… …
The movement of the Yangtze River Navy could not be hidden from the Jingzhou army. In Jingzhou, they had stopped monitoring their old rival, Jiangdong. Instead, they focused all their energy on Yangzhou. Therefore, the movement of the Yangtze River Navy was quickly noticed by the Jingzhou army.
"Does anyone know why the Yangtze River Navy is being moved?" Liu Pan sat on the main seat. He was currently organizing a military meeting. According to the rules, General Liu Pan was naturally sitting on the main seat. Liu Biao was not in good health these days. Because of the incident at Jiangling City, he was dizzy. Although he had sent out troops, there was no good news from Jiangling City.
"General, could it be that the Yangtze River Navy is planning to cross the Yangtze River to attack Xiangyang?" A general stood up and asked Liu Pan.
"Attack Xiangyang? No way! " Liu Pan shook his head. Although Xiangyang's terrain was low, it was difficult to form a defense. It could even be said that Xiangyang's defense was the weakest among the cities of the same level. However, it was not weak to the point that the Yangtze River Navy's 10,000 troops could break through Xiangyang.
What's more, in Jiangxia, the Jingzhou Navy was indeed destroyed, but in Xiangyang, there was still a Jingzhou Navy, and that was Cai Mao's 30,000 troops. Although Cai Mao did not listen to orders, these 30,000 troops were still quite intimidating.
Unless the Yangzhou Navy's warships could reach Xiangyang's waters, the Jingzhou Navy could still be the overlord of the first zone.
"Military Advisor, have you forgotten? The Cai Family and the fake King Liu Mang have a good relationship!" Someone said to Liu Pan. The person who said this had evil intentions. He did not say much on the surface, but he was secretly saying that the Cai Family might have already betrayed Jingzhou and was preparing to rely on Yangzhou. If the Cai Family really did this, then the 30,000 Jingzhou Navy would become the 30,000 Yangzhou Navy.
"That won't happen!" Liu Pan shook his head. Although Liu Pan did not understand Cai Mao, he knew that Cai Mao was not able to go that far. Unless Liu Biao forced him too much. After all, no one was willing to bear the burden of betraying their master. If Liu Biao did not treat the Cai Family well, then the Cai Family could be forgiven. If the Cai Family rebelled because their master did not treat them well, then Liu Biao's betrayal was pardonable. However, before the incident with Lady Cai, the Cai Family was above everyone else. It could be said that the Cai Family was like the sun in Jingzhou.
One might not know that the Governor of Jingzhou was Liu Biao, but one could not not know that there was a Cai Family in Jingzhou.
Although Cai Mao was now under house arrest in Liu Biao's residence, Cai Mao still had hope. He had to endure until Liu Biao's lifespan ran out. When Liu Biao died, Liu Biao had three sons. The eldest son was Liu Qi, the second son was Liu Pan, and the youngest son was Liu Zong. Liu Qi no longer had the qualifications to succeed the position. After all, he had already left Jingzhou and was now an official in Yangzhou. The second son, although Liu Biao called him his son, Liu Pan was not Liu Biao's biological son. Liu Pan was the son of Liu Biao's brother and was taken care of by Liu Biao. Therefore, the most likely successor was Liu Zong.
As long as Liu Zong inherited the position of Governor of Jing Province, the Cai Clan would not be considered dead. They could even make a comeback and dominate Jing Province. It was because of this that Cai Mao would not rebel until the very last moment.
Another point was that Cai Mao was in Xiangyang. If Cai Mao rebelled now, he would not be able to save his life. Once hundreds of people in the Cai Family were killed, it would be useless even if he rebelled.
"Reporting, Military Advisor, there is information from Xinye!" Just as everyone was still guessing, a messenger came to deliver the information.
"Send it here!" Liu Pan waved his hand and said to his subordinates. Liu Mang took the secret letter and read it. This secret letter was sent from Xinye in Yangzhou. Liu Pan also had intelligence agents in Xinye. Basically, anything that happened in Xinye could not be hidden from Liu Pan.
