“What? Lingqi is gone?” Liu Mang pulled the messenger as the asked. Liu Mang was currently a strong person and easily pulled up the messenger.
The messenger started to suffocate. “Little Lord…” The messenger tried to struggle but could not find the strength.
“Milord!” Huang Zhong went forward to help the messenger. Liu Mang was not paying attention because he was emotionally stirred. Huang Zhong forecefully saved the messenger from Liu Mang. The messenger had strenuously came all the way from Lujiang. He only managed to reach Liu Mang after avoiding Liu Bei’s scouts with much difficulty. He also pushed one horse to death to arrive at Guangzhou. Now, the messenger was trying hard to recover after Liu Mang let him go.
“When did she go missing?” Liu Ye also walked to the front. He had not met her before but he knew of her importance. Initially, Liu Mang was a member of the Lu Bu’s Army but it was now different. Liu Mang had his own army, with people loyal to Liu Mang, forming his own branch. Amongst Liu Mang’s generals, the only one with more loyalty to Lu Bu was Cheng Yu. For the others, Lu Bu was only Liu Mang’s father-in-law.
Lu Lingqi was the decisive factor as to whether Liu Mang would be able to inherit Lu Bu’s properties. Without her, the Lu Bu’s Army and Liu Mang’s Army would become different factions regardless of whether the two of them desired it. At worst, the two armies may end up opposing each other.
“That is… Half a month ago…” The messenger cautiously replied.
“Half a month ago!?” Liu Mang furrowed his brow. He finally understood why Lu Bu dispatched the Wolf Cavalry. They had no support to fight against twenty thousand Xiliang Cavalry and shouldn’t have dared to go to Yangzhou. Liu Mang finally understood that Lu Bu’s movements was to find Lu Lingqi.
“Why did you not inform me earlier?” Liu Mang was angry. The messenger could have been forgiven as Liu Mang was still at Yuzhou half a month ago. However, Liu Mang later stayed at Guangzhou, so the message should have been delivered to him. Receiving this information half a month later was too slow.
Lu Lingqi was not only Lu Bu’s daughter. She was also his wife. How could he not worry when his wife went missing?
“This is… Milord said not to let Little Lord be worried!” The messenger explained.
“Bullshit! You think I won’t feel worried now?” Liu Mang shouted as he kicked a table1 sending it flying.
“Milord, quell your anger!” Liu Ye quickly went to appease Liu Mang while asking Huang Zhong to take the messenger away and let him rest.
“Milord. Marquis Wen’s actions are to allow you to fight Liu Bei without worry! He did not want you to be distracted!” Liu Ye considerately explained Lu Bu’s thoughts. Lu Bu did not intentionally hide things from Liu Mang. He simply did not want Liu Mang to act rashly like himself as he regretted causing the loss of the Wolf Cavalry.
Liu Mang sighed. He also understood Lu Bu’s intentions but Lu Bu’s actions were wrong. If he intended to keep this a secret, he should have gone all the way instead of passing the ball to him at this moment.
“Do not worry Milord. We will be able to find her sooner or later!” Liu Ye comforted Liu Mang. Not receiving news of her was the best news. This meant that Lu Lingqi had not yet been captured by anyone. Normal people would not be able to defeat her. She was even stronger than Liu Mang and if she had not been a woman, she would have been as strong as Sun Ce.
Liu Mang had been comforted by Liu Ye but immediately after that, Liu Ye furrowed his brows. This made Liu Mang confused. “Ziyang. Is something wrong?”
“The Miss is missing! Shit! Milord. There is danger!”
“What do you mean she is in danger? Do you have news about her?” Liu Mang was frightened by Liu Ye. Lu Lingqi could be considered to be the woman Liu Mang loved the most in this world. He became frightened when Liu Ye said Lu Lingqi was in danger.
“No. I do not have news of her. It is not her that is in danger but Shouchun! Shouchun is in danger!” Liu Ye realized that this information could not be kept hidden for long. Once this spreads, Liu Bei would benefit. Shouchun was under siege and could not receive any information from the outside. In other words, they do not know that Lu Lingqi had gone missing. If Liu Bei made use of this information, Shouchun would be in danger.
Liu Mang understood Liu Ye’s words and called for his men. His eyes turned sharp.
“Milord. What’s wrong?” Huang Zhong walked in. He had just sent the messenger to rest when he heard Liu Mang shout.
“Hansheng. You came a good time. Mobilize the troops. We might need to set out immediately!” Liu Mang replied to Huang Zhong.
“Set out?”
