Liu Xuan Enters Jiangling

  On the official road to Jiangling, a large army with fluttering flags and banners marched like a tortoise, with a big "Liu" character and a "Gan" character printed on the wind-swept flags.

  In the midst of the army, Liu Xuan gazed into the distance with half-closed eyes at the rolling dust storm, silent and unspoken. In his heart, he thought: "This time going to Jiangling, although temporarily escaping Cai Mao's grasp, afterwards still have to go to Xiangyang to report back, isn't this still under danger?"

  "Ah... this is messed up, damn it......" Liu Xuan couldn't help but blurt out a curse. Next to him, Liu Qi, who was wailing in distress, heard Liu Xuan's indistinct swearing and paused for a moment, then looked at Liu Xuan with a puzzled expression, asking softly: "A Xuan, what did you just say?"

  Liu Xuan came back to his senses, chuckled and stared at his "brother" who was now frowning and gritting his teeth. Liu Xuan was truly defeated. The army set out from Xiangyang, and unexpectedly, Liu Qi ran over to tell Liu Xuan to take a horse carriage to Jiangling. Liu Xuan couldn't help but roll his eyes, thinking: "Liu Qi is indeed a playboy, no matter where he goes, he can't change his spoiled habits."

  Liu Qi looked at Liu Xuan's uncooperative rolling of his eyes, knowing he had gotten nowhere, Liu Qi sulked and rubbed his nose for a moment, then gritted his teeth and personally went with Liu Xuan to Jiangling. The army marched from Xiangyang to Jiangling in full force, which would normally take only five or six days, but due to Liu Qi's "dragging", the army had traveled only 2/3 of the distance after five days.

  This made General Gan Ning extremely dissatisfied, and Liu Qi's actions made Gan Ning rather disdainful. Gan Ning also understood that Liu Qi and Liu Xuan were not ordinary people, but he had to swallow his anger and acknowledge them. However, it was Liu Xuan who surprised Gan Ning instead. From time to time, Liu Xuan would discuss military strategies with him, and at the age of ten, he was unusually mature. What surprised Gan Ning even more was that Liu Xuan seemed to have a charming personality that made people want to get close to him. After several days, Liu Xuan had already become inseparable from the five thousand soldiers who went to Jiangling.

  But if Liu Qi didn't have the unique identity of being the eldest son of the Jingzhou governor, these 5,000 soldiers might not have even looked at him. This made Gan Ning sigh and wonder why there was such a big difference between people.

  After a long time, Gan Ning rode his horse to Liu Xuan's side, where Liu Qi was standing. Gan Ning first exchanged greetings with Liu Qi before turning his gaze towards Liu Xuan. He saw that Liu Xuan was smiling and looking at him, saying in a soft voice: "Big Brother Xingba, are you going to Jiangling?"

  As for Liu Xuan's 'Xingba Gege', Gan Ning was quite helpless, but in the past few days, Liu Xuan's generous temperament had also been to Gan Ning's taste, and he just laughed it off. Upon hearing Liu Xuan's words, Gan Ning let out a soft laugh and responded, "That's right, at this pace, we'll be able to enter Jiangling in three or four more hours!"

  Gan Ning's tone became increasingly severe over the next three or four hours, and Liu Xuan, who was listening from the side, secretly smiled to himself. However, Liu Qi, who had been listless on horseback, became excited upon hearing this and exclaimed: "That's great, General Gan! Let's hurry up and issue orders for our troops to march, and try to arrive at Jiangling as soon as possible!"

  As soon as Liu Qi said this, Liu Xuan and Gan Ning both twitched at the corner of their mouths, looking at Liu Qi with strange eyes. Liu Qi saw his pale face slightly red, and weakly said: "I meant..."

  "Zi De's elder brother is right, Xing Ba big brother, let's hurry up and try to enter Jiangling earlier!" Liu Xuan saw that his cousin was somewhat embarrassed, and couldn't help but clear his throat, looking at Gan Ning with a clear gaze.

  "Alright, Gan Ning then ordered to hasten their pace and enter Jiangling City early." Upon hearing this, Gan Ning also withdrew his gaze and calmly said: "However, Gan's military discipline is strict. If someone cannot keep up along the way..."

  "Xing Ba big brother directly ordered, Xuan guaranteed that 'certain person' would not hold on." Liu Xuan's face turned serious, and he patted his chest to guarantee.

  Liu Qi, who was standing beside them, saw Liu Xuan and Gan Ning singing in harmony, felt very helpless and depressed, secretly glared at Liu Xuan, but saw that Liu Xuan didn't even notice himself, silently cursed him. After a moment, with a single order from Gan Ning, the whole army began to speed up.

  The army was used to marching slowly, but suddenly they had to speed up and rush into Jiangling with one breath. The army immediately had a murmur of dissatisfaction, but then they shut their mouths under Gan Ning's cruel rule and marched towards Jiangling with all their might!

  Jiangling City, the government office of the governor.

  In the hall, Liu Bei sat in the main seat with a dignified appearance, to his left were Liu Hu and Han Xi, as well as Wen Ping who had just arrived with his army. To his right was Fu Shuo, who slightly narrowed his eyes. Liu Bei was surprised that Wen Ping had brought his troops here, thinking to himself that Wen Ping should be in the north harassing Xuchang at this time. After all, in this era without wireless telegraphy, mobile phones or telegram communication means, it was impossible to know that Liu Biao had received consecutive military information from Gan Ning and Liu Bei, and ordered Wen Ping and Wang Wei to retreat.

  After Wen Hui spent half a day explaining the reasons, Liu Bei slapped his thigh and sighed repeatedly, with a hint of blame in his tone: "Brother Jing Sheng is confused..."