"Haha, God is helping me, God is helping me. It's true that those who are just will get more help while those who are unjust will get little help!" Liu Pan immediately laughed when he saw the secret letter. His subordinates were confused. A lieutenant stepped forward and asked Liu Pan, "What's wrong, Military Advisor? What's the good news? " “
Come, come, come. Take a look yourselves! " With a smile, Liu Pan passed the secret letter down. Soon, all the officials of the First Division of Jing Province had read it, and their expressions changed.
It said that there was a riot in Xinye and tens of thousands of people were attacking Xinye City! There were only two thousand people defending Xinye City.
What happened in Xinye City wasn't something that could be covered up. The scattered soldiers quickly entered the city, so the accuracy of this information was very high.
This explained why the Yangtze River Navy would mobilize their troops. Logically speaking, the Yangtze River Navy should not be mobilized. Even if they were mobilized, it would be to attack Jingzhou. Hence, when the Yangtze River Navy was mobilized, the officials in Jingzhou became nervous. The Jingzhou Navy and the Jiangdong Navy had already lost to the Yangzhou Navy. They had also lost Jiang Xia, Shiyang, and Jiangling. Now, Jingzhou only had Changsha and Xiangyang left in Jingzhou.
The Yangzhou troops were closing in step by step. If things went wrong, they might even cross the river to attack Jingzhou. Now, it was Yangzhou's problem.
"There's a riot in Yangzhou?" "Some people are puzzled. Could this be a trap? Yangzhou should be the best place for the common people. One person will be given three mu of good land. If you ask, you don't have to pay taxes for the first five years. After five years, the land will belong to you. Every mu of good land will only have to pay 30% of the taxes." "Yes, yes, yes.
The officials in Jingzhou knew that the commoners in Jingzhou were already very good. However, they could not be compared to Yangzhou. This was because Jingzhou did not dare to lower taxes. If they did, not only would they not be able to get food, they would also have to pay for it from the treasury.
Hence, some people thought that this was fake information to make the Jingzhou Navy lower their guard. This would allow the Yangzhou Navy to take the opportunity to attack Jingzhou.
"That's not impossible! However, the possibility is very small! "Liu Pan shook his head and said. Is a riot so easy to control? Moreover, if you mobilize other troops, you may confuse Jingzhou. However, you are mobilizing the Yangtze River Navy. If there is any movement, Jingzhou will be on alert. Aren't you beating the grass to startle the snake?
"Then is it really a riot?"
"I can't be sure!" Liu Pan also shook his head. "No matter what, we should be prepared!" A lieutenant stood up and said to Liu Pan.
"That's true. First, we need to be on guard to prevent the enemy from confusing us! Second, we need to be ready to mobilize the army at any time. If there is a riot in Xinye, then it will be our opportunity! " Liu Pan was very capable. He was stronger than his brother Liu Qi. However, he was much more decisive than his brother Liu Qi. His so-called opportunity was that once they found out that there was a riot in Xinye, Jingzhou would immediately send troops to attack the Yangtze River Navy.
If they threatened Xinye, the Yangtze River Navy would have to mobilize their troops to defend against Jingzhou.
However, if they mobilized all their troops, who would deal with the riot in Xinye? It would definitely become bigger and bigger. Even if it was not like the Huang Family's rebellion, it would still be enough to make Yangzhou feel disgusted.
If they did not mobilize their troops and continued to attack the rebels, then Liu Pan would directly take over the Yangtze River Navy and go ashore to help the rebels. Perhaps Xinye would be able to take it back. Even if he couldn't, he would burn the pearl that was Xinye.
"Pass down my orders. Everyone, don't take off your armor. Everyone, get ready!" Liu Pan gave the order.
…
"Attacking your own city? What the hell is this?!" Liu Mang sat on the night light and looked at Xinye City. He could not help but smile bitterly. What kind of place was Xinye? It was a part of Yangzhou. Liu Mang was the Lord of Yangzhou. Logically speaking, he should be the ruler. His subordinates were rioters. He should be the one to suppress them. He should not be leading a large number of them to Xinye City.
The main culprit was Comrade Jiang Wan. When Liu Mang, Guan Hai, and Zhou Cang were being attacked by Guo Yi, a thousand people surrounded the three of them. The three of them did not have any armor. In the end, both sides would suffer. Guo Yi would die. At the same time, Liu Mang and the other two would also suffer casualties. It was at this time that Comrade Jiang Wan made her move.
