Ji Han Da Sima

Chapter 73 Courage
It was said to be a few days, but in fact it was only three days. The time was tight and the tasks were heavy.

It was getting slightly brighter, and the soldiers in the military camp began to get busy, packing necessary weapons, food, supplies, and other items.The newly recruited soldiers directly acted as auxiliary soldiers, helping these veterans share the task of carrying supplies.

Brother Huo Xiong led his guards to pack Huo Jun's belongings, including blankets, clothes, documents, maps, and sand tables.The more soldiers there are, the more documents there will be in the army.These military documents, including food and grass expenditures, were basically entered and written by Huo Jun himself.

There was no way around it. The Caotai team had been established not long ago, and the number of soldiers and soldiers had increased too much, and the civil servants had not yet had time to match them.Looking at the piled up official documents, Huo Jun couldn't help but feel dizzy.

"Join the army, Liu Youzhi of Xuncheng is asking for an audience!" the attendant reported.

"Bring him in!"

After a while, Liu Zhong, wearing Confucian clothes and a sword at his waist, walked into the tent, cupped his hands and said, "Greetings, General Zhonglang!"

"Today we will move the army to the front line. Liu Youzhi has been busy recruiting troops these days." Facing Liu Zhong's arrival, Huo Jun also raised his hands to say hello and said, "I wonder what important business Liu Youzhi has here?"

In the half month since recruiting troops, Liu Zhong has contributed a lot.He led the generals under Huo Jun's tent across the mountains and plains to endorse Huo Jun's recruitment.Although I don’t know what the purpose is, I would like to thank you after all.

Liu Zhong hesitated for a long time and said, "I wonder if General Zhonglang still lacks manpower in his account? Zhong is a rough reader of classics, knows how to calculate books, and is good at writing official documents. He might be working for General Zhonglang."

Hearing this, Huo Jun was overjoyed. Just now he was worried that there were too many documents and he needed to take care of them himself. Now he wanted to find a reliable clerk.

As the chief executive of Daxiang, Liu Zhong's administrative ability is beyond doubt.It can be seen from the recruitment of soldiers in the past few days that he has a good reputation in the countryside, otherwise it would be difficult for him to recruit such soldiers.Moreover, Liu Zhong's joining the army can also have a soothing effect on those Xuancheng soldiers who have just joined the army.

After pondering for a while, Huo Jun said: "There is a shortage of civil servants under a certain account. I wonder why Liu Youzhi joined our army?"

Liu Zhong did not see anyone outside, and said truthfully: "I have seen that the general's army has strict military discipline. Since entering Xuncheng, the soldiers under the tent have not committed any crimes, which is rare in the world. The military chaos in Yuzhang is an opportunity to make achievements. If the general does not give up, loyal I am willing to ride with my clan members and serve the general."

Liu Zhong's reasons were of course more than that. He remembered that when Sun Ce entered Yuzhang, a lot of people rushed to join him and his official position was promoted.Now that there is another war in Yuzhang, it is better to take this opportunity to join the army and try for fame.

When he heard that Liu Zhong had also joined the army with ten cavalry, Huo Jun's smile became brighter and he said: "How can we abandon each other? Jun's account still lacks the chief secretary. If the official does not abandon him, he can be appointed temporarily."

Ten cavalry is a big deal. Huo Jun has nearly 2000 people in his tent, and there are only ten cavalrymen.Liu Zhong joined the army and brought ten cavalry with him, which was quite a feat.

"Thank you, General, for your kindness!" Liu Zhong said.

After chatting for a while, Liu Zhong quickly got into the role and served the army in front of and behind the horse.

"Join the army, a letter from General Zuo!"

Shortly after Liu Zhong left, the scout presented Liu Bei's letter.

Huo Jun opened it and saw Liu Bei describing the current war situation in the letter.When Liu Bei's army first arrived at Haihun, he asked Chen Dao and Wenpin to lead their elite troops to attack Taishi Ci's camp at night to see if they could defeat Taishi Ci quickly.As a result, Taishi Ci's camp was strong and the two men could not defeat it.

Seeing that Liu Bei could not defeat Tai Shici quickly, in order to help Huo Jun, Guan Yu, Zhao Yun and others buy time, he also considered that he had few troops.In order to contain Taishi Ci, soldiers were ordered to plant many flags in the camp, and Wenpin was invited to invite a fight to confuse Taishi Ci.

As Liu Bei expected, after Taishi Ci was attacked, he wanted to lead his troops to fight back. However, when he learned that Liu Bei was leading the troops, he did not dare to underestimate him. Seeing that there were many flags in his army, Wen Pin came out of the camp to invite a fight.Taishi Ci was worried about Liu Bei's deception and did not dare to fight.

For a time, although Liu Bei and Liu Qi had few soldiers, they relied on Liu Bei's ability to command troops and suppressed Tai Shici, causing Liu Qi to call his uncle awesome.

Then, Tai Shici learned that Liu Pan and Huang Zhong had successively conquered Ai County and Xi'an (now Wuning County, Jiujiang) along the Xiushui River, and were marching towards Haihun from the west, showing signs of outflanking the rear.

Taishi Ci, who had often fought against Liu Pan, knew Huang Zhong's bravery and skill in battle and Liu Pan's military ability.It was also learned that the counties around Poyang Lake had been conquered, and Huang Zu had taken control of the Poyang Lake basin.Without knowing the details of Liu Bei, Taishi Ci thought hard and chose to be conservative and abandon Haihun and retreat south to Jiaoqiu City.

