Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1272 Revenge
At that time, Liu Bei was so angry about Zhang Fei's betrayal that he did not seek to join forces with Yuan Xi at the beginning, but went to fight Sun Quan alone, wanting to kill Sun Quan.

When he personally led his troops back and gathered all the forces to attack the Kingdom of Hannan, Pang Tong and Xu Shu also advised him that it would be better to wait until the Jin army was notified, and then the two sides would join forces to attack and destroy the Kingdom of Wu together.

After hearing this, Liu Bei said resolutely: "When my second and third brothers and I became sworn brothers, we swore to live and die together. Now that my third brother has been killed, I can't sleep or eat, and I can't wait even a moment longer!"

"Today I will destroy the Wu Kingdom with my own hands and chop Sun Quan into pieces to vent my hatred!"

Pang Tong said, "But there is no general in Hannan now. How about waiting for General Guan to come back?"

When the news of Zhang Fei's murder reached Jingzhou, Liu Bei and Guan Yu were both furious and indignant, and immediately wanted to return to take revenge.

Pang Tong saw that the situation was not good. He thought that if the two of them were so impulsive, who knows if they would act on their own and fall into Wu's trap. So he thought about it and suggested: "My lord, you are supporting the Han Dynasty. Now Xiangyang is about to be captured. If you give up this opportunity, when will you be able to return to Xiangyang, let alone capture Xudu and welcome the emperor."

"I hope you will think twice before you act, and don't let all your previous efforts go to waste!"

Liu Bei calmed down a little at this time and asked, "According to the military advisor's opinion, what should we do?"

Pang Tong said: "Xiangyang is the most important gateway to Jingzhou, and it is also the only passage from Jingxiang to the north of Guanzhong. We must not give it up."

"But Xiangyang is difficult to attack, and General Guan is the only one who can do it. If you are really eager to take revenge, you can return to Changsha first, leave General Guan to attack the city, and then leave someone to garrison Xiangyang, and then return to attack Wu. It will not be too late."

Pang Tong's original intention was to delay Liu Bei's revenge march, giving him time to calm down. However, when Liu Bei heard this, he waved his hand and said, "Military Advisor is right. I will leave my second brother to fight Xiangyang, and I will return to Changsha to lead the army to defeat Sun Quan!"

When Pang Tong heard this, his face suddenly turned bitter. Liu Bei's stubbornness was far beyond his expectations. The Wu State was not weak. Without Guan Yu, could Liu Bei really win?
Liu Bei had made up his mind. He held Guan Yu's hand and said, "Brother, we three have made an agreement, and I will never forget it."

"But to support the Han Dynasty, we also need the efforts of you and me. Since my third brother passed away early, you and I should help him realize his wish."

"I will return to attack Sun Quan first. After you capture Xiangyang, you can decide whether to return to help me or continue to attack Xu Du."

"As the elder brother, I will go first and avenge my third brother!"

Guan Yu was choked up after hearing this, and said with tears in his eyes: "Brother, please take care of yourself on this journey, and don't fall into the evil schemes of the Wu thieves."

Liu Bei was also very sad. He held Guan Yu's hand tightly and patted him gently, saying, "Don't worry, second brother. I have fought for so many years and I will be careful in everything."

"Perhaps before my second brother captures Xiangyang, I will first destroy the Wu Kingdom and place Sun Quan's head in front of my third brother's tomb as a memorial!"

Guan Yu knew that Liu Bei had made up his mind, so he had to send Liu Bei and Pang Tong on the road, and he took Hao Zhao and others to attack Xiangyang. However, the terrain of Xiangyang was steep and it could not be captured for a while. Cao's army sent naval reinforcements along the Han River. Seeing this, Guan Yu also mobilized the navy of Jingzhou to fight against it. The two sides were caught in an extremely fierce tug-of-war.

