The next day, Zhao Yun came to report that he had captured Mianzhu. It turned out that Fei Guan heard that Liu Xun had been captured and his entire army was wiped out, so he knew that the situation was hopeless, so he opened the city and surrendered when Zhao Yun's troops arrived.
Before they knew it, it was the end of the year. The troops entered Mianzhu, Liu Xun hurried back to Chengdu, and Liu Qi issued orders to all camps, asking the entire army to celebrate the New Year on the spot and wait for news.
There was joy everywhere in Yizhou, except for Shu County, which was filled with gloom. After a brief period of joy, the news of Liu Xun's capture reached the army and civilians, and Liu Zhang was so shocked and angry that he fainted.
When his condition improved, he was about to send someone to negotiate for a rescue, but he saw Liu Xun returning and reporting the military situation, saying that Mianzhu had fallen and Fei Guan had surrendered.
Liu Zhang was so angry that he shouted, "I, Liu Zhang, have never let anyone down, nor am I a cruel ruler. Why am I deserted by my friends and relatives?"
It would have been fine if Pang Xi, a relative of the emperor, had betrayed him, but Fei Guan, who was both his aunt's cousin and Liu Yan's son-in-law, also betrayed him.
Liu Xun gritted his teeth and said, "Liu Qi took advantage of my father and son's weakness, attacked cities and seized land, openly bought people's hearts, and wrote poems to ridicule before leaving. He killed people and also destroyed their hearts. This is really too much!"
After listening to Liu Qi's poem, Liu Zhang was puzzled and said, "I don't think Liu Qi has any intention of harming me and does not want to fight against me. Why would he be sarcastic?"
Liu Xun said coldly: "Liu Qi compared my father and I to beans in a pot. Isn't that just letting him play tricks on us? There is no two suns in the sky, and no two kings on earth. If you don't show your strength, even if you surrender, you will not be able to be reused, and you will just waste your remaining years!"
Liu Zhang sighed sadly, "I am the meat of others, what can I do? My son has promised Liu Qi to surrender, so he must not go back on his word. If he is angered, Chengdu will suffer from war again, and the people in the city will be affected. This is not what I want!"
Liu Xun clenched his fist and said, "I have thought carefully on the way here. Luocheng is strong and has sufficient food and grass. I will challenge Liu Qi again to a duel. Whether we win or lose, it has nothing to do with the safety of Chengdu. If we win, it will show the ability of my father and I. If we lose, we will do our best and there is no need to let down our ancestors!"
Liu Zhang frowned and asked, "My son, are you sure you can fight Liu Qi?"
Liu Xun said: "This defeat is not due to my fault. It is because I was leading troops for the first time and fell into Liu Qi's trap, which led to the discord between the generals and the commanders. If I can work together with all the generals and unite as one, the men in Sichuan may not be powerless to fight."
Liu Zhang was silent for a while, then smiled bitterly and said, "All the generals have surrendered to Liu Qi. Who can we trust in Yizhou?"
Liu Xun said: "There are still 30,000 defenders in the city. I only need 20,000. I will appoint Liu Qi as the general and Zhang Song as the military advisor. Then we will be able to fight Liu Qi!"
Liu Zhang was unwilling to give up his foundation, so he struggled to stand up and summoned all civil and military officials to discuss the matter.
At this time, Chengdu was in turmoil. The pro-war factions were sent out of the city by Zhang Song, and some died or surrendered. The money and grain of the wealthy families in the city were also forcibly requisitioned and emptied. Suddenly, there was a chorus of anti-war voices.
Wang Lei said angrily: "You all only want to protect yourselves, how can you face the First Lord?"
Zheng Du sighed, "If we had rejected Liu Qi, we should have taken precautions when he entered Baxi. Now that the tiger has entered our hall, it is too late to regret."
Liu Qi shouted: "I am the one who feeds you, so I should share your worries! Now that the enemy is at the gates, I have no choice but to draw my sword. Why should I fear life or death?"
I heard someone shouting, "Everyone, stop arguing. Regardless of the current situation, even the celestial omens show that the lord should be with Liu Jingzhou!"
Liu Zhang looked over and saw that it was the great scholar Qiao Zhou. This man was well versed in astronomy and had foresight, so he hurriedly asked, "What do you think, sir?"