Liu Mang nodded. They were going to set out not because Guangzhou could no longer be defended. However, if Shouchun were to fall, they would simply get surrounded by Liu Bei and Zhang Xiu. Even the provisions they took from Liu Bei would be of no use. As a result, they needed to march to Shouchun. Initially, Shouchun had no provisions. Even the provisions obtained by Liu Mang was only enough for a few days. However, Liu Mang now had no choice but to go to Shouchun or else it would be in danger.
___
At Shouchun, Xu Shu was patrolling the walls as usual. In the past few days, the Liu Bei’s Army had continued their attacks and had almost captured the city at times. However, Xu Shu was not worried and was instead, happy. He was not worried because Zhao Yun was around. He and Zhao Yun would be able to hold back Zhang Fei and Chen Dao. Besides that, the citizens that participated in battle several times and also picked up weapons were no worse than veteran soldiers. Along with the help of the two hundred White Horses, it could be said that Liu Bei had no choice but to sacrifice a large part of his army if he wanted to capture Shouchun.
Xu Shu was happy because the attacks showed that Liu Bei was in a hurry. He was certain that this meant that Liu Bei was in trouble, which also meant that Liu Bei’s supply route had been cut off.
“Are they not going to attack today?” A 1000-man commander muttered. This is because Liu Bei would usually attack earlier. The man’s words were extremely timely as rows of heavy infantries then came out from Liu Bei’s camp.
“Hm?” Xu Shu looked at the Xiliang Cavalry that also came out from Liu Bei’s camp and frowned. When did Zhang Xiu and Liu Bei’s relationship with each other improved to the extent that the Xiliang Cavalry came out from Liu Bei’s camp? After all, they had recently just been provoked to fight against each other. Even stranger still was that the Xiliang Cavalry was facing the city as though they were planning to charge right into the walls.
“Military Advisor, be careful!” While Xu Shu was pondering about things, a Xiliang Cavalry soldiers shot an arrow towards the wall. Without even needing Zhao Yun’s command, a soldier protected Xu Shu with his shield. Even if the archer was powerful, it would be hard for the arrow to retain its strength after flying up the walls. In the end, the arrow simply fell onto the ground of the walls.
“Hm?” Zhao Yun looked at the arrow and immediately saw something out of place. On the arrow was a plain white cloth. Zhao Yun walked over and picked up the arrow. He then saw the handwriting on it and said, “Military Advisor. This is a letter!”
“A letter? Let me see.” Xu Shu took the letter from Zhao Yun’s hands and read it. His brows furrowed the more he read. After Xu Shu finished reading the letter, he almost threw it away in anger.
“What happened?” Zhao Yun was a little bit confused. Just what exactly was in that letter to make Xu Shu so angry?
“Zilong. Take a look at it yourself!” Xu Shu did not know how to explain and handed the white cloth back to Zhao Yun. As Zhao Yun was literate, it did not take long for him to have the same expression as Xu Shu.
“Intolerable! Trying to use a woman to capture Shouchun? How despicable!” Zhao Yun became angry when he read the letter. It was written that Liu Bei had caught Lu Lingqi, which was Liu Mang’s wife and Lu Bu’s daughter. The letter demanded Shouchun for her safe release. They wanted to threaten Xu Shu with Lu Lingqi’s life. This was not the actions of a hero. Nobody had used hostage to threaten others since the Yellow Turban Rebellion. Even Lu Bu did not do such things and only ransomed her.
“Military Advisor. Do you think they have really captured Milady?” Zhao Yun had joined Liu Mang at Hefei and had never seen Lu Lingqi before. Common sense dictates that Lu Lingqi should be at Lujiang and not in Liu Bei’s hands.
“I don’t know!” Xu Shu also sighed. First grade advisors were resourceful. They could see the whole picture from just a small hint. Lu Bu dispatching the Wolf Cavalry had disappointed Xu Shu. He did not know why Lu Bu would do such a thing. Now, he understood why.
“Zilong, let’s go. Let us see how Big Eared Liu wants to play this!” Xu Shu was angry as Liu Bei used a woman as a hostage to threaten them. Liu Bei’s hypocritical actions were plain to see but even Xu Shu himself had once thought of Liu Bei as the hero.
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案几 Some kind of ancient furniture. It is a rectangular table like furniture with varying heights. It could be used as chair (short), it could be a table (taller), it could be a side table. You could literally replace all the furnitures in your house with this. You could even line them up and you get stairs. Story didn’t specify which type and I am now a furniture expert. Does this count as an occupational hazard?