Han Shimou

~ri period:~monthri~

As for the local people in the surrounding area, when they heard that Liu Bei had made such a great sacrifice, they felt a little guilty. This is the case, he also eats less food on weekdays. The state government only eats two meals a day, and supplies the rest of the food to the people or the military camp. It can be said that Liu Bei has been hungry for many days. Reducing one meal is not enough to maintain a person's physical function. In a few days, Liu Bei will be so hungry that he will be so weak that he will not even have the strength to walk.In this way, how could Liu Bei have the energy to command soldiers to resist the [-] Cao soldiers outside the city.

Of course, the twenty dan grain gap is really too big, even if Liu Bei voluntarily reduces the grain consumption of the state government, it will only make up for the superficiality. Many soldiers followed suit one after another, and many soldiers even offered to voluntarily eat only one meal every two days to make up for this gap.

The old man whom Liu Bei called Linggong saw this scene, heaved a big sigh, and said politely to Liu Bei.

"The Fujun is the leader of an army, how can he be hungry? The Fujun is so benevolent and righteous, how can this old man hide his secrets, the old man still has a lot of food in his house, and he voluntarily distributes ten stools to the people, and the Fujun can just take out ten loads. "

Duke Ling is the patriarch of the Longquan natives, and he governs a large clan, so he naturally knows the principle of planning for rainy days, and has stored a lot of grain in the granary in his mansion for emergencies.

Hearing that Lord Ling was willing to offer food to help, Liu Bei felt a lot less worried, but Liu Bei still accepted it after making several refusals on the surface, only because of Lord Ling's insistence.

Liu Bei talked with Lord Ling for a while, then secretly observed the surroundings, and saw many corpses of native people. Bei's face changed slightly, and suddenly he drew the double-strand sword from his waist. The Lord Ling didn't know what Liu Bei wanted to do, so he couldn't help but retreat. In the next few steps, Liu Bei raised his hands and handed the sword to Duke Ling.

"This sword is made of black iron, and it is worth hundreds of gold. Just now, due to the robbery of food, Liu's soldiers killed many people by mistake. People cannot be resurrected, and Liu knows that he cannot escape the blame. But now I still have a heavy responsibility, so I can only use this sword as compensation first. You can sell the sword and exchange it for some silver taels to the relatives of the deceased. "

"Your Majesty must not do it. This is the Lord's sword, how can you sell it! What's more, the robbery of food is all our fault!"

"Don't say too much, I waited for the soldiers to fight on the battlefield, all for the purpose of defending the country and saving the people from the disaster of war. Now the soldiers under my command are killing the people. , accept this sword!"

Liu Bei made a gesture and gave it again. Duke Ling was so moved by Liu Bei's benevolence and righteousness that he insisted on not wanting it.The local people behind him also spoke one after another to persuade Liu Bei to return Pei straw.

Liu Bei's benevolent and righteous actions have extinguished the resentment of the Longquan natives. Not only that, many natives who originally had a rebellious heart felt guilty secretly, and secretly scolded their conscience for being taken away by dogs. Betrayed him, even if he survived, he would never feel at ease for the rest of his life.

Liu Bei's method of winning people's hearts can be said to be extremely superb. After the food grabbing incident, the soldiers and civilians in the city not only did not feel like fire and water, but were united as one, and they were all willing to defend Longquan for Liu Bei.

A few more days later, Cao Cao stood on a certain peak and looked down at the scene in Longquan City. After looking at it for a long time, Cao Cao sighed with a bit of embarrassment.

"Where is this Liu Xuande sacred? Longquan County has been cut off from food and water for nearly half a month, but apart from the accident a few days ago, there has been no movement in the city. And since then, the relationship between the army and the people in Longquan County has not decreased but increased. , there is a tendency to share life and death with the big-eared thief."

"My lord, Liu Xuande has always used benevolence and righteousness to win people's hearts. I'm afraid that the soldiers and common people in this city will be deceived by him, and they will put their life and death aside and are willing to sacrifice their lives for him."

Guo Jia, who was standing behind Cao Cao, smiled and said that he had a playful taste of watching a good show.

"Benevolence and righteousness? I didn't expect this method to be applicable in this chaotic world. However, no matter how much he does it, he is still dying."

The corners of Cao Cao's mouth were turned up, and the smile on his face was somewhat similar to Guo Jian's playful smile. The two monarchs and ministers gave people the feeling that they both had a cynical taste.Of course, these two people are both talented, and it is precisely because they can see through many things in the world, and then manipulate them, that they give people that cynical feeling.

While the two of them were talking, a scout general with a disorganized soldier hurried over to report.Cao Cao didn't look back, but when he heard the hurried and flustered footsteps, he knew the general idea, and he frowned slightly before he said in a cold voice.

"The stubborn people in this city didn't receive the secret letter, and instead shot arrows back, wait?"

The scout general couldn't help being startled, he hadn't reported it yet, yet Cao Cao knew all about it, and he secretly slandered Cao Cao as a god-man.

