Chapter 94: Bias of Interest
In front of Cai Mao's chariot, the confiscated armor and weapons were piled up in categories.

Having not yet been washed, many pieces of armor were slippery with blood, attracting flies to circle around them.

Black Bear climbed onto Cai Mao's chariot, spread his arms and sat on the low couch. He tried it out and felt: "Too low, not comfortable."

Gan Ning came to the front of the car holding a helmet. He only had time to roughly wash the blood stains on his face, but there were still blood scabs on his neck that he couldn't rub off.

He was about to report when he saw a knight galloping up to the chariot and reining in his horse: "General! Wen Pin has taken in more than 30 fleeing rebels and detained 10 of our pursuing officers!"

The weather was hot at the time, and the knight's face was stained with sweat and dust, looking dirty: "Those who were detained are all soldiers from the 29th Squadron of the White Flag Battalion!"

"Wen Pin is testing me."

Black Bear lazily sat on the couch, his hands resting on the armrests, and said to Gan Ning, "Xingba, continue to sort out the prisoners. I'll go see Wen Pin."

Gan Ning was anxious: "Why should we trouble the commander?"

"Let me go. After you screen the military leaders, take the time to rest the officers and soldiers and treat the wounded on both sides. Treat all those who are still alive."

It doesn’t matter whether the seriously injured prisoners can be saved or not, what matters is that we maintain the right attitude.

The Qingzhou soldiers acted with great discretion, leaving almost no casualties, either serious or minor.

Immediately, several Qingzhou soldiers who were good at driving drove the chariots, and more than a hundred energetic Qingzhou soldiers surrounded the chariots and headed eastward along Longzhong Road.

In less than three miles, they arrived at Wen Pin's position.

Most of Wen Pin's officers and soldiers were resting, with only two or three hundred men standing in formation facing west to carry out basic vigilance.

Wen Pin stood in the road with his sword drawn and his horse mounted, followed by ten disarmed Qingzhou soldiers.

His eyes were fixed on the general in heavy golden armor and wearing a double-edged halberd standing beside the chariot. He didn't expect that the other party had changed into a new set of armor and robes after the battle. At this moment, the white robe and golden armor were spotless.

However, in his heart, he was frightened by the other party's incredible physical strength and envied the dragon horse he was riding.

The chariot gradually approached, and Wen Pin stepped forward and bowed: "Is it the captain of Henghai, Lord Hei?"

"it's me."

Black Bear raised his eyebrows and looked up and down at Wen Pin, who was seven or eight steps away. "I won't talk nonsense with you. Release my people, as well as the rebels they are chasing. Otherwise, it will be difficult for me to explain to the Qingzhou soldiers."

Wen Pin tightened the reins with his left hand and his lance with his right hand: "Today, the battle has stopped. You and I should both take a step back. I will release the soldiers under the command of the captain. Captain, please do not embarrass me anymore."

"Do you think your request is reasonable?"

Black Bear raised his finger and pointed at the wooden screen with the Chinese character Cai standing behind the couch. "This man was collaborating with the enemy. Our army defeated Xiahou Dun and seized a letter from Cai Mao that showed him collaborating with the enemy. Prince Liu Qi sent it to Xiangyang, but Liu Zhennan did not respond for a long time, so he suspected that Cai Mao had intercepted it."

"So you raised an army to fight the rebels. Just now, the two armies were fighting. Our army worked hard to suppress the rebellion, but you just stood by and watched. What's the reason? Our army was chasing the defeated soldiers, and you kidnapped our officers and soldiers. Are you taking advantage of our army's fatigue after the battle and its inability to fight again?"

This is bullshit.

Black Bear waved his hand and said with a smile: "How dare you kidnap my people!"

"Captain Black!"

When Wen Pin saw 'Tai Shi Wen Gong' riding towards him, he could not help but shouting in a hurry, but the godly general Lu Bu sped up his horse regardless and arrived in front of Wen Pin in half a breath.

He raised his spear and chopped. Seeing that the opponent's horse was not moving fast, Wen Pin held the spear with both hands and held it across his head.

He successfully resisted, but he underestimated the power of Lu Bu's burst and also greatly underestimated the heaviness of the Fang Tian Ji.

For a moment, his arms felt numb and his heart beat faster.

Without giving him a chance to catch his breath, Lu Bu stopped his horse, raised the heavy Fang Tian Ji and chopped down again.

Wen Pin didn't dare to change his actions and could only take it again.

Soon, Lu Bu used the rebound force of his lance to raise his Fang Tian Ji and chopped it down again. Wen Pin did not dare to gamble on the toughness of the spear again.

He immediately dropped his spear and dodged sideways. As the Fang Tian Ji was about to slide down his shoulder, Lu Bu stopped it forcefully. He spun the Fang Tian Ji to hook onto Wen Pin's armor belt and then pushed and dragged him hard with his backhand.

