"Liu Bei escaped?" Liu Mang had already arrived at Fan City.
He frowned as he looked at the reports from the Yangzhou army.
"How did Liu Bei escape?" Liu Mang had a premonition that Liu Bei would not be able to escape. After all, Liu Bei's escaping skills were too good. Dong Zhuo could not stop Liu Bei, Yuan Shao could not stop Liu Bei, and even Cao Cao and Lü Bu could not stop Liu Bei.
However, this time, Liu Mang had set up an inescapable net.
Not only had he arranged for troops to be stationed in Fan City, but he had also infiltrated Liu Bei's navy.
"I miscalculated this matter. I was unable to stop Liu Bei!" A golden-armored general beside Liu Mang said.
This person was none other than Liu Mang's father-in-law, Lü Bu and Lü Fengxian.
He had brought 5000 Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry from Lujiang. Liu Mang had originally planned to give him a chance to take revenge, but he did not expect Guan Yu to intercept him.
Lü Bu was furious when he thought about it. When he fought with Guan Yu, Guan Yu asked Lü Bu to give him time to use his strongest move.
Lü Bu agreed. He thought that Guan Yu had also broken through, so he gave Guan Yu a chance.
However, he did not expect Guan Yu to turn around and run after Liu Bei's army had left. Lü Bu was stunned. It was too late for him to chase after Guan Yu.
Liu Mang looked at his father-in-law. Blame Lü Bu? Liu Mang would not dare to do so even if he had ten guts.
"My lord, if you want to blame someone, blame me!" Lu Xun half-knelt down in front of Liu Mang and said, "It's my fault for not considering everything. That's why Liu Bei was able to escape!"
Lu Xun regretted his decision. If he had not used the ballistae on the Galun Warship and had chosen to board the ship, perhaps Liu Bei would not have been able to escape so easily.
"Your Highness King of Han, this matter has nothing to do with Overseer Lu. This humble one didn't know that Liu Bei could also swim!" A scribe beside Lu Xun walked out and knelt before Liu Mang.
"Hmm?" Liu Mang looked at the person on the ground. Liu Mang was not familiar with this person. Otherwise, he would not have called Liu Mang 'His Highness King of Han'. Naturally, someone introduced him to Liu Mang.
"Dove?" Liu Mang asked subconsciously when he heard the name. Wasn't that chocolate?
Furthermore, it was from his famous brand.
"Who is chocolate?" Dove was also puzzled.
"Oh, this king knows someone who is similar to you. His surname is Qiao, his name is Keli, and his courtesy name is Dove!" Liu Mang could only explain in this way.
Dove nodded and did not say anything.
"You are Assistant Minister Sun's junior brother?" Liu Mang looked at Dove.
"I once attended classes under Teacher Zheng Xuan with my senior brother!" Dove lowered his head and said.
"Good, good!" Liu Mang nodded. Even if the disciple of the great scholar Zheng Xuan was not very capable, his character was still reliable. The reason why Sun Qian betrayed Liu Bei was because Liu Bei had completely forced Sun Qian into a corner.
"Bofu, Gong Jin, what do the two of you think of Liu Bei?" Liu Mang looked at Sun Ce and Zhou Yu.
Sun Ce and Zhou Yu looked at each other. The two of them could be considered as one now. Zhou Yu nodded and stood up, indicating that he was going to explain.
"Liu Bei is a careerist hero. Looking at his appearance, he is not willing to submit to others. He is able to endure and change quickly. He has made it his career. What a pity!" Zhou Yu stopped halfway.
"What's wrong, Gong Jin?! Continue! "Liu Mang extended his hand, indicating for Zhou Yu to continue.
"It's a pity that we met you, my lord!" Zhou Yu said to Liu Mang.
The ancient people were good at physiognomy. The most famous one was probably Xu Shao, Xu Zi Jiang. He was able to see Cao Cao's future pulse at a glance.
Although Zhou Yu had not reached that level, based on what Liu Bei had done in the past few years, he could speculate about Liu Bei's character.
He was the underling of many people and was also ridiculed by many people. In the past, Yuan Shu and Yuan Shao looked down on this horse archer. But now, those two people were buried in the ground while Liu Bei was still alive and kicking. It was enough to see that Liu Bei's lifeline was here.
Liu Mang's eyes flashed when he heard Zhou Yu's words. Wasn't this the original trajectory? If it wasn't for Liu Mang, Liu Bei would be preparing for the Battle of Red Cliff with Sun Ce, Zhou Yu, and the others. After that, he would become famous. Liu Bei would borrow Jingzhou and then split the world into three. It was indeed a career.
