Jia Xu and Jia Wenhe came to Liu Mang's residence to deliver a letter that they had just received. "Milord, there is a letter from the frontline in Yuzhou!"
"Bring it here!" Although Liu Mang had nothing to do in Jingzhou these days, he was still worried about the war in Yuzhou. Whether or not Yuzhou could be taken down was related to whether or not Liu Mang could return to Yangzhou. After taking down Yuzhou, with Chen Deng's command slowly advancing half of Xuzhou, it could be said that Liu Mang's land was equivalent to two and a half provinces. He could be regarded as the overlord of the Central Plains. This way, he could develop steadily and wait for Cao Cao from the north to invade the south.
In the south of the Central Plains, a stable triangle was formed. Jiangdong's Sun Ce, Jingzhou's Liu Biao, and the overlord of the Central Plains, Liu Mang. At that time, as long as Liu Biao did not want to break this stable triangle, he must let Liu Mang go. Otherwise, once Yangzhou and Jiangdong joined forces, it would be difficult to protect Jingzhou. In the end, Liu Biao could only let Liu Mang go.
Liu Mang's mood was particularly excited when he thought that he would be able to go back after taking Yuzhou.
"Battle of Nandun, more than 14,000 casualties?" Liu Mang frowned as he read the report. 14,000 Yangzhou soldiers died under the walls of Nandun. There were also dozens of City Guard soldiers.
Even with the help of the ballistae, there were still such casualties. This showed that the battle was very tragic.
Liu Mang continued to read. Although more than 14,000 Yangzhou soldiers fell on the battlefield, this battle also laid the foundation for the Yangzhou Army to become an elite force. 50,000 Yangzhou soldiers. Their predecessor was the reserve force. At the beginning, they were only used as a second-line force by Liu Mang. Later, because of the food problem, the reserve force began to become the main force. Although the 100 soldiers in the reserve force were under the command of the City Guard, who had been through hundreds of battles and had been taught the art of war.
But in any case, these 50,000 Yangzhou soldiers were still rookies. It was naturally difficult for rookies to compete with famous elites, such as Liu Bei's Qingzhou Army and Xiliang Cavalry. However, under the cover of the ballistae, the rookies' mission was to attack the city.
Out of the fifty thousand people, fourteen thousand had been injured or killed. Eleven thousand had died, and the remaining two thousand were severely injured. Basically, it was impossible for them to return to the battlefield.
"Send a letter to Shouchun. Engrave the names of the 10,000 soldiers who died in the battle in the Hero Palace. Take care of the 2,000 brothers who were seriously injured. Don't miss any of them." Liu Mang said to Jia Xu.
"Yes, sir!" Jia Xu nodded and looked at Liu Mang. Jia Xu had a different opinion about the arrangement of the soldiers who died in the battle. In his opinion, the most worthless thing in this chaotic world was human life. Soldiers were just trying to make a living. Jia Xu didn't care about the soldiers who died in the battle, because their names were engraved in the Hero Palace. But for the soldiers who were seriously injured, as long as they weren't generals, they would be sent to die a comfortable death. Those who had a bit of conscience would just let them die on their own, because once they were seriously injured, not only would they not be able to fight, but they would also be a burden to the army.
This was because if a person was seriously injured, then you should at least send someone to take care of them and give them medicine. Moreover, the wailing of these seriously injured soldiers would affect the morale of the army. Even if they won the war, they would still need to take care of them in the future. One or two battles were fine, but now, there were more than ten thousand seriously injured soldiers in Yangzhou. They were all retired from the war. They were either missing an arm or a leg. Some of them didn't even have an arm or a leg, they were only left with their body. This was a burden for Yangzhou.
However, Jia Xu knew that no matter how hard he tried to persuade Liu Mang, he wouldn't change the pacification system.
Jia Xu could only shake his head and smile bitterly. Fortunately, Liu Mang's system made the Yangzhou Army less afraid of death. This was because if you were disabled, Yangzhou would take care of you. If you died, not only would you be given a pension to your family, you would also be given land and tax reduction policies. Even your name would be engraved on the Shouchun Hero Palace so that the people could worship you. Therefore, the Yangzhou Army could be regarded as the army that was the most fearless of death.
