Volume 3: The Land of Jingchu Chapter 365: Xiangyang Incident
Ever since the imperial court left Xudu, the forces supporting the Han Dynasty have been reporting frequent victories.
Ma Teng, Han Sui and Yang Feng, Zhang Yan, the two sides were basically separated by Chang'an. Ma Teng and Han Sui were responsible for clearing out the small warlords in the western part of Guanzhong and Guanxi, while Zhang Yang and Yang Feng were responsible for the scattered small warlords in the eastern part of Guanzhong, as well as Luoyang, Hedong and other places.
Although they did not dare to provoke Xu County in Yuzhou directly, they either persuaded the warlords in Sili and Hedong who had surrendered to Cao Cao to surrender, or pretended to be unaware of the attack...
After the death of Li Jue and Guo Si, Liang Xing, Zhang Heng, Duan Wei and other small warlords who originally occupied Guanzhong and Hedong either surrendered or were defeated after resisting stubbornly.
Liu Bei had also crossed the Yellow River and completely recovered Pingyuan County, where he had once served as a county magistrate. Now, almost all of Qingzhou had been annexed by Liu Bei...
(There is a typo in the previous chapter. The Qi State in the pre-Qin period was mainly in Qingzhou during the Han Dynasty, with a small part in Xuzhou. This has been corrected.)
But the news other than his own still made Liu Xie angry...
After learning the urgent news from Xu Du, Cao Cao in the north did not return to help immediately. Instead, he pretended to retreat and then made a surprise attack. He also deliberately revealed the "conditions" that Xun Yu had obtained for him. In his extreme joy and sorrow, he directly angered the already seriously ill Yuan Shao to death and captured Yecheng.
Yuan Tan was always being beaten in Handan, and it was not at all like Liu Xie had imagined, where he and Cao Cao would both suffer losses.
Not to mention the south, Jiangling was lost so quickly, and when the Nanjun gentry first came into contact with the court, Liu Xie was happy for a while. Who knew that those rubbish were now blocked outside Wancheng and could not move north even a single step.
Originally, Liu Xie wanted to persuade Bai Tu and had certain expectations for this great sage. However, now it seems that the other party is just fooling him!
What are the eight strategies? They are just excuses. Just like Cao thief, they want to be crowned king and harm me...
After Liu Bei and others left the front hall, Liu Xie, exhausted both physically and mentally, asked Liu Ai: "Uncle, how did I perform today?"
Liu Ai forced a smile and said, "Your Majesty is open-minded and magnanimous, which is a blessing for all people. However, you must be cautious in your attitude towards Lord Bai."
Honestly speaking, Liu Xie's performance today was actually an improvement, except that he seemed too reckless in the beginning when he wanted to attack Hua Xin. But afterwards, although everyone could see that he was angry, at least he did not vent his anger obviously.
It's far from perfect, but it's still a big improvement. Considering his age, Liu Xie just won the championship this year. Liu Ai thinks encouragement is still the main thing...
Upon hearing this, Liu Xie nodded and said, "I understand, but... that's all. I'll pay more attention next time." Obviously, he also understood that it was useless to complain to Liu Ai.
"It's just that now the General's Mansion seems to be no different from Cao's! No... The popularity of the General's Mansion is even more terrifying than Cao's. Now there are still people in the capital who are discussing the omen of 'returning the imperial seal', saying that the road is now lush and green, and the weeds are three inches taller... It's simply unreasonable!" Liu Xie forgot at this time that he was also very moved at that time.
"It's freezing cold now, so it's not easy to mobilize troops, and the General's Mansion should keep its troops in place before the first month of the year. We hope that the Jingzhou gentry can hold out in Xiangfan for a while longer... Wait for the King of Wei to return Xu County, and even if Wancheng doesn't move, we can indirectly provide some assistance. In addition... Your Majesty must issue the title to Liu Jingzhou's orphan as soon as possible." Liu Ai reminded.
As the diet of Xiangyang residents expanded greatly, Liu Biao's condition became more and more serious. Starting a few months ago, not only did his hands and feet ulcerate, but his eyes gradually became blind. Especially after the news of Liu Qi's death came, Liu Biao almost died suddenly. After being rescued, he became increasingly mentally confused and was bedridden, unable to take care of things.
The Nanjun nobles initially blocked the news and completely took over Jingzhou Prefecture, but when they came to the court in the name of paying tribute, they revealed their true colors.
