Chapter 522
Chapter 522
“Say that again!” Liu Bei shouted at his messenger malevolently.
The messenger did not dare to look at Liu Bei and could only stammer. “Milord. That is… a letter from Yuzhou. Guan Ping’s soldiers are defeated and could not transport the provisions back!”
Liu Bei angrily smashed the table. He had attacked Fancheng for provisions but lost it.
“Who is it? Who took my army’s provisions?”
“It… It is the Yangzhou Army’s White Horses!”
“Liu Mang Liu Hanyang! It’s you again!” Liu Bei was about to go crazy. He offended and started a war against Liu Biao for provisions, yet Liu Mang was the one that ended up obtaining it. All of his hard work ended up being done for others.
“Dispatch troops!” Liu Bei shouted. He wanted to go after Liu Mang.
“Milord! Calm your anger!” Jian Yong forced a smile. He also just found out about this news and had yet to tell Liu Bei about how many soldiers he had lost. If Liu Bei had heard that only two thousand Qingzhou Troops and an unconscious Guan Ping returned, Liu Bei would have become even angrier.
“Milord! That is just a small portion of our provisions!” Jian Yong placated.
“What do you know?” Liu Bei shouted back angrily. Nobody could understand his hardships of becoming the villain only to have someone else profit.
“Milord!” Jian Yong no longer knew how to placate Liu Bei. Although they had lost a lot of provisions to Yangzhou, all was not lost. They still had half of it. If they could bring that half back, Yuzhou could still develop.
“Milord! Jingzhou’s troops have already gathered at Xiangyang. Yangzhou’s troops are on the way. This is the latest information!” Having given up on placating Liu Bei, Jian Yong decided to shift Liu Bei’s attention.
Liu Bei became angrier after obtaining the details from Jian Yong. “Five thousand troops! Yangzhou is only sending five thousand troops!” On top of that, they are from some unknown group called Yiyang Troops instead of one of their famed troops. This made it seem like Liu Bei was being underestimated especially since Liu Bei had thirty thousand troops stationed there, half of which was his elite Xiliang Cavalry.
“Milord. This information might be imprecise.” Jian Yong disagreed. This is because some troops like the White Horses were capable of appearing and disappearing without notice.
“Hmph! Bring it on! I want Liu Mang Liu Hanyang to return all my stuff twofold!” Liu Bei said imposingly. Jian Yong can’t help but nod when faced with the kind of temperament that only existed in an unscrupulous careerist.
Just as Liu Bei was in high spirits, another messenger appeared. “Report! An envoy from the allied forces is here to negotiate with Milord!”
“An envoy?” Liu Bei wanted to refuse to meet with the envoy. After all, the two armies were already about to fight.
However, Jian Yong replied first. “Let the envoy in.”
“Yes!” The messenger nodded and left.
“Milord. We might as well find out the real situation from the envoy.” Jian Yong who was in charge of gathering information would not let go of any clues.
Soon, a elderly man was brought in.
Liu Bei snorted the moment he saw the envoy. “Does Yangzhou and Jingzhou not have anyone else to dispatch but this aged man?”
The envoy did not react and replied with proper etiquette. “Guan Shao, subordinate of the Chief of Commerce Mi Zhu greets Lord Liu Bei!”
“What?” Liu Bei and Jian Yong were stunned.
“Who sent you here? If you don’t speak the truth, you will not return to Jingzhou!” Liu Bei asked with his eyes wide. Although envoys are generally not killed during war, they can simply keep it a secret.
Guan Shao then repeated his introduction.
“Mi Zhu? You mean Mi Zhizhong?” Liu Bei glared until his eyeballs almost dropped out.
“The very same.” The elderly man nodded.
“I knew it! I knew he was a traitor!” Liu Bei laughed angrily. Jian Yong also laughed bitterly. Talk about wonderful timing.
Jian Yong initially thought Mi Zhu was just an honest. He also realized that Guan Shao was one of Mi Zhu’s servants.
“Mi Zhu Mi Zizhong!” Liu Bei gnashed his teeth in anger. It was thanks to Mi Zhu that Liu Bei had almost unjustly accuse his loyal Sun Qian.
“Speak! Why did Mi Zhu sent you?” It was a huge slap in the face for Liu Bei as Liu Bei claimed that Mi Fang and Lady Mi were dead. Now that Mi Zhu is siding with Liu Mang, it was evident that both Mi Fang and Lady Mi were alive.
“First off, Marquis Guangzhou sends his thanks.”
“Marquis Guangzhou?” This was done out of hatred as Liu Bei was now of lower rank than Mi Zhu.
“There is no need for thanks. What else?” Liu Bei ignored his displeasure and asked.
“Second, we want to talk about redeeming the Zhang Family’s children, the governor Lord Song Zhong, and other officers.” This was the main reason Guan Shao was here.