Chapter 77: Jingzhou Dilemma
The next morning, Liu Biao burned incense as usual after dinner.

After the incense was finished and I walked out of the quiet room, I saw Wang Can holding a plate of official documents, including letters and bamboo slips. At a glance, there were six or seven of them.

Liu Biao put his hands behind his back and walked towards the front yard government office, pacing slowly, speaking in a relaxed tone: "But has the war in the north produced any results?"

"Yes, Liu Xuande defeated Xiahou Yuanrang. According to the report from the Crown Prince, Xiahou Yuanrang barely escaped with his life, while Yu Jin was badly defeated."

Wang Can was two or three steps behind Liu Biao and also spoke in a cheerful tone.

The incense emanating from Liu Biao made Wang Can rub his nose before continuing, "Last night, I roughly estimated that Liu Xuande had captured and killed no less than 5,000 people."

"We have gained a lot. Is it because the northern soldiers are tired of fighting and their reputation is in vain, or is there some other reason?"

"Liu Xuande pretended to be defeated and fled. Xiahou Yuanrang and Yu Jinjuan quickly pursued him to Bowangpo, where they were ambushed. They fought from early morning to noon, and retreated to the east of Bowangpo, losing most of their armor and equipment. The 800 men under the command of Hei Xiong, the lieutenant of Henghai, followed him and cut off Xiahou Yuanrang's waterway. By dusk, nearly half of the northern soldiers had died of thirst."

"Wait, Xiahou Yuanrang didn't take the water?"

"I don't know whether it was to seize the water, but there was a battle report in Liu Xuande's army, saying that Black Bear's personal guard charged into Xiahou Yuanrang and Yu Jin's position alone in the afternoon, and went back and forth twice to penetrate their formation. Xiahou Yuanrang was unable to stop him, and the Northern Army officers and soldiers have been exhausted since then."

Seeing Liu Biao standing there, Wang Can understood what he meant, took out the battle report and handed it to Liu Biao, and whispered: "This general killed about a hundred people in the front and back battles, and his bravery is unmatched."

"There is such a person?"

Liu Biao felt deeply uneasy. What he hated most was this kind of variable like the lone brave overlord.

He flipped open the paper and read a more detailed battle report, in which he saw that the man repeatedly mentioned how he penetrated the five formations of Xiahou Dun and Yu Jin's two armies, not from the tail to the head and then back, but he changed horses and went back and forth twice.

This is equivalent to breaking through five formations on his own four times!

The northern soldiers were certainly tired and thirsty, but on paper this man had single-handedly penetrated twenty formations!
Liu Biao once briefly served as the Lieutenant Marquis of the Northern Army, responsible for supervising the soldiers of the five camps of the Northern Army and witnessed the training exercises of the most elite cavalry camps.

It is natural to know what kind of terrifying destructive power the cavalry can exert under the leadership of such a fierce cavalry general.

Temporarily suppressing his vigilance and unhappiness, he reached out and picked up Liu Qi's silk book, spread it out and read.

In his letter, Liu Qi expressed great interest in the prisoners of war captured by Liu Bei and Hei Xiong, and wanted Liu Biao's authorization to find a way to replenish these prisoners with Huang Zu.

Since Sun Quan ascended the throne, he has only managed to stabilize the internal situation. If he really wants to maintain stability, he must go to war externally.

The Battle of Jiangxia may break out at any time.

"That's fair."

Liu Biao commented that only he himself knew what he was thinking.

He is still in good health and has plenty of energy, so he can still suppress the big families in Jingzhou.

It’s hard to say what will happen in a few years. With such a good opportunity right in front of us, Liu Qi actually asked to hand over the prisoners to Huang Zu?

Huang Zu was just a semi-subordinate watchdog. The Huang family's old nest was in Jiangxia, and it was not up to Huang Zu whether to guard Jiangxia or not.

Then he picked up Liu Bei's document, and as he expected, Liu Bei described a good time to advance.

Liu Biao picked up Liu Bei's document and placed it on top of the pile of documents: "Convene the shogunate and the provincial government to discuss the matter raised by Xuande. First, see what the attitudes of Liu Xian, Fu Xun, Cai Mao, Kuai Liang, and Han Xi are."

Wang Can held the plate and bowed: "Here."

Liu Biao doesn't care whether to send troops or not, but he doesn't want to take the responsibility either.

If they want to fight, the people of Jingzhou should discuss it among themselves.

If you send troops and lose the battle, don't blame others; if you don't send troops and Liu Bei hates you and you are ridiculed by the officials in the court and the public, you can bear it yourself.

Anyway, Liu Biao thought it was worth a try. Xiahou Dun and Yu Jin had both been defeated so badly, and taking advantage of the situation to send troops would also improve relations with Hebei.

His position as General Zhennan in the government was of a high rank. When Li Jue was in charge of the court, he gave Liu Biao fake authority over the affairs of four states: Yi, Jing, Yang, and Jiao.

