Chapter 550

“Milord. A report from the frontlines of Yuzhou!” Jia Xu Jia Wenhe said as he entered Liu Mang’s residence.

“Bring it here!” Liu Mang replied. Although it had been peaceful in Jingzhou, Liu Mang was constantly worried about the battle at Yuzhou. Whether he could return to Yangzhou depended on whether he could capture Yuzhou. Chen Deng was slowly forging through half of Xuzhou. This alongside Yuzhou would be like having two provinces. It can already be considered conquering the Central Plains.

Three forces would form in the Central Plains. Liu Biao, Sun Ce and the Conqueror of the Central Plains, Liu Mang. At that moment, Liu Biao would need to let Liu Mang go in order to maintain a stable power balance. If he did not, there may be the possibility of Liu Mang allying with Sun Ce. At that time, Liu Biao would be facing a crisis.

Liu Mang felt excited when he thought of going back to Yuzhou.

“We suffered more than fourteen thousand losses at Nandun?” Liu Mang frowned at the reports. Written on it were the number of dead and injured of his Yangzhou Army and at least dozens of them belonged to the Urban Army. This is despite them having catapults.

Liu Mang continued reading the report. Despite their heavy losses, the battle had become a foundation for the Yangzhou Army to become elites. Although fifty thousand Yangzhou Army troops were auxiliary troops, they started to become part of the main force after the food situation was resolved. Although they were still commanded by the more experienced men of the Urban Army, they have now started to learn the art of war.

In any case, the Yangzhou Army were still new recruits. It was hard for them to become elites. But sieging the city with the help of the catapults was still their task.

Out of his fifty thousand men, at least eleven thousand were dead and at least two thousand were seriously injured to the point where returning to the battlefield was impossible. The remaining thirty six thousand soldiers can be considered elites.

“Send a letter to Shouchun. Have the names of the dead recorded in the Hall of Heroes and arrange for money and fertile land to those injured.” Liu Mang said to Jia Xu.

“Yes!” Jia Xu nodded as he looked at Liu Mang. Jia Xu had different opinions regarding the treatment of the dead and injured. To him, human lives had very little value during chaotic times. People became soldiers to eat. Jia Xu did not care about those who died. Having their names recorded cost nothing. However, the severely injured were normally mercy killed to allow them to die comfortably. Those with conscience would just let them die on their own as those with severe injuries were not only unable to fight but could also impede them.

This is because medical care needed to be given to those injured. Besides that, the anguished howls of the severely injured could lower morale. Even after winning, they would need to be responsible for the future of these injured soldiers. At that moment, there were already over ten thousand retired soldiers missing a limb or two. Some of them even loss all their limbs. To Yangzhou, they were just burdens.

However, Jia Xu also knew that he would not be able to persuade Liu Mang to change his mind.

Jia Xu shook his head bitterly. It was fortunate for Liu Mang that his soldiers aren’t the type to cling to life. With the compensation given to the family members upon their death in the line of service and recording their name as heroes for the citizens to worship them, death was still a better option. As a result, the Yangzhou Army did not fear death.

“We have captured Nandun!” Liu Mang said to Jia Xu after he finished reading the report.

“All that is left is Dingcheng. After that, we can converge our army onto Runan.” Nandun and Dingcheng were like defensive cities. It would be hard to capture Runan without capturing it first. Once they capture it, Liu Bei would have no choice but to abandon Yuzhou or perish together with Runan.

Despite Nandun being captured, Liu Mang did not seem happy. Jia Xu asked if a general died only for Liu Mang to say that there were no generals dead but Zhang Liao was injured. Although it was not too serious, he would need time to rest.

The reason why Liu Mang was unhappy was because of all the deaths amongst the common people. Although he gave the order to attack, he was not happy. He then showed killing intent. “Imperial Uncle Liu Bei Liu Xuande! That traitor to the Han!”

Liu Mang’s hatred for Liu Bei was much more than his hatred for Cao Cao and Sun Ce despite having the same surname. His hypocrisy caused the war to be extended. Without him, Cao Cao would have long united the land in the original history. There won’t be any Three Kingdoms or the Jin Dynasty. Cao Cao would have at least brought peace to the land.

Having ambitions is fine but one must at least have the ability. Everyone used their own troops and generals but not Liu Bei. He manipulated and involved the common citizens. He made the innocent die for his cause. When he was defeated at Xuzhou, he lied saying that Cao Cao would kill all of them in order for the countless citizens of Xuzhou to accompany him.

On the surface, it looked like he was thinking of the citizens. In actual fact, he was using them as his shield to cover his retreat. Cao Cao was not an idiot so it was not possible for him to have wanted to kill Xuzhou’s citizens after capturing it since war requires food and human resources

But thanks to these citizens, Liu Bei was able to escape. Along the way, over ten thousand of those who followed him starved to death. It was the same with the citizens of Nandun who stood ready to defend the city.

“Pass down my orders. Capture Yuzhou and kill Liu Bei. That man must die!” Liu Mang have never hated someone as much as Liu Bei. Even before attacking Yuzhou, he received a secret message from the puppet Emperor telling him not to kill Liu Bei as they were all from the same clan.

Liu Mang still gave face to the Emperor and had initially thought of keeping Liu Bei under house arrest. He even thought of obtaining Zhang Fei and Guan Yu. However, the incident at Nandun made Liu Mang determined to kill Liu Bei. Liu Bei had to die even if he had to kill Guan Yu and Zhang Fei as well.

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