My father Liu Xuande

Chapter 142 Taking Guangling
Sun Ce then said something intriguing: "Besides, Liu Bei's army needs ample food supplies to gain a foothold."

"Stop?"

Huang Gai was also bewildered, feeling increasingly confused: "If he has gained a foothold, then aren't we in trouble?"

"Do not."

Sun Ce shook his head firmly: "It's our suffering that he can't hold his ground. As long as General Zuo still thinks there's a chance to take back Guangling, he'll keep pushing us to wear down under the walls of Guangling. Only by making him give up on Guangling as soon as possible can we leave this dead end."

Cheng Pu, Huang Gai, and Song Qian then realized that Sun Ce's words made perfect sense.

It can only be said that Sun Ce's mind remained very calm. While capturing Guangling was certainly a great achievement, now that it had been lost, he had to make plans for himself.

On the Xuzhou army's side, after Taishi Ci took off his armor, he found that he only had bruises and was not seriously injured. His confidants also breathed a sigh of relief.

At that moment, the sound of carriages could be heard again outside the city.

The people who came this time were Zhao Yun's troops, more than 250 people finally arrived, and they were personally led by Zhao Yun.

Liu Ye breathed a sigh of relief: "General Zilong, all the armor is here. Please have your soldiers put it on as soon as possible. If any weapons are missing, they can be used at will. The situation on the right flank is tense, so please send reinforcements as soon as possible."

Zhao Yun nodded and replied with a serious expression, "Please rest assured, I will go shortly."

Liu Ye relaxed completely: "I'll leave everything to General Zilong."

"You have overstated your position, but please rest assured, Yun will do his best."

Zhao Yun was very strict in disciplining his troops. Soon, his soldiers had all changed into their armor and headed towards the right flank.

When Zhao Yun arrived at the right flank, he was surprised to find that a truce seemed to have been declared.

Only after asking the Li brothers did they learn that just now, the Sun family army had actually retreated across the board.

They were already exhausted and were only clinging to life by waiting for reinforcements. How could they dare to pursue them? They could only watch as Sun Ce's army left.

Zhao Yun became suspicious and replenished the Li brothers' troops, telling them to stay put and be careful of surprise attacks before moving on to other fronts.

However, they discovered that neither Taishi Ci in the center nor Pan Zhang on the left had broken free from Sun Ce's army.

"Is Sun Ce's army also waiting for reinforcements?"

This was the first reaction of Zhao Yun, Pan Zhang, Liu Ye, and Taishi Ci.

After all, they were waiting for reinforcements, and the other side would naturally have reinforcements as well.

If that's the case, then we need to quickly substitute the key players for a rest.

Pan Zhang's battalion of armored soldiers were running low on energy, so they were relieved to rest and replenish their fluids and energy.

Fortunately, they had brought their own dry food with them. Although it didn't taste very good, it was still quite filling.

Under Liu Ye's command, Pan Zhang and Taishi Ci's subordinates were all replaced and put to rest, while Zhao Yun led his own troops as a reserve force.

Most of Liu's troops were also transferred to rest, with only a small number remaining on the front lines to monitor the enemy's situation.

As the sky gradually brightened, a new day began.

Normally, the residents of Guangling City would have already gone out to work by this time.

But now, every household's doors are tightly shut. Even in the few families whose doors have been removed, the whole family is huddled together in their bedrooms, afraid to come out.

Liu Ye organized people to exchange food and meat with the residents on his side, while also settling the more seriously wounded soldiers into the residents' homes.

In the past, Liu Ye couldn't even see these warriors. To Liu Ye, these warriors were also human beings.
Liu Ye even felt that the young master was being too kind to his soldiers.

But after experiencing today's battle, sharing life and death with his soldiers, Liu Ye was moved and changed slightly.

Pan Zhang had already requisitioned civilian houses within his own territory to house the brothers of Rushan Camp, and even had the civilians cook over fires, bringing out the meat and chickens they had treasured at home.

However, Pan Zhang didn't refuse to pay; he simply used those warhorses as collateral.

This reveals Pan Zhang's greed and cunning.

This isn't mortgaging warhorses; it's clearly finding another place for them to eat.

However, Pan Zhang has changed a lot. In the past, he would never have wanted to pay, not even pretending; he would have just robbed and seized.

As dawn broke, waves of reinforcements from the Xuzhou army arrived.

First came Zhao Yun's troops, then Qian Zhao's troops, Xu Sheng's troops, and even Zhou Tai, who arrived with small boats after dawn, leaving Jiang Qin with some naval soldiers to guard the large ship.

