The Beacon of Kyushu

As the saying goes, “Good things don’t go out, but bad things spread thousands of miles.”

Those trivial matters in ordinary people's homes are like this, let alone major events such as Hou Renbao's death in battle, Kou Pingzhong's capture, and the complete annihilation of the Central Route Army, which are related to the rise and fall of the two countries. The bad news seemed to have wings. In just three days, it spread to Doluo Village with overwhelming force.

Liu Qingcheng had just gotten up early in the morning and was sitting on the edge of the cave having a meal. A young general ran into his bedroom in a panic, "Uncle...uncle, something serious has happened! Mr. Hou... Mr. Hou died in the battle, and Mr. Kou also died." Got caught!"

"I know." Liu Cheng thought that the Quyue people were going to repeat his old plan. As he said this, he wanted his soldiers to arrest this young general who dared to pretend to be a Song army and came to deceive him. But when his peripheral vision accidentally glanced at this person's face, he was immediately surprised!
"Shan...Shan'er, didn't I send you to report to Mr. Hou? Why are you back!" Liu Cheng raised his head and looked at the young general in front of him in shock, his hands shaking involuntarily. He knew the Liu Shan in front of him so well. Perhaps no one in the world was more familiar with Liu Shan than him, because Liu Shan was none other than his own nephew, whom he had raised with his own hands.

When Liu Shan heard his uncle's question, he hurriedly knelt down in front of his uncle. He couldn't help but burst into tears for a while, "Uncle, Mr. Hou... Mr. Hou really died in the battle, Mr. Kou was also captured, the Central Route Army... the entire Central Route Army It’s all over!”

When Liu Cheng heard this, his hands were shaking even more violently. He could no longer hold the chopsticks in his hand and let them fall to the ground. "Shan'er, could it be... could it be that the battle report that day was true! It was because I missed the opportunity to fight, and that was why Master Kou and the others were harmed." Many innocent soldiers?”

Liu Shan shook his head hurriedly and said: "Uncle, we received the battle report at noon on the 15th, but Master Hou died in battle at 10:00 on the 26th, so you don't have to blame yourself."

"What, Hai hour on the 26th?" Liu Cheng felt unbelievable for a moment, but then he thought about it and immediately understood the key. He stomped his feet with regret, "Oh, it was my incompetence that harmed everyone! It was my incompetence that harmed everyone. ah!"

Liu Shan was puzzled and said: "Uncle, although Mr. Hou's death is regrettable, it cannot be your fault. Why do you say that you harmed everyone?"

Liu Cheng said in a trembling voice: "Shan'er, the reason why the Quyue people sent us a false battle report on the 15th was because they wanted us to see through it and have doubts about the battle situation, so that we could stabilize the East Route Army and completely annihilate the Central Route Army. The purpose of the army. That day, Wan Shaoxia and I were so complacent that we could defeat the enemy's conspiracy, but our cleverness was mistaken for us!"

After hearing what his uncle said, Liu Shan felt regretful for a moment, but then he thought of a more important question, "Uncle, the Central Route Army has been completely wiped out, and we are far away from the West Route Army. Should we go deep alone to avenge Mr. Hou, or should we slowly withdraw from Quyue and go to Tokyo to apologize to Zhao Guan's family? "

Liu Cheng thought: "If we continue to advance at this moment, the outcome will definitely be worse than that of the Central Route Army, but if we go to Tokyo to plead guilty, we will definitely die. Uncle Yi Wei thinks that the only way is to temporarily abandon Duoluo Village and retreat to Huabu not far from here. The city has been in stalemate with Qu Yue's army for some time."

Liu Shan asked: "Uncle, do you think we need to discuss it with Wan Shaoxia?"

Liu Cheng sighed and said, "No need. When things are like this, he probably doesn't have any better ideas. Just let him know." Liu Shan nodded and said, "Okay, I'll go find Wan Shaoxia and General Sun right now." , ask him to lead the army with us. As the saying goes, 'there is strength in numbers'. With the strength of our two men, we can still hold on for a month or two. "

Liu Cheng nodded slightly, and just as he was about to give his nephew a few words, Sun Quanxing stepped into the room, "General Liu, have you heard the news that Mr. Hou died in battle? I wonder what General Liu can do now?"

"General Sun, you also know about this." Liu Cheng looked at Sun Quanxing helplessly and said slowly: "In my humble opinion, we might as well retreat to Huabucheng temporarily. If the West Route Army can come to support, or If the government sends reinforcements in time, we may still have a chance to turn defeat into victory, but if we continue to advance or quickly withdraw from Quyue, our fate is self-evident..."

As soon as Sun Quanxing heard the words "Huabucheng", a strange color suddenly appeared in his eyes. He pursed his lips and smiled for a while before saying: "Okay, General Liu is really smart. Let's lead our troops to retreat to Huabucheng. I believe General Chen The Heguan family will not just sit idly by and ignore us.”

Liu Cheng saw that Sun Quanxing looked a little strange, and wanted to ask for advice, but now that the disaster was approaching, there was no time for him to comment more, so he had to suppress his doubts, and walked out of the room with Sun Quanxing and Liu Shan, and slowly ordered the people. Retreat to Huabucheng.

Four or five days later, the army entered Huabucheng.

In the quiet city, the lights were dim, and only the lanterns hanging in front of each door gave out a warm glow. Liu Cheng and Sun Quanxing rode silently through the long street on horseback, followed by hundreds of soldiers. Although their footsteps were uniform, they had long lost their fighting spirit.

Liu Cheng and Sun Quanxing dismounted their horses in front of the government office and walked into the government gate side by side, while Liu Shan led his soldiers to camp in the city. Although everyone was not defeated, worry, sadness and fear had long occupied their hearts. This feeling was no better than losing a battle.

That night, Liu Cheng sat alone in the garden in the backyard of the government office, looking up at the stars in the sky, and sat there all night. Sometimes he thought of the dead Hou Renbao, sometimes of the captured Kou Zhun, sometimes of the danger he was about to face, and sometimes of his family members thousands of miles away. One night, he had thousands of thoughts, and thousands of emotions converged into one place, turning into deep sadness.

Unknowingly, the sky turned fish belly white, and a thin white mist arose in the city.

Sun Quanxing didn't care whether Liu Cheng went to bed that night. The first thing he did when he opened his eyes was to urge the servants to prepare meals. The servant quickly prepared a rich breakfast for him, but he only had a few hasty bites, then rode straight to Yuying Winery with a lewd smile on his face. (End of chapter)