New Three Kingdoms Tales: Starting as the expressionless Liu Bei

Cao Cao took a deep breath and forcibly suppressed the surging anger in his chest.

He raised his hand, extended two fingers, and his voice was even hoarser and more urgent than before:

"The second time was when Dong Zhuo had just emerged from the pass. I suggested sending cavalry to attack Dong Zhuo's rear camp, which was Luoyang! However, the various warlords were vying for power and scheming against each other, and none of them were willing to be the first to send troops!"

Upon hearing this, Yuan Shao was secretly delighted. "Cao Cao, you've delivered your weakness right to my doorstep!"

He leisurely picked up the wine bowl, took a sip, and smiled calmly, as if victory was already in his grasp: "Brother Mengde, are you finished?"

He placed the wine bowl on the table, raised his eyes to look directly at Cao Cao, and said, word by word.

"If I remember correctly, when Dong Zhuo just emerged from the pass, it was you who were leading us eighteen warlords in a celebratory feast on the command platform. Why are you blaming us now?"

He paused, his smile deepening.

"Furthermore, I remember I originally intended to inform the various warlords of General Sun's defeat, but it was you, Cao Mengde, who made me conceal the news. How come you've completely forgotten about that?"

Cao Cao's face stiffened, as if something was stuck in his throat.

He opened his mouth, only to find that everything Yuan Shao said was true, and he couldn't refute a single word of it.

At this moment, Liu Bei was still staring intently at the floor beneath his feet, expressionless. Anyone who didn't know better would have thought he was asleep standing up.

Two unusual flushes rose on Cao Cao's face. Yuan Shao's methodical rebuttal had undoubtedly offended his eccentric nature.

Rule 2: Cao Cao's authority is beyond question.

You must agree with whatever Cao Cao says.

Those usually shrewd and cunning eyes were now churning with barely suppressed rage, and her clenched fists trembled slightly at her sides.

He gritted his teeth, held up three fingers, and slowly said, "The third time was when Dong Zhuo moved west to Chang'an, and I led my troops to pursue him."

His tone suddenly became impassioned, as if he had staked his last chips on the gambling table, his voice reverberating through the broken palace beams.

"You should have sent all your elite cavalry and valiant generals to my aid under the cover of night! But you all remained inactive, leading to my crushing defeat!"

Upon hearing this, Yuan Shao laughed heartily and said unhurriedly, "Brother Mengde, you're wrong again."

He glanced at Liu Bei, who was staring blankly at the floor behind Cao Cao, then looked away, shrugged, and said in a rather helpless tone.

"At that time, the three brothers Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei were chasing Lü Bu, and I, Yuan Shao, also issued an order for the entire army to attack."

"But on the battlefield, I didn't see a single soldier from your forces. We don't know where you went, so how can we rush to your aid under the cover of darkness?"

"Furthermore, wasn't your plan to split your forces into two groups to pursue Dong Zhuo a private decision made with General Sun Jian? Isn't it perfectly normal for us to remain inactive?"

"We don't know if you need support. If we send troops rashly, it might disrupt your plans and cause you trouble. What should we do then?"

Cao Cao stood there, stunned, his lips moving slightly. Yuan Shao's words seemed to make perfect sense, and he couldn't find a single flaw to refute them.

But his face grew increasingly ashen, the veins on his forehead throbbed, and he looked like a volcano about to erupt.

Just then, Yuan Shu put down his wine bowl and, with a smile, delivered the final blow:

"Brother Mengde, forgive my bluntness, but why did you pursue Dong Zhuo with your lone army? It's because you were too eager for glory, and your army, having ventured too far into enemy territory, became arrogant, and an arrogant army is bound to be defeated!"

He picked up the wine bowl and swirled it around, his tone light and casual, as if he were teasing a drunken old friend:

"In the end, all you wanted was to rescue the Emperor by yourself. How did it go? You fell into Dong Zhuo's trap, were ambushed by Lü Bu, and suffered a crushing defeat. Brother Mengde, you still need to practice your military strategies more."

Before Yuan Shu could finish speaking, Sun Jian, who had been drinking silently and almost invisible, suddenly slammed his wine bowl down on the table with a loud thud.

He thought of the three thousand cavalrymen he had lost to Cao Cao, and his anger flared up.

He abruptly raised his head and echoed sharply, "Brother Gonglu's words are a profound capture of the essence of military strategy! Mengde, when will you repay the three thousand cavalry you owe me?"

"I watched those little ones grow up with my own eyes. If they all don't come back, how can I face their parents? How can I, Sun Jian, face the elders of Jiangdong!"

A trace of sadness flashed in Sun Jian's eyes, and he let out a long sigh.

"Even now, I think of Xiang Yu, who refused to cross the Yangtze River to the east!"

The repeated questioning struck Cao Cao like three heavy blows to the heart.

He could no longer suppress the surging blood in his chest, and suddenly clutched his chest, spurting out a mouthful of scarlet blood that splattered all over Yuan Shao's face.

Liu Bei, standing behind him, was startled by this sudden turn of events, and almost lost his ever-present expressionless face.

He suddenly raised his head and looked at the swaying figure in front of him.

An extremely terrifying and eerie power was rapidly rising from Cao Cao's body.

Liu Bei also possessed a strange power within him, and given that the two were now very close, he could clearly sense that Cao Cao's aura was expanding at an alarming rate, like a flood about to burst its banks, about to break through the final critical point and completely enter a state of strange transformation.

Yuan Shao was sprayed with blood, but he did not dodge or avoid it. He simply raised his hand and wiped the blood off his face.

He snorted coldly, and the strange tiger stripe on his face began to slowly emerge. The white shark fin on his arm was gradually forming under his skin, gleaming with a cold, eerie light in the dimly lit hall.

"Alright, Cao Mengde. You activate your supernatural transformation, and I'll activate mine too!"

He casually wiped his blood-stained hands on his robe, his eerie green eyes, now strangely tinged with malice, fixed on Cao Cao, his voice filled with suppressed anger and resentment.

"Do you think I, Yuan Benchu, am afraid of you? I've been fed up with you for a long time! Since the alliance meeting, you've repeatedly crossed my bottom line. I've tolerated you time and time again, but all I've gotten in return is your blatant bullying! Today, it's either you or me who lives!"

Two powerful and eerie auras collided violently within the ruined Chang Le Palace, and it seemed that a life-or-death battle was about to erupt on these ruins.

Just then, a deep and resonant voice suddenly rang out, forcefully breaking through the gap between the two voices: "Gentlemen, hear what I, Liu, have to say!"

Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw that Liu Bei was no longer staring at the floor, but had raised his head and calmly swept his gaze over Cao Cao and Yuan Shao.