At the end of the Han Dynasty: a stingy husband from his hometown

Chapter 369 Chen Deng
Feng Ji left Tan County with his head held high. Even though Zhang Fei was extremely angry, Liu Bei suppressed him, but he could only let him leave.

"Brother, Feng Ji is so arrogant and domineering, why don't you let me kill him directly? Is he really afraid of Yuan Shao?"

Faced with Zhang Fei's doubts, Liu Bei sighed slightly, with a helpless wry smile on his face.

When Guan Yu heard this, he yelled at Zhang Fei: "Yide, don't mess around. My brother is not afraid of Yuan Shao, but worried about the people of Donghai County."

Liu Bei sighed deeply again, then waved his hand, signaling everyone to leave.

After a while, Liu Bei was the only one left in the hall.

He looked at the pouring rain outside the door, with a look of pain, confusion and helplessness in his eyes.

He was already in his forties, and originally had ambitions to help the country, relieve the people from poverty, and revive the Han Dynasty.

However, after many years of wandering around, he always relied on others and achieved nothing.

It was not easy to have the foundation of Xuzhou, but as the place of the Four Wars, it was surrounded by powerful princes, so Liu Bei had to find a balance in the cracks and survive.

He is not a person who is inferior to others.

However, this reputation also comes with a heavy baggage.

If Liu Bei had many soldiers, generals, and talents as he had in history, he would not only occupy half of Jingzhou, but even Yizhou would be in his pocket.

If you don't surrender, you are a hypocrite who doesn't care about the life and death of the people and is hypocritical.

Liu Bei had great ambitions. If he were asked to surrender to Yuan Shao, he would naturally be unwilling to do so.

He originally thought that Yuan Shao's large-scale march south to destroy the Chu State was an opportunity for the rise of Xuzhou, so he decided to abandon the alliance and temporarily choose neutrality, hoping to reap the benefits.

"Snapped!"

Unexpectedly, this move became the beginning of Xuzhou's downfall.

But Liu Bei was known for his benevolence and righteousness, especially his love for the people within his territory, so he won the hearts of the people.

Liu Bei's success is also famous, and his failure is also famous.

"Adou has been sent to Xiangyang as a hostage, and even Zilong has been left in Xiangyang, but to this day, no reinforcements from Chu have been seen."

Although many people in later generations said that Liu Bei was hypocritical, in any case, serving the people and serving as an official under Liu Bei was a very comfortable thing.

If it were Cao Cao or Yuan Shu, Ju Shou's strategy would naturally not work because they would not be burdened by fame.

"Does Zhou Ziyi really intend to sit back and watch Xuzhou be gained by Yuan Benchu?"

In this case, Liu Bei doesn't need to care too much about his reputation.

But now, Liu Bei has only Tan County left. If he loses his people's hearts again, even if he is lucky enough to escape the disaster caused by the flood, his future will be blocked.

Liu Bei was different. He rose because of his fame, but he was bound to be fettered by his fame.

It was precisely because of his reputation for generosity and loyalty that Tao Qian gave Xuzhou to Liu Bei so that he could have a place to live.

If Kaicheng surrenders, then Liu Bei's family fortune, which he has worked hard to accumulate for many years, will be handed over to Yuan Shao.

In fact, Liu Bei will be accused of hypocrisy and disregarding the lives of the people for his own selfish interests.

With the current situation in the world, Liu Bei, who has no place to stand, will have very little chance of rising in the future if he loses even Tan County.

"Snapped!"

"Snapped!"

"Snapped!"

"Snapped!"

It was still raining heavily in the sky, and the rain fell to the ground, as if endless troubles were tugging at Liu Bei's heartstrings, making Liu Bei upset.

"Tap tap tap!" Just when Liu Bei felt uncomfortable, he suddenly heard a rush of footsteps.

Liu Bei looked up and saw Chen Deng wearing a raincoat, rushing towards his direction in the rain.

"Yuanlong, are you healed?"

Although Liu Bei was angry at Chen Deng for taking advantage of the situation, when he saw Yuan Shao's army approaching the border, he deliberately pretended to be ill and wanted to stay out of the incident.

It's just that Liu Bei is a very human being and can tolerate what others cannot tolerate.

The most important thing is that when Liu Bei first came to Xuzhou, in addition to Mi Zhu, he did receive great help from Chen Deng.

Without the help of the Chen family, a famous family in Xuzhou, it would be difficult for Liu Bei to gain a foothold here.

Liu Bei is a grateful person and knows the nature of many wealthy families, so after the initial anger, his mentality gradually adjusted and he no longer resented Chen Deng.

He was just a little confused. Seeing that Tan County was about to be destroyed, why did Chen Deng come to see him instead of pretending to be sick at home.

Chen Deng walked under the eaves, took off his raincoat, and bowed deeply to Liu Bei.

Liu Bei looked shocked, and hurriedly stepped forward to help Chen Deng up, and said slightly reproachfully: "Why is Yuan Long like this?"

Chen Deng was silent for a long time, and then said with a slight guilt: "Deng has failed Ming Gong!"

When Liu Bei heard this, his hands holding Chen Deng were a little stiff, and then he smiled casually and said: "I know Yuan Long must have difficulties. With the friendship between you and me, there is no need for this."

The look of guilt on Chen Deng's face became even stronger, and he said, "Coming here may help Ming Gong break the situation!"

Heavy rain has been falling intermittently for a day, and the Yishui River has begun to surge. The water level of the artificial river dug by Liu Bei has overflowed the river banks in many places, flooding nearby fields.

If the heavy rain continues like this, there will be no need for Yuan Shao to order people to dig out the Yishui River, and there will be huge floods near Tan County.

Yuan Jun camped in the camp, and the commander camped.

Even though the camp had been set up on the mountain, when the heavy rain came, it also caused great trouble to Yuan Jun. Many people's tents were wet.

Fortunately, it is summer now. If it were a cold winter, I am afraid that Yuan Jun would have lost his combat effectiveness.

Even so, compared to the Xuzhou Army, which still had the city as a support, Yuan Army was also in trouble at this time.

"Yuan Tu, do you think Liu Xuande will surrender in Kaicheng?"

Yuan Shao looked at Feng Ji and asked aloud.

Feng Ji pondered for a moment, and then said categorically: "Flooding Tan County is a conspiracy. Even if Liu Xuande understands the plan in advance, there is nothing he can do."

"Liu Xuande rose because of his fame, but he must also be trapped by his fame. Even if he doesn't think about the people of Donghai County, he still has to think about his own reputation."

As soon as Feng Ji finished speaking, he heard someone coming to report that Liu Bei's envoy wanted to see him.

Yuan Shao and Feng Ji looked at each other and saw happiness on each other's faces.

"Please come quickly!"

Not long after, Chen Deng was brought over.

"Chen Deng pays homage to His Majesty!"

Seeing that Chen Deng was so understanding, Yuan Shao was very happy. He laughed and stepped forward to hold Chen Deng's hand and said: "Yuanlong, your father is an official in the State of Zhao, but you are attached to Liu Xuande, causing the separation of flesh and blood. Sad.”

"If Tan County can be defeated today, I will take the entire territory of Xuzhou into my possession. Wouldn't it be wonderful if Yuan Long and his son were ministers in the same palace?"

Chen Deng paid his respects and said, "I came here just to accept my surrender!"

Yuan Shao perked up and asked, "Is Liu Xuande willing to open the city and surrender?"

Chen Deng nodded and said: "Xuande is tolerant and kind to the people. Naturally, he does not want to see Donghai County flooded and is willing to surrender to Kaicheng."

(End of this chapter)