"Jingzhou Liu Biao, Jingzhou Liu Biao, what does he want?" Liu Mang was simply scratching his head. During the banquet a few days ago, Liu Mang argued with the group of scholars and angered Pang Shanmin to the point of vomiting blood. At the same time, Liu Biao was overjoyed. He almost wanted to become sworn brothers with Liu Mang. The matter of the provisions was also discussed well. They agreed that Liu Biao would first sell 100,000 shi of provisions to Liu Mang. Although it was three times the market price, Liu Mang did not care. After all, Liu Mang had a lot of money.
However, Liu Mang had a lot of money. Liu Mang did not care if it was just an increase in price. At most, Liu Biao was greedy. However, Liu Mang was perfunctory. He said that Jingzhou did not have much provisions and that they still needed to support the battle in Jiang Xia. Liu Mang did not say that he would not sell. However, he had to wait for one or two months because the provisions had to be supplied to the front line in Jiang Xia first.
Time, time, what Liu Mang lacked the most was time. If he had to wait for one or two months, then he would have to wait to collect the corpses of Yangzhou. There would definitely be a riot.
However, Liu Biao asked Liu Mang to wait. Was he forcing Liu Mang to die?
Why did Liu Mang come to Jingzhou? Wasn't it for the provisions? Otherwise, as the Lord of a state, why would he come to Jingzhou to have a gathering with Liu Biao? He was already being used as a hostage.
"There must be someone who is interfering!" Liu Mang gritted his teeth. Otherwise, if Liu Biao really did not want to sell provisions, he would not have agreed so easily. He would have just laughed at Liu Mang.
"Milord, Milord, I found it, I found it!" Just as Liu Mang was thinking, the old fox Jia Xu ran over with a piece of paper in his hand and shouted at Liu Mang.
"You found it? Who is it? " Liu Mang opened the paper and looked at the information on it. It was all the people who visited Liu Biao's residence in the past few days. There were Cai Pa, Zhang Yun, and some people from the Huang family. Even Master Shui Jing appeared in the paper. It was very detailed.
Yang Hong's organization in Yangzhou alone was not enough for this kind of intelligence. This kind of intelligence was a cooperation between three organizations. Chen Gong's Lvbu's Army intelligence organization, Yang Hong's Jinyi Guards, and Jia Xu's Jia Wenhe's former intelligence organization under Zhang Xiu.
This old fox. If it was not for the fact that he almost lost his life in Luokou Du last time, this old fox might have kept this intelligence organization a secret. However, for the safety of his life, he also told Liu Mang about the original Nanyang Intelligence Bureau.
In order to take revenge on the old fox, Liu Mang named the intelligence organization in Jia Xu's hands East Faction! With the addition of Chen Gong's Lvbu's Army intelligence, he was able to obtain this piece of paper.
It was basically impossible for Cai Mao and Zhang Yun. If the two of them wanted to cheat, they would have done it long ago. There was no need for them to trip up Liu Mang when he was about to buy it. As for the Huang family, even if they had a grudge against Liu Mang, it would be difficult for them to persuade Liu Biao to change anything! As for Kuai Yue and Kuai Liang, Kuai Yue was a neutral party. He did not have a good impression of Liu Mang. On the contrary, he did not have a bad impression of Liu Mang. Kuai Liang also had a good impression of Liu Mang. Last time, he had told Liu Mang to ask about Yang Hong. Therefore, it was impossible for him to change. The others were just some small fries. There was no need to know Liu Mang.
"Found it, found it!" Liu Mang finally found the name that gave Liu Mang the most headaches. "Yuzhou Military Advisor, don't drive Pang Tong, Pang Shiyuan!"
Little Fire Chicken! Liu Mang suddenly put down the letter in his hand. It was written that Pang Tong had left after cursing Liu Biao. Later on, he stayed in Liu Biao's residence for an entire afternoon and only left at night.
"I was too careless!" Liu Mang hugged his head. Originally, he thought that the matter of borrowing the food was in the bag. Because of Liu Mang's arrival, Pang Tong would not be able to kill the envoy. Moreover, because of Pang Tong, Liu Biao would be able to negotiate with Liu Mang. As long as Liu Mang was here, no matter how strong the Lvbu's Army was, they would have to be careful. L
However, it was obvious that Liu Mang was too careless. This Pang Tong, Pang Shiyuan, had given Liu Biao and Liu Biao to change his mind. Now, Liu Mang was in a very passive position.
Liu Mang did not know that Pang Tong had said a few words in Liu Biao's residence. First, it was that a strong Yangzhou Liu Mang's Army was not in line with Liu Biao's interests. Only when two strong forces fought against each other could Liu Biao benefit.