Although there were 14,000 casualties, the remaining 36,000 soldiers could be considered as elites. They were no longer new recruits. They were also the commanders of the City Guard. The combat strength of these 36,000 soldiers wasn't small.
"Nandun City has been captured!" Liu Mang said to Jia Xu after reading the news.
"Now, only Dingcheng is left. After capturing Dingcheng, the army can gather in Runan and decide the outcome of the war." Nandun City and Dingcheng were equivalent to two satellite cities. If Runan wasn't captured, it would be difficult to break through. If Runan was captured, Liu Bei would either have to abandon Yuzhou and leave. Otherwise, he would have to live and die with Runan because he had no way out.
Nandun City was captured. This nail was removed. However, Liu Mang didn't look happy at all. "My Lord, what happened to you?" Jia Xu was a little puzzled. Did a general die in battle? Or?
"Died in battle? No! " Liu Mang explained. According to the battle report, only Zhang Liao was injured. However, it was only a minor injury. It was because he was tired after capturing Nandun City. He just needed to rest for a while.
The reason why Liu Mang was unhappy was because the battle report also stated that Nandun City had 120,000 civilians. More than 80,000 of them were dead or injured. There were less than 30,000 survivors in the city.
Such a huge city was destroyed just like that. The entire Nandun City was littered with corpses. If these were foreigners, Liu Mang wouldn't be sad. However, these were Han people. They were living people.
Liu Mang's heart really ached because Liu Mang was the one who issued the order to capture Nandun City.
Liu Mang closed his eyes. After a while, he finally reacted and opened his eyes. His eyes were filled with killing intent. "Liu Bei, Liu Xuande. In name, he is the Imperial Uncle of the Han dynasty. In reality, he is a traitor."
Liu Mang was even angrier towards Liu Bei than he was towards Cao Cao and Sun Ce. This was because this person was benevolent and righteous. It was because of his hypocrisy. If it wasn't for Liu Bei, this sh * t stirrer, Cao Cao would have already unified the world in his lifetime. In the end, he wouldn't have had to fight for so many years. What Three Kingdoms? What Jin Dynasty?
If Cao Cao had unified the world, the people wouldn't have died. In the end, there would be chaos.
It was fine if you were ambitious. Liu Mang had seen many ambitious people in this era. If you were capable, you could use your army and strategists to conquer the world. However, Liu Bei was different. He led the people and bewitched them. He made the innocent people die for him. In the Battle of Xuzhou, Liu Bei was defeated by Cao Cao. In order to retreat successfully, he pretended to be benevolent and righteous. He said that Cao Cao would massacre the entire city and kill all the people in Xuzhou. He made countless people flee with him.
On the surface, he said that he was doing it for the good of the people. However, in reality, he wanted to use a large number of people to hide his main army's retreat. Cao Cao wasn't a fool. He was also an ambitious person. How could he kill the people in Xuzhou that he had already conquered? War wasn't just about fighting for food, it was also about fighting for people.
It was because of those people that Cao Cao couldn't kill Liu Bei. Liu Bei might have escaped, but he knew that along the way, there were tens of thousands of people who had left their homes. They had starved or frozen to death on the way.
That wasn't all. Now, he even said that Liu Mang would massacre the entire city. He bewitched the people and made the people of Nandun Ding City go up the city walls to fight for his ambition.
Of the 80,000 people who had died, most of them had died on the city walls.
"Pass down my orders. Take down Yuzhou. Liu Bei cannot be left alive. Kill him immediately! " Liu Mang had never had such killing intent towards a person. Before attacking Yuzhou, there was someone who had sent a secret letter from Xu Du. That was the puppet Emperor of Han. Originally, Liu Mang still gave face to this Emperor of Han. This was because Liu Mang had sent a few letters to confer him the title of Marquis, and he had allowed it.
The letter that the Emperor of Han sent was for Liu Mang to spare Liu Bei's life even if he took down Yuzhou. After all, they were all relatives of the Han dynasty.
At the start, Liu Mang still wanted to take down Liu Bei and put him under house arrest. Liu Mang was still thinking about Liu Bei's two generals, Zhang Fei and Guan Yu. Especially since Zhang Fei was already a refinement realm martial artist.
However, because of the battle report from Nandun Ding, Liu Mang completely dispelled the idea of sparing Liu Bei's life.
Even if he killed Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, Liu Bei could not be spared.
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