Chapter 42: The King of Shu

  Liu Mang swore that if there was a next time, he would never transport so many things at once again. 5,000 warhorses, 5,000 sets of armor and long spears and giant shields - Liu Mang had brought everything he could carry. As a result, the transmission directly turned into a warning color red, and the original one-day cooldown period became a month. Not only that, but an additional limit bar appeared next to the transmission button. It directly told Liu Mang sorry, if you exceed this limit again each time, you will be directly determined to destroy the balance of space-time and cannot return. This condition also includes hot weapons not being allowed to be carried. Once a hot weapon is discovered, it's not just that you can't come back - your life will be in danger too.

  This time's coma is the transmission's punishment for him.

  Dazed and confused, Liu Mang finally opened his eyes.

  "You're awake!" The surprised yet pleasant voice came just as she opened her eyes, and slowly opening them further, those sword-like eyebrows, that stunning face, was absolutely one of the top ten beauties.

  "Immortal maiden!" Liu Mang muttered to himself, but suddenly it reflected back, no, no, why does this look so familiar? "Cruel wife!!" Liu Mang unconsciously blurted out his nickname for Lü Da Xiaojie.

  "What did you just say?!" Lü Qílíng's face was dark with anger, her eyes slanting as she glared at Liú Mǎng.

  "No, nothing at all!" Liu Mang wasn't a fool, and seeing Lv Qiling's dazed expression, he knew she had taken care of herself. To be taken care of by someone and then speak ill of them, that was somewhat immoral.

  "Hmph, you'd better know your place!" How could Lü Qílíng not hear the vicious words Liu Mǎng said? She just didn't want to make a big deal out of it. After all, she would marry him sooner or later, so she let Liu Mǎng off easy. But did she really have such a bad temper?

  Lv Qiulian held onto her bitter thoughts and left, she wanted to tell Lv Bu that Liu Mang had woken up.

  Liu Mang couldn't fathom the thoughts of girls, but he knew that from now on, he mustn't offend Miss Lü again. After all, she had taken care of him for so long.

  As Liu Mang was thinking this, the curtain of the big tent was lifted by a golden armored general, followed by several people. The golden armored general was none other than Lü Bu.

  Lü Bu entered the tent without saying a word and stared straight at Liu Mang.

  "What's wrong with me? Is there something on my body?" Liu Mang looked himself up and down, wondering why Lü Bu didn't speak to him when he saw him. It wasn't until he saw Chen Gong standing behind Lü Bu making gestures that he understood - Lü Bu wanted him to call out to him.

  "General Lü? Boss Lü? Duke Wēn?!" These titles still couldn't move Lü Bu.

  "Father-in-law!" Liu Mang shouted with a forced tone.

  Behind him, a group of warriors and scholars wanted to laugh but were holding it in, their faces all red.

  Haha, haha, you guys are going to laugh to death. Liu Mang rolled his eyes.

  "Has Han Yang recovered a bit?" Lu Bu finally spoke up after hearing Liu Mang's greeting.

  "Much better!" Liu Mang felt a bit hungry aside from that, there were no other major aftereffects.

  "How can you be so weak?!" Lü Bu asked in puzzlement. After the golden light flashed through the city of Kaifeng that day, these 5,000 war horses and armored long spears appeared, as well as Liu Mang. At that time, Liu Mang was thrown to the ground, and if it weren't for the timely discovery by the soldiers, Liu Mang would have been trampled to death by the war horses by now.

  "Why am I so weak?!" Liu Mang wanted to say that this was all his fault, but thinking about the gold that Lü Boss had given him and his own wealth in the mortal world, Liu Mang could only say "Heaven has its own rules, if you want to descend to the mortal realm, you have to pay a price. This time I brought too many things with me, it may cause chaos in the mortal world, so I was punished!"

  "Heavenly punishment?!" Lü Bu seemed to have understood something "From now on, let me protect you!"

  "Ah!" Protect me? Do I need your protection? If it weren't for fear of Lord Lü's demise, would I need this? How great it would be to return to the world of the living, where peace and development are the themes of the times! What's with this place, where war, famine, and death surround you at all times.

  "Thank you, Father-in-law!" Liu Mang said helplessly.

  "Hmm!" Lü Bu accepted with a smile. "Let's take a look at who this is!" As he spoke, Lü Bu stepped aside to reveal a young figure behind him.

  So young? So familiar? This voice.

  "I've lost Chen Deng!" Liu Mao stood up straight and looked around everywhere.

  "What are you looking for?!" Lü Bu asked solemnly, this person was so out of control!

  "Where's my sword?" Liu Meng said without turning his head. Ah, if Liu Meng had an enemy in the late Eastern Han, there would only be one and a half! Old Cao counts as half, because Old Cao was attacking Lü Bu and brought him along by chance, it can only be said that he suffered from unprovoked disaster.

  This counts as one of Chen Deng's accomplishments.

  This guy has clearly courted death on the way to Langya, what's the big deal about wearing a set of sacred clothes? Do you have to send out all your troops just to take my life?

  Liu Mang wants to cut down this kid.

  "Enough!" Lü Bu shouted in anger, and surprisingly, it was effective. Like a strict father, he made Liu Mang stop immediately.

