People in the Three Kingdoms: Starting from Preaching

Chapter 562: Unity of Opposites
As the situation changed, the Shu army acted quickly. The entire process of the army's assembly and evacuation was completed cleanly and neatly. Jiangling, which had been heavily guarded before, also became relaxed.

Of course, although the Shu army withdrew, they did not simply leave the empty city to the Yellow Turbans in Xiangyang.

In the cities, towns and villages that the Shu army passed through on the way to Xiangyang, they would leave hundreds or even thousands of troops to guard them. This amount of troops certainly could not defend against the subsequent siege of the Yellow Turbans, but their role was to delay the Yellow Turbans' advance a little. As long as they could keep the Yellow Turbans for some time, they would have played a role.

Jiangling City is the place with the largest number of troops left behind, with a total of two thousand soldiers garrisoning there. They will wait for Lu Meng's army to move south from Xiangyang to complete their final mission.

Five or six days after Liu Bei led his army away, they did wait for Lu Meng.

Before the hoof prints of Liu Bei's army moving towards Changsha had completely disappeared, an army holding yellow flags reappeared here. These were none other than the Yellow Turbans of Lu Meng who had led their troops to advance immediately upon learning of the Shu army's withdrawal.

Since taking Xiangyang, Lu Meng no longer had the opportunity to make further progress. Now that the threat of Liu Bei has finally left, he naturally can't hold back.

At this time, following behind the Shu army, as long as the main army on the front line started the decisive battle, his troops could threaten the Wu and Shu armies in the rear at any time. Even if the combat power of the Huainan army was not too strong, it could still play a role of encirclement and containment.

"The gates of Jiangling City are closed and there are still soldiers on duty on the city walls. It seems that Liu Bei still left some snares for us." Tens of thousands of Yellow Turbans gathered under the city of Jiangling. Lu Meng just looked up and observed for a while, and he knew what was going on.

At this time, another general who was slightly older than him rode up on horseback and said nonchalantly, "I don't think Liu Bei has many troops left. There won't be too many people in the city. Even I have the confidence to take the city without the Yellow Turbans."

The person who spoke was Lu Meng's brother-in-law Deng Dang. After surrendering, the two of them were finally reunited as a family and their worries were put to rest.

Of course, Lu Meng also understood the hidden meaning of Deng Dang's words. After his brother-in-law surrendered, he inevitably wanted to perform well and make more contributions so that he could gain a foothold in the Yellow Turbans in the future.

Lu Meng was actually happy to see this, but in Xuan Xia, not all surrendered generals would be employed. Ultimately, it depended on whether the general himself had enough awareness.

Lu Meng was not very optimistic about this. His brother-in-law did not seem to be a very conscious person. Even if he pretended to be a religious believer, he would probably not be able to do so. It would not be a good thing to get away with it. Instead, it might harm Deng Dang himself.

In fact, it is not so easy to become an official in Xuanxia. The court has a strict enough supervision system. Once you make a mistake in your official career, you will bring disaster upon yourself. If there are people in the team who are not aware enough, the ending will most likely not be good.

Of course, Lu Meng would not refuse to give Deng Dang the opportunity to make merit, which is always a good thing.

"To attack the Shu army from both sides, we must take down the cities along the way. You, my brother-in-law, will lead the army to attack Jiangling City first. I will send more troops to assist at any time. We must take this place as soon as possible."

After nodding, Lu Meng issued an order, then looked to the south and said, "Since the Shu army has withdrawn, the Wu army will certainly respond and should start to withdraw from Wuling County. When Wu Li gets the news, he will definitely press in from the rear like our army. So it's best for our army to clear out the cities along the way and meet up with them first, then march to the front together to support the main attack of Changsha!"

Deng Dang heard this and laughed: "You have the demeanor of a great general now. You made a plan with just a few words. You are more demeanor than my brother-in-law. No wonder you can get the position of a local official in Xuanxia."

Lu Meng glanced at Deng Dang. After this meeting, he found that Deng Dang's attitude towards him was different.

Although this brother-in-law is very close to him now, he also maintains a very good sense of propriety. He no longer treats him as a younger brother as before. Instead, he exaggerates and even flatters him. His attitude is even a little flattering. He also understands that their identities are different now, and there is already a thick barrier between them.

The governor of a prefecture like Yuzhou is a first-class frontier official no matter what era it is. It is no exaggeration to say that Deng Dang now has to look up to his brother-in-law Lu Meng.

He often sighed, thinking back to the time when he thought his brother-in-law was crazy for holding a book of evil scriptures and chanting them. But now it seems that Lu Meng was not crazy, but had great vision.

Who could have thought that the Xuanxia Yellow Turban would actually succeed!

This also made Deng Dang feel very complicated.

On the one hand, I felt a little sad that I always thought that Lu Meng was a useless person, but I didn't expect that Lu Meng was the most promising one in the family and was someone I could only look up to.

On the other hand, Deng Dang was also glad that Lu Meng really took that extremely dangerous path. Otherwise, how could he have such a prominent position today.

If this happened during the Han Dynasty, Lu Meng alone would be enough to protect an entire aristocratic family.

As for whether Xuan Xia could replicate this operation today, Deng Dang was not sure.

Xuan Xia was still a relatively unfamiliar place to him. The rules and order there seemed to be completely different from those in the Han Dynasty. He didn't know how to integrate into it for the time being.

Despite this, Deng Dang understood one thing. Perhaps Xuanxia would not have a powerful aristocratic family like the Han Dynasty, but with Lu Meng's current status and position, the Lu family would not be ordinary in the future.

Survival and reproduction are human nature. If one cannot leave good things to future generations, or if the inheritance is passed down from generation to generation, then the logic of human action in the world will be completely changed, and one may even lose the motivation to strive and even survive.

Hereditary inheritance of property is the purest instinct of human beings, which constitutes the operating logic of society.

But it is also the most evil thing in the world, and the suffering of most people in the world also comes from it. How to solve this problem is the ultimate answer that mankind is looking for.

Xuan Xia may be different from Da Han, but human nature is the same.

As a member of the Lu family, Deng Dang no longer needed to charge for Sun Wu, but had to fight for the future of the Lu family. So when Lu Meng waved his hand and ordered the attack, he led the army to charge towards Jiangling without any fear or hesitation.

Taking over Jiangling City is a contribution to Xuanxia's progress, and it is also a credit for the future of the Lu family. This is a selfless cause to save the people of the world, and it is also a family future that is fought for personal gain.

This world is such a world of opposition and unity. Even if Xu Chen leads the Yellow Turbans to achieve reform, it is not the end of his career, but the beginning of his career.

(End of this chapter)