But today, Liu Bei was really miserable. He couldn't kill Lü Bu, but his son-in-law, Lü Bu, destroyed his foundation again and again. Now, he almost became a prisoner.
"If Liu Bei returns to Jingzhou, then it will be troublesome!" Liu Mang frowned.
The reason why he wanted to take Runan first was to get rid of Liu Bei in Nanyang County. After all, this troublemaker made people uncomfortable.
As for Jing Province, Liu Mang wanted a complete Jing Province. He wanted a Jing Province that did not suffer many wars and not a Jing Province that was crippled.
According to Liu Bei's temperament in Yuzhou, if he couldn't have it, he didn't want others to have it. He would destroy it. The people of Yuzhou fought to the death on the city walls, causing Liu Mang to have no choice but to massacre the city as a warning.
"My Lord, why worry? Liu Bei might not be able to reach Xiangyang. Even if he could reach Xiangyang, I'm afraid that Xiangyang would no longer belong to Liu Bei! "Zhou Yu continued to speak with a smile.
"What do you mean?" Liu Mang was stunned.
Zhou Yu smiled but didn't answer. Instead, he gave Liu Mang an irrelevant answer. "My Lord, did you see who is missing?"
"Who?" Liu Mang glanced over and saw that all the generals and civil officials that he had brought with him were present. Even Zhang Yun was standing to the side.
"De Fu, where is your Senior Brother?" Liu Mang finally saw who was missing. One was Xu Sheng, and the other was Sun Qian.
Xu Sheng was behind Sun Qian.
"Your Highness, I don't know where my Senior Brother went!" De Fu shook his head. He had already separated from Sun Qian when he went with Guan Yu to rescue Liu Bei.
"My Lord, if I'm not wrong, Assistant Minister Sun should be in Xiangyang City now!" Zhou Yu said to Liu Mang with a smile.
"Sun Qian is in Xiangyang?"
Zhou Yu knew that Sun Qian didn't follow Zhou Yu and the others to encircle Liu Bei's army after learning that Sun Qian was going to rescue Liu Bei's army. Instead, he went to Xiangyang in a different direction. It seemed that he was confident that his Lord could escape from Liu Mang's clutches.
"If Sun Qian is in Xiangyang now?" Liu Mang's eyes lit up. Sun Qian didn't go alone. He was accompanied by Xu Sheng's 5,000 Black Flag Army soldiers.
If Sun Qian had led 5,000 Black Flag Army soldiers to Jingzhou, they might have been annihilated by Liu Bei's army.
However, Liu Bei had two main forces. One of them had been destroyed by Liu Mang's army in Nanyang Prefecture. The other one was in Yizhou, guarding against Cai Mao and Kuai Yue's army.
It could be said that the current Xiangyang was empty.
If one of them were to enter, they would most likely be able to occupy Xiangyang City.
There weren't many decent generals guarding Xiangyang City.
Based on Sun Qian's hatred for Liu Bei, he most likely wouldn't let Liu Bei off. Liu Mang couldn't wait to see Liu Bei's expression when he arrived at Xiangyang City, only to find that the city had changed hands.
"Haha, haha!" Liu Mang couldn't help but laugh. He was so happy that he started to reward Sun Qian.
This was a great victory. Not only did they take down Runan, but Yuzhou had also fallen into the hands of the Yangzhou army. Now, they even had Nanyang Prefecture.
Although Nanyang Prefecture was part of Jing Province, it was bigger than half of Jing Province. In the past, it was called the capital of Jing Province. With the Cai Clan, Kuai Clan, and Zhang Clan's support, Nanyang Prefecture would quickly develop into a huge city.
These nobles would definitely support Liu Mang. It could be said that they were tied to the war chariot of the Yangzhou army.
As the representatives of the nobles in Nanyang Prefecture, the Kuai Clan and Cai Clan gave a lot of rewards.
In addition to the rewards, the Kuai Clan's Kuai Liang was also summoned by Liu Mang to the court in Shouchun. He was in charge of the Supreme Court and was in charge of the punishments in Shouchun. Liu Mang even gave Kuai Liang the authority to investigate and handle cases. As long as Kuai Liang felt that there was a problem in Yangzhou, he had the right to investigate. If he offended someone, Liu Mang would be the scapegoat.
This gave Liu Mang a lot of face. If Kuai Liang had any intention of doing evil, then other than Liu Mang, Liu Mang would be able to arrest him.
Fortunately, Kuai Liang was a straightforward person. Liu Mang made him the Chancellor of the Supreme Court because of this. In the past, Kuai Liang was the Xiangyang Magistrate of Xiangyang. In Xiangyang, even Liu Biao would have a headache when he saw Kuai Liang.