Second, it was the problem of Liu Mang being a hostage. Whether it was the Yangzhou Liu Mang's Army or the Lujiang Lvbu's Army, they were all one. Their lord belonged to Lü Bu. Although Liu Mang was a hostage in Jingzhou, the Lvbu's Army's lord was still there. At most, an outstanding general would come to Jingzhou to negotiate with Liu Biao.
As for what Liu Biao said about Liu Mang being the only successor of Lü Bu, it was a joke. Liu Biao could give birth to his son Liu Zong when he was in his fifties. How could Lü Bu not be able to do the same? Liu Biao married Cai Mao's younger sister, Lady Cai, because of his age and the intricacies of the noble families in Jingzhou. This led to the conclusion that Liu Biao only had one wife. On the other hand, Lü Bu had Lady Yan, Lady Ren, Lady Diao Chan, and Lady Cao, Cao Bao's daughter. It could be said that these women were all beauties. How could they not give birth to children?
Once children were born, Liu Mang's position would be very useful. Liu Biao sold provisions to Yangzhou and strengthened the Lvbu's Army. Once Lü Bu became strong and destroyed Liu Bei's Army and became the overlord of the Central Plains, the first unlucky one would be Liu Biao. The hostages in his hands were useless.
Another point was that Lü Bu's reputation was really bad. He was a slave of three surnames. He was a person who did not keep his promises. Moreover, Lü Bu was a heartless person. Otherwise, old people like Hao Meng and Hou Cheng would not have betrayed Lü Bu. Lü Bu even wanted to give his daughter away for the sake of Xuzhou. He did not even care about his daughter. Why would he care about a son-in-law?
These words moved Liu Biao, but he still wanted to struggle. In the end, Liu Biao blocked Liu Biao with one sentence. Pang Tong did not need Jingzhou's provisions. In exchange, Liu Biao could not sell provisions to Yangzhou. It was a kind of ending where everyone died together. Two weak neighbors were much better than two strong neighbors. In the end, Liu Biao agreed. This is the reason why Liu Mang has the problem of purchasing provisions.
"No, I have to go see Liu Biao again!" Liu Mang pondered. He had no other way. He could only look for Liu Biao and hope that Liu Biao could sell provisions.
"Milord, Milord …" Jia Xu and Jia Wenhe stretched out their arms and stopped Liu Mang. "Milord, there is no need to go to the Governor's Mansion! You will only be humiliating yourself if you go! " Jia Xu was a smart person. Since the other party was beating around the bush, it meant that the other party already had a problem with you. He might encounter a cold shoulder like Pang Tong. Pang Tong could shout and scold Liu Biao, but Liu Mang could not. Pang Tong could be shameless, but Liu Mang could not. Liu Mang had a reputation of being benevolent and righteous! Would he ruin his hard-earned reputation for the sake of provisions?
"But if I don't go, what else can I do?" Liu Mang also knew that if he went, he would still be perfunctory. He might even be too lazy to be perfunctory. In the end, if Liu Mang turned hostile, it would not be good for Liu Mang. However, this was the only way Liu Mang could think of.
"It's not that there is no way!" Jia Xu said after thinking for a while.
"There is a way?" Liu Mang's eyes suddenly lit up. He grabbed Jia Xu's arm and unconsciously used more strength.
"Put it down, put it down!" Jia Xu quickly broke free. It was dangerous to be with this lord every day. "Milord, there is a way, but it may be very difficult!"
"Difficult?" Liu Mang heard Jia Xu's words. Not only was he not defeated by the word 'difficult', he even snorted coldly. "Wenhe, is it not difficult for us to come to Jingzhou? Is it not difficult for us to survive in Luokou? We have already come here, why do we still care about whether it is difficult or not? "
"Well, since Milord said so, Wenhe has nothing to say!" Jia Xu also looked at Liu Mang with a smile. "Milord, if we go to see Liu Biao now, it will definitely be half the result with twice the effort. Liu Biao will be convinced by others, and it will be difficult for him to believe us!" Jia Xu understood people's hearts very well. In a situation where a person's first impression was the strongest, it was impossible to explain at this time. For example, if someone said that you were a thief, if you explained on the spot, everyone would think that you had a guilty conscience or something else. At this time, the explanation was useless.
"Since we can't find Liu Biao directly, we can save the country in a roundabout way!" Jia Xu continued.
"Save the country in a roundabout way?" Liu Mang did not understand. How could it be a roundabout way to save the country? Liu Biao was the lord of Jingzhou? Could it be that they were buying and selling grain from other landowning households? It was completely impossible. Even if those landowning households wanted to sell, Liu Biao would not allow these grains to be transported out. After all, Liu Mang bought hundreds of thousands of dans of grain, which required hundreds of ships to transport grain. How could they secretly transport it out?