Liu Feng naturally traveled with Xu Sheng's troops, and by the time he arrived in Guangling, it was already broad daylight.

"Greetings, sir!"

Taishi Ci, Pan Zhang, Liu Ye, Zhao Yun, the Li brothers, and many others waited respectfully at the door to welcome Liu Feng.

Liu Feng arrived on foot, just like the other soldiers, and was quite dusty and weary after marching for half a night.

But the moment he saw his generals, his spirits lifted and he broke into a wide smile.

"Brother Ziyang, thank you for your hard work."

The first person Liu Feng grasped was Liu Ziyang, not minding at all that the other was covered in soot and his clothes were dirty: "If it weren't for Brother Ziyang's willingness to risk his life, Guangling City would probably have already fallen into the hands of General Zuo."

"Brother Ziyang, the greatest credit for this battle belongs to you."

Liu Feng gently shook Liu Ye's hand, his words sincere, which made everyone envious of Liu Ye.

"You flatter me, sir."

Liu Ye's eyes were red, and a look of guilt appeared on his face: "Young master, please forgive me. This time, the fact that Guangling was able to turn against us was entirely due to my uncles and brothers from the Li family. If it weren't for them, Guangling would have been handed over to Yuan Shu by Yuan Sui and others long ago."

"oh!?"

Upon hearing this, Liu Feng hurriedly asked, "Ziyang, where are your two uncles now?"

Liu Ye quickly pointed to Li Luo and Li Zhang standing to the side and introduced them to Liu Feng, saying, "These two are the Li family's uncles."

Liu Ye's words made Li Luo and Li Zhang overjoyed. They were surprised that Liu Ye remembered them at this time and even took the initiative to introduce them to Liu Feng. They were extremely satisfied with Liu Ye, their nephew.

Liu Feng then released Liu Ye's hand and bowed deeply to Li Luo and Li Zhang, saying, "On behalf of my father and the elders and folks of Guangling, I thank you two uncles for your great kindness."

The Li brothers were merely local strongmen. Although they could see Yuan Sui from time to time, when had the other party ever treated them like this?

This was the first time they had ever witnessed such a scene, and they felt that all the hardships and dangers of the night were worthwhile, and the losses of their tribal troops were not in vain.

“We dare not accept such courtesy from you, young master. We are merely local gentry and do not understand the greater good.”

Li Luo was more eloquent, and immediately returned the favor to Liu Ye, saying, "It was all thanks to my nephew Ziyang who explained the greater good to us brothers and moved us with his emotions that we were able to make the painful decision to raise an army and rebel."

At this point, Li Luo's eyes reddened: "It's a pity that we acted carelessly and opened the city gates, giving Yuan Shu's army the opportunity to enter the city. We almost lost Guangling again. We are truly guilty of a crime deserving of death. I beg you, sir, to punish us!"

"What crime has Uncle committed?"

Liu Feng reached out and helped Li Luo up, comforting him, "I know what you all think. You are just afraid of Yuan Sui's reputation and fear that he will cause trouble in the city. However, you cannot kill him, so you want to send him away as soon as possible. If I were here, I would probably do the same thing."

"Moreover, when Yuan's army entered the city, my uncle and his brother fought bravely and held out until our army arrived. This should be considered a great achievement. How could they be guilty of such a crime?"

Liu Feng knew the other party's intentions and quickly reassured them.

The near loss of the city is over, so you don't need to worry anymore.

Sure enough, after hearing Liu Feng's assurance that he would no longer pursue the responsibility for the near loss of the city, the Li brothers smiled even more contentedly.

Then, Liu Feng turned his gaze to Taishi Ci, looked him up and down with concern, and asked, "I just heard that you had a great battle with Sun Bofu and were kicked in the chest and abdomen. Have you had a doctor examine you?"

Taishi Ci observed his disciple's performance and could only sigh inwardly.

Liu Fengnian was only ten years old, yet he already showed signs of becoming a ruler.

Could this be divine favor upon the Liu family, allowing Liu Bei to have a successor?

Then he thought again, as Liu Feng's archery and horsemanship teacher, he had just entered Liu Xuzhou's camp and was already in charge of a division, and was even appointed as a captain. What kind of favor was this?
Not to mention that Liu Feng treated him with great respect, regarding him as a teacher.

Taishi Ci could truly sense that Liu Feng treated him, his archery and horsemanship teacher, as a teacher.

