Chapter 40

Zhang Rang and the other eunuchs saw the Emperor was angry and hurriedly pointed at Lu Zhi,

"Minister Lu, you tell us what to do!"

Lu Zhi was ready to speak,

"Your Majesty, Cavalry Commandant Liu Bei has already led his army from Henei into Hedong Commandery. He is brave and skilled in battle, has broken the Huang Jin Army, and dealing with the Baibo Army should not be a problem."

Liu Hong frowned,

"Liu Bei? That student of yours who traveled a thousand miles to deliver you? He has loyalty, but he may not have the ability. He has less than ten thousand men, while the Baibo Army has over a hundred thousand, and they have the Xiongnu cavalry of Yufuluo to assist them."

Liu Hong looked at the Great General He Jin,

"He Jin, the Empress often says your younger brother He Miao is brave and skilled in battle. How about sending him to Hedong?"

He Jin cursed inwardly; if that trash He Miao led troops over there, I fear he would be even more useless than Niu Fu and would implicate me.

Moreover, this He Miao was not of the same mind as him; they were half-brothers, and he only gained the position of Chariot and Cavalry General because he was valued by Empress He.

"Your Majesty, He Miao’s army just defeated the peasant rebels in Xingyang, and the soldiers are exhausted; I fear they cannot fight again in the short term."

Liu Hong slammed the table in anger; none of them could be relied upon!

He looked at Lu Zhi,

"Minister Lu, you prepare yourself and lead the army to Hedong to wipe out the Baibo Army!"

"Understood!"

Liu Hong was worried to death; he had sold so many official positions, but he hadn't used much of the money he raised—fighting the Huang Jin, fighting the Qiang people,

and now the Baibo soldiers had come, the money was almost spent, and not one of them could share his worries!

Just then,

a eunuch came to report,

"Great joy, Your Majesty! Liu Bei has crushed the Baibo Army in Yangxian, Hedong, captured 60,000 Baibo soldiers, and killed Baibo bandit leaders Guo Tai, Yang Feng, and others!"

Liu Hong stood up excitedly, took the battle report, and looked at it,

"This Liu Bei is actually so capable!"

"Lu Zhi, your student is very good!"

Lu Zhi cupped his hands,

"Your Majesty has a discerning eye; sending Liu Bei to Hedong gave him the opportunity to display his talent."

Zhang Rang and the others looked at each other and thought it was bad. This Lu Zhi was already very good at fighting, and they hadn't expected his student to be so good at fighting too!

They must suppress him!

Lu Zhi continued,

"Your Majesty, the Baibo Army and Yufuluo have colluded, and now there are eighty thousand of them entrenched in the Taiyuan area, and they could march south to Hedong at any time."

Zhang Rang paused, hmm, no rush to suppress him yet.

Liu Hong thought for a moment,

"Good, pass my decree: promote Liu Bei to Breaking-the-Captives Commandant and enfeoff him as a Pavilion Marquis (village level), and have him march north immediately to attack Yufuluo and the remnants of the Baibo Army!"

As long as he didn't have to spend money, giving him a Commandant title and the lowest Pavilion Marquis title didn't matter!

At Cai Yong’s residence,

Cai Yan was chatting with Gan Mei,

"Sister Gan, how do you think Liu Xuande is doing now?"

Gan Mei was also very worried and comforted Cai Yan, as if she were comforting herself,

"My husband knocked the bandit leader away with one spear strike last time; he is brave and skilled in martial arts, so he should be fine."

Cai Yan murmured,

"I hope so. He knows so much, he should be able to defeat the enemy with just a few strategies."

In Cai Yan’s mind, Liu Bei knew astronomy above and geography below, and was omnipotent...

Just then,

Cai Yong walked into the courtyard laughing heartily,

"Yan'er, your husband defeated the Baibo Army in one battle in Hedong, and the Emperor has promoted him to Breaking-the-Captives Commandant and enfeoffed him as a Pavilion Marquis."

"I didn't misjudge him from the start; this Liu Bei has a future!"

"My Yan'er will be a Pavilion Marquis’s wife when she marries over."

Cai Yan finally put her heart at ease and smiled,

"Father, you didn't seem to agree very much at the beginning."

Cai Yong laughed heartily,

"I was testing him, and fortunately, he passed my test!"

Cai Yan discovered that her father was sometimes quite thick-skinned...

At the Ding Yuan family residence,

Ding Yuan Shu drank a cup of wine,

"This Liu Liu Xuande is truly lucky, he even got enfeoffed as a Marquis for fighting the Baibo Army!"

Ding Yuan Shao said,

"Gonglu, the combat power of this Baibo Army is not low; even the Xiliang cavalry led by Niu Fu were defeated."

Ding Yuan Shu was very unhappy; he was born so high, but because he had no military merit, he hadn't been enfeoffed as a Marquis yet!

Liu Bei, a commoner who sold straw sandals, was actually enfeoffed as a Marquis before him!

How could he endure this!

"Isn't it just because he has Lu Zhi as a teacher!"

"And he even got engaged to Cai Yan; Cai Yong must be old and senile!"

Ding Yuan Shu was the type who couldn't stand to see others do well, a professional at being green-eyed with envy, and he hated Liu Bei for no reason!

Ding Yuan Shao continued to talk about business,

"To divide the Great General’s military power, the Emperor intends to establish the Eight Commandants of the Western Garden, and the Great General has secured the position of Central Commandant for me."

Ding Yuan Shu was jealous again, completely "Versailles-ed" by Ding Yuan Shao!

The Central Commandant was ranked second, only after the Upper Commandant of the Small Yellow Gate, Sun Jian Shuo!

What he envied most was Ding Yuan Shao,

from childhood to adulthood, Ding Yuan Shao was always better than him, heroes flocked to Ding Yuan Shao, and the elders valued Ding Yuan Shao more.

Ding Yuan Shao used to be a concubine’s son, with a much lower status than him!

Because he was adopted into Ding Yuan Cheng’s branch, he became a legitimate son.

Yet this Ding Yuan Shao had been handsome since childhood, with a dignified temperament, and was deeply liked by several uncles, gradually becoming the leader of the Ding Yuan family’s generation.

Ding Yuan Shu snorted,

"You just go and do it!"

Ding Yuan Shu might have been driven to green-eyed envy by Ding Yuan Shao since childhood; he was jealous of anyone who was better than him!

"A-Man got the position of Military Commandant."

Ding Yuan Shao sprinkled another handful of salt on Ding Yuan Shu’s wound.

Ding Yuan Shu’s eyes turned even redder!

In the evening, Fen River valley,

Yufuluo and Li Le had already received news of Guo Tai’s death and led an army of eighty thousand majestically south from Taiyuan, determined to kill Liu Bei to establish their prestige!

Yufuluo said angrily,

"Liu Bei is a mere commoner; he should have stayed selling straw sandals instead of using tricks to harm Guo Tai, and he even got the military rank of Breaking-the-Captives Commandant!"

The Xiongnu were the so-called "Hu captives," wasn't this Liu Hong implying something about him!

This time, he would kill Liu Bei first!

Li Le cupped his hands,

"Great King, with your sixty thousand iron cavalry, one charge will wipe out Liu Bei’s ten thousand soldiers!"

Li Le saw that Guo Tai and the others had either died or surrendered, and he was already the boss of the Baibo Army, so he urgently needed Yufuluo’s support.