Han Xiang

Chapter 485
Pan Zhang fled to Chaohu in embarrassment with the remnant soldiers.

Tired and hungry on the way, Pan Zhang plundered several wine shops by the lake.

Fortunately, there are watchtowers next to each restaurant. After the first two restaurants were looted, the staff of nearby restaurants were evacuated one after another.

In the end, there were nearly 36 shopkeepers, shopkeepers, and watchmen at the 200 rest stations in the north of Chaohu Lake, all of whom fled to Hefei by coincidence.

Since Hefei did not form a formal naval force, nor did it send troops to garrison the rest stations, Long Xiang once ordered to evacuate immediately in case of danger. To him, people are more important than money.

In addition, Long Xiang did not distribute such good things as the telescope to the Chaohu Watchtower. He would rather build a few more towers by the lake to make up for his vision, rather than put 'cutting-edge technology' in danger.

The sudden change of personnel in the restaurant by the lake also attracted the attention of Lu Meng on the boat.

Seeing the people on the shore running in a panic, he immediately sent another Sima Xu Sheng to take a fast boat along the lakeshore to investigate in the opposite direction.

Lu Meng guessed that these people were frightened, and there might be bandits in the east.

Half a day later, Xu Sheng returned with his troops.

He found out the cause of the commotion on the shore, and brought back the instigators Pan Zhang and Song Qian.

Seeing Pan Zhang and Song Qian's embarrassed appearance, Lu Meng's heart tightened and he felt bad.

Xu Sheng brought Pan Zhang and Song Qian back to the main ship, and the three of them had just stepped onto the deck from the escalator, when Pan Zhang stepped forward first, and then knelt down on one knee to plead guilty.

"Great governor, you will be guilty at the end."

"Why is Wen Gui like this? The sky won't fall, so get up and talk."

Lu Meng was already mentally prepared. He glanced at Song Qian with a serious expression, and then stepped forward to help Pan Zhang up.

But Pan Zhang didn't want to get up, and he didn't dare to look directly at Lu Meng. He still lowered his head and replied, "The final general failed to take Liyang, but lost many soldiers and horses. Ma Zhong was also trapped in the city. His life is uncertain. Please punish him with the governor." .”

Lu Meng looked at Song Qian with a frown, and asked, "What's going on? Could it be that Tai Shixiang saw through the scheme? You were blocked from outside the city and forced to attack? That's not right, why is Ma Zhong trapped in the city again?"

"What did the governor say?"

Song Qian nodded and cupped his fists and replied, "Actually, we have already opened the gate of the city, but on the way to the city, the defenders suddenly attacked for some reason, and we started a fierce battle with the defenders."

"Since the gates of the city have been opened, there is no high damage caused by storming the city, and your army strength is three times that of the defenders, why are you still defeated?"

Lu Meng looked at Song Qian in disbelief, as if he was blaming them for their ineffectiveness.

Song Qian explained embarrassingly: "The governor does not know something. Even if the Liyang defenders fought fiercely with us relying on their familiarity with the terrain, our side had an overwhelming advantage. But in the middle of the battle, a large group of soldiers and horses suddenly killed us from behind. Come, its strength is much larger than ours, Wen Gui had no choice but to order to break through and withdraw."

Lu Meng hurriedly asked: "Tai Shi enjoys reinforcements? Who are their leading generals?"

"I don't know if it's reinforcements, but Wen Gui and I don't know if they entered the city without declaring war and killing anyone they saw."

Seeing that Song Qian's explanation was almost the same, Pan Zhang clasped his fists over his head again, and said sonorously, "Please punish the crime."

Lu Meng frowned and glanced at Pan Zhang, thinking it's no wonder you have to kneel down, it turns out that you don't even know who your opponent is, so it's really embarrassing to be so confused.

The forces close to Liyang, apart from Longxiang in Hefei to the west, Chen Lan from Quanjiao in the north, and Sun Yi in Danyang on the other side of the river to the east.

