Chapter 628
The black colored Yangzhou Army and the green colored Jingzhou Army continued to fight at the naval camp.
“Military Advisor. This is…” The deputy general felt himself turn stupid as he watched the scene in front of him. Though they had superior numbers, they were not able to use it. There were only a small amount of space in the naval camp. They could only send in several thousand men in waves rather than send in all their troops at once.
The deputy general wanted to advise Liu Pan but gave up when he saw Liu Pan’s malevolent expression. Liu Pan had already gone mad. Lu Bu and the others were also confused at the situation. They did not expect the enemy to be making such a stupid move.
The Wolf Cavalry may be small in number but they wore heavy armor. On the other hand, the enemy wear rattan armor as they were navy. They could float if they were to fall in the water while the Wolf Cavalry would just sink to the bottom. As a result, the Wolf Cavalry had the advantage at the naval camp.
“Are they trying to impede us?” Lu Bu wondered as he watched the enemy’s tactics. Generally, there were only two people that uses this tactic. The first were fools courting death. The other reason was to cover a retreat. For example, Liu Bei did this when Cao Cao chased him out of Xuzhou. He sent waves of small forces to stall Cao Cao, preventing Cao Cao from chasing Liu Bei’s main force.
Lu Bu wondered if Jingzhou had another scheme.
“Wang Kui!” Lu Bu called out to one of his subordinates.
“Wang Kui is present!” One robust man approached Lu Bu and cupped his fist.
“Wang Kui. Take five hundred men with you and patrol the riverbank. Scout fifty li around the naval camp. Make sure to check for the enemy.” Lu Bu decided to be cautious. Soon, five hundred men were dispatched from the naval camp.
“Kill! Kill! We must stop them here! What Xinye cannot have, Yangzhou also cannot have!” Liu Pan’s eyes turned red. Only twenty thousand remained of his army of fifty thousand. Yet, Liu Pan was still unwilling to give up. He believed Lu Bu was here to pacify the rebellion at Xinye but wanted to chase away Liu Pan first. That is why Liu Pan wanted to stall Lu Bu here. If Lu Bu cannot return to Xinye, the rebels would destroy it.
“General!” Wang Kui returned while Lu Bu was still having doubts.
“How is it?”
“General. There are no enemies a fifty li around us.” Wang Kui reported. He had his men ride on two horses each to scout out the area unrelentingly. Yet, they could not find any enemies.
“Did you all search carefully?” Lu Bu asked.
“General. We searched very carefully.” Wang Kui replied.
“Then this is strange.” Lu Bu could not make any sense of the matter. Why was Jingzhou courting death?
Since Lu Bu could not understand, he ordered Wang Kui to expand his search.
“Pass down my orders. Be cautious and fight steadily!” Lu Bu ordered the troops.
As the sky turned dark, the battle came to a close.
“Military Advisor. It is dark now.” The deputy general managed to persevere until night. Unless there were no clouds in the sky, it was generally too dark to see anything. How could they fight like this?
“Then sound the retreat.” Liu Pan also did not demand they continue to fight. Unless they were doing a night raid, there would be no battles at night.
“Understood!” The deputy general was relieved that Liu Pan wanted to sound the retreat. After the order was given, the troops started to fall back.
The deputy general felt heartbroken. Thirty thousand men had lost their lives while many more were severely injured. Though most were new recruits, he had still trained them for months. On the other hand, ten thousand out of the original fifty thousand men were elites. Now, only three thousand were left.
Liu Pan heard the reports of the casualties and lowered his head silently. The casualties were severe but Liu Pan smiled when he thought that Yangzhou would lose a bustling city in exchange for their sacrifice.
“It is just thirty thousand men. Jingzhou has plenty of people. We can simply recruit more. But Yangzhou lost Xinye! They would no longer be able to continue after losing Xinye!” In Liu Pan’s eyes, using up thirty thousand lives for a county region was worth it. It would be even better if the rebels grew in size and involve other Yangzhou regions as well.
