dognovel Chapter 486 Liu Bei Beats Mi Fang and Fu Shiren
Chapter 486 Liu Bei Beats Mi Fang and Fu Shiren
Upon hearing the mention of Mi Fang and Fu Shiren, Liu Bei instinctively gripped the hilt of his sword, his tone turning colder than ever before.
Traitors have always been the most hateful. Being betrayed by the most trusted person is more frustrating than being defeated by the most hateful enemy. Therefore, enemies can be recruited and forgiven, but traitors cannot.
When Liu Bei first received the news that Mi Fang and Fu Shiren had betrayed him at the same time, leading to Guan Yu's defeat at Maicheng, he was heartbroken to the point of near suffocation.
He couldn't understand why the two of them would betray him.
It's important to know that Mi Fang was his brother-in-law and a relative, while Fu Shiren had been with him since the uprising in Zhuojun. He was a brother who joined the army after Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, and even earlier than Zhao Yun. The two of them had endured a lot of hardships and wanderings with Liu Bei. After their rise to power, Liu Bei gave them the greatest trust and reward, appointing Mi Fang as the governor of Nanjun and Fu Shiren as the garrison commander of Gong'an.
Nanjun was the second largest prefecture in Jingzhou after Nanyang, the largest prefecture under Liu Bei, and the most important base of Liu Bei at that time. It was no exaggeration to say that it was Liu Bei's "capital region". Entrusting such a place to Mi Fang shows how much Liu Bei trusted Mi Fang.
There's also Gong'an, which is the gateway for Wu's army to enter Nanjun. Its importance to Jiangling is self-evident, which is why Liu Bei entrusted it to his old brother Fu Shiren to personally oversee. And what was the result?
As a result, both men betrayed him, handing over the two most important cities in Nan Commandery to the Wu army, causing Guan Yu to be defeated and nearly captured at Maicheng.
Liu Bei had already received news that Guan Yu had been defeated at Maicheng and was preparing to retreat to Linju, but Lü Meng had already laid an ambush at Linju. If Guan Xing hadn't appeared out of nowhere and stopped Guan Yu, Guan Yu would have actually retreated to Linju...
Liu Bei dared not even think about the consequences. The more he thought about it, the deeper his hatred for Mi Fang and Fu Shiren became, and he couldn't wait to ask them.
The chill in Liu Bei's tone made everyone shiver, and Sun Quan, feeling guilty, moved closer to Guan Xing.
He was in the wrong, but he knew Liu Bei would not let the two traitors go unpunished, so he could only remain silent and shrink into a corner, wisely becoming invisible, praying in his heart that Liu Bei would not see him.
He could avoid Zhang Zhao but not avoid him. The reason was simple: someone had to answer Liu Bei's question; Liu Bei's words couldn't be left unanswered.
Zhang Zhao honestly replied, "They're being held in a tent. We haven't been feeding them properly lately because we're afraid they'll cause trouble. They've both lost several pounds from hunger."
Liu Bei angrily cursed, "It would be better if we starved to death. Let's go see Wang Sima first."
Zhang Zhao quickly led the way, inviting Liu Bei into Wang Hong's tent. As soon as they entered, they saw a seriously ill patient lying on the bed, wrapped up like a rice dumpling, with only his mouth and eyes showing. He was so tightly wrapped up that Liu Bei didn't even recognize him as Wang Hong.
Wang Hong recognized him, and struggled to get out of bed, calling out, "Your Majesty..."
The sound of "Your Majesty" brought tears to Liu Bei's eyes. He quickly ran to the bedside, grabbed Liu Bei's hand, and said, "Don't move, don't move. Lie down. You've suffered these past few days."
The words "You've suffered so much" instantly broke the guard of this fierce general, who dared to fight bare-knuckle and risk his life against the enemy, and even managed to break through Yu Jin's encirclement. He embraced Liu Bei and cried out in tears, "Your Majesty, I thought I would never see you again, sob sob..."
Liu Bei quickly patted his back to comfort him, saying, "It's all in the past now, it's all in the past now."
The two men wept for a good quarter of an hour before calming down. After chatting for another quarter of an hour, Liu Bei got up and said, "I still have some things to take care of. My dear minister, you should rest well and recover from your injury. I will need to rely on you after you recover."