  In the hall, Han Xi, Liu Hu, Wen Ping, Fu Shou and others all fell silent. The hall suddenly became quiet. After a moment, Liu Bei's eyes fixed on Wen Ping, and he asked in a soft voice: "Zhongye, I heard that you brought 30,000 troops with you. Are they the Xiangyang army?"

  Liu Bei's words came out, Fu Shou, Han Xi, and Liu Hu also stared at Wen Ping with dead eyes. Wen Ping saw the gaze of the crowd, spread his hands, and smiled: "The uncle's words are right, Zhong Ye led the army to guard Xiangyang."

  "Thirty thousand Xiangyang troops?" Fu Shuo, who was in charge of government affairs, frowned and looked at Wen Ping with suspicion, asking: "General Wen, didn't Cai Mao speak out to stop it?"

  "This time, the lord is furious, who dares to persuade him?" Wen Ping heard this and slightly shook his head, helplessly waved his hand, and bitterly smiled: "Before I left the army, the lord had instructed that we should not fight against Jiangdong for the time being, but Zhang Wu and Chen Sun, these two thieves, must be beheaded in front of the lord."

  As soon as Wen Pin's words with a hint of helplessness came out, everyone in the hall was shocked, especially Liu Bei. Liu Bei had originally heard that Wen Pin led an army of 30,000 to come, and his heart was secretly delighted. However, after hearing Wen Pin's slightly cold words, his fiery heart suddenly cooled down.

  "It seems that this time, Jing Sheng won't kill Zhang Wu, and Chen Sun will not give up. Liu Bei's expression turned serious for a moment, then he smiled and said: "Zhong Ye, I'm afraid you'll be the main one on this expedition to Jiang Xia?"

  Liu Bei's gentle words spread, and Liu Hu, Fu Shao, and Han Xi were taken aback for a moment. They then stared intently at Wen Ping, especially Liu Hu, whose gaze was not entirely benevolent. After all, Wen Ping was the great general of Jingzhou; would he be willing to submit to Liu Bei?

  How could Wen Pin not feel Liu Hu's piercing gaze? Hurriedly cupping his hands, he said: "What the imperial uncle says is unreasonable. Before I set out, our lord repeatedly instructed that the imperial uncle would be the commander-in-chief and I would be second in command, jointly managing the army to attack Zhang and Chen, the two rebels."

  The news of Wen's appointment spread, and Liu Hu immediately relaxed his tiger eyes, the corner of his mouth rose, seemingly quite satisfied. Han Xian also smiled faintly, but Liu Bei and Fu Shao exchanged a glance, both seeing a fleeting shadow in each other's eyes.

  "Liu Bei is in charge, Wen Pin is second in command, and they jointly manage the army?"

  When they put it together, Liu Bei and Fu Shuo really understood that Liu Biao didn't particularly believe this "relative" either. From then on, it can be seen that Liu Biao was on guard against Liu Bei. A hint of gloom flashed in the depths of Liu Bei's eyes, just as he was about to speak, a soldier suddenly rushed forward and knelt down, saying: "Uncle, there are large troops coming and going three miles outside the city, with thousands of people, all the way to the outside of the city gate."

  "The city gate officer has ordered the closure of the city gate and sent a small person to urgently report to the imperial uncle."

  Liu Bei's eyebrows furrowed, his eyes gazing at Wen Ping. Wen Ping also slightly shook his head, thinking that when Liu Xuan arrived in Jiangling, Wen Ping had already galloped out of the city to the large camp outside the city to prepare for departure.

  Liu Bei's eyes were gentle as he looked at the soldier, and he asked faintly: "Do you know who the other party is? Who is the commander of their army?"

  "The first is Liu Qi, Liu Xuan. The general leading the army is Gan Ning!" The soldiers and guards hesitated for a moment before hurrying to speak.

  Liu Bei's expression changed greatly, and he exclaimed: "What? Xuan'er, Zi De?" After speaking, he quickly ran out of the hall, mounted a horse, and rushed straight to the city gate!

  Liu Hu, Wen Ping saw Liu Bei so flustered and both rushed to catch up, only Fu Shuo's eyes narrowed slightly, with a hint of other intentions in his gaze. Han Xi's eyebrows were furrowed at this time, hastily asking: "Gong Tie? Gong Tie?"

  Fu Xun seemed to have not heard, his eyes gazing out of the city, muttering to himself: "Zi Wang, what did you say was the purpose of the Crown Prince's visit to Jiangling?"

  "What do you mean?"

  Fu Xun listened and slightly shook his head, his eyes flashing with uncertainty. He let out a mouthful of turbid air, turned to glance at Han Hui, and smiled lightly: "Let's go, we'll take a look too."

  Outside the city!

  Liu Qi, Liu Xuan, and Gan Ning all secretly sized up Jiangling, the crucial stronghold of Jingzhou that could not be lost. Liu Xuan narrowed his eyes as he gazed at Jiangling, which was like a fierce beast lurking in wait, and felt quite shocked in his heart - so this is Jiangling?

  Before long, Liu Xuan seemed to have a feeling and looked towards the city gate. At this time, the city gate slowly opened, and the drawbridge slowly fell down. A knight rode out on horseback, and Liu Xuan's eyes widened as soon as he saw him. The person was indeed Liu Bei. Liu Xuan's heart suddenly surged with a long-lost thrill, which was the feeling of being connected by blood!

  Whether Liu Xuan admits it or not, this body flowing with the blood of Liu Bei is an undisputed fact! When Liu Bei saw Liu Xuan, he suddenly shouted: "Xuan'er..."