The deputy general nodded with some admiration. If it was him, he would hesitate. He would not have the resolution to make this exchange.
“The Military Advisor is experienced. Yangzhou cannot hope to compare to Jingzhou’s prosperity. We can easily train another thirty thousand men but losing Xinye would be fatal to Yangzhou. On top of that, if they want to retake Xinye, they would have to waste more men.” One officer nodded with admiration. Liu Pan smiled as he accepted his subordinate’s acknowledgement.
“Report! Information from Xinye!” A messenger from Xinye arrived.
“Information from Xinye?” Liu Pan was shocked. Xinye’s doors should have been shut tight to fight against the rebels. How could someone sent out a message now? The only explanation is that Xinye had already fallen and his intelligence officers could act freely. It is possible that the rebel leader wanted to cooperate with Jingzhou.
“Congratulations General! If the volunteer from Xinye cooperates with Jingzhou, we would be able to invade the Central Plains soon!” Liu Pan’s subordinates started to congratulate him. Liu Pan himself did not know if he could invade the Central Plains but he knew that Yangzhou would suffer an even greater loss if he could cooperate with the leader of the rebel army. He understood that the enemy of an enemy is a friend. The more powerful the rebels became, the more advantage Jingzhou will have. Yangzhou would have no choice but to dispatch people to pacify the rebellion. At that time, Jingzhou would be able to recapture Jiangxia and Jiangling.
Liu Pan laughed as he opened up the letter but then his face quickly turned stiff.
“Military Advisor. What’s wrong? Are the rebels being too greedy or refuse to cooperate with us?” The deputy general asked.
Liu Pan did not reply. The deputy general then read the letter from the corner of his eye and turned pale. The letter said that there were no rebels at all, they were all from Yangzhou. The leader of the rebels was Liu Mang Liu Hanyang. As a result, the gates were open again. This was also why Lu Bu arrived as reinforcements so quickly.
If this was true, they have wasted over thirty thousand men for a misunderstanding.
“Liu Mang! You… You…!” Liu Pan was more sullen than anyone else. His plans and his ruthless sacrifice all turned into a joke. He suddenly started to feel faint from the anger.
“Military Advisor!” Someone immediately supported Liu Pan to prevent him from collapsing.
“Let’s go! We return to Xiangyang!” Liu Pan resisted the urge to faint and gave the order.
“Understood!” The deputy general nodded.
“Also I warn you. Nobody must find out about this. Otherwise, I will make you regret it!” Liu Pan said to his subordinates.
“Understood!” The officers present all nodded in fear. Liu Pan definitely did not want others to find out that he played himself.
The Jingzhou Army left the area at night. They had a strong start but a weak finish. Even after they had retreated, Lu Bu still remained cautious and arranged for patrols to scout the area day and night. After three days, Hao Shao returned with his army of five thousand. Only then did Lu Bu leave with the Wolf Cavalry.
This time, the Wolf Cavalry’s destination was Shouchun, the capital city of Yangzhou. They also had three additional people following them. These three were Liu Mang, Zhou Cang and Guan Hai.
The first thing Lu Bu did when he returned to Xinye was to tell Liu Mang to follow him back. Liu Mang wanted to refuse but he knew he could not.
As for the refugees at Xinye, Xu Shu had arranged for an official from a different county to help make arrangements. For the Guo Family, Liu Mang had initially planned to punish only Guo Yi. However, he soon found out that the whole Guo Family were full of villains. Guo Yi’s son had raped a woman and beat up her husband to death. If it was not because of Guo Yi’s support, his son would have long been thrown into prison.
His mother were kind only towards family members but she was a demon to those outside the family. When the victim’s family wanted to sue the Guo Family, they were all permanently silenced by her.
As a result, Liu Mang executed all of them. He even killed the old woman’s grandson in front of her and brought to her both the heads of her son and her grandson.
Liu Mang could only deal with the Guo Family because of time constraints. As for the others, he will leave it to Wei Yan and the Yiyang Troops.