Hearing Liu Mang's words, Jia Xu smiled and shook his head. "Jingzhou's grain is all in Liu Biao's hands!" The reason why Liu Biao was able to inform Jingzhou and slowly clarify the complicated relationship between landowning households was because of the grain. Liu Biao had already set up a law that it was a serious crime to buy and sell more than ten dans of grain and could be beheaded. No matter if it was a landowning household or an individual, they all had to abide by it.
This prevented Jingzhou's grain and grain from leaving Jingzhou, which allowed them to feed so many people in Jingzhou. Even during the Great Famine, Liu Biao was able to take out grain and grain to provide relief.
"Then what does it mean to save the country in a roundabout way?" Liu Mang seemed to have vaguely guessed something.
"We can't explain ourselves, so we can ask others to help us!" Jia Xu spoke his thoughts. As mentioned before, Liu Mang was now like a thief in front of Liu Biao. Even if he did not steal anything, if someone told Liu Biao that Liu Mang was a thief, Liu Biao would be prejudiced by first impressions.
If Liu Mang tried to explain himself, not only would he not be understood, he might even be misunderstood. There were only two ways to get rid of his reputation as a thief. The first was to find material evidence to prove himself, and the second was to find a witness to prove to everyone that he, Liu Mang, was not a thief.
It was not easy to find material evidence, but it was possible to find a witness. As long as he found someone to speak well of Liu Mang and the Yangzhou army in front of Liu Biao, Liu Biao would naturally change his impression of Liu Mang and eliminate Pang Tong's prejudiced impression of him.
"Someone in Jingzhou who can speak for me?" Liu Mang thought for a while. First, this person had to be friendly with Liu Mang. Second, it had to be someone who could speak for Liu Biao in front of Liu Biao, and someone whom Liu Biao would trust.
"The Kuai Family's Kuai Liang and Kuai Zirou?" The first person Liu Mang thought of was Kuai Liang. In Jingzhou, Kuai Zirou was the first person who showed goodwill to Liu Mang. Kuai Liang had always hoped that Jingzhou and Yangzhou could form an alliance and fight side by side. After all, they had a common enemy, Jiangdong's Sun Ce. On the other hand, Big Eared Liu gave Kuai Liang a bad impression of him.
"Kuai Zirou is not a good person!" Jia Xu shook his head. This Kuai Liang could speak in front of Liu Biao, and Liu Biao would listen to him. He was even the number two military advisor in Jingzhou. He also had goodwill towards Yangzhou. However, Kuai Liang could not do that now.
This was because Kuai Liang was too kind. From the beginning, Liu Biao had labeled him as someone who was close to Yangzhou. How could such a person who is close to Yangzhou say bad things about Liu Mang? Moreover, even if Liu Mang did not look for Kuai Liang, Kuai Liang would help him, even if it would be more of a hindrance.
Jia Xu continued without waiting for Liu Mang to ask. "The Speaker of Speech is Kuai Yue, Kuai Yidu, Jingzhou's Military Advisor Cai Mao, Cai Degui, and Pang Degong from the Pang Family's Lumen Academy.
Liu Mang smiled bitterly when he heard the three names from Jia Xu. These three people were not easy to get along with. Kuai Yue and Kuai Yidu were not Kuai Liang. He was a neutral person who did not want to get involved. He did not want to offend either side. Did Kuai Yidu think that he would speak for Liu Mang? If he wanted to help, he would have done so already.
Cai Mao, Cai Degui, and Liu Mang did not know when they had offended him. Now, Cai Pa was deeply hostile towards Liu Mang. Liu Mang did not expect him to speak for him. As long as he did not slander Liu Mang, it would be a good thing.
As for Pang Degong from the Lumen Academy! Haha! Liu Mang shook his head bitterly. Liu Mang only found out two days ago that Pang Shanmin, whom he almost killed, was actually Pang Degong's son. Furthermore, Liu Mang did not mention that the little fire chicken who always made things difficult for Liu Mang was actually Pang Degong's nephew. Liu Mang also did not mention that the little fire chicken who always made things difficult for Liu Mang was actually Pang Degong's nephew.
Logically speaking, Liu Mang would not be able to invite such a god.
"My lord, are you giving up so easily? Sigh! If I had known, I would not have said anything! What a waste of breath! "Jia Xu saw Liu Mang's expression and immediately mocked him.
"That's right. How could I give up so easily?" Liu Mang was startled when he heard Jia Xu's words. They had gone through so many trials and tribulations together. Why would they care about this? Wasn't it just to persuade these people to put in a good word for him in front of Liu Biao? How could it be more difficult than dying on the battlefield? Liu Mang calmed himself down and said, "Wen He, don't keep me in suspense. Speak your mind!"