After learning about Liu Mang's identity, Jiang Wan returned to the refugee camp. Relying on her glib tongue and Guo Yi's shameless boasting, she was prepared to kill thousands of refugees in the camp to keep it a secret. Originally, these refugees were timid. Even if they had ten times the courage, they would not dare to stand up against Guo Yi.
As for Liu Mang and the others standing up for them, they did not care. They even complained about Liu Mang and the others being meddlesome.
But if you think that they are harmless, then you are gravely mistaken. Although the people can endure, there will also be times when they can't bear it anymore. Guo Yi was already prepared to take their lives. In any case, only death awaits them. This group of lowly people in Guo Yi's mouth, the people rose up and resisted.
Guo Yi had a thousand soldiers and there was no problem for him to deal with the thousands of refugees. It was a pity that their commander had been captured. Guo Yi did not have a decent general in his army. Although the refugees were not trained, they had strength. The shovels in their hands could kill people. Furthermore, Guo Yi had three ferocious generals, Guan Hai, Liu Mang, and Zhou Cang. The three of them charged forward and back, leading the thousands of refugees to fight.
As a result, the morale of Guo Yi's soldiers became lower and lower. Basically, no one was a match for Guan Hai and the others. On the other hand, when the refugees saw that the battle was going smoothly, their morale became even more majestic. Under this situation, Guo Yi's one thousand men lost six hundred men, two hundred were heavily injured, and less than two hundred were defeated.
This was why Liu Mang was in his current state, leading thousands of refugees towards Xinye City. He needed to make arrangements for these refugees. On the way, they passed by other refugee camps. The number of people increased. In the end, Liu Mang saw tens of thousands of people in front of him.
"Milord. Is this considered a rebellion?!" Zhou Cang cautiously asked Liu Mang.
"Rebellion your head. How can you rebel against your own people!" Guan Hai did not say anything and smacked Zhou Cang on the head. Yangzhou was Liu Mang's, and Xinye was also Liu Mang's.
"You can say that!" Liu Mang smiled bitterly. In front of Liu Mang, the gates of Xinye City were tightly shut. The security was tight, as if they were about to face a great enemy.
"Guan Hai, go and shout for them!" Liu Mang said helplessly to Guan Hai. He wanted Guan Hai to go and shout for the soldiers of Xinye City.
"Understood, Lord!"
… …
The night was terrifyingly quiet. Hao Shao led his five thousand men and headed straight for Xinye City. The scouts he sent out were all observing the situation in Xinye City. Hao Shao set up camp about thirty miles away from Xinye City.
"There are no enemies near Xinye City?" Hao Shao was puzzled as he listened to the reports of his scouts.
"Yes, General. We have already observed the surrounding ten li of Xinye City. There are no traces of any enemies!" The scout nodded and said to Hao Shao. This scout leader was once a comrade of Hao Shao. He was brought out by Hao Shao from the Bing Province Wolf Cavalry. His scouting skills were very high and Hao Shao trusted him very much. If he said that there were no enemies, he must have done a lot of scouting.
"No enemies? Could it be that the rebels have not reached Xinye City yet? " Hao Shao felt a little strange. He then shook his head. No, the moment Xinye City sent out the request for reinforcements, the rioters were already close to Xinye City. In the time it took for Hao Shao to send out the order, the rioters would have crawled all the way to Xinye City.
"Could it be that the rebels changed their route?" This was also an explanation. If they did not come to Xinye, then they must have changed their route. That was not right! Hao Shao dispelled the thought. There were no big cities near Xinye. There were hundreds of thousands of rebels. If they did not have enough food, they would starve to death in a few days. How could they be willing to give up on Xinye? They could only eat their fill after conquering Xinye.
"It's just that …" The scout added, "We found a lot of abandoned items in the surrounding area!" The scout saw many abandoned items, such as crutches, tents, and even tattered clothes. These were all items that belonged to the civilians. Only a large number of civilians would leave behind so much trash.
"The rebels must be near Xinye City!" Hao Shao was immediately certain. Didn't that mean that there was a large number of refugees near Xinye City? But the scouts had already said that they didn't find any traces of the refugees. They couldn't possibly hide, right? It wasn't just one or two people, it was hundreds of thousands of people.
"They can't be in Xinye City, right?" The scout added.
