Chapter 495

“Milord! Congratulations on persuading Lady Cai!” Jia Xu winked at Liu Mang after Liu Mang exited Lady Cai’s room. This made Liu Mang feel uncomfortable.

While Liu Mang had indeed persuaded Lady Cai, he felt as though he lost face after being pushed down by Lady Cai.

Liu Mang felt like kicking Jia Xu when he saw Jia Xu’s vulgar smile but restrained his anger as Jia Xu did not abandon him earlier.

“Stop speaking nonsense!” Liu Mang replied in a bad mood. He was certain that Jia Xu would not bother him without a good reason.

“Milord. There is a message from Yangzhou. Please look at it.” Jia Xu finally said and handed Liu Mang a letter.

At that time, Yangzhou was being commanded by Liu Ye and Xu Shu. With their skills, they should be able to govern Yangzhou well so they would not bother Liu Mang with trifling matters. Liu Mang took the letter to his room before reading it.

The letter talked about three things. The first was a report that the industrial zone destroyed by Liu Bei was now back in operation. They had once again started building siege weapons which they used to guard Shouchun. The ballista could be used to kill the attacking soldiers at close combat while Liu Mang’s catapults could be used to restrain Liu Bei’s own catapults with superior range. Enemies would need to waste a hundred thousand lives away if they even wanted to get close to Shouchun.

The second thing was that the ships at the shipyard had been given to Gan Ning. Gan Ning’s navy had followed the White Horses down the Yangtze River and towards Wancheng. The Jiangdong Navy tried to track them but failed. The navy had ten thousand men with another eight thousand still under training.

The third matter was about Zhang Liao’s battle against Sun Quan at Linhuai. When Liu Mang read this, he started to laugh.

“Milord. Why are you laughing?” Jia Xu asked. He had not yet read the letter as this information was sent by Yang Hong. They were not allowed to read each other’s information reports even though they worked for the same person as they were meant to keep each other in check. Jia Xu have people keeping watch of Yang Hong’s movements and the reverse is also true. This is the only way Liu Mang could be at ease.

“Wenhe. Come and look at this. This is my father-in-law’s best general!” Liu Mang laughed heartily.

Jia Xu took the letter and read it. When he finally reached Zhang Liao, his eyes opened wide. “Zhang Liao did all this?”

“Of course!” Liu Mang laughed happily. He believed that Yang Hong would not deceive him.

Zhang Liao commanded five thousand Xiliang Cavalry and five thousand of the Black Flag’s heavy armor infantry to capture Linhuai. They managed to kill twenty thousand men, captured forty thousand, while the rest of the enemy deserted. Meanwhile, only two thousand troops were lost for this result.

“Milord! Zhang Liao Zhang Wenyuan is truly talented!” Jia Xu could not help but lament at the man’s remarkable ability. It was a remarkable result even if the ten thousand men were elites. Before this, Jia Xu was even worried that Zhang Liao would act rashly and hoped that Zhang Liao would simply fortify his position while waiting for reinforcements. Although the enemy’s reinforcements of fifty thousand men were a lot, they only needed to guard Linhuai. He never expected Zhang Liao to simply capture Linhuai.

“Of course he is!” Liu Mang smiled.

“Milord is such a good judge of talent!” Jia Xu flattered. This time, Jia Xu meant it instead of simply saying it to curry favor. Zhang Liao was already a middle aged man and a veteran of war. Yet, Ding Yuan, Dong Zhuo and even Lu Bu was unable to make Zhang Liao show off his talents. Zhang Liao remained unknown under Ding Yuan and Dong Zhuo’s command. Even when he served under Lu Bu, Zhang Liao was only known as one of Lu Bu’s general.

However, Liu Mang was able to make Zhang Liao defeat twenty thousand soldiers and capture forty thousand soldiers with only ten thousand soldiers. The losses were also only two thousand soldiers.

“I must really give this Zhang Liao a title!” Liu Mang shook his head. Also written in the letter was Qin Feng’s request to become a marquis. Initially, Qin Feng was going to surrender his troops to Sun Quan and then retire to Jiangdong as a rich person. However, his instead forcefully stolen by Sun Quan so it felt like he was beaten to the ground.

Just this was not enough for a rebellion. However, his nephew who worked in the army disobeyed his new superior and was going to be executed. Qin Feng tried to plead for leniency but his pleas were ignored. He who had lost his power and authority was no longer worth anything to Sun Quan.

