Chapter 372 (1/2)

Liu Bei was hard pressed by Jia Xu’s actions of burning the provisions. Although Liu Bei, with his status of an allied force managed to take in the soldiers from Nanyang, he was not pleased about the situation due to the lack of provisions. He would need to transport provisions from Runan but even he himself lacked provisions. The acc.u.mulated consumption of provisions by the Xiliang Cavalry and from the war had caused Yuzhou to be stricken with poverty.

“Who is this Jia Xu and how have I ever offended this person?” Liu Bei frowned. He was at the governor’s province at Nanyang with most of his civil and military officers. The ones not present were the ones defending Runan. Even Sun Qian was present.

“Report! The fire at Nanyang have already been extinguished!” A military general cupped his fist at Liu Bei. The man’s appearance was extremely dirty. Normally, meeting the Lord with such an appearance was rude but Liu Bei did not mind. This is because the man was responsible for putting out the fire at Nanyang, which continued to burn for several days. Even half the sky had turned red.

“Get up.” Liu Bei felt sad as he looked at this military general. It was not because the man risked his life to put out the fire but because of the lost provisions. Had the soldier been clean, Liu Bei would have felt happy because it would mean that the fire was not that large. There would also be no need for a military general to go and extinguish the fire personally.

“Tell me how great the damage is. I can handle it!” Liu Bei ordered as he ma.s.saged his temples.

“That is…” The military general did not dare to give a reply as he was afraid that Liu Bei would implicate him for his failure in dealing with the fire. It would truly be like ringing disaster to himself.

“How much did we lose? Fifty percent? Sixty?” Liu Bei’s tone became more oppressive as he spoke. This is because the lack of a reply meant that the real figure was more. “Speak!” Liu Bei could no longer endure and struck at the military general, causing the man to spit out blood.

The bright red color of his blood stood out as it flowed down his blackish appearance. The military general did not dare to wipe away his blood and instead knelt and trembled in fear in front of Liu Bei. “All of it!”

Liu Bei felt the world around him spin. Although they had never counter the amount of provisions in Nanyang personally, based on the past records, there should be over two hundred thousand servings. Now he was told that nothing was left. Previously, he felt his heart ache when Liu Mang burned twenty thousand provisions. This incident made him feel like vomiting blood.

Liu Bei took a deep breath and closed his eyes to try and calm himself down from this information. He was an unscrupulous careerist. He had the desire to kill this man in his overflowing anger. Men had the tendency to blame others and s.h.i.+ft responsibility. As he could not find Jia Xu, the blame fell onto this poor man. However, Liu Bei also knew that while killing this man could clear his anger, he would also lose his reputation as a benevolent man. If it was Cao Cao, he would kill this man for his failures and to pacify the anger of the rest of his army.

“Men. Take him away and let him rest. Get the best doctor in the city to treat him!” Liu Bei endured his anger and allowed the military general to rest and recover.

“Jia Xu, Jia Xu. Who are you? How have I, Liu Bei Liu Xuande ever offended you? Why must you treat me like this?” Liu Bei’s roared from his heart. The savings at Nanyang were all gone. It was no longer possible to replenish supplies there.

n.o.body answered Liu Bei’s question. Jia Xu was an unfamiliar name to them. This is not surprising as Jia Xu usually stayed low profile during the time he served Dong Zhuo. The positions offered to him by Dong Zhuo, Li Jue and Guo Si, had all been declined by Jia Xu. Jia Xu was afraid of serving a Lord that garners hatred and would also most likely get defeated.

Most of the people that knew about Jia Xu such as Dong Zhuo and Zhang Xiu were dead while Hu Che Er did not dare to say anything. If Hu Che Er were to tell him who Jia Xu was and what happened, there was a very high chance that Liu Bei would execute him just like what he did to Liu Pi.

The remaining two people that actually knew about Jia Xu were Lu Bu and Liu Mang. Lu Bu learned about Jia Xu from the letter he received while Liu Mang learned about Jia Xu from the history books two thousand years later. Naturally, they would not be able to give Liu Bei an answer.

On the other hand, Cao Cao’s only knowledge about Jia Xu is that Jia Xu was the one that persuaded Zhang Xiu to surrender to him.

Jia Xu was simply a cowardly person that abandons his Lord. There was no need for people to specifically remember him.

Pang Tong could tell that Jia Xu was not an ordinary person as Jia Xu was able to take away the Han soldiers and Zhang Lei. Yet, he was still unable to figure out who was this Jia Xu and where he came from.

“Milord. The important thing now is not to wonder who Jia Xu is but to count the amount of provisions we have.” Sun Qian spoke out while Pang Tong was thinking about Jia Xu. No matter what he thought of Jia Xu, he would simply be ignoring what Liu Bei needed.

When Sun Qian escaped mortal peril, he thought to himself about why he got alienated by Liu Bei. One reason for that is because he was not at Liu Bei’s side. Another reason is because he was not a match for Pang Tong. Playing by the enemy’s strength was only inviting disaster.

Sun Qian could show his worth in administration as that was his strong points. He was able to govern a region because of his contributions in that area. He could tell that what Liu Bei truly wanted deep down was not Jia Xu but the provisions.

