"What? His Highness the King of Shu has been blocked by Liu Pan on a hill outside Xiangyang?" Kuai Liang exclaimed when he heard the report.
"Yes! Liu Pan gave His Highness the King Of Shu an hour. If he exceeds that time, he will set the mountain on fire, "reported the messenger.
"An hour? Running from the West Gate to the West Gate and then to the inner city would take an hour!" Kuai Liang's eyes widened.
"Uncle, look! There's a huge fire over there!" Kuai Ran saw a huge fire on the West side of the sky.
"Liu Pan is really going to set the mountain on fire!" Everyone was stunned.
"Move aside! I want to go to the West Gate!" Kuai Ran was determined to go to the West Gate. The fire was so strong that no one could survive. Kuai Ran wanted to save his brother, but he was stopped by Kuai Yue.
"It's too late to go now." Kuai Yue shook his head. If they went there now, the fire would be too strong. How could they save someone? Moreover, without Liu Biao's orders, it would be useless. They might even get injured.
"We can only pray that His Highness the King Of Shu will be saved. We need to make plans as soon as possible!" Kuai Yue said to everyone. Liu Biao had returned at the wrong time and had hidden himself so well. This meant that Liu Biao was already on guard against the Kuai Clan and the Cai Clan. If Liu Biao wanted to deal with the Kuai Clan and the Cai Clan, the Kuai Clan and the Cai Clan would not just sit back and do nothing.
"Brother!" Kuai Ran knelt on the ground and kowtowed to the fire. Liu Mang had saved his life before, but he could not help Liu Mang. What was the chance of survival in such a huge fire?
"Sigh!" Kuai Yue sighed and shook his head. They were now considering whether Liu Biao would use the Kuai Clan and the Cai Clan as scapegoats if Yangzhou and Jingzhou went to war.
"If Liu Biao uses us as scapegoats, then we might as well go all the way to Xu Du and seek refuge with Prime Minister Cao!" Cai Mao's eyes flashed red.
Prime Minister Cao? Kuai Yue looked at Cai Mao. Cai Mao had already contacted Xu Du. For him to say such words, it seemed like someone in Xu Du had already promised him.
"Xu Du cannot go! At least not now! " Kuai Yue immediately rejected Cai Mao's idea. Not to mention that they had not lost yet, it was only a guess that Liu Biao wanted to make Liu Pan the successor. With Liu Zong in their hands, they could still fight. Even if Liu Biao wanted to abandon the Cai Clan and the Kuai Clan and make Liu Pan the successor, the Cai Clan and the Kuai Clan couldn't betray Jingzhou. Otherwise, the reputation of the two clans would be ruined.
Moreover, even if they betrayed Jingzhou, they couldn't go to Xu Du. They had already offended Jingzhou and had a grudge with Yangzhou. Yangzhou wanted to take down Yuzhou and eliminate Liu Bei, but Cao Cao had sent troops to help Yuzhou. If they sided with Xu Du, Yangzhou's enemy, then their friendship with Yangzhou would be ruined. If they wanted to go to Xu Du, they would have to pass through Yangzhou's territory. Xinye was currently in Yangzhou's hands. If they intercepted them halfway, they wouldn't even know how they died.
"Then what should we do now?" Cai Mao looked at Kuai Yue. They couldn't side with Xu Du now. Cai Mao didn't have any ideas. He looked at Kuai Yue and hoped that Kuai Yue, who used to be the brains of Jingzhou, would give him a suggestion.
"Go back and rest!" Kuai Yue said indifferently.
"Go back and rest?" Cai Mao was stunned. What kind of idea was this? Were they going back and waiting for death?
"Go back and wait for the Lord's summons." Kuai Yue said as he prepared to leave with his son and brother.
"Are we just going to wait?" Cai Mao asked curiously.
"What else do you have?" Kuai Yue said indifferently. "We haven't lost yet. Don't think of a life and death struggle." As long as Liu Biao didn't die and Jingzhou didn't change, they wouldn't lose. Therefore, the Kuai Family needed to hide and wait for Liu Biao's summons. They still had trump cards in their hands. They weren't toys that could be controlled by others.
"I understand!" Cai Mao nodded. Now, they needed to think about how to make Liu Zong the next Governor of Jingzhou. Two days passed quickly, and the fire was extinguished.
From the Kuai Family to the Cai Family, there were people who came to report the news of Liu Biao. Their Lord Liu Biao had summoned them.
"Come, give this general a reward!" Kuai Yue wasn't stingy with his money. A guard who was ordered to come to the Kuai Family was just doing his duty. However, Kuai Yue still asked the housekeeper to give him a few gold coins.
"This, this, how can I accept this!" "This personal guard was a little embarrassed. This shiny gold was real gold, and it was enough for him to earn several years of his salary.
"Thank you for your hard work, general. This is just a small token." Kuai Yue smiled at Liu Biao's guard.
