Three Kingdoms: Ancestors of the Han Dynasty

Chapter 38 Liu Bei's Counterattack
Lu Xun had just received a letter from Sun Quan, in which he said: "Because of refusing Cao Pi to make the crown prince a hostage, Cao Pi felt disgraced, and Cao Wei was ready to move; Cao Xiu, Zhang Liao, and Zang Ba were ordered to station troops near the entrance of the cave, and Sun Guangling, the prefect, Yun and Lu Fan, governor of Danyang, are facing each other across the river; Cao Ren is rushing from Luoyang to Huainan; Cao Zhen, Xia Houshang, Zhang He, and Xu Huang are staring at Jiangbei."

When Lu Xun got the letter, he couldn't help sighing. Although Sun Quan's letter didn't ask him to end the battle as soon as possible, between the lines, it revealed that the battle with Jiangbei was already clouded and the war was imminent.

Lu Xun looked at the motionless Han army on Ma'anshan again. The current situation was difficult to get rid of. Under the continuous siege, the morale of the Han army was not broken. On the contrary, the morale of his own infantry was low. Han Zong, who is in the trilogy, is completely coping with the matter; Luo Tong has just inherited Ling Tong's trilogy, and has not yet fully regained the hearts of the soldiers.

Lu Xun also understands why the elite soldiers of the Jiangdong army are inferior to the elite soldiers of the Han army in terms of morale. Even if he is willing to hand over the trilogy, the rest of the generals are unwilling to hand over the trilogy. (Contradictions between Lu Xun and Sun Quan in the later period)
Seeing that the new force organized by Sun Huan was repulsed by Wu Ban, Lu Xun saw that it was getting late, so in desperation he could only order the messenger to withdraw the troops; The tide receded, and after a while there were only Han soldiers and the corpses of soldiers from both sides left on the mountain.
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The dusk is usually beautiful, but today's dusk in Ma'anshan is extraordinarily bleak.

The sunset glow at dusk falls like a crimson fallen leaf to the ground covered with yellow dust, and the hills under the setting sun turn dark red, but today's dark red is extraordinarily deep, and there are more crows than before.

Ji Xi gnawed on the cold rice balls, which tasted saltier than ever.Sitting on the slope, I don’t know where the stone I used to rely on at noon has gone. Looking at the countless corpses lying on the mountain road, there is Xiaoqi, who was from the same hometown as him, who left Shu together, but died in battle in a foreign land.

Ji Xi has no longing for the war at all, he only thinks about how to go back early, misses Xiaofang who is not sure if he is married in his hometown, and misses the days of watching the sunset with her on the bank of the river.

In Liu Bei's big tent on the top of the mountain, the faces of all the officers and men were heavy.Liu Bei was still very angry, listening to Wu Yi's report.

Wu Yi solemnly reported to Liu Bei: "Today, Wu's army besieged from all sides from noon to You, and never stopped. Our soldiers lost nearly 3000 people. There were many mutinies in the army today, and they were suppressed by the ministers. The morale of the army is low, if there is no more reinforcements, the Wu army may break the formation tomorrow, please make plans early, Your Majesty."

Liu Bei's originally calm face finally fluctuated a little. Liu Bei couldn't have imagined that the Wu army would attack so casually.

The generals discussed a lot, and Fu Kuang went out and cupped his hands and said: "Your Majesty, if there is no rescue, we must take advantage of the night to break out of the siege today, and the Wu army will attack again tomorrow, and our army's morale will definitely collapse!"

Liao Hua also came out to respond and said: "Your Majesty, the assistant general is right. I know that the trail on the west side of Ma'anshan can lead to Zigui. I am the vanguard and open the way ahead!"

Seeing this, Liu Bei took out Liu Chan's letter from his bosom, opened it and handed it to Wu Yi, and said slowly: "Prince, at around 9:00 today, the leader of the army set off from Zhuoxiang, along the Yuanjian (Liao Hua The word) said that the small road was going eastward, and the letter had just been delivered. Zilong opened the way for the forward, and arrived in about half an hour; Come to the rescue!"

Liu Bei saw that Liu Chan personally led [-] soldiers and horses to help out, so he no longer thought about how to retreat, but prepared to use this opportunity to turn the tables!

Liu Bei then smiled and said: "Generals, the enemy is clear and we are dark, how should we deal with the enemy?"

Wu Yi took the letter to check, and then passed it to the other generals. Hearing Liu Bei's words, Wu Yi and the generals fell into deep thought, thinking about how to deal with the enemy.

Liu Bei looked around the crowd and saw Deng Ai guarding him, but he had a thoughtful look on his face. Liu Bei loved talent and tried to teach him, and asked Deng Ai kindly: "Shizai, can you get anything?"

Deng Ai heard Liu Bei's words and asked for a plan, looked up and saw all the generals looking at him, his face turned red, Deng Ai couldn't help but said nervously: "Ai~ there is no way to defeat the enemy~ to win, but there is a little~ something to gain! "

Hearing the words, Liu Bei solemnly said to Deng Ai: "Please tell me, Shi Zai, there is no official position here, and all the tents are my Han sergeants."

Hearing the words, Deng Ai took a deep breath and said slowly: "Today, when I inspected the armies on behalf of Your Majesty, Luo Tongjun's army formation was strictly guarded, but Sun Huan's army might have a chance to take advantage of it. General Wu Yuyi was defeated and besieged, and now he is leading the army again to attack without stopping. He has experienced many bitter battles in just two days, and his soldiers have suffered a lot of losses. Morale is low. ~ There are dissatisfaction, there are many soldiers ~ there is a mutiny, and Sun Huan's troops ~ are camped at the foot of the mountain on the west side of Ma'anshan!"

Liu Bei pondered upon hearing the words, Wu Yi clasped his hands after hearing Deng Ai's remarks, and said, "I heard what Shi Zai said, and I thought I could take this opportunity to attack Sun Huan's army with His Highness internally and externally. And retreat to the west to join forces with His Highness to resist the Wu army."

Liu Bei was overjoyed when he heard Wu Yi's words, and said, "If you fear that Wu's army will be ready tomorrow, how about tonight, everyone?"

Wu Yi clapped his hands approvingly and said, "Tonight, the moon and stars are sparse, and the southeast wind is strong, which is suitable for night attack. I don't know if it's His Royal Highness or our army will attack first."

Liu Bei asked with a smile: "Lu Xun must be prepared tonight. He is afraid that our army will flee. Besides, the enemy's camp must be heavily guarded on the front of the mountain, and the soldiers on the back must be slack and unprepared. Tonight, the crown prince will select elite soldiers and attack Sun Huan's headquarters first. The army is ready to go, just wait for the prince to attack the camp, and then he can take advantage of the situation and fight out."

Wu Ban came out and clapped his hands in Leon's voice: "Your Majesty, I'm an elite minister. Today, I'll be recuperating for a day. It's only for great use. Tonight, I'm willing to be the pioneer."

Liu Bei showed joy when he heard Wu Ban's invitation to fight, and said seriously: "Deng Ai, find a few clever people, go down the mountain immediately, and tell His Highness the plan, and ask His Highness to set fire to the village."

"Wu Ban listened to the order and ordered your troops to be the vanguard. Go down to the mountainside in the dark and wait for the prince to attack the camp. Your troops will attack immediately and cooperate with the prince. The rest of the army obeys the order and the whole army is repaired. Army attack!"

The generals handed over their promises and left the camp to prepare by themselves.

Liu Bei got up and went out of the tent, taking advantage of the afterglow of the setting sun, looking at Wuzhai at the foot of the mountain, stroking his beard and sneering.

(End of this chapter)