Although Nanyang had little citizens, it had a lot a soldiers. There was a total of thirty thousand infantries and eight thousand Xiliang Cavalry that also needed provisions. Besides that, Liu Bei needed to show his generosity since he had just accepted them in. Liu Bei needed to let these soldiers know that their lives would be just as good, if not, better than when they were serving under Zhang Xiu. How was Liu Bei supposed to impress them if they did not even have enough food to eat?

“Gongyou. Have you been well?” Liu Bei was good at dealing with human emotions with his hypocrisy. He may not be as decisive as Cao Cao but he was still able to get people to swear allegiance towards him.

“Thank you for your concern Milord. It is thanks to your good fortune that I manage to survive1.” Sun Qian replied as he looked at Pang Tong with killing intent, causing Pang Tong to frown. Pang Tong never expected Sun Qian to survive but he did not mind. If he could plot against Sun Qian once, he could do it again. There would be more problems for Pang Tong if Sun Qian was allowed to live.

Contrary to what one might expect, Liu Bei was put in a difficult position from this. Liu Bei could tell that Pang Tong had plotted against Sun Qian but he did not want to offend Pang Tong as he also knew that Pang Tong could bring him more benefits compared to Sun Qian.

“Men. Have our provisions been counted?” Ten officials entered the moment Sun Qian shouted. These officials all looked exhausted and dirty. Sun Qian had truly came prepared.

Of course Sun Qian had come prepared. Initially, he was at a loss as Pang Tong was more precise than him. If he continued to oppose Pang Tong, he would eventually lose his life. It was better to simply stay as a simply administration official for the rest of his life. However, a conversation with Jian Yong encouraged Sun Qian to fight back. This is because if he didn’t, he would no longer be able to face Xiao He, Zhang Liang and Han Xin.

Xiao He, Zhang Liang and Han Xin were legendary figures. The three were the founders of the Han Dynasty and were people necessary to Liu Bang. Zhang Liang was adept at strategems and have constantly helped Liu Bang to survive many crisis.

Han XIn was good at military policy. He was the one that directly helped Liu Bang to conquer lands. Without him, Liu Bang would not have obtained the land. Pang Tong was like Han XIn and Zhang Liang combined together. He was able to strategize and use military policy. He was a genius that Sun Qian could not compete against at all.

Last but not least was Xiao He. He was the one that helps Liu Bang with management as he was the one that has followed Liu Bang the longest. He was Liu Bang’s trusted aide. He was not as good aas Han Xin and Zhang Liang but he was the most meritorious contributor. Sun Qian was similar to this person.

However, only Xiao He managed to get a good ending. Zhang Liang knows his own place and retired but Han Xin was plotted against and died. The ones that caused Han Xin’s death was Xiao He and Empress Lu.

Sun Qian became resolute. Since he could not compare to Pang Tong in strategy, he would not compete against Pang Tong in strategy. He would just help Liu Bei with the management and internal issues. The one who would have the last laugh has not yet been decided.

Sun Qian questioned the ten men. Finally, his commander-in-chief spoke, “Report. Initially there is two hundred and seventy thousand provisions and five thousand gold. Now there is only fourteen thousand provisions and two thousand gold. Sun Qian needed to deal with the quant.i.ty of food and money if he wanted to go into management. He already dispatched his men the moment he found out about the fire.

The figures made Liu Bei extremely gloomy. The gold had already been used by Zhang Xiu to buy provisions, which was the most important thing to the unproductive Lords. Even Yuan Shao and his large army of three hundred thousand troops only had five hundred thousand provisions. Yet, the small Nanyang has about half that quant.i.ty. All of this should have been his but they were lost in the fire. The remaining fourteen thousand provisions was not even one tenth of what was left in Nanyang.

This amount was only enough for the soldiers to eat. Even that was already good enough and it was not possible to reward these soldiers. If Liu Bei wants to rebuild Nanyang, he would need to transport food from Yuzhou. Liu Bei had caused disaster to Yuzhou when he forcefully entered the place. He had also used up most of his provisions at Yangzhou. Where else could he find provisions for Nanyang? Without provisions, the troops would become disheartened. After a while, there would not be any army left. At that time, it would be impossible for compete for the land. Even if he still had his army, they would be useless without any provisions.

Sun Qian’s timely calculations gave Liu Bei some confidence. It also caused Liu Bei to have a much better opinion of Sun Qian as he was the only one that stood in front while the others were simply too afraid of Liu Bei’s rage. It showed Liu Bei that Sun Qian was a very faithful henchman that could prioritize his Lord’s benefits.

“Milord. I have policy that I hope Milord can accept!” Pang Tong ignored what had just happened. He had not been capable of calculating the losses in time, allowing Sun Qian to be more favourably viewed by Liu Bei. However, he did not mind as in the end, a henchman is still a dog2. Pang Tong believes himself to be the only person that could help his Lord conquer the land.

“You have a stratagem already? Please teach it to me!” Liu Bei had been gloomy as he did not know how to placate the troops, convert the new troops and rebuild Nanyang. All of these needed money.

“Milord. Right now, you have several tens of thousands of soldiers and Nanyang. However, the granary at Nanyang was burned down by Jia Xu. Right now, you can pick one of two choices.” Pang Tong had also given up thinking about countermeasures for Jia Xu and started thinking about the paths the Liu Bei’s Army could take.