Chapter 416 I Can’t Think It Through

South of Mianzhu City, suburbs.

The surrendered soldiers at Jiameng Pass have also been released. Except for the military officers who continue to be detained and forced to do labor, the strong and capable soldiers are left behind, and the remaining unqualified soldiers are given travel expenses and dismissed.

On a high hill near the suburbs, Dongzhou soldiers were cutting down bamboo and wood and were about to build a wooden building here.

The giant chariot with four front and eight back wheels barely moved on the road south of the city, causing great fear among the soldiers of Dongzhou and the officials and people of Shu.

As far as they know, this car could not have been shipped from the north and was most likely built locally.

Ordinary soldiers, civilians and officials were shocked by the size of the chariot; those who had a little military knowledge were terrified by the technical strength of the Grand Marshal's troops.

The Dayun chariot slowly stopped. When Black Bear got off the chariot, he saw the mud was wet and soft. Looking around, he saw that some officers and soldiers had slipped and their bodies were covered in mud.

He simply did not get out of the car, but instead climbed the ladder to the top of the car and observed the nearby camp.

Yang Fu also put the military books and official documents he had received early this morning into a square leather backpack. He carried a ladder to the front of the car, then took off the backpack and took out the military books first.

Black Bear picked it up and read it. When he got Budugen's military letter, Black Bear smiled and said, "This Xianbei king is too reserved. He requested to retreat to Hanzhong to station on the grounds that Shu is humid and the water and soil are not suitable for his troops."

Yang Fu was observing the camp being built in the distance, and at this time he replied: "Your Majesty, it is natural that the Hu people on the border are not adapted to the climate of Shu. Moreover, your majesty's military discipline is strict now, and the Xianbei people are lax by nature, so it is inevitable that they will violate the rules."

"Haha, I'm waiting for him to make a mistake, how can I let him go?"

His laughter made Yang Fu bow his head, and then Black Bear said: "Since this man is so sensible, let him pack his bags. When the Baishui Pass defenders surrender, after the selection is completed, I will allow the Xianbei volunteers to return home first. I will order the counties along the way to prepare fodder, and I will also reward them generously."

"Yes, I understand."

Yang Fu sat cross-legged on the ground and took the Budugen military book handed to him by Black Bear. He spread the page of the book on the square cowhide bag, took a pen and wrote on it to reorganize the words to repeat Black Bear's verbal arrangement just now.

After Yang Fu finished writing, he dipped the brush in ink again, wondering in his heart whether the Xianbei people could survive another half a month or more.

The surrender of the Baishui Pass defenders was inevitable, but the problem was that officials and soldiers had to be sent to accept the surrender and the troops had to be cut.

It will take at least more than a month to finish all these things.

So the Xianbei people had to grit their teeth and hold on for a while.

In this way, Black Bear read and dictated, and Yang Fu took the pen and wrote the reply.

But Yang Fu soon couldn't keep up with the speed alone, so Black Bear had to let Lu Bu climb up and assist Yang Fu in replying to official documents and military books.

The biggest advantage of entering Yizhou is that there is a relatively mature culture of papermaking and paper use here, so the military books currently in the army have all been changed to paper from Shu, which has greatly improved administrative efficiency.

After dealing with the official documents in the morning, Black Bear realized that the officials around him were unable to work freely because of his presence.

So he commanded the chariot to return. As for the road conditions in Yizhou, they were indeed not suitable for driving this giant chariot.

In Mianzhu City, with the repeated and strict enforcement of military discipline, the economic activities of the people in the city have gradually returned to normal.

Therefore, Wu Yi, who was in charge of maintaining order on the streets, was terrified, fearing that some scholars would jump out to accuse and abuse him, and become famous in this dangerous way.

But the Black Flag Knights who were patrolling the streets were no longer surprised. The defense of the chariot was simply not something that could be broken by ordinary lightly armed mobs on the streets.

Wu Yi was worried that the Black Bear chariot would be attacked, but the mentality of the Dongzhou soldiers while on guard was different from Wu Yi's. Instead, they hoped that some people would stand up and anger the Grand Marshal.

Under such complicated circumstances, the black bear returned safely.

