Chapter 381 (1/2)

Jia Xu hurriedly told someone to inform Liu Mang that there was an important matter that Liu Mang needed to deal with personally. Da Qiao understood that work was more important than women and no longer bothered Liu Mang. She quickly left the study room with her face looking red, her feelings stirred from the kiss. That was how Liu Mang managed to escape. Once Da Qiao had left, Lady Zou came out of hiding. Her expression looked worse than Da Qiao’s and her makeup had fallen off.

After some time, Liu Mang finally managed to straighten out his clothes. His private part was once again hidden.

“Milady.” Liu Mang cupped his fist at Lady Zou after he straightened out his clothes. He felt a bit guilty as it was his fault that she ended up in such a sorry state.

“You still call me Milady?” Lady Zou snapped. She came to Liu Mang looking for a future, never expecting things to turn out this way. Regardless of how hygienic Liu Mang was, he would still have a body smell. This smell is the reason why Lady Zou felt so uncomfortable. She never expected the scoundrel to be like this. However, she has somewhat managed to achieve her objective. Although the two did not have s.e.x, their relations.h.i.+p with each other have become dubious.

“Zou…” Liu Mang did not know how to address her. In the end, Lady Zou told him, “I am Zou Rong. You can call me Rong Er.” Zou Rong introduced herself. She had heard Liu Mang address his own wives as Ling Er, Fang Er and Yu Er. She too wanted to be addressed in that familiar manner which is why she gave herself a nickname.

“Rong… Rong Er.” Liu Mang embarra.s.sedly spoke out her name. Lady Zou was a beautiful person and like other men, Liu Mang was also attracted by her beauty. However, her beauty was also hazardous. Besides his three wives, there was also the Xiliang Cavalry to worry about. Lady Zou was one of their previous masters. The Xiliang Cavalry submitted to him so easily as he never showed any desire for Lady Zou. If he were to accept Lady Zou now, there wouldn’t be any difference between him and Cao Cao. Even though he liked beauty, he was not someone who liked taking in someone else’s wife.

“N.” Lady Zou shyly nodded in response. Ever since young, she was called Lady Zou, Milday, or aunty. So, she became shy like a little girl when Liu Mang called her familiarly.

Liu Mang sighed as he looked at Lady Zou’s soiled appearance. He then shook his head. He was unable to push Lady Zou away after all that has happened. That was just not his style. However, he did not know what to do about the tiger at home. Before this, Da Qiao had been gentle because Liu Mang was loyal and did not cheat on them. However, she would explode once she found out about this. With no way out, Liu Mang gritted his teeth and said that he would take responsibility for what happened before leaving. Liu Mang left to the hall for the important matter the messenger told him about. Although the messenger could have been sent by Jia Xu to ‘save’ him, this was unlikely as the messenger had the rank of a sergeant. On top of that, there were a few of them coming by as well. These were not only sent by Jia Xu but also Xu Shu and Liu Ye. Even Zhou Cang and Guan Hai remained on standby to escort Liu Mang. In other words, something had really happened.

Liu Mang was led to the main hall. Everyone was already there except for Zhang Liao, Xu Sheng and a few others who had already departed for Lin River. The ones that were present were the three strategists and the other generals. Although the three strategists had disagreements in the past, they now shared the same grave expression. It was certain that the incident this time was huge.

“His Majesty has arrived!” A sergeant informed loudly the moment Liu Mang entered the hall.

“Milord!” Everyone greeted as they cupped their fists.

“What happened?” Liu Mang sat in his seat as he asked his three inept advisors.

“Milord. Something serious has happened!” The first to speak was Xu Shu as he was the highest ranking person aside from Liu Mang. His expression was as bad as the time he wanted to surrender Shouchun for Lu Lingqi.

“Speak.” Liu Mang took a deep breath to prepare himself for the bad news. As expected, the news was too astonis.h.i.+ng. His men had been unable to buy any provisions at all. Provisions had been something very important to both his and the Lu Bu’s Army. Unlike other Lords who only needed to feed their own troops, Liu Mang also needed to feed the millions of citizen in Yangzhou.

Liu Mang had truly been played by Sun Ce. Not only did he receive millions of citizens but he also had to remove a mountain for Sun Ce. Sun Ce would surely be grateful towards Liu Mang. Liu Bei, Sun Ce and Cao Cao all wanted to see Liu Mang dead, preferably killed by his own citizens. This way, they could quickly and easily remove one opponent.

Liu Bei, Zhang Xiu and Sun Ce wanted to annex the Lu Bu’s Army and wipe out Liu Mang from the world. They had almost succeeded if it was not because of Cao Cao. The reason Cao Cao helped could be to repay a debt and obtain the ballista or maybe to make Liu Mang owe him a debt. Cao Cao also needed more time to truly unite the North. He wanted a Central Plains that is not yet united so that they would be easier to conquer.

Liu Mang won the battle with Liu Bei and Zhang Xiu suffering severe losses. Now, Liu Mang needed to wait for the nest b.u.mper harvest but he already had no more provisions. He had money left behind by Yuan Shu to go and buy provisions but he never expected that he would be unable to buy provisions even though he had money.

“Speak! How is it that we could not buy anything?” Liu Mang asked as he ma.s.saged their aching head. Liu Mang did not believe that Lu Bu had that many enemies. After all, these people wouldn’t get anything even if the Lu Bu’s Army was wiped out.

“Milord. Out men were beaten and chased away by Sun Ce’s men before they could even arrive!” Xu Shu reported. Not only were these people beaten up but the money had also been taken.

“Sun Ce!” Liu Mang slammed his hands on the table. Fortunately, he had made preparations. Although Sun Ce did not partic.i.p.ate in this war openly, it was obvious that all of these had been orchestrated by Sun Ce. He never expected the money to be stolen but it does not matter as much. What was taken would eventually be spat back out. Liu Mang would be able to take it back by attacking Lin River.

Liu Mang wanted to see Sun Ce’s expression when Sun Ce finds out that his territory at Huainan had been taken. He also wanted Sun Ce to invade after losing his head in anger.

“There is also Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang.” Xu Shu explained to Liu Mang. These two men were brothers but they were now enemies because of inheritance rights. Although Yuan Shao had been defeated at Hebei, he could have still turned things around. Unfortunately, he fell sick and his children would not cooperate. The younger brother blamed the elder brother for not listening to Yuan Shao’s dying will while the elder brother blamed the younger brother for poisoning and locking up Yuan Shao. With the two of them at each other’s throat, Cao Cao would be able to win easily. The message brought back by the other envoy had truly made Liu Mang feel awkward.