Wen Pin had no chance to resist or struggle and was immediately hooked off his horse.

Before he could stand up, the crescent groove of the Fang Tian Ji was hanging upright on the top of his gilded helmet.

Wen Pin didn't dare to move now, and the soldiers who tried to go forward to help also retreated, but dozens of bows and crossbows were aimed at the black bear.

Immediately, several Qingzhou soldiers holding shields on the car protected Black Bear, which made Black Bear stunned and inexplicably moved.

He and the Qingzhou soldiers really just had a crude cooperative relationship.

"Get out of the way. I have no intention of killing Wen Pin, and there is no need for him to hurt me."

The Qingzhou soldiers then retreated to the left and right. Black Bear lowered his eyebrows and looked at Wen Pin: "Hand over my men and Cai Mao's defeated soldiers. Don't be angry. It is your honor to be able to block three attacks from Taishi Wengong."

Although he was unable to use his full strength in order to capture Lu Bu alive, Wen Pin was also careless for a moment.

However, if it really came to hand-to-hand combat, Black Bear estimated that this person could at most take Lu Bu's second move.

The first move is a heavy blow to break the defense, and most of the first-rate generals who can be defeated are stiff and slow to react, and then the second move is used to reap the rewards.

If it is a cavalry-warrior confrontation, a top-notch confrontation, the opponent can often be defeated in one round.

Wen Pin lowered his head and said nothing, appearing to be very stubborn.

Black Bear just smiled and looked up at the other military officer: "Now that I have captured Wen Pin, it won't be difficult to defeat you. Don't cause trouble for your Liu Zhennan, and don't bring disaster to Wen Pin."

Seeing Wen Pin's objection, the dozen or so military officers immediately sent half of them back. They quickly re-armed the ten Qingzhou soldiers who had been disarmed and drove the thirty-two prisoners back.

He motioned for these people to go first, and then Black Bear controlled Lu Bu to retreat to the side of the chariot and asked Wen Pin: "Master Liu Qi will soon meet up with me to discuss important matters. Do you want to go?"

"I have been ordered to defend this place. Without my lord's order, I cannot accept your invitation."

Wen Pin's hands were sore and tired. He looked up at the masked 'Taishi Wengong' and said with deep emotion: "Taishigong, he is truly a man of heaven."

Black Bear simply controlled Lu Bu to raise his hand and adjust his mask, and then said to Wen Pin: "Now that Cai Mao is dead, I have obtained the official seal of the governor of Nanjun that he carried with him. I would like to ask Prince Liu Qi to hold this seal. What do you think, General?"

Wen Pin was surprised and did not respond.

Seeing this, Black Bear nodded slightly and said to the Qingzhou soldiers on his left and right with a smile: "See, General Wen has no objection to this matter."

Wen Pin frowned and seemed to be hesitant to speak.

Black Bear laughed, "If you don't oppose, then you support. At this time, there is no third way. I expect that Lord Xuande will go straight from Xinye to Fancheng to wait and see how the situation develops in the evening. There should be no more conflicts south of the Han River." "Yes, the peace and happiness in Jingzhou is hard-won. I hope Captain Black can stop while he is ahead. Although I am not talented, I am willing to die for my lord."

Wen Pin lowered his head and took off the sword hanging at his waist. He stepped forward and handed it to Lu Bu with both hands. He looked up and said earnestly, "Thank you, Taishigong, for not killing me."

He knew very well that he might be killed by the other party by mistake at any time.

Just as Black Bear said, there should be no more military conflicts on the south bank of the Han River.

One conflict can be explained as suppressing a rebellion, but if another conflict breaks out, it will be very difficult to appease the people.

Belief is a very precious thing. Once it collapses, Xiangyang will lose its uniqueness and become no different from other places in troubled times.

So just now, if 'Tai Shi Wen Gong' really killed him, then his death would have been in vain.

Compared with the well-being of thousands of people in Jingxiang, Wen Pin's life is not worth mentioning at the moment.

Lu Bu stretched out his hand to catch Wen Pin's sword, and even pulled out half of it and pretended to look at it, then hung it on his belt, which was an extra belt for weapons.

From beginning to end, he didn't say a word. Although Wen Pin felt regretful, he still admired him very much.

It was not until he watched the chariot leave and the military officers and guards came up to him that Wen Pin staggered and whispered, "Take off my armor quickly!"

The military officers gathered together out of curiosity, and several personal soldiers helped Wen Pin take off his gilded Ming Guang armor. Under the Ming Guang armor was a layer of close-fitting silver-gilt chain mail.

Under the chain mail was an armored uniform. With Wen Pin's cooperation, the personal soldiers took off Wen Pin's shirt directly, and saw that his strong arms were covered with bloodshot and red.

