After the affairs in Guizhou were settled, Liu Cong led his troops back. The march was not very fast, mainly because Liu Cong really doted on Xuan Lan.
On the other hand, he was also afraid of returning to Xiangyang and how to explain this matter to Sun Shangxiang. On April 19th, Liu Cong arrived in Jiangling.
"There are seven (riding) monkeys on the tree and one monkey on the ground. How many monkeys are there in total?"
"Eight!"
"Wrong! It's two!" Liu Cong smiled slyly and obscenely.
Xuan Lan was puzzled, "Why two?"
"A monkey is riding on a tree, riding a horse." Liu Cong said with a bad smile, "Madam, you lost, it's time to fulfill your promise!"
"It's not, it's not..." At this time, there was no such thing as a word game, and Xuan Lan couldn't think of the words to say.
"I'm willing to admit defeat!" Liu Cong couldn't wait to move his head closer.
Angrily and blushing, Xuan Lan took a grape, sandwiched it between her red lips, and whispered softly, "Please eat a grape, husband."
"Hahaha." Liu Cong couldn't wait to move forward, put the grape into his mouth, and swallowed it whole.
Before Xuan Lan could react, he had already felt the warmth of the other person's tongue, and the intensity of Xuan Lan's desperate beating on his chest became smaller and smaller...
When she let go of Xuan Lan, she was already out of breath, blushing and afraid to look at Liu Cong.
"Okay, it's your turn to ask me, just ask me whatever you want." Liu Cong smiled so hard that he didn't even close his mouth.
"My Lord, Ma Su, Minister of the Ministry of Industry, has something urgent to ask for!" Just as Liu Cong was about to continue flirting with Xuan Lan, Xing Daorong announced outside the carriage.
Xuan Lan was like a cat caught stealing sex, she trembled and her face became even redder.
Liu Cong hugged her and stroked her back, "It's okay, let's go out and have a look." After that, he kissed Xuan Lan and got off the carriage.
"What's the matter?" Liu Cong asked while arranging some wrinkled clothes.
Xing Daorong bowed and said, "Ma Shangshu didn't say anything, but he looked very anxious."
"Bring it here."
"promise."
"Ma Di pays homage to my lord." Ma Di first bowed to Liu Cong, and then said to Liu Cong without waiting for Liu Cong to excuse himself, "My lord, something big has happened!"
After saying that, Ma Di glanced around. Liu Cong ordered, "Move back."
When the soldiers were far away, Liu Cong asked, "Youchang, what happened? Did Cao's army move south in a big way, or did Jiangdong move west in a big way?"
In Liu Cong's view, the so-called major events are nothing more than these two things. Apart from these two things, given Jingchu's current stability, to put it more bluntly, Liu Cong feels that those are no big deal!
"thump!"
Ma Su knelt directly on the ground, "My lord, my wife was deceived by Jiangdong's envoy!"
"What?!" Liu Cong could no longer remain calm. He grabbed Ma Di's collar and asked in a deep voice, "What's going on?"
Ma Su smelled the smell of powder on Liu Cong's body and shrank his nose, "Lord, this is what happened..."
"My lord, please don't be overly considerate. Shangshu Ling has ordered martial law in various places. We should be able to find my wife!"
"Should? What do you mean?" Liu Cong was like a furious lion. What he was most worried about had happened.
With Sun Quan's meanness and ungratefulness, even though they are brother and sister, Sun Shangxiang is in his hands. When necessary, Sun Quan will never show mercy!
"Today is the 19th, and there has been no news from my wife for three days!" Liu Cong forced himself to calm down and silently counted the time in his mind.
"If there is no news, it means she is still in Jingchu. If she returns to Jiangdong, Sun Quan will make a big announcement to undermine the morale of our army."
"Pang Tong!" Liu Cong called Pang Tong by his name urgently.
"Lord." Pang Tong, who was not far away, heard this and trotted over, bowing his hands to Liu Cong.
"Shiyuan, Gu wants to go back first, and you will lead the army behind. What happened, Gu has no time to explain, you can ask Youchang later."