From a legal perspective, Liu Biao had the power to conquer the four states that were disobedient, and he also had the authority to directly execute officials with a salary of two thousand stones.

This authority also includes reporting to the governors of the four states and the heads of counties and prefectures.

Among the five people in charge of the meeting, Han Xi was a general commanding troops and was from a prominent family in Nanyang; Liu Xian, the governor, was from Lingling in southern Jing; Cai Mao and Kuai Liang basically represented Xiangyang and Nanjun; Fu Xun was from Beidi County and was the Dongcao official of the Zhennan Shogunate, responsible for selecting and nominating candidates for county officials.

Jingzhou has four major regions. People from Nanyang form their own system. Since the Later Han Dynasty, their competitors have been the dignitaries from Luoyang and later the scholars from Ru and Ying. They have never looked upon people from Nanjun, Jiangxia and Jingnan with any respect.

Jiangxia had a Huang family, but their glorious period was too short. If it had not been destroyed by the Party Ban, the Huang family would have been able to lead the people of Jiangxia to ascend to heaven.

The Jingzhou Provincial Administration of the Later Han Dynasty was always established in Hanshou County, Wuling County, Jingnan. This is also the reason why Guan Yu was very proud of being the Marquis of Hanshou Ting.

At the end of the Han Dynasty, there were continuous rebellions in southern Jing, so the state moved to the prosperous city of Jiangling. The influence of the four counties in southern Jing in the state dropped sharply, making the influence of Nan County gradually stand out.

As a result, the scholars in the three regions on the north bank of the Yangtze River collectively despised and looked down on the four counties in southern Jing. The four counties in southern Jing were accustomed to being despised, and they also began to hate the scholars in northern Jing.

Therefore, in recent years, the scholars of the four counties in southern Jing have actively moved closer to the imperial court, attempting to have an independent personality that can communicate directly with the imperial court and completely get rid of their former big brothers.

Wang Can had no opinion on the internal affairs of Jingzhou. Serving Liu Biao was just a job.

Wang Can had limited affection for Liu Biao, his fellow villager and old friend.

With these official documents, Wang Can met up with his cousin Wang Kai and went directly to find Liu Xian, the governor.

Zhizhong Congshi was a merger of two official positions. Zhizhong was the Beijia of Jingzhou prefecture, and Congshi was the Congshi of Zhennan Shogunate.

The merger of the two official positions made it easier for Liu Xian to coordinate the management of the shogunate and the prefectures, and also meant that the shogunate was one level higher than the prefectures.

For example, before Yi Ji took office as the prefect of Nanxiang County, he was an official in the Zhennan Shogunate and was a colleague of Liu Xian at the same level.

When brothers Wang Can and Wang Kai found Liu Xian, Liu Xian was checking the contemporary essays written by his nephew Zhou Buzhi.

Zhou Buyi was a well-known child prodigy. Liu Xian originally wanted Zhou Buyi to be Liu Ba, a fellow villager from Lingling County, as his teacher. However, Liu Ba had a grudge against Liu Biao, so he lived in seclusion and did not want to have anything to do with anyone related to Liu Biao. This grudge was born out of the grudge of the people of Nanyang. At that time, Sun Jian, the governor of Changsha County, falsely claimed to have obtained the handwritten letters of the three ministers and used deception to gain the support of the Jingnan region to send troops to fight against Dong.

Wuling County Magistrate Cao Yan and Jiangxia County Magistrate Liu Xiang both supported Sun Jian in his campaign against Dong Zhuo, but Sun Jian had been harassed by Governor Wang Rui when he was suppressing a rebellion in southern Jing in his early years, and he did not want to keep Wang Rui to cause trouble.

So Sun Jian led his troops to pretend to be mutinous soldiers and launched a surprise attack on Wang Rui, killing him.

At the same time, he contacted Zhang Zi, the governor of Nanyang County, to join him in defeating Dong Zhuo. Zhang Zi also raised an army in response with the support of Nanyang scholars.

So Sun Jian brought the joint forces of Jingnan and Jiangxia, and annexed the Jingzhou army directly under Wang Rui, and came to Nanyang in a mighty force.

The food pressure for 40,000 to 50,000 troops was heavy, so Sun Jian asked Zhang Zi for some, but Zhang Zi refused.

As a result, Sun Jian became depressed and ill due to the pressure of food shortage. He sent his confidants to look for famous doctors everywhere and offered sacrifices to the mountain gods in the surrounding mountains to pray for their blessings.

Unable to hold on any longer, he wanted to entrust the army to Zhang Zi and invited Zhang Zi to discuss military affairs.

Zhang Zi came happily, and saw Sun Jian, who was lying on the sickbed, throw off the quilt and jump up like Big Bad Wolf. He found an excuse on the spot and pushed Zhang Zi to the gate and killed him.

In order to fight against Dong Zhuo, Sun Jian quickly annexed the army in Nanyang.

