No one expected that one second Liu Pan was still gearing up, and the next second he left the table in a hurry.
Most people are speculating on what happened that made Liu Pan rather give up the competition than rush back.
Many people also sneered: "This General Liu just shouted to General Yuan not to flee without a fight, but he himself... ugh..."
"That's right, I obviously insisted on competing, but as soon as General Yuan agreed, he ran away like his butt was on fire!"
Zhuge Xuan and Wang Xiancheng had already chased him, trying to persuade Liu Pan to stay. But Liu Pan got on the horse directly when he went out, pulled the horse and left, which made the two people feel miserable.
Yuan Yao squinted his eyes and saw Zhuge Xuan and Wang Xian Cheng walking back dejectedly, and he completely understood in his heart.
After a long time, the reception banquet Zhuge Xuan prepared for himself today was completely out of his mind!
If you didn't have a good nephew, I would kill you in minutes!
Now that we have met Zhuge Liang, the purpose of coming today has been achieved, and there is no need to eat this meal.
Yuan Yao turned to Zhuge Xuan and said, "I just remembered that there are still important things to deal with in the camp. I appreciate Governor Zhuge's kindness!"
Zhuge Xuan's face became a little ugly. I have prepared a banquet for several days, and you are leaving without moving your chopsticks?
It's too disrespectful to me. After all, I am the same generation as your father, so I count as your elder!
"Why did General Yuan leave?"
"Today's banquet is specially for General Yuan to wash away the dust. The delicacies have not yet been served. Why does the general have to retire first?"
Yuan Yao sneered and said, "Sorry, I have some soup in my tent. I'm in a hurry to go back and drink it!"
After saying that, he ignored Zhuge Xuan, waved his hand, and left the table with his followers.
Zhuge Xuan was left standing on the spot embarrassed.
Seeing that Yuan Yao did not save any face for Zhuge Xuan, most of the guests exchanged glances with each other and walked out one after another.
"Today's banquet is for General Yuan. Since the host and guest are not here, there is no reason for those of us who are accompanying him to stay."
"Lord Zhuge Mansion, please take your leave!"
"Prefect Zhuge, Xu takes his leave!"
Chen Li, Xu Zong and others bowed to Zhuge Xuanzuo and said goodbye.
The banquet broke up unhappily, leaving only Zhuge Xuan, Wang Xiancheng and a few guests, looking at the table full of wine and food, looking at each other.
…
Putting on his raincoat, Yuan Yaozong rode outside the city, breathing in the smell of grass and soil in the rain, and felt relaxed and happy.
Back at the camp, Yuan Yao sat in the tent, sipping the cold-repelling soup prepared by Feng Fangnu and listening to the messenger's report.
"Young Master, General Zheng set up an ambush on the official road and intercepted five thousand bushels of grain and grass from the Jingzhou Army in one fell swoop. General Zheng asked me to ask my young master what to do with the grain and grass."
Yuan Yao did not answer immediately, but instead glanced at Huang Yi beside him.
"Are you sure that the remaining food in Liu Pan's camp can only last for three days at most?"
Huang Yi nodded with certainty: "It will definitely not last more than three days!"
Yuan Yao nodded, he believed what Huang Yi said was true.
Huang Yi naturally got the information from Huang Zhong.
Although Huang Zhong was diligent and diligent, he was not favored by Liu Pan.
Liu Pan was young and energetic, and preferred to associate with young generals similar to his own age. It was only because of his uncle Liu Biao's face that he agreed to recruit Huang Zhong into his command.
Under his command, Huang Zhong only did chores such as setting up camp and cutting firewood for cooking. As for charging into battle, Liu Pan didn't think this veteran, who was over 40 years old, had much motivation.
It was precisely because Huang Zhong was in charge of Houzhai that Huang Yi easily found out the grain and grass reserves of the Jingzhou Army.
"I didn't expect Liu Pan's army to be in such a difficult situation. Even if Liu Pan rushes to send people to Changsha County to collect food, he still won't be able to make it."
