All Heavens and Worlds Modified History System

Chapter 357 A strong dragon does not suppress a local snake

In the evening, outside Xiangyang city.

Guo Xiang rode her horse and Liu Qi rode to the outside of Chen Ran's military camp.

After the notification, they were led into the camp.

On the way to the main camp, the delicious smell of meat attracted his attention.

In military camps large and small, soldiers were having dinner one after another.

What shocked Liu Qi so much that he reined in his horse was that every soldier he saw had meat to eat!

"This, this, this..." He couldn't speak clearly. "Everyone can eat meat?!"

At the end of a dynasty, in an era of collapse of productivity, ordinary people, except for the powerful and wealthy, could not even get food, let alone meat.

The treatment of soldiers is naturally better than that of civilians, but at most they can just have enough food to eat.

As for eating meat.
When he arrived at Chen Ran's military tent, Chen Ran was feasting with Cheng Yu, Gan Ning and others.

"A guest is a guest." Chen Ran smiled and said, "Sit down and eat together."

"General." Liu Qi saluted, and before he could say anything else, Chen Ran simply waved his hand and said, "The world is big, but eating is the most important thing. No matter what you come here to do or say, eat first."

Liu Qi had no choice but to sit down.

The firemen served them large pieces of roast meat in ceramic bowls.

The barbecue in front of him was a little strange. Liu Qi said he had never seen it before. "This is..."

"Crocodile meat tastes a bit like chicken and has good nutritional value. Try it."

Crocodiles are actually not unfamiliar in Jingzhou.

In other words, there are large numbers of crocodiles along the Yangtze River, Han River and other major rivers, as well as in various lakes, mudflats and swamps.

In this era when the environment had not yet been developed on a large scale, there were many kinds of wild animals.

In the mountains and forests, there are groups of tigers, leopards, jackals, and even large groups of elephants and rhinos.

Crocodiles are not rare, but roasting them is uncommon.

“Try it, try it~~~”

Chen Ran kept persuading people, really treating everyone who comes as a guest.

Liu Qi, who was full of worries, ate a few pieces of crocodile meat, and finally put down his chopsticks and said, "General, my father ordered me to come here to discuss peace."

"Peace?"

Chen Ran smiled and picked up a piece of crocodile meat. "How does Liu Biao plan to negotiate peace?"

"Become a vassal, pay tribute, and conclude a brotherly alliance."

"What kind of minister is he? He is the governor of Jingzhou of the Han Dynasty. The emperor of the Han Dynasty ordered him to be the prime minister but he refused. Whose minister is he?"

"Pay tribute? Liu Jingsheng is a Han minister! Jingzhou is the territory of the Han Dynasty! This is not some foreign land, where does the tribute come from?"

"Return the brotherhood." Chen Ran sneered, "My last name is not Liu!"

Liu Qi was so frightened that beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

Chen Ran simply lowered his head and ate heartily, while Cheng Yu picked up the linen cloth on the table beside him to wipe his fingers and took over the topic, "We are the ministers of the Han Dynasty, and we are ordered by the emperor to fight against the disobedient. What you said is useless, and we don't recognize it."

"If you want to negotiate peace, you can. Open the city and go to Luoyang in your own clothes to apologize to the emperor. The emperor will certainly show leniency because we are both relatives of the Liu family."

Seeing that Liu Qi was so frightened that he dared not speak, Cheng Yu looked down on him and said, "Please tell me the details, young master."

When Liu Qi left in despair, Chen Ran immediately instructed, "Liu Jingsheng can't bear it anymore. Tighten the siege on Xiangyang City, cut off the internal and external contacts, and further arouse panic in the city."

"Here~~~"

Before, it was still possible for a small number of people to enter and exit Xiangyang City, after all, Chen Ran did not directly besiege the city.

However, after Huang Zu's navy retreated to Jiangxia County, Chen Ran directly blocked the rivers in various places, completely blocking the entrances and exits of Xiangyang City.

As for why Huang Zu gave up Xiangyang City and ran back to his old nest, it was because Liu Biao's control over Jingzhou was not strong.

He himself did not have any deep roots in Jingzhou, and his power came from the court's appointment and his own abilities.

The local big families in Jingzhou just cooperated with him.

Huang Zu was more like a military leader under Liu Biao, the kind who only obeyed orders but not decrees.

Before, out of fear of Chen Ran's suppression of powerful families, he was willing to come and help.

However, Huang Zu's old nest, Jiangxia County, was in crisis, so naturally he would focus on his own nest.

As for another powerful navy under Liu Biao, it was led by Cai Mao and burned down Yiling. Even its old nest Jiangling was captured and it had long been in name only.

Xiangyang lost the protection of the navy, which was basically like being stripped of its armor.

Especially since Chen Ran had previously driven a large number of powerful families from all over Jingzhou into Xiangyang City, this had further increased the food consumption in the city.

At this time, the price of a dou of rice in the city has exceeded ten thousand coins!

Moreover, there is no demand for food even though the price is high. The grain store has closed long ago, and one can only buy grain through connections.

Not only food, but also firewood for cooking and other daily necessities in the city were in short supply.

Ancient cities actually had no production capacity.

If the siege lasts for a long time, it will lead to disastrous consequences.

