind raced. He immediately grasped the crucial point and grew excited!

"I understand! I understand!"

"The Heavenly Screen means that the realm will ultimately be divided into three parts!"

"Perhaps... perhaps it'll be our Eastern Wu, that Great Yang Empire, and Cao Cao, dividing the realm between us!"

Understanding dawned on Sun Quan's face as well, and he eagerly chimed in.

"Exactly, exactly! That must be it!"

"Then doesn't that mean... Cao Cao never defeated us in the Battle of Red Cliffs?!"

"If he'd won, he would have unified the realm outright! How could there be any division into three?!"

"Hahahaha!"

"So that's what it meant!"

In an instant, the oppressive atmosphere inside the tent was swept away!

Smiles returned to everyone's faces.

It had only been a false alarm!

Seeing everyone's relieved expressions, Sun Ce laughed heartily as well. He patted Zhou Yu on the shoulder, a surge of bold spirit rising within him.

"Exactly! That must be it!"

"It seems we won't merely avoid defeat at the Battle of Red Cliffs-we'll win a great victory!"

Zhou Yu nodded confidently as well.

"Precisely!"

"Such is heaven's mandate. Our Jiangdong will surely become an indispensable player on the realm's chessboard!"

Sun Ce swept his hand out and gave everyone an order.

"All right, all right!"

"Stop sitting here making wild guesses!"

"Even if the sky falls, we should get a good night's sleep first!"

"Go back and get to bed early! Rest well, and we'll see what the Heavenly Screen says tomorrow!"

At that very moment, in Yuzhou.

The three brothers, Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei, were likewise looking toward where the Heavenly Screen had vanished, their faces green with fury!

Especially Liu Bei!

He was practically about to explode with rage!

"Outrageous!"

"Utterly outrageous!"

Liu Bei slammed his fist onto the low table, his chest heaving violently, his eyes bloodshot and filled with boundless fury.

"That Liu Biao! Liu Jingsheng!"

"Like me, he's a kinsman of the Han imperial house! He draws the Han's stipend and receives the Han's favor!"

"How dare he!"

"How dare he hand the realm of our Great Han, the foundation our Emperor Gaozu fought so hard to establish, over to an emperor who was born a slave!"

"That damned so-called Great Yang Empire!"

"Where does that leave the dignity of the Han imperial house?!"

The more Liu Bei thought about it, the angrier he grew, until his whole body was trembling.

To restore the Han imperial house, he had wandered from place to place and spent half his life at war. How much hardship had he endured, how much suffering had he borne!

And now look what had happened!

He, a genuine imperial uncle, was still out here risking life and limb!

Yet his nominal "good brother" Liu Biao, who held the nine commanderies of Jing and Xiang and commanded strong troops and sturdy horses, had surrendered without a second thought!

And to a slave emperor who had appeared from who knew where!

It was like driving a knife straight into Liu Bei's heart!

And with the cruelest thrust possible!

Beside him, Zhang Fei had long since been unable to contain himself. His leopard-like eyes bulged wide as he shouted.

"Elder brother!"

"What else is there to say?!"

"That old Liu Biao is a spineless wretch! Useless!"

"If you ask me, we should muster our troops right now and march straight into Jing Province!"

"I'll run that old bastard through with my spear! Let's see if he still dares sell off our Great Han's realm!"

Guan Yu stroked his long beard, his phoenix eyes narrowing slightly as an icy light flashed within them.

"Third brother's words may be rash, but they are not without reason."

"That man is unworthy of being a Han minister!"

"How is such conduct any different from a traitor's?!"

Hearing his two younger brothers' words, the flames of anger in Liu Bei's heart burned even fiercer.

But after the anger came an even deeper sense of helplessness.

What could he do?

He was living under someone else's roof, with only this handful of troops. What could he possibly use to fight Jing Province?

And what could he use to fight Yang Feng, who was about to take over Jing Province?

The more Liu Bei thought about it, the more stifled he felt. In the end, it could only turn into a long sigh filled with grief and indignation.

What kind of mess was this?