dognovel Chapter 485 The King of Hanzhong Returns to the Loyal Jiangling City
Chapter 485 The King of Hanzhong Returns to the Loyal Jiangling City
What was Liu Bei doing while Guan Xing was surveying the terrain and drawing up maps?
Thinking about how to defend.
Xiangyang is clearly not suitable for defense now. The city walls are so badly damaged that they are about to collapse. The Wei army could take it with a single charge. There is really no need to fight to the death here.
Although Liu Bei had decided to strengthen the city's defenses and hold Xiangyang, building the city would take time, and Cao Cao might not give him that time.
Therefore, before Cao Cao abandoned the attack and withdrew his troops, Liu Bei had to find another way to survive the period when the new city of Xiangyang was completed.
After discussing with his generals, Liu Bei decided to temporarily abandon Xiangyang and use Yicheng, south of Xiangyang, as a base to establish a defensive line along the Yi River to block the Wei army's attack. At the same time, he returned to Jiangling to deal with matters in the rear and would make further plans after the rear was stabilized.
Jiangling is in a complete mess right now. If it's not dealt with properly, it will collapse even without Cao Cao attacking it.
Liu Bei, eager to return to Jiangling, only stayed in Xiangyang for three days. After arranging the defense, he left 20,000 troops behind, leaving the defense and preliminary preparations for the city's construction to Zhao Yun, and led the rest of the army to retreat to Jiangling.
The army set off again, and after five days of marching along Yicheng, Bianxian, and Dangyang, they arrived safely at the city of Jiangling. Sun Quan, who had received advance notice, led Zhang Zhao, Sun Shao, Fei Yi, and others to meet them ten miles outside the city.
Upon seeing Sun Quan and his men in the distance, Liu Bei ordered his army to halt, and he himself remained motionless on his horse.
This time, he wanted Sun Quan to take the initiative to come and pay him a visit, so that he could establish the hierarchy between ruler and subject.
Sun Quan also had the awareness of a loser. Upon seeing Liu Bei, he immediately stepped forward quickly with small, quick steps, came to his horse, and bowed, saying, "Your sinful subject Sun Quan pays respects to the King of Hanzhong."
The biggest advantage of Sun Quan surrendering now is that he has not yet declared himself king or emperor as in history. He is still a General of the Cavalry, a subject of the Han Dynasty, and has a colleague relationship with Liu Bei rather than an enemy relationship.
Therefore, he did not need to carry the coffin with his hands tied behind his back like the rulers of the Warring States period or even Liu Shan in history; he only needed to perform the normal rituals.
As for the previously mentioned act of carrying thorns to apologize, it would have been necessary if he hadn't experienced the rebellion of Zhu Yi and the Jingzhou gentry, but since he made contributions in the Jingzhou gentry rebellion and the battle where Yu Jin seized the city, he naturally didn't need to carry thorns to apologize anymore.
After all, even he, the former ruler of Jiangdong, had his pride.
Liu Bei accepted the greetings from Sun Quan, Zhang Zhao, Sun Shao, and others with a sense of relief. After staring at them for a moment and putting on airs, he dismounted, helped Sun Quan up, and said with a smile, "Zhongmou, please rise. I heard from Anguo that we were able to defend Jiangling this time thanks to you. I thank you."
Sun Quan quickly bowed and said, "Your Majesty is too kind. This is what I should do."
After exchanging pleasantries with Sun Quan for a while, Liu Bei looked at Zhang Zhao and Sun Shao and said with a smile, "Brother Zibu, Brother Changxu, it's been many years since we last met. You two are still as charming as ever."
The two quickly bowed and said, "Your Majesty is still vigorous despite your age, and your charm is as great as ever."
After calming the two down, he turned to Fei Yi with an even more amiable smile and said, "Wenwei, I heard you were assassinated. Is it serious?"
These are our own people, and they've just made a great contribution, so we must appease them properly.
Fei Yi felt a lump in his throat, like a child who had been wronged and was finally seeing his parents. He immediately rolled up his sleeves and trousers, revealing his wound, and said angrily, "The assassination is nothing, it's just that Jiang Ji is such a hateful bastard. He actually used the imperial edict to beat me up. Your Majesty, you must do justice for me!"
Upon hearing this, Sun Quan couldn't help but awkwardly touch his nose. Although Jiang Ji had given the order to beat Fei Yi, it was he who had actually done it, and he hadn't been able to control himself and had beaten Fei Yi quite badly. Now that he thought about it, he felt really bad for Fei Yi.