He had just been holding up the spear to block the impact, which caused the capillaries under the skin of his arms to burst, and possibly the muscle fibers to rupture.

At this moment, all the military officers were horrified. One of them was thankful and said, "This Grand Historian Wengong did hold back. If he had used the halberd blade to chop the spear shaft, I'm afraid..."

Yes, Wen Pin only realized it after he was hooked off his horse. The opponent did not use the halberd blade to chop the spear shaft and failed to take advantage of the heavy weapon.

Black Bear returned to the temporary camp and, as usual, went to the river to see how the wounded were being treated.

Li Feng was treating the wounded under the scorching sun. Li Feng's own young Taoist apprentice and more than thirty Taiping Taoists captured from Bowangpo were busy together.

The Qingzhou soldiers forced the captives to carry the wounded from both sides, and used the captured spears, flagpoles and cloth to build curtains and sheds nearby to accommodate the wounded.

Black Bear did not go forward to disturb him. Li Feng was very busy now and would not give him a good look.

After replenishing Li Feng's place with about two bamboo baskets of peaches, Black Bear reunited with Gan Ning.

Gan Ning squatted by the Tan River to wash the blood off his neck. More than a thousand captives were being forced to carry stones not far downstream in an attempt to build a dam to store water.

There is such a severe water shortage that after the dam is built, only seven or eight thousand people around can use it.

Black Bear also took some water to wash his face, and said, "The Qingzhou soldiers have done a great job. I am prepared to redeem each of the prisoners with a piece of cloth."

Money and property are no longer a problem, Gan Ning is also troubled by this issue.

Before the uprising, Liu Biao had made the worst-case scenario plan, which meant he had made preparations in advance.

Even if he knew that Liu Biao had made preparations beforehand, Gan Ning would still insist on fighting.

I have to come to terms with all the frustration I've endured over the years.

But I really didn't expect that Liu Biao would arrange Cai Mao to fight a decisive battle with his side.

What has been captured now are Cai's troops, not Cai Mao's troops alone.

The various Cai clans were powerful, and Cai Mao was just the leader among them.

In other words, many people in Zhucai have now been captured alive.

Even if it is out of humanitarian considerations that the Cai people are allowed to redeem themselves... that also means that the other party's property, slaves, etc. can all reasonably fall into our hands.

At this time, whoever confiscates the property of the Cai family is equivalent to confiscating his own treasury.

After getting part of the property of Zhu Cai, who would care about the little grain support from Jingzhou every month?
If you have money, what kind of food can’t you buy?

Even if Liu Biao imposed an embargo and blocked the Han River, as long as the money was given, there would be plenty of people to sell grain!
The new contradiction is there, but the initiative to detonate it is not in our hands.

Gan Ning felt somewhat disappointed, but said to Black Bear, "General, when I cut off Cai Mao's head, my hatred for the old villain had already mostly disappeared. If the old villain insists on swallowing up the Cai family's wealth, will you fight to the end?"

"Xingba means to give in a little?"

"I don't want to fight anymore. I want to withdraw as soon as possible and attack Wuguan Road for General Qu. But if I take a step back now, the old thief will only press on and oppress General Qu until he has no room to retreat."

Gan Ning said with a depressed tone: "The old thief is cunning. He must be trying to destroy the prosperity of Jingxiang at this moment, otherwise he will definitely be plotted against. He kept Cai Mao with the intention of doing what he did today."

Gan Ning then calmed down and looked at Black Bear seriously: "General Qu started his business from scratch, what else do you have to lose? We must not give in now. The worst that can happen is that we can destroy Jingzhou and free countless people from their shackles."

After a pause, he immediately said, "We must seek an explanation today. If the old thief is determined to swallow up the Cai family's wealth, then today's captives will definitely be the warriors under the command of the commander tomorrow!"

"Don't hand over the prisoners. Even if you go to Guanzhong, you must take them with you."

"With these deep-rooted elite troops in Jingzhou, Jingzhou will not dare to offend General Qu."

This group of captives will be the future guides and returning home group.

Black Bear didn't find it strange, he just felt sorry that he had fought the battle alone.

If Liu Qi, Yi Ji, Wang Wei and more than 5,000 people also participated, there would not be so much headache.

By that time, both sides' armies had captured prisoners of the Cai state, and they would have a common stance on protecting the legitimate property of the Cai state.

Only by keeping the assets of Zhu Cai can Zhu Cai redeem the people.

But now, only our side has major interests involved, and there is a deviation from Liu Qi and his gang.

Therefore, you must be prepared for another battle. Only when you are prepared can Liu Biao and his son truly respect your interests.

If it really comes to that, as Gan Ning said, the captives now will be the charging warriors in the next battle.

The Cai family has been running Jingzhou for so long, how could they not have other forces?

Other forces will also converge, and by then the situation will be completely out of control.

(End of this chapter)