“Father-in-law. Can we stop for a while?” Liu Mang called out to Lu Bu.
“What’s wrong?” Lu Bu asked.
“I need to excrete.” Liu Mang shyly replied.
“Big or small?”
“Small!”
“Then just piss on the horse.” Liu Bu replied without looking at Liu Mang.
“In that case, big.”
“Then just endure. We will reach Shouchun in about ten li!” Lu Bu said.
“But I cannot endure anymore!”
“Cannot endure anymore?” Lu Bu furrowed his brows and waved for the Wolf Cavalry to stop. “I will give you one stick incense worth of time. If you exceed that time, you are finished!” Lu Bu said to Liu Mang.
“Hahaha.” Liu Mang laughed awkwardly and went towards the shrubs.
“What did your Lord eat for the past few days to be having so much stomach problems?” Lu Bu asked Guan Hai and Zhou Cang.
“He didn’t eat anything wrong. The Lord ate the same thing as us!” Zhou Cang replied.
“Then why is he like this?” Lu Bu harrumphed. Liu Mang had been having stomach problems many times along the way.
“He is probably afrai…” Zhou Cang was about to say when Guan Hai quickly interrupted. “He probably have not acclimatized yet after returning!”
“It is time! Wang Kui, go and invite His Highness out!” Lu Bu ordered.
“Understood!”
“I am coming, I am coming!” Liu Mang came out of the shrubs on his own and got back on his horse. His face was pale as though he had fallen sick. However, this sickness came from the mind. The closer he got to Shouchun, the paler he became and his trembling became worse.
“Shouchun is right in front!” Liu Mang gulped.
Several li away from Shouchun, Guan Hai suddenly pointed at the figures at the side of the city. “Milord. Look over there!” Could it be an ambush?
Of course, there could not be any ambush right beside Shouchun. Lu Bu took a look with the telescope and then said. “Let’s go. The civil and military officers are all here to welcome you.” Lu Bu had already sent a letter to Shouchun the moment he met with Liu Mang at Xinye.
Lu Bu had Wang Kui and the rest of the Wolf Cavalry use a side road to return and station at Shouchun.
When Liu Mang approached, he saw that it was really the civil and military officials waiting for him. Leading the group was Xu Shu. On Xu Shu’s left was someone he could not recognize. This should be a talented person scouted after Liu Mang had left Shouchun. On Xu Shu’s right was Liu Ye. Huang Zhong, Huang Xu, Cheng Yu and the others were also here.
Liu Mang did not know what to say as he looked at the crowd.
Fortunately, Xu Shu and the others knelt the moment they saw him. “We respectfully greet Your Highness!”
“Everyone, get up!” Liu Mang quickly got off his horse and approached Xu Shu and the others. They did not get up despite Liu Mang allowing them to. Instead, Liu Mang had to pull Xu Shu up before he complied. As Xu Shu was the number one civil official in Yangzhou, the others followed only after Xu Shu stood back up.
“Yuanzhi. Long time no see! It must have been hard for you!” Liu Mang said as he supported Xu Shu. Xu Shu handled everything from dispatching troops to transporting supplies. Even then, it is much better now compared to before. Last time, Xu Shu was so busy he could not leave at all.
“No, this is just my job as an official. Rather, this official should be punished for putting Your Highness in danger!” Xu Shu knelt down again. The reason Liu Mang had to go to Jingzhou in the first place was because Yangzhou lacked provisions. Although Liu Mang went as a guest, that was only on the surface. In reality, Liu Mang was a hostage. How can the ruler of Yangzhou willingly go to Jingzhou to serve as a hostage? How can the people of Yangzhou show their face like this?
As a result, Xu Shu blamed himself. Not only was he unable to alleviate his Lord’s troubles despite being Liu Mang’s main strategist. He had even placed his Lord in danger. When Liu Mang disappeared, he immediately thought of invading Jingzhou if he were to obtain news that Liu Mang had died.
