Chapter 213 - Diplomatic war (1/2)

Chapter 213 Diplomatic war

Translated by Gamer @ endlessfantasytranslations.com

Gan Ning gave his first-cla.s.s merits to Su Fei without hesitation. However, Su Fei was already dead and Lu Bu did not know how to reward him. Finally, at the suggestion of Liu Mang and Chen Gong, Lu Bu and Liu Mang signed their name and praised Su Fei. Su Fei was also given a t.i.tle of Marquis.

Since ages ago, those with t.i.tles were wors.h.i.+pped. Lu Bu and Liu Mang gave them the East and South General position. Although Lu Bu and Liu Mang were very ordinary, they managed to obtain Gan Ning’s loyalty. (TN: Ranking type t.i.tles and n.o.ble type t.i.tles.)

As Gan Ning was very rebellious, he initially joined Lu Bu’s Army for a better stage and now he ended up in the world of heroes. If the Lu Bu’s Army could not give him this stage, Gan Ning will not hesitate to leave. Now these two cases made Gan Ning feel moved. This is because the ancestors are concerned about the t.i.tle of Marquis and although it was just a small t.i.tle, Gan Ning pledged his allegiance to Lu Bu’s Army.

Although Gan Ning refused the first-cla.s.s merit, Lu Bu did not treat Gan Ning harshly as Gan Ning was a good general for naval battles. Although Lu Bu was not supposed to be able to give positions like East General, Liu Mang was the Prince of Shu. For Liu Mang, giving t.i.tles was easy.

During the battle at the Wan Cheng river. The Wan Cheng navy was wiped out and a lot of soldiers were captured. Lu Bu has picked a great amount of these soldiers to add into his army, increasing the number of soldiers in Gan Ning’s navy to reach 12,000.

Huang Zhong became courageous general that is an expert marksman and is also capable in every other category. Lu Bu recruited 3,000 soldiers and offered Huang Zhong to become their general but Huang Zhong refused. Huang Zhong wanted to stay beside Liu Mang and protect him. Lu Bu, who was also worried about Liu Mang’s safety, agreed.

(TN: Something like a promotion with a ‘t.i.tle’. However, Chinese words made it sound more like a t.i.tle compared to English.)

Xu Sheng became a fierce general and was still in charge of the Black Flag Army. The Black Flag Army had 1,500 troops remaining and so Lu Bu gave Xu Sheng another 2,000 soldiers. Although the Black Flag Army were mostly killed, their armor is still around. After half a year of training, they would become a proper army again.

As for the Urban Army, it received another 2,000 soldiers from the captured Danyang soldiers. The 2,000 Danyang soldiers were strong and brave. Unfortunately, they lack military discipline. To be precise, it is difficult for anyone to restrain them. But now, the Third Master is around. As a result, Chu Zi Ying did not dare to go out of line. While the other Danyang troops dared to do it, they did not as Chu Zi Ying is their leader. After receiving the armor and s.h.i.+eld from the Urban Army, the Danyang soldiers became even more imposing.

Cheng Yu also received a promotion. Even though he did not join the defense of Wan Cheng, he was the one who notified Lu Bu and the Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry. Besides that, Cheng Yu has the capability to lead the soldiers. Liu Mang just gave the command of the Urban Army to Cheng Yu. Now, Cheng Yu is no longer a deputy but a general.

Zhang Fan and Gaoshun, although their number of soldiers did not change, also received a promotion in their governmental post. Gao Shun became the ‘Strong Morals General’ and Zhang Fan became the Suiyuan general.

(TN: Hou de = strong morals/virtue. Suiyuan is a place)

As for Liu Kai and his son, Liu Kai was appointed as the governer for Wan Cheng. Liu Neng was originally supposed to stay behind as well but Liu Neng insisted on following Liu Mang.

Huang Xu replaced Cheng Yu’s original position and became the deputy of the Urban Army.

Chen Deng who was almost killed in Shucheng, was appeased by Lu Bu by being made South General.

Zhang Liao and Zang Ba that was still in Shucheng was given the t.i.tle Wolf Cavalry General and Mount Tai General.

Chen Gong’s position did not change. He is the military advisor of the Lu Bu’s Army. He does not need a different position as his presence in the army was difficult to replace.

As for Liu Mang, the only thing Lu Bu could reward him with is the marriage with his daughter in Wan Cheng, after 10 days.