Jiaoqiu City is located in the northeast of Nanchang.Obviously Taishi Ci was preparing to join forces with Sun Bi, the governor of Yuzhang, and Sun Fu, the governor of Luling.

Seeing that Taishi Ci was withdrawing his troops, Liu Pan took the initiative to ask Ying to lead his troops to pursue him. Liu Bei believed that Taishi Ci had always had a brave strategy, and he must be on guard when withdrawing his troops now and could not pursue them.Liu Pan refused to listen to Liu Bei's advice and led his troops to pursue Tai Shi Ci.As a result, he was severely defeated by Taishi Ci, who lost nearly 2000 people. Fortunately, Huang Zhong fought to save him, and Liu Pan just broke out of the siege.

On the way back to Jiaoqiu City, Tai Shici met Sun Bi, the prefect of Yuzhang who was leading troops to support him. He also learned that Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were recruiting troops. He felt that Liu Bei's army did not have many soldiers and he had been deceived.Then he joined forces with Sun Bi, the governor of Yuzhang, and headed north again.Confronted with the coalition forces on the south bank of the Gan River.

The combined strength of Sun Ben and Tai Shi Ci amounted to more than 6000 people. At the same time, Sun Fu, the prefect of Luling, led a group of [-] people down the Gan River and was also on the way.The three combined armies were close to [-] people, which made the combined army somewhat breathless.Liu Bei hurriedly wrote a letter to Zhang Fei, Gan Ning, Guan Yu, and Huo Jun, asking them to lead troops to support the Haihun battlefield.

Huo Jun closed the letter with a bad look on his face. Taishi Ci, Sun Bi, and Sun Fu joined forces, with a strength of nearly [-].If what he expected was correct, Sun Quan of Wu County had basically received the news. He didn't know when to send troops. He had to rush to Haihun as soon as possible to see if he could find an opportunity to reverse the situation of the war.

"quick!"

Huo Jun received the letter in his arms and called on his men to carry the supplies to the ship as soon as possible.

Under Huo Jun's urging, the soldiers in the battalion moved significantly faster.

……

Dusk, outside the joint military camp.

A knight with arms as long as an ape and wearing heavy armor stood in front of the cavalry, holding the reins in his left hand and holding a bow in his right hand.The autumn wind blew by, and the red feather on his helmet swayed in the wind. His expression under the brim of his helmet was majestic and solemn, and his sharp eyes like an eagle flashed with lively light.Obviously, this is a powerful military commander running on the battlefield, with amazing shooting skills.

He waved his hand, and the cavalry behind him galloped out with him.The cavalry stopped outside the shooting range of the camp. At the general's signal, everyone shouted loudly: "We have heard that Duke Xuande is brave, why don't we dare to go out to fight now?"

After shouting for a long time, everyone changed their lines and shouted: "Those who make shoes and sell shoes pretend to be noble and yet they don't even come out of the camp to fight with us."

"Lord!"

In the camp, Chen Dao heard the insults from Taishi Ci's subordinates and was filled with indignation. He said, "I would like to lead my troops to fight."

Liu Bei raised his arm to stop him and said, "These are Ziyi's provocative words. We should not fall into his trap. We have many enemies and we are few. Ziyi is brave and strong, so we cannot defeat him."

Suddenly, Taishi Ci, a member of the cavalry outside the camp, lightly picked up the reins, spurred his horse out, and galloped along the front of the camp. The horse was as fast as the wind.During the galloping, I saw Taishi Ci ape with his arms spread lightly, his bow bent and arrows set, his hawk-like eyes fixed on the flagpole with the word "Liu" on the camp.

"Whoosh!"

The knight made a heavy bow, and the heavy bow was matched with a heavy arrow. The moment the string was released, the bow was shocked like a thunderbolt, and the arrow passed by like a meteor.

"Crack!"

In the horrified eyes of everyone, Tai Shici's arrow actually broke the wooden pole on the flag, and Liu's flag fell down.Everyone was frightened, but Tai Shici laughed loudly and walked away with his whip raised.

"uncle!"

Liu Qi had never seen such a battle before. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and said in panic: "Tai Shi Ci's archery skills are amazing, he is really a ghost!"

A humble-looking veteran in the crowd looked horrified. He was also a good bowman, but he knew how difficult Taishi Ci's arrow was.

Seeing this, Liu Bei tightened his grip on the wooden railing, but said calmly: "Ziyi's archery skills are not as good as Lu Bu's, but he is still top-notch!"

After saying that, Liu Bei turned to look at Liu Qi and said comfortingly: "Eldest Young Master, please rest assured! Both Yun Chang and Yide are brave enough to fight against ten thousand people. When they arrive with their troops, Tai Shi Ci will not dare to act cruelly!"

Taishi Ci rode away and led his troops to insult him for a long time. Seeing that Liu Bei could not come out, he led his troops back to the camp.

Sun Bi, the governor of Yuzhang, came up to him and said with a smile, "Ziyi is really brave!"

Taishi Ci was not happy, but said seriously: "Today's arrow is just a small skill, not worth mentioning. Liu Bei also has fierce generals, such as Guan Yu and Zhang Fei. Avoid its sharp edges and don’t underestimate it.”

"Ziyi is humble!"

Although Sun Ben smiled and didn't care, he mentally wrote down the names of Guan and Zhang.

(End of this chapter)