“Yuanzhi. If you who spared no effort for me is punished, wouldn’t I be an incapable ruler?” Liu Mang laughed. Xu Shu also laughed together with Liu Mang. The two have reached a mutual understanding.
“Ziyang. How is the industrial zone?” Liu Mang asked Liu Ye.
“Milord. I am unable to accomplish Milord’s task. I am only able to decipher one to two out of the ten books given. I have disappointed Milord!” Liu Ye also knelt down. He had shame in his expression.
“One to two out of ten?” What do you mean asking for forgiveness? Liu Ye was clearly asking for merit! Liu Mang himself knew what books he brought back. These books were all from the Industrial Revolution era. If they could decipher these books, Yangzhou’s technology would advance by at least a thousand years. They could even make firearms.
One to two out of the ten books was enough to advance their technology by at least a hundred years.
“Milord. Look at the cement road and walls. These are Ziyang’s contributions!” Xu Shu spoke up for Liu Ye.
“Cement is already being mass produced?”
“This is all the surplus. It is mostly used for the roads for officials!” Liu Ye said with fear that Liu Mang would punish him. After all, cement was expensive. They also sold cements. The ones who buy cement were nobles building their houses as buildings could finish construction faster with cement. It was also more convenient. In the past, houses were built by stacking up rocks. Building a house would take more than half a year.
Though the people had already thought of fortifying the walls with cement, it was expensive. It requires a large number of cements to fortify it. Not to mention that there are many other cities.
The reason why Yangzhou could use cement to make roads was because Yangzhou made the cement. Cement was only like a few person’s salary to others. All the raw materials to make cement are obtained locally. Other places used cement to make their buildings to show off that they were rich. Yangzhou instead used the cement to make roads. If they were to sell all the cement used to make roads, they would be able to earn several tens of thousands of gold.
“If you want to be rich, make roads first! Ziyang, you did a good thing!” Liu Mang praised Liu Ye instead. Once transportation flourish, there would be more merchants. The more convenient the transportation, the lower the cost of goods. Look at Jingzhou. It flourished because of their river transportations. The North was also prosperous because the Han Emperors had the roads made. If transportation had problems, no one would want to visit the city.
“If we want to be rich make roads first?” The young scholar beside Xu Shu mumbled to himself.
Liu Mang also looked at this young man who held a feather fan. It was strange since it was winter. Was it not cold enough?
“Are you trying to imitate Zhuge Liang?” Liu Mang joked as his mood was good. He wanted Xu Shu to introduce this man.
“Zhuge Liang?” The young scholar was surprised. Liu Ye and Xu Shu were also equally surprised.
Liu Mang then realized something. The feathered fan was standard for Zhuge Liang. However, this was only known to people from the modern era. The current Zhuge Liang’s reputation was not yet as good as Xu Shu and the others. So the others might not know.
Liu Mang wanted to think of an excuse when the young scholar opened his mouth. “Your Highness. How did you know of Zhuge Liang?”
“Hm?” Liu Mang was confused. Was Zhuge Liang already famous? “Isn’t it Zhuge Kongming, known as the Sleeping Dragon? It is said that the one who wins over the Sleeping Dragon can pacify the land.”
“Your Majesty praised unfairly.” The young scholar said humbly. Liu Mang was even more confused. He praised Zhuge Liang. What does it have to do with this guy?
“Since Milord is familiar with Kongming, there is no need for me to introduce him!” Xu Shu added with a smile.
“Kongming?”
“This Zhuge Liang greets Your Highness the King of Shu.” Zhuge Liang knelt down.
“You… You are Zhuge Liang, Zhuge Kongming?”
“Yes!”
“Weren’t you supposed to be at Jingzhou?” Liu Mang was confused. Wasn’t Zhuge Liang supposed to be in his hut waiting for Liu Bei to visit him three times? Why was he at Yangzhou?
Liu Mang had thought of sending people to find Zhuge Liang and invite him to Yangzhou or kill Zhuge Liang if that failed. He never expected Zhuge Liang to be in front of him right now.