Pang Tong saw that Liu Cong was anxious, so he didn't ask any more, "My lord, don't worry."
Liu Cong nodded, got on the carriage, and opened the small door, "Did you hear everything?"
Xuan Lan nodded, and Liu Cong said again, "Let's go back with Gu. Let's go first."
Xuan Lan nodded. Fortunately, when she was with Liu Cong, she always wore barbaric clothes. In order to satisfy Liu Cong's desire to be exhausted.
In the early morning of April 21st, Liu Cong arrived in Xiangyang quickly and went straight to the Houfu.
"Cong'er, you're back. I'm sorry for you, but I haven't found you yet." Liu Biao had already been waiting for him in the hall.
Mrs. Cai said with some worry, "Cong'er, don't blame your father. He only found out about this later. He has been exhausted from doing this in the past two days."
Liu Cong forced out a smile and said, "Father and mother are here to work. Now that my son is back, there is no need to worry. Everything is under his control. You go and have a rest first."
Before leaving, Liu Biao patted Liu Cong on the shoulder and said, "Remember, you are the Marquis of Chu now!"
If you are the Marquis of Chu, you cannot make decisions based on your own emotions, let alone raise an army out of anger!
Liu Cong nodded, "Don't worry, father, my son knows."
These days, an honest man like Liu Zhang could kill Zhang Lu's mother. Liu Cong understood Liu Biao's worries, but Liu Cong really didn't know. When the time came, he couldn't bear it anymore.
"Call all civil and military officials to come!"
After Liu Cong assigned Xuan Lan to Cai Jia, he didn't even eat anything and just waited in the meeting hall.
When the officials who came saw Liu Cong who was concentrating with his eyes closed, they didn't dare to disturb him. It wasn't until everyone was here that Jiang Wan stepped forward and said softly, "My lord, everyone is here."
Liu Cong opened his eyes, which were full of bloodshot eyes!
"It's been five days since the incident happened! You haven't found Madam for five whole days!"
"Gu Zeng once said that envoys and letters from Jiangdong should be strictly guarded and guarded against. Do you think it turns a deaf ear?"
"When Jiangdong's envoys entered Xiangyang, you didn't even pay attention? They've been gone for a long time, and you didn't even remember that the whole city was under martial law?"
"I'm waiting for the death penalty!" Everyone did not dare to offend Liu Cong, so they knelt down and kowtowed in apology.
"My Lord, this is all due to my negligence. Please punish me, Lord!" Jiang Wan said.
Yi Ji continued, "My lord, the minister is busy handling government affairs every day and is excusable for his negligence. As the minister of the Ministry of Rites, I did not notice the strange movements of the Jiangdong envoy. I am guilty of this. Please punish me, lord."
"My lord, it's my fault."
"Lord, please punish me!"
"Okay, okay." Liu Cong waved his hand impatiently, "Is this going to punish you?"
"However, such mistakes must not be left unpunished. Jiang Wan was demoted to the post of Biejia, acting as the Minister of the Ministry of Rites. Yi Ji was demoted to engaged, acting as the Minister of Rites. The rest were fined for one year."
"Thank you so much, lord!"
"What are the movements of Cao's army in Jiangbei?" Liu Cong asked Li Hui, the Minister of War. Since Pang Tong was away, Li Hui was in charge of the War.
Hearing this, Li Hui quickly replied, "My lord, after Shangshu ordered five thousand cavalry to go south to search for my wife, Cao's army has begun a tentative attack on the city."
"Cao Jun must have experts in Wancheng. Cao Ren, a reckless man, would not have thought of the key." Jiang Wan analyzed.
Liu Cong nodded, "It doesn't matter, Jiangdong hasn't sent out troops yet. If you let go of the news that you are back, once you find your wife, Jiangdong's rats won't have a chance."
"My lord is wise, if Jiangdong doesn't take action, Cao Jun will retreat!" Ma Liang continued Liu Cong's words.
"Now, as I said before, hurry up and find Madam first!" Liu Cong said to everyone seriously.