"This, this!"
"I wonder if the general knows why the Lord is in such a hurry to summon us. Isn't this asking for trouble?" Kuai Yue asked. After all, it was better to give him money.
"Sigh, Milord asked Sir Bie to go there to discuss military affairs. These are not things that we should know!" The guard shook his head. He was just a guard and not a lieutenant. Naturally, he couldn't say anything.
Kuai Yue was a little disappointed when he heard this. Suddenly, the guard changed the topic. “
"What?" “
However, the Lord's second son, General Liu Pan, came back with a gloomy expression. It seems that His Highness the King Of Shu has escaped. "That was all the guard knew.
"Thank you, general!" Kuai Yue was satisfied with this news. "Come, give the general more rewards."
"How can you be so shameless!" Although he was embarrassed, his hands didn't stop.
After sending away Liu Biao's guard, Kuai Yue told his son and brother the news.
"What! His Highness the King Of Shu isn't dead? "Kuai Liang couldn't remain calm and shouted loudly.
"Big Brother isn't dead. Haha, I knew it. I knew that Big Brother would be alive. He is blessed by the heavens!" Kuai Ran was also very excited. He had stayed in his room for the past two days with a bitter expression.
"I don't know the specifics, but according to the guard, Liu Pan returned with a dark face. His Highness King of Shu's body didn't appear either. It should be said that His Highness King of Shu has escaped," Kuai Yue explained to the two of them. "Now that the Lord has summoned me, I will go and find out what happened." Kuai Yue was already prepared to go to the governor's residence.
"Big Brother, I will go with you!" Kuai Liang said. Kuai Liang was also a high-ranking official in Jing Province, so the two of them went together. When they arrived at the governor's residence, they saw many carriages outside. All the officials and generals were heading towards the governor's residence. When the two of them arrived, they were already behind.
As expected, the King Of Shu had escaped. It turned out that Liu Pan had burned down the mountain.
Liu Pan's heavy cavalry looked at the raging fire on the hill. Many animals were running out of the fire. Those that couldn't escape had been turned into charcoal.
Liu Pan had surrounded the hill for two days. He had set up camp near the water source and waited for the fire to extinguish.
The fire was finally extinguished.
"General, the fire has already been extinguished! I believe that His Highness the King Of Shu has been burned to a crisp! "Liu Pan's heavy cavalry reported to Liu Pan.
"Haha! Burned to a crisp! " Liu Pan didn't feel joy. Instead, he felt regret. "This King Of Shu, Liu Mang, Liu Hanyang, I respect him as a hero. Do you know what kind of person this King Of Shu is?" Liu Pan explained to the deputy general.
"This subordinate doesn't know!" A general of a thousand soldiers wouldn't be able to get his hands on military reports. He was just someone who followed orders to fight.
"This person is extraordinary. You should know about Jiangdong's Little Conqueror, Sun Ce." Liu Pan introduced the King Of Shu, Liu Mang, and Liu Hanyang.
"Yes!" Everyone in Jing Province knew about Jiangdong's Little Conqueror, Sun Ce. This was because Jiangdong's Little Conqueror's father had died in Jing Province. Naturally, everyone knew about this person.
"Jiangdong's Little Conqueror had lost to this person!" Liu Pan said to the general.
"Ah!" The general was stunned for a moment. One must know that Jiangdong's Little Conqueror's reputation in Jing Province was built from fighting. No one in Jing Province dared to say that they could win against Jiangdong's Little Conqueror. But this King Of Shu, Liu Mang, actually defeated Jiangdong's Little Conqueror? "General, it must be because this person has several times more troops than Jiangdong's Sun Ce." The general automatically imagined that the King Of Shu, Liu Mang, had several times more troops than Jiangdong's Sun Ce and finally won against Sun Ce.
"Haha, it's the opposite!" Liu Pan smiled and shook his head. "It was Jiangdong's Little Conqueror, Sun Ce, who had 100,000 troops while His Highness, the King Of Shu, only had 10,000 troops!" Liu Pan told the general about Liu Mang's campaign in Lujiang and Liu Mang's actions in Yangzhou.
"So, this person is really a great general." This thousand-man general opened his mouth wide as he listened to his general. He couldn't help but open his eyes wide.
"Now you should know how powerful this person is. What a pity, what a pity!" Liu Pan's eyes were filled with loneliness. Was this the feeling of a hero cherishing another hero? Or was it a kind of regret? "Go, find a coffin shop in the city and make a good coffin for His Highness King of Shu."
"Yes, sir!" Another subordinate replied. Soon, the warhorse headed towards Xiangyang City.
