Chapter 536

Cheating only happens once and countless times.

Xin Ping and Guo Tu's current actions could already be considered cheating on Yuan Shao.

With this first time, how could there not be a next time?

……

Jingzhou,

Xiangyang Governor's Mansion.

Liu Biao looked at the map hanging on the wall with tears in his eyes.

Recently, one piece of bad news after another had been arriving continuously.

After Li Jue and Guo Si led troops to surround Xiangyang, Xu Rong also quickly brought troops from Liangzhou to this place.

Facing the command of Xu Rong, a commander of talent, even Xiangyang City, with its high walls and thick ramparts, gradually showed signs of decline.

After all,

whether it was the combat effectiveness of the soldiers or the personal ability of the commander, the two sides were not on the same level at all.

The ferocity of the Liangzhou Legion had few rivals in the world.

And with Xu Rong's talent for command, combined with Li Jue and Guo Si taking the lead in charging into the fray, how could Liu Biao respond?

Besides this,

the only general on Liu Biao's side who was good at fighting was Wen Pin.

As for Cai Mao... emmm, his ability to command troops and fight was limited to talking on paper.

A clever woman cannot cook without rice.

Although Wen Pin's ability was not bad, compared to Xu Rong, he was ultimately not in the same dimension.

Furthermore, Wen Pin's official position was far below that of Cai Mao and others.

The highest commander of Xiangyang City, besides Liu Biao himself, was nominally still held by Cai Mao.

After Xu Rong's bombardment,

the fall of Xiangyang City seemed to be just a matter of time.

Under Kuai Yue's suggestion, Liu Biao intended to send an envoy to discuss surrender with Xu Rong.

However, before the envoy could enter Xu Rong's camp, he was shot and killed by the crossbowmen under Xu Rong's command.

Yes, Xu Rong had already given orders in advance that surrender was forbidden in this battle!

In other words, even if Liu Biao and the others had the heart to surrender, Xu Rong was not willing to accept their surrender.

Just like this, Liu Biao lived a difficult life in torment every day.

Already nearly sixty years old, his body was becoming worse and worse. (According to the timeline in the book, Liu Biao was already fifty-seven years old.)

Even his second wife, Lady Cai, Liu Biao no longer had the ability to touch.

As for Cai Mao, Kuai Yue, and others, they were also panicked at this moment.

Once Xiangyang City fell, the fate of everyone would probably not be very good.

But when it came to a strategy to break the situation,

even Cai Mao and Kuai Yue, who were usually good at drilling for opportunities, were at their wits' end for a time.

Seeing Xu Rong launch a new wave of offensive,

Liu Biao became increasingly irritable.

Suddenly,

his second wife, Lady Cai, brought their seven-year-old son, Liu Cong, to Liu Biao's side.

Seeing his young son, a flash of despair crossed Liu Biao's eyes.

With Gu Yi's ruthlessness,

if Xiangyang City fell, how could Liu Cong survive?

Thus, Liu Biao hugged Liu Cong affectionately.

But every move he made, falling into Lady Cai's eyes, turned into deep disgust.

Heh, an old man and a young wife, how could they truly be happy?

Lady Cai's age at this time was only twenty-four.

Placed in later generations, she might have just graduated from university not long ago.

But for the sake of the family's interests, after Liu Biao entered Jingzhou alone on horseback, Lady Cai married Liu Biao, who was over fifty.

That is to say, at that time, Lady Cai was only in her prime youth of sixteen.

The age difference between the two was a full thirty-plus years!

Lady Cai detested Liu Biao.

It was one thing that he was old, but the key was that he was not good in bed!

Lady Cai was extremely contemptuous of Liu Biao's stamina.

As for their son, Liu Cong,

this was not Liu Biao's bloodline at all.

It was a child that Lady Cai's brother, Cai Mao, had brought from a collateral female relative of the family.

Yes, this secret had been hidden in the hearts of Lady Cai and Cai Mao.

Up to now, it had been a full seven years.

(PS: The plot that Liu Cong is not Liu Biao's biological son is not official history, not official history! It belongs to the author's fabrication combined with wild history; handsome readers, please don't spray, don't spray.)

Therefore, in Lady Cai's heart, Liu Biao was just a damn old man!

Even, she was hoping for Liu Biao to return to the west sooner.

In this way, after her son Liu Cong successfully inherited the position of master of Jingzhou, Lady Cai could openly go find male pets.

Nowadays,

seeing Liu Biao's body deteriorating day by day, Lady Cai was very happy.

However,

Liu Biao was ultimately still a qualified master of defense.

Hearing the news that the morale on the front line was low, Liu Biao went to the front line city wall without hesitation to boost morale.

But... this was ultimately just a drop in the bucket.

The Xiangyang city wall, following Xu Rong's fierce attack, became like a leaf in the wind, drifting with the wind.

……

When night fell,

Cai Mao, clutching his injured shoulder, returned to the Cai Fu.

After thinking it over, he decided to send someone to call Lady Cai and Liu Cong over.

Subsequently, Lady Cai used "visiting her injured brother Cai Mao" as an excuse and brought Liu Cong back from the Governor's Mansion to her maiden home, the Cai Fu.

The distance between the Governor's Mansion and the Cai Fu was not far.

Placed in later generations, it would be equivalent to living in two different residential compounds.

Therefore,

Lady Cai quickly brought Liu Cong back to the Cai Fu.

After seeing Lady Cai, Cai Mao dismissed those around him and instructed Lady Cai:

"Zhu'er, the fall of Xiangyang City is just a matter of time."

"No matter how hard the defenders in the city fight, they ultimately cannot be the opponents of the army outside the city."

"For my Cai family, this also means it has reached a time of life and death."

"However, those enemies outside the city do not allow Liu Biao to surrender."

"If my Cai family does not want to end up destroyed, we must never continue to follow Liu Biao to the end."

"Zhu'er, the only strategy your brother can think of is to sacrifice Liu Biao to preserve my Cai family."

When saying these words, Cai Mao's eyes were full of indifference.

When aristocratic family members face a conflict between family interests and the master's interests, most aristocratic family members will choose to preserve family interests and abandon the master's interests.

And the Jingzhou aristocratic families were known as "grass on the wall."

The reason Cai Mao could become the head of the Cai family, one of the three great Jingzhou aristocratic families, was naturally not because he was a fool.

Although his ability to command troops and fight was full of water,

but in terms of ability to engage in internal strife and maintain family survival, Cai Mao was quite talented. ===== CHAPTER 537 =====