"Huang Zhong! You disappoint me so much!" Liu Pan said sadly.
The loss of Rongling is not unacceptable. After all, Changsha is not an important town, but... what the hell is this record?
Originally, Liu Pan hoped that Huang Zhong could hold off Rongling for a while, or even blunt the enemy's edge. But what is this now?
A one-on-one battle between defending the city and attacking the city?
After all, Huang Zhong is also an honest man. He did not do anything special to beautify the battle report, but seriously analyzed the reasons for the defeat.
However, Liu Pan's attention was obviously not on the "cloud ladder" Huang Zhong mentioned or the opponent's crossbow armor.
But my heart is filled with this "one to one"!
"Prefect, it's not General Huang's fault, it's the army of the General's Mansion..." Upon hearing this, Wei Yan immediately wanted to explain to Huang Zhong.
Liu Pan interrupted directly: "I haven't punished you before when you failed to transport food! It's not General Huang's fault? Then you are holding back?"
"I..." Wei Yan was annoyed for a while.
"What are you doing? You dare to argue with Shangguan... Come here, go out and beat him with fifty army sticks!" Liu Pan said angrily.
Huang Zhong knew that Liu Pan didn't like him at this time. In order to avoid self-defeating, he moved his lips and did not open his mouth to plead again.
"Humph!" Wei Yan seemed to have sacrificed his life generously. When he was pulled out by Liu Pan's personal guards, Wei Yan deliberately choked his neck.
When Liu Pan saw this, he became even more angry. Huang Zhong interrupted at the right time and said: "Prefect, this time I failed to defeat the enemy in Rongling. The fault lies with the general. However, the military capacity and armament of the general's palace cannot be underestimated."
What’s even more difficult to deal with is that the various logistical personnel in his army, from engineering battalions specializing in manufacturing ordnance to wounded soldiers battalions responsible for treatment, have made the enemy’s army organized into a whole..."
Han Xuan interjected with a strange expression at this time: "In other words... the enemy army has many miscellaneous soldiers?"
Huang Zhong:……
"Not miscellaneous soldiers! Although they did not go directly to the battlefield, they had an important impact on the battle." Huang Zhong was also helpless, wondering what kind of understanding these people had.
Huang Zhong has vaguely realized that the military system of the General's Mansion is changing, and this change is even triggering a change in the mode of war!
However, Liu Biao's subordinates always valued literature over military affairs, and even led the troops mostly composed of literati, so Liu Pan naturally followed suit.
If it were Lu Zhi during the reign of Emperor Huan Ling, he was a great scholar and a famous general. Even if it was Cai Mao who was at least familiar with the art of war, however... there are even many lay commanders in Jingzhou Prefecture.
An expert situation.
Among the military generals, only Wenpin was barely reused, but he was usually only at the bottom of the list, inferior to Cai Mao, Kuai Yue and others, and even inferior to celebrities such as Han Song.
As for Huang Zhong, Liu Biao may have forgotten who he was. Whatever gains or losses occurred in Jingnan were all the fault of Liu Pan.
Also under Liu Pan, those who received the most attention were Han Xuan, Jin Xuan, and Zhao Fan, who had not read much about the art of war and were better at governing a place or weighing local forces.
Huang Zhong was looked down upon because he was "particularly good at fighting." It was not easy to be in the bottom position with Liu Pan!
However, after listening to Huang Zhong's analysis, Liu Pan and others just thought that the old man was looking for excuses to lose face...
I saw Liu Pan waving his hand and interrupting: "I know that the soldiers of the General's Mansion are well-equipped, well-trained, and brave in combat."
When Huang Zhong heard the words, he moved his lips, and then he could only helplessly agree, knowing that Liu Pan didn't really listen.
However, for the only one under his command who could fight, Liu Pan did not treat him too harshly because of this defeat. Anyway, his anger was already vented on Wei Yan. On the other hand... Liu Pan also had good news.
"Does Han Sheng feel that he is unable to cope with the powerful forces of the General's Mansion?" Liu Pan asked with a calm tone and some joy.
Huang Zhong heard this and wanted to refute. If he really delegated power to him, provided the General's Office with such a large investment, and allowed him to make his own decisions from recruiting, training, and battles, he wouldn't necessarily be afraid of the General's Office!
But Liu Pan didn't look like he was criticizing, but seemed to be very interested, so he continued to listen patiently.
"Han Sheng doesn't have to worry. As long as we can keep the general's palace in Jingnan, when the situation changes in the coming year, Jingzhou will be as stable as Mount Tai... There will be retribution for these rebellious officials and traitors in the future!" Liu Pan said happily.
Liu Pan obviously knew something, but it seemed that he had no intention of sharing the information with Huang Zhong and simply informed him of the results.
It wasn't that Liu Pan couldn't trust him, but that even Liu Pan had no room to intervene in this matter, he just got the news.
Naturally, I won't make any more extraneous matters. Just to boost morale, I mentioned it to several core staff in Jingnan and Huang Zhong, the main force who will lead the troops, and also told them to keep it secret.
However, Huang Zhong still analyzed some situations on his own, such as "there will be a turn for the better next year" and "rebellious ministers and traitors will have their retribution"...
It sounds mysterious. It's obviously not like what Jingzhou Mansion itself is going to do, but more like some external changes!
So Huang Zhong intended to inquire about recent news from other places after leaving the Prefect's Mansion...
After all, Huang Zhong was just an ordinary general. No special person would inform him of information that had nothing to do with him. Naturally, for other information, his intelligence sources were only "inquiries."
After inquiring like this, Huang Zhong really heard about two major events. One was that Mr. Liu Qi defeated the general's navy several times in Jiangxia...
If this news were released to the world, it would not be a big deal.
Liu Qi only had a few small victories in Jiangxia, pushing Sun Ce and Zhou Yu back to the south of Jiangxia. What's more, the Jiangxia battlefield was only one-third of the Jingyang battle...
It was just because this was a vital matter for Jingzhou Prefecture, and... Liu Biao seemed to have other ideas, so he focused on publicity. Even the people in Changsha were already well aware of Liu Qi's bravery and good fighting skills.
Huang Zhong's first reaction to this was surprise, and at the same time he finally understood why Liu Pan was so dissatisfied with his performance before - he had to throw away the comparison!
Huang Zhong had only met Liu Qi a few times and had never even spoken to him. However, Huang Zhong had faced off against Sun Ce and Zhou Yu.
When Sun Ce and Zhou Yu were stationed in Chaisang for training, Liu Pan, who occupied Jingnan, took the initiative to attack several times.
However, Huang Zhong had just sent his son to Jinling at that time, and he took the initiative to attack again, and Liu Pan personally supervised the army. Therefore, Huang Zhong only did his work but did not put in any effort. In the end, Liu Pan lost a few games and returned in disappointment.
Based on Huang Zhong's understanding of Sun Ce and Zhou Yu, as well as what he had experienced before, the quality of the general's army... Is this Liu Qi really a blockbuster, or is there a deceit in it?
But no matter which possibility it was, Huang Zhong couldn't say anything, and it seemed that what Liu Pan said had nothing to do with this matter.
Unless Liu Pan and Liu Biao are so imaginative that they think Liu Qi can win again and again, pacify Jiangxia in three months, conquer Jingnan in half a year, and overthrow the general's palace in a year...
In contrast, the second news was the real "world shock" - Cao Cao defeated Yuan Jun in Yanjin and almost made Yuan Shao stay south of the Yellow River!