I should marry the traitor

Chapter 259 Uninvited Guest

Jingzhou, located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, has a dangerous terrain and has been a battleground for military strategists since ancient times.

Of course, a place that is fought over by military strategists also means a place of war. This is why Yuan Mochu did not choose to make his fortune in Jingzhou.

But Jingzhou has more than just its geographical location. Its terrain is mainly plains and hills. The Yangtze River runs across the entire area, forming the fertile Jianghan Plain. There are many lakes in the area, such as Yunmengze and Honghu, and the water network is dense.

Fertile land means abundant food, and dense water networks mean developed transportation and commercial flows.

Cao Mengde knew that occupying Jingzhou was a dangerous move, but compared with the benefits he could gain from occupying Jingzhou, Cao Mengde felt that the risk was worth it.

There is no benefit without risk in this world. If you want to get something, you must pay an equal amount of risk.

Cao Mengde had difficulty escaping all the way to Jingzhou, but he just waited.

Even if she is 92% of the Yazi hybrid, it still takes money to start an army. She has to wait until the money, food and manpower are delivered to Jingzhou.

The person in charge of this matter was Cao Mengde’s relative-in-law, Xiahou Chun.

Xiahou Chun is a golden-haired girl with long hair that blooms like a lion's mane and then falls to her waist like a waterfall. Every strand of hair sparkles with golden luster, as if the sun is dancing between the silk threads.

She has a delicate face, eyebrows like distant mountains, eyes like autumn water, a straight nose, and slightly upturned corners of her lips, revealing a subtle sense of publicity. Her skin is as white as snow and has a faint fluorescence.

What is even more memorable is that Xiahou Chun was wearing an eye mask embroidered with a hexagram pattern, covering one of his eyes.

As a relative of the Cao family, the Xiahou family inherited the bloodline of Suanni, one of the nine sons of the dragon.

As one of the nine sons of the dragon, Suanni is a brave, fearless, calm, noble and majestic creature.

However, Xiahou Chun, as a hybrid with 80% of his bloodline being that of Suanni, is a chuunibyou.

"Coming in compliance with the call of the contract, Lord of the Sun and Radiance..."

Facing Xiahou Chun who was beginning to go crazy, Cao Mengde remained expressionless and spoke eloquently. He reached out and grasped the flying Seven-Star Sword. The broad sword body slammed down and hit Xiahou Chun on the head.

“Ah, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts!!!”

Cao Mengde's mother was Xiahou. In terms of relationship, Xiahou Chun was her fellow villager and distant cousin.

So Cao Mengde knew Xiahou Chun's personality. After all, he had been like this since he was a child.

Cao Mengde didn’t care about it before. After all, it’s normal for children to be a little weird.

What Cao Mengde didn't expect was that even at his old age, his second-year syndrome was actually getting worse?
In order to avoid being killed together with his own people, Cao Mengde drew out the Seven-Star Sword and hit Xiahou Chun on the head.

Of course Cao Mengde still had some sense of propriety, otherwise he would have used the blade instead of the back of the sword.

"Don't say such weird things. Have you brought all the money, food and troops?"

"Five hundred families gave birth to sons, all of whom were carefully selected, but some of the food and fodder was consumed on the way."

"Where's Yuanyuan? Why didn't she come with you?"

The person Cao Mengde was asking about was Xiahou Yuan, Xiahou Chun's cousin, and a mixed-race of Suanni with 85% of her bloodline.

"She has already rushed to Jingnan. It was arranged by my uncle."

"Jingnan? Was it arranged by my father?"

Cao Mengde was thoughtful. An old man in the family is like a treasure. His father was arranging a way out for her. Jingzhou was divided into nine counties, namely Nan County, Nanyang County, Nanxiang County, Jiangxia County, Xiangyang County, Wuling County, Changsha County, Lingling County and Guiyang County.

Cao Mengde chose to start his army in Nanyang County because Nanyang was rich and had many soldiers and sufficient food.

The four counties in the south of Jingzhou, namely Wuling County, Changsha County, Lingling County and Guiyang County, are relatively sparsely populated and are not the first choice.

However, Nanyang County borders on the territory of Luoyang Sili in the north and Yuzhou controlled by the Yuan family in the east. It can be said that once a war breaks out, there will be no buffer or detour.

Cao Song asked Xiahou Yuan to go to southern Jing in advance so that in case Cao Cao was defeated, he would be prepared when he fled south.

However, Cao Mengde had some doubts about this move. After all, thinking about failure before doing anything was not Cao Mengde's way of doing things.

It was just his father's good intention, so Cao Mengde didn't say much. After all, the loss of Xiahou Yuan wasn't a big problem.

"Let the soldiers rest first, and then let a few of them bring silver and money with me into the city."

"I have already agreed on the price with the Nanyang governor. As long as the money is in place, he will fully cooperate with us."

The Cao family's qualifications and reputation are far less prominent than the Yuan family, but in terms of making money, they are even better than the Yuan family.

Although he had 500 elite soldiers at his disposal, and Cao Mengde himself was a 90% mixed-race with decent combat capability, it was easy for him to seize Nanyang County.

But how does the saying go? A problem that can be solved with money is not a problem.

Rather than using force, Cao Mengde is now more inclined to use his money power.

On the one hand, she now has to use Nanyang County as her base and try her best to avoid internal friction among the population of Nanyang County.

On the other hand, the Nanyang County Magistrate’s surname was Chen and he came from a noble family in Jingzhou.

Cao Mengde also took this opportunity to send an obvious friendly signal to the Jingzhou families.

Obviously, Cao Mengde's strategy was very successful. It can be seen from the fact that the prefect Chen was easily bribed that the Jingzhou families were actually sending friendly signals to Cao Mengde.

Cao Mengde wanted to gain the support of the noble families of Jingzhou, and the noble families of Jingzhou also wanted to support a lord.

In fact, to be fair, judging from the current situation, Yuan Mochu is obviously more worthy of investment than Cao Mengde, but unfortunately...

There are so many people around Yuan Mochu. If you join Yuan Mochu's team, it can be said that one more or one less will not make much difference.

Especially when Yuan Mochu's circle was already crowded with people from the Yuzhou and Jizhou factions, it was actually very difficult for him to integrate into this circle.

On the contrary, although Cao Mengde's power is weak now, this also means that she still has enough positions under her command to squeeze in.

What's more, in terms of bloodline, Cao Mengde is even better than Yuan Mochu, so he has huge potential.

The aristocratic families have always had the courage to place bets in advance, not to mention that they have many descendants and can have the best of both worlds.

With the deliberate cooperation of the Jingzhou families, Cao Mengde successfully took over the Nanyang County City, and his military strength began to grow rapidly.

But in the short term, Cao Mengde will inevitably be confined to Nanyang County. Her foundation is too weak and she can only develop slowly. She can't get everyone to respond like Yuan Mochu.

Just when Cao Mengde was lying dormant and developing his power, the Nanyang County City welcomed a somewhat special guest.

Liu Taifu, the famous lackey of Dong Bai and one of the nine ministers of the dynasty, came slowly to the city of Nanyang County.

　After thinking about it, it would take at least two or three chapters to describe the plot of Cao Mengde taking over Nanyang County. I guess you guys don’t like it, so I’ll just skip it and finish it quickly.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)