Jia Xu couldn't help but nod. Jia Xu admired Liu Mang's unyielding attitude the most. To put it bluntly, Liu Mang had the heart of a cockroach. As long as you don't kill me, Liu Mang, I will settle the score with you sooner or later.
"My lord, although Kuai Yue and Kuai Yidu are neutral, do you think they can be neutral just because they want to?" Jia Xu snorted coldly. He had a natural hostility towards Kuai Yue because the two of them were old foxes. When old foxes met old foxes, they naturally repelled each other.
"Kuai Yue and Kuai Yidu are afraid of offending the Huang, Pang, and Cai Families because they are too close to my lord! However, he doesn't know that he has already offended these three families. Although they don't say it on the surface, they must be secretly complaining! The reason for this is his younger brothers, Kuai Liang and Kuai Zirou! "
"Wen He, you mean to start with Kuai Zirou?"
"That's right. My lord, you can send out invitations to invite Kuai Zirou to a banquet. After that, you can use Kuai Zirou's name to invite his elder brother. Otherwise, you can send out invitations and let everyone in Jingzhou know that Kuai Yue and Kuai Yidu are also your guests! Even if Kuai Yue is unwilling, he can't say it clearly. Three men make a tiger! "Jia Xu and Jia Wenhe were really good at scheming against Kuai Yue.
"Three men make a tiger? Coercion and bribery? " Liu Mang's eyes flashed. This Jia Xu, Jia Wenhe, was really a sly old fox. Jingzhou was already filled with undercurrents. Neutral? There was no neutral existence in this place. It was either on Pang Tong's side or Liu Mang's side. Otherwise, you could only wait for both sides to plot against you!
"Good, good idea! Wen He, what about Cai Mao and Cai Degui? This person has already started a feud with me before I even met him. Cai Degui is also a part of this trip to Jingzhou! " Liu Mang voiced his worries. What kind of enemy was the most annoying? It was when you didn't even know when you offended them before they became your enemy. Liu Mang wanted to start a feud with Cai Mao, but Liu Mang didn't know how he had offended Cai Mao!
"Cai Degui?" Jia Xu pondered for a long time. "Cai Mao, Cai Degui, this person likes money and wants to achieve great things!" After thinking for a while, Jia Xu shook his head. "Liu Mang has a lot of money. Liu Mang's father-in-law, Yuan Shu, gave all his savings to Liu Mang. However, bribing Cai Mao is not a good strategy because Cai Mao is the military advisor of Jingzhou. He can be considered as Liu Biao's right-hand man. Jingzhou isn't any worse than Yangzhou. Cai Mao has seen all kinds of jewelry! Naturally, it is difficult to bribe Cai Mao. The other side likes to achieve great things. This is related to military achievements. Now, Jingzhou is only at war with Jiangxia. Liu Mang doesn't have the ability to help Jingzhou defeat Jiangdong. Jingzhou's Jiangxia Army's General Zhuge Liang is a monstrous figure.
"We can't bribe Cai Mao or Cai Degui, but we can do it from his sister!" Jia Xu continued. "After Cai Mao's younger sister, Lady Cai, married Liu Biao, the two of them can be said to be supporting the entire Cai family. The two of them have a good relationship. If Milord can convince Lady Cai, you will definitely be able to convince Cai Mao.
"Lady Cai?" Jia Xu's idea was unconstrained. Even Cai Mao couldn't persuade Lady Cai, let alone Lady Cai. Moreover, Lady Cai was in the Prefecture Overseer's Mansion! Liu Mang couldn't even meet Liu Biao, let alone Lady Cai.
"No!" Jia Xu retorted. "Milord, Lady Cai doesn't live in the Prefecture Overseer's Mansion every day." Lady Cai likes to play the zither and is a quiet person. Liu Biao and Cai Mao specially arranged a courtyard for Lady Cai in Jingzhou for their wife and sister. It is a beautiful place where one can enjoy the view of the Southern Mountains while picking chrysanthemums. Lady Cai would live there for a few days every month. This gives Liu Mang a chance!
"Milord, do you need to teach me how to deal with women?" Jia Xu said and winked at Liu Mang frivolously.
"You!" Liu Mang pointed at Jia Xu and was speechless. If he, Liu Mang, could deal with women, he wouldn't be afraid of the tigress at home. Previously, he was almost torn apart by the tigress at home because of this old fox. However, for the sake of Yangzhou, Liu Mang had to give it his all.
"The last one should be Pang Degong!" Jia Xu frowned. He really didn't have a way to deal with Pang Degong!
"Milord, this is just a guess. Perhaps we can start with Tang Yun!"
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