His authority was snatched and his nephew was dead. Qin Feng was naturally unhappy. At this moment, Zhang Liao appeared and made an offer. If Qin Feng succeeds, he would be given a marquis title and he could even become the governor of a province. Of course, Qin Feng alone was not enough to capture Linhuai.

Meanwhile, Lu Su had Qin Feng monitored. If Qin Feng acted strangely, he would be removed. Lu Su had indeed found something strange. Qin Feng had volunteered for military service to fight against Zhang Liao! Although Qin Feng no longer had military authority, he still had the prestige. Since Qin Feng himself volunteered, Sun Quan was overjoyed. Qin Feng would fight with the people loyal to him while Sun Quan could preserve his main army. Although they now all fought for Linhuai, these people were still inferior in skill compared to Sun Quan’s main army. It would be better to use them as cannon fodder.

These twenty thousand soldiers outnumber the Xiliang Cavalry ten to one. Even if they exchange ten people for one enemy, it would be worth it.

Sun Quan and Zhang Liao fought twice, Zhang Liao lost both battles and left behind some bodies. Sun Quan was overjoyed but he did not realize that these bodies seem to have been dead for some time. They were actually the bodies of Lu Meng’s men. Lu Su felt that something was wrong but Sun Quan was too happy to heed Lu Su’s suspicions especially when Lu Su himself could not figure out why Zhang Liao would fake a defeat.

Meanwhile, Linhuai’s troops were encouraged by their victory as they were rewarded for killing their enemies. Sun Quan generously rewarded the troops giving them high morale. Qin Feng also generously rewarded the troops with his retirement money. He promised them more money depending on the heads of the enemies given to him. Each head was a hundred coins, each 100-men general was worth two hundred and other such rewards.

At this point, Sun Quan’s main army started to itch to join the fight. They could become rich just by killing a few people.

Zhang Liao and Sun Quan fought again. Zhang Liao lost again. This time, Zhang Liao even lost a few horses and a ballista to Sun Quan. This time, Sun Quan started to believe that Zhang Liao did not know how to fight wars. He started to become overconfident, thinking he could easily capture Yangzhou after defeating Zhang Liao.

The next battle, he moved out his entire army to capture Zhang Liao. His Xiliang Cavalry was too attractive to pass up. With these five thousand horses, Sun Quan would be able to form another heavy cavalry.

Seventy thousand against ten thousand. On top of that, the enemy was a general that he had defeated before. Defeat seemed impossible, so he left without making any preparations. He was also afraid that Zhang Liao would escape. If that happened, Sun Quan would not be able to obtain the horses.

Zhang Liao had indeed escaped. He took the five thousand Xiliang Cavalry and disappeared, leaving behind the Black Flag Army who were in formation.

Sun Quan’s Army of seventy thousand covered the Black Flag Army.

Sun Quan sat in the rear as he awaited the good news. However, the Black Flag Army was like a wall that would not budge. That being said, the Black Flag Army was suffering heavy casualties. If this were to continue, the Black Flag Army would be completely wiped out.

At this moment, the Xiliang Cavalry returned charging. Initially, Sun Quan was at ease. The Xiliang Cavalry’s appearance means Sun Quan could obtain the horses. On top of that, the Xiliang Cavalry would start the fight engaging the twenty thousand Linhuai troops. No matter how many losses they suffer, Sun Quan would not feel any heartache.

That was when things when wrong. Sun Quan had placed too much faith in the Linhuai troops. Without any walls, the Linhuai troops were like a disorderly mob that cannot go against the current. This is especially true for their crafty veterans. They were already struggling with the Black Flag Army and now Zhang Liao appeared. On top of that, Zhang Liao was the one that had heads thrown over the city walls so he was like a demon to them. When these soldiers started to run, chaos erupted amongst the Linhuai troops and eventually, the whole of Sun Quan’s Army.

“Get back here! Fall back in line!” One of Sun Quan’s subordinates who commanded the Linhuai troops shouted. Naturally, nobody paid him any attention. “Those who try to escape will be executed!” Another subordinate shouted and immediately executed one of the escaping soldiers.

These veterans on the other hand were terrible at everything. However, they were skilled in escaping and had good teamwork. “Brothers! Run quickly! The demon’s army is here! If you run, you can survive! If you don’t run now, you will definitely die!”

And so, the Linhuai troops started running the other way. The confused one even started killing their own allies for the reward. These twenty thousand soldiers ended up becoming Zhang Liao’s vanguards, charging at Sun Quan’s Army.

“Impossible! How could this happen?” Sun Quan could not believe that the battle could end up like this. In the end, Lu Su and Sun Quan ended up as Zhang Liao’s captive in Yangzhou’s prison.