Chapter 540

Liu Mang’s Army obtained Yingshang. Normally, the soldiers of the surrendered army would temporarily be imprisoned as a safety precaution. However, Mi Fang pleaded for leniency.

Zhang Liao had no choice but allow it as not only is Mi Fang and his sibling working for Yangzhou, his brother was also the Chief of Commerce. By right, Zhang Liao should be respectful towards Mi Fang. Of course, this is not the only reason. Zhang Liao gave Mi Fang face mainly because Mi Fang was the one that captured Yingshang.

Mi Fang had also sworn to take responsibility with his life in the event that these Yingshang soldiers were to rebel. Although he was a Second Grade general, he was useful. With his help the distribution of the provisions went smoothly. He was also able to placate the common people of Yingshang.

Zhang Liao could not help but nod at this. In his report, he wrote a little more about Mi Fang saying that the man was not talented but had potential.

As for Lu Bu, he managed to capture Ruyin extremely quickly. Ruyin’s defenders did not have the time to react at all when they noticed Lu Bu’s Army arrive. In half a month, Yangzhou already captured two counties.

****

“Report! Yingshang and Ruyin has fallen into the enemy’s hands!” Liu Bei felt his head ache. He now understood Cao Cao’s suffering during the battle at Guandu.

The two counties had a total of a hundred and fifty thousand people. Yet both counties fell with barely any resistance. Yingshang City in particular fell without any resistance at all.

“Mi Fang Mi Zifang!” Liu Bei gnashed his teeth in anger. The Mi Family has made him embarrassed. Now the whole of Yuzhou knew that Mi Fang was alive. That would make the title he gave the Mi Family worthless. The documents he sent to Xudou was also being questioned.

Liu Mang gave Mi Zhu the title of Marquis Guang while the title Liu Bei gave was just on the level of a county marquis. This was like a demotion.

“Milord. There is no need to worry. Yingshang and Ruyin are not important locations!” Sun Qian placated Liu Bei. Yingshang and Ruyin used to be granaries but now they were worthless. When Sun Qian remembered the empty city strategy, he was also filled with anger.

“There were only ten thousand weak soldiers and not much provisions. Defending would be impossible! Losing these two counties may even be beneficial for us!”

“Beneficial?” Liu Bei did not understand Sun Qian’s meaning.

“Milord. Yangzhou captured these two counties in less than half a month without losing much. They would definitely become complacent. Pride comes before a fall, our army deal a heavy blow towards the Yangzhou Army.” Sun Qian replied.

“Deal a heavy blow?” Liu Bei still could not understand. He thought Sun Qian meant attacking the Yangzhou Army but this was impossible with his current strength.

“We just need to defend the city!” Sun Qian said and pointed at the map. “Right now, Xiangcheng and Nandun has about twenty thousand soldiers and three hundred thousand citizens. If Milord were to spread the news that Yangzhou was going to massacre them, the citizens will go to war. Even if Yangzhou have more soldiers, they would be trapped outside Xiangcheng. How many soldiers does Milord think they would have right now after capturing two cities?”

“That’s right!” Liu Bei’s eyes glinted brightly. Xiangcheng had lots of common people. Although they could not be used to attack the enemy, they could still defend the city. Liu Bei was also adept in framing people. He still had many faithful followers from when he painted Cao Cao as an evil person in Xuzhou.

“Men! Take the provisions sent by Cao Cao and distribute eighty percent of it to the people of Xiangcheng and Nandun!” Liu Bei gave the order. After distributing the provisions, he would only be left with ten thousand provisions. Liu Bei would have no choice but to be frugal.

“Cao Cao, Cao Mengde! You played a good move!” Liu Bei praised Cao Cao though he wasn’t feeling grateful at all. Cao Cao provided just enough provisions for Liu Bei to deal with Liu Mang. However, there would not be enough for Liu Bei to expand his army. Cao Cao had no intentions to allow either forces to become more powerful.

However, Liu Bei was not one to be defeated so easily. He would first deal with his current problem and then formulate a new plan.

****

Ruyin and Yingshan fell easily but the people of Nandun vowed to fight to the death. Yangzhou’s persuasion for their surrender fell on deaf ears.

Zhang Liao said that they had little provisions left but the defenders of Nandun took out provisions and even showed it to the Yangzhou Army. They even arrogantly said to the Yangzhou Army that these provisions came from Xudou.

Lu Bu had the Yangzhou Army attack once but they were beaten back. The Nanjun defenders fought with their lives. They fought so hard that the Formation Breaker and the Xiliang Cavalry felt ashamed. These defenders were like elites.

With great difficulty, they managed to capture one. After interrogation, they found out that Liu Bei had spread the rumor saying that Liu Mang will massacre everyone in the city after capturing it. As many of them were from Xuzhou, many of them also listened to Liu Bei. Thus, Nandun had become a strong wall. A hundred thousand people was a large number.

It was just like when the people of Wan helped Liu Mang protect the city from Sun Ce. Zhang Liao and the others did not dare to use catapults. This is because Liu Mang needed the people from Yuzhou. If they were to use catapults, the misunderstanding would deepen. Many of the common people were helping to defend the walls. The catapults would not be able to differentiate whether they were soldiers or the common people.

Once the common people were killed, their resistance would become even fiercer. The army stopped and sent a letter to Jingzhou to request for Liu Mang’s instructions.

****

“Cao Cao gave Liu Bei provisions?” Liu Mang muttered as he read the reports. He initially thought that the battle would go smoothly as Liu Bei had lost troops and would lose popular sentiment for being unable to pay back the provisions. However, Cao Cao had suddenly interfered, allowing Liu Bei to feed his troops and maintain his popularity.

“Cao Cao, Cao Mengde is truly ambitious!” Liu Mang sighed. When Cao Cao attacked Liu Mang last time, Liu Mang was able to see Cao Cao in his most miserable moment. At that time, Cao Cao’s sorry figure was disgraceful. However, that was part of his ambitious character.

He had not even pacified Hebei and he was already meddling with the Central Plains.

“Milord. Cao Cao, Cao Mengde is too free. He would stir up trouble if he has nothing to do!” Jia Xu smiled. Cao Cao had already laid the ground work for Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang to fight each other. Now he just needed to watch. If he did not need to wait for them, he would have already assembled his army. As he was free, he would definitely find things to do.

“Since he is free, let us give him something to do!” Liu Mang said coldly.

“Milord, you seem to have a plan!”

“Wenhe. What about you?”

“How about we both write down our plans on our palm?”

“Good!” Liu Mang agreed and the two wrote down a character on their palm. When they were done, the character ‘Xu’ was written on both their palms.

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