Chapter 373: The First Year of Huangchu
"The rapid developments and changes in today's situation often catch me off guard."

At Mianchi, Hongnong, Black Bear came here on patrol and had a feast with Gan Ning. He couldn't help but sigh when talking about Jingzhou.

Gan Ning was the same. The changes in Jingzhou were too drastic.

Who could have thought that Liu Biao and his son would actually expel Pang Tong. Not only did Pang Tong flee from Xiangyang, but even Huang Zu and Huang She, father and son, defected with their entire counties and defected to Huainan.

Afterwards, Liu Biao and his son sent hostages, headed by Liu Cong, as well as Liu Qi's two sons and one daughter, as well as some children of the big families and nobles in southern Jing.

Liu Biao and his son were so sincere that sending Liu Cong as a hostage was equivalent to blocking their lifeline to Guanzhong.

All win-win situations in the world are built on the sacrifice of third parties and more parties.

For example, at this moment, Pang Tong, Huang Zu, and the scholars of Jingxiang became victims.

After this incident, the scholars of Jingxiang suffered heavy losses, and Liu Biao embarked on the path of autocracy, suppression, and purge of local big names and powerful people.

To be precise, Liu Biao just repeated the journey he took to Jingzhou alone.

Back then, Liu Biao started from scratch and had an outstanding reputation, so he was willing to risk his life. After that, he enjoyed the power and wealth, so there was naturally no need for him to fight to the death and do things to the extreme.

Now the father and son of the Liu family had no better way to go. In a sense, it was the Jingxiang scholars led by Pang Tong who guided and forced Liu Qi, leaving Liu Qi with no way out.

Liu Qi's path is the path that Liu Biao cares about.

At Liu Biao's current age, he does not expect to live another 20 years and enjoy 20 years of power and wealth.

What Liu Biao always cared about were actually just his three sons.

Gan Ning understood Liu Biao's thinking to some extent, and was filled with emotion: "Pang Tong is so talented, how could Liu Jingsheng entrust his descendants with three generations of wealth and honor to a person like Pang Tong? In fact, the reason why the king forced Liu Jingsheng to give in last year was because the king was planning for his son and had no intention of interfering in Jingzhou's internal affairs. That's why Liu Biao was submissive and gave in."

Black Bear just smiled and drank from his cup, sighing sincerely: "I just caught the weakness of an old man, a father. I am not greedy and I have no intention of controlling Liu Qi. Now it seems that Liu Biao's concession to me was interpreted by Pang Tong as Liu Biao's old age and ignorance, and he can be bullied by others."

Putting down the wine glass, Black Bear asked with a smile: "The situation is very good now. The Huang father and son brought two counties to Huainan. If Xingba wants to vent his anger, he might as well go to Nanyang and join forces with Zhou Yu to suppress the Huang father and son. I will send Wen Pin to help."

Gan Ning was deep in thought after hearing this. He swallowed the side dish in his mouth, put down his chopsticks, wiped his lips with a handkerchief, and said after a moment's hesitation: "Huang Zu and I only have a personal grudge. He was also doing things under Liu Biao's orders. This personal grudge is not worth my traveling three thousand miles."

Black Bear asked again: "Your ancestral home is Nanyang, and you have wasted a long time in Jiangxia. Jingzhou is like your hometown to you, and there are many old friends there. Going to Jingxiang is like returning home in glory, but you must think clearly."

Gan Ning thought with a frown, then shook his head. "Hebei is about to be invaded. If I am not here, Hongnong, Hedong, and Taiyuan will be invaded by Hebei. Moreover, since Cao Cao defeated Liu Xuande, he has been gathering soldiers and horses to strengthen Heluo. Only if I am here can I ensure that you can march west without any worries."

"Xingba is truly my pillar!"

With a sigh of praise, Black Bear raised his cup to toast: "I'm sorry, Xingba, please drink it up."

Gan Ning smiled and held up the cup, and replied: "Your Majesty, Liu Biao and Huang Zu are just in a mess, not worth fighting with. But Cao Cao is worth fighting to the death with!"

Black Bear nodded slowly: "I will support you. In case of emergency, reinforcements from surrounding counties will be sent to Xingba for deployment."