But compared with the offensive in Xiangyang, Liu Bei's attack was even more crazy. After returning to Changsha, he mobilized soldiers from Jingzhou and Yangzhou with all his strength. He almost recruited 50,000 troops in a desperate attempt to catch fish in a dry pond, and then attacked Yuzhang County, the heartland of the Wu State.

Led by Liu Bei himself, the entire army charged forward. The ferocity of the offensive was far beyond the expectations of the Wu army. Zhuge Jin in the front was at a loss for a moment and was beaten back by Liu Bei's army.

Sun Quan then realized that he had made a mistake. The Jiangdong advisers had clearly predicted that Liu Bei could not get away from Jingzhou, and even if he returned, he would have to defend Changsha. How could they have imagined that Liu Bei would mobilize the entire country's troops to fight a war of annihilation with the State of Wu in order to avenge Zhang Fei?
Moreover, although Liu Bei did not have as many famous generals as the Wu Kingdom, under the training of Xu Shu and Pang Tong in recent years, generals including Chen Shi, Fu Rong, Zhang Nan and Feng Xi all grew up and became capable generals.

In contrast, the old generals of Jiangdong were either dead or injured, and the leader of the younger generation, Ling Tong, died in battle. The remaining Xu Sheng and Ding Feng also had their own shortcomings, and for a while they were unable to stop Liu Bei's army, which was obsessed with revenge.

When Sun Quan heard that Liu Bei's army had already attacked the border of Yuzhang, he was secretly shocked. He hurriedly summoned his ministers to discuss how to stop Liu Bei's momentum.

At that time, Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong believed that Liu Bei's army was on the rise and should not be challenged lightly, so they suggested defending the city while finding a way to negotiate with Liu Bei.

After hearing this, Yu Fan rolled his eyes and sneered, "If Liu Bei was willing to negotiate, he wouldn't have emptied Hannan's wealth to attack us!"

"Now he is eager for revenge. How can he give up without paying a price?"

Gu Yong asked, "What is the price that Zhong Xiang is talking about?"

Yu Fan showed a playful smile on his face, "You will understand."

Yan Jun frowned and asked, "You mean, hand over the two men who killed Zhang Fei?"

"Excuse me, these two people are working for the king at the risk of their lives. If the king hands them over, wouldn't that be a breach of trust with the world?"

Yu Fan sneered, "Then there is no other way. Let's wait for a fight to the death with Liu Bei."

"However, Wu is not fully mobilized right now. We don't have an advantage in terms of manpower on Liu Bei's side. If we want to be sure of defeating Liu Bei, we must either withdraw the troops that are holding back the Jin army or recruit troops in Danyang."

"But the former is easy for Jin to take advantage of, and the fierce tiger is not one to miss an opportunity. The latter will take at least a month." "That is to say, at least Liu Bei must temporarily stop his advance so that he has time to respond. For the foundation of Wu, why should we keep two traitorous generals who are willing to betray their master for the sake of profit?"

"When Lü Meng went to steal Jiangling, I said that a traitor like Mi Fang could not be trusted. Do you want to keep such an ungrateful person and let the world laugh at you?"

"Your Majesty, as long as you hand over the two men, and say that this is all due to a personal feud between Zhang Fei and his subordinates, and Your Majesty is unaware of the situation, then Liu Bei will naturally have nothing to say."

Zhang Zhao said, "But even if we hand them over, Liu Bei may not let it go."

Gu Yong said nonchalantly: "It doesn't matter. When the time comes, Liu Bei will have no excuse for revenge, and no name to continue his march."

"If he still wants to continue to argue, then he will be in the wrong. At that time, the king will at least stand on the side of reason."

"Even if Liu Bei were to march, he would not issue the order immediately, which would be a good opportunity for Wu to recruit soldiers."

After hearing this, everyone agreed to some extent. Kan Ze and Sun Shao also spoke in agreement. After hearing this, Sun Quan was immediately moved.

At this time, Zhang Hong said, "Is there no other way?"