Calculating the time, Liu Biao should not have survived last month, and if nothing unexpected happened, he would have been buried by now...
If possible, Liu Xie wanted to directly appoint Liu Ai to Xiangyang to take charge, but now it was not the court's opinion that mattered, but the Nanjun gentry's opinion.
The Nanjun gentry now actually controls Jingzhou Prefecture, but Liu Biao had previously won over the Nanyang gentry and suppressed the Cai and Kuai families, causing a rift between the two sides. Forcing their way to power might lead to civil strife in Jingzhou Prefecture. Therefore, for the Nanjun gentry, it would be more profitable to first support Liu Cong to succeed to the throne and unite all the forces in Jingzhou Prefecture than to act alone.
After all, the Cai and Kuai families had no intention of establishing their own territories; they just wanted to make steady progress in these chaotic times!
"That's good. It's better to clear Liu Cong's name than to let Bai Tu get away with it... Why not enthrone Liu Cong at the grand court meeting on the first day of the first lunar month by letting everyone know about it? What do you think, uncle?" Liu Xie said after thinking it over.
When appointing a governor of a state, whether to launch the "Let everyone know" policy is actually ambiguous. However, if we consider that the only areas that Jingzhou Prefecture can control now are Xiangfan and the central and southern parts of Nanyang, "Let everyone know" policy is a bit beyond the standard.
Fortunately, after the imperial court moved westward, not only did it cut off its previous connection with the Prime Minister's Mansion, but its fortune also recovered.
Therefore, it is not impossible for Liu Xie to launch the attack by force!
Didn’t Bai Tu say that if he didn’t see the “envoys informed” of the promised eight strategies on the first day of the first lunar month, he would have to acquiesce in his promotion to King of Chu and continue the attack on Xiangfan?
Then on the first day of the first lunar month, use the phrase “let all know” to clear Liu Cong’s name.
When the time comes, Bai Tu will attack again... Although it still cannot be stopped, it will inevitably be untenable morally, but at least it can add some obstacles.
After hearing this, Liu Ai thought about it and felt that this was a good idea.
"Your Majesty is wise." Liu Ai echoed, feeling that Liu Xie was indeed growing. After pondering for a while, he suddenly said, "If that's the case, this old minister has an idea... If we want to launch the 'Let All Know' campaign, we might as well make it bigger! Although we can't do anything to the two major princes in the north and south, we can confer titles on all the princes who support the court!" Liu Ai gradually revealed some determination as he spoke.
Of course, there may be side effects from indiscriminate enfeoffment of princes, but... now it is not easy to provoke Bai Tu in the south and Cao Cao in the north directly.
If we directly declare them traitors, I'm afraid they will immediately send troops to invade. However, this level of suppression should be beneficial with no disadvantages!
As for the "side effects"...
If we can’t overcome the current difficulties, the Han Dynasty will be destroyed. We must first revive the Han Dynasty before we have the qualifications to talk about side effects!
However, what they didn't know was that at this time in Jiangling, Huang Chengyan had secretly met with Bai Tu to discuss the secret alliance - nominally, Liu Cong, who was still just a kid, was the lord of Jingzhou, but in fact, Jingzhou Prefecture was now in the hands of the Nanjun gentry, so the matter of surrendering to Chu had to be done secretly...
Back then, the various families in Nanjun joined forces to "trick" Huang Chengyan and Madam Cai once. This time, Huang Chengyan and Madam Cai are ready to trick them back in one go!
Their advantages at this time were, firstly, they had the legitimate right to speak, after all, the Nanjun gentry nominally supported Liu Cong; secondly, the Kuai and Cai families seriously underestimated Cai Shuang's character.
In their eyes, Cai Shuang was just a shrew with no sense of the overall situation - but it was also because of this that they could control her easily. As long as they respected her on the surface, they wouldn't have to worry about Cai Shuang having other plans in private...
To be honest, only Cai Mao had some doubts, because in his impression, his sister was not that stupid.
However, after Cai Shuang got married, the relationship between the two siblings faded a lot. In the beginning, Cai Shuang even didn't want to see them at all.
Therefore, Cai Mao was at most a little hesitant, and most likely still felt apologetic in his heart, thinking that Cai Shuang was unhappy in the past and had a bad relationship with Liu Biao. Especially in the past year, Liu Biao strongly supported Liu Qi and was very cold to Cai Shuang and Liu Cong, so Cai Shuang was stimulated and her character became more biased...
