Chapter 29: Liu Bei's Hidden Meaning

  Wuchang County is not today's Wuhan, Wuhan is in Xiakou. In the Three Kingdoms period, Wuchang County was actually today's Ezhou and also the seat of Jiangxia Commandery. The county had a population of nearly 60,000 and was already a large county.

  However, the 60,000 people were only registered residents, and another 20,000 or so garrison troops should be added, as well as several thousand merchants from Jingzhou and other places, including Eastern Wu, bringing the total population close to 100,000.

  At this time, the dock was filled with drums and music, colorful flags were flying high, Jiangxia Governor Huang Zu personally led hundreds of officials and local dignitaries to welcome Liu Bei's army.

  Liu Jue stood at the bow of the ship, coldly gazing at Huang Zu. His impression of Huang Zu came from "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", where Huang Zu was depicted as a stupid and incompetent general who repeatedly lost battles and was captured several times by the Jiangdong army, ultimately dying at the hands of Gan Ning.

  So, Liu Xuan's impression of Huang Zu was not very good. However, the Huang Zu in front of him didn't seem too bad after all. He was about 40 years old, with a robust build, a large head, and a thick beard that made him look quite rough, but his small eyes sparkled with cunning laughter.

  It can be seen that Huang Zu welcomed Liu Bei with great sincerity, not only spending a lot of money and effort, but also organizing more than 200 Jiangxia County gentry to meet Liu Bei. Just notifying these gentry required a lot of effort.

  Only if he attaches great importance to this meeting would he make such arrangements. From these details, Liu Jue felt that there seemed to be a tacit understanding between Liu Bei and Huang Zu.

  It is indeed the case that Liu Bei, as a northern warlord, insisted on taking a boat and not stopping at Xia Kou, but instead took a detour to come to Wu Chang, which makes people feel that Liu Bei came to Wu Chang deliberately.

  Moreover, Liu Bei had even prepared gifts, unexpectedly, which showed Liu Bei's thoughtfulness. Could it be that Liu Bei had come to pacify Zhang Wu and Chen Sun just to see Huang Zu?

  Liu Xuan's thinking was very sharp, and from some clues, he vaguely saw a little clue.

  On the dock, Liu Bei was having a cordial conversation with Huang Zu. This time, Liu Bei's initiative to apply for the elimination of Zhang Wu and Chen Sun was indeed motivated by ulterior motives. He had already understood the situation in Jingzhou, which was not just Liu Biao's Jingzhou, but actually belonged to the four great families of Cai, Kuai, Pang, and Huang.

  He wants to stand firm in Jingzhou, not only Liu Biao's attitude but also the support of the famous families in Jing and Xiang. He doesn't expect the Cai family to be hostile to him from the start, wanting to eliminate him with pleasure.

  Kuai's family is not very hopeful, Kuai Yue is a pro-Cao faction, and he has fundamental differences in interests with him. Pang's family did meet several times, and he even visited personally, but Liu Bei felt that Pang's family was neither cold nor hot, would not support him, but also would not oppose, belonging to the neutral faction.

  Liu Bei's gaze fell on the Huang family, especially the Jiangxia Huang family. Huang Zu was a famous anti-Cao faction in Jingzhou, and he and Liu Bei were natural allies of interest, they could completely come together.

  But Liu Bei also knew that being too deliberate would arouse Liu Biao's suspicion, so he focused on plotting to quell the rebellion of Zhang Wu and Chen Sun, taking this opportunity to meet with Huang Zu in Jiangxia and form a mutually beneficial alliance, thereby gaining the support of the Huang family.

  In fact, Liu Bei had sent Jian Yong to secretly meet Huang Zu more than half a month ago, and Huang Zu also showed great interest, which is why there was an official meeting today.

  "Brother Xuande, are you free to visit my Huang's Mountain Villa tomorrow?"

  Huang Zu nodded his big head and invited Liu Bei with a smile, "I want to hold a grand mountain villa banquet, welcome Brother Xuande."

  Liu Bei pretended to be worried and said: "I'm afraid it will delay the main event of eliminating the bandits."