"Your Majesty's ingenious plan, it's exactly as your Majesty said, not only did the obstinate people guarding the north gate fail to accept the letter, but instead fired arrows at random, shooting many soldiers of our army to death! Moreover, they even said that the prime minister slandered loyal ministers and injured innocent people for... "

The scout general spoke halfway, and didn't dare to continue.Cao Cao laughed, and continued with his words.

"These stubborn people are saying that Cao is a traitor? What's more, it is absolutely impossible for me to be in trouble?"

The scout general lowered his head, not daring to answer, but his expression showed that it was exactly what Cao Cao said.Cao Cao raised his eyebrows, and made a gesture to signal the scout general to retreat, and the scout general bowed his hands, and then retreated as ordered.

"It seems that this heart attack will continue for a while."

Guo Jia sighed somewhat unexpectedly.As for Cao Cao, he laughed out loud instead.

"Hahaha. Interesting, really interesting. I would like to see how long Liu Xuande's benevolence and righteousness can confuse these stubborn people. When life and death are approaching, people are often the easiest to lose their original nature and reveal their evil nature. I, Cao Mengde, never Believe that someone can bear the threat of death and work for others!"

The [-] Cao army consumes a lot of food every day. Cao Cao has fought repeatedly, and there is not much food left in the army, which can only last half at most.But Cao Cao didn't panic at all, let alone rush to attack Longquan.Because once this happens, he will fall into Liu Bei's trap. Longquan County is easy to defend and difficult to attack. In addition, Liu Bei's defensive measures are extremely sufficient. Even if there are [-] soldiers, it will be difficult to break through Longquan within half a month.If Cao Cao loses patience and raises his troops to attack, he will suffer heavy casualties. Coupled with the shortage of food, he will only be forced to retreat in the end.

And to Cao Cao, Longquan County is just a small place, like a chicken rib that is tasteless to eat and waste to discard.The reason why Cao Cao spent so many troops and food to attack Longquan was just to take advantage of Liu Bei's downfall and give him a fatal blow with lightning speed to eradicate this serious trouble.

But if this battle fails, Cao Cao will have to put aside the matter of exterminating Liu Bei, because he will have to face the northern giants Yuan Shao and Yuan Benchu ​​who occupy the land of three states and have nearly 70 soldiers under their command.At this time, Yuan Shao had mostly received the news that his younger brother Yuan Shu had been killed by Cao Cao, and that Xuzhou had fallen into Cao Cao's hands again.After Yuan Shao heard about it, he would definitely be very anxious, he didn't dare to allow Cao Cao's power to continue to expand, and he was anxious to fight Cao Cao to the death.

Cao Cao knew in his heart that the battle between Yuan Shao and him would determine the position of the world's number one hero. Whoever had the last laugh would be the king most likely to win the world's great cause in the future.

For this point, Liu Bei also sees it thoroughly, and this is his only clue. As long as he can defend this battle, he will have another chance to survive. When Cao Cao and Yuan Shao are fighting fiercely, he can secretly accumulate strength and make a comeback.

As for the battle of Longquan, although there was no blood on the surface, in fact, the battle was already in full swing behind the scenes.What Cao Cao and Liu Bei are fighting secretly is patience. Of course, the most important thing is the human nature → the human nature of the people in Quanquan.If the people of Longquan can withstand the threat of death without food and water, the loser will be Cao Cao who has the upper hand, but if they can't, it will be Liu Bei who will be wiped out.

Time flies, and for Cao Cao and Liu Bei, every day that passes is a torment.Cao Cao didn't move for a long time, the morale of the soldiers in the army inevitably dropped, and the daily food supply decreased day by day, many soldiers guessed that there was not much food in the camp, and panic was inevitable.For Liu Bei, the torment he suffered was even more tragic. He was mentally tense almost every day, and the grain storage in the city was almost exhausted. exhausted.Although the natives in the city seldom complained on the surface, but as the hunger and thirst grew stronger, many natives became delirious with hunger, and several groups of natives even wanted to rush out of the city gate and go out. foraging.Fortunately, they were all stopped by Liu Bei's soldiers in time. Otherwise, if the gate of the city was opened and Cao Jun outside the city seized the opportunity to rush into the city, the consequences would be disastrous.

One night, on the wall of the north gate, more than a dozen natives were discussing in whispers.Then the night became darker and darker, and most of the natives guarding the city wall were yawning without realizing it, their eyelids were rolling, and they were both thirsty and hungry, and most of them were in a semi-drowsy state.At this moment, a few nimble natives tied the top of the city wall with hemp rope, and escaped out of the city in the dark.

After these natives jumped to the ground, they quickly ran out of the city, and soon hid in a mountain forest. They were so hungry that they couldn't bear it, and they came out tonight to hunt some prey from the mountain to satisfy their hunger.They wandered in the mountains, and everyone's eyes seemed to be emitting a faint green light.As long as they can eliminate the hunger that tortured them to death, even if a big tiger appears at this time, they will not hesitate to pounce on it and fight it.