“Milord. Kongming have already joined our Yangzhou!” Xu Shu explained.
Liu Mang then found out from Xu Shu that Zhuge Liang had met him at Xuzhou and was moved by his speech that the speech he made inadvertently. After that, Zhuge Liang joined up with Jingzhou to sow dissension, used the iron chain methods to burn Jiangdong and Jingzhou’s navy, then got Jiangxia to surrender to Yangzhou.
Liu Mang was shocked. The young man smiling shyly in front of him had actually wiped out over a hundred thousand men.
Besides shock, Liu Mang was also ecstatic. Zhuge Liang was a legend. His skills were what got Liu Bei to where he did. How could Liu Mang not be excited when such a legend became his person?
“Hahaha! Kongming is truly worth over a thousand men!” Liu Mang said as he affectionately grabbed Zhuge Liang’s hand without caring about how gay it looked.
“Old General Huang! Cheng Yu! Huang Xu!” Liu Mang turned to his generals. Huang Zhong already had a few more wrinkles on his face. Yet one can tell that despite the fact that Huang Zhong had gone through a lot of hardships for Yangzhou, he had a smile on his face.
Many people could smile. However, there were plenty of smiles that were fake and insincere. Just like Liu Mang’s smile when he was at Jingzhou. However, Huang Zhong’s smile was genuine. Huang Zhong may be exhausted but he was content with his life. One of the reasons is because Liu Mang saved Huang Xu.
“What are you dilly dallying here for? You can discuss the rest after entering the city!” Lu Bu approached Liu Mang and say. The others saluted towards Lu Bu. Lu Bu nodded back at them.
“That’s right. The wind here is strong. Let us speak inside!” Liu Mang said as he walked at the front. As he was Yangzhou’s Lord, not even Lu Bu was allowed to walk in front of him. The officials of Shouchun would not allow it.
Liu Mang nodded as he looked at the city. Xu Shu’s diligence could be seen in many places. In the past, Shouchun was mostly empty. Many places were in a mess or in ruins.
But now, there was a huge change. The buildings were neatly arranged. All the wooden huts were torn down and replaced with cemented buildings. While there were no reinforced steel bars used for support, it was not a result of skimping. It was simply that bamboos were enough as the buildings were only two storeys tall. While Yangzhou have many citizens, after they spread out, each county had little people.
“Milord. We have pipe pits under each building to drain sewage!” Liu Ye explained. Amongst the books Liu Mang brought back, there were books regarding town planning. Liu Ye could not achieve everything but tubes to drain sewage and water flow was still achievable.
Not everything in Shouchun could shine but Liu Ye’s diligence can be seen. Liu Mang was sure that Cao Cao would feel like dying if he realized he threw away such a talent.
After returning to Shouchun, there was the usual feast. After that, it was the moment Liu Mang had been dreading. He had to return home to face his wives. There were three separate rooms. One was his main wife Miss Lu, one was his second wife Yuan Fang, and one was his concubine Qiao Yu, who also happened to be the head of his harem.
Liu Mang did not know who to visit first. If he visits Miss Lu first, she would be happy. But then his concubine Qiao Yu would torture him the next day. If he visits Qiao Yu first, Miss Lu would not show it but would slowly kill him.
As for Yuan Fang, she was the most honest of the three. However, she had been brainwashed over the years and became the third tigress.
“I better not visit any one of them or I would harm the unity of the household.” Liu Mang consoled himself. If any room he visited was the wrong choice then it would be better not to visit any of them. He decided to live even if only for one more day. Liu Mang headed back towards his own room.
“Eh? Why is it so bright here?” Liu Mang headed towards his room and saw that it was bright. He thought it was strange but soon felt relieved. He was the Lord of Yangzhou. His room being brightly lit was ordinary.
He opened the doors and walked in. He then closed the doors and laid down on his bed. The moment he turned his head, he turned stiff. “Dear wives…!” Three beautiful figures had appeared in his room.