Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 677 The Situation in Wancheng

Runan, Yuzhou.

Several cities near the Huai River were already in panic, because Cao's army went south and attacked the cities along the Huai River, and several cities had been captured.

Previously, in order to welcome the emperor to the north, Liu Bei took away most of his main force. Therefore, the Liu Bei army currently stationed in Ruyin County is weak and unable to stop the menacing Cao army.

On this route, Cao Jun started from Chen State in Runan County and defeated the three cities of Pingxing, Yang'an and Xincai. These three cities are located in the west of Runan and are distributed in a triangle. After Cao Jun captured them, they not only separated the east and west parts of Runan, but also separated them. It cut off Liu Bei's retreat.

To the east of Runan County is Ruyin, where most of Liu Bei's subordinate officials and family members are located.

But it happened that Liu Bei went out with the main force. Ruyin had no backbone, and the officials were even more panicked. Mi Zhu had a high status, but was not capable enough to take charge of the overall situation. Jian Yong, Fu Shiren, was senior, but he did not stand out. Sun Qian, Yuan Huan and others each He has some merits, but his position is not enough to convince the public. Needless to say, Chen Dao and other generals, under the background of Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, seem to be quite unremarkable and cannot stabilize people's hearts.

At this time, everyone gathered together and had different opinions on how to deal with it. Some suggested holding on to the city and waiting for Liu Bei's rescue. Some suggested leading troops to attack to weaken Cao's army. Some suggested seeking support from Yuan Xi's army in the direction of Jiujiang.

But without exception, no one mentioned abandoning the city and leaving.

Because they didn't dare to say that if they retreated without fighting, and if Liu Bei came back later and found that they had lost the city, who could bear this responsibility?
While everyone was arguing, a voice suddenly rang out, "Why don't you say anything about the right and way out?"

"If Ruyin is besieged and the city is broken, none of us can escape. How can we deal with Liu Yuzhou like this?"

Everyone heard the sound and took a look and found that it was Mi Fang who spoke.

Nowadays Mi Fang is considered very popular. In the previous battle in Xuzhou, although he failed to defend Qucheng and even lost the entire Donghai County, his greatest contribution was to rescue Mrs. Gan.

Now Mrs. Gan is about to give birth. If she can give birth to a male heir, Liu Bei will have a son and the family will be more united.

Of course, the premise is that everyone can still have a place to stay. If Ruyin is captured and no one can escape, then let's stop talking.

Seeing Mi Fang speak, Mi Zhu hurriedly said: "Zifang, if you say you want to retreat before fighting, it will shake the morale of the army, so don't say anything more."

Mi Fang was a little unconvinced and said: "Before calculating victory, calculate defeat first. Why not?"

"What's more, when Cao's army attacked the city near the Huai River, they used the tactics of diverting water to flood the city. How should we respond if they attack Ruyin with water?"

Everyone couldn't help but fell silent. The reason why the water attack was terrible was that once it was used, the city defenders would not be able to respond at all.

In the face of the out-of-control power of nature, all human efforts are in vain. Although winter is approaching and there are not many floods, there is an even more terrifying point: cold water is more likely to kill people.

If this water is poured into the city and people stand in the water for half a day, they will freeze to death. Why fight?

Someone said: "How about going south across the Huaihe River and asking for help from Shouchun?"

"Or if you really can't guard against Ruyin, how about taking refuge in Shouchun?"

After hearing this, Sun Qian said in a solemn voice: "I have inquired before. Most of Shouchun's fleet has followed Yuan Shijun north to Ye City. Those who stayed in the city are all officials. It is difficult for the generals and soldiers to protect themselves. .”

"If we are not careful, we will divert the disaster eastward and let Cao's army capture Shouchun. Wouldn't that be a harm to our allies?"

After everyone heard this, they also hesitated. At this time, Jian Yong said: "I have a suggestion."

"Above the Huai River, there is a navy trained by General Guan."

At this time, Chen Dao said: "We are all good at foot combat. Only General Guan is proficient in both. He followed the lord northward. None of us are qualified for the important task of the naval army."

Jian Yong shook his head and said, "That's not what I meant."

"Except General Guan, no one in this navy can really play a role, but we can move it to the upstream source, the Tongbai Mountain area in Runan."

Everyone was startled when they heard this.

Jian Yong said: "Yes, I also think that Cao's army is too powerful and may not be able to fight. We can only abandon the city."

"But if we just run away, the lord's escape route will be completely cut off. Will we return the lord's favor by then?"

He immediately said: "We were inspired by the lord and gathered under his command because we were grateful for the lord's kindness in recognizing people. Now that the lord is in trouble, how can we sit back and wait for death and only care about our own safety?"

"If Ruyin really can't defend it, the worst we can do is abandon the city, but what we have to do is to support our lord!"

"As long as we use the Huai River to enter Tongbai Mountain, we can go north to meet him. As for the Lord's retreat, one is to go west to Jingzhou, and the other is to go south to Jiujiang. Our sect has a high probability of encountering him!"

"Even if the lord escapes to Jingzhou, we can go west from Tongbai Mountain and enter Nanyang, and we can still make peace with the lord by then!"

After hearing this, everyone's eyes suddenly brightened. Instead of defending Runan and being flooded by the enemy, and ending up in the city, it was better to make a decisive decision, conserve strength, and join Liu Bei!After everyone discussed for a long time, everything was finalized. Finally, Mi Zhu thought about it and said: "If we give up Ruyin, we will directly expose Shouchun to Cao Jun, which seems a bit unkind."

