New Three Kingdoms Tales: Starting as the expressionless Liu Bei

As soon as Huang Gai's footsteps disappeared from outside the hall, Liu Bei and Yuan Shu turned their heads at the same time, casting their gazes at Yuan Shao, who was in the main seat.

They had too many questions that the alliance leader needed to answer. However, before the two could speak, Yuan Shao suddenly stood up, pointed at Yuan Shu, and began to berate him.

"You're so foolish!" Yuan Shao's voice was sharp and urgent, his pale face contorted with rage. "Why did you give the provisions and weapons to Sun Jian? Who is Sun Wentai? You give them to him today, he'll come back for them tomorrow!"

Yuan Shu was completely stunned by this barrage of shouts. He stood there, mouth agape, for a long while before he came to his senses, his face filled with disbelief.

"Brother," Yuan Shu's voice was full of grievance and confusion, "Sun Jian is the vanguard general of the allied forces. We don't give them food, we don't give them weapons, what will they eat? What will they use to fight? Without any benefits, why should they charge into battle for the allied forces?"

Yuan Shao waved his hand and let out a cold snort from his nose.

He slowly sat back in the main seat, his eerie green eyes glancing sideways at Yuan Shu, his tone carrying a morbid certainty.

"I know all of this. I not only know that they are disloyal and not sincerely support the Han Dynasty, but I also know that they have never taken us brothers seriously."

Yuan Shao's lips curled into a cold smile. "So, I intercepted all the provisions, supplies, and weapons you sent out on the way. Let them eat the wild grass by the roadside."

What? Yuan Shu was shocked, and his face turned deathly pale.

He stared incredulously at his elder brother, who was both familiar and unfamiliar, sitting in the main seat. His lips moved a few times, but he couldn't utter a single word.

Although Liu Bei remained expressionless, his heart was in turmoil. Yuan Shao had actually revealed the truth, and with such self-righteousness.

Liu Bei watched this scene with a cold eye, and the lingering doubts in his heart grew heavier.

Last time, he took Yuan Shu to the outhouse to avoid the plot of questioning Cao Cao, but Yuan Shao jumped out and stole the line.

This time, he had Yuan Shu send out the grain and pay ahead of time, avoiding the historical event of "Yuan Shu withholding grain and pay." However, Yuan Shao intercepted the grain and pay halfway through, and the dialogue still ended up in Yuan Shao's mouth.

History took a turn and returned to its starting point. Liu Bei's pupils contracted slightly.

There is only one explanation.

The great hand of divine intervention has begun to exert its power.

"My foolish brother, just listen to your elder brother's advice." Yuan Shao picked up the teacup on the table and took a leisurely sip. The tea was still steaming, but his voice was as cold as if it had been dipped in ice water.

"The Han dynasty's fate is sealed; it is about to perish. Only fools blindly support it. Evil men like Dong Zhuo have already usurped the throne and established themselves as emperor." He set down his teacup, raised his eerie green eyes, and looked directly at Yuan Shu. "What Dong Zhuo did is something many powerful figures wanted to do, but dared not do."

Yuan Shu froze on the spot.

If Yuan Shao's previous act of intercepting supplies and military equipment had only left him speechless with shock, then these words were like a bucket of ice water poured over him, freezing him completely.

This is blatant treason! It's practically as if the word "traitor" is etched onto their foreheads.

In a daze, a hand gently patted his back. Yuan Shu turned around abruptly; it was Liu Bei's hand.

Liu Bei remained calm and composed, merely nodding slightly at him with a steady and unwavering gaze, as if to say: follow his words and continue asking questions.

Yuan Shu swallowed hard, his throat bobbing, and forced himself to turn his head away, forcing a serious expression.

"Brother, what you say makes some sense." His voice was still a little unsteady, but he managed to remain calm. "May I ask, brother, do you want me to be the wicked, or the fool?"

Yuan Shao's gloomy expression finally eased a little. He smiled slightly, a smile that seemed particularly incongruous on his face, which was eroded by an eerie quality, a gentleness tinged with an inexplicable chill.

"Neither be an evildoer nor a fool," he said slowly, each word as if squeezed out from between his teeth, "but be a wise man."

Yuan Shao stood up and slowly walked towards the row of banners of various warlords standing to the side.

He reached out and gently stroked the edge of a flag, then suddenly said in a cold voice, "Right now, although the eighteen warlords have formed an alliance, their true motives may not be to rid the country of traitors. They are merely waiting for the world to fall into chaos so they can find the largest territory for themselves."