There was no need to talk about Kuai Ran. Liu Mang had married his sister, Princess Yanran, to him.
He gave Kuai Ran the position of a Marquis because Kuai Ran did not want to be an official. Otherwise, Liu Mang would have already conscripted Kuai Ran into the Six Ministries.
Cai Mao and Kuai Yue were not there for the time being. There was also Zhang Yun who could not be forgotten.
Although Zhang Yun's Zhang Clan could not compare to the Cai Clan and the Kuai Clan, they were still a noble clan.
Liu Mang was not stingy with Yuzhou's Runan County Governor and also gave him the position of Marquis.
Letting Zhang Yun take up the position in Runan was Liu Mang's way of being a ruler.
The Zhang Clan, the Kuai Clan, and the Cai Clan had been in power in Jingzhou for more than a hundred years.
Liu Mang would not allow these three families to stay in Jingzhou. Even if Liu Mang agreed, his advisors would not agree. At the same time, Xu Shu's cabinet had already arranged for these three families to stay in Jingzhou.
The Zhang Clan would go to Runan, the Kuai Clan would stay in Jingzhou, and the Cai Clan would follow Liu Mang to Yangzhou.
The three clans had to be separated.
The only one left was Sun Qian's Junior Brother, De Fu.
Originally, De Fu was not in Liu Mang's consideration. However, he was recommended by Sun Qian and was also Zheng Xuan's disciple. If it was not for De Fu, Sun Qian would not have been able to gain control of Guan Yu's camp. Later on, he almost killed Liu Bei. De Fu was a talent.
"De Fu, do you know anything about Nanyang County?" Liu Mang asked De Fu.
"Although not much, I have a rough idea!" De Fu said humbly.
"Oh? Tell me about it! "Liu Mang said with interest.
"Although Nanyang County is part of Jingzhou, half of it is separated from Jingzhou by the two banks of the Yangtze River. It was originally governed by Wancheng. More than a hundred years ago, it was the capital of our Great Han Dynasty!" De Fu spoke eloquently.
Liu Mang nodded as he listened. The most important point was that De Fu suggested that Liu Mang divide Nanyang County into two. With the Yangtze River as the boundary, the area south of Jingzhou would be Nanyang County while the area north of the Yangtze River would be Wancheng County. This way, it would be convenient for management and transportation.
Needless to say, the cities in Jiangbei would have to send people across the river to pass the message if they wanted to receive a reply from the County Governor.
"Excellent!" Liu Mang looked at De Fu, who seemed to be very satisfied. "Mister De Fu, what if this Prince makes you the County Governor of Wancheng County?" Liu Mang stated his condition, which was the newly established County Governor of Wancheng County.
"This, this, this!" De Fu didn't have time to react. He had always been an assistant. If he wasn't in the army, he would be a registrar.
They were all there to serve as helpers.
When did he, De Fu, become able to take charge? Subconsciously, De Fu felt a little timid.
"What? Zheng Xuan's disciple can't even manage a county? "
De Fu gritted his teeth. He, De Fu, could not lose face for Zheng Xuan.
"This humble subject pays his respects to the Lord!" De Fu knelt down towards Liu Mang, acknowledging Liu Mang as his master.
"Many thanks, Lord!" Everyone was naturally happy after being rewarded by Liu Mang.
In this battle, Liu Mang had eliminated more than 23,000 enemies and captured more than 5,000 people. The rest of the soldiers were all dismissed by Liu Mang.
It could be said that Liu Bei's main force was completely crippled.
The only thing Liu Bei could rely on now was Zhang Fei's 10,000 soldiers. They were no longer a threat to Yangzhou.
"Pass down my orders! Rest for a day. Tomorrow morning, we will set out to cross the river! "Liu Mang didn't just want to eliminate Liu Bei's army. He also wanted to obtain the entire Jingzhou.
"Bang!"
…
Liu Bei entered Xiangyang. In order to guard against the Yangzhou army's attack, Pang Shiyuan had already turned the originally bustling business district of Xiangyang into a strong city defense.
The population had decreased greatly. After entering Xiangyang, Liu Bei and the rest didn't dare to travel by water. In addition, there were very few war horses in the south. Liu Bei had a hard time traveling.
"Lord, hold on a little longer. As long as we can hold on a little longer, we will reach the outskirts of Xiangyang!" Pang Shiyuan was very familiar with Xiangyang. After all, he had lived here for a long time.
When Liu Bei heard Pang Shiyuan's words, he could only grit his teeth and hold on. He was really exhausted from the water. In addition, he had rushed through the night and only had some wild fruits and grass in his stomach. He was already starving.
"Who is it!" Just as Liu Bei was about to sit down and rest, there was a sudden movement from the other side.
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