Trading Nanyang for Xinye. This had long been Liu Mang’s plan. As Liu Bei would no longer be able to hold the Nanyang region, he would be forced to abandon it. The Nanyang region may have twenty counties but they were worthless to Liu Mang.

  Thanks to the Yangtze River, the Nanyang region was like the secondary capital. Its soil were fertile. It was like a huge cake to the nobles in Jingzhou. As Zhang Xiu and his subordinates did not know how to govern, the land was mostly empty and there were not many citizens. However, Jingzhou had a huge population. They simply need to migrate to earn their fortune. There were twenty counties for them to share.

  However, the Nanyang region was not worth much to Yangzhou. The lack of people in Nanyang meant that Liu Mang had to migrate his people. Unfortunately, Yangzhou’s population was too small for that. While they certainly had a population large enough for the provisions to be a problem, they did not lack space. Another problem was that Nanyang and Yangzhou were separated by Yuzhou and the Yangtze River. Liu Mang would not be able to manage Nanyang.

  There was also the alliance with Jingzhou to consider. If the alliance falls apart, Nanyang would immediately be in danger.

  Liu Mang would not want to keep Nanyang but he also would not give it to Jingzhou for free. This is especially true since the Yangzhou Army was the one that did all the work. Jingzhou’s army of thirty thousand were basically freeloaders. Their only real contribution was providing provisions.

  When choosing what to trade for Nanyang, Liu Mang picked Xinye. It was Jingzhou’s defense against Yangzhou. It was also the bridge connecting them towards the Central Plains.

  As they will not be allies forever, Liu Mang needed Xinye.

  Liu Biao personally did not want to lose Xinye as it would allow him to expand externally. However, it was not worth as much as Nanyang to the other nobles. No matter how Xinye is developed, it only has a few counties while Nanyang had twenty. All the powerful opportunist like the Zhang Family would love to have a piece of Nanyang. Naturally, the Cai Family and the Kuai Family would end up having a share as well.

  Even the Huang Family and the Lumen Academy had eyes on Nanyang. With twenty counties, there would definitely be more jobs. Lumen Academy had many students to fill in that job vacancy. The Huang Family eyed Nanyang as they had no opportunities at the West of Jingzhou. With twenty counties, it was possible for them to take two or three counties, expanding towards the West.

  The more sensible people in Jingzhou knew the importance of Xinye and that Liu Mang would not have wanted the Nanyang region anyway. However, they did not voice their opinions because Kuai Liang also remained silent. They were sure that Kuai Liang would have spoken up against this last time but for some reason, Kuai Liang stayed silent.

  With so many people in support of this trade, Liu Biao had no choice but to agree to the trade.

  “We got Xinye!” Liu Mang almost laughed heartily when a messenger delivered the documents agreeing to this trade. He only laughed after the messenger left. Now, the Yangtze River was blockaded by him. Yangzhou will be safe for as long as they continue to hold Xinye and Lujiang. With Xinye, Liu Mang no longer needed to station troops at Yiyang, Zaoyang and Guangzhou.

  As Liu Mang laughed, Jia Xu asked if Liu Mang have decided on who will govern Xinye.