Chapter 526
Chapter 526
Away from the war, Jingzhou was still bustling with activity. Liu Mang attended his seventh banquet and have finally gotten himself acquainted with all nobles in Jingzhou, save for a few very minor ones.
Liu Mang returned to his residence drunk that night. He was able to walk around without stumbling only because he was properly taken care of by two servants, and Jia Xu.
“Milord! Be careful! You two, bring him into his room.” Jia Xu told the servants.
Before Liu Mang could enter his room, he vomited. While he ended up causing a mess on the floor, it also helped him feel better and more sober.
“Milord, are you okay?” Jia Xu asked, sounding concerned. However, he stayed far away so that he did not get puked on.
Liu Mang gave Jia Xu a strange glance. Although he was drunk, he could tell that Jia Xu was avoiding him. However, his head hurts too much to bother with Jia Xu.
“My head hurts.” Liu Mang massaged his head. He entered his room and slept. The next day, he woke up with a hangover. He had been drinking without restriction the past few days. He could not continue doing this even if the wine was diluted.
Liu Mang called for someone to attend to him the moment he woke up. Jia Xu was the one who entered, carrying porridge with him to curry favor. Liu Mang accepted the porridge without bothering to be polite. As he had vomited the previous night, his stomach was empty.
“What is the time now?” Liu Mang asked. He had spent every day attending banquets or watching over the situation at Fancheng.
“Milord, the sun had only just risen.” Jia Xu replied.
Hearing this, Liu Mang believed that not much time had passed. It would explain why his head still ached. As Liu Mang massaged his head, he asked for Jia Xu to bring the war reports from Fancheng.
“Milord, here.” Jia Xu took out a stack of letters.
“So many?” Liu Mang was shocked. He then noticed that the earliest letter was addressed two days ago.
“I slept for two whole days?” Liu Mang was shocked.
“To be precise Milord, you have slept for two days and three nights.” Jia Xu explained.
“Drinking was a mistake!” Liu Mang shook his head. Alcohol was truly like poison. Even if Liu Mang had become skilled in martial arts, he still could not resist being drunk.
“How is the war going?” Liu Mang asked hoping for a summary, knowing that Jia Xu would have already browsed through the contents of the letter.
“Haha, Milord. This time, we might make a profit off Jingzhou!” Jia Xu laughed.
Jia Xu’s laughter put Liu Mang in a good mood as this meant that there was good news. “Tell me.”
“Liu Bei Liu Xuande acted as predicted. General Chen Deng is also advancing slowly every day.”
“General Chen Deng? What happened to Father-in-law?” Liu Mang asked. As Lu Bu was the one that had been in charge, the one advancing slowly should have been Lu Bu.
“Milord. Marquis Wen left on the second day.” Jia Xu explained.
Liu Mang smiled wryly and shook his head. “I am sure the Wolf Cavalry also left with him.”
Jia Xu nodded in reply.
“My Father-in-law…” Liu Mang muttered helplessly. People said that youngsters are impulsive while middle aged people could concentrate on their objective. However, this cannot be applied to Lu Bu at all. He was just as impulsive as when he was younger and basically just does whatever he wants.
Liu Mang then took note of Chen Deng and nodded with approval. Lu Bu was impulsive but still reliable enough to put Chen Deng in charge as Chen Deng was just as talented as Liu Mang’s own subordinates. Even Chen Gong was almost killed by Chen Deng and his father’s plots.
Liu Mang remembered when he first encountered Chen Deng. At that time, they were opposing each other. Chen Deng was on the offense while Liu Mang was a decoy.
Liu Mang also knew that agriculture and irrigation was Chen Deng’s real strong suit, not military affairs. Tao Qian had also appointed Chen Deng to such areas to make Guangling prosperous. Liu Mang intended to take Chen Deng from Lu Bu for the purpose of agriculture in Yangzhou. He never expected Chen Deng to be dispatched.
“If Liu Bei has Pang Tong, their chances of winning would be fifty percent. However, Liu Bei only has Jian Yong with him. That means he is sure to lose!” As Sun Qian did not support the idea of attacking Fancheng,
“Chen Deng’s slow pace had given Liu Bei the time. This time, Liu Bei is cautious and dispatched twenty thousand troops to transport his provisions.”
