My Father in Law is Lu Bu

Chapter 654

The next day, Liu Mang walked into the hall while trembling. His legs felt numb. This wasn’t a wedding night. It was being thrown to the wolves.

Aside from bowing, Zhuge Liang and the other smiled at Liu Mang when they saw him appear. “Milord. Was the time spent with your newly wedded wife comfortable?” Zhuge Liang asked.

Even Lu Su was smiling. The previous day, they all heard Liu Mang asking for help.

Liu Mang gritted his teeth as he looked at Zhuge Liang and the other officials. If it was not because Zhuge Liang cooperated with Zhou Cang and Guan Hai, he would not have married Sun Shangxiang and get punished.

However, Zhuge Liang did not do any ‘crimes’ so Liu Mang could not punish him. He stared at the others coldly before walking towards his seat and closed his eyes. He was too tired.

Seeing Liu Mang sit at the main seat, the officials all became respectful.

“Congratulations Milord for receiving the Sun Family’s daughter.” Zhuge Liang was the first to step forward and congratulate. Xu Shu then stepped forward and added. “Milord. Jiangdong is in jeapordy because of the estrangement between brothers. Please make a decision!”

These two irrelevant matters were brought up on purpose. Before this, Liu Mang could attack Jiangdong because Lu Bu had his title as the Lord of Yangzhou while Jiangdong is actually part of Yangzhou. But then Cao Cao promoted Lu Bu to a Bulwark General which has fame but no authority. As a result, Liu Mang needed a new reason to attack Jiangdong. Only with a righteous purpose will the people follow him. Otherwise, there would be a lot of problems.

Since Liu Mang married Sun Shangxiang, he was now both Sun Ce and Sun Quan’s brother-in-law. The enemies were now relatives. Of course, Liu Mang had no intention of visiting relatives. He just needed a reason to interfere. Now that Jiangdong was in chaos, Liu Mang, as a relative, could interfere saying that he loves his family and therefore could not bear to watch them kill each other. So it would be better to take control for justice and prevent them from killing each other. And after taking control, it would be unlikely for Liu Mang to hand authority back to Sun Ce.

“At Jiangdong, Sun Ce is my wife’s brother. Sun Quan is also my wife’s brother. I don’t want either of them to die.” Liu Mang said while pretending to be heartbroken.

“Milord is a close relative of Marquis Wu. Only by presiding justice in Jiangdong can he prevent them from killing each other!” One civil servant added.

“But all my soldiers are from Yangzhou and not Jiangdong.” Liu Mang deliberately made it difficult.

“Jiangdong is part of Yangzhou. Milord is going to Jiangdong to prevent a massacre. This is to keep the order, Milord must not refuse!” Xu Shu said to Liu Mang and knelt down. The other officials all followed and repeated Xu Shu’s words.

The officials were all happy. They could attack Jiangdong and expand Liu Mang’s influence. There were also countless counties in Jiangdong so some of them would even get promoted.

The generals were also happy since they get to fight and obtain military exploits.

“Alright. Since everyone says this, I will order Lu Xun Lu Boyan to lead the twenty thousand Jiangxia Navy. Furthermore, I will also order ten thousand of Yangzhou’s New Army, five thousand of the Black Flag Army, five thousand of the Xiliang Cavalry to be on standby at Lujiang.” Liu Mang pass down the order.

Forty thousand elites were mobilized despite the fact that Jiangdong could only gather up twenty thousand men at most.

“Milord. General Zhang Liao and the Xiliang Cavalry cannot go to Jiangdong.” Lu Su suddenly said.

“Hm?”

“Milord. Jiangdong is located at the South of the Yangtze River. There are lots of rivers and rain there so the land is muddy and fertile. It would be difficult for the heavy cavalry to be deployed there.” Lu Su was from Jiangdong so he naturally knew what the land there was like.

Liu Mang furrowed his brows at this. Yangzhou’s army was superior because of the two heavy cavalries, the Wolf Cavalry and the Xiliang Cavalry. In the era of cold weapons, they were capable of tearing apart enemy formations and leaving them terrified.

“Milord. We are going to Jiangdong not for field battles but to attack the city! There is no need to bring heavy cavalries.” Zhuge Liang also added. Jiangdong did not have enough troops left for field battles. It would only result in sieges or if Sun Ce was sensible he would just surrender.

“Then we bring another twenty thousand of the Yangzhou New Army for a total of fifty thousand men.” Liu Mang added more light infantries since he could not use his heavy cavalry.

“That would be good.”

The deployment was done very quickly with the ministers working together. Xu Shu stamped the seal and took it to the Ministry of Revenue. The Ministry of Revenue released the provisions and the Ministry of War sent it to Lujiang.

***

Liu Mang chose to use diplomacy before force. So a letter was sent to Sun Ce in Jiangdong. On the letter was about how Sun Shangxiang misses her brother and mother. There was nothing to imply that Liu Mang was a threat or any hostilities.

“Marquis Wu, how is it? If Marquis Wu is finished, Marquis Wu can write a letter back to Lady Sun. I will deliver it back to Yangzhou!” One of Yangzhou’s officials smiled at Sun Ce.

Sun Ce was certain that this was Sun Shangxiang’s handwriting. The manner of speaking also belonged to Sun Shangxiang. He knew that Sun Shangxiang went to Yangzhou to become a female official but he did not expect her to suddenly become the Lord’s wife.

“Is she well?” Sun Ce asked the envoy.

“Lady Sun is well but she is concerned about Marquis Wu. She is thinking about when you would visit her.” Liu Mang’s envoy replied.

“Go to Shouchun?” Sun Ce sneered and shook his head. If he were to go to Shouchun, would he be able to come back? “If she is homesick, let her come back. The Sun Family’s doors will always be open for her. If there is nothing else, leave!”

“Does Marquis Wu have any letters for Lady Sun?”

“None!” Sun Ce said and finished his tea, indicating that he was going to see off this guest.

Sun Ce had a complicated expression as he watched the envoy leave. After thinking for some time, he said. “Men! Bring me my horse and follow me to Gongjin’s residence!”