Lu Meng's fleet guarded the Chaohu Lake and did not notice the eastward movement of Hefei soldiers and horses. First of all, Long Xiang's suspicion was ruled out.

Chen Lan and Sun Yi were left as two suspects. Lu Meng hoped that it was Chen Lan from the bottom of his heart. After all, Sun Yi's identity was really sensitive, and Sun Quan had to deal with it himself.

Chen Lan once wanted to join Jiangdong, probably because Sun Cao was dissatisfied with Jiangdong's performance in Huainan, so he didn't mention returning to Jiangdong.

In the past two years, Chen Lan has been entrenched in Quanjiao and Fuling, and has never had any conflicts with Tai Shici. Even if Taishi Ci was besieged last time, he did not take the opportunity to attack Liyang.

Compared with Sun Yi, who secretly communicated with Tai Shici, Chen Lan's motives and suspicions are much smaller, but no matter who spoils his own good, Lu Meng intends to find out.

Thinking of this, Lu Meng bent down to help Pan Zhang again, and at the same time said comfortingly: "Since reinforcements have joined, it is not Wen Gui's fault. You should get up and speak."

"Thank you, Governor."

Hearing this, Pan Zhang stood up, and clasped his fists again to ask for instructions: "The general is on the verge of failure this time, will the governor send troops to Liyang? My general Ma Zhong is very clever, and he has practiced a good arrow before he can use it." , please try to rescue him if you can.”

"The enemy of Liyang spoils my affairs, and if I don't figure it out, I can't report to the Lord."

Lu Meng frowned and said to himself, and then told Xu Sheng: "Wen Xiang, you send someone to Liyang to investigate immediately, first find out the identity of this enemy, and then I will decide whether to send troops to investigate."

"The last general takes orders."

"Wait a minute."

"The governor has any orders?"

Xu Sheng turned around and was about to leave, but was suddenly stopped by Lu Meng, he quickly turned around and clasped his fists to ask for instructions.

"Why did the people in the wine shop on the shore flee? Did you find out the reason just now?"

"At the end of the forehead"

Xu Sheng faltered and refused to answer, but his eyes glanced at Pan Zhang intentionally or unintentionally. Lu Meng understood his intention by observing his words, and then waved his hand to signal him to leave.

Watching Xu Sheng leave the deck, Lu Meng turned around and stared at Pan Zhang, and asked seriously, "Tell me, what did you do? Startled those wine shop guys away."

"The soldiers were hungry during the march, and they happened to pass by a few wine shops by the lake, and the general got some food and drink casually, but only killed five or six young men who resisted."

Pan Zhang is dissolute by nature and loves to drink. He helped Jiangdong fight against the Shanyue rebellion before, either on credit or by robbing the people of food and drink, but he was loved by Sun Quan because of his bravery in battle. No one punished him for this small problem.

Lu Meng frowned after hearing this, and reminded in a deep voice: "These wine shops belong to Hefei, if Long Xiang pursues it, I'm afraid you will have to pay some money as a pension."

Pan Zhang didn't think so, and asked back: "I just killed a few heads of Guizhou and used some food and wine in the store. Long Xiang took Sun Bohai (Sun He) as the prefect of Lujiang, and the lord didn't ask him to ask him to blame him. Long Xiang probably wouldn't Are you so petty?"

"Who knows, anyway, you should restrain yourself in the future"

Lu Meng shook his head and sighed. When he was moving bricks in Hefei, he learned that Long Xiang, who had no ambitions, was very kind to the people under his rule. It's hard to say whether he would be angry about this.

What Pan Zhang has done can be big or small, and Lu Meng is hesitant to explain it to Long Xiang.

If you don't explain it, it is very likely that the situation will escalate, causing Long Xiang to turn against him.

Taking the initiative to explain, it seems that Lu Meng's character is timid, and the dignified governor should not be too humble, trivial matters are not worth his attention.

Lu Meng pondered for a long time, but finally chose not to explain. His current focus is on Liyang.

(End of this chapter)