"Thank you, sir."

Gan Ning held the wine glass with both hands and drank it all.

He would not be given any clear documents for mobilizing or granting troops now; when the situation really became urgent, Gan Ning would slaughter the geese around him, and the black bear would receive the signal and remotely control Zhen Mi to react.

Black Bear, on the other hand, was drinking a cup and thinking about the two armies of Zhang Liao and Zhang Xiu who were stationed in Hedong.

Zhang Liao led his troops to leave Cao's army and settled them in the Hedong military camp. When Zhang Liao returned from Hexi, this elite infantry and cavalry of a thousand people could be transferred to other directions.

After all, Zhang Liao had an agreement here that he would not fight against Cao's army.

Therefore, it was impossible to have Gan Ning and Zhang Liao rush to the left and right to attack Cao Cao's central army. If Zhang Liao was assigned to work in other places, Hei Xiong would be worried that it would be difficult to quickly establish merit and military reputation.

You have probably already figured out the requirements for a puppet to be promoted to level seven. If you are not famous for your martial arts, no matter how good your physical fitness is, you can only stop at level five or six.

Level seven is a threshold. Zhang Liao has the qualities and talents in this regard, and also has the talents after level seven. It would be a pity if he was stuck.

The so-called deadlock is the final conclusion.

Lu Bu, Dian Wei, and the distant and yet-to-be-awakened Sun Ce and Xiang Yu are all peerless heroes whose deeds have been concluded.

As for the eighth and ninth levels after level seven, Black Bear suspects that they are related to "divinity". Characters like Lu Bu, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun, Zhang Liao, Gan Ning, Ma Chao, Sun Ce, Dian Wei, etc. all have divinity.

This divinity is a kind of universal recognition and admiration, which enables them to draw shared power from the void and other worlds. This should be the specific special feature of the eighth level.

At level nine, one should be able to respond to calls and perform some kind of "descent".

Therefore, it is necessary not only to ensure that these people can have merits in large-scale wars during their lifetime, but also to have specific achievements to demonstrate their bravery.

They are not lacking in ability, what they lack is just an opportunity.

Looking at Gan Ning who was inexplicably grateful, Black Bear did not feel any guilt. This was a mutually reinforcing thing.

Probably once the opponent is strengthened to level nine, many things will become clear.

Black bears don't want to bully them while they are alive if it's not necessary.

No one can predict how the future will change, but it’s always a good idea to leave yourself some room for retreat.

Only after supplying Gan Ning with a hundred large white geese did Black Bear head westward.

As the goose flock grows in size, the original few geese can no longer trigger the black bear's senses so sharply that they may be missed if they are not careful.

Replenishing a hundred white geese would not only help Gan Ning boost morale before the battle, but also serve as a clear reminder to himself that something unexpected had happened here.

After all, Gan Ning’s divinity is related to the white goose and the crow.

War waits for no one. He must return to Hexi and make preparations for a full-scale war against the Qiang people in Hehuang in order to force them to move westward.

If the Qiang people refuse to move westward, then we will just attack them.

Even if they moved westward, they had to inflict pain on the Qiang tribes in the Hexi Corridor, intercept their herds of beasts, and intensify their survival pressure after moving westward.

Only by doing this well can we return to Guanzhong and spend a peaceful winter.

Just as the black bear was heading west of the Yellow River, Liu Fu, King of Huainan, built an altar in the south of Shouchun City, and the news that he ascended the throne and became emperor on October 5th spread throughout the world.

Liu Fu proclaimed himself emperor and established the Huangchu reign.

Because the imperial lineage changed, the Xin Dynasty chose to seize the Yuan Dynasty.

That is, the eighth year of Jian'an was also the first year of Huangchu, and the next year would be the second year of Huangchu; but since the Black Bear had already been decided, Guanzhong still used the Jian'an era name.

When Liu Fu proclaimed himself emperor, imperial edicts conferring titles of nobility were distributed everywhere.

Including imperial edicts related to Hei Xiong's younger brother, the Crown Prince, the Generalissimo, and the Minister of the Secretariat.

(End of this chapter)