But then again, Fei Yi, you're too vengeful. Is it really worth bringing up such a trivial matter in front of Liu Bei?
Liu Bei grasped Fei Yi's wrist, carefully examined his wound, and comforted him, "Wenwei, don't worry, there will be a chance to avenge Jiang Ji in the future. By the way, why didn't Commander Wang Hong come?"
Now, the person he most wants to see is Wang Hong, who was a loyal and virtuous man who remained in ambush even after the city fell, trying to drive away the Wu army and recapture Jiangling. After being defeated and captured, he preferred to die rather than surrender. Such a loyal and virtuous man must be met and comforted, and promoted and given important responsibilities, otherwise, the hearts of loyal ministers and generals will be chilled.
Putting aside the issue of winning people's hearts, such loyal and capable people should be given important positions because you can trust them and don't have to worry about betrayal.
Why didn't such a loyal and virtuous person come to greet him?
Guan Xing stepped forward awkwardly, touching his nose and chuckling, "Your Majesty, this is my fault. I sent Commander Wang Hong on a dangerous mission, which led to him being ambushed by Yu Jin. Commander Wang was seriously injured and probably can't get out of bed yet."
Liu Bei slapped his forehead and said, "Look at my brain! How could I forget what you told me? Don't feel guilty. Victory and defeat are common in war. It's normal to suffer a defeat once or twice, especially since you were facing Yu Jin..."
Everyone present: "..."
It seems like Wang Sima is the one who's injured, so why are you comforting Guan Xing?
After exchanging pleasantries for a while, the two groups met up and headed towards Jiangling, chatting and laughing.
The ten-mile distance was covered in the blink of an eye. The army arrived at the city walls. Liu Bei looked at the unfamiliar city walls that Guan Yu had built after he entered Sichuan and was filled with emotion.
Jiangling City was borrowed from Sun Quan by him, which marked the beginning of his journey to conquer Sichuan. However, just as he was about to reclaim Hanzhong from Cao Cao and reach the pinnacle of his life, it was stolen by Sun Quan.
At that time, Liu Bei was in the darkest moment of his life, but unexpectedly, things took a turn for the better. Thanks to his good nephew, Jiangling was returned to him so quickly.
Looking at the unfamiliar city of Jiangling, Liu Bei felt an urge to hug and kiss the city wall. He hesitated for a long time before finally saying, "Let's go into the city."
As Liu Bei led his troops across the drawbridge and through the barbican, just as they entered the city gate, they saw the city's inhabitants lining both sides of the street, eagerly awaiting his arrival. The moment they saw Liu Bei, the people shouted excitedly, "The King of Hanzhong is back! The King of Hanzhong is back again..."
The people waved and cheered excitedly, shouting and gesturing wildly as if welcoming long-lost relatives. The smiles on their faces were all genuine and without any acting.
Walking through the human wall formed by the people, and seeing their sincere smiles, Liu Bei also smiled with satisfaction. As he waved vigorously to the people, he secretly resolved to implement land reform in Jingzhou so that the people could live a good life.
The human wall formed by the common people led all the way to Guan Yu's general's mansion. When they arrived at the mansion, Liu Bei's smile froze.
The gate of the general's mansion was gone, as were the council hall and other buildings inside; in their place were countless tents.
Liu Bei pointed to the tents behind the ruins and asked in astonishment, "What happened? Was Jiangling City ravaged by wild boars?"
Fei Yi chuckled awkwardly, "Pretty much. That damned Yu Jin dismantled all the roof beams of the General's Mansion in order to build siege equipment. Without the roof beams, the house collapsed instantly. Not only the General's Mansion, but other mansions in the city, and even..."
"To put it simply, almost all brick and tile houses have been damaged. Only some thatched houses have escaped the devastation. We've been clearing the ruins these past few days, and we haven't even finished clearing them yet, so we can't worry about rebuilding the General's Mansion."
Thanks to Yu Jin, only the city walls of Jiangling are still intact; the city itself is now a complete ruin.
Liu Bei angrily cursed, "Damn Yu Jin, are you here to fight a war or to destroy our homes?"
Rebuilding all the houses is a huge project; how much money will it cost?
Old Liu is so poor he has to split every penny in half to spend it all. Where would he get the spare money to do this?
But what can be done now that things have come to this?
Liu Bei sighed, silently lamenting his empty wallet, and said, "Let's go. First, come with me to see Wang Sima. By the way, where are those two traitors, Mi Fang and Fu Shiren?"