“Twenty thousand troops? Is he abandoning Yuzhou?” Liu Mang wondered. Counting the number of soldiers Yuzhou had, the number of losses they had suffered recently and the twenty thousand troops used to transport the provisions, Yuzhou should now be pretty empty. Liu Mang already started thinking of attacking Yuzhou.
“Milord. In these several months, Guan Yu Guan Yunchang had trained another twenty thousand troops.” Jia Xu said. Hearing this, Liu Mang stopped thinking about attacking Yuzhou. Instead, he simply rejoiced that he obtained another two hundred thousand provisions.
“No Milord, we only obtained fifty thousand provisions this time.”
“Hm?”
Jia Xu then explained that the enemy was ambushed by the White Horses and the Wolf Cavalry. With the superior mobility, they easily could break through the enemy’s defensive formation. Knowing that defeat was inevitable, the enemy chose to burn the provisions. The White Horses and the Wolf Cavalry chose to allow the enemy commander Guan Ping to escape and worked together to put out the fire. They could only save fifty thousand provisions.
“The Guan Family truly aren’t simpletons!” Liu Mang sighed with regret. Guan Yu was like Zhang Liao and Guan Ping was not that far behind his father. Although Guan Ping had lost, he knew enough not to let the enemy gain as well.
“That’s alright. Fifty thousand is better than nothing!” Liu Mang nodded without feeling disheartened.
There had been five hundred thousand provisions in Fancheng. Liu Bei transported out four hundred thousand where Liu Mang stole two hundred and fifty thousand. Even though Liu Bei was the one that took it from Jingzhou, Liu Mang was the one that benefitted.
“There is still a hundred thousand provisions left. Let us just give it to Liu Bei.” Liu Mang stated. As he had already obtained most of it, he no longer cared about the remaining one hundred thousand provisions. Even though Liu Mang said that, all he meant was that he is not going to specifically target the provisions. Whether Liu Bei could actually obtain the provisions for himself was a different matter entirely.
“Send a letter to Chen Deng and tell him we can start the attack now!” As they had already obtained the benefits, Liu Bei was no longer of any use. Fancheng should now be returned to its original owner.
“Oh. Don’t forget to remind my father-in-law not to fight too hard.” Liu Mang was afraid that Lu Bu would risk his life to go after Liu Bei out of hatred. Liu Mang simply wanted Liu Bei to waste his resources. At the end of the day, Liu Bei still had fifteen thousand Xiliang Cavalry. Sacrificing the Wolf Cavalry to destroy the Xiliang Cavalry was not worth it. It would be better to wait for Liu Bei to destroy himself due to lack of provisions.
“Milord. The White Horses is currently lacking a Deputy General.” Jia Xu informed. Zhao Yun was injured but it wasn’t anything too serious. A few days rest was enough for him to recover. On the other hand, Zhao Yi who almost caused the operation to fail had to be punished. He was demoted back to a foot soldier and returned to Yangzhou to retrain himself.
Liu Mang frowned at this. He had lots of generals, but all of them already had a post. It was difficult for Liu Mang to find someone that could qualify for being the Deputy General of the White Horses.
“I will settle this matter next time.” Liu Mang said, postponing the task as the White Horses’ mission was mostly done. All they needed to do now was chase Liu Bei out of Fancheng.
At this moment, a messenger came saying that a man requested an audience.
“Hm? Who is it at this hour?” Liu Mang and Jia Xu did not know who would look for them so early in the morning.
“What is his name?”
“He did not give his name but he said that Milord would know once you see him.”
“Alright. I will go take a look.” As Liu Mang and Jia Xu were pretty much done with their discussion, they had the free time.
Liu Mang already had the reputation of a Sage King. He respected the wise and was generous to the needy. One of those from a poor family was Xu Shu. Xu Shu had written letters of introductions for many scholars from the Lumen Academy, some were also from poor families.
Naturally, Liu Mang would take the opportunity to be generous to them. Liu Mang could not go to Jingzhou and leave with nothing. He had to take away talented people with him. In the past few months, he already obtained dozens of talented individuals.
Liu Mang believed that the person asking for audience was another one of Jingzhou’s scholars.