Chapter 612
The moment the messenger said those words, the whole situation suddenly changed. Before this, Liu Pan was pressing that the Wu Family were traitors. This happened because he was unable to wipe out the traitors. Meanwhile, the Huang Family wanted to quickly cut off connections with the Wu Family or they would be implicated as well.
What about after the messenger explained what happened? It was true that the Wu Family defected. The Wu Family’s eldest daughter had brought a map of the Huarong Road to the Yangzhou Navy, allowing them to attack and capture Jiangling. However, she was forced to do so. One way of saying it is that the Wu Family did not want to defect but after wiping them out, they defected to take revenge.
“Oh! So it is because someone forced a loyal person to death for his own personal gain. Then the child of this loyal person had no choice but to rely on the enemy!” Huang She immediately stood up and verbally attacked Liu Pan. “If this continues like this, would there still be anyone loyal in our army?”
“What about Jiangling’s governor Dong Zhi?” Liu Pan asked. He already had thoughts of killing the messenger. Initially, he was about to frame the Wu Family from Jiangling as rebels. That way, he could justify his attack against the Wu Family and also gain control of Jiangling. Now his plans has fallen apart. Liu Pan knew that Dong Zhi had about twenty thousand troops. Even if the enemy had a map to pass through Huarong Road, there should not be many troops that could get through. Dong Zhi should be able to defend Jiangling for a while.
“Jiangling’s governor Dong Zhi has also surrendered!”
“Dong Zhi has surrendered? How could this be?” Dong Zhi was his new piece. He had wiped out the Wu Family to draw in Dong Zhi. He also praised Dong Zhi in front of Liu Biao. Yet Dong Zhi has surrendered? He wanted to make use of Dong Zhi as a witness to confirm that the Wu Family have always colluded with Yangzhou. That way, Huang She could not do anything. After all, it is not like Liu Biao could confirm this matter with Yangzhou.
Liu Pan felt frustrated now that he was being told that Dong Zhi had surrendered. Everyone can surrender except Dong Zhi since Dong Zhi had a part in wiping out the Wu Family.
“You’re lying!” Liu Pan glared at the messenger. If the eldest daughter of the Wu Family brought the map to Yangzhou for revenge, why would Dong Zhi surrender? Wasn’t he afraid of being killed after handing Jiangling over to Yangzhou?
“This small person is speaking the truth! He doesn’t dare to lie to Your Majesty and the generals! Aside from Officer Han Wei who defended for a while, everyone else surrendered without resistance.” The messenger carefully replied, adding that everyone else surrendered with Dong Zhi’s help.
Liu Pan spat out blood. Not only was he now labelled as a person who forced loyal officials to their deaths. The person he claimed to be a faithful official had surrendered. Liu Pan gnashed his teeth in anger, hoping that Dong Zhi had fought to the death. The dead could tell no tales and he would have even gave Dong Zhi a posthumous title. Instead, Liu Pan was now put in a very difficult position.
“Milord! It seems like the truth is different. In my opinion, that governor, Dong Zhi, is the traitor who has long collaborated with Yangzhou. That was why he schemed against the Wu Family! The Wu Family is truly pitiful. They are straightforward and upright. They spared no effort for our Jingzhou. Unfortunately, some despicable people schemed against them and took their lives! As a result, Wu Mi had to turn to Yangzhou! Milord. I plead for this incident to be investigated and the despicable person punished!” Huang She knelt down in front of Liu Biao.
“Milord! Please investigate the matter and punish the despicable person to give justice to the loyal officials!” The Huang Family’s supporters echoed as they knelt. If their Master have already knelt then they could not just stay standing.
Liu Pan did not find it strange when the Huang Family’s people knelt along with Huang She. After all, they were enemies. However, the others also started to kneel. These were people from the Cai Family and the Kuai Family. It would seem as though the Cai Family and the Kuai Family were also opposing him.
“Milord! Please investigate the matter and bring justice to Jingzhou’s faithful officials!” The officials that knelt did so without Kuai Yue or Cai Mao’s prompting. This is because Liu Pan attacked a noble family. The Wu Family was wiped out without any warning. As a very old family in Jingzhou, they had relationship with almost everyone. Their sudden extermination made the other grieved with sympathy. Would the same thing happen to them had Liu Pan set their eyes on them instead? That was why they all teamed up. Even if they could not remove Liu Pan, they could at least restrain him.
“Milord! Please investigate the matter and bring justice to Jingzhou’s faithful officials!” After the Kuai and Cai Family officials were the Lumen Academy officials. That is because Liu Pan’s actions was something the Lumen Academy could not tolerate.