The chariot stopped. He looked at the gate pavilion behind the twelve stone steps and said to Yang Fu, "Shuzhong is not as free as Guanzhong after all."

Yang Fu could only force a smile, he also knew that when the Tiger Tooth Army initially took over Sanfu, the Grand Marshal in front of him rode his horse day and night on the road, becoming a common sight in Sanfu and attracting many people to wait and watch on the roadside.

But it was different here. If you went out to ride horses, you were very likely to be attacked. It was normal for a few of Wang Yun's former officials and students to show up.

Any attack could be hyped up by the military, leading to mass killings.

In this cautious state, a few days finally passed and the risk of military mutiny was further reduced.

Only when the new military camp is built, all the troops are moved in, and closed-camp training begins, can we say that we are letting the tiger into the cage.

Of course, this cage will make the tiger look more professional after it comes out.

However, Liu Zhang's escape was not smooth in the distance. Most of the 3,000 troops accompanying him had dispersed by the time they reached the river.

Yizhou did not have any professional navy, and Liu Yan and Liu Zhang, father and son, did not have the stubborn determination to fight back to their hometown in Jiangxia.

Therefore, even though they were located upstream and had abundant human and material resources, they were unable to manage or develop any decent navy.

As a result, the fleet at the dock refused to obey Liu Zhang's orders, and most of them fled before Liu Zhang arrived.

As a result, due to the small size of the fleet collected, the number of guards and servants following Liu Zhang was passively reduced.

So when Liu Zhang finally arrived at Yufu City by boat, he had only about 500 male and female attendants with him. He had lost a lot of weight due to depression, anxiety, and the constant escape.

As a result, Yufu City, like the cities it had encountered before, also closed the city and refused to accept anyone.

However, this place is located at a critical location, and instead received the military order to entertain Liu Zhang and escort him out of the country with courtesy.

But the defending general was afraid that Liu Zhang would take the opportunity to seize the city. After all, Yufu City was the eastern gate of Yizhou, and many of the officials and soldiers were Liu Zhang's confidants. If Liu Zhang captured the city, there would be no shortage of people to respond.

Therefore, they simply closed the city gates and only sent people to deliver food and cloth.

Afterwards, they no longer paid any attention to Liu Zhang. When Liu Zhang sent an envoy to the city, he was immediately shot by the defenders, leaving him no chance to communicate.

In this way, Liu Zhang's escape fleet sailed downstream.

At this time, a more professional merchant fleet arrived in Jiangling later than Liu Zhang, but a few days earlier than Liu Zhang, and brought news from Yizhou.

In just half a day, the news was placed on Liu Biao's desk.

Liu Biao looked angry and breathlessly as he read the intelligence. He felt that it was impossible, absolutely impossible.

How could the huge and prosperous Yizhou be so weak?

It breaks at the slightest touch?
He couldn't help but think of Gan Ning, and at the same time, thought of Cao Cao who was beaten and expelled by Gan Ning.

Cao Cao must have suffered a great loss as he actually gave up Heluo and openly disobeyed the imperial edict of the Huainan court by marching his troops eastward to Qingzhou.

Liu Biao's thoughts went back to the year when Liu Zhang succeeded to the throne. He is so weak now. He should have listened to the advice of Liu He, his deputy. With people like Gan Ning in the army, it would be easy to capture Yufu City.

To the east of Yizhou, there is only one natural barrier called Yufu City!

At the same time, there is the Yangtze River transportation route, so this is the real shortcut to enter Yizhou!
It is much easier to fight than the Hanzhong direction which is mainly based on the plank road!
Finally, he gave up...

If he had been able to control Jing and Yi back then, act as a mediator, and lead the scholars of the two states to check and balance each other, how could he be in the situation he is in now?
The more Liu Biao thought about it, the heavier the depression became.

Before his son Liu Qi arrived, Liu Biao could not control himself, spit out blood, and fell backwards with his face pale as gold paper. His back of the head hit the wooden floor with a crisp sound.

In the last moments, Liu Biao's eyes were blurred, his lungs ached, and he was mumbling something, looking very unwilling.

(End of this chapter)