Chapter 385 (1/2)

“Milord, these are the troops following us to Jingzhou?” On the second day, Jia Xu helplessly followed Liu Mang to the White Horses’ camp. Yang Hong had seek out his eldest son Jia Mu, one of the few people Jia Xu treasured. Jia Mu was then made to stay in Shouchun and become and apprentice under Xu Shu. Jia Xu was a crafty person while Xu Shu was an honest person. Liu Mang wanted to see a combination of a son who would sacrifice himself for others together with a father who would sacrifice others for his own gains. When Liu Mang thought of such a combination, he could not help but laugh to himself.

Although Jia Xu was unwilling he still had to follow Liu Mang for his own life and his family. However, when looked at the camp in front of him, he wanted to wail in anguish. There were only three thousand troops who would be accompanying them.

“What’s wrong Wenhe? The ones going to Jingzhou are not these troops but that one over there!” Liu Mang smiled at Jia Xu as he pointed to another location.

Jia Xu looked at where Liu Mang was pointing and his mouth twitched. He saw Guan Hai and Zhou Cang bringing about ten soldiers wearing armor along with some horses over. There would only be about twenty people following them into peril.

“Don’t worry. In actuality, it would be more difficult to move when there is too many people.” There was a reason Liu Mang only brought twenty people with him. Aside from Guan Hai and Zhou Cang, the remaining men were all information officers brought to him by Yang Hong. They are all familiar with the roads of Jingzhou. They would be able to lead easily lead Liu Mang to a save path if he was in danger by hiding in a small alley or amongst the people. On the other hand, if Liu Mang were to bring a large number of people, Liu Biao would be able to find them easily. On top of that, Liu Mang would need to leave as soon as soon as something goes wrong. It would be impossible to leave stealthily with such a huge group. On top of that, they would end up fighting on the enemy’s home ground. This was why a small group would be better.

“Are we attacking Liu Bei?” In that case, Jia Xu could understand. The objective is smaller when there were less people. But when it comes to Liu Bei, one cannot see whether the objective was large or small.

“Aren’t these White Horses here to attack Liu Bei?” Liu Mang calmly replied despite being in the White Horses’ camp.

“Just these?” Jia Xu was stunned. Liu Mang’s objective was the Nanyang region. However, the Xiliang Cavalry was also present in the Nanyang region. Regardless of how many of the Xiliang Cavalry Jia Xu had taken with him, they were still a powerful cavalry with almost forty thousand members. Meanwhile, Liu Mang only dispatched a small cavalry of three thousand. Each person would need to be able to take down more than ten people to win.

Besides that, the Xiliang Cavalry was a heavy cavalry while the White Horses were light cavalry. When it comes to a heavy cavalry or infantry pitting against its lightly armoured equivalent, the heavily armoured one would simply ma.s.sacre the other. Jia Xu really did not want to go on this journey. He would need to follow the White Horses and if they were to run into the Xiliang Cavalry, he may not be able to escape.

“This is enough.” Liu Mang did not look down on the Xiliang Cavalry or Liu Bei. He simply had confidence in Zhao Yun. “The Nanyang region would be a good training ground for the White Horses.”

“Milord. I am really old. I implore you to leave me behind!” Jia Xu did not know what madness Liu Mang was trying to achieve by making three thousand men who have not yet truly formed an army to fight against a heavy cavalry of forty thousand. It would already be great if they could escape alive.

Liu Mang thought that Jia Xu was extremely laughable. Still, he waved his hand and ordered for them to set off. Liu Mang led the three thousand cavalry that has six thousand horses to replenish their charge. The spare horses also carried their supplies for the trip.

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Liu Biao paced back and forth within his halls in the Xiangyang district of Jingzhou. His actions despite his old age showed his troubled thoughts.

“Yidu. Were my actions this time right?” Liu Biao had never been this fidgety ever since he obtained Jingzhou. Everything that had happened, such as the coalition against Dong Zhuo and the incidents at the Central Plains was seemingly unrelated to him as JIngzhou was still as stable as before. All of these, along with his age, made Liu Biao more like an exhausted and spiritless man instead of his old self that was capable of forging ahead.

Unfortunately, Liu Biao could no longer escape from the pa.s.sage of time. The powerful Dong Zhuo had been overthrown. Yuan Shao was now in a hopeless situation. It was also time for Jingzhou to fall into disorder.

Liu Bei, Lu Bu, Zhang Xiu and Sun Ce. These four people were going against each other. Although Zhang Xiu had died, the situation had become even more chaotic. It had gone to the extent where he could no longer decide what to do.

The person Liu Biao addressed as Yidu was the one of most influential person in Jingzhou, Kuai Yue. Kuai Yue was a very well-known person who looks at a problem comprehensively. Unfortunately, his shortcoming was that he was too ambitious. Last time, he had helped Liu Biao to take Jingzhou but now, he was thinking of the best way for his family to benefit from this.

“Milord, there is no right or wrong in this world. There is only victory and defeat!” Kuai Yue knew what Liu Biao was worried about. Instead of telling Liu Biao whether he was right or wrong, he instead used those words to mislead Liu Biao even more.

“There is no right or wrong? There is only victory or defeat?” Liu Biao mumbled back Kuai Yue’s words.

“Milord. Not interfering in the battle between Lu Bu and Sun Ce could bring two outcomes. If Lu Bu were to win, you could just placate him. If Lu Bu loses, there would be no one to find fault with you.” Kuai Yue appeased Liu Biao.

“But Yidu…!” Liu Biao could not understand this. Before this, he wanted Lu Bu to go and cause harm to Sun Ce. After all, Lu Bu had also caused trouble for Liu Biao. He never expected Sun Ce to attack Sanjiangkou, which he retaliated against in anger. Now, Lu Bu had become Sun Ce’s unexpected ally, a person that Liu Biao was going to offend very badly.

Liu Mang was lacking provisions. This was something Liu Biao already knew as he had also learned of this from a letter of explanation from Sun Ce. When Lu Bu dispatched an envoy to buy provisions, Liu Biao dragged his feet as he thought of whether he should raise the price of the provisions. When Lu Bu had won, Liu Mang dispatched another envoy. At this point, Liu Biao should have sold Liu Mang the provisions. Unfortunately, this plan had been destroyed by Liu Bei’s envoy Pang Tong, who killed the envoy from Yangzhou. To kill an envoy would mean declaring war. Pang Tong wanted to force Liu Mang and Liu Biao to fight. Fortunately, Kuai Yue quickly proposed to compensate Liu Mang. However, Liu Biao was still worried.