“You all!” Liu Pan found himself isolated. All the officials in Jingzhou wanted him punished.
Liu Biao started to cough loudly after hearing that Jiangling had fallen and seeing his officials’ actions.
“Milord! What’s wrong?” One member of Liu Biao’s inner ministerial circle quickly stepped forward and asked. Liu Biao removed the white handkerchief from his mouth to find it stained with blood.
“Quick! Call a doctor!” The ministers panicked. Fortunately, the doctor was already nearby as Liu Biao had spat out blood before.
“Father!” Liu Pan stepped forward trying to act like a filial son but on his way, Huang She gave him a short letter.
“Hm?” Liu Pan skeptically read the letter. It only says ‘military power’ on it. Liu Pan understood that Huang She was threatening him. If Liu Pan refused to hand over military power to Huang She, Huang She would fight to the death. They would all kneel in front of Liu Biao and force Liu Biao to remove Liu Pan. After all, this is such a serious issue that an explanation had to be given the others. Though this may enrage Liu Biao, Liu Pan would also have to suffer the consequences. However, if Liu Pan were to give the military power to Huang She then they could help downplay this issue.
Liu Pan clenched his fist. What he wanted was military power so he was against giving it away. Besides that, even if he had to give it away, he would not give it to Huang She.
“Second Lord. General Wen Pin.” Kuai Yue approached Liu Pan, said this, and then left.
“Withdraw! Everyone step back. I am alright!” Liu Biao waved his hand for his subordinates to withdraw. He knew his own body the best. Since he had already spoken, both the civil and military officials had to withdraw.
“Pan’er. What do you have to say for youself?” Liu Biao questioned. He had to give the officials an explanation as Liu Pan was the one in the wrong.
“Father. I was tricked by Dong Zhi and caused unjust harm to the Wu Family!” Liu Pan make himself look like a victim as he blamed Dong Zhi for everything.
“This son believed that Jiangling’s governor was someone Father has personally appointed so he chose to believe in the governor’s words. On top of that, Officer Wu Lin have also defected to the enemy. So this son chose to eradicate the Wu Family!” Liu Pan blamed Dong Zhi and also indirectly blamed Liu Biao. After all, it was Liu Biao who appointed Dong Zhi as Jiangling’s governor.
The reason Liu Biao appointed Dong Zhi is because he was a foreign noble. He had no relation with the three influential families of Jingzhou. Yet no one can accuse Liu Biao of misjudging people.
“Do you think that is enough to justify yourself? If everyone acts like this, what is the law even for?” Huang She was anxious as Liu Pan did not mention anything about the military power. He spoke up in fear that Liu Biao would just forgive Liu Pan.
“Of course!” Liu Pan glared at Huang She hatefully. If Huang She was not here, Liu Pan could kill the entire Wu Family and no one would say anything about it. This Huang She was like an annoying troublemaker.
Liu Pan also knew that he had to concede some things to the others or they would not allow him to extricate himself. This meant that he had to give these officials benefits.
“Father. This son made a mistake as he was deceived. No matter what I do, it is already too late to redeem myself. This son can only reflect behind closed doors to not make such a mistake again. As for training the new army, I am afraid it would be difficult for me to take this position.” Liu Pan conceded and gave away military power. However, he did not give away all of it.
Huang She smiled at Liu Pan’s words as he too, wanted military power. Only with military power can he obtain authority. It is also the qualifications to be arrogant in Jingzhou. Look at Cai Mao. Despite getting fired from his position, Liu Biao was still unable to do anything to him. Had it been someone else, they would have already been executed. The reason Liu Biao did not dare to act against Cai Mao was because Cai Mao had thirty thousand troops. If Cai Mao were to be executed, these soldiers would attack Xiangyang.
Before this, Huang She could not do anything to obtain military power as Wen Pin was Jingzhou Navy. As Liu Biao’s trusted aide, it was impossible for Wen Pin to be demoted in favor of Huang She. However, things were different now. Wen Pin was defeated and Liu Pan had made a fatal mistake. There was no better time to obtain military power.
“It is good that the Second Lord is aware of his mistakes. I am sure Wu Fan of the Wu Family would be able to rest easy!” Huang She spoke up. At first he said he wanted justice for Wu Fan but now he was saying that Wu Fan could rest in peace.
“You want to shut yourself behind closed doors to reflect?” Liu Biao frowned. Liu Pan needed to be punished but he did not need to let go of the military power. If so, how would they form a new army?
“Father. This son recommends someone else to help train the new army while I am reflecting.” Liu Pan was left with no choice. If it was any other time, he would be trying to gain more military power instead of giving it away.
