Chapter 415
“What does this Liu Biao want to do?” At the feast, Liu Mang had caused Pang Shanmin to spit out blood. Liu Biao praised him for this and became very close to him. The discussion regarding the provisions was also going great. Most of the provisions went towards Liu Mang. Although the price was triple the market price, Liu Mang did not care because he had a lot of money. However, the situation changed again.
If it was just a price increase, Liu Mang wouldn’t mind. He would just consider it as Liu Biao being greedy. However, Liu Biao now said that Liu Mang needed to wait for two months to buy provisions. The reason for this is that Liu Biao lacked supplies and needed to prioritize the battle at Jiangxia.
Unfortunately, Liu Mang lacked time. If he waited for two months, there would be riots at Yangzhou. Liu Biao telling Liu Mang to wait was simply forcing him to die.
If this was going to happen, for what reason did Liu Mang go all the way to Jingzhou and make himself a hostage?
“This is definitely a plot by someone.” Liu Mang angrily gritted his teeth. If Liu Biao never had the intention to sell provisions, he would not have agreed so readily the previous day.
“Milord! We have finished our investigation!” Just as Liu Mang was thinking to himself, Jia Xu appeared and shouted.
“You have finished your investigation? Whose fault is this?” Liu Mang opened up a piece of paper given to him and read it. Inside were details of the various people opposing him such as Cai Mao and Zhang Yun.
The entire list was not a one man’s work. Inside was information gathered by Yang Hong, Chen Gong’s spies, and even other past information obtained by Jia Xu when he was still working for Zhang Xiu.
This Jia Xu initially intended to hide this information but his near death experience the previous day made him decide to give the old information at Nanyang to Liu Mang to increase his chances of survival. To take revenge, Liu Mang made Jia Xu in charge of his own information organization. This detailed is the result of his work on top of Chen Gong’s own work.
Of the various people in Jingzhou, Cai Mao and Zhang Yun didn’t need to wait this long if they wanted to stall Liu Mang. The Huang Family had no ability to persuade Liu Biao to do anything. Kuai Yue didn’t like Liu Mang but also had no malice with him while Kuai Liang had good opinion of Liu Mang. As for the others, Liu Mang did not bother with them. They had not appeared in the original history so why would they do so now?
“We finally found who it is!” The name in front of Liu Mang was also the one that gave him the most headache. “It is Pang Tong Pang Shiyuan!”
The paper also had information of Pang Tong making a ruckus outside Liu Biao’s residence. Pang Tong was caught and went inside in the afternoon before being released at night.
“I was careless!” Liu Mang massaged his aching head. He thought he had already won as Pang Tong would not be able to kill him here and Liu Biao had promised him provisions. As long as he remained in Jingzhou, Lu Bu would not be a threat which means Liu Biao had nothing to fear.
It was obvious that Liu Mang had been careless. Pang Tong had somehow persuaded Liu Biao to go back on his decision.
What Liu Mang didn’t know was that Pang Tong convinced Liu Biao that the growth of Yangzhou was not beneficial to Jingzhou. Liu Biao would only obtain profits from aggression.
Pang Tong also told Liu Biao that Liu Mang would not work as a hostage. Lu Bu was still around and Liu Mang would only be a talented officer at best when it comes to being a hostage. As Liu Biao was able to have a son, Liu Zong, at the age of fifty, Lu Bu could too. Liu Biao only had one wife because of the complications amongst the nobles but Lu Bu had three wives. How could he not have a son?
Once Lu Bu has a son, Liu Mang’s worth as a hostage becomes worthless. By providing provisions to Yangzhou, Lu Bu’s Army would grow. When Lu Bu gets a son after that, the first to suffer would be Liu Biao.
Lu Bu also had a terrible reputation. How could you expect the Slave of Three Surnames to keep his promises? On top of that, Lu Bu had almost sold off his daughter for Xuzhou.
Liu Biao wanted to struggle but Pang Tong’s next words stopped him. Pang Tong said that it does not matter if Jingzhou doesn’t provide provisions to Liu Bei. However, he must not provide provisions to Liu Mang as well. A mutual destruction. Having two weak neighbors was better than having two strong neighbors. In the end, Liu Biao agreed to this.
“This cannot continue. I must go and see Liu Biao!” Liu Mang contemplated and decided to go and persuade Liu Biao again. He didn’t have any other choice. However, he was stopped by Jia Xu.
“Milord. There is no need for that. You would simply be inviting trouble for yourself.” There was no point in Liu Mang going to see Liu Biao since Liu Biao have already formed an opinion of Liu Mang. He would just be stopped at the gate like Pang Tong. Although Pang Tong could be shameless and curse Liu Biao, Liu Mang could not do so. This is because Liu Mang had a righteous reputation.
“What other choice do I have?’ Liu Mang knew that going to see Liu Biao would not be good but he did not know what else to do.
“There is another way.”
“There is?” Liu Mang’s eyes grew wide as he moved to roughly grab Jia Xu’s arm.
“Let go! Let go!” Jia Xu quickly struggled. Being with Liu Mang made every day dangerous. “Milord. There is another way but it is really difficult to pull off.”
“Difficult?” Liu Mang heard this and snorted. “Wenhe. Are you saying that coming to Jingzhou and surviving the attack at the river not difficult? We have already come all this way. Why should we care whether it is difficult or not?”
