Volume 5: Overlord of the Sea Chapter 612 I, Liu Ji, the Marquis of Qi
Liu Bei was deeply moved by Fa Zheng's trust, and then came to Chencang under the protection of Wei Yan and five hundred Chu troops.
Directly informing Liu Ji that "Liu Bei is still alive and has surrendered to Chu" would likely trigger a backlash from Liu Ji, but... Liu Bei was confident that if he went there in person, he would be able to persuade Liu Ji.
The number of five hundred was within the range that Liu Ji could be assured of, but it was not so low that he would be powerless to fight back...
Of course, forget about artillery or anything like that, it would be great if we could sneak in some grenades that are still in the experimental stage!
The reason why the "grenade" is in the experimental stage is that the Chu State has not done much research on primitive grenades from the beginning - that is, ordinary projectiles that are ignited and then detonated with black gunpowder.
This type of grenade actually has limited effect. In the current Qi crossbow and artillery system of the Chu army, it is completely a accumulation.
The weapon that Chu is currently experimenting with is a grenade filled with high explosives, which causes damage through fragments and is detonated by pulling a bolt. This is equivalent to the Mills grenade that only appeared during World War I.
A grenade that can really be used in a mature hot weapons battlefield!
It was precisely because among the 500 people brought by Wei Yan, 100 of them were grassroots generals, all of whom carried several of these grenades with them, so he was not too worried about his safety when he went directly to "provoke" Liu Ji. At least it should not be difficult to break out of the siege.
No matter what, meeting Liu Bei in person is a kind of "teasing" for Liu Ji!
In Fa Zheng's opinion, Liu Bei's only chance of winning should be to sneak into Chencang and then incite other local defenders to rebel.
At this time, Deng Zhi had not yet told Liu Ji the truth, and only said that General Wei Yan from Hanzhong had come in person with 500 Chu troops.
In the military city of Chencang, Liu Ji did not doubt Chu's intentions. After all, Chu was his best choice now, and it only had 500 people.
And after arriving at Chencang, Wei Yan fearlessly brought only a dozen personal guards into the city, while the rest of the Chu army only stationed outside the city!
Liu Ji also personally greeted Wei Yan at the city gate.
Although Wei Yan is no longer the governor of Hanzhong or one of the top three in the Shu Han military as he was in his prime in history, he is now at least a division commander, and is nominally the chief commander of the "Hanzhong attack on Guanzhong" route.
Status in Chu State...
The military's top 30 is still there!
Although Liu Ji is now the Marquis of Qi in name, he only has 20,000 Qi troops under his command, and he is still a rootless tree. He just holds an important position, so he has some capital to be sold at a high price.
Liu Ji was very enthusiastic to meet Wei Yan, but Wei Yan was not very enthusiastic towards him. He just said, "Hello, General Liu. Let's go into the city!"
Hearing that Wei Yan still called him "General Liu", Liu Ji paused for a moment in disappointment.
Originally he hoped that the State of Chu would recognize his title of "Marquis of Qi".
It's not that he hopes to be named "Marquis of Qi" in the State of Chu, but only if the State of Chu recognizes the title of "Marquis of Qi" now can it be regarded as a recognition of the role he can play.
However, Wei Yan and Liu Bei became more familiar with each other in the past few days, and he became more resistant to this "rebellious son".
It was not because Liu Bei slandered him so much. On the contrary, when Liu Bei and Wei Yan mentioned Liu Ji, they always said how good this kid was, how much he was like themselves, and how he was braver than themselves in this and that way... and then they sighed.
This made Wei Yan somewhat disgusted with Liu Ji's behavior.
Of course, it was just a matter of "getting to know each other better" and "having a little disgust", and Wei Yan would not sacrifice public interest for personal gain.
Liu Ji did not dare to have any opinion on Wei Yan because of this matter, and still invited him to the banquet.
Only halfway through the process, Liu Ji looked back awkwardly...
"What's wrong with General Liu?" Wei Yan asked with a frown.
"Nothing, I just feel impressed by the might of the Chu army." Liu Ji laughed dryly.
Just now, Liu Ji always felt that someone among Wei Yan's personal guards was staring at him, as if he had a premonition. However, when he looked back, he did not find anything unusual, nor did he sense any murderous intent, so Liu Ji did not take it too seriously.
However, when they arrived at the front hall and were about to invite Wei Yan to the banquet, Wei Yan grabbed Liu Ji's arm. The latter visibly shrank back, but failed to get his wish.
Liu Ji was certainly known for his "bravery", but that was mainly because of his temperament and martial arts skills... Because he was still young, even though he held a high position, he was still a step away from being a powerful general.
And although Wei Yan is still young, he can now be considered a veteran, but the chance of becoming a god-like general is still a long way off.
Liu Ji's personal soldiers around him were also obviously on alert, which naturally made Wei Yan's personal soldiers also tense.
"Humph." One of Wei Yan's personal soldiers who had not taken any action let out an angry snort of indignation.
After hearing this, Liu Ji paused for a moment, then pretended to be calm and said, "What are you doing? This general... This marquis! I want to invite Commander Wei to the banquet!"
That’s right, the personal guard who just spoke was naturally Liu Bei who was “disguised as a personal guard”.
For Liu Bei, this is already child's play...
And with the presence of professional personnel from the State of Chu, Liu Bei's height, shoulder width, face shape, and facial features are all subtly different from before. Coupled with the half-covering helmet, he is completely unrecognizable from the outside.
Even because of the specially designed height-increasing boots, your walking posture will be very different from usual!
The reason why Liu Bei snorted angrily just now was more because he saw Liu Ji panicking because Wei Yan caught him...
Should he shake off Wei Yan and turn against him directly to avoid being held hostage, or should he invite Wei Yan to the table as usual? This is a question of "choice". Both choices would not be wrong. However, he stood there in panic for a moment, which made Liu Bei very dissatisfied with him.
Wei Yan was not sure whether Liu Ji had discovered it or not, he just felt that... Liu Ji began to emphasize more and more that "I am the Marquis of Qi".
Even when Wei Yan asked about Guan Yu and Zhuge Liang to test Liu Ji 's attitude, Liu Ji did not emphasize how arrogant Guan Yu was and how he was forced, as he did with Deng Zhi. Instead, he said carelessly, "I am the Marquis of Qi," "Rebellious ministers and traitors are not worth a second glance," and "All of them will be locked up and killed outside Chencang."
However, Wei Yan always felt that he was not being arrogant, but rather like... competing with someone!
Wei Yan was already certain that Liu Ji had sensed something, so he took the initiative to say, "As for the Marquis of Qi's surrender to Chu, our Great Chu naturally welcomes it very much, but there are still some details that need to be confirmed by the Marquis of Qi."
Wei Yan was actually calling the Marquis of Qi at this time, but... Liu Ji always felt that he was not talking about him!
Moreover, Liu Ji is only "intentioned" to surrender to Chu now. The two sides haven't even started talking yet, so how come there are only "details to be confirmed" left?
However, Liu Ji was not surprised and quieted down. After a while, he said to Wei Yan: "Master Wei, you have been tired from the journey. You may as well rest early tonight. I...will be quiet for a while."
He said he wanted to be quiet for a while, but Wei Yan and his personal soldiers were all driven out, but one of Wei Yan's personal guards did not leave, and Liu Ji acted as if he didn't see it...