"It's better to send someone to deliver a message and give him a warning in advance, which will be regarded as living up to Yuan Shijun."

After everyone heard this, they all agreed, and Ruyin City began to get busy.

After Shouchun received the news that Liu Bei's forces were preparing to abandon the city, they immediately fell into uneasiness.

Because Yuan Xi left in a hurry and felt that Liu Bei was blocking Yuzhou, he did not pay much attention to Shouchun. As a result, most of the people left behind were officials and generals who made up a temporary number. With their ability, Taiping In times of war, the governance ability is acceptable, but in times of war, no one can take charge of the overall situation!
They wanted to seek help from Li Shu, the governor of Lujiang County appointed by Yuan Xi, so they sent an urgent letter.

Li Shu, however, was too busy to take care of himself. After receiving the letter, his head was about to explode with worry. If Shouchun was lost, the Jianghuai situation would completely collapse. If Cao Jun took over, the fate of himself and others would be dire!
He felt that since he became the Lujiang County Sheriff, he has been extremely unlucky. What kind of things have he encountered!

First, the marriage with Liu Xun's family fell through, and his family was almost ruined by the Liu family. Fortunately, Yuan Xi made things right for him, and the Li family's reputation was intact.

Later, Sun Ce rebelled and entered Wancheng. Li Shu followed Yuan Xi's previous instructions and did not resist. He opened the city and welcomed Sun Ce in. He surrendered without a fight.

This really shook Sun Ce, who wanted to find trouble, as he had no high-sounding reason to kill Li Shu, and thus Li Shu escaped another disaster.

Thinking of this, Li Shu was extremely grateful to Yuan Xi. If he had such a magnanimous master, his subordinates would really feel at ease!
Therefore, Li Shu tried to please Sun Ce and tried to mediate the relationship between Sun Ce and Yuan Xi, hoping to promote cooperation between the two parties. However, he gradually discovered that Sun Ce did not seem to care much about joining forces with Yuan Xi.

Li Shu quickly figured out that Sun Ce must have other plans in mind. If he was not prepared enough, he might have fallen out with Yuan Xi long ago.

When he was at his wits' end, something unexpected happened.

Sun Ce was assassinated.

When Li Shu heard the news, his eyes darkened. How could Sun Ce be assassinated in Wancheng?

Who is so bold?

If something like this happened in the city, you might not be able to save your life, right?

Before he could think of a way to protect himself, he learned that Zhou Yu and others would escort Sun Ce down the river and return to Jiangdong the next day.

Li Shu not only lamented Zhou Yu's ability, but Sun Ce was assassinated, otherwise the rear would be unstable, so he must rush back to the base camp in time to stabilize people's hearts, deter people with ulterior motives, and avoid damage to the foundation.

But on the other hand, Sun Ce's injury must be serious, otherwise Jiangdong would not even want the fat in Wancheng.

Li Shu understood that he had escaped another disaster, because he had previously discovered that Sun Ce had already had the intention of getting rid of him, and he was obviously planning to vigorously manage Lujiang and replace him with his henchmen.

As a result, once the assassination incident came out, no one could care about Li Shu. If he captured Wancheng at this time, he would probably have troubles and completely break up with Yuan Xi, which would not be a good thing for Jiangdong, which currently lacks a backbone.

Li Shu was secretly glad in his heart, but also felt that he should plan an escape route, otherwise he would die without knowing how when Jiangdong came back, but before that, he had to do one thing that Yuan Xi had asked him to do before.

After waiting for a few days, things finally took shape.

Liu Xian, Liu Xun's son, came to visit.

He came in to meet Li Shu, and first thanked him: "Thank you Mr. Fu for saving my little sister's life. It's just that she is too stupid and stubborn and is not lucky enough to reach the heights of Mr. Fu."

Li Shu chuckled and said, "You're welcome, dear brother. Quanzi is the one who strives for high things. Since the two of them are destined to each other, it's God's will and cannot be violated."

"My dear brother is here, but is there any news from your father?"

Liu Xianting nodded and said: "My father has already learned about the prince's intention to make good friends. However, Sun Ce was in the city earlier and my father had deep grievances with him, so he did not send anyone here."

"Now that Sun Ce has left, my father has sent his subordinate Liu Ye to discuss the truce with my husband."

Li Shu was overjoyed after hearing this, but said calmly: "If your Majesty can make good friends with Yuan Shijun, it will be a great achievement for Lujiang to regain stability."

"That being the case, I want to meet Liu Ye as soon as possible to discuss terms. I hope my dear brother will arrange it."

After hearing this, Liu Xian quickly agreed: "Liu Ye is outside the city now. I will go and welcome him into the city."

After hearing this, Li Shu chuckled and said, "That's right. To show respect, I'll leave the city together."

He actually had some inside information that he kept from Liu Xian.

Although Yuan Xi had asked Li Shu to make friends with Liu Xun as much as possible, after all, the opponent was now in the Xisai area, occupying the main road leading to the Dabie Mountains and into Jingzhou. Although Yuan Xi mobilized his troops and could defeat him, the settlement of accounts failed. It’s not cost-effective, so negotiation is the best option.

But on the other hand, Yuan Xi also told Li Shu privately that Liu Ye, Liu Xun's subordinate, was the main target!
(End of this chapter)