"Then there is no need for General Zheng to continue to be in danger. You should report to General Zheng quickly and ask him to take a detour and return to Shangliao immediately."
"As for the captured grain, grass and baggage, take away what you can and burn what you can't. Don't delay the march!"
The messenger accepted the order and immediately turned around and went out.
Yuan Yao laughed and said: "I didn't expect Liu Pan's army to have so little food. It saved me a lot of trouble."
"I originally thought that I had to ask Zheng Bao to completely cut off Liu Pan's food route and rob him of food and grass two or three times to force him to submit. Now it seems that robbing him of food once is enough!"
Huang Yi smiled disdainfully:
"Hahaha, who knows what Liu Pan is thinking? He dares to come here from Changsha County with only one month's worth of food with him!"
"Since he is unprepared, let him pay the price for it!"
"I won't leave the camp for the next few days. Everything will be done according to plan!"
Yuan Yao's eyes sparkled, and he couldn't help but feel a little excited.
The plan was executed perfectly, and it seems that capturing Huang Zhong is just around the corner!
Huang Yi's tiger body trembled: "Just watch what happens next, just lie down and watch my performance!"
"Jie Jie Jie, it's finally my turn to take charge!"
Huang Yi's laughter made Yuan Yao get goosebumps all over his body. He immediately picked up the bamboo slips in his hand and threw them away.
"If you want to laugh, just smile normally, who calls you a weird smile!"
Huang Yi's figure was still agile, he dodged the flying bamboo slips and laughed wildly: "Jie, Jie, Jie, I won't! Now everything is up to me!"
"To use your words, I am a reborn serf singing!"
"Jiejiejiejiejiejie..."
"I made you laugh like this!" Yuan Yao picked up a stick and chased Huang Yi.
"Where are the personal guards? Catch this man named Huang!"
…
Just like the emergence of "Yu Zhang Fu", Yuan Yao's "Yu Zhang Xing" caused a sensation among Nanchang's wealthy families and scholars.
More people came to visit Yuan Yao at the camp in the north of the city in the name of rewarding the troops.
However, the next day, Yuan Yao said he was ill and thanked guests behind closed doors.
All military affairs in the camp were put in charge of by General Pi Huang Yi.
Huang Yi only claimed that Yuan Yao was unwell because of the rain and cold.
But it was better not to say so. When Huang Yi said this, more representatives of the Qiang clan came to visit Yuan Yao with doctors and precious medicinal materials. Suddenly, there was an endless stream of visitors.
Compared with the bustling crowds in front of Yuan's army camp, Zhuge Xuan's prefect's mansion seemed much deserted.
After the banquet that day, many officials and clansmen in Nanchang saw clearly that there were signs of disagreement between Yuan Yao and Zhuge Xuan.
Although Zhuge Xuan, the governor of Yuzhang, was appointed by Yuan Yao's father, Yuan Shu, it seems that the governor of Zhuge was not close to Yuan Yao.
On the contrary, he had a close relationship with Liu Pan, who came from Jingzhou.
On the second day of the banquet, Liu Pan came to visit again.
Last time Zhuge Xuan invited Liu Pan to be his guest, but this time Liu Pan came uninvited.
And as soon as he arrived, the lion opened his mouth and asked Zhuge Xuan to borrow food.
"Prefect Zhuge, you have to borrow these ten thousand bushels of grain and grass, and you have to give them to me even if you don't!"
Liu Pan pressed the hilt of his sword, not hiding the murderous aura in his body.
Zhuge Xuan smiled bitterly and said: "General Liu, it's not that I don't want to borrow it, it's because there is simply not so much food and grass in the treasury right now."
"How many is that?"
Zhuge Xuan thought for a while and replied truthfully: "There are about three thousand dendrobiums, and they are just old rice and millet."
"But these grains and grasses still need to feed the thousands of newly recruited soldiers under my command. There is no excess grains that can be divided..."
Before Zhuge Xuan finished speaking, Liu Pan interrupted directly: "Those four or five thousand people are just homeless bandits, can they still be called soldiers?"