Huang She was very excited thinking that Liu Pan would recommend someone from the Huang Family. Once that happens, Huang She could have military power in his hands. The tether to the source of this data rests in n0v3lb!n★
“Oh? Who are you recommending?” Liu Biao asked skeptically.
“This person is talented, heroic, and loyal. He is also the son of a general!”
Huang She smiled. Wasn’t that person him? Huang She had the impression that he was heroic even though his battles always ended up in defeat. He simply had bad luck as the opponent always used some vile tricks or some of his allies were useless. He was also loyal as the Huang Family had worked for Liu Biao for many years. Lastly, there was no one else that could lead the troops except Liu Biao, Cai Mao and himself.
“That person is General Wen Pin!”
“You flatter me! Wait, Wen Pin?” Huang She was about to step forward and act modest when he realized it was not him being praised. Huang She immediately became angry at being tricked. What is worse is that he can only watch it happen now.
“I...” Wen Pin was stumped. He initially thought the best he could get was to not involve his family but now he was being told he could become a commander to once again distinguish himself.
“Why have you not accepted the order?”
“This General accepts the order!” Wen Pin finally reacted. Though he did not know what happened, for now he has escaped with his life.
Meanwhile, Huang She was looking at Wen Pin angrily as he coveted Wen Pin’s position.
“Alright, you may leave!” Liu Biao waved his hand at Wen Pin. “Is there anything else?” Liu Biao asked. He already felt his head ache and he wanted to rest.
“Father. Though Jiangling has been captured, the enemy had crossed through the Huarong Road. They should not have many men with them. We should quickly dispatch the troops to catch them unprepared and retake Jiangling.” Liu Pan explained.
“Retake Jiangling? Do we even have enough troops?” Liu Biao shook his head bitterly. Jingzhou did not have many troops left. If they do, they would not need to form a new army. There may be still be thirty thousand naval troops but these belonged to Cai Mao. They may be Jingzhou’s troops on the surface but thanks to Lady Cai’s incident, these troops would not lift a finger to help.
“Milord, there is none at Xiangyang but there are still troops at Changsha.” Liu Pan’s purpose was evident.
“Milord! The Changsha Army needs to guard the South! How could we allocate enough people to attack Jiangling? Jiangling is a place that is easy to guard and hard to attack!” Huang She quickly protested. Changsha was the Huang Family’s territory. If his troops fought for Jiangling and lost, they would not only be humiliated but also punished. On the other hand, if they were to win, they would suffer huge casualties as the Yangzhou Army were not easy to deal with.
“General Huang. What is the purpose of our army guarding against the Southern Barbarians? Isn’t it to protect our Jingzhou from the fires of war? Isn’t it to let the people be at peace? Now that the enemy has already captured Jiangling, why are we still waiting? Are we going to wait until our provisions at Jiangling have been taken away?” Liu Pan said towards Huang She.
“If we set out to Jiangling to attack Yangzhou and then the barbarians attack, who is going to take responsibility? You?” Huang She retorted. “Besides that, the ones that are really idle should be your armored cavalry and the Wuyang Troops! Why not send them to attack Jiangling?”
“Enough!” Liu Biao finally got angry at the two’s attempts to compete against each other. “The two of you stay silent and listen to my orders! Have Huang Zu dispatch thirty thousand troops from Changsha to attack Jiangling! Pan’er, you are also to first dispatch ten thousand troops! You must definitely take back Jiangling!” Liu Biao ordered. He immediately opted to send in forty thousand elites. Despite that, there would be huge losses in a siege battle so both sides would be hurt from this.
“This General accepts the order!” Liu Pan said without a choice.
***
“Woah!” After the power transitioned from Dong Zhi to Lu Xun, Lu Xun finally had the opportunity to check up on the available provisions with the help of Dong Zhi. What he saw shocked him.
There were eight granaries, located on all sides in Jiangling. Each granary had at least four hundred thousand provisions. There were also weapons and armor. Though Lu Xun did not care much for Jingzhou’s armor because of Yangzhou’s superior technology, there were still at least thirty thousand sets of armor here.
This was a huge number. One must remember that in that era, not every soldier wore armor. Only ranked officers wore armor. The others simply wore cotton padded or rattan clothes. As a result, these thirty thousand sets of armor was enough for an army of two hundred thousand.
With these supplies, Jiangling was truly a sturdy fortress.
Lu Xun was happy. Fortunately the surprise attack had worked or Jiangling would really become a problem.
“Liu Biao transport supplies to Jiangling every year?” Lu Xun asked as he looked at the mountain of provisions and weapons. If they were to sell all these, it would total up to several hundred thousand gold. This showed how much Liu Biao invested into Jiangling.