Wang Hong nodded emphatically and said, "Respectfully seeing off Your Majesty."
After leaving the tent, Zhang Zhao led everyone to the tent where Mi Fang and Fu Shiren were located.
Since the houses in the city were destroyed and the conditions were limited, it was impossible to arrange independent housing for the two of them. So they were locked up together. Anyway, they were both too hungry to walk, so they weren't afraid of being locked up together.
Liu Bei strode towards Mi Fang and Fu Shiren's residence. At the same time, the two men, Mi and Fu, lay on the bed groaning from hunger. Suddenly, Mi Fang felt a sudden pang of panic and weakly asked, "Junyi, why does my right eyelid keep twitching? Is something bad about to happen again?"
No one has been keeping them informed lately, so they have no idea what's happening outside.
Fu Shiren said resignedly, "So what if something happens? What does it have to do with us? Are we going to live or die?"
These words made Mi Fang's heart pound again. She said with a mixture of fear and resentment, "That damned Guan Xing doesn't even come to see me. I treat him like my own son, but now he won't even bother to look at me. He's such a scoundrel."
Mi Fang did not want to die, but he knew that he had committed a capital crime. The only way to save his life was to ask Guan Xing, who had just made great contributions in battle. Only if Guan Xing spoke up would Liu Bei possibly spare his life.
So he planned to bring up the story of taking care of Guan Xing when he was a child and plead for mercy. But no matter how long he waited, Guan Xing never came. Did that damned Guan Xing forget about his Uncle Mi?
Fu Shiren scoffed, "Give me a break. We almost got someone's father killed, and you expect them to plead for us? What a joke!"
"In my opinion, the best thing for us is to commit suicide, at least we can leave some dignity behind."
Mi Fang rolled her eyes and said, "Then why don't you just kill yourself?"
Fu Shiren said with a wry smile, "Do you think I didn't want to? If I weren't so weak from hunger, I would have committed suicide long ago. Would I have waited until now?"
"Now I just pray that the king will come soon and give me a quick death, the feeling of hunger is too unbearable."
No sooner had he finished speaking than he saw Liu Bei's figure through the gap in the tent flap. Terrified, he trembled and said, "The King has arrived."
Mi Fang turned around abruptly and saw Liu Bei's familiar figure, his face turning deathly pale with fright.
The closer Liu Bei got to the tents where Mi Fang and Fu Shiren were, the angrier he became. After reaching the entrance, he pushed aside Zhang Zhao, who was about to lift the tent flap to invite him in, grabbed the tent flap and ripped it off, exposing himself to Mi and Fu. He then stared at the two men with a cold, icy gaze.
The two were so frightened that they trembled violently and broke out in a cold sweat. They hurriedly mustered all their strength to get up and knelt down on the ground, not daring to lift their heads. They wanted to say something, but it was as if their throats were blocked and they couldn't utter a single word.
Liu Bei was so enraged by their cowardly behavior that he became even more furious. "You two thought you were so capable? You wanted to betray me? You wanted to kill me? Now that I'm standing right in front of you, why are you so cowardly?"
Come on, come and fight me! If you really come and fight me to the death, I'll respect you as men. But what's wrong with you two now? Where's your courage to betray me back then?
Liu Bei grew angrier the more he thought about it. He strode forward and kicked Mi Fang in the shoulder, then kicked Fu Shiren. He grabbed his sword sheath and began to beat the two men, shouting angrily as he did so, "Get up! Fight back! Didn't you want to kill me? Come on!"
The two instinctively curled up, covering their heads, letting the cold, hard scabbard slam into them, not daring to beg for mercy or even scream.
They both knew Liu Bei's temperament and that the more pitiful the screams, the harder the beating would be. So they bit their lips and let Liu Bei beat them to their heart's content, deciding to deal with the rest when Liu Bei was tired.
As for whether they can hold out until Liu Bei gets tired of fighting, that's up to fate.
Liu Bei, being over sixty years old, was soon panting heavily from the fight. He stood up, put his left hand on his hip, gripped his sword sheath with his right, pointed at the two men, and shouted, "Tell me, why did you betray me? What have I done to wrong you two?"