“That Jiangdong brat has short legs and is weak; how could he possibly hurt your teacher?”

Taishi Ci patted his chest vigorously, feigning bravado, but Sun Ce kicked him in the stomach instead, so it was unclear what his chest-patting was supposed to prove. Liu Feng, of course, wouldn't be so bored as to expose his teacher, and after a few words of reassurance, he turned his gaze to Pan Zhang.

"Pan Wengui, what did I say in those three or five orders before?"

Liu Feng's face darkened, his gaze turning hostile: "Are you ignoring what I said?"

Pan Zhang quickly knelt on one knee and begged for mercy, saying, "How could Wen Gui dare to disregard your words, young master? I was just worried about the wounded brothers' injuries, so I placed them in the homes of the county people. As for the cost of their food, I have settled it with them and even wrote IOUs, using their warhorses as collateral. Once the supplies arrive, I will definitely send them to them immediately."

Liu Feng's expression softened slightly. In fact, he already knew the whole story. This time, he was deliberately trying to teach Pan Zhang a lesson.

He knew that Pan Zhang was deliberately testing his limits, so he couldn't let his guard down at all.

After all, the historical Pan Zhang was greedy for money and even killed meritorious soldiers of Eastern Wu and plundered wealthy military households for his wealth.

Pan Zhang was the first historical general Liu Feng had ever recruited, and he certainly didn't want to have to use Pan Zhang's head to warn others later on.

Pan Zhang breathed a sigh of relief, but he knew that this hurdle was not completely over yet. He would have to use the money to pay back the debts owed by the people before the matter would be truly settled.

There was nothing they could do; the young master truly loved his people like his own children.

Finally, Liu Feng walked up to Zhao Yun and bowed deeply, saying, "Uncle Zhao, are you well?"

"What's wrong with me? Why be so polite?"

Zhao Yun remained silent throughout. He was a man of few words, but in crucial moments, he was the one who dared to speak the most.

Sometimes, Zhao Yun, who is used to being silent, is actually punished for talking too much, which is a dark humor.

"Thank you for your help, Uncle Zhao."

Liu Feng chuckled and joked, "It seems Sun Ce heard of Uncle Zhao's reputation; once you entered the city, he dared not attack again."

The generals all laughed along, but Zhao Yun explained seriously, "Young master, you can't say that. Sun Ce retreated because of the bloody battle fought by Liu Congshi, Li Gongcao, Taishi Duwei, and Pan Sima. It was just a coincidence that I came here."

Liu Feng was secretly pleased. As expected of my Uncle Zhao, he speaks the truth so frankly.

“In that case, let’s enter the city first. The troops can rest for now, and the defense can be entrusted to Wen Xianglai.”

As early as when Liu Feng was pacifying the generals, Xu Sheng had already led his troops into the city to take over the defense.

The troops in the city were already exhausted, even Pan Zhang's Rushan Camp was too weak to fight anymore.

Another battle would likely deplete our strength, so we must cherish our soldiers, especially warriors who can withstand dozens of kilograms of iron armor in battle.

Xu Sheng's troops were newly formed and, although they and Zhao Yun's troops had made a long-distance raid, they had not participated in the battle. Their organization was intact, their condition was good, their morale was high, and they were ready to be put into battle at any time.

Once Xu Sheng and Zhao Yun's troops had fully taken over the defense, the Xuzhou army began sending scouts south to investigate.

At the same time, Liu Feng began transmitting intelligence to the rear.

He wrote down intelligence that they had already occupied the east gate of Guangling and were locked in a stalemate with Yuan Shu's army inside the city for half a night, and then sent someone to deliver it to Liu Bei.

Afterwards, Liu Feng visited the wounded and arranged logistics. As the son of the governor of Xuzhou, he borrowed a large amount of grain, vegetables, and meat from the people of Guangling County, and even hens, agreeing to compensate them according to market prices later.

He arrived in a great hurry, and his logistics were completely paralyzed. In Guangling County, they only had one stronghold at the East Gate. The government warehouse and granary were in the hands of the enemy, which was a helpless situation.

To put it bluntly, if they don't borrow grain, the Xuzhou army will go hungry.

Liu Feng wouldn't follow the example of Duke Xiang of Song; he couldn't fight a war on an empty stomach, so he had no choice but to borrow some grain from the common people first.

After collecting the grain, Liu Feng arranged for people to cook it as soon as possible, since the soldiers were starving.

After finishing your meal, you can try a focused counterattack.

Whether it's a granary or a government warehouse, we should take one or two first.

