Chapter 139 - Reactions to the Noble Massacre in Wancheng City (1) (1/2)
Chapter 139 - Reactions to the n.o.ble Ma.s.sacre in Wancheng City (1)
Translated by Bloodfalcon, Edited by Krayto
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Cao Cao's POV
There are many events happening almost the same time in this nation, Wancheng city has been cleaned up of its internal rebellion, the Zhou clan is cornered in Shucheng County and on its last leg. The biggest news came from Jing Province, it said that when Liu Biao of Jing Province learned of Sun Ce's retreat to his main HQ, he quickly increased their troops in order to quickly expel Zhou Yu out of Jiangxia, and now they are in a stalemate due to Zhou Yu's deft strategies in spite of being outnumbered.
The second event was that Big-eared Liu was expelled from Xu Province for the second time after expelled he was expelled by Lu Bu quite some time ago.
This time due under pressure of his grain and provisions depleting, Old Cao did not pull any punches fighting Liu Bei. He sent out all of his elites, including the newly-reformed Ferocious Cavalry. Liu Bei could not defend nor counter-attack due to severe lack of personnel who were willing to fight for him.
Although he had several tens thousands soldiers under him, all of them were remnants of the Yellow Turban Rebellion that was reformed and called then renamed the Qing Province soldiers which was forcefully taken from Cao Cao. They did not have sense of belonging toward Liu Bei, so naturally they were fighting half-heartedly and that was the cause of Liu Bei's defeat.
Liu Bei who was expelled out of Xu Province, quickly asked the commoners of Pengcheng County and Xiapi to leave Cao Cao. In their eyes, Liu Bei was a benevolent ruler, so they quickly followed him to escape like at Changban. At the surface it is showed his benevolence toward the world, but the truth is those commoners became his meat s.h.i.+eld in order to slow down the enemy advance, further demonizing Cao Cao.
TL: Battle of Changban, Dynasty Warriors players should be familiar, when Zhao Yun rescued Liu Shan and when Zhang Fei bellowed his challenge
When Liu Bei saw Old Cao withdraw his offense, he quickly ordered those commoners to disperse and return to their own home. Meanwhile, Liu Bei also seized this opportunity to bring several thousand elites with the Qing Province soldiers to look shelter in Yu Province's capital Runan, taking shelter under Liu Pi.
Yuan Shao also became more aggressive toward Old Cao. He demanded Old Cao to give the Han Emperor to him, demanding Old Cao to resign from being regent, and finally demanded that he surrender along with his civil and military officials.
The ma.s.sacre in Wancheng city naturally gathered huge attention in this nation, unable to hide the truth.
32 n.o.bles clan that partic.i.p.ated in the rebellion was cut down by Liu Mang, including servants and private soldiers. 32 surnames perished from the world.
Wancheng city currently had 30,000 families with population of 150,000 people. During rebellion, 5000 families were decimated by n.o.ble's private soldiers. During ma.s.sacre, Liu Mang had killed more than 10,000 families including the n.o.ble’s main family and branch families with the elderly, infants and women.
Wancheng city's moat was filled with blood.
“Eh, all the n.o.bles killed was by His Highness Prince of Shu?!” Cao Cao who had returned to his main HQ in Xu Du, after pacifying Xu Province, was now really stunned in disbelief when he read this Intel.
Cao Cao then recalled the events regarding Liu Mang the “Prince of Shu is Liu Mang right? Is not he just a weakly scholar like Fengxiao (Guo Jia)? Alright, I admit, he had a very poisonous tongue, he almost made me vomit blood in Kaiyang! But that person was a very frail young man. He was definitely unable to commit this!!! Was it a miscalculation for me, to seal him as the Prince of Shu?” Originally, he sealed Liu Mang as the Prince of Shu in order for Lu Bu to kill him. Now that plan had failed and the incoming Intel stated that the Prince of Shu killed 32 n.o.ble clans including their branch clans. More than 10,000 families, with a population of more than 40,000 people, was killed in this weak scholar's hand.
Cao Cao really did not think that this Prince of Shu dared to kill people.
The reason why Cao Cao was regarded as a ma.s.s-murderer is because when Cao Song was murdered in Xu Province, Cao Cao led his army to destroy 3 counties in Xu Province to serve only as a warning to Tao Qian. Those three counties are only small counties, and only held at least 1000 families each; none of them being major n.o.bles.
Even still, such an act rewarded him the t.i.tle of ma.s.s-murderer; the black-hearted monster. Now, Liu Mang murdered 32 n.o.ble clans which comprised of 10,000 families, what t.i.tle would he get?
Truly the biggest event now is in Lujiang Prefecture, the entirety of Lujiang now only had 6 n.o.ble clans. Wancheng city only had Liu clan, Lu clan, Han clan and Xu clan and the four of them was led by Liu clan. Jias.h.i.+ County only had 2 clans. The other, was decimated completely.
“Really, this is really out of my expectation, this Liu Mang, Liu Hanyang!!!” Guo Jia replied to Cao Cao. This is the third time that Cao Cao mentioned this person.
During Xiapi, he managed to scheme Lu Bu's escape to the point of managing to destroy the four armies Wei, Song, Yu and Xiahou by his words alone. In the end, Wei Xu and Song Xian returned to Lu Bu's side to hold Cao army off. That act alone truly made Guo Jia surprised to no end.
During Kaiyang, he managed to anger Cao Cao until he was unable to think of any strategies. At that time, Guo Jia had concluded that this Prince of Shu is a character that is deft in strategies and a person who is very good in argument. Now he was really surprised that this Prince of Shu is a decisive character that is able to kill.
“Hmm, Hmm!!!” Guo Jia is humming as if truly commending this His Highness Prince of Shu. This Prince of Shu is decisive, once he says to kill, he did not back out on words at all. The heads that he just killed amounted to several stories high.
Sometime ago, when Lu Bu killed the Chen clan, he had expected that there would be a change in Wancheng city's n.o.ble status, but he never thought the change would be like this! And the one who made this big change is His Highness Prince of Shu, eradicating those who had rebelled.
This Prince of Shu is either courageous or cruel-hearted, offending Jiangdong's n.o.bles. But looking at the bigger perspective, this must be one of the Prince of Shu's bigger plans for the future.
In any case, Jiangdongs n.o.bles and Lu Bu’s army will never be in harmony. They are always guarded against each other. So, might as well eradicate all of them. The most surprising one is that Liu Mang did not kill those who did not partic.i.p.ate in rebellion.
The Liu clan, Han clan, Lu clan and Xu clan still existed and all helping to clean up the rebellion. This kind of publicity stunt can also become an advertis.e.m.e.nt for Lu Bu’s army.
The message stated “Stay beside me, and you will gain riches and prosper. Stand against me, and you will all peris.h.!.+”
This can make, those n.o.bles who supported Sun Ce army and oppose Lu Bu’s army scared until they are unable to make any decisions to or provide or support Sun Ce, for fear they will be eliminated like those of Wancheng city.