People who can't get enough food start to use all means to get food. At first they spend money, and when they run out of money they sell their houses, furniture, children, themselves, and everything they can sell.

When you have nothing left and are still hungry, you will not care about anything anymore.

The public security situation in the city deteriorated extremely, and Liu Biao was very worried about it.

Although he opened a porridge stall, he couldn't cope with the large number of mouths wanting to eat.

What we are consuming now are precious military rations.

Liu Biao also knew that the wealthy families in the city still had surplus grain in reserve, but no one was willing to lend it to him.

Even if he gave all kinds of assurances, it was useless.

He couldn't use force against the powerful families, so he could only sigh and groan all day long, feeling extremely embarrassed.

Chen Ran, who was outside the city, also started to take other actions outside the siege.

The troops were sent out in all directions, constantly breaking through and capturing the satellite cities around Xiangyang City, as well as the camps guarding Xiangyang City.

The entire defense system of Xiangyang lost its navy and the outer city camps were taken away, leaving only an isolated city. The fate of the city being destroyed was already doomed.

As the situation in the city became worse and worse, Liu Biao sent Liu Qi out of the city again to discuss the matter.

This time he did not make any unrealistic demands. He only asked Chen Ran to withdraw his troops, and that he would continue to serve as the governor of Jingzhou and would follow Chen Ran's lead and be his subordinate.

Chen Ran was too lazy to even respond.

He just winked at Cheng Yu and asked him to go and speak.

"Sir." Cheng Yu smiled and said, "The Lord does not want to listen to you, it is you who want to listen to the Lord."

"Get rid of all the powerful families in the city, and then hand over Xiangyang City. My lord will report to the emperor and guarantee your family's safety. You can also live a rich life in Luoyang."

"If you don't want to, then you will perish together with Xiangyang City."

After receiving the reply, Liu Biao was unwilling to accept defeat. He mustered up the courage to lead his troops out of the city and fought a great battle with Chen Ran.

The result is naturally self-evident. Liu Biao's military command ability is average and the strength of the Jingzhou soldiers is average.

Faced with Chen Ran, who had extremely rich battlefield experience, and the field mobile corps under his command, which was mainly composed of the northern and southern armies of the Han Empire, they were simply no match for him.

The Jingzhou soldiers, who suffered heavy losses, fled back to Xiangyang City in a panic.

Chen Ran did not take the opportunity to attack the city, but let them escape back.

To put it bluntly, what he cared about was not the city, but the elimination of those powerful families in the city.

Rather than doing it himself, he now wanted to force them to kill each other.

It's not that he's abnormal, he's just setting an example for the powerful families in other places, telling them with facts, "Don't think that you can find a way out by uniting against me!"

After the defeat, the situation in Xiangyang City collapsed. Even the powerful families who fled here could not guarantee the safety of their own families. The whole city was in chaos.

Liu Biao, who was under great mental pressure, had to follow Chen Ran's request and prepare to take action against the powerful families in the city.

The previous alliance with powerful families was to ensure his own position in Jingzhou.

But at this time, Jingzhou and Jiangbei fell into the hands of Chen Ran, and Jiangnan became the territory of the Sun family, so he only had Xiangyang City left.

Moreover, civil strife broke out in Xiangyang City, and it was hard to say when Liu Biao's entire family would be destroyed.

At the critical moment of life and death, I would rather let my friend die than let myself die.

However, the foundations of the powerful families are too deep.

The news that Liu Biao secretly mobilized the county troops could not be concealed from those powerful families.

Upon learning that Liu Biao was actually going to use them as tokens of his allegiance, these powerful families immediately took preemptive action and mobilized their private soldiers and family members to counterattack.

The entire Xiangyang city was in chaos, with fighting everywhere. Many people who could not afford to eat took the opportunity to fish in troubled waters, and the situation was in complete chaos.

Liu Qi, who was sitting in the basket, stumbled into Chen Ran's military camp, crying and begging Chen Ran to send troops to rescue him.

As a powerful foreign dragon, Liu Biao was never a match for the local powerful families in Jingzhou.

"Ah."

Chen Ran nodded and told Gan Ning, who was eager to try, "You lead the troops into the city to control the situation."

They said they would send troops into the city to control the situation, but they waited for more than two hours before sending out the troops.

Then he complained to Liu Qi, "Why don't you open the city gate?"

Liu Qi ran over and asked people to open the city gate, but unfortunately the defenders on the city wall had already fled.

The city gate was very heavy and could not be opened by just a few people.

After finally climbing up to the top of the city wall with the help of a ladder, he had to look for a soldier loyal to Liu Biao to open the city gate. After going back and forth until Gan Ning finally entered the city, it was almost dark.

The city was already in chaos with blood flowing everywhere.

The powerful dragon failed to suppress the local snake. The local powerful families in Jingzhou won the final victory and killed Liu Biao's entire family in their mansion.

However, their joy did not last long. As the army entered the city, these so-called victors were soon subjected to an even more brutal purge.

The private soldiers of the powerful families were quite capable in combat, but when they encountered the regular army, or the elite troops from the north and south, they were naturally killed in large numbers and had no power to resist.

"Catch more alive."

Looking at Liu Qi, who was wailing and crying on Liu Biao, who had at least a dozen wounds on his body, Chen Ran instructed, "Let him take revenge with his own hands."

(End of this chapter)