That way, even if we continue to buy grain, we'll have cash to settle accounts.

"Son."

Xu Sheng and Zhao Yun arrived together, their expressions solemn yet revealing a hint of joy.

"what happened?"

Liu Feng's heart tightened at first, but he relaxed after seeing the joy on the face: "What happened?"

Xu Sheng glanced at Zhao Yun, and seeing that the other party did not intend to speak, he couldn't help but reply, "Yuan Shu's army has retreated."

"Retreating?"

Liu Feng was genuinely surprised by this answer: "Why would they retreat?"

In his view, Yuan Shu was determined to obtain Guangling and was willing to mobilize tens of thousands of troops to fight for it.

Our side gained the initiative thanks to Liu Ye, but the other side also managed to enter the city due to our mistakes. Therefore, the two sides should compete for the initiative in the city and pressure the other side's controlled area in order to eventually drive the other side out of the city.

But why did Yuan Shu's army suddenly run away?
After a while, Liu Feng slowly began to understand. At this moment, he noticed that Liu Ye was also looking at him with a meaningful smile, so he asked, "Ziyang, have you perhaps figured something out?"

Liu Ye smiled and said, "Young master must have already noticed, right? It seems that Sun Ce's army and Yuan Shu's army are not united."

Liu Feng nodded in agreement: "That's right. If Sun Ce's army and Yuan Shu's army were truly united, they should be trying their best to hold out for reinforcements. But he ran away. The only reason is that he didn't want to stay in Guangling City and fight us to the death."

Liu Ye cupped his hands and said, "What you say is very true, young master!"

"good."

Liu Feng's face relaxed. Others might not know, but he was well aware of how troublesome Sun Ce was, and how elite the troops left behind by Sun Jian were.

To eliminate the opponent, he would probably have to break a few teeth, and most importantly, this would hardly do any harm to Yuan Shu.

If that's the case, why bother with all this trouble?

Wouldn't it be better to save our strength for fighting Yuan Shu?

Therefore, under Liu Feng's orders, the entire army was ordered to clear out Guangling City, repair the east gate that had been damaged by Liu Ye, and was not allowed to leave the city to pursue the enemy.

Soon, a series of good news reports came in.

Although Sun Ce's army tried their best to move the goods, they only managed to take away 20% of the wealth accumulated in Guangling City, mostly gold ingots and valuable silk.

Sun Ce's army did not damage the remaining items; they were sealed up as they were.

In addition, the granaries were also left undamaged, and the grain inside was readily available.

What surprised Liu Feng even more was that Guangling County had an ironworks.

Moreover, the Iron Official Camp was not located in the city, but outside the city.

In the official warehouse of the Ironworks, besides a large number of iron ingots and other metal products, there were also more than forty sets of finished armor, as well as enough iron plates to make more than fifty sets of lamellar armor.

That's a hundred sets of iron armor.

They really made a fortune.

Liu Feng secretly felt lucky. If this batch of iron armor had been stored in the city's treasury, Sun Ce's army would have definitely chosen the iron armor first and wouldn't have chosen the other valuables.

Now that this batch of armored vehicles is in our hands, Rushan Camp can be expanded again.

"I'm hosting a banquet tonight to celebrate the achievements of Liu Congshi and Li Kunzhong."

Liu Feng made a decisive decision.

He planned to ask Liu Ye to act as the prefect of Guangling Prefecture, Li Luo to act as the chief secretary of Guangling Prefecture, and Li Zhang to act as the prefectural assistant, so as to rebuild the framework of Guangling Prefecture and restore its administrative functions.

In addition, Liu Feng also planned to appoint Taishi Ci as acting commander of Guangling Commandery and to lead the commandery troops, so as to seize military power in Guangling Commandery without making a sound.

Of course, besides the county soldiers, there was another relatively large military force in Guangling County, namely the retainers of the local magnates.

Although the Li family's troops suffered heavy casualties, there were still more than a thousand of them. If we include the troops of the Li family's relatives by marriage, old friends, and other powerful clans, the number could probably reach two thousand.

Although this military force is not very combat-ready, it may be difficult for them to accomplish anything, but it would be much easier for them to cause trouble.

Therefore, Liu Feng planned to exchange the positions of Chief Clerk and Assistant Prefect of a Commandery for the Li family to temporarily hand over their troops, which would then be led by Taishi Ci.

I figured the Li family wouldn't be so ungrateful, and if they really were, I had ways to deal with it.

(End of this chapter)