Qiao Zhou replied, "I recently observed the sky one night and saw a big star as bright as the moon. This is a sign of an emperor. The stars of Shu County gathered around it, shining brightly. I am borrowing its brilliance! This is a sign that Liu Qi will enter Shu, and we will all be able to rise to prominence. Moreover, there is a children's song in Shu recently saying: 'If you want to eat new food, you must wait for the new master to come.' This is the will of heaven and cannot be reversed!"
Liu Xun was furious, drew his sword and shouted: "This scholar is spreading evil words and confusing the people, disrupting the morale of our army, he deserves to be killed!"
Liu Zhang hurriedly stopped him, looked at Zhang Song who was silent and closed his eyes, and asked, "My dear, what do you think?"
Zhang Song slowly glanced at the crowd and said, "If we open the gate and surrender before the enemy arrives, people will laugh at us for having no one in Shu. I wish..."
Wang Lei jumped out and shouted, "My lord, you cannot believe the words of the deputy driver. This man has ulterior motives. He first provoked Huang Zhubu to go to war and seized power in order to welcome... what?"
Wang Lei shouted for a while, then suddenly realized that his tone was not right, and asked in astonishment: "What did you say?"
Zhang Song ignored him and clasped his fists towards Liu Zhang, saying, "Since you have valued me, my lord, I am willing to go to Luocheng to help in the battle and boost the prestige of the Sichuan army."
Liu Zhang stroked his beard and said, "My dear, you are a truly loyal minister. You have been criticized many times but never complained. You are truly my right-hand man!"
Previously, Zhang Song had encouraged Huang Quan to go into battle. Everyone thought that Zhang Song had eliminated dissidents and would surrender at this time. Unexpectedly, he would go to the front line in person. Everyone was stunned and there was silence in the hall.
Zhang Song glanced at Wang Lei and said calmly, "How can rumors affect my heart? Compared with those who point fingers and jump up and down, I am willing to practice with my own body and share the worries of the lord. I also want to thank the lord for his trust!"
Wang Lei suddenly felt like a clown. He was stunned for a long while, then lowered his head and retreated behind the crowd without saying another word.
Liu Xun was deeply touched by this and said with emotion: "Trust people when you employ them, and don't employ people you don't trust!"
Liu Zhang laughed and said, "With one civil official and one military official like me, I feel relieved!"
He then ordered Liu Qi to mobilize his troops, appoint Liu Xun as commander-in-chief and Zhang Song as military advisor, and go to Luocheng that day to challenge Liu Qi.
Liu Qi was happily celebrating the New Year in Mianzhu when he suddenly received a secret report from Zhang Song. He became furious and was about to send troops to attack Luocheng.
Pang Tong advised: "If you send out troops before Liu Xun sends his letter of war, won't you put Zhang Biejia in danger?"
Liu Qi said coldly: "Liu Xun disregarded the lives of his soldiers for his own selfish interests. He is truly a rotten tree that cannot be carved!"
Pang Tong sighed, "Throughout history, the only person who has ever cared about the safety of the people and the soldiers is you! All the kings, generals, and even the landlords and gentry have treated the people and soldiers like grass and trees, and have been indifferent to their lives. I am no better than them!"
"In times of turmoil and strife, a general's success is built on the bones of thousands of men!" Liu Qi sighed, "This is truly a land stained with blood, a throne piled with bones!"
Even Pang Tong felt inferior to Liu Qi in the way he treated the common people, servants and guards. Even though he was free and easy by nature and did not want to be bound by etiquette, he could not treat all these people equally.
Pang Tong said, "My Lord, you have won the hearts of the people with your benevolence and righteousness, and you care about the soldiers. So there is no need to rush the troops. With Zhang Song as an insider, Liu Xun is already in our pocket, so there is no need to worry about him. Once we capture him, we can send a letter to Chengdu, so that Liu Zhang and his son and the people of Yizhou will be convinced and surrender!"
"Okay, let's win without fighting!" It was New Year's Day, so Liu Qi was not in a hurry and asked again, "Any news about the war in Huainan?"
Pang Tong replied, "Zhou Yu attacked Guangling by land and sea, and lured Xiahou Dun to Haixi by making a feint to the east and attacking from the west, and took Hefei. A month ago, the Wu army was besieging Shouchun, but Cao Ren was guarding it, so I don't know whether he would win or lose."
Liu Qi smiled and said, "If Dongwu occupies Huainan, the Sun and Cao families will fight endlessly. This is the situation I want. The ownership of Shouchun is no longer important!"
Now that I am the legitimate heir of Jingzhou, let Sun Quan and Zhou Yu think about Shouchun. It would be terrible if they stab Cao Cao in the back one day!