  "It doesn't matter! It doesn't matter! The mountain villa is nearby, and we can come and go in one day. The troops also need to rest for two days!"

  "Haha! It's better to obey than to show respect."

  "Zhi Gong, you must go too, no refusal." Huang Zu turned his head and smiled as he beckoned to Wang Wei.

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  Liu Jue followed from afar, actually as Liu Biao's nephew, Huang Zu should have come to greet him, not to mention treating him equally with Liu Bei, at least he shouldn't be treated lower than Wang Wei, and if nothing else, a greeting would be in order, but Huang Zu never paid attention to him.

  Didn't Liu Bei tell him he was coming?

  But then I thought it was impossible. With Liu Bei's temperament, he wouldn't make such a meaningless move, and even if Liu Bei didn't say anything, Wang Wei would have spoken up.

  This can only be explained as Huang Zu intentionally ignoring him. Why did he want to do this? Was it to express his dissatisfaction with Liu Biao through himself?

  Liu Jue couldn't figure out the reason for a while, so he had to follow from afar. At this time, he was already able to judge that his guess was not wrong, and Liu Bei deliberately came to Wuchang County just to get in touch with Huang Zu.

  At this time, Liu Jue suddenly felt that someone had patted his shoulder heavily. He turned around and found it was Guan Yu wearing a green military uniform.

  He had known Liu Bei and others for a month and a half, except for Zhao Yun who was relatively close to him, the others were just on good terms with Sun Qian, while Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and others only exchanged greetings when they met, without any further interaction.

  At this time Guan Yu took the initiative to find him, and it was unprecedented. Liu Xun saw that Guan Yu's face was a bit pale, and said with concern, "General Guan seems to be a little seasick."

  Guan Yu nodded, "Northerners are not used to taking boats, this is still the first time in my life I've traveled so far by water."

  "It seems General Zhang is too..."

  Guan Yu turned his head and glanced at Zhang Fei, who looked lackluster, and smiled slightly: "He's the same, not used to being on a boat."

  Guan Yu paused for a moment, then said: "I watched you practice spear yesterday and found that you're too rigid with the moves themselves. Of course, when you first learn spear techniques, you'll have such fixation, but I want to tell you that all weapons under heaven are interconnected, there are only two moves - attack and defense. Attack should be smooth and sharp, defense should be solid as copper wall and iron fortress, not a single drop of water can leak through. You just need to grasp the essence of the moves, every move can become a technique."

  Liu Jiong nodded silently, "Thank you, General Guan, for your guidance."

  Guan Yu patted him on the shoulder and laughed: "Governor Huang should have received a letter from Liu, so he doesn't treat you specially, just as a low-ranking officer."

  Liu Xun was amazed at Guan Yu's meticulousness, he had actually seen Huang Zu's cold treatment of himself and came to comfort him at the right time. Of course, Liu Xun also knew that Guan Yu had another layer of deep meaning, the intimate relationship between Liu Bei and Huang Zu was a bit too obvious.

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  Liu Bei's army was stationed west of Wuchang City, and the soldiers rested for two days, taking turns to go into the city to drink and have fun. Liu Xuan also stole a half-day leisurely trip into the city to stroll around.

  He has been in Jingzhou for a month, almost all of his time was spent practicing martial arts, rarely going out. Today's conversation with Zhao Yun and Guan Yu made him realize that practicing martial arts cannot be accomplished overnight, it requires long-term accumulation.

  Since it's like that, he should live a normal life, fully devote himself to martial arts when practicing, and relax when resting. Only by combining work and rest can one last long.

  Wuchang City is the largest city west of Jingzhou, with a wall circumference of over 30 miles. The population is dense, commerce is prosperous, and various shops are lined up. The streets are crowded with people, and the sounds of hawkers and vendors rise and fall.

  Since he won sixty taels of gold from the last sword fight, his purse is quite full. Moreover, this region is known as the land of abundance in Jianghan, with rich products and low prices. A two-foot long big carp can be bought for just three wu qian coins.