  "Haha!" Chen Deng also had a bitter smile on his face. Lü Bu didn't have any sons, only one daughter, so the Liu Mang in front of him was basically equivalent to the future heir of Lü Bu's army. But now this heir was full of resentment towards himself.

  "Your Majesty, I have seen the Emperor!" Chen Deng kowtowed and fell prostrate before Liu Mang.

  Chen Deng's appearance should have been subdued by Lü Bu, and he should be considered one of Lü Boss's subordinates. Chen Deng's old father died at Cao Cao's hands, so the Chen family and Old Cao are sworn enemies. As for who in the world can oppose Old Cao, apart from Yuan Shao in Hebei, Chen Deng really couldn't think of any other lord who dared to offend Old Cao.

  Benefiting from the two states, the state owners are all guarding dogs, without broad abilities. Ma Teng and Han Sui of Xiliang, even those vassals in Zhonglang, are all living dead men in Chen Deng's view, who will be destroyed by Cao Cao sooner or later. As for Yuan Shao, although he has the power and capital to compete with Cao Cao, if Chen Deng were to defect, he might not even have a place at the table. There are too many literati under Yuan Shao, so many that Yuan Shao himself doesn't know how many strategists he has.

  All that's left is Lü Bu, although his army is small in number, as long as Lü Bu himself is still alive, this fierce tiger will be able to rise again.

  Cao Cao seized Lü Bu's Xuzhou, and according to Lü Bu's mood, how could he not fight back? So Chen Deng surrendered to Lü Bu without hesitation.

  "Hmm, hello, hello!" Since they were all on the same side, Liu Mang wouldn't be too excessive. Hmm? Wait a minute? Why did he call himself "Wang" (king)? Generally, people in Lü Bu's army called each other "dà ren" (sir) or "gōng zǐ" (young master), but no one called themselves "wáng" (king). Calling oneself "wáng" meant that they had already been made a king.

  "Cao Mengde has granted you the title of King of Shu! Your official position is General Who Conquers the South." Lü Bu explained, noticing Liu's confusion.

  "King of Shu?! General Who Conquers the South?" Liu Mang was perplexed, what was this old Cao thinking? They were enemies, and he was enfeoffing him as a king?!

  Chen Gong looked at Liu Mao with an expression that seemed to say "Old Cao is an idiot" and smiled helplessly, saying: "Han Yang, Cao Cao regards you as the Emperor's younger brother, specially asking the Emperor to confer upon you the title of King of Shu. It's not to promote you, but to use you as a pawn to kill you!"

  "Borrowing a knife to kill someone?!" Liu Mang wasn't an idiot, he would think about it, following Chen Gong's train of thought. Liu Mang suddenly broke out in cold sweat: "The King of Shu? This is the throne! Lü Bu was only the Marquis of Wen, and the General Who Conquers the South should logically govern both Jing and Yu provinces. His official position would also be above that of the General Who Pacifies the East, Lü Bu. This really is to kill Liu Mang with a borrowed knife! Fortunately, our boss is Lü Bu. If it were someone more suspicious, his subordinate's official position would be higher than his own. How could he still survive? Either get rid of the subordinate or imprison him!"

  "Don't worry, I'm not Cao Mengde!" Lü Bu said with a smirk, looking at Liu Mang who had broken out in a cold sweat. It was already well-known that Mengde was extremely suspicious.

  "Cao Cao's plan was good, but unfortunately, he has lost both his wife and soldiers now." Chen Gong also laughed. Lü Bu won't suspect anything, at least he is the best to his loved ones. The reason why Lü Bu was tied up by Song Xian and others was because he trusted them too much.

  Now that Liu Mang is Lü Bu's son-in-law, can't it be said that the foundation laid by Lü Bu over a hundred years will be left to Liu Mang? So there's no need to be overly suspicious.

  It's a good thing for Lü Bu's army that there is an extra royal title. Justice must be grasped firmly in one's hands.

  "Where are we going next?!" Liu Mang looked at Lü Bu and his men and asked.

  "Go to Shouchun!" Lü Bu replied, "Next, Yuennan, threaten Xuchang!" Lü Bu received the news that Yuan Shao had stationed troops at Guandu, and most of Hebei should have been pacified. Cao Cao also took down Xuzhou, which can be considered as pacifying the rear. These two fierce tigers are about to die in a fight, so Lü Bu prepared to take Yuennan and capture Yuzhou.

  "Take down Runan?!" Liu Mang didn't know where Runan was, but he knew that in history, there really was a fool who marched to Runan to threaten Cao Cao's Xuchang and ended up being defeated by Old Cao. What was the name of that fool again? Liu Mang thought for a moment, Ah yes, it was Liu Bi.

  "Do you think so too?" Liu Mang looked at these two Chen surname strategists and asked.

  "Hmm!" Chen Deng was eager for revenge, and what he wanted was not the threat of Xun Yu in Nanyang.

  Chen Gong smiled and didn't say anything.

  "Yunan, you absolutely cannot go!" Liu Mang said with a calm mind. (ps: I've seen what some book friends have said! Although the gold content of the Han Dynasty is not high, but you have to look at its historical value once these gold pieces are made into gold bars and ingots, then they become antiques! Haven't you seen that one Wang Mang coin can sell for millions? From now on, I won't be showing any more gold either. New week, new recommendation! Brothers, give me some support, hehe)"