"Liu Bei's army is not easy to deal with now. Even if we recruit soldiers, victory is not certain."

After hearing this, Yu Fan said sarcastically, "Liu Bei hates you deeply, I'm afraid he won't let it go."

"If you can't win, the king will have no way out, but it's hard to say for you. If you have some skills, you can at least get a similar official position."

Everyone cursed inwardly. Sun Quan saw that the time was ripe, so he stood up and prepared to draw his sword to chop the table, but Yu Fan happened to say something extra.

"Although we have become mortal enemies with Liu Bei, the conditions on the Jin side are quite generous."

"Didn't Xiong Hu once say that if the entire nation of Wu surrendered, he would ensure the safety of everyone?"

"If we can't defeat Liu Bei, we can just surrender to the State of Jin and seek protection."

Everyone was silent for a moment. Although they all knew that Yu Fan was mocking the surrender faction headed by Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong, his words were a bit too provocative!
If it was Mrs. Wu's relationship with the fierce tiger, it would have been a topic of private discussion among the officials of the Wu State. Now that you are saying such things in front of Sun Quan, isn't this offending him?
Everyone lowered their heads, not daring to look at Sun Quan's face, which had turned the color of liver. Sun Quan's lips trembled, and he opened his mouth several times before he spoke with difficulty: "Come here, arrest Fan Qiang and Zhang Da, and send them to Liu Bei along with Zhang Fei's head to discuss a ceasefire."

After five or six days, Zhang Fei's head, together with Fan Da and Zhang Qiang, was sent to Liu Bei's army at the border of Yuzhang. When Liu Bei saw Zhang Fei's head, he fainted several times and cried for a while. Then he collected Zhang Fei's body and sent people to torture Fan Da and Zhang Qiang severely to find out the whole story.

At this time Liu Bei learned that the two men had already been bribed by the State of Wu with a large sum of money and were waiting for an opportunity to act beside Zhang Fei. At that time Sun Quan sent Zhu Ran over. When the two men heard the order, they suddenly attacked and assassinated Zhang Fei while he was drunk.

After hearing this, Liu Bei angrily grabbed the two men by the collar and shouted, "Your wives are all in Changsha, aren't you afraid that I will kill your clansmen?"

After being tortured, the two men were already on the verge of death. Fan Da said, "Your Majesty is a benevolent and righteous man. He would never implicate the family members. We lost our minds and made a big mistake. We didn't expect that Sun Quan would also be a person who would destroy the bridge after crossing the river."

"We are blinded by greed and only want to die quickly. We hope that the king will give us a quick death."

Liu Bei laughed in anger, "What? Just because I am kind and righteous, you assassinated my third brother?"

"Is it my benevolence that killed my third brother?"

"You want to die quickly, but I won't let you do that!"

Liu Bei said to Pang Tong: "Jin State has the punishment of lingchi, which is just suitable for dealing with such ungrateful people!"

"Someone, cut them up!"

However, because lingchi required a high level of understanding of human medicine, and the soldiers in Liu Bei's army had only heard of it, they made a mess of the torture.

In less than two hours, Fan Da Zhang Qiang had several major blood vessels accidentally severed one after another. Blood spurted all over the ground. He struggled for a while like a slaughtered chicken and then died.

After hearing this, Liu Bei was still angry, so he immediately sent people to Yuzhang to demand that Sun Quan hand over the head of the main culprit Zhu Ran. This time, Sun Quan and the ministers of Wu State had the same attitude, and they immediately and flatly refused.

The reason is very simple. If we say that Fan Da and Zhang Qiang are greedy villains, we can also put the blame on the two of them. Zhu Ran was acting on the orders of Sun Quan, and he was the second-generation general who was trained by the Wu State. If Zhu Ran was also handed over, who would dare to work for Sun Quan?
When the news got back to Liu Bei, he did not delay and immediately assembled his army to attack Nanchang, the capital of Wu.

(End of this chapter)