mesbooks Chapter 447: The Battle Begins
Chapter 447: The Battle Begins
Liu Chan was the second son of Liu Zhang, the former governor of Yi Province. After Liu Bei entered Shu, he was moved to Jiangling with Liu Zhang.
As a defeated warlord, Liu Zhang and his son stayed in Jingzhou, living a life of extreme caution and trepidation. As a result, Liu Zhang fell ill from depression and unfortunately passed away half a month ago.
With Liu Zhang's death, Liu Chan was finally free. It should be noted that Liu Chan was different from his cowardly and useless father; he valued scholars more than wealth and had a benevolent character.
This is quite remarkable. You know, everyone has some kind of pursuit in life. If you don't like low-level interests like money and beautiful women, you will definitely pursue higher interests. What does it mean that you don't amass wealth but instead use it to befriend scholars? It means you have ambition.
Liu Chan was not only ambitious but also vengeful, always harboring resentment towards Liu Bei for seizing his family's empire.
But then again, who wouldn't hold a grudge after something like this?
Therefore, after Liu Zhang's death, Liu Chan became active, using the pretext of mourning his father to hold grand banquets and make friends with scholars, like a venomous snake hiding in the grass, ready to strike at any moment.
Therefore, in addition to keeping vigil for his father, Liu Chan did two other things during this period. First, he distributed all the family's wealth to the servants in the mansion and organized them for secret training. Second, he frequently communicated with the gentry in Jingzhou to establish connections and make arrangements in advance for the future.
Liu Chan did not rest tonight, but sat in his armor at his desk, patiently waiting for Pan Jun and Huang Chengyan's reply and for news from the secret agents.
Although he did not receive an invitation from Gu Yong, he did receive a notification from Pan Jun and Huang Chengyan. The two had contacted him before attending the banquet and told him about the unusual events of the evening.
Therefore, Liu Chan had long ago sent people to the General's Mansion and the Gu Mansion to keep watch and observe the news from the eye of the storm so that he could respond in a timely manner.
After waiting for an unknown amount of time, just as he was dozing off, the door was suddenly pushed open, and a young man wearing a turban rushed in, saying urgently, "My lord, something terrible has happened! Sun Quan has led a large force to attack the Gu residence, and the shouts of killing and screams of agony are deafening."
The young man's name was Sun Zhou. He was a wandering knight who had joined Liu Chan's ranks after receiving his favor, and he was now Liu Chan's advisor.
Before Liu Chan could ask any questions, Sun Zhou continued, "Furthermore, our brothers hiding outside the Gu residence discovered that when Sun Quan left the Gu residence, he also took Pan Jun and Huang Chengyan with him. The two are clearly being held captive. Moreover, a troop of soldiers is heading towards our residence, but there are only a dozen or so of them. They probably aren't here to kill you. They probably want you to come and keep Pan Jun and Huang Chengyan company."
Liu Chan squinted and said, "Sun Quan wants to place me under house arrest?"
Sun Zhou did not answer directly but frowned and analyzed: "Gu Yong is a staunch advocate of surrendering to Cao Cao. Sun Quan's killing of Gu Yong at this time can only mean that he has made up his mind to surrender to Liu Bei. Asking you to go over there must be to control the hidden dangers and stabilize Jiangling, so that the Han army can come and take over the city."
"So my lord now has two paths. If you want to surrender to Liu, then obediently move to the General's Mansion and wait for things to end. If you don't want to surrender to that big-eared thief, then make preparations early, because Sun Quan's men are coming soon."
In Sun Zhou's view, the best course of action for Liu Chan was to lie low. Since his family was already out of the game, what was the point of making a fuss? He should just relax, eat his fill, and wait to die.
But he also understood how deep the hatred between Liu Chan and Liu Bei was, and it was a bit difficult to ask Liu Chan to be Liu Bei's filial son and grandson. Liu Chan, who was unwilling, would definitely struggle a bit.
As expected, Liu Chan raised his sword sheath and slammed it to the ground, saying, "I am a member of the Han imperial family. How can I be controlled by that big-eared scoundrel who weaves mats and sells shoes? Order everyone to evacuate through the back door and head to the Huang residence to meet with Huang Zhe (Huang Chengyan's son) and then we'll plan our next move."
"If I'm not mistaken, Huang Zhe and Pan Zhu will definitely make a move after tonight. Jingzhou belongs to the gentry. That green-eyed thief has only been in Jingzhou for a few days and he wants to control Jiangling? He's dreaming."
Liu Chan got up and left, going to the backyard and leading a hundred personal guards who had been prepared to leave through the back door. It is worth mentioning that only twenty of these guards were his father's personal bodyguards; the rest were all temporarily recruited servants.