"Xinye City?!" Hao Shao immediately thought of something. Wasn't Xinye City the only city that could hide hundreds of thousands of rebels? Xinye City was a prefecture city. It could hide hundreds of thousands of civilians. Only Xinye City could hide hundreds of thousands of rebels.
"Could it be that Xinye City has been breached by the rebels?" The scout asked.
"Impossible!" Hao Shao denied. Even if Xinye City only had two thousand soldiers, it should not have been breached so quickly. Are there any signs of fighting outside Xinye City? "Hao Shao asked the scout.
"No!" There were no signs of fighting outside Xinye City. There was not even a corpse.
"The defenders of Xinye City have surrendered!" Hao Shao could only plan for the worst-case scenario. A hundred thousand refugees had disappeared without a trace, and there was no sign of Heng Ji fighting in Xinye City, so the only possibility was that the defenders of Xinye City had surrendered.
"Then, General, what should we do now?" The scout asked. Should they still go and rescue them?
"What should we do? Let's wait! " Hao Shao smiled bitterly and shook his head. What else could he do? If Xinye City hadn't been breached, Hao Shao's five thousand men could have gone to relieve the siege. But now, Xinye City had surrendered to the rebels. Could it be that he, Hao Shao, would bring his men to attack the city? It was possible to distinguish between professional soldiers and random soldiers in a field battle. However, it was different when it came to defending a city. With the city walls protecting the city, it could be said that even an ordinary citizen could unleash the strength of an elite soldier.
Hao Shao was good at defense, not offense. Furthermore, in order to speed up the rescue, Hao Shao had to travel light. He did not even have a ballista, not to mention scaling ladders. How could he attack the city?
"Wait?"
"Yes, wait!"
The next day, the Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry arrived with twenty thousand soldiers. The commander of the Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry was none other than our Lü Bu, Lü Fengxian. Of the twenty thousand soldiers behind him, ten thousand were from the Yangzhou Army and the rest were from the Yiyang Army.
"Lord Wen Hou!" Hao Shao quickly greeted. Lü Bu nodded and said, "Stand up and speak. What's the situation in Xinye City?"
"Lord Wen Hou, it's not looking good!"
"What do you mean?" Lü Bu frowned and asked.
"Xinye City might have already been breached by the rebels!"
"What about the two thousand defenders of Xinye City? They can't even hold on for three days? "
"Lord Wen Hou, Xinye City has surrendered to the rebels."
"How dare you!" Lu Bu was a bit angry. No one liked traitors. If Xinye City was defeated in a battle to the death, Lu Bu wouldn't be so angry. However, it was different if they surrendered. They were rebels who surrendered to Lu Bu.
"Reporting, General, the Yangtze River Navy has sent an urgent report!" When Hao Shao and Lü Bu were discussing military matters, the report came from the Yangtze River Navy.
"Speak!" Hao Shao didn't hide anything from Lü Bu. After all, Lü Bu was half the master of Yangzhou City.
"Reporting, General, a large number of enemy troops have appeared outside the Yangtze River Navy Camp!" The messenger reported to Hao Shao. Enemy troops! There was only one person who could be considered an enemy in front of the Yangtze River Navy, and that was Liu Biao of Jing Province.
"Liu Biao also knows about this?" The news that Hao Shao didn't want to hear the most came. As expected, Jing Province was like a mosquito that smelled blood.
"There are only five thousand soldiers left in the Yangtze River Navy Camp!" Hao Shao said to Lü Bu. Originally, Hao Shao was confident that he couldn't be bothered to send a hundred thousand soldiers to attack Jing Province. Now that there were only five thousand soldiers left, many places had become difficult to deal with. If Jing Province was willing to pay a heavy price, the Yangtze River Navy Camp would not be able to stop them.
Hao Shao wanted to transfer the troops back, but there was no news from Xinye City. Xinye City was occupied by the rebels. If they couldn't take it down in time, then Xinye City, the pearl of Yangzhou City, would be destroyed. Hao Shao and Lü Bu knew how destructive the rebels were. When the Yellow Turban Army ravaged the Great Han Dynasty, nine out of ten cities were destroyed. Moreover, these rebels would lead one by one. They would attack the city and destroy your home. In order to survive, you could only follow behind them and destroy your home.