He turned around abruptly, his voice rising sharply, causing the banners to sway slightly.

"The most terrifying one is Sun Jian, the governor of Changsha! Just think, if he were to capture Luoyang and kill Dong Zhuo, wouldn't he take control of the Liangzhou army? Wouldn't he seize control of the court, build up his own army, and replace Dong Zhuo, becoming an even more terrifying warlord than Dong Zhuo?"

Liu Bei's lips twitched almost imperceptibly. As expected of Yuan Shao, who had been corrupted by something strange, his thought process was truly extraordinary.

If Sun Jian truly possessed the strength to conquer Luoyang and slay Dong Zhuo, why would he need to attend an alliance meeting? He could simply lead his army into Luoyang and become the next Dong Zhuo.

He couldn't help but have a hypothesis: normal people's intelligence is originally quite good, but once it is corrupted by the bizarre, it becomes about the same as the screenwriter's intelligence.

Yuan Shu's thoughts were roughly the same as Liu Bei's. He also felt that Yuan Shao's words were pure fallacy, but he did not expose him, only subconsciously glancing at Liu Bei beside him.

Seeing Liu Bei nod slightly at him, Yuan Shu returned a knowing smile, then turned to Yuan Shao and pondered:

"Well... it's not impossible."

When Yuan Shao saw that Yuan Shu actually agreed with his words, a satisfied smile finally appeared on his gloomy face.

He reached out and placed a hand on Yuan Shu's shoulder, leaned down slightly, and said in a low voice, "So, my foolish brother, our best strategy is to greatly weaken the power of the various warlords while eliminating Dong Zhuo. Ideally, we should all perish together."

He paused, a greedy glint flashing in his eerie green eyes. "In this way, the world will naturally fall into the hands of the Yuan family."

Yuan Shu's lips twitched violently. He almost burst out laughing, cursing inwardly: "Brother, Liu Bei, the nineteenth warlord, is still standing here. Your loud and secret plot is making me really embarrassed."

He glanced subconsciously at Liu Bei not far away. Liu Bei remained expressionless, merely shaking his head slightly at him.

Yuan Shu immediately understood, knowing it was time to change tactics. He cleared his throat, the smile on his face vanished instantly, replaced by a stern and righteous expression, and solemnly addressed Yuan Shao:

"How could I not know all this?" His voice became serious and earnest. "But you've gone too far!"

Yuan Shao was taken aback by this sudden change in expression. The satisfied smile on his face was still there, but his eyes had turned to doubt.

He asked innocently, "Why?"

Yuan Shu took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, his tone becoming low and earnest.

"Think about it! Sun Jian is the vanguard general of the allied forces. If he is defeated, hundreds of thousands of allied troops will collapse! At that time, we will both be disgraced, and what's the point of talking about fame and great achievements?"

Before he could finish speaking, a series of hurried footsteps came from outside the door.

A messenger stumbled into the hall, and before he could even finish kneeling, he shouted urgently:

"Report! To the Alliance Leader, last night at midnight, Generals Li Jue and Guo Si led 80,000 elite Xiliang cavalry in a night attack on Sun Jian's camp! General Sun suffered heavy losses, and his fate is unknown! Sun Ce has led his remaining troops out of Baima Fortress!"

What? Before the people in the hall could recover from the shock of the urgent report, another hurried footstep came from the other side of the hall.

The second messenger scrambled in, knelt on one knee, and his voice was filled with barely suppressed panic.

"Report! To the Alliance Leader! Dong Zhuo has personally led 250,000 troops from Xiliang, mobilizing the entire city! He boasts that he will quell the rebellion for the country, slay Sun Jian within five days, and within ten days…" He hesitated, his voice lowering, "…take Alliance Leader Yuan's head!"

Yuan Shu had been watching the changes in Yuan Shao's expression. When he saw Yuan Shao's face turn deathly pale, he thought to himself, "My chance has come."

He whirled around, his voice sharp as he shouted at Yuan Shao, "Did you hear that?! We've become the thieves!" His voice was filled with long-suppressed resentment and mockery. "Truly, the victor is king, and the loser is a thief!"

Yuan Shao's body went limp, as if his spine had been removed, and he collapsed onto the leader's seat.

He shrugged, his gesture filled with helplessness and confusion, and his voice lost the confidence he had when he spoke so confidently.

"Sun Jian... he was defeated too quickly, wasn't he?" he muttered to himself, staring blankly at the sky. "This matter has not gone as I expected."