"I have always wanted to compete with His Highness, the King Of Shu, on the battlefield. Now it seems that I won't have the chance. What a pity, what a pity." Liu Pan was a young man in his prime. His heart was naturally very vigorous. He wanted to compete with people of the same generation. Jiangdong's Little Conqueror was originally Liu Pan's target. His troops also wanted to compete with Sun Ce. Later, he learned that Sun Ce lost to the King Of Shu, Liu Mang, and Liu Hanyang. So, Liu Pan wanted to fight with Liu Mang. But who would have thought that the King Of Shu, Liu Mang, would die.
"General, what's there to pity? Didn't you already win?" Thousands of soldiers came forward to flatter him. "General, look, the King Of Shu, Liu Mang, and Hanyang defeated Jiangdong's Little Conqueror, Sun Ce. But he died in your hands. Doesn't this mean that the King Of Shu, Liu Mang, and Sun Ce are no match for you?"
This flattery was good. It belittled the two and raised Liu Pan's status.
Sure enough, when Liu Pan heard this, he immediately laughed. "Haha, the winner is the king, and the loser is the bandit. Well said, well said." Liu Pan really won. If he really killed Liu Mang, then he really did defeat the King Of Shu, Liu Mang, and Jiangdong's Little Conqueror, Sun Ce.
However, this was on the premise that he had to kill Liu Mang.
"General, we didn't find the King Of Shu, Liu Mang, and his men in this forest." The troops that went into the hill to search for the corpses of Liu Mang and the others came out and reported to Liu Pan.
"You didn't find them?" Liu Pan frowned.
"Don't tell me you didn't search carefully?" Thousands of soldiers reprimanded his subordinates.
"General, we've already searched the entire mountain, but we didn't find any traces!" The subordinate hurriedly explained.
"Let's go. I will go into the hill with you!" Liu Pan said to his subordinates.
"General, you can't. The fire on the hill has not been completely extinguished. It is dangerous for you to go in!" Thousands of soldiers said to Liu Pan. The fire on the hill had been extinguished, but there were still many small flames. If they suddenly reignited, they would not be able to walk out.
"Let's go!" Liu Pan directly took the lead and prepared to go in. Danger? As a soldier, he never thought about what a threat was.
Thousands of soldiers watched Liu Pan go in and could only shout, "Men, protect the general." Thousands of soldiers entered the hill again.
This small hill was not big to begin with. Originally, a few hundred people might not be enough to search, but if thousands of people searched together, it would take a long time for them to comb through the entire small hill like a comb.
But after combing, they really didn't find any human corpses. They were all animal corpses. The only thing that looked like a bear was the body. There was no other human skeleton.
"Search, search, search! We will definitely find them! I don't believe that he can fly out! " Liu Mang and the others' corpses were not found. Liu Pan was angry. He was waiting to use the King Of Shu's corpse to prove himself. But now, he couldn't find it. One must know that when the fire burned the hill, he surrounded the whole hill. How could he take it out?
"General, General, we found them. We found them!" A subordinate exclaimed.
"Did you find the corpses?" Liu Pan's eyes emitted a golden light. The place where the subordinate exclaimed was a cave. Could it be that the King Of Shu and his subordinates hid in this cave when the fire burned the mountain? No wonder they couldn't find their corpses.
"We didn't find the corpses!" The subordinate shook his head and replied, "Someone has already gone down to investigate."
After waiting outside for a stick of incense's time, a few dusty subordinates came out and reported to Liu Pan, "General, there is a hidden spring in this cave. Although we don't know where it leads to, we should be able to get out!"
"Hidden spring!" Liu Pan walked out of the cave and looked at the hill and the mountains on the side. There was a tributary of the Yangtze River over there. It wasn't big and there wasn't even a geographical location because people could walk through it by water.
"Damn it, damn it!" Liu Pan finally knew why the King Of Shu, Liu Mang, didn't come out to surrender. From here, the hidden spring in the cave could directly reach the tributary of the Yangtze River outside. Then, they could go out again by going through the tributary.
"General, should we chase after them?" The subordinate on the side asked. They had already discovered the escape route of Liu Mang and his subordinates. Should they still chase after them?
"Still chase? Chase your mother!" Liu Pan cursed in anger. The fire had burned for two days and three nights, giving Liu Mang two more days and three nights to escape. Liu Mang was still chasing after Liu Mang. Liu Mang? If it was a plain, it would be fine, but there was a mountain range over there.
"General, General, the coffin has been brought over!" The subordinate at the foot of the hill said to Liu Pan with a smile. He wanted to take credit. If Liu Pan was happy, he would be rewarded.
"Get out, get out, all of you!" Liu Pan shouted hysterically. How could he not be angry? He thought that victory was in his hands and that he controlled the situation. He even burned the mountain and let the whole Xiangyang City know. If he caught the King Of Shu, Liu Mang, even if only his corpse was left, everyone would praise him for being young and promising. If he didn't catch him and let Liu Mang escape, it would be a great loss of face.
"Return to the city!" Liu Pan entered Xiangyang City with a gloomy face.
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