"Does Duke Zhuge want to rely on them to fight the war?"
Zhu Ge
Liu Pan: "In this case, in my opinion, it is better for Duke Zhuge to disband these rabble as early as possible and allocate all the food in the treasury to our army."
"This general is willing to issue a military order. Within three months, Zhu Hao will be driven away and you, Zhuge Prefect, will become the only governor of Yuzhang County!"
Zhuge Xuan was shocked when he heard this: "No, no!"
"My five thousand county soldiers were all recruited through hard work."
"I previously borrowed 30,000 hu of grain from all the tribes in the county and recruited them for several months before organizing and training these 5,000 soldiers and horses. How can we just say they are disbanded?"
"Thirty thousand bushels of grain and grass? Did you give them all to eat?"
Liu Pan sneered and said: "These people don't have much ability, but they are more than capable of being a loser!"
Zhuge Xuan blushed with embarrassment and could only smile and said: "General Liu is right, he is right."
"But no matter how ineffective these new soldiers are, when General Liu defeats Zhu Hao and his like, I will still need them to maintain law and order in the counties; they must not be dismissed easily!"
Liu Pan thought about it and realized that this was indeed the case. When the time comes, I may have to fight to the east of the Yangtze River and sweep away the land south of the Yangtze River. This Yuzhang County will still need Zhuge Xuan as the prefect to maintain the place.
"Since General Liu is short of food, I will just borrow some food and grass from the big families in the county. It will not exceed five days...three days." Zhuge Xuan gritted his teeth and said: "At most three days, I will personally escort 10,000 dendrobium of food and grass to the south of the city." camp!"
"No!" Liu Pan refused directly:
"There were more than ten soldiers in my camp making trouble for food last night. The food stored in the camp is no longer enough to last for two days. If we don't see any more food trucks entering the camp, there will definitely be a bigger trouble!"
Only then did Zhuge Xuan realize where Liu Pan's murderous aura came from.
"There are three thousand bushels of grain and grass left in the treasury. I will take away two thousand bushels of grain and grass now. The carriages and horses are outside. Please ask Prefect Zhuge to give me a voucher for the grain transfer."
"Three days later, I would like to trouble Governor Zhuge to keep his promise and deliver another 10,000 tons of grain and grass to my camp."
Although Liu Pan's words were requests, his tone was unquestionable.
Zhuge Xuan was sweating on his forehead, but he just kept nodding.
Not long after, Liu Pan took the seal given by Zhuge Xuan and led a group of soldiers to the grain storage place of Yuzhang County.
But the county soldier guarding the granary looked nervous and hesitant.
When I opened the door of the granary, I saw that the huge granary was empty, and there were more mice on the ground than grains of rice.
Liu Pan suddenly changed his expression. He thought Zhuge Xuan was playing tricks on him, so he ordered someone to summon Zhuge Xuan.
When Zhuge Xuan arrived, he was also shocked.
After some interrogation, they learned from the soldiers guarding the granary that it turned out that Wang Xian Cheng had misappropriated the stored grain and had also falsified the accounts and planned to report the deficit today.
When Wang Xian Cheng was called again, Wang Xian Cheng refused to admit his corruption.
Liu Pan was so angry that he drew his sword and chopped off Wang Xian Cheng's dog's head on the spot.
When the head fell to the ground, Zhuge Xuan realized that something was wrong.
The Wang family is one of the five major clans in Yuzhang, and its status is higher than that of other powerful surnames. Although there has been some decline in recent years, it is not as greedy as the mere 3,000 hu of Chen rice.
Moreover, Wang Xiancheng also categorically denied corruption on the knife holder's neck. Either he is really not corrupt, or he is a tough talker.
According to Zhuge Xuan's understanding of this person, he believed that Wang Xiancheng was the former.
However, no matter what the truth is, Wang Xiancheng's head has already rolled on the ground.
Zhuge Xuan could only follow Liu Pan and make mistakes.
On that day, Zhuge Xuan sent people to raid the Wang family's homes, but not much food was confiscated from the Wang family's compound in Nanchang City.
