Chapter 592 The End

On the surface of the Han River, there are still countless warships left by the Jingzhou Navy burning brightly, and the rising flames make the surface of the river red.

Less than one-third of the remaining warships of the Jingzhou Army came to a sad end and left in disgrace, leaving only the Nanyang Army behind.

"Hahaha!"

Gan Ning stood on the bow of the ship and shouted to the Jingzhou Navy: "Gan Ning will be waiting here at any time. Governor Cai and General Wen must come back with honor!"

A cold snort could be vaguely heard from the Jingzhou Navy battleship, but the Jingzhou Army finally withdrew from the battlefield, so naturally it was impossible to turn around and fight the Nanyang Army again.

"Good job, Xing Ba!"

Zhang Jiao came down the river in a small boat, held the iron rope and climbed to the top of the stern, and praised Gan Ning.

"General Zhang is so complimentary!" Gan Ning saw him opening his jaw and saluted hurriedly, but his eyes could not hide the excitement: "This is a great victory for our army. More than two-thirds of the enemy warships were captured and burned. Jingzhou The army suffered over 10,000 casualties.”

Zhang Jaw nodded with satisfaction, patted Gan Ning's shoulder, and said solemnly: "If Xing Ba hadn't led his Jinfan Army to intercept the enemy with all his strength, our army would never have achieved such a major victory. We would have been defeated by Xing Ba." Ba will show his merits to the general, and Xingba will first serve as a military lord under a certain subordinate, how about it?"

Gan Ning bowed down excitedly: "Thank you, General!" His lifelong wish was to show off his talents. As the saying goes, he could learn literature and martial arts and sell them to the emperor's family. Now that he can serve the imperial court, it would be great.

In June 196, Zhang Jiao defeated the Jingzhou land and sea army led by Cai Mao. He captured more than two-thirds of the enemy ships and sank them. The Jingzhou army suffered nearly half casualties and returned to Xinye in despair. After a short rest, he was stationed in Fancheng.

Cai Mao ordered Wang Wei to temporarily command the army, and he took Cai Xun, Cai Zhong and others to Xiangyang City.

Xiangyang, Prefecture Mufu.

"I feel ashamed that I was defeated at the hands of the enemy. I came here to apologize to the state pastor!"

In the inner room, Cai Mao was naked from the waist up, tied behind his back with hemp ropes and a few thorn sticks, and he was actually asking for forgiveness.

"Hmph! Cai Degui, you promised me that if Yuan Shao and Cao Cao both used troops against Liu Ye, our army would be able to capture Nanyang County. What now?"

A rather dignified middle-aged man in the seat looked at Cai Hao expressionlessly, but his eyes showed dissatisfaction.

"Zhou Mu! Mao is aware of his crime. Please ask Zhou Mu to spare Mao this time. Mao will definitely regain Nanyang for Zhou Mu."

It turned out that the middle-aged man sitting on the main seat was none other than Liu Biao, the shepherd of Jingzhou. Liu Biao had previously appointed Cai Hao as the commander-in-chief and commanded 40,000 land and sea troops to regain Nanyang. However, Cai Hao lost his troops and generals. Therefore, the more Liu Biao looked at Cai Hao, the more dissatisfied he became.

Cai Mao's face was dripping with cold sweat, he lowered his head and did not dare to speak.

But a door curtain in the inner room was gently lifted, revealing half of the woman's face. When she saw Cai Mao kneeling on the ground, she sighed, and then walked out.

"My lord, victory or defeat is a common thing for a soldier. My brother's defeat was not because he refused to try his best. You and I are a family. How dare Degui not lead his troops attentively?"

Liu Biao turned his head and glanced at the woman who came out, and snorted: "Humph, of course the Honshu Mu knows. If Degui intends to lose the battle, the Honshu Mu will have to remove him."

This woman was Cai Mao's sister, and she married Liu Biao as his concubine. Seeing his sister coming out, Cai Mao was slightly happy, but still did not raise his head.

"My lord, my brother is defeated this time. He will definitely be brave and diligent in the future. He is also your brother-in-law. Don't you feel sorry for him?" Ms. Cai said softly: "My brother has gone to the bush to apologize. He is so sincere. My lord, please forgive him."

Although Liu Biao was quite generous, he couldn't stand Cai's insistence. He was very fond of the beautiful Cai.

"Having said that, De Gui was defeated. If no punishment is given, how will Benzhou Mu command the millions of soldiers and civilians in Jingzhou in the future?" Liu Biao frowned.

"Hmph! I knew you didn't love me at all." Ms. Cai pouted and said, "You don't want to punish my brother, you clearly don't like me anymore."

"Oh, you." Liu Biao sighed, thought for a moment and said, "That's all, Degui, please get up. Naturally, you will have to express yourself in this defeat. You will be fined for half a year, and you will not be allowed to go out for three days. Do you understand?"

Cai Mao was overjoyed when he heard this and hurriedly raised his head: "Thank you so much, Zhou Mu. I will definitely go home and reflect deeply, and I will raise troops to capture Nanyang again in the future!"

Cai Mao is the head of the Cai clan, a wealthy family in Jingzhou. He has thousands of hectares of fertile land in Jingzhou and earns an incredible amount of money every year. Let alone half a year's salary as a fine, even a lifetime salary is nothing.

"In that case, Mao will leave."

Cai Hao slowly straightened up, took off the thorns from his body, put on his clothes and walked out.

Liu Biao sighed and said nothing, while Mrs. Cai bowed to Liu Biao with satisfaction, and then retreated into the inner room.

Not long after Cai Mao walked out, someone immediately reported back: "Zhou Mu, Mr. Zirou is here."

"Is Zirou here?" Liu Biao perked up after hearing this: "Please invite Zirou in quickly."

A middle-aged scholar, about forty years old, with slightly white hair, who was well-maintained, walked into the inner room, bowed to Liu Biao, and said, "Kuailiang has met Zhou Mu."

"Zirou doesn't need to be polite." Liu Biao's attitude towards Cai Mao and Kuai Liang was completely different. He said with a smile: "Quickly, give me a seat."

A chamberlain had already brought the cushion over, and Kuai Liang sat down slowly: "Thank you, Zhou Mu."

"What do you mean Zirou is here?"

"Kuai heard that Governor Cai is back and leading a group of defeated soldiers?" Kuai Liang said straight to the point.

Liu Biao nodded and sighed: "Yes, this boy De Gui was defeated by the enemy and lost many soldiers."

Kuai Liang said reluctantly: "I dare to ask the state pastor, how many men and horses did Cai Degui lose in Jingzhou, and how many battleships did he have?"

Liu Mian's face changed slightly: "More than 10,000 soldiers were killed or injured, and more than half of the soldiers and boats were lost."

Kuai Liang suddenly frowned and said dissatisfied: "Cai Mao boasted about Haikou, but now he has only killed more than ten thousand soldiers in Jingzhou. I don't know how the state pastor is going to punish him for such a serious crime?"

The Kuai family and the Cai family are both one of the wealthy families in Jingzhou, and they have deep interests with each other. Therefore, Kuai Liang naturally came to attack after hearing about it. Although he had selfish motives, he had good reasons.

"The Honshu Mu has already fined him half a year's salary and grounded him for three days. How about that?"

"What?" Kuai Liang was stunned and said in disbelief: "Cai Mao made more than 10,000 of my Jingzhou troops die in a foreign country, but now they are only fined with three years' salary. This is incredible!"

However, Kuai Liang noticed that Liu Biao's face became gloomy, and immediately realized that he had said the wrong thing, so he hurriedly explained: "I dare not offend Zhou Mu."