Jia Xu smiled and respond. “Alright. Since Milord has said this, I have nothing left to say about this matter. Milord. Right now, Liu Biao had already been persuaded. He would not believe our words anymore. We cannot go directly to Liu Biao but we can indirectly save our own nation”
“Indirectly?” Liu Mang could not understand. He asked if it meant buying from the nobles instead or secretly smuggle provisions out. However, the selling of provisions could only be done by Liu Biao. It would be a serious crime for anyone else to sell provisions and the punishment for the offense is death. When there is a natural disaster, Liu Biao would be able to provide the people with provisions. That was why Jingzhou had a high population.
“If we cannot justify ourselves, we ask others for help.” Right now, Liu Mang was like a thief to Liu Biao. Even if Liu Mang didn’t steal anything, people tell Liu Biao that Liu Mang is a thief. Liu Mang would definitely not be able to explain himself because if he denies it, it would be like a thief with a guilty conscience. He would end up making more misunderstandings. The only way he can prove his innocence is by having an evidence or a witness.
It was impossible to find evidence but he could still find a witness. He just need to get someone close to Liu Biao to say good things about him and Yangzhou so that Liu Biao would change his opinion again.
“Who can speak for me in Jingzhou? Is it Kuai Liang?” Liu Mang thought to himself. The first condition was that this person was good natured to Liu Mang. The other would be that this person is trusted by Liu Biao. That was why the first person he thought of is Kuai Liang. After all, Kuai Liang always wanted to have an alliance with Yangzhou because they shared a common enemy in Sun Ce. He also did not have a good impression of Liu Bei.
However, Jia Xu shook his head and objected. Kuai Liang was certainly trusted by Liu Biao but he was not appropriate for this as to Liu Biao, Kuai Liang had always supported allying with Yangzhou, he would definitely not speak badly of Liu Mang. He would speak favorably for Liu Mang even if Liu Mang did not go to him for help. As a result, Kuai Liang would be more of a hindrance. Jia Xu suggested that Liu Mang seek help from Kuai Yue, Cai Mao, and Pang Degong.
Hearing this, Liu Mang laughed bitterly. Kuai Yue was someone who wanted to remain neutral. He did not want to offend any factions. If he had wanted to help Liu Mang, he would have already done so earlier.
As for Cai Mao, Liu Mang did not know when he offended Cai Mao. However, Cai Mao was hostile towards Liu Mang. It was already good enough that Cai Mao did not slander him.
As for Pang Degong, Liu Mang knew that this person was the father of Pang Shanmin, the person Liu Mang had almost killed and also the uncle of Pang Tong. How was he supposed to ask him for help?
“Milord. Are you going to give up so easily? Sigh. If I knew this, I wouldn’t have bothered suggesting this. What a waste of energy.” Jia Xu sneered.
“That’s right. How could I give up so easily?” Liu Mang agreed after hearing Jia Xu’s words. They have already done so much. Persuading these people can’t be any harder than narrowly surviving on the battlefield. “Wenhe. There is no need to create a suspense. Finish your suggestion.”
Jia Xu nodded. He admired Liu Mang’s tenacity the most.
“Milord. Kuai Yue wants to be neutral but could he stay neutral?” Jia Xu harrumphed as he spoke. He did not get along with Kuai Yue because Kuai Yue was also a sly person like him. Similar people tend to repel each other.
“Kuai Yue is afraid of getting too close to Your Highness, offending the Huang, Pang and Cai Family. What he didn’t know is that he had already offended them. Even though they said nothing, they would voice their complaints in their hearts. This is because of his brother Kuai Liang.
“Wenhe. Are you saying to let Kuai Liang take the main stage?”
“Correct. Milord can invite Kuai Liang to a banquet and then use his name to invite Kuai Yue. You can then spread news of the invitation to show that Kuai Yue is your guest. Eventually, the rumor would become the truth.”
“You want to threaten him?” Liu Mang’s eyes flash. Jia Xu was truly sly. He made it such that there is no neutral ground. The people would either be on Pang Tong’s side or Liu Mang’s side. If a person tries to remain neutral, others would only scheme against him.
“Good strategy. What about Cai Mao? That person is hostile towards me.” Liu Mang spoke of his worries. Before he knew it, Cai Mao was his enemy. Even if he wanted to make peace with Cai Mao, he did not know where to start.
“Cai Mao? This person likes wealth…” Jia Xu thought for a while and then shook his head. Cai Mao was Liu Biao’s Military Advisor. He had power and wealth. Even if Liu Mang had a lot of money, bribing him would not be effective.
“No. We cannot persuade Cai Mao but we can start from his little sister! Lady Cai’s relationship with Cai Mao remained good even after she married Liu Biao. If we can persuade Lady Cai, we would be able to persuade Cai Mao.”
“Lady Cai?” Liu Mang worried. By right, Lady Cai would be harder to meet since she would live in the governor’s residence. If he could not even meet Liu Biao how was he supposed to meet his wife?
“Correct. Milord. Lady Cai does not stay in the governor’s residence every day.” As Lady Cai loved playing music in a silent location, her brother bought a secluded place for her. Occasionally, she would stay at that place for a few days. That would be Liu Mang’s chance to meet her.
“Milord. Do you need me to teach you how to handle women?” Jia Xu winked as he joked.
“You!” Liu Mang was speechless. If he knew how to deal with women, he would not be so afraid of the fierce women at home. Now, he had to risk his life again for Yangzhou.
“The last one would be Pang Degong.” Jia Xu furrowed his brows. He had no real plan to use for persuading Pang Degong. “Milord. This is just a guess but I think we should start with this Tang Yun.”