Therefore, the rebels would only increase in numbers. Xinye City already had several hundred thousand citizens. Now that there were more than a hundred thousand refugees, if Xinye City couldn't be controlled, it would become a hidden danger.
Therefore, Jing Province was very good at finding loopholes and making it difficult for Yangzhou City to deal with them.
"Hao Shao, bring your men back to the Yangtze River Navy Camp!" Lü Bu said to Hao Shao.
"Wen Hou Daren, if I go back, how can I attack the city?" Lü Bu had brought the Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry. They couldn't let the Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry dismount and attack the city.
Lü Bu was in a hurry. After receiving Hao Shao's request for help, Lü Bu immediately set off. He brought twenty thousand infantry with him, but they were still on the way. By the time they arrived, it would be too late.
Their original consideration was that no matter how few soldiers Xinye City had, they would at least be able to hold out for a day or two. As long as they could hold out for a day or two, even elite heavy armored infantry would not be a match for the Bing Province Wolf Cavalry, let alone these rioters.
However, man proposes, God disposes. Xinye City surrendered without putting up any resistance. This caught Yangzhou City off guard. Now, Lü Bu was facing a problem.
Is it better for you to attack Xinye or not to attack Xinye?!
If they were to attack Xinye City, they would have to leave Hao Shao's five thousand elite soldiers behind. Even if Lü Bu went out personally, he would still need to bring his men with him. Taking the escalade would take time, and attacking the city would take even more time. If they were to attack Xinye City, the Jingzhou Army would be attacking the Yangtze River Stronghold.
If you don't attack Xinye City, with the destruction caused by the rioters, even if you manage to reclaim the city, it will be completely destroyed in less than half a month. Those rioters will turn Xinye City back into the Stone Age.
Not to mention, there were originally 100,000 rebels in Xinye City. Now that he had destroyed the homes and businesses of the original residents of Xinye City, the residents of Xinye City had become homeless. Thus, they could only join the rebels. Today, it might be 100,000, but tomorrow, it might be 200,000.
If it continued to spread around Xinye, Yangzhou could be said to be in chaos.
"Hmph!" Lü Bu snorted coldly and led the Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry towards Xinye City. "Let's go!"
"Lord Wen Hou?!" Hao Shao was stunned. He did not understand what Lü Bu wanted to do. Seeing that Lü Bu was heading towards Xinye City, he was shocked and chased after him. Hao Shao had been in the Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry before and knew that Lü Bu was a person who could be persuaded by reason but not cowed by force. If the Lü Bu really attacked Xinye City, Hao Shao would cry. Therefore, Hao Shao chased after Lü Bu and wanted to ask him to stop so that he could think of a plan.
"Lord Wen Hou, Lord Wen Hou, now is not the time to attack Xinye!" Hao Shao chased after him. "Lord Wen Hou, please calm down. Tomorrow, I will have the army cut down trees to make escalade and attack the city immediately!" Hao Shao was different from Gao Shun who directly went against Lü Bu's personality. At the very least, Hao Shao was going along with Lü Bu's personality. Hao Shao tried his best to persuade Lü Bu about the disadvantages of using heavy cavalry to attack a city. He wanted Lü Bu to give up on his stubbornness.
"Who said that I want to attack Xinye!" Lü Bu turned around and said to Hao Shao.
"Not attacking Xinye?" Hao Shao was stunned for a moment. 'Then why did you lead the Wolf Cavalry to Xinye in a huff?'
"I want to see who the leader of the rebels in Xinye City is!" Lü Bu said coldly. To be able to incite the rebels, this person was definitely not simple. Just like the three Yellow Turban Bandits, Zhang Jiao, and his two brothers. To be honest, if it was not for Tang Zhou's betrayal, the Yellow Turban Army would not have acted so hastily. If this had dragged on for another three to five years, it would be hard to say whether the world would belong to the Liu or the Zhang. Unfortunately, there was a rebellion among them.
Therefore, Zhang Jiao had no choice but to act hastily. If Zhang Jiao were to continue bewitching the people and deceiving them about morality in a year or two, Ling Di would be destroyed.
"Phew!" Hao Shao heaved a sigh of relief. It was fine as long as they did not attack Xinye directly.
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