There are only a dozen bags of rice in total, which is Wang's ration for this month.
Zhuge Xuan immediately posted a notice announcing that the Wang family colluded with Zhu Hao and had illicit affairs. The entire family was part of Zhu Hao's group of rebellious gangs. Their crimes were unpardonable and they should be punished!
That day Zhuge Xuan sent troops to attack Wang's tribe. However, the county soldiers under Zhuge Xuan were defeated by the Wang clan. It was Liu Pan who sent troops to defeat the Wang clan in Yuzhang.
However, the Wang clan members were stubborn. When they learned that Zhuge Xuan and Liu Pan sent troops for food, they burned all the food stored in the clan when they were defeated.
In the end, Zhuge Xuan and Liu Pan ended up in vain.
So Zhuge Xuan quickly borrowed grain from the powerful clans in the county, but what Zhuge Xuan didn't expect was that this time no clan was willing to provide food to the county.
Compared with the last time when Zhuge Xuan borrowed food and the Chen, Xu, Xiong and other clans generously gave away food, this time Zhuge Xuan was rejected directly in front of these families.
These powerful clans not only refused to borrow food, but also condemned Zhuge Xuanyi's unjust act of destroying the Wang family.
In particular, Xu Zong, the head of the Xu family, collected more than 2,000 private songs and angrily accused Zhuge Xuan of being unkind in politics, and even raked up his creditors. The entire Xu family is not afraid of Zhuge Xuan's county soldiers. They will fight if they want. Xu Zong wants to seek justice for the Wang family!
Nie, who had always supported Zhuge Xuan, ran back to his hometown of Xingan County overnight. I heard that the clan members are being summoned to build docks to protect themselves.
As for the other neutral clans, they also declined Zhuge Xuan's request for food. They all stood clearly behind powerful surnames such as the Chen family and the Xu family.
What a joke. In the past few months, our clans gathered together and lent you 30,000 hu of grain. If you didn’t return it, forget it. You also exterminated the Wang family who had provided 2,000 hu of grain. How dare we continue to lend grain to you? You guys!
For a time, Zhuge Xuan fell into an unprecedented situation of isolation and helplessness.
And Liu Pan and the Jingzhou Army he relied on were in bigger trouble!
They were completely out of food!
Even though Liu Pan was extremely brave, he had nothing to do with the soldiers who were causing trouble due to lack of food.
Killing is endless! Do we need to kill all the generals to solve the food shortage problem?
The anxious Liu Pan also came up with the last resort idea - to send troops to grab food!
But before he had time to think about it, the news from the north of the city made him give up the idea of sending troops to grab food.
Yuan Yao's general Zheng Bao led 2,000 naval troops and 1,200 new soldiers, totaling 3,200 soldiers, to join forces with Yuan Yao.
The Yuan army stationed in the north of the city originally had only two thousand horse infantry, but in the past few days, it had recruited two to three hundred more soldiers. Coupled with the more than 3,000 reinforcements brought by Zheng Bao, the number immediately expanded to 5,500, slightly exceeding the Jingzhou Army in number.
The most important thing is that Zheng Bao also brought Yuan Shu's appointment of Huang Yixin.
Huang Yi will serve as the captain of Yuzhang County from now on.
The more than 5,000 Yuan troops are currently led by Huang Duwei.
If he wants to launch an army to plunder, Yuan Yao and Huang Yi will definitely not agree, not to mention whether Zhuge Xuan will agree.
And this is inconsistent with the purpose of his uncle Liu Biao sending him to Yuzhang. Liu Biao, the shepherd of Jingzhou, was ordered to let Liu Pan support Zhuge Xuan, which made Zhuge Xuan fall to the Jingzhou forces!
I can't push Zhuge Xuan back to Yuan Shu and his son for the sake of food, right?
Could it be that he had no choice but to retreat the same way he came?
That's not possible. If we don't have food, we have to drink the northwest wind and return to Changsha County!
Just when Liu Pan was at a loss, general Huang Zhong suggested that he could borrow food from Yuan Yao!