After rewarding and giving t.i.tles to the capable people, it was time to figure out how to treat some of the prisoners. Gan Ning has caught a really big fish this time. Jiangdong’s Army’s Lu Su Lu Zijing. Jiang Qin was already turned into minced meat by Gan Ning while Lu Su was captured and placed in jail. It was impossible to capitulate Lu Su, not only because of different ideals, but also because Lu Bu was a Slave with Three Surnames. In this world, only Chen Gong did not look at him without minding this name.

Lu Su is now a big bargaining chip to use against the Sun Ce’s Army. A messenger was already dispatched.

“Old man Chen. Is this Yang Hong reliable?” Liu Mang was a bit anxious. This is because the person that was dispatched by the Sun Ce’s Army was Zhang Hong. He not a person with a small post, but an advisor. He was an advisor capable of seeing the trends of the world and was not inferior to top cla.s.s advisors like Chen Gong, Guo Jia and Xu Shu.

At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Zhang Zhao avoided the war and fled to Yangzhou. After that, Sun Ce recruited him and Zhang Zhao became one of Sun Ce’s top advisors. Although Liu Mang did not know much about Zhang Zhao, he knows that Sun Ce entrusted Sun Quan with Zhang Zhao and said that the internal affairs could be left to Zhang Zhao.

This meant that if Sun Quan could not do it, he should let Zhang Zhao manage Jiangdong. Even Big Eared Liu said the same thing on his deathbed. He told his son to let Zhuge Liang handle everything.

Zhang Zhao’s only fault was that he told Sun Quan to ask for peace during the battle at Chibi. However, he was silenced when Zhuge Liang won the battle. However, this was also part of Zhang Zhao’s plan. It is a fact that Liu Bei was loved during the 3 Kingdoms era and Zhuge Liang also ended up in the limelight. Zhang Zhao knew that Sun Quan was a patient person. In other words, Sun Quan is a stable person that has ambitions but did not want to take risks. He noticed this from the time Sun Quan merely ignored Wei’s proclaim of emperor. Zhang Zhao decided that instead of persuading Sun Quan, he should do the opposite and let other people persuade Sun Quan. In the end, Sun Quan’s Army and Liu Bei’s Army, allied together to defeat Cao Cao at Chibi. This was Zhang Zhao’s successful stratagem that he secretly used in the background. Liu Mang has impacted Zhang Zhao during the wedding and Zhang Zhao is now trying to repair the damage in the relations.h.i.+ps of the n.o.bles.

Now that Jiangdong has sent out such a great person, Liu Mang would choose to send out Chen Gong to counter Zhang Zhao. These two people are closer to rivals compared to Yang Hong. Yang Hong was really silent in the Lu Bu’s Army and was really not advisor material. Although he managed to give Yuan Shu a few good proposals, some of them were superfluous, such as his plan to attack Liu Bei. Xuzhou was occupied by Lu Bu at that time and Liu Bei only had several cities. If he had a proper strategy, it would be to ally with Liu Bei to fight with Lu Bu, and then capture the mountains to obtain their benefit. However, Yuan Shu ended up attacking Liu Bei, while Lu Bu continued to gain a stronger foundation.

Chen Gong smiled as he stroked his beard. It is true that Yang Hong is not suited to be an advisor and his strategies were inferior. However, in terms of diplomacy even Chen Gong have to admit defeat.

Chen Gong found out about Yang Hong’s ability as a result of Yang Hong’s long history with Yuan Shu. At that time, Yuan Shu and Lu Bu were still on their honeymoon period. At that time, Yang Hong, who was Yuan Shu’s chief diplomat, raised the issue of pairing Lu Bu’s daughter and Yuan Shu’s son, Yuan Yao, together for marriage. The issue was forced out by Yang Hong. He used that as a bargaining chip when Lu Bu wanted an alliance with Yuan Shu. If they had managed to obtain Lu Bu’s daughter, it could be considered obtaining Lu Bu’s territory. Chen Rui also did the same thing by requesting Lu Bu to marry off his daughter to his lord. However, Chen Rui was killed instead.

The same words by two different people caused two different results. When Yang Hong said it, Lu Bu was quite ready to marry off his daughter. When Chen Rui said it, he was killed and caused the war in Lujiang.

“That guy was so amazing!?” Liu Mang really could not understand. That fatty did not speak all day. He either sitting inside his government office or reading at the study area. He never expected Yang Hong to obtain the respect of Chen Gong.

“Wait for good news!” Chen Gong smiled and left.

(TN: From here onwards, all conversations in diplomatic discussions are done in a polite manner and as it is difficult to translate politeness, you would need to use your imagination.)

Inside the large courtyard of Wan Cheng city, two middle-aged scribes are drinking.