  In the Han Dynasty, gold was also a currency and could be used directly to buy goods. Gold was divided into three types: yellow gold, white gold and red gold. White gold referred to silver, while red gold referred to brass.

  Of course, gold can also be exchanged for money in the store, and according to the official price, one kilogram of yellow gold can be exchanged for 10,000 yuan, while white gold and red gold are slightly lower.

  However, a catty here refers to a small catty, which is only about 240 grams, equivalent to half a catty in later times.

  At the end of the Han Dynasty, the currency system was in disarray, with private coins and inferior coins flooding the market. Moreover, they were inconvenient to carry, causing gold prices to skyrocket. One catty of yellow gold could be exchanged for 20,000 coins in northern regions, while red gold and white gold also rose in value accordingly.

  However, in Jingzhou, Bashu and Jiangdong areas, the war was not fierce, even if there were battles, they would not affect civilians like the northern armies, society was relatively stable, economy had not been destroyed, government controlled private money strictly, so the black market price of gold was 12,000 coins, almost the same as the official price.

  Some merchants discovered the price difference of gold between the north and south, and began to speculate on gold in both places, making huge profits, but the risks were also extremely high, and a slight mistake would result in death or financial ruin.

  Liu Xuan strolled through the shops, although he lacked many things, but since he was about to go to Yangxin County for battle, it wasn't convenient to carry anything he bought, so he strolled along without buying a single thing.

  Unconsciously, they had walked to the banks of the Caohe River. The opposite bank seemed even more lively. Liu Xuan found a stone arch bridge called Xingchun Bridge. Still dozens of steps away from the bridge, he could faintly hear a commotion coming from the head of the bridge, seemingly with women wailing and pleading, as well as several burly men shouting obscenities.

  "Huang Gongzi, I will definitely repay the money I owe you, please give me a few more days."

  This is a young woman selling fish at the bridgehead, who looks quite attractive. A large group of evil slaves surrounded her, with a young prince wearing a golden crown and brocade clothes, smiling and touching the woman's face.

  "Lu Niang, why bother with this? You follow me and you'll have delicacies from the mountains and seas, and maids to serve you. Born with such beauty, do you still need to sell fish here? Follow me back, just serve Master for a month, I guarantee that the debt owed by the Ding family will be written off."

  A young woman's arms were grasped by the wicked slave, she struggled desperately and begged bitterly, "Master Huang, I am a married woman, please spare me!"

  "Husband? Isn't your husband me? Hehe! Lu Niang, I can't wait any longer, let's go back and consummate our marriage now."

  The young master gave an order, "Take her to the carriage!"

  A dozen or so ruffians grasped the arms of a young woman and dragged her towards the other end of the bridge, where a carriage was waiting. The woman struggled desperately, her hair disheveled, and cried out loudly in all directions: "Save me! Save me!"

  The people on the bridge were quite afraid of these evil slaves and did not dare to provoke them, so they all ran down from the bridge as if they had not seen anything.

  In desperation, the young woman suddenly turned her head and saw Liu Xuan wearing a military uniform, crying to him for help, "General, save me!"

  Liu Xuan saw the whole process, and his heart was filled with great anger. He flew up and pounced on them at high speed, reaching the evil slave's back in the blink of an eye. He grabbed the heads of the two people and slammed them together fiercely, causing them to fall softly to the ground.

  Between the rabbit's rise and the rooster's fall, Liu Jiong had already rushed to the young nobleman's back, stretched out his arm to strangle his neck, and quickly dragged him towards the bridge.

  Liu Xuan had a lot of experience fighting beasts in this life, and it was the same with humans. The other side had sixteen evil slaves, each carrying a knife, with agile footsteps, and they were estimated to have martial arts skills. In this situation, the best way was to capture the leader first, catch the master, and things would be easy to handle.

  Otherwise, they would divide their forces and go in two different directions. One group of people would stay behind to deal with him, while the other group would take the woman away, making it impossible for him to rescue her, and he would end up humiliating himself.

  As expected, this unexpected situation left everyone unprepared. A group of evil slaves stood frozen in place on the bridge, as if they had been subjected to a petrification technique.

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