At that time, Sun Jian had almost all the troops on the books in various counties of Jingzhou!

Under the pressure of the cause of fighting against Dong Zhuo and the fierce power of Sun Jian, the troops from various counties were constrained by each other and barely merged into one group!
Then Dong Zhuo was under great pressure, so he appointed Liu Biao as the governor of Jingzhou. Liu Biao took office alone on horseback, and at the same time appointed Yuan Shu as the prefect of Nanyang County.

The army that Sun Jian had assembled together suddenly broke out, and the wealthy and powerful families in Nanyang happily defected to the legitimate county governor Yuan Shu with their troops.

Sun Jian's army had to rely on food from Nanyang, and the food supply immediately became a problem.

Sun Jian, who didn't want to die, had no choice but to surrender to Yuan Shu, who in turn gave Sun Jian the position of Governor of Yuzhou.

As for the Jingzhou army under Sun Jian, it was divided into pieces.

The county governors of Jingnan who supported him were expelled one after another. Liu Xiang, the governor of Jiangxia County, was attacked and killed by the Nanyang troops when he withdrew his troops from Nanyang to Jiangxia.

Liu Xiang was Liu Ba's father. At that time, Liu Ba was studying in Xiangyang and was placed under house arrest by Liu Biao, who tried to induce Liu Ba to escape so that he could be captured and executed.

His plan was discovered by Liu Ba, and since then many scholars in Lingling, southern Jing, led by Liu Ba, have been hostile to Liu Biao.

When Liu Biao took office, the commanders in various parts of Jingzhou were causing trouble because Sun Jian had withdrawn all his troops in one go.

The people of Nanyang were not happy for long, as they discovered that Yuan Shu, who came from a noble family, was even more brutal than Sun Jian, who came from a humble family.

It would have been fine if he was just cruel, but Yuan Shu was very unique in how he fought. After his subordinates were destroyed one after another, he would plunder and gather their troops from all over the place.

Nanyang, with a population of over two million, was ruined by Yuan Shu and became a backdrop to the troubled times.

The people of Nanyang not only hated Yuan Shu, but also hated Liu Biao.

If Liu Biao had not brought in Yuan Shu, the people of Nanyang and Jingzhou would not have been so miserable and would have missed the golden time in the early stage of the campaign against Dong Zhuo.

Therefore, the problem in Jingzhou is very serious. The four counties in southern Jing with a population of two million are unwilling to contribute, and Jiangxia has been devastated. How many troops can Nanjun send out?
Even if Jiangxia County and Nan County were combined, their population would still be smaller than Lingling County, let alone Changsha County.

No matter how large the Cai and Kuai families were and how powerful their military forces were, they only had this group of people and would be gone after the battle.

If Zhang Xian, the prefect of Changsha, had not died of illness the year before last, Liu Biao would have never been able to pacify Jingnan.

Neither Liu Bei nor Cao Cao dared to attack rashly, so would the Jingzhou army dare to attack?
It seemed to Black Bear that the big families in Jingzhou were causing trouble, and he thought that the representative figures of the big families in Jingzhou were the brothers Cai Mao and Kuai Liang.

It is true that it was the big families in Jingzhou that were causing trouble, but they were big families in southern Jingzhou.

In Jingzhou, they are at the bottom of the despised group, with a status only slightly higher than that of the Wuxi barbarians... In this case, they might as well talk directly to the Xudu side.

In terms of population, the four counties of southern Jing have an overwhelming advantage over Liu Biao!
This resulted in the fact that even if Liu Biao, Cai Mao and others worked together, they were unable to force Jingnan to send troops to fight.

Anyone with a little bit of common sense knows that Liu Biao is strong on the outside but weak on the inside, and at best he was just the governor of Nanjun County in the late Han Dynasty.

It was because Wang Can saw through this that he was able to serve Liu Biao with confidence.

Liu Biao's ability to resist the Xu Du court was very weak.

So if Liu Bei needed reinforcements, where would Liu Biao get them?
I can't get any reinforcements, and I have to pretend that I can provide them, but I can't.

He had to deceive Liu Bei, Cao Cao, and the people of Jingzhou.

To some extent, Liu Biao was very bloated.

If Liu Bei wanted to kill someone while having dinner, the more than 3,000 troops under his command could be dispatched at any time.

As for Liu Biao, he needed to discuss the matter with others first and then assign the task to a certain officer to carry out.

The reason why such a huge province of Jingzhou belonged to Liu Biao was simply because everyone wanted to live a peaceful life.

Anyone who wants to cause trouble will be ostracized and driven out by everyone.

For example, Gan Ning before.

There are two reasons for all this, both of which are Liu Biao.

First, he took office alone, and second, he was 48 years old when he took office.

If he had brought a few hundred people with him when he took office and was ten years younger, the situation would have been very different.

Therefore, you should start your business early. In troubled times, no one dares to follow an old man with his entire family's head.

(End of this chapter)