Liu Bei have been experiencing many bad days. He had chosen to offend Liu Biao for profit and to destroy Jingzhou’s alliance with Yangzhou.
Not only was the alliance not destroyed. The provisions he had taken were also robbed from him by his most hated enemy, Liu Mang Liu Hanyang. The total amount of provisions he had lost thanks to Liu Mang was about four hundred thousand.
That was not all. Liu Bei wanted to stay in Fancheng to defeat the Allied Forces. Using Fancheng’s defenses, he could win and make Liu Biao afraid. Then he would be able to extort provisions from Liu Biao. Unfortunately, his plans failed again as the Allied Forces did not attack Fancheng directly. They used catapults to throw rocks into Fancheng. About twenty catapults were constructed on site by Yangzhou’s troops. These catapults launched rocks into Fancheng all day, every day.
Even though Fancheng’s walls were high, their walls were now full of holes. Liu Bei did not lose many troops but morale was low. None of them wanted to be crushed.
If this was the only problem, Liu Bei could have placated the troops with his charisma. However, the shameless Allied Forces even built walls outside the city.
Liu Bei originally thought this was a joke. Tall walls could not be made so quickly. Unfortunately, he did not know about cements. To him, it seemed like they were mixing some ash like powder with water. Yet the end result was stronger than the bricks they usually used. A wall about three meters tall was made in half a month.
The wall was still small but Liu Bei was afraid as he could not attack the enemy that hid themselves in their camp. If Liu Bei were to attack, the ones that suffer would be himself. His heavy cavalry can only be effective in field battles. He also did not have his Qingzhou Troops with him. Without his Qingzhou Troops, he could not fight an army of thirty thousand.
In terms of provisions, Liu Biao, and thus the Allied Forces naturally had plenty. On the other hand, Fancheng was running out. Although the Allied Forces could not attack, they would soon build a wall that would dwarf Fancheng’s own walls. At that time, Liu Bei who is out of provisions would be trapped.
Liu Bei gnashed his teeth in anger. He could only choose to break out of the enclosure. As Chen Deng and the Allied Forces did not try to stop Liu Bei, he was able to leave easily. Even though Liu Bei burned down Fancheng as he left, the Yangzhou Army did not care. Fancheng was not their territory.
Although Chen Deng did not intercept Liu Bei, it does not mean that others did not intercept Liu Bei. The White Horses, under Zhao Yun’s leadership, demonstrated guerrilla warfare to Liu Bei. Their new Deputy General, Liu Tian, also did not disappoint.
After Deng Tian’s family was rescued, they were sent straight to Yangzhou with escorts. Meanwhile, Deng Tian went straight to Zhao Yun and became the Deputy General. With such an educated Deputy General, Zhao Yun’s efficiency increased. With the White Horses harassing Liu Bei, Liu Bei could not do anything.
Liu Bei could not chase the White Horses and they would continue harassing Liu Bei even if they were ignored. Liu Bei who had already been retreating ended up losing several thousand troops.
It was not just the White Horses that attacked but also the Wolf Cavalry. Although they did not have two horses like the White Horses, their horses were the Arabian Horses Liu Mang brought from the future. On top of that, the Wolf Cavalry were the strongest elite unit. Regardless of who the enemy was, the Wolf Cavalry will just charge in. Their speed was also faster than the Xiliang Cavalry so they could also escape.
In the end, Liu Bei only had two choices. The first was to slowly get killed. The second was to abandon their provisions and quickly escape with the Xiliang Cavalry.
Liu Bei could not choose at all. On one hand, he had already lost a lot of troops. Losing any more would be disastrous. On the other hand, he also did not have much provisions left.
In the end, Liu Bei ordered the Xiliang Cavalry to grab as much provisions they can carry and escape. The infantries would be left behind to cover their escape.
At the end of it all, Liu Bei lost five thousand Xiliang Cavalry and the Nanyang region. As for provisions, they only managed to obtain a total of thirty thousand provisions. It was a crushing defeat.
****
After recapturing Fancheng, there was a lively celebration at Jingzhou.
“Come! Your Highness! I drink to you!” Liu Biao’s face was red. It was the first victory Jingzhou had in many years. All this time, Jingzhou had been pressured by others, especially by Jiangdong. Although they weren’t able to kill Liu Bei, they had still managed to recapture Fancheng and chase Liu Bei out of Nanyang. It was definitely a great victory.
“What a heroic youngster! Being allies with you is the best decision I have ever made!” Liu Biao drank happily as he continued to praise Liu Mang.
“Your Highness King of Shu! I, Zhang Mou drink to you!” Zhang Yun said as he proposed a toast. “This is for the officers and soldiers at the front lines! May Jingzhou and Yangzhou forever remain allies!”
“General Zhang is too polite.” Liu Mang nodded and emptied his cup without standing. The victory at Fancheng was not a surprise to Liu Mang. However, the news of victory was still something pleasing to hear.
“Your Highness! Zhang Mou drinks another cup to you for the common people of Fancheng!” Zhang Yun said as he drank another cup, for the deed of allowing the people of Fancheng to return to Jingzhou.
“Your Highness! Zhang Mou drinks this third cup to you for his unfilial brother!” Zhang Yun drank a third cup, this time for allowing his brother Zhang Gui to redeem himself.
“If General Zhang Gui did not have the ability, I would not have been able to recapture Fancheng even if I had recommended him.” Liu Mang laughed.
After Zhang Yun, the other reputable people also proposed a toast towards Liu Mang. Even the Cai Family and the Lumen Academy who used to oppose him now nodded at him with approval.
After they had all drank to their hearts content, Liu Mang did not leave. He knew that Liu Biao would have something to discuss with him. Unexpectedly, Cai Mao was the first to speak.
“Your Highness. We have recaptured Fancheng but there are plenty of things that needs to be done in Fancheng.” Cai Mao said. One of the most important things that needed to be done was regarding the Nanyang Region.
When Liu Bei was defeated, he did not only lose Fancheng but the Nanyang region. The Nanyang region was now without a Lord. As Nanyang was once JIngzhou’s territory, Jingzhou had a say in this matter. However, they could not directly annex Nanyang as the ones that recaptured Fancheng was the Yangzhou Army.
“What does Your Highness think about the Nanyang region?” Zhang Yun asked.
“The Nanyang region…” Liu Mang muttered as he drank some tea to keep himself sober. At the same time, he pretended to be dumb and praised the location instead of answering the question.
“Your Highness! We offer fifty thousand gold!” Cai Mao started with a figure. It was good figure but Liu Mang continued pretending. Cai Mao raised the price by offering other things such as armor, horses, and provisions but Liu Mang remained unmoved.
“Your Highness! What exactly do you want?” Liu Biao asked impatiently. After recapturing Fancheng, he had to take Nanyang as well as part of recovering lost territory. This was important for popular sentiment.
“The Nanyang region is where the Emperor Guangwu of Han made his fortune.” Liu Mang praised Nanyang one more time to raise its price. He then went to his main objective.
“I want the Xinye region and the three counties around it.” Liu Mang’s meaning was clear. He can give up the Nanyang region but he must have Xinye.