“Yes.” Dong Zhi nodded. Dong Zhi had now defected to Yangzhou so he easily divulged all of Jiangling’s secrets. In truth, there were actually more provisions that Dong Zhi did not know of. This is because Jiangling was Liu Biao’s escape route. The less people that know of it the better.
Dong Zhi initially thought that it was good enough if Jiangling could feed a hundred thousand soldiers but he never expected that Jiangling could easily feed more than two hundred thousand soldiers. Dong Zhi himself was stunned when he saw this and felt a little greedy. Even ten percent of this was enough for the Dong Family to become rich.
Dong Zhi who had now defected to Yangzhou hoped that he could once again be reinstated as the Dong Zhi’s governor.
“It is no wonder the Military Advisor say that Jiangling is half of Jingzhou!” Lu Xun mumbled to himself. Dong Zhi was really useful. It was fortunate that Lu Xun did not kill Dong Zhi or let Wu Mi kill Dong Zhi. It was because of this that for the past few days Wu Mi was no longer on speaking terms with Lu Xun.
“Master Dong. Work properly. If there is an opportunity, I may be able to call you Governor Dong again.” Lu Xun knew that Dong Zhi needed some incentive to work properly and gave it.
“Haha. Of course! I hope General Lu would continue to keep an eye on me and give a good word to His Highness the King of Shu. If so, I really would not be able to thank you enough!”
Han Wei looked at Dong Zhi with disdain for his skill in flattering. He could not deal with Dong Zhi. If it was not because Dong Zhi still had his uses, he would have already killed Dong Zhi.
Dong Zhi also noticed Han Wei’s disdain but did not bother. The two of them were never friends. Now they simply worked together because of the circumstances and the both of them listened to Lu Xun.
“General Lu. Right now, we should discuss on how to confront Jingzhou’s retaliation!” Han Wei said to Lu Xun. Since Jingzhou have lost Jiangling, they were sure to try and take it back even if they had to throw away their navy that is seventy thousand men strong. The more frightening one would be the nearby Changsha Army that has forty thousand men.
“What about our army’s situation?” Lu Xun asked Han Wei and Dong Zhi. Though Jiangling may be easy to defend, Lu Xun did not have enough soldiers as he needed to take as little soldiers as possible with him through the Huarong Road. It was not possible to guard Jiangling with only one thousand five hundred men. That was why he needed Jiangling’s originals defenders.
“General. We only have eight thousand troops right now.” Han Wei replied.
“Eight thousand?” Lu Xun frowned. Before this, Han Wei said that there were twenty thousand Jiangling defenders. Though the Yangzhou Army had killed some of them, there should still be at least eighteen thousand defenders. Yet now there were only eight thousand?
“General. The remaining ten thousand dispersed!” Han Wei explained.
Not everyone followed Dong Zhi into surrendering. The ones that surrendered are the ones with nothing to worry about. The others had family that lived in Jingzhou. If they were to turn traitor, their families would suffer.
To reduce hidden threats caused by dissatisfaction, Lu Xun allowed these soldiers to choose. He then screened the ones that volunteered to join with Yangzhou and removed the ones whose family don’t live within or near Jiangling. As a result, only eight thousand men were left.
“General. Should I gather the rest back?” Dong Zhi asked. Though these soldiers may become threats, at the very least, they could bolster the numbers for now.
“No need.” Lu Xun waved his hand.
“It is better that they leave.” Lu Xun nodded. It was better not to keep threats by their side. He noticed that Dong Zhi and Han Wei were worried the Yangzhou Navy would not be able to keep Jiangling. If Yangzhou were to lose, they would be punished as traitors. He turned to his deputy general to keep them at ease.
“Jiang Hua. Have you sent your men through the Huarong Road?” Lu Xun asked.
“Yes General. It has already been done. I am sure the Yangzhou Navy’s reinforcements will quickly arrive.” Jiang Hua replied having understand Lu Xun’s intentions.
Having edited the map with the proper path, it was now easier to cross through the Huarong Road. He believed it is possible to obtain reinforcements. Though not many can cross the Huarong Road each time, it was better than nothing.
“General Han Wei, Master Dong. There is no need to worry as Jiangling is easy to defend. Though we do not even have ten thousand men, we do not need to fear enemies even if they are ten times our size!” Lu Xun encouraged the two.
“Of course.” Dong Zhi replied unconfidently.
“Alright. Master Dong can return first. General Han, let us talk about the city defense!” Lu Xun said to the two.
“In that case, I shall take my leave.” Dong Zhi nodded and left.