Unlike ordinary noble families, their family were feudal lords. Even if Liu Bei were foolish, he would never allow the father and son to wander around Jiangling City with seven or eight hundred personal guards. Leaving twenty personal guards to protect the father and son was already an act of leniency beyond the law and the greatest kindness he could do.
Liu Chan led his personal guards straight to Huang Chengyan's residence, but to his surprise, the gates of the Huang residence were wide open when Huang Zhe led his personal guards out. Liu Chan asked in astonishment, "Brother Huang, what is going on?"
Huang Zhe said viciously, "That damned Sun Quan detained my father and General Pan. Moreover, I just received two pieces of news. First, Zhu Yi rebelled and ambushed Zhou Cheng in the street, causing Zhou Cheng to suffer heavy losses and flee in a sorry state. Second, Pan Zhu encountered Zhang Jing, the clerk of the Imperial Secretariat, on his way to assassinate Fei Yi. He has already gone to see Zhu Yi with Zhang Jing. I am also preparing to rush over to meet with Zhu Yi. What do you say?"
Zhu Yi is the young master of the Zhu family of Wu Commandery. Putting aside his abilities, his very identity is enough to gain the trust of the gentry. Upon hearing this, Liu Chan said without hesitation, "Let's go together."
Now that Zhu Yi has raised the banner of rebellion, this group of anti-Liu faction members naturally need to unite under his banner to strengthen their anti-Liu faction's momentum; otherwise, if they continue to fight individually, they will easily be defeated one by one.
Liu Chan and Huang Zhe didn't dare to delay and immediately rushed to the North Gate to meet Zhu Yi.
They were not the first to side with Zhu Yi, nor would they be the last. As news of Zhu Yi's rebellion spread, officials and gentry from Jingzhou, including the Kuai and Cai clans, as well as those from Jiangdong who intended to surrender to Cao Cao, all rushed to the North Gate to side with Zhu Yi.
At this moment, the gentry of Jingzhou and Jiangdong tacitly put aside their regional disputes and gathered together for the common goal of surrendering to Cao Cao. With Zhang Jing mediating, it is estimated that it will not be long before a force capable of directly confronting Sun Quan is formed.
Meanwhile, Sun Quan returned to the general's mansion without incident. However, before he could even catch his breath, Zhou Cheng slunk back. Seeing the disheveled Zhou Cheng, Sun Quan's good mood vanished instantly, and he asked unhappily, "What happened?"
Zhou Cheng, feeling both frustrated and embarrassed, reported the details of the defeat. Sun Quan's face darkened upon hearing this, and he said in a chilling tone, "Immediately muster all troops and march towards the North Gate. The North Gate Commandant is Zhu Yi's cousin. Zhu Yi will definitely head to the North Gate to meet his uncle after he finishes his business."
Sun Quan knew the dangers posed by aristocratic generals. As early as when Zhu Huan surrendered to Wei, he wanted to replace or transfer these aristocratic generals. But the problem was, who could he replace them with? He had no one left to use.
More importantly, making large-scale personnel adjustments in the midst of defeat and turmoil could lead to trouble. The aristocratic families might even rebel on the spot. Therefore, Sun Quan did not dare to relocate anyone during this period, intending to hold out until Lu Xun's eastern expedition ended. However, Lu Xun was defeated too quickly and Gu Yong rebelled too quickly, leaving him with no time or energy to make personnel adjustments.
That's terrible, what a disaster.
Zhang Zhao quickly advised, "My lord, you mustn't. It seems we've oversimplified things. Surrendering to Cao is the collective will of the gentry of Jingzhou and Jiangdong. It can't be resolved by killing one or two people."
"Therefore, the most urgent task at present is not to deal with Zhu Yi, but to stabilize the morale of the army. We must never again see a situation where Zhu Yi gives a call and our soldiers surrender en masse. After all, Zhu Yi's father, Zhu Huan, was once the deputy general of Ruxukou, which is too fatal for us."
As Zhou Cheng just mentioned, Zhu Yi made only a slight promise, and a large number of his soldiers defected to Zhu Yi.
This is understandable, as the garrison at Ruxukou was recruited from Jiangdong and had close ties with the Zhu family of Wujun. It's not surprising that Zhu Yi was able to win them over.
But this would be too unfriendly to Sun Quan. He only had so few people under his command. If they all defected to Zhu Yi, how would he manage?
Upon hearing this, Sun Quan's expression changed slightly. After a moment's thought, he decisively said, "The strategist is right. The most important thing right now is to stabilize our internal situation. We